Two astronauts investigate a faint but suspicious signal on the dark side of the moon, and encounter the being who sent the signal.
Music: “Level 4” by Chris Lodgsdon
[Video Description: Trailer. Duration, 45 seconds. Music: “Level 4” by Chris Logsdon. Digital drawing. Center, a woman seen from back, stands with hands clasped behind her back. Her face is turned so her right profile is visible. She has long hair, curled at the ends, and she wears a hooded dress coat. Her entire form appears silvery. Before her is a neon pink cloud. A glittering streak of light shoots directly up from the cloud, appearing from the top of the woman’s head. Dark hazy clouds rise from the background, and above, the hints of a starry sky. Title card with the words “Short Story” and “Genre: Science Fiction” and the story title are displayed in front of the image. The title card and story title fade. Lines from the story appear over the image: “‘I know why you’re here,’ the lunarian said. ‘I know the history of your explorations into your system. I know how curious you are, how desperately you strive. If you have found your way to me, then you are ready to go even farther and further. Beyond your system.’” The title reappears at top just as the last line appears. A watermark of the site URL appears at bottom right throughout.]
Welcome to Year 9 of Storyfeather
Every year’s short stories (mostly) follow a theme. This year, I will turn the Wheel of Fiction to help me decide what to write. There are thirteen spokes on this wheel. Eight are occupied by the eight themes from the previous years of stories. One is a prompt to turn the wheel again. One is a wildcard (hmm…curious). And three are covered only in question marks. I suppose I’ll find out what’s beneath those questions as we go along.
Welcome to the WHEEL OF FICTION
The Wheel of Fiction landed on DEFINITIONS for this week’s story. That means I had to find an interesting word and write a story centered around that word. After many clicks of the button on a site I found that generated random “weird” words, and looking up those words on a couple of dictionary sites to see what sparked my interest, I eventually encountered the word “lunarian,” which could mean “a being who lives on the moon,” or “someone who studies the moon’s surface.” I chose that first meaning. Initially, I thought about writing a myth of how snow exists because it falls from the moon. But that seemed too generic and familiar (like I felt I’d written something far too similar before). So I changed genres, and I narrowed the focus to a specific situation.
[Video Description: Duration, 10 seconds. Choice wheel made on the Spin the Wheel application. Thirteen spokes or slices in various colors, labeled as follows, clockwise from the top: Objects of Power (the “of Power” is not visible), Prompts, Definitions, Turn Again, Elements, Creatures, S.T.E.A.M., Wildcard, Revisitation, (alternating question marks and apostrophes), Challenge, (alternating questions marks and asterisks), (question marks). The title at top reads “The Wheel of Fiction” and below that the words “Spin the wheel.” Below that is the date of the spin, 12/25/21. At top left corner is a flag icon labeled with the letter “F.” This represents a function of the application which interferes with true randomness by reducing the probability of receiving the same choice twice in a row. The wheel turns and lands on “Turn Again.” The wheel turns again as a cartoon rodent-like creature slides into the bottom right corner from out of frame and begins tumbling around and around. The wheel lands on DEFINITIONS.]
Genre: Science Fiction, Mythology
Tags: CAPTAIN, COSMOS, GALAXY, LUNARIAN, MOON, PIKE, TAI
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