• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

101 Words

101 Word Short Stories

  • Subscribe
  • About
  • Submissions
  • Volunteer

Search Results for: rennie

Sea View

April 3, 2017 2 Comments

Sea View

It was a dump, but David always stayed there.

Room 501. Sea view. Gazing at the ocean, he could pretend he was home, not wherever this was.

Sometimes he visited the dimensional jump lab’s ruins, where he had destroyed everything. Today, his longing for Rose outweighed his penance.

They had lived on the fourth floor, not the fifth, but the elevation matched. This was where their apartment had been, where in another universe it might still be. Where Rose might still be.

He lay on the bed where she wasn’t, in this universe where she had never been born, and dreamed.

By Ian Rennie

Call Waiting

March 27, 2017 4 Comments

Call Waiting

The phone rings and I answer without thinking.

“Hello?”

“Michael? I’m inside. The interface worked.” It’s Susan. It’s always Susan.

“Susan…”

“Why is it so dark?”

She always asks this. For a decade she’s been asking.

“Susan, something went wrong. You… you didn’t make it.”

“What do you mean? I’m…”

“During the upload. You had a stroke. This was all they could save.”

Her voice starts to degrade. “Mi— ichael. I—”

The line goes dead. The digital ghost begins its cycle again.

The phone rings. I answer. It’s my penance.

“Michael? I’m inside. The interface worked.”

It’s Susan.

It’s always Susan.

By Ian Rennie

Throwing Doors

March 9, 2017 5 Comments

Throwing Doors

It was a brilliant idea, until the moment it ended the world.

Space could be folded if you constructed a pair of entangled warp gates. You could travel faster than light but only to places you’d already been.

Then someone had the brainwave: warp gates were cheaper than manned rockets. Launch them to other worlds, and we could traverse the stars in seconds.

For decades we sent gates to other planets, hoping to walk through and take these worlds as our own.

When the invaders came through, we realised our mistake much too late.

Doors could be opened from either side.

By Ian Rennie

Writing Contest Issue 24 – Winner

February 27, 2017 2 Comments

Stitches

And the Editors’ Choice Is…

  • “Stitches” by Derek Harmening

Congratulations to Derek.

Featured Stories

The following stories made the short list and have been put into our Featured Stories category. They are listed in no particular order.

  • “Melancholy Flowers” by Brandon Salkil
  • “On the Other Foot” by Don Tassone
  • “The Sirens Sing” by Museworthy Man
  • “Dad’s Wife” by C L King
  • “The Autograph Hunter” by Ian Rennie
  • “Simply Digable” by Michael Snyder
  • “Sign of the Mimes” by Alex Z. Salinas
  • “Rose of Galaxies” by Amanda Bergloff
  • “Global Excuse Note” by David Daniel

Guess what? We just published a new anthology, and it’s free.

Submit your stories and you might be included in a future issue.

Good luck!

—Shannon

The Autograph Hunter

February 21, 2017 3 Comments

The Autograph Hunter

I queue at Mike Fox’s signing table. His real name is Nigel something. He smiles as I hand over the grimoire in one of his dust jackets. He signs. The connection is made.

There’s power in names that people don’t realise. A name describes your shape in the web of reality.

A name you’ve created, written in your own hand, crackles with power. There for the taking with the right spell.

He’s mine now. Next week, his inspiration will dry up. Next year, his publisher will drop him. His potential energy belongs to me.

“Thanks,” I say, meaning it. “Big fan.”

By Ian Rennie

Writing Contest Issue 23 – Winner

January 30, 2017 Leave a Comment

Potato Eyes

And the Editors’ Choice Is…

“Potato Eyes” by Kathryn Kulpa

Congratulations to Kathryn!

Featured Stories

The following stories made the short list and have been put into our Featured Stories category. They are listed in no particular order.

  • “Storm Spun” by Ben Nein
  • “Clearing the Soil” by Don Tassone
  • “Moment of Silence” by Ian Rennie
  • “Every Piece of You” by Mary Claire Garcia
  • “Uber” by Sean Daly
  • “Across a Distance” by Ken McGrath
  • “Bar Fight” by Simon Hole
  • “Down the Road” by Devon Balwit
  • “The Lost Wall” by Fred Vogel
  • “Potato Eyes” by Kathryn Kulpa

Write on!

—Shannon

Something Rotten

January 26, 2017 8 Comments

Something Rotten

Last night I saw my father’s ghost.

In a sepulchral whisper he told me he had been murdered by my uncle, who had designs on my mother.

I told him I knew.

I told him he was a worthless drunk who broke Mother’s arm a week before he died, that we had lived in fear of him, that the best thing Uncle Claude ever did for us was to kill him. I told him he would wander forever, unmourned.

Then I went and got drunk.

Through my morning hangover I’m glad of what I said. Though my head hurts something rotten.

By Ian Rennie

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Search Stories

The end.