SciFi/Fantasy – August 24

“Information wants to be free, but so does misinformation. The printing press empowered such religious progressives as Erasmus and John Calvin; it also empowered hucksters, war profiteers, terrorists, and bigots.”- Andrew Marantz On this date in 1456, Johannes Gutenberg completed printing his Bible. Writing prompt: Write the scene in which your protagonist first comes to understand the impact of her/his...

SciFi/Fantasy – August 23

“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives.”- Carl Sagan Lunar Orbiter 1 shot the first photograph of our planet from space on this date in 1966. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist first encounters a life-changing...

SciFi/Fantasy – August 22

“You’ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down.”- Ray Bradbury, born this date in 1920. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist takes a leap of faith but doesn’t complete her/his wings before the fall concludes.

SciFi/Fantasy – August 21

“A lotta cats copy the Mona Lisa, but people still line up to see the original.”- Louis Armstrong On this date in 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen from Musée du Louvre; two years later, it was found in the trunk of a former museum employee’s car. He thought the painting belonged in da Vinci’s Italy. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist liberates something that belongs...

SciFi/Fantasy – August 20

“The one test of the really weird is simply this — whether or not there be excited in the reader a profound sense of dread, and of contact with unknown spheres and powers; a subtle attitude of awed listening, as if for the beating of black wings or the scratching of outside shapes and entities on the known universe’s utmost rim.”- Howard Phillips Lovecraft, born this date in 1890, in his...

SciFi/Fantasy – August 19

“Time is the fire in which we burn.”- Gene Roddenberry, born this date in 1921. Writing prompt: Write the scene in which your protagonist first realizes s/he cannot accomplish everything s/he wants to before dying.

SciFi/Fantasy – August 18

“It is not sufficient that I succeed — all others must fail.”- Genghis Khan, who died on this date in 1227. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist discovers victory is so unsatisfying that s/he is driven to the next extreme.

SciFi/Fantasy – August 17

“A battle cry,” Mr. Bennet said, “is a warrior’s calling card. Only it does not say, ‘Good afternoon. I have come for tea and crumpets.’ It says, ‘Death has come for you! Flee or be killed where you stand!'”- Steve Hockensmith, born this date in 1968. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist must decide to flee or be killed.