Click on the titles to read the stories.

It’s not like I planned it, but upon grouping my stories for compilation, I realized how inaccessible ‘Be kind to puns: 23 tales of Weirdica’ is in comparison to the ‘Politica’ and ‘Romantica’ collections. So it’s just as well that I get to shed light on some aspects of the stories.

The land before our time – Musing on a lineage of man before ongoing civilization, I asked myself, “Is it any more likely now than 20,000 years ago that we had such technology?” However, what transpires in the story itself has more to do with a guy taming his beast, and whatever allegories that come from that.

When TV is cheap enough – I’ve never done a cartwheel in my life, but Matt’s preoccupation has more to do with his devotion than the actual activity. It was about this time, while studying a Bach bass line, that I learned that excellence in something is more important than winning with it.

Days in the life of a teleporter – I wrote this before hearing about a similar movie (2008’s ‘Jumper’), and before reading about jaunting from Alfred Bester. I guess it’s not too uncommon an idea.

Be kind to puns – If it isn’t obvious enough, Colleen’s letter is a brief refutation of Objectivism. The abundance of puns in the story is a hat tip to Alan Moore’s ‘Pog’ story from ‘Swamp thing.’

Colorful commentary – I’ve written about half a dozen stories inspired by Julian Jaynes’ theory of consciousness, but this is the only one I’ve published so far.

By a corner of the garden – This was based on a stray thought of an alternative to abortion, where mothers could avoid the bother of childbearing without the murder. In this world, the adversity of the ‘real world’ is taught to people while still embryonic, and cruel as it appears, such people thrive, and just in time for the destruction of Earth. The last-minute romantic drama involves Floyd, the old man, contemplating this phenomenon.

Young love – The names of Manilyn and Rene come from local celebrities here, as is hinted at by the title. The only really weird thing about the story is that it involves aliens and love potions.

The screenplay – The script as summarized within this story is an actual screenplay I attempted to write two years ago, with songs and all. It’s not very good – the songs are better – but I did like some elements of the plot, enough to reiterate them here.

It’s all about the money – At first, the elevator girl Dana (named after Dana Delany; I name a lot of my characters Dana or variations thereof) was conceived as with no peculiar talents. I even considered her joining a cult as a plot point. As I wrote on, the idea of her world-hopping seemed to work.

The Heed, and, The expectations filter – It’s only a matter of time before mystical experience could be simulated deliberately by technology. Although I believe mysticism is the basis of religion, this story looks at what happens when the application of such technology still involves present tribalist tendencies.

Stop trying so hard – Obviously referring to George R.R. Martin’s ‘Game of thrones’ saga, this story helped me gain perspective on what I was doing. I was past two-thirds of my 200-story target, but not feeling particularly inspired with ideas to continue. And then Jenna Fischer’s voice from ‘The giant mechanical man’ came to mind, full of meaning: “Stop trying, so hard!” It was a tiny revelation.

Can’t wait to dream – Yet another story expressing my weakening will to say something with my stories. Might a way of life of continuous dreaming solve things? How was I to know then that I had yet to write what I consider to be my best stories, as found in my other collection ‘Dumbest president ever: 23 tales of Politica.’

Nannerl’s music – Prior to writing this in mid-December 2015, I constrained myself to write primarily in dialogue, with little to no narration. This story changed all that, and I was very satisfied with the outcome. The story is similar to the last ‘Sandman’ story during its original run, ‘The tempest.’

God at last – Daq wants to get over Bach as if Bach were a girl he was still hung up with. I still love the ‘Kyrie eleison,’ whose bass line I learned earlier this 2016, but the climactic affects that I get from it come and go.

Megan McCall, Queen of Asian Country – I’ve written 10 stories involving Megan McCall. When I first thought of some Chinese chick singing like Reba McEntire, I was really psyched to write about it, but the stories I wrote then were still the beginning of my recent storytelling development, and sound more like essay assignments. The two parts I include here come from the more ‘mature’ phase of my writing, and deal with her more humanly.

In the temple – The story seems so plain, but I put it in the collection because I liked how the people talked in it.

The order – Nothing much happens here, other than an order that arrives seven years early. I thought all the time-travel discussion was quite interesting, even though there’s very little by way of conclusion.

That which could not be named – We all, or many of us, have that fear of closing our eyes or of sticking our hands or feet beyond the bed while waiting for sleep. Perhaps the reader won’t quite get the meaning of the discussion on science – I don’t think I have – but it makes communication with someone five thousand years later plausible.

Taken – This attempts to look at what happens when spirit is separated from the material.

Motivational mirror – There is very little we know about how consciousness works, and what could yet be done with brain matter, so this allows for much speculation as found in this story.

The best – The first part isn’t about basketball per se, but the way that a paradigm shift seems to make all that precedes it so hopelessly backwards. Even speculating on a future paradigm is fruitless, because it presupposes application of such paradigm while still using an older paradigm. The second part is more down to earth, and one of my favorite sentimental things I’ve written.

The rural folk – In my published stories, the closest I get to a Star Trek reference is this story’s narrator’s name, Zarabeth. I fashioned the plot based on a story I read from ‘The big book of amazing knowledge’ as a child, about some dude two centuries ago creating a haunted house in which he frightened the residents away. I may even remember wrong, which is all the better for me as a writer.

Dad and the aliens – The idea for the bet comes from my personal frustration of being unable to get someone to see my point of view in an argument. If logic and reason won’t convince, maybe the loss of money will. I like how both silly and morbid this story is.

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‘Be kind to puns’ is available for free today, Monday, and the next two Mondays, on Amazon.

Click on the titles to read the stories.

Greedo shot first – The imagery of the second part was taken from ‘Full metal jacket,’ but of course the titular idea came from ‘Star wars’ fandom. I personally believe Han shot first.

The great barrier – The only worrisome thing about writing this was how blatantly obvious it was that I was referring to Donald Trump. Where I live, sentiment is overwhelmingly against Trump, so I wanted to somehow spin things in his favor.

Dumbest President Ever – In my notes, I wrote “Imagine Moss [from ‘The IT crowd’] as president…” From that tiny seed came one of the funnest writing experiences I’ve had. After I wrote the first part, it was easy to imagine what a ‘secret first lady’ of his would be like.

Passing – This story, along with ‘Peace at last’ below, belongs to a similar universe, the images of which are inspired by Isabel Allende’s ‘The house of the spirits,’ in feeling hacienda-ish. The very first idea of ‘Passing’ was also the first line, with the president telling his son about power.

Peace at last – The feud is reminiscent of ‘Romeo & Juliet,’ but it was more directly inspired by the second series of ‘Broadchurch,’ which I had seen four episodes of the day before. I imagined the high tension during a trial, where forgiving gestures could allow the grandchildren of those involved to be at peace.

Philosopher-king – I never mention what musicians encompass the elite ‘Five,’ but that’s beside the point. Such authoritarianism might have been favorable to me when I was younger.

Shadow of hate – This was derived from two quite disparate ideas:  a has-been terrorist, and a sitcom-like plot of impersonating a dead grandson. Why not have the has-been terrorist play the grandson? You might notice my avoidance of mentioning specific religions, even though it’s quite obvious that I’m referring to Islam and Christianity. As I see it, it’s not an attempt at political correctness. It’s pointless to put one religion over another, because it’s the person’s values, with whatever linguistic means of expression he uses, that counts. If you try to impose your beliefs on others, it’s called being an asshole.

Disclosure – This is an attempt at expounding on Batman’s no-kill policy, which I don’t necessarily agree with. The beauty of writing is to say with your whole heart things you don’t mean.

Christ is for losers – Another ‘apology’ similar to the aforementioned ‘Disclosure,’ and inspired by all the current talk of microaggressions and trigger warnings, which are still, thankfully, relegated to the academe. The provocative title is also in keeping with this, even though the story itself is a realization borne of a kind of agony in the garden, and the tone, I’d like to imagine, is similar to Jesus telling off the Pharisees.

Before and after – The run up the semi-fictional Hibok mountain was inspired by an actual hike of mine, but Jane’s ‘awakening’ is derived from something I thought of in front of my laptop. Jane’s decision to never discuss politics again is an extreme position. Politics as a topic has no power to destroy relationships, apart from the spirit in which it is deliberated.

Drill – When I first thought of a vigilante using drills to assassinate officials, the story was more comic-book-ish. By the end, it became more of a TV soap.

The faintness – I keep picturing the ships in ‘Independence Day,’ although in my story, no one actually sees what’s causing the ‘faint’ sound, the idea of which was inspired by me learning a Bach bass line at this time.

God & Milia – This 5,000-worder has an assortment of influences. The first part’s convenience store scene, and the third part’s scene outside the firearms store, were inspired by ‘Taxi driver.’ The characters God and Milia are projections, in my often blundering attempts at reaching out to others. The writing of this came so naturally, and the creative flow during those four days is something I want to emulate in the future.

Repeating itself – I wrote this during a national holiday celebrating Marcos’ removal from power. It was so easy to put down on paper, I immediately forgot what I had written.

Unofficial caretaker – This was the last of the 200 stories I wrote in 2015-2016, but is not definitive of the growth I’d experienced as a writer. I like the whimsicality of it though. One of these days, I’m going to bring back the Justice Renegettes.

Adult talk – I’ve written several princess stories, but this is the only one I cared to publish. Audrey Hepburn is the primary inspiration for all the princesses I write.

Victim – I imagine prisons of the future as monasteries, with a killer retiring in a church with monks who could kick his ass.

Following – Written just when the last election campaign and mudslinging were picking up steam. Unfortunately, nothing even as juicy as this story surfaced during the campaign. My favorite thing about it is Avery and Melanie’s manner of conversation.

The incident – I like the differing tone of the two parts, the former quite solemn and the other a not-too-far-out parody of crap you hear from politicians.

The tip of awesome – This is hardly a political story, apart from Will’s climb up the social ladder. I imagine professional players to be so much better at what they do when not playing professionally.

Diplomatic immunity! – Just a dumb look at the ‘Lethal weapon 2’ villain’s defense taken to absurdity.

The dead fan – I was at a traffic light, when I looked to the election flyers someone left in the car, and thought of what the public would surmise if I, who wouldn’t vote for anybody seeking public office, were crushed by two reckless buses.

Trilogy – I never got around to renaming this ‘trilogy’ of stories, each one with a different protagonist. The inspiration for the first part was imagining what it would be like to be in the same picture as that taken of terror suspects. The second and third parts were derived from seemingly small events mentioned in the preceding installments. Part three wasn’t intended as such, but could serve as a primer on inflation.

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‘Dumbest President Ever: 23 tales of Politica’ is available on Amazon. I’m offering it for FREE for the next three Mondays.

From July 2015 to March 2016, I managed to write 200 stories, more or less one story a day. At the time, I just wanted to set down the many crazy ideas I had, without much thought of the final product. It is only in hindsight that I see a progression in the manner of my writing.

Whereas the earlier stories read more like things that I wanted to say, the later ones don’t seem to be trying to say anything in particular. Whatever values I hold are reflected only when taking into account the story as a whole, as opposed to any single voice.

Now I see what was most important about the past year’s writing project: I lost my agenda. Previously, I’d attempted to put down my grand visions of the time, and with such an end in sight, the resulting effort came across clunky and contrived, if not manipulative. I suppose that this time around, it was the focus on the habit or process of writing, as opposed to the goal of changing the world, that made for a difference.

Is ‘losing the agenda’ valuable only in fiction, as opposed to nonfiction? I thought so at first, but when I recall the times in conversation that I’d tried changing the other person’s beliefs, as opposed to making clear another point of view (mine), I was met with understandable defensiveness if not resentment. Even when writing essays, focus is just as important as substance.

Has my writing actually improved since before writing the 200 stories? I’d like to think so. I don’t get bogged down as much in irrelevant technical explanations inserted in the text just because it seems ‘important’ to mention. To the degree that I’ve been detached from an agenda, I’ve been better at making characters’ voices distinct from one another. They sound less like my mouthpieces.

Maybe more importantly, expressing diverse viewpoints has been a means of forgiveness, of others, and of myself. The struggle isn’t over; there is always something more to say.