A few years ago my friend and fellow blogger Loren Eaton introduced me to the tradition of creepy Christmas stories, recounted in the cold as the solstice passed and summer was but a distant memory.
Loren posts links to these at his blog for his Advent Ghosts event – a collection of 100-word stories you should definitely check out.
I thought it was about time I stop making excuses and join in the fun this year.
December 11001
The calendar is encoded, routine. October: Costumed terror, become maudlin. November: Synthetic turkey, vat yams and protein glaze, untouched.
I straighten the false beard and click and creak onto the stage. The Polar set is as last year, backed to forty foot polymatrix viewports. A tourist trap: Polymer snow, a red nosed eThespian and behind all, the creeping canopy of stars. Spectacle.
Once.
Our module emerges from darkness. Uncorrected rotation returns unshielded viewports to the baleful glare of a dying star. My armature glows cherry with gamma blast. Memories of laughing children evaporate, like ghosts, one bit at a time.
Yes. We need more SF in this annual celebration. There’s something about the loneliness of an abandoned space station that really captures the mood I was aiming for in the announcement post, too. I really like it, Ben.
Oooh Sci-fi Christmas!
This is one of those stories that is haunting for its ownself, but also in the ‘Now why didn’t *I* think of that?’ way as well 🙂
I like it a lot 🙂
Dig it. Well done.
I really like this one. SF worldbuilding with emotion in 100 words. Nice.
Sci-Fi, and yet almost from the perspective of a weary old ghost, haunting yet haunted. Well done. 🙂
Even though this story wasn’t exactly ghostly, it was great.
It has a quality to it that brings back fond memories of Roger Zelazny.
So cold and lonely. Wonderful.
One of my favorites this year! Very well done. Nice blend of traditional storytelling with the simple horror of loneliness and loss. Plus, well, space. Brilliant.