A Fascinating Short Story: Tumble, by Lydia Schoch

"Fascinating" really is the right word to describe this deceptively good short story by Lydia Schoch. It's not often that I finish a story, short or long, and immediately go back to the beginning for another helping. Tumble managed to do that, and that by itself is notable.

It works so well because the story's tone is a very smooth, almost imperceptible escalation from banality, to healthy curiosity, to benign but notable strangeness, and onward through a few more levels that I won't spoil. That smoothness was a major factor that got me to go back right after I finished it; I was left wondering whether I had missed a hint or two or a page somewhere.

No Ticket (short story, about 3300 words)

The Station literature prompt from IronAge.media

All the old people say our town hasn’t been the same since the war. I can’t say for sure, ‘cause I don’t remember that far back, but looking at the bombed-out factories and scorched rubble that nobody ever managed to clean up in fifteen years... it at least seems believable.

Is that why I listened when that old man sat down for me to shine his shoes? Maybe because he seemed to know what he was talking about. Maybe that glimmer in his eyes told me that there was something better for me if I played my cards right.

Modern Improvements (about 1300 words)

 

"The Pixie" Image prompt from IronAge Media

This prompt was a nice change in tone, and made me think of a warm, light comedy.  Without further ado:

Thwack. Isabella was jarred awake by the ugly sound. She rose from her bed and flitted over to her door, her wings shaking loose a night's worth of scales. There was no one at the door, she confirmed as she peered through the little window.

Sleight of Hand (about 1500 words)

People love magic shows. The skill, the misdirection, the unexpected--what's not to like! So when I discovered as a young man that I could actually do magic, not just little tricks like palming a coin or trick-shuffling a deck of cards, I was overjoyed--at first. But as I managed to perform a few neat tricks here or there, I realized that I didn't have complete control over it. Sometimes I would feel a weird tingle in my spine, and the hairs on the back of my neck would stand up, and something even I wasn't expecting would happen.