I don’t drive as much as I used to but I still often get story ideas when I’m driving.
The idea for, “Update,” published earlier this month by Back Patio Press, came to me while I was driving home from the grocery store. I’d been thinking a lot about A.I. and its upsetting implications. One part of what bothers me is how all of a sudden tech companies just started adding A.I. to things. So this is kind about that feeling.
The whole thing grew out of the first sentence: “My phone downloaded an update and now it shoots lasers.”
The idea for the second story, “Unicorn Man,” published (today!) by Maudlin House, came to me while I was driving home from Boston. I don’t remember what we were doing there – probably a museum visit and lunch. Could have been our visit to Harvard’s natural history museum, which I enjoyed a lot. They have this guy:
The story sat on my drive half-finished for a while and then suddenly I had a reason to finish it because of a minor literary faux pas I won’t get into here. Then I finished it and everything was ok.
In this case the first sentence popped into my head and I thought it was funny: “My tick repellant stopped working so now I’m covered in ticks.”
I had Lyme disease last year. It sucked (haha). Thankfully I caught it early thanks to my wife noticing a weird rash on my back. (I didn’t get the bullseye, I got a weird splotchy rash.)
Maybe one of these days I’ll think about assembling my short stories into a collection.
Til next time,
Rick
P.S. In case you missed it, another one of my stories, “Fight Fight,” appeared earlier this month in BULL.
All hilarious as usual/expected.
Just read Unicorn Man, was laughing all the way through!