SciFi/Fantasy – January 2

“If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them.” -Isaac Asimov, born this date in 1920. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which an exception proves this rule.

SciFi/Fantasy – January 1

“The Queng Ho counted from the instant that a human had first set foot on Old Earth’s moon.” -Vernor Vinge, describing the moment the UNIX operating system began keeping time on this date in 1970. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist’s life depends on carefully tracking time with no means to do so.

SciFi/Fantasy – December 31

“That was the difference between a hero and a villain, a soldier and a murderer, a victory and a crime. Which side of a river you called home.”- Joe Abercrombie, born this date in 1974. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist realizes s/he’s dining with people who would consider her/his greatest triumph a total disaster.

SciFi/Fantasy – December 30

“Blame is just a lazy person’s way of making sense of chaos.”- Douglas Coupland, born this date in 1961. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist deflects blame for a mistake s/he made onto a blameless innocent.

SciFi/Fantasy – December 29

“I went to Poe’s funeral yesterday. There was a minister, four mourners, and a grave digger. The grave digger called me a damned nigger and chased me off.”- Mason Algiers Reynolds, who on this date in Rudy Rucker’s 1836 entered the Hollow Earth aboard the Wasp. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist undertakes an adventure with his/her favorite historical character in the world...

SciFi/Fantasy – December 28

“I used to be embarrassed because I was just a comic-book writer while other people were building bridges or going on to medical careers.”- Stan Lee, born this date in 1922. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist describes the impact on him/herself of the person in the world you’ve created who is most recognized as a fantastic hero.

SciFi/Fantasy – December 27

“That is what we call the Darling house, but you may dump it down anywhere you like, and if you think it was your house you are very probably right.”- James Matthew Barrie, whose Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up was performed for the first time on this date in 1904. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which a myth or fairy tale in the world you’ve created manifests itself in...

SciFi/Fantasy – December 26

“On two occasions I have been asked, ‘Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?’ I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.”- Charles Babbage, born this date in 1791. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which two wrongs make a third, bigger wrong for your protagonist.