Category: Hypersonic Express
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Hypersonic Express Digital Copies
Thank you all for going on a journey with me for as much of the past 11 weeks as you were able. Flashes of the Hypersonic Express, Volume 1 is now complete. Each of the 10 flash fiction stories are available under Projects, along with the history and process of how the collection came to…
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History of the Express
Now that Flahes of the Hypersonic Express, Volume 1 is complete, I thought I would share some of my creative process. I started writing these flash fiction stories about nine years ago when I was in college and taking Oregon’s public transit every day. The people and sights inspired me, and I was looking for…
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10: Just a Rain Ago
You can’t hear the rain when you’re inside the Hypersonic Express. The train is racing at one thousand miles an hour through a fully enclosed, vacuum sealed, plex tunnel. It allows plenty of natural light inside and you can see the seasons pass and the precipitation fall in various sized drops all year long, but…
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09: Not This Year
The holidays were always a busy time aboard the Hypersonic Express: So many people in a hurry, carrying pies, jackets, and babies, and trying in vain to not get in everyone else’s way. On this particular holiday morning, a rough-worn man in a retro Jean jacket boarded the bus intent upon seeing his kids for…
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08: Don’t Ever Miss Your Train
If you missed your train, there was nothing you or anyone else could do. The vacuum sealed system was inaccessible except for the thirty seconds or so during boarding. So if you missed it, you simply had to wait the fifteen excruciating minutes before the next one came around. On this particular morning, Benjamin had…
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07: Alone but Not Forgotten
Once there was a boy who rode the Hypersonic Express every day with his father. He was six years old, and he prided himself for now being in the second grade. He was becoming a man, and someday he would be a great businessman like his father, who was never late for work and never…
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06: Not All Who are Lost are Alone
Ruth watched as a teenage girl boarded the Hypersonic Express in ripped jeans, tennis shoes, and an overstuffed school backpack. Except Ruth could tell the pack wasn’t filled with the rectangular and sharp corners of textbooks, but rather with the soft contours of clothes. She looked closer at the girl who refused to meet eye…
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05: Not All Who Wander are Lost
A man called Joe joined the passengers of the Hypersonic Express. They all were sure he was a homeless druggie and ignored him. He was dressed in rugged cargo pants two sizes too big and a stained white t-shirt. His untrimmed beard clung to his chest, and a receding hairline emphasized his long pockmarked face.…
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04: In a World of Business
She took this train every morning. There and back. There and back. There and back. There and back again. Five days a week with a weekend that was filled with housework and grocery shopping and calling her parents to make sure they hadn’t died yet. It was tiring. She didn’t complain, mind you. She enjoyed…
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03: Talking to Air
There was a teen who rode the Hypersonic Express every day to work to support his parents and nine younger siblings. He took pride in his ability to take care of his family, though sometimes he was afraid he’d never be able to get out and begin his own. On this particular day, this young…
Grant Pearson 