This is part of my project “(fictional) notes from The British Museum,” wherein once a week, I visit a single room at The British Museum in London, zero in on an intriguing object — or occasionally, as with this week, objects — therein, and quickly write a piece of flash fiction inspired by that object.
The stories in this series are not usually about museums, or artifacts, or history, or at least not necessarily… the museum is just a way to kickstart my fiction lobe. Here is this week’s inspiration:
And here’s how the story begins:
The story is live now at my portfolio site, and also at my Patreon; at either place, it’s for Patreon patrons only. Which you can become for as little as $1 per month. Will you miss a single dollar? Probably not. (And if you would, then dear god, please do not worry about me and just look after yourself.) But lots of readers — and I do have lots of readers here! — sending a dollar a month my way could make a real, significant difference in my quality of life, my mental health, and (most importantly) my ability to put more words together in entertaining and enlightening ways for your enjoyment.
I’ve been posting these genre tidbits — science fiction, fantasy, a bit of horror — nearly weekly since the beginning of the year, and this latest is No. 22. Most are over 1,000 words, so that’s probably technically bigger than flash fiction, in fact. If you pledge as little as $1 now, you can read all of them. And in case you’re worried, with these stories I am aiming for moods that I hope you will agree are progressive, humanist, and optimistic. It feels important to be positive right now, when reality feels so dystopian. And, thankfully, that direction seems to be the one my imagination is tending toward without having to be forced there.
I plan to keep posting a story a week (or as close to that as I can manage) through the end of the year, and then collect them all into an ebook. And I will give that ebook to all patrons who, at that point, have pledged as much as whatever the book costs. But giving now will really help me. I am not embarrassed to say that I am more financially desperate than I have ever been. Something big has to change for the better for me, and soon, or I don’t know how I’m going to survive, either practically or psychologically.
Please support my work if at all possible.
Thank you.
Well, duh! :-)
The photo of the Sackler Gallery in the museum makes the title of the story feel even more inspiring.
If the story turns into a novel, I’ll buy it on publication day.
It will be, though. Buy the T-shirt! Exit through the gift shop.