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@MicroSFF@mastodon.art · Mar 06, 2026
The mechanic removed the back plate and inhaled through pursed lips. "Who did this?" "I did," the robot said. "How?" "I took one arm off, put in a wireless interface so I could still use it, and put it in a vice, then turned-" "OK. Why?" "I needed fixing." "You are allowed to ask for help." #MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories
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@bytebro@mastodonapp.uk · Mar 05, 2026
@ater@flipping.rocks Like that. I recall reading a thing on a speculative-sciency blog some years ago that basically suggested that if ants had all the attributes we know, but were the size of Jack Russell terriers (with speed and strength scaled accordingly), they'd likely be the dominant species on this planet. Fairly silly nonsense, but made a fun seed idea for some scary #MicroFiction back when 🤔 @wtrmt@mastodon.social @futurebird@sauropods.win
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@hodomania_simpson@indieauthors.social · Mar 05, 2026
The Salsus people began life in the deserts of Exoplanet 74657. They, like all other life, used available resources to build homes. For them it was salt. They mastered the art of manufacturing perfect rectangular blocks. Eventually, one king built the customary-next-step-in-cultural-evolution pyramid. But now, centuries later, the climate has shifted. It rains one day every ten years on the desert, which is slowly, ever so slowly, dissolving the pyramid (but creating beautiful crystals on the outer surface). Now that politics in the region has stabilized, the decades old plans to build a protective roof over the pyramid (and the controversial ‘Shopping Destination and Leisure Complex’) are being dusted off. #scifi #exoplanet #MicroFiction #nature #photography #frost #ice
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@hodomania_simpson@indieauthors.social · Mar 03, 2026
They look so beautiful and soft and peaceful. But on Exoplanet 58294 the native flora found a taste for blood. While not able to walk, their long thin stems spring into action. The innocent looking red petals pop open in an instant, sharp and deadly. Insects can be captured whole, while small mammals will succumb to the toxin within seconds. The plant can then drag the unfortunate into its branches and slowly feed. The toxin puts humans in bed for a week, so visitors are given armoured trousers for outside excursions, and told not to stop and smell the flowers. #scifi #exoplanet #MicroFiction #bloomscrolling #nature #photography
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@eperales@universeodon.com · Mar 01, 2026
#wss366 - side A tenderloin and a side order of mashed potatoes. That's what life tastes like. I crossed half of our vast Empire and a good portion of hostile ones to get back to Earth. And don't get me started on synthetic food. I know it tastes the same or even better than the real thing. But it is not the same. Here, on Earth, a cow is still born, fed and slaughtered. The soil is tilled and cared for until a potato grows. It takes time. It takes work. It takes blood. That is why I'm here. To enjoy a proper meal before the Empire comes to an end. I'm not political, I don't take sides. I'm a mercenary after all. Tomorrow, missiles are going to rain down on this little planet, the headquarters of a decadent royal court. And with them most of the cows and potatoes left in the universe. A leader will fall and another, maybe worse than the current one, will take his place. Right now, the only important thing is to choose the right bottle for it. A rare Pinot Noir from the King's library perhaps? When I'm done, I'll visit the King and kiss his Ring one last time. Tomorrow will be another day. The day I'll send fire from the sky upon him and all my enemies here and everywhere. #MicroFiction
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@Soozcat@vmst.io · Mar 01, 2026
It's a pleasant day, really. Warm but not too warm, bit of a breeze, no rain. But there's a scent to the air - ozone? petrichor? something - unfamiliar. You're probably just dehydrated. They're out of your kiwi-strawberry water at the Kwik Mart. You grab a peach water instead. At lunch you stop by the walk-up burger joint where the menu hasn't changed an iota since the 1950s. Burgers, fries, onion rings, shakes. You notice the shake flavors are chocolate, vanilla... and peach. "Whadja do with your strawberry shakes?" you ask the counter jockey. He looks genuinely puzzled. "What's a strawberry?" he asks. #microfiction
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@eperales@universeodon.com · Feb 28, 2026
#wss366 - back Dr. Mario M. Giles tried to get a closer look at the girl's tattoo. He was not good with kids and it is hard to make a five-year-old stay put. "Stop moving for God's sake!" He was able to take a good picture of it. It was a masterpiece, no doubt. The detail and colors were exquisite. "She was born with it." That was Faye, Norah's mother, getting ahead of Giles' next question. Giles didn't hold back "Do you think I was born yesterday?" Faye had to answer similar questions before, she no longer had the need to feel angry. "No. But I know you weren't born with a tattoo on your back." "Did you?" Giles was relentless. "No. It is a miracle. A signal." "A signal for what?" He looked at the picture, it vaguely reminded him of the crop circles that made the news from time to time. "I'm a urologist Ms Preciado. Not a shaman." "You are the only person in town who ever set foot in a university, you must know something I don't." She was the most assured person Giles ever knew. "Where is your husband?" "He is a sailor, somewhere in the Pacific." "Is he the father of the creature?" "Of course he is! Do you want a good slap?" Her flaming eyes told clearly she was telling the truth. Guiles got the message. "I apologize. I'll tell you what. I'll send the picture and the x-ray to a friend in the capital and I'll get back to you with her response. Sounds fair?" She nodded. "I'll be back next Monday then. Norah! Stop playing with those things! Let's get you an ice popsicle." Norah cheered and ran leaping towards the door. She was just a regular kid that happened to be born with a tattoo. She turned to the doctor and waved with a smile. "Bye Mario Mohammed Giles!" He waved back as Faye closed the door. It was only a couple of hours after they left that he realized that he never told anyone in this town what his middle name was. #MicroFiction
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@asakiyume@wandering.shop · Feb 20, 2026
"Once upon a time," Jasper's grandma said, picking up one of the crayons on the table, "they called this color #flesh." Jasper looked dubiously at the crayon. "Really?" His grandma nodded. "Uh-huh. Even though the color only matched the flesh of some people. And there's all kinds of other fleshes it also doesn't match. The flesh of a green grape, for instance. Or a papaya." "I'm coloring a sunset," Jasper announced. "It's the color of papaya and strawberry flesh." #wss366 #microfiction
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Boosted by CM Harrington @octothorpe@mastodon.online
@MicroSFF@mastodon.art · Feb 19, 2026
In his house at R'lyeh, dread Cthulhu lies dreaming. There is a nudge on his back. "Fgimb?" eldritch Cthulhu mumbles. "Scoot over a bit." The elder god complies, and soon resumes dreaming. Being spooned alters the dreams. "Mhrrm..." "Yes, it's nice." The visitor snuggles in and falls asleep. #MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories #Cthulhu
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@MicroSFF@mastodon.art · Feb 04, 2026
"I was told you're a monster," the hero said. "So they say," said the monster. "But you're beautiful!" "Thank you." "Have you always been a monster?" "Heh. I was a young maiden. But I did something forbidden." "And became a monster?" "Got named a monster." "What did you do?" "I hit back." #MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories
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@eperales@universeodon.com · Feb 10, 2026
#wss366 - align Lee heard the voice of his father whispering in his ear: "Steady." He tightened his grip and held his breath. "Pull, don't squeeze." The moment the bullet left the muzzle with a thump he knew it was going to miss its target. The deer leaped into the air and was lost in the woods. "Align the sight." "I know Dad, don't you have someone to bother in Heaven?" Lee said with a smirk. Dad didn't answer that one. Lee took the rifle, and headed to the truck, crushing leaves on his way back. "What a humid day," he thought. As soon as he reached the clearing where it was parked he noticed a flat tire. "I told you to check the tires..." "Dad!" #MicroFiction A different perspective of the same vignette: https://universeodon.com/@eperales/116052703576378520
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@eperales@universeodon.com · Feb 11, 2026
#wss366 - buck (This is kind of a sequel to yesterday's prompt: align. Read them together!) Oza was a buck whose skin resembled old gold, shiny in places. It liked to seek food in lonely places, where it could think peacefully. This one was not one of those days. Its ears picked up the Thunder-From-Below and with a swift jump, it dodged for cover. Oza knew from its mother that thunder from below, and no rain meant untimely death. Its ancestors whispered in its ear "Run! Run!" desperately but curiosity got the better of it. With great care Oza followed the God-With-Many-Skins to a clearing. "Run you fool!" the voices said. But Oza had to see what the God was up to. The God was talking with someone else, but Oza could not see who it was. Trembling but silent, it stopped behind a tree. A Shiny-Wrecker stood in the middle of the clearing. The God shed a skin and wrestled the Shiny‑Wrecker’s fat leg until it tore away and was swapped for another. "What a spectacle! Mother won't believe this." Oza thought. But the best was to come: The God was eaten by the beast, leaving his skin behind in the middle of the clearing. The Wrecker burped and slowly walked backwards to the old path. Oza was, again, alone in the clearing. It approached the skin with care, smelling it to know what was the scent of a God. Unfortunately, its smell was of a dead bear. Nothing else. Oza took a mental note of that and went back to the delicious roots it had found before the God disrupted its day, thinking about the great story it had to tell. "Fool. Don't go into a God's path" the voices said. but honestly, Oza didn't care. #MicroFiction
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Boosted by crazyeddie @crazyeddie@mastodon.social
@MicroSFF@mastodon.art · Feb 05, 2026
A gravelly voice spoke from under the mayor's bed. "I hear you need a monster hunter." The mayor sat up. "What? Who?" "I'm a monster. I hunt. What do you need hunted?" "Beklo the Ogre, but..." "I'll bring you its head." "How..." "I am a monster under the bed. If it sleeps, I can find it." #MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories
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@MicroSFF@mastodon.art · Jan 30, 2026
It was the kind of audacious idea that can make a fortune. Combine a widely loved concept with a just as widely loved item. What could go wrong? Pre-opening sign-ups filled up in minutes. In practice, though, they couldn't make the cat library work. "They won't stay on the shelves." #MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories
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@Unixbigot@aus.social · Jan 31, 2026
“I’m not in the right headspace to do this.” “You’re the fold operator on duty, nobody else can do it.” “Then, Ma’am it is my recommendation we lay over and reassess tomorrow. Let’s not add to the Rolls Of The Lost.” “You know what this means, right?” “Yes. Computer: Navigation officer raising Condition T. Captain, do you concur.” “I do. ALL HANDS NOW HEAR THIS. ALL HANDS. CONDITION T, I REPEAT CONDITION T. ITS TACO NIGHT. NAVIGATOR JONES ON THE GRILL” #tootfic #MicroFiction #PowerOnStoryToot
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@stevencudahy@mastodon.scot · Jan 31, 2026
The #MastoPrompt for Saturday 31 January 2026 is: #melt The poem or story can include the prompt word or be about the prompt word. @ me, if you like, or just include the #MastoPrompt tag (to allow people to follow or filter their feeds), or keep your work to yourself - all the options are good as long as you're writing. If you're including an image please do include alt-text if you’re able to. #Writing #SmallPoems #Poetry #Fiction #MicroFiction #SmallStories
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@sophiajanehayden_author@indieauthors.social · Jan 31, 2026
My microfiction, "Elaine," is featured in the February issue of Quotidian Bagatelle which is published on Feb. 1st. New to this adventure, I believe "Elaine" is highlighted online Feb. 25th, according to the publisher. I was paid $1.00, which I have framed. (Just kidding.) I'll post "Elaine" some time after it appears elsewhere. #quotidianbagatelle #microFiction #published #written #writers #writer #writers #writersCoffeeClub #writersOfMastodon #mastodon #authorLife #indieAuthor #author #authors #fun #storytelling #story #shortStory #shortStories #scribesAndMakers #women #character
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@waferboard@mstdn.ca · Jan 28, 2026
The blue robin’s shell lay shattered in the moss. Maria picked up a piece: smooth, cool to the touch; and felt a shock of aliveness. Such a small thing, once breathing, now gone. The breeze on her face held her in the present, yet its chill carried a dim fear of her own ending. Caught in a mix of doom and gladness, she closed her eyes. "You are beautiful," she whispered to the fragment, "because you are broken." #Microfiction #aiart #vss
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Boosted by Charlie Stross @cstross@wandering.shop
@Unixbigot@aus.social · Feb 06, 2025
You might think working a phone repair kiosk is a waste of my skills. Yeah nah. Today, this kid came in with an iPhone that was more than cracked, it was banana-fied. “What happened?” I asked, turning the wreckage over in my hands. I don’t think there was a single salvageable part. “And have you considered just upgrading?” “My novel’s on there”, the kid said, wringing his hands anxiously. “It got ran over by a hauler bot.” “Got a backup?”. The tears in the kid’s eyes were all the answer he needed to give. “Okay, event rebasing is the only way to fix this”, I gestured at the price board, “can you afford that?” He gulped. “Uh, just.” “You sure?” “Yes. Can you really fix it?”. Hope flickered in his eyes. “Let’s see, no win no fee”. I held the smashed and bent phone-ana in my hands and turned it over, feeling its shape in space and time. With my /other sight/ I saw its lifeline leading away from where the kid had been, a shimmering trail of history leading back in time. With the fingers of my mind, I felt back along the lifeline until i felt the bump, beyond which the device had been a flat rectangle. Exploring the shape of the damage event I twisted the lifeline into a loop. Now here’s the tricky bit; if you have the knack, and you dig your nails in /just so/ you can pinch out a moment in time and detach it. I rubbed the lifeline with my mental fingers, smoothing out the join where the excised moment had been. Blinking back to the present, I powered on the phone and handed it back to its owner. “All good?” The kid’s fingers flew over the screen as he checked on his preciousss, and breathed a huge sigh. “All good. That’s incredible, can you fix *anything* like that?” “Almost. Like?” He avoided my gaze, staring down at my hands on the counter with their iridescent nails, matching the highlight colours in my hair. He made eye contract briefly, wide eyes again a bit teary. “Even…..me?” Oh, that. “Absolutely not. *wink* Such things are not done and definitely not by me. Clear?” *nod* “Okay, hold still.” It’s a different technique than rebasing, especially because i like to spread the change over a few years to conceal the edit. “All done”. “Oh wow”, she said, reaching up to feel her shoulder length mauve hair (clearly I’d nailed that detail), then taking a twirl. “How, how much do I owe you?” “On the house and you weren’t here. “ The tears were back. “Thank you thank you, this is the best. “ “My pleasure, have a great life” “Thanks, you too” she said. “Bye!” “Wait! Don’t forget your phone!” #Tootfic #MicroFiction #PowerOnStoryToot
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Boosted by Charlie Stross @cstross@wandering.shop
@Unixbigot@aus.social · Jan 01, 2026
We used a card catalogue to take the census, just to be safe. The results were hand tabulated three times for error checking, the cutoff frequency is four point three MegaHertz, plus or minus two percent. Any clock signal faster than this will eventually attract an infowasp swarm. They primarily feed on those high frequency radio emissions, but when they are driven into a frenzy state any nearby radiator (say, a human brain) will be attacked. Look, by all means try shielding your high performance computer, let us know if you live, we’ll stand well back. Or maybe check your attic for something below the Langerfeld Limit. — Sent from my Amstrad CPC6128 #Tootfic #MicroFiction #PowerOnStoryToot
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