Greetings, humans (and the occasional robot)!
Confession time. I haven’t been writing. Well, that’s not entirely accurate. I’m still getting up at 5a every M-F morning, still sitting myself down at the computer with a good cup of coffee… but I haven’t been working on my core novel projects. Instead, I’ve been working on the story for this newsletter and a lot of other marketing bits that us Indie Published authors need to do.
Specifically, those things have all been about “going wide” — meaning, working on offering all my books in all the places I can! And then figuring out how to tell the world.
All the places include: B&N, Kobo, Apple, my own shopify store, and more (in addition to where I started on Amazon). The only major place that I’m still working on getting the books into is the Google Play store.
So please… grab copies of my books from your favorite place! And leave a review in one or more of the places! Here are the universal links:
Robot Galaxy Series: https://geni.us/RobotGalaxySeries1-4
Or just start with Book 1 of the Robot Galaxy Series: Crazy Foolish Robots: https://geni.us/CrazyFoolishRobots
Lunar Logic: https://geni.us/LunarLogic
If you’re also an Indie Author, or thinking about the Indie Author journey and want to know more, consider becoming a paid member of my newsletter. Besides being able to contribute elements to the flash fiction stories I write and getting yourself Tuckerized, today in the “Beyond…” section, I’ll be diving into a lot more detail on my process for “going wide.”
Last newsletter, I presented the flash fiction piece, “Alien in Aruba: Soursop Sojourn.”
I decided to do something a little different for today’s flash fiction.
Today’s story is in the form of a letter. I really enjoy the first person perspective done this way, and hope you will, too. And hopefully you’ll see my own personal love of a recent “holiday” come through!
In the emails I’ve received from several of you about my stories, a lot of you are interested in Kim’s home world and have requested to read more about that. Well, this story is a start to dropping in a little more information. And I think I already know what my story will be *two* newsletters from now.
Yes, two. I have no idea what the next one will be on April 4th. But a few days after April 4th is April 8th… and just this past weekend I made plans for my family to travel to see the total eclipse that’s happening throughout the continental United States that day! For the longest time, I was bummed anticipating we would miss it… I thought that taking the kids out of school and taking even more time off from work was just going to be too much.
But as the day approaches, I’ve been asking myself this one question: “Will I regret not going and not taking my kids to see it?” What started as a little yes grew into a big heck YES that I couldn’t ignore.
In case you haven’t found any good resources on the upcoming eclipse, here are a few:
https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/resources/
https://eclipse.aas.org/resources/education-outreach
I have our eclipse glasses. Now the only thing I need to do is figure out how to take pictures of it with my camera. Or decide that enough other people will take photos that I shouldn’t worry about that. Although, years from now, I might appreciate having my own photos. I was struggling to remember when it was that I saw a partial eclipse while I was in college. Then a friend mentioned the year in her Facebook post, so I was able to find a photo online:
There you have it. You now know my upcoming plans: writing and eclipse watching and more writing!
Now on to today’s flash fiction story!
[Note: Quick reminder about “flash fiction.” While there is no official legal definition of “flash fiction,” it’s generally accepted that flash fiction has a word count of up to 1500 words. However, to make this an interesting challenge, I’ve told myself that these stories will be no more than 1000 words.]
If you want to know more about how this story came about, that’s all in the “Beyond…” section for paid subscribers below. (Paid subscribers also get to suggest elements and get their name used in a future story!)
Alien in Absentia: Perceptions of Pi(e)
Addressing:
Quaralia 94
Emeritus, Alien Technological Assessment Conclave
Mother,
I hope this communication finds you well. I realize you might be in the midst of preparations for the Orbital Harmony Festival and I understand you dislike distractions, but I felt this couldn't wait.
We can probably both agree that you deserve an explanation for my not returning with the rest of my team. My time with the First Contact Party has been challenging, and I recognize and am grateful for your support. Although, you know as well as I that I didn't ask for your help. I never have. I’ve only ever asked for your understanding.
To achieve that common ground, I believe an explanation to my–what might come across as hasty – decision to remain is necessary. Part of my reasoning, as you might suspect, is that returning home would not change or improve my situation from when I left, and I don't want to leverage your reputation any longer but it’s impossible to separate myself from it.
There’s more to it, though. I tried to include this next bit in our final report, but Crasto didn't understand the relevance. I believe you will understand.
As you know, my assignments on Earth primarily involved exploring a continent in the planet's northern hemisphere. Food and sustenance is such an amazing part of the culture here, with so much variation even within a single continent.
I came across a substance called pie—a baked dish with a pastry dough casing and sweet or savory filling. I'm sure it comes as no surprise that I favor the sweet.
My initial encounter with pie had a blueberry filling that was slightly tart and delightful. Since then, I’ve observed other instances of pie periodically. However, my curiosity was piqued when I discovered these instances were occurring more frequently.
Chris and I discovered (no, he never switched teams, but our assignments intersected at the time) a large group of humans preparing for what we initially misheard as “Pie Day”—naturally, I was thrilled at the prospect of a festival dedicated to my newfound favorite pastry.
We were wrong! At first, I was disappointed, thinking I'd miss out on trying all the other flavors of pie I hadn't yet. Instead, you'll understand why I was excited...
The celebration wasn’t for pie, but for a number named Pi, sounding identical to the dessert. I'd written reports on "puns" before. This is an instance of one of those.
But mother, the number? What they call Pi is what we know as the universal orbital constant!
Sure, we were aware of their current level of mathematics, necessary for their burgeoning technical advances. But openly celebrating a fundamental mathematical constant? This elevates them to a level of cultural sophistication that puts them on par with the Vorellians or even the Nubuloxians.
Chris and I visited a local bakery that was offering a Pi Day promotion: discounted pies for anyone who could recite the first 10 digits of the universal orbital constant, and free pies for those who could recite at least 100 digits. Naturally, we took advantage of the opportunity, as did two other humans we met there.
Curious, I asked what motivated them to memorize the digits, noting that while many celebrated the day, few patrons seemed capable of reciting beyond the first 10.
"One word: free pie," one human said, triumphantly holding up a fork-full of apple pie.
The other playfully nudged the first's shoulder. "It's more than that. It's an excellent memory exercise. I use it as a meditation sequence and, well, I can't explain why I'm fascinated with it."
"Because it's universal," I mused, prompting a nod.
"Yeah, something like that," the human replied, her fork diving into a slice of strawberry rhubarb pie—a slice from the same pie I’d selected and finished off before this couple walked in.
"How many digits have you memorized?" I asked. I was legitimately curious, and it sounded like she could have kept on going well past 100 digits.
"1585. Well, a few more than that, actually."
I raised an eyebrow. "That's an oddly specific number, isn’t it?"
The human chuckled, explaining, "Yeah. There’s a reason for that. The three digits of my birthday, July 27th, occur at the 1583rd position. So, I figured that was a good memorization target. Plus, the sequence that follows, 909 and then four sevens, were just easy to tack on."
The conversation tapered off as they seemed keen to finish their pie, and as I've noted in previous reports, I still find extended human interactions somewhat challenging.
But now you understand why I think the team left prematurely. We barely scratched the surface to uncover the nuances of their culture, their knowledge, or their sentiments about the things that matter to us. Here, in a random chance encounter, I encountered a human who—while she admittedly didn’t understand why—is drawn to the universal orbital constant.
You know better than I that had she been born on our planet, she would have been destined to be a wormhole pilot of the highest order.
Chris will be staying as well and has asked me to convey his best wishes to his family, distant though they may be. He suspects they might have forgotten him by now, but just in case, he wants them to know he's doing fine.
We plan to secure jobs and find a place to live soon. We have enough local currency to sustain us for a few months. I'll message you again once we settle in.
I intend to keep the communicator concealed and will check on it periodically, possibly every three point one four days. Or, every Pi days, to use the human label for it. I'll understand if you don't reply immediately, but I suspect you're even more intrigued than I am by humanity’s recognition and use of the universal orbital constant.
Be well, mother.
Squawsal 54, aka Kim
What did you think of the story?
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If you like my stuff, then it’s possible you’d enjoy the work of other authors that I participate in newsletter swaps with. Here are this weeks swaps:
Finally, and especially if you also love podcasts, make sure you’re subscribed and listening to mine! I’m one of 4 co-hosts of The BIG Sci-Fi Podcast. New episodes come out on Fridays and this week, the crew talks about the classic 80’s movie, “The Last Starfighter!”
Beyond…
Now for all the behind-the-scenes stuff. Today, I’m mostly writing about everything involved in taking my books “wide”… the steps I took, what I wish I knew, etc.
In upcoming newsletters, I plan to talk about things like:
My (on-going) experiences with Amazon and FB ads
Planning a Kickstarter
Audiobook production
Starting my direct store
Using Goodreads as an author
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