Chuck Wendig: Flash Fiction Challenge

The three subjects I had for this challenge were Dystopian, Surgery and Divorce.

Short stories are not my forte, so this was an interesting exercise.

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"So are you going to have it done?" It was a question Rodfree had been asked so many times in the last two intervals, he felt like he was beginning to develop a complex. It really wasn't that bad was it? He turned to stare at his reflection in the polished steel on the machine at his station.

It wasn't that he was afraid of having surgery. He'd had so many in his life, he knew the ins and outs of them. It was who would have to perform it.

"ECH3579 resume your designated task immediately." The female voice on the other end of the intercom called out.

Sighing in frustration, Rodfree took a sheet of alumantium and placed it in the press and started the complicated process of flipping switches and pushing levers that would result in the production of the standard cup all the people of Glorfina drank from. From his first diem on the job he thought the process of making cups seemed entirely too complicated. It was a simple molded piece of alumantium, not something complex like a clock or the machine that made the damned thing.

Of course it was questions and thoughts like those that got him in his current situation. No sooner had he finished with the same cup did the voice come over the intercom again.

"ECH3579 report to supervisor's room three zero zero zero immediately."

Slouching in fear, Rodfree removed the newly created cup and added it to the completed stacks and locked his machine. As he walked down the long assembly room floor, he noticed everyone glance at him as he passed. Some shook their heads, others gave a reluctant smile.

Up the stairs he climbed to the Supervisory Hall. It was solid white from floor to walls to ceiling. For some reason, it unnerved him. He knew exactly which room was 3000. He had been to it enough times in the six presects he had been an ECH. Six presects since his divorce. He shuddered at the thought.

When he reached the door, it slid open before he could even knock.

"Enter ECH3579."

Taking a deep breath, Rodfree stepped into the room to find his supervisor, Idrina, seated at her pristine desk. The room matched the hall with the same solid white. Even her uniform was a blinding white.

Taking the customary submissive position to a superior, he dropped to his knees with his chin to his chest and hands clasped behind his back. "You beckoned me Mistress Idrina." It still galled him to be in such a position.

During his ten spans of marriage to Mistress Mitra Dall, he had been on the other side of the fence when it came to the caste system of Glorfina. He had been bred, raised and enhanced to serve his Mistress. But now, he was just another ECH, like rest of the men on the assembly room floor.

Rising from her chair, Idrina rounded the desk to stand before him. "You seem to have developed an inability to perform the task designated for you. Why is that ECH3579?" Her voice was smooth as silk and hard as steel at the same time.

Keeping his voice low, like a proper ECH, Rodfree answered her. "My apologies Mistress. My current deformity has kept me preoccupied. I promise it won't happen again."

Idrina curled her lip in disgust. It galled her to look at him, to even have him in her section, let alone her office. "Yes, your deformity has become quite the distraction for the other ECHs in this section. To prevent further disruptions, I am sending you for corrective surgery immediately."

Rodfree's head popped up against his better judgement. "Mistress?"

A vicious slap sailed across his face."Don't you dare think to look up at me again."

Quickly dropping his head back to his chest as his eyes watered and his cheek burned from the slap, he mumbled an apology. "My humblest apologies Mistress Idrina."

Rounding her desk, Idrina tapped the intercom to connect to the Infirmary. "Notify Dr. Dall ECH3579 will be reporting for reconstructive surgery immediately. He will be arriving shortly."

"Right away Mistress Idrina." The male voice on the other end answered.

So this is it, Rodfree thought. Time to see her again. "I'll take my leave now, Mistress."

"Do so and do not delay in reporting to the Infirmary." Tapping another button, the door opened as Rodfree rose to leave.

Afraid of angering Mistress Idrina any further, Rodfree ran from the Supervisory Hall and arrived in record time. He approached the main desk and signed in.

"ECH3579 report to pre-op room 554." The nurse said as she entered him into the computer.

Walking down the hall the nurse had pointed to, he found the room and Dr. Dall waiting for him.

Without looking up, she pointed to the gurney. "ECH please lay down on the bed."

As he laid down, Rodfree suddenly felt very nervous. All his previous surgeries had never started like this. "Dr. Dall, may I ask a question?"

Mitra looked up from the chart in her hand to look into her ex-husband's eyes. She could hardly believe the differences in his appearance, especially the deformity she was now going to repair. "Go ahead ECH."

It was a little stab in his heart to hear her call him ECH as if she didn't recognize him. "Will there be other staff assisting in the procedure?"

"No, it will not be necessary. This will be a quick procedure." Slipping on a pair of gloves, she took a syringe from a prepares tray and prepared it. "Lay back and close your eyes. As I give you the injection, start to count backwards from twenty."

Rodfree did what he was told and waited for the needle prick. A cold swab in the crook of his arm prepared him. The quick sting of the needle started his countdown. "Twenty, nineteen, eighteen..." By fifteen, his words began to slur, by eight a whisper. At three, he was gone.

Mitra sighed as she threw the syringe into the needle receptacle. Touching the intercom keypad, she dialed Idrina's office.

"This is Mistress Idrina."

"I'm afraid the procedure was too difficult for your ECH to survive. He is gone. I'm afraid this is all too common an occurrence with deformities such as his. Once the structures of the nose have been broken, it is very difficult to repair them to their original state." Mitra pushed another series of buttons on the wall above the gurney.

"Thank you for the update Dr. Dall."

"No problem. I will notify supply that you require. New ECH to perform 3579's tasks."

"Thank you again."

Mitra signed off as she watched the gurney and Rodfree's body descend into the floor leading to the male waste receptacle. "Such a shame, that deformity. You could have been a good husband if someone had prevented it."

Blackbirds Redux

Did I mention that Blackbirds is dark, very dark, may be scary or disturbing for some readers....huh, I guess I didn't before. Well I've said it now. It's dark...and possibly disturbing.

Thirteen and Blackbirds and Stuff

 It's been a while since I have been here. Life has kept me busy. But never busy enough to keep me from reading.

My last two reads have been in the last two weeks. I know slow for me. But like I said, been busy.

 First was Thirteen by Kelley Armstrong. This is the final book in her Otherworld series that has been gracing our bookshelves for around ten years.

My husband originally got me hooked into this series. While everyone was writing about vampires, Kelley Armstrong started with werewolves. Elena and Clay's tumultuous relationship was the stuff of reality, well as real as werewolves can be. There wasn't the pretty shine of your typical pretty blonde girl falls for wolf  and they live happily ever after.

Despite being her first book, she gave her characters a tremendous back story that you just wanted to know more about, hence reading on and anxiously waiting  for the next book.

As she added to her world with Paige, Lucas and Savannah and Adam, you just became more consumed with the story, the world and their outcomes. These are characters that you can relate to despite you not having the spiffy powers and abilities that they do.

I didn't know what to expect when I finally cracked open Thirteen. I knew when the book was coming out and I wanted it back. My husband surprised me by getting it for me. But I didn't read it immediately. I finished a different series and dallied around it. It's not like reading a trilogy or a small series. This was the culmination of a ten years invested into an entire world of characters. What is she doing to do to them? Kill them all? Give us a happily ever after ending? I didn't want either of those options.

Well I started it and loved that Kelley immediately picked up where the previous book had left off and just pulled you back into the rush of the story. Savannah Levine (Nast) was a small character so long ago in Stolen that you really didn't give much thought to the character. She was a device for Paige and Lucas at some points, but you still liked her. Cute kid with this world of fighting Cabals and vampires and werewolves around her. This final book helps Savannah give so many the closure they need as so many of their lives come back together to hopefully keep their world falling apart at the hands of greed, stupidity, ignorance and misplaced trust.

I don't like to give away plot in my reviews of books, so I will not go into the story for those who haven't read Thirteen or the Otherworld series yet. But I will say this. You won't be disappointed with the finale of this great series. Kelley Armstrong did a tremendous job with this series and I can't wait to see where she takes us next with whatever project she moves to.

Onto the book I just finished a little bit ago, and by a little bit, I mean a few minutes before I began typing this out.

Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig came to my attention via Twitter thanks to Lilith Saintcrow. If you are on Twitter, following @ChuckWendig is a MUST. His humor and no-nonsense views keep the days from getting a little too serious. And if you are an aspiring writer or artist, he keeps it real in what he says to keep you motivated.

In his shameless tweets of self-promotion, (and there is nothing wrong with that, man's gotta make a living so get off his and my back) he has been pushing his newest book Mockingbird which is due out August 28th (yay!). Intrigued, I naturally went to his very awesome website (click on his name above to see it, duh!) to see what all the fuss was about.

For some reason I always let the covers of books influence my decision in reading a book. Chuck has some pretty cool covers for Blackbirds and Mockingbird so I clicked on the appropriate link and read on. Then I went to BN.com because that is where I always go, and read some of the reviews, which I always take with a block of salt because of those self-serving assholes that like to sometimes rip people to pieces for no good reason. And I read the Overview. I liked what I saw and finally got my ass down to the store to buy it.

I would have ordered it online, but I am a minion of instant gratification and the idea of WAITING for the damn mail to come in with my book doesn't always sit well with me.

When I finally started reading it, I was happy. All of Chuck Wendig's humor shines through. If you were ever looking for the most off the wall and crude metaphors, READ THIS BOOK. He has forever changed the way I will view traffic.

His protagonist, Miriam Black, poor girl. And to me she is a girl, despite being twenty-two, a raging smoker and alcoholic and her ability to view people future deaths. So many deaths she has seen and actually witnessed. It really is a wonder she survived the past eight years of her life. But that just goes to show you the strength of the human spirit despite all the crap and shit we deal with. And Louis, oh Louis, was it wrong place, wrong time or fate. Is his life better or worse now that he is with Miriam.

Read the book, you decide. And don't forget that Mockingbird will be out in just ten days.

Next book to read...The Iron Wyrm Affair by Lilith Saintcrow. New series, new characters. Bannon and Clare. I can't wait.

And lastly. Despite working with my hands all day playing with frilly flowers and cutting and stabbing myself lately (what's a florist to do). When I get home, my hands still feel like they should doing something.  That led me back to my embroidery. Is it true that idle hands are the Devil's playground? Who knows. I could or should have been busy at the keyboard doing more writing, but my hands didn't want that. They wanted that needle and thread.

And the fruits of my labor? Pots and pans. Weird I know. But hey, even kitchens need a little attention. I haven't decided if I am going to keep this for me, give it away or sell it. If someone likes it and wants it, post a comment or tweet me or not. Whatever.

Go do something productive like sew or read a damn book!