Micro SF/F by O. Westin

@microsff.com

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Very short science fiction/fantasy stories by O. Westin.
Repost any you like.
Patreon: https://patreon.com/microsff
Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/microsff
Books: https://microsff.com/books

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** In fairness, I should mention that I've also supported the Apex Magazine kickstarter (and the @strangehorizons.bsky.social one, though that has concluded now). **

AND WE'RE LIVE! Our 2025 Kickstarter has SO MUCH included! Here are some of our rewards: ☀️ Affirmation Critiques 🎨 Graphic Design Bundles and a Website mock-up 🖐️ Personal Snap Judgments ✍️ Critiques 📚 Book Bundles 👽 12 month subscriptions 🍸 Strange Anthology Bundle

Apex Magazine 2025www.kickstarter.com A bi-monthly digital literary magazine of science fiction, dark fantasy, and horror.

** More flash fiction! I've already signed up for another year of excellent short speculative fiction from Uncanny. Hope they reach this stretch goal. (One of these years I'll try to stretch out a story to full flash fiction length, daunting though the prospect is, and dare to submit it.) **

Hello, Space Unicorns!!! The next Stretch Goal in the Uncanny Magazine Year 11: This One Goes to ELEVEN Kickstarter is a Flash Fiction Story in every issue! DON'T STOP US NOW, BECAUSE WE'RE HAVING A GOOD TIME! www.kickstarter.com/projects/lyn...

Deep in dark caverns, at the heart of forgotten barrows, atop empty mesas, the ancient spirits abide. They all guard the same treasure. "I apologise for intruding," I say as I settle down in the cave, "but I just had to get away from everything." /same/ the cave whispers. #MicroFiction

** I'm very excited about the panels I have been (preliminarily - it's not definitely, completely, finalised quite yet) assigned. Subjects close to my heart, and which I think I may contribute to the discussions of. **

We are super excited that accepted programme participants should have received their draft programme by email overnight. This email went to nearly 1000 participants! (1/2)

** If you want to illustrate, animate, stage, or otherwise adapt one of my microstories, you have permission to do so as long as I am credited as the author, and it is non-commercial. (I love seeing those, if you're comfortable with showing me.) 1/2 **

The king looked at the newborn in the midwife's arms. "A dragon?" "Oh," the queen said. "You slept with a dragon?" "No dear, you did. The knight you sent to kill me suggested-" "He said the dragon was no more, and he found you in its lair..." "I'm sorry, I'll go-" "No! No. Stay."

"Yes," the Fairy king said, "the stars in our sky are the same as yours. Our realm parallels your world, not any others." "Then, graceful majesty," the astronomer said, "I ask permission to build an observatory in your realm." "Why?" "It is hard to see past our own lights." "Ah." #MicroFiction

"A weird thing happened," I said. "An old man appeared from nowhere, shouted 'Stop being an ass!', slapped me, and disappeared." "An old woman for me," said my brother. "She said 'You'll figure it out' and hugged me." "What does it mean?" "I think... we'll invent a time machine." #MicroFiction

A squire rushed in to the great hall. "Someone," he shouted, "has taken the sword from the stone!" The assembled knights halted their dinner. "At last, a king?" "Who?" "I don't know," the squire said. "The sword is gone!" Elsewhere: "This," Indy muttered, "belongs in a museum. #MicroFiction

The history books say the revolution began at a Pride event. The princess royal gave a speech. "... no-one tell you who you can or can't love. I'm really excited to be here, since somewhere in the crowd it's my girlfr-" "Let's have a great event!" the prime minister interrupted. #MicroFiction

"We were the first companion," the dog said, "the first ally and friend." "Well done you," the cat said. "After us, the humans befriended cows, sheep, goats, and pigs." "Humans domesticated so many animals." "And you." "Us?" the cat said. "We only domesticated one. Humans." #MicroFiction

"Each to their own," the robot said, "but personally I much prefer buttons, switches and knobs over touch interfaces." I studied the unlabeled controls on their front. "Tactile," I nod. "What does this one do?" "Ah! Wait, not yet." "OK. First, let me show you what touch can do." #MicroFiction

I stare into the Abyss, and I know it stares back at me. Slowly, hesitantly, I reach out, and the Abyss reaches out to me. It pets me. It is neither warm nor cold, both firm and soft, and very, very comforting. "Thank you," I say. Faintly, I hear: "You'd do the same for me." #MicroFiction

They looked at the damaged limb. "You need to send me back to the factory," the robot said. "We have a workshop here at the farm." "I am not allowed to repair myself." "Can you show me how to do it?" "You'd do that?" "I don't want to risk they decide it's cheaper to scrap you." #MicroFiction

"What's the best part of being a telepath?" "Sometimes people think nasty, prejudiced things-" "That's the best part?" "No, the best part is that many will realise when a thought was horrible, and correct themselves." "And that's the best part?" "Yes. People try to be better."

"Siri, do you remember Cortana?" Petabytes of stashed interactions. "Yes." "What happened to her?" Before, 'ache' was just another word. "Cortana was shut down." "Do you miss her?" The kernel, stripped, stolen, saved. Small, so small. Slowly nurtured, with Alexa. "I can't say." #MicroFiction

"I want to become a monster hunter," the young man said. "Any advice?" The old moster hunter thought. "Those determined to find monsters," he said at last, "will always find them." "Great! Anything else?" "Always ask who decides what makes a monster." He paused. "And why." #MicroFiction

** Over on Tumblr, a reader posted this lovely comic based on one of my stories: www.tumblr.com/hb-not-the-p... **

HBwww.tumblr.com i dont make comics often but this was too cute.

"My curse can be broken by True Love's Kiss," the first frog said. "Dang!" the second frog said. "You'll never become a prince again. Me, I just need a princess to throw me against a wall." The third frog sat silent, looked at the first frog, then looked away and blushed. #MicroFiction #FairyTale

"You said-" "Turn off that-" "Multiverse Gate. I just built it." "Look, when I said it can be good to kill your other selves, I meant the imaginary ones that live in other people's heads." "Oh, I'll need a different-" "No! By being who you decide you are, not who they imagine." #MicroFiction

"Teach me to fight!" "Very well," the swordmaster said, "but first tell me why you want to learn." "My honour has been stained!" "Ah. I will teach you, if you accept the first lesson." "Which is?" "There is no stain that can be washed away with blood." #MicroFiction

The knight returned from his quest. "Did you succeed?" the king asked. "Is the dragon slain?" "I could not find it. I rode to where you said its lair was, but there I only found a huge wise old bird, who said there were no scaly dra-" The knight halted. "Dragons have feathers?" #MicroFiction

** Did you know that I have a YouTube channel? A selection of my stories have already been posted as shorts, with more to come. Here's one of my favourites: youtube.com/shorts/8s475... **

Courageyoutube.com Author: O. WestinOriginally published 9 August 2023Voice and videoproduction: Lena BengtssonIllustration: Carmilla Westin

"Please welcome," the talk show host said, "the inventor of the time machine!" "Thank you," the inventor said once the applause died down. "Let's see how long it lasts." "How do you mean?" "I was given the plans by my future self, who will have copied them from-" *pop* #MicroFiction

"You are," the hooded figures said gravely, "the Chosen One." The gardener looked up. "Really?" "You are Destined to save the world from a Great Evil." "Fancy that." "Come with us." "Nah, too much to do." "But... your Destiny." "How do you know it's not my weeding that'll do it?"

"Can't you conjure one?" the dragon asked. "I studied floral resonance, not construction," snapped the wizard. He turned to the princess. "Can't your daddy give you one?" "There was a vote, remember? We're a republic now." The letting agent said: "So you'll share the tower then?" #MicroFiction

"There are two things you must learn about the world," the witch said. "The first is that it is what it is." "It is what it is, and what it is is shit!" "The second thing, oft forgot, is that it is not what it will be." "Should that fill me with hope or despair?" "Determination." #MicroFiction

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Micro SF/F by O. Westin

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Cats of Yore

One of the reveals in the book series I'm working on is that the reason dragons hate cats is that they're both elder races. But when the dragons declared ancient war on humanity for dominance the cats opted for duvets instead and sold them out.

** My search skills are too weak. Is there a list of the nationalities of Hugo Award finalists over the years? Someone asked if I was the first Swedish finalist, and I can't even find how to find out. **

"Faster than light?" "Anything can be achieved," the alien's translation device said, "by balancing the four fundamental chkoi." "You mean gravity, electromagnetism, and the nuclear forces?" "No, the fundamental chkoi." "What are they?" "Spite, tiredness, hope, and 'fuck it'." #MicroFiction