We’re in the third round of the Genre Writing Challenge. Each round, the three writers — Perry, Gary, and I — will write a story on a genre. The Twins decided the Third genre is Science Fiction.
We’re again staggering the publication of the stories, and this is my story. Perry’s story went live this past Saturday and can be found HERE. Gary’s went live on Tuesday and can be found HERE.
Here, I must apologize to a few regular readers. You see, it appears I’ve lost my ability to write. Rather, I’ve lost my ability to create. I can write up a storm, but when it comes to writing something creative, I’m hitting wall after wall.
I’ve been trying to get a particular story off the ground for the better part of two weeks, and it’s going nowhere. Worse, even when I say, ‘screw this!‘ and try to move on to a different story, nothing comes. I sit there for a bit, and then either I read a book, or watch something on YouTube or one of the streaming channels. Or, I go and do some chores.
This is the first time I’ve experienced this. Sure, sometimes I write crappy stuff (some say more than sometimes), but I write.
Now, let me be clear . . . I’m not asking for advice, encouragement, or sympathy.
I’m serious. Please don’t offer any.
The only reason I’m even mentioning it is because I’m about to post a previously written story. And, I’m only doing that because this story has been behind a password (I had intended to submit it for publication), so I know only a few people have read it.
Hence my apology to the three or four people who’ve already read it.
For all others, this is a story I wrote in 2015, which I liked well enough to think someone might buy it (no one did).
I like all my stories, but, beyond that, this is a story from when I could still write stories I liked, and I hope new readers will as well.
The usual disclaimer:
The writing challenge has no restrictions, and the stories span a wide gamut of subjects. The majority of the stories fall in the PG range, with a few perhaps pushing into the R range. Those ratings are guidelines, but they are subjective. If you find a story disturbing because of the topics, language, and/or plot points, stop reading and move on to the next one. The same goes if you are not interested in finishing a story. It may seem like obvious advice, but many people go out of their way to experience outrage (and then complain about it).
So, without further ado, here’s my contribution to the Science Fiction genre.
Wait . . . first, the blurb:
What would you do if you came face-to-face with a robot asking you for help? Would you put yourself at risk by helping, or would you choose the easy path and not get involved. For some, it’s an easy decision to make.