Short Stories by MLockridge

Here's a skeleton of a story for you. You be ...

2011-12-08T21:37:15.497-08:00

Here's a skeleton of a story for you.

You be you, the storyteller, an ex-prison guard. You tell the story of a con, someone who keeps getting put away for 2 or 3 months and you keep seeing him, so you take an interest and ask him what's going on.

As the times go by you start to realise the impossible and as a law officer you cannot believe it, of course.

The final realisation, the crux of the story is revealed.

There is no justice, there never was, there never will be.

You just leave people hanging at the end of the story.

Psychiatrist, "What do you mean 'he knows'?"

Prison Guard, "He knows."

Psychiatrist, "He knows knows?"

Prison Guard, "Indeed."

Psychiatrist, "But no one knows, no one can know, no one is ever supposed to know."

Prison Guard, (smiling slowly, kind of like Herman Cain in that gawdawful commercial), "He. Knows."

Michael, thanks for stopping by my blog. It IS goo...

2011-10-26T11:54:55.265-07:00

Michael, thanks for stopping by my blog. It IS good to meet new writers. Have you put your work on Kindle yet?

If you haven't already read it, I think you w...

2011-04-14T10:25:12.360-07:00

If you haven't already read it, I think you would enjoy "Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven" by Mark Twain.

Hmmmm, a new universe born of tiny strands of matt...

2011-02-11T10:14:15.294-08:00

Hmmmm, a new universe born of tiny strands of matter - and a new string theory is thrust upon us!

Very uplifting story, Mike ;)

2010-11-12T14:23:29.453-08:00

Very uplifting story, Mike ;)

I'd love to read the first couple of chapters ...

2010-11-02T00:26:00.254-07:00

I'd love to read the first couple of chapters of your book, to give you my two bits worth on it.

I like this one. I 'felt' Thomas's con...

2010-10-24T11:00:38.384-07:00

I like this one. I 'felt' Thomas's confusion with him. Good one.

I always inspired by you, your thoughts and way of...

2010-09-27T14:08:21.383-07:00

I always inspired by you, your thoughts and way of thinking, again, appreciate for this nice post.

- Norman

Top site, I had not noticed shortstoriesbymlockrid...

2010-09-17T20:14:50.889-07:00

Top site, I had not noticed shortstoriesbymlockridge.blogspot.com before in my searches!
Continue the excellent work!

You're such a scamp! First they were terrifie...

2010-09-15T11:21:34.656-07:00

You're such a scamp!

First they were terrified, then it is revealed that that is the purpose of their trip.

2010-09-07T21:28:54.388-07:00

This comment has been removed by the author.

2010-09-07T21:28:42.087-07:00

This comment has been removed by the author.

La, I bought it because it finally hit the price I...

2010-09-07T21:27:59.215-07:00

La, I bought it because it finally hit the price I deemed was a reasonable investment considering my financial condition. Additionally, more authors are doing simultaneous e-releases with their hard back releases. It won't be like waiting a year for the paperback as I did when I was a bit less funded.

Pliny, one of the first things I realized was my complete lack of knowledge regarding the atrocities in the Congo in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I had never been aware of what went on there.

Exploration of such regions was a romantic venture, or so my recollection from my youth informs me. Over the years I have come to realize that "exploration" has seldom been truly romantic and for the most part is plagued with atrocities.

As to the story itself, it is beautifully written and a pleasure to read. Conrad does great work, especially in the light of English not being his native tongue.

Can I judge Marlow for not being more offended by the atrocities, for failing to jump up and shout down the evil? No. I realize that I have too often responded similarly to institutionalized ineptitude and passionless evil.

I need look no further than to today to find atrocities in abundance. I haven't the strength to shout down all of them, nor have I the wisdom to discern what most of them are really about.

In the end, I can generally only do what Marlow did. Soften the blow for someone as he did for the intended of Kurtz. Take such small actions as I have opportunity to perform to mitigate pain and suffering.

The story does one thing very well. It gives a vague form to passionless institutionalized evil. It shows ineptitude and inefficiency and misdirected resources, and how these things provide avenues for avarice on large scale and small.

Ivory or rubber, oil or gold, whatever it may be can easily claim a multitude of souls. Even the souls of nations. Sometimes just keeping yourself relatively unsullied and simply alive is heroic enough.

These few things I write in response. Having done so, I shall seek out your post.

Thanks for reading!

I'm curious what you think of H o D. I did a ...

2010-09-07T13:02:55.174-07:00

I'm curious what you think of H o D. I did a post on it awhile back

Oh my god! I am soooooo jealous! You have a Nook a...

2010-09-05T21:19:08.588-07:00

Oh my god! I am soooooo jealous! You have a Nook and I want one! My sister has one. I'm thinking of knocking in the head and taking it :-P Glad you're enjoying your Nook and all those free books. I swear the fact that you can get the classics free on ereaders just might make more folks read them. How wonderful!!

Here's an idea for a story. Wild birdie comes...

2010-07-15T10:13:40.562-07:00

Here's an idea for a story.

Wild birdie comes for the summer and sings his song of love to which he gets a reply but cannot find his would be mate who sings as yearning a song as he does.

The 'reveal', is that there's a cockatiel IN the house mimicking the wild birdie.

Is it a funny story of being tricked, or a sad story of heartwrenching lonliness... you decide.

Yea, okay Mike, I hear ya. I think that you'r...

2010-07-14T23:31:02.170-07:00

Yea, okay Mike, I hear ya.

I think that you're saying that you like writing stories and they 'come to you' as you are writing them and/but you draw on ideas that you are picking up sort of as you go through life.

I felt that, without really alluding to it at all, this story gives a sense of how the first settlers felt that biological warfare could render North America a safer place to be. Much better to live in a 'World' where potential enemies are dealing with illness as opposed to perhaps dealing with 'you'.

Let me try to answer better. I have sometimes sta...

2010-07-13T08:01:39.495-07:00

Let me try to answer better.

I have sometimes started with an ending and worked back to the beginning. Rarely. I usually start with a vague idea, and begin writing. It is largely intuitive, at least until I edit. The editing is reading, rewriting, reading, rewriting, until I feel I am done.

Is this particular story an allegory? Not intentionally. It sure feels like one, though. It would be interesting to see some allegorical applications readers might see in the tale.

Much of my thinking is as if I am writing. I see something interesting, and often "write" a note about it in my head. I contemplate a problem, and write about it in my head. That kind of thing.

These notes float around in there, somewhere, and occasionally surface. I think and write some more. Eventually I sit down to actually write, grab one and go with it.

I hope that this is a better answer. As a technique it is not particularly transferable, I must admit. The fact is, I rarely know where a story is going until I get there.

I always thought that for me to learn how to write...

2010-07-12T00:19:29.679-07:00

I always thought that for me to learn how to write good stories, I'd need to read stories that I liked and summarize them.

I'd paraphrase each chapter, then encapsulize each of the main ideas, then reduce that even further to one main 'spark', and if I did this enough times, I'd be doing what the writer did, except backwards!

I'm thinking that, done enough times, my mind, probably in dreams(why else do we dream?) would turn it all on it's 'head' for me and I'd start with the 'spark' and be able to expand it through 'main ideas' through paraphrasing of chapters to a finished product.

What do you think?

On your comment, it is not in the power of the English language to mention that you didn't answer my questions without mentioning that you didn't answer my questions, or I would do that. But it's cool, this isn't an inquisition.

On some occasions I have written intentional alleg...

2010-07-10T15:59:37.704-07:00

On some occasions I have written intentional allegory. Often I find allegory in what I have written. Most of my tales are the consequence of an active mind, grinding away integrating new inputs with old data, and the tendency to simply tell myself stories as I wander along. A news story, a headline, something someone says. It all mixes and swirls around, and then I grab one of those ideas and start writing.

On a few occasions the story is born whole. Not often. Sometimes a scene occurs to me, and I write the back-story and the sequel. Once in a while a single image, a mind-picture, can lead to a tale. In one instance it became a complete novel.

It might just be that I am an innate story teller. It is in my genes, it is a gift from God, it is a peculiar disease. It's what I do.

Hmm. Okay, I want to ask you how your stories deve...

2010-07-10T13:39:48.780-07:00

Hmm. Okay, I want to ask you how your stories develop. Do you start with a 'the shoe fits' idea and work up to 'Cinderella'?

Is this story an allegory?

Just something about your 'method' if those last two aren't making any sense to you, would be fine.

I love my Kindle! I had to switch to a regular bo...

2010-07-08T04:09:24.759-07:00

I love my Kindle! I had to switch to a regular book after using my Kindle for months and months and it felt so weird.

What is there to say? Way back when, young men of ...

2010-07-05T07:26:05.116-07:00

What is there to say? Way back when, young men of privilege sought and gained deferments, or horsed around in the Guard--back when the Guard was not the force we rely on today. Now those men are old, and send young men and women who need the work off to do what they're told, whether what they're told makes any sense at all. And those same old men can't be bothered supporting the troops who survive, many of them no longer whole in mind or body.
Happy July 4.

hmmm...am "I"...the only "real deal...

2010-05-21T00:01:05.305-07:00

hmmm...am "I"...the only "real deal" in this "fantasy" of yers, Mike?...when's it coming down?...ol' Wanderwolf and I, just "might" go ahead and make "one more" run to the East Coast...hee hee....

Michael, you write like a dream. Keep it up! Peo...

2010-04-27T16:34:43.010-07:00

Michael, you write like a dream. Keep it up! People are listening. It just takes them a while.