SciFi/Fantasy – May 8

“It must be, I thought, one of the race’s most persistent and comforting hallucinations to trust that ‘”‘it can’t happen here'”‘ — that one’s own time and place is beyond cataclysm.”- John Wyndham describing the 8th of May, a day the he made better known as the Day of the Triffids. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist must lead a group of...

SciFi/Fantasy – May 7

“There is no magic. There is only knowledge, more or less hidden.”- Gene Wolfe, born this date in 1931. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist learns that s/he is capable of something s/he considered impossible.

SciFi/Fantasy – May 6

“In life, everything comes with a price — even freedom.”- Steven Barnes, in whose 1996 Austin Tucker refused to fight another imprisoned inmate on this date. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist is forced to fight for survival against someone your protagonist considers a sibling.

SciFi/Fantasy – May 5

On this date in 1943, Mervyn Peake wrote of his discharge from the army to his wartime buddy Graham Greene, “I’ll be able to concentrate on Gormenghast. It’s a grand feeling.” Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist incites two unsuspecting accomplices to do his/her dirty work.

SciFi/Fantasy – May 4

“In the darkest corners of the Earth, ancient beings lie in wait, biding their time.”- Howard Phillips Lovecraft, whose Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee lost his memory on this date in 1908. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist’s senses drive her/him to believe s/he is losing her/his mind.

SciFi/Fantasy – May 3

“Society has to defend itself from its defenders, because what’s admirable in wartime is termed psychopathic in peace.”- John Brunner, whose Stand on Zanzibar opened on this date in 2010. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist ‘s instinctive response prives inappopriate to the context.

SciFi/Fantasy – May 2

“Absolute authority will be delegated. Full responsibility will be assumed. Those who succeed will receive advancement and satisfaction of desire. Those who fail will die.”- E.E. “Doc” Smith, born this date 1890. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist earns an honor s/he would rather not have.

SciFi/Fantasy – May 1

“There is a tendency in 20th Century science to forget that there will be a 21st Century science, and indeed a 30th Century science, from which vantage points our knowledge of the universe may appear quite different than it does to us.”- J. Allen Hynek, born this date in 1910. Writing prompt: Write a scene in which your protagonist encounters a being or event that is inexplicable in your...