The sleep-deprived parents of a sleepless baby stumble upon a potential relief on their way to a Martian superstore.
Music: “Space Discoveries” by Andrew Sitkove
[Video Description: “Zone of Eternal Sleep” Trailer. Duration, 28 seconds. “Space Discoveries” by Andrew Sitkov. Digital drawing. Facing forward, sitting on the ground, a couple leaning towards each other with their heads touching and their eyes closed. At left, a woman, her right leg outstretched out of frame, and her left leg bent. She loosely holds a baby or young toddler in her arms. The baby’s hands grip her forearm. His eyes are open and looking up and to the left (his right). At right, a man, sitting cross-legged with his hands held loosely in his lap. Behind them, centered, is a depiction of the planet Mars against a star-filled space with a plume of glowing gases passing horizontally through the center. Some element of each person’s clothing blends in with the red hues of the planet. Title card with the words “Short Story” and “Genre: Science Fiction,” is displayed at top. Tagline is displayed at bottom. It reads: “The sleep-deprived parents of a sleepless baby stumble upon a potential relief on their way to a Martian superstore.” Title card and tagline fade. A watermark of the word “storyfeather” appears over the image. Lines from the story appear in sequence: “A sudden dizziness struck her. Just as suddenly, the spinning stopped. She saw the mapping system’s failed attempts to reroute. ‘I think we’re in the right place.’ She raised a brow theatrically. ‘But are we in the right time?’” Site URL appears at bottom center throughout and fades at end. As the last line disappears, the image blurs, the edges of the image darken, the story title appears at center, and a text card appears at top that reads “Available to Read Now storyfeather.com.”]
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 Music. I set all the music loaded on my phone to play at random, and listened to a bit of each track until I found one that generated some inspiration. That track turned out to be the song “Stay Up Late,” by Talking Heads. It’s about a cute baby that keeps his parents up late, and one adult turns the tables by keeping the baby up? I think? Well, the parents in this story would rather that everyone get as much glorious sleep as they want. There must be a solution, somewhere in the known universe.
[Video Description: Duration, 7 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, Music, Challenge, Draw!!!, Traveler. The title at top reads “The Wheel of Fiction V4” and below that the words “Spin the wheel.” Below that is a label on left, “Spin date: 7/12/22,” and a label at right, “Story: 7/24/22.” 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 MUSIC. As the wheel stops spinning, the planet Mars appears at the center of the wheel and starts spinning, then a cartoon baby heads rises up from behind the planet and bobs left and right.]
Genre: Science Fiction
Tags: ANOMALY, BABY, JUMP, LEE, MARS, SAM, SLEEP, SPATIOTEMPORAL, TEMPORAL, WYN
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