Learn the secret of... "The Editor"!

When I published fifty-two works over fifty-two weeks back in 2014, one of the things I set out to do was to experiment with things like flash fiction and ultra-shorts. I found keeping tales under a thousand words often a bit hard, but I did create some fun little narratives to introduce weird and wonderful characters to the world.

One such tale is "The Editor." The tale starts out in a dark place and doesn't really get much lighter. I don't want to spoil the details of the story, but I do want to talk about our lead for a moment.

Her name is is Marie. She can best be described as a walking contradiction. Of course, we all really are, aren't we? Hers become accentuated by circumstance, as she walks a path darker than you or I will likely ever know.

This is a tale designed by me to share. I've done just that over at Wattpad, free of charge forever.

It's one of several smaller works I will release under Creative Commons licenses over the next few months. One of my favorite parts about the release of this tale as a Creative Commons work is that it makes The Editor available for anyone to use and remix in anyway they would like. Marie is such an intriguing concept, one open to all kinds of paths in her future and past. I have yet to map any of them. But Marie is open for anyone to use and share as they see fit, just as long as their own works are released under the same license. If you, dear reader, are also a writer, I would love to see your own tales of Marie down the line.

Read the entire short story "The Editor" over at Wattpad now. If you enjoy it, be sure to leave your comments here or on Wattpad, or share it with a friend!

Photo by Mean Shadows on Unsplash.

The mystery of "The Pilgrim"

I created The Pilgrim as a short story near the end of my fifty-two stories in fifty-two weeks back in 2014. Released on Thanksgiving Day, it was a web only tale, a conscious choice at the time to play with publishing avenues. Of course, that version of Super Powered Fiction died in a fire thanks to the abominable web host Arvixe and since that time the tale sat out of print.

Until today.

The Pilgrim has now joined Claus Vs. Kong, The Scavenger and The Editor at Wattpad.

While I have only hinted at the larger corners of the Quadrant Universe, I certainly have introduced figures of great power. Doctor Cosmic and The Grand Magister certainly fit that bill as important figures from beyond Earth, but I didn't really have a force-of-nature type character with a mystical bent. Heck, I've barely explored the mystic end of the universe at all.

And while The Pilgrim is a short work (under a thousand words), it hints at a greater figure, a spirit bent on righting wrongs of a more personal nature. This is his first appearance, but he will be back in other tales, as he comes face to face with the heroes of the Quadrant Universe, heroes that might not be as keen on his personal brand of vengeance.

Read The Pilgrim at Wattpad. Or check out the handy embedded version below.

Enter... Tornado Town!

Short Shots are quick story ideas I will sometimes release as a pay what you want release or for free.

Road to Tornado Town is an idea that has been floating around my head for quite some time. Post-apocalyptic fiction seems to be everywhere right now. I have always enjoyed a lot of it, but I really wanted to try my hand at putting my own touch on it. Hence, Tornado Town was born.

This Short Shot is an introduction to the universe and the concept, but will be far from its last appearance. I plan to put together a Tornado Town anthology at some point that will expand the world and introduce a slew of characters for the series.

Stay tuned for more news about that in the months ahead. Meanwhile head over to Smashwords where you can pay whatever you want for this great short story!

The Road to Tornado Town by Nicholas Ahlhelm is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Meet "The Editor"

With The Editor I wanted to do something different. I have long loved the idea of Creative Commons and I wanted to release a few short stories under a Creative Commons license. The Editor is the first in that series, which I decided to call “Short Shots”. The goal with these ultra-shorts is to introduce new characters to the pulp and super-powered fiction community that people can use and develop in their own way, all with only a note of the Creative Commons information given.

I have written a few of these "Short Shots" since I originally published The Editor back in 2014. I shared a few of them online back then, but have yet to do so on this new version of the blog. I am happy to start that process today with the release of The Editor to Wattpad. Everyone can read it there or use the embedded reader below to do so.

If you enjoy The Editor, please consider either buying more of my work (which can be found above under The Books) or throwing a few shekels its way with a purchase on Smashwords (where you can pay whatever you would like for the story.)

Meet Mad Maddie

I love mad scientists. Frankenstein and his creation have always intrigued me, but while the monster has found his way into the Quadrant Universe, I prefer to keep his creator long dead. That leaves plenty of room for his heirs though, as I just couldn't create a great universe of super powered fiction without a mad scientist or three.

Enter “Mad Maddie”. I wanted to create a mad scientist and let her tell her own story, even as we can quickly understand she isn't quite right in the head. Too often mad scientists are seen at a distance and I wanted to enter that madness just a bit as I brought her adventures to life in a Short Shot.

Now the Short Shots series was all about ultra-short stories, usually not quite short enough to be called flash fiction but still under 2500 words. Because of the brevity of the stories, while they are 99 cents on Amazon, readers can instead pay whatever they wish on Smashwords.

The story gives insight into both Maddie's past and her future, and introduces her long time rival, Ebony Edwards, agent of EAGLE. (Fans paying attention might recognize that organization from Pulpsploitation and several other stories as the gaps in the Quadrant Universe start to narrow.) If you ever found yourself rooting even a little for the crazy one, give “Mad Maddie” a chance.