Tag: Writing
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Works in Progress: 2023
I have always been afraid of announcing new projects because “What if I don’t finish it?” Well, it’s come to my attention that it is going to happen anyway, and some people actually care. So here are some of the projects I have been working on this year outside of Hypersonic Express and NaNoWriMo. Part…
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Inspiration: The Name of the Wind
I had put off reading The Kingkiller Chronicles for years: partly because everyone raved about it, partly because there was a million and a half forums discussing it already, and partly because I don’t like reading unfinished series. I had multiple friends recommend it at completely different times, and I always made an excuse to…
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NaNoWriMo Begins
The end of October and beginning of November is one of my favorite parts of the year. Fall is a wonderful and magical time. Part of this is because of the witchy season, and part of this is because of the coming of the holidays, but mainly it is because it is a highly motivating…
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Of Teeth and Dreams
A short story of whimsical horror in time for Halloween. The Dream Fairy leaned over the old wooden headboard and touched their hand to the tip of their long beak of a nose in anticipation. They held a golden butterfly net in one hand and stared down at the toddler below them. The toddler with…
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Inspiration: Martha Wells
Martha Wells recently became one of my favorite authors. She has been publishing books for the past 30 years, mostly covering fantasy and sci-fi, but I didn’t hear about her until the more recent success of Murderbot Diaries. The Murderbot Diaries started as a series of novellas that follow a self-aware SecUnit (android) on a…
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Inspiration: Andy Weir
If you know who Andy Weir is, it’s likely because of the film, The Martian, which is based on his book. What many people don’t know is that he was a programmer and self-publishing author of fanfiction before he became a best-seller. In fact, he self-published The Martian before hitting it big. He is the…
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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…
Grant Pearson 