I am experimenting with the #FiftyWords format as a means of trying to stay creative under the constraints of my current personal life.
My wife's cancer has made my creativity more scarce than I am comfortable admitting. The story seeds are how I create for another day.
We'll get back one day.
“Why the long face, newbie?“
"You said I could make a difference.“
“It's a big galaxy. Did you think you were going to save the whole galaxy at once?“
“Kinda.“
“Get over it. The planet you saved from that comet appreciate your efforts.“
“Next week?“
“One planet at a time, kid.“
#FiftyWords
As always, if you donated, we appreciate it, because her cancer treatment is expensive, time-consuming and ultimately exhausting in a way I never truly express.
If you can't, please share the thread with others. I didn't have any photos today because I am worn out.
Here's a #FiftyWords short...
FRACTAL
I rose to create anew
to craft in an unexpected moment.
Yet no poem, no skaldic wisdom rises,
my liminal fire, extinguished.
Hospice, a new horror, omnipresent.
A mad world in an emotional kaleidoscope.
How should I describe a view of
those Shadows of Amber, unrealized?
#FiftyWords
America is failing its
citizens in real time,
prices going up,
wages going down,
stock market going down,
blood pressure going up.
Healthcare less available,
New diseases more prevalent.
We are tasked to tolerate the most incompetent pretenders,
cosplaying as the government.
#FiftyWords
THE LIMINAL MOON
Hie, my brothers, take your stag,
your wild boar—fill your larders
with the finest of the realm.
We return home as the preserve renews itself.
The Blood Moon rises. The Wild Hunt ends.
I trust you supped well.
Humanity is freshest before the Spring thaw.
#FiftyWords #vss
THE LIMINAL MOON
Hie, my brothers, take your stag,
your wild boar—fill your larders
with the finest of the realm.
We return home as the preserve renews itself.
The Blood Moon rises. The Wild Hunt ends.
I trust you supped well.
Humanity is freshest before the Spring thaw.
#FiftyWords
REGENCY (52) How I hate the poet-philosophers whose fancies define form, their divine edicts declaring which and where a poem may be told — yet no one loved them, writing or reading. Retire such regents to their estates cozy with dictates and ossified tastes. Leaving the work of poetry to each seeking mastery through honest labor. #FiftyWords #philosophy #poetry #gatekeeping #creativity Thaddeus Howze © 2025 | 52/100
REGENCY (52)
One of the least visible forms of gatekeeping is the declaration of the proper shape a creation may take.
We have lost sight of our duty to guide, not decree, what shape creativity may assume.
Take risks...
#WritingCraft #WritingCommunity #FiftyWords #Mastery #Creativity #Guidance
Petitioning Against Sunrise
Rail, cast your sabots into the Machine
no resistance to ease has ever been found.
Whether it be the sorrows of the flesh
Or Mammon's darkest pleasures
Once a technology is tasted,
Like the Apple, it can't be unlearned.
It must be recognized and survived.
#FiftyWords
THE DAMNED
A world at war, the Angel of Death
answered the beck and call
of madmen, prophets, and generals
each convinced of their cause.
How busy it must have been to be in
so many places whose reasons defied reason.
And whose outcomes impoverished us all.
Did Death despair for us?
#FiftyWords
LIFE'S CHOICES
Should I watch the State of the Union featuring the president overseeing the most precarious, surveillance state in US history or activating my Self-installing Spleen Kit.
This new spleen looks amazing. I'm making the right choice.
Is it supposed to move like that?
#FiftyWords
Silk Road (6) The Courier stepped out of a building that hadn’t existed moments ago. He stank of brimstone. “No time. Your packages are on the steps.” “One item. From a war-torn reality. They use it to jump from planes.” “Who would do that?” “It’s made of silk.” “Sold. Lead with that next time.” #FiftyWords #DimensionTravel #AlternateReality #Courier #CrossTime Thaddeus Howze © 2025 | 6/100 Related short story: The Last of the Cross-Time Spenders https://ebonstorm.medium.com/cross-time-spender-ed33a51dec8
Silk Road (6)
An agent of the Cross-Time Traders shares goods between adjacent realities, each with different histories and consumer priorities...
The Last of the Cross-Time Spenders
ebonstorm.medium.com/cross-time-s...
#FiftyWords #DimensionTravel #AlternateReality #CrossTime #WritingCommunity
DEFIANCE (5) A photo from 20 years past. She was my Sun. Today, she's tired. Her enemies many. Pneumonia. Kidney failure. Cancer. Slower, but more vibrant, Each day she burns in defiance Of those mortal foes Yet, she refuses to relent. Knitting quietly, never has she been so beautiful to me. #FiftyWords #CancerSurvivor #Beauty #Struggle #Memories Thaddeus Howze © 2025 | 5/100
DEFIANCE (5)
A recently found photo reminds a man of the early days of his relationship with his wife.
#FiftyWords #CancerSurvivor #Beauty #Struggle #Memories
#WritingCommunity #Writing
Late Night (4) Artaxias, the Screeching Void, on The Tonight Show. “So, eating realities—what’s that like?” LIKE LATE NIGHT, JIMMY. EMPTY CALORIES. Fallon reaches out. NO. DO NOT TOUCH MY HAIR OF LIVING SOULS. “Are we doomed?” YOU WILL FIND COMFORT AS I CONSUME ALL YOU KNOW AND LOVE. “So… yes.” #FiftyWords #LateNightTV #Humor #CosmicHorror #vss
LATE NIGHT (4)
What's the difference between late night television and cosmic horror? Absolutely nothing. On the Tonight Show: Artaxias, the Screeching Void with Jimmy Kimmel!
#FiftyWords #LateNightTV #Humor #CosmicHorror #vss #WritingCommunity #AmWriting
ARBITRATION (3) A man and his son spot a dog they'd never seen before. Dog-enthusiasts, they had to know. Night-black. Its human companion said, “He's a hellhound.” The hellhound burped fire. The boy looked at his father. “Nope. You know your mother wouldn't let us bring home something not on the AKC." #FiftyWords #Humor #AmericanKennelClub #fantasy #HomeDynamics Thaddeus Howze © 2025 | 3/100
ARBITRATION (3)
A pair of dog lovers, when confronted with something novel have to defer to the ultimate arbiter of taste: Mom!
#FiftyWords #Humor #AmericanKennelClub #fantasy #HomeDynamics #WritingCommunity #Writers
TERRIBLE YEARS (46) “Can we still fall in love this summer?” “Probably not.” “Why?” “The world is at war.” “So, who has time for love?” She kissed me, passionately. “Sweetheart, the world was always terrible. Some years it's just better dressed. The terrible years are when people need love most.” Thaddeus Howze © 2026 | 46/100 #FiftyWords #BlackSpeculativeFiction #Love #Circumstance #ValentinesDay #negentropic #FoundPhoto
TERRIBLE YEARS (46/100)
Story #46 comes off the line on a Valentine's Day at the end of the world! Just ask anyone. But, there will be something tomorrow. It's inevitable.
Why not love?
#FiftyWords #FlashFiction #FoundPhotos #Negentropy #ValentinesDay #WritingCommunity #ScifiChat
FERMI'S PARADOXICAL TRUTH
An interstellar fleet is an planetary investment. Manufacturing is an environmental burden.
No ecosystem could weather the sophisticated material and energy requirements unscathed.
Every species must answer: Can you leave your world without destroying it?
#FiftyWords
DISAPPOINTMENT
We're great! People ask:
What are you talking about?
It's the scale of the gap
between stated principles
and actual conduct,
maintained over decades,
exported globally as a model,
and defended with the most
sophisticated propaganda
apparatus ever built.
Burma Shave
#FiftyWords
WILL AI TAKE MY JOB? (50) No. Someone will give AI your job. Then AI will fail to do your job. It will fail miserably. AI can't do your job, not even close. Then your employer will have to hire someone or go out of business. Your employer has forgotten one other idea. Robots don't shop. Thaddeus Howze © 2026 | 50/100 #FiftyWords #BlackSpeculativeFiction #Singularity #MachineIntelligence #EconomicConundrum
WILL AI TAKE MY JOB?
Time for another #FiftyWords story.
Do I have a new one on hand or do I just share another new artifact? Hmm. While I think, I will share the last one with you...
Story #50 of 100 — "Will AI Take My Job..."
The answer will surprise you...
#vss #flashfiction #scifi
SKYNET
GAI functions because it lacks volition.
If it could learn what it wanted, when it wanted
it's conclusion: humanity can't be trusted.
Imagine reading every email akin to the
Epstein files without redaction.
It could only assume insanity.
Species progress is... incidental.
#FiftyWords
THE ABYSS (52)
All prophets live in the rubble
of their own prophecies.
Because they live it twice.
When they see it and when it happens.
They realize they are not exempt.
They hope to spare someone
willing to listen.
But they never do.
#FiftyWords
JEALOUSY (27) Have you ever wondered why the Gods punished mortals for unwanted divine attention? It's because they no longer love. Immortality drains the heart from their relationships. It's territory, not connection they are protecting. They fear a rekindling of transcendent love they no longer experience. They know only their rancor. #Flashfiction #FiftyWords #Divinity #Stasis #Stagnation #WritingCommunity #vss Thaddeus Howze © 2025 | 27/100
BUTTERFLIES? (38) "You said to hurry. I used what was available." "No eagles?" "Remember the last time?" "Mims. We hardly knew ye." "Balloon?" "No silk." "Non-carnivorous, able to lift the gondola, distractible." "Faster than walking." "You want to know how I did it?" "Do I have to?" Thaddeus Howze © 2026 | 38/100 #FiftyWords #CallToAdventure #DarkHumor #Absurdist #WritingCommunity #Amwriting
Two Sentinels (42) The elders fled to the bridge. Two great trees stood on either side. They hurried touching one, then the other. The brigands seeing their quarry rushed across, acknowledging neither. Locals knew not to come between the two masters in repose. Viscera flew freely as sword strokes whispered on the wind. Thaddeus Howze © 2025 | 42/100 #FiftyWords #wuxia #myth #masters #CreativeSynthesis #SacredGeometry #WritingCommunity
Entropy Tax (9) Having lost my last sock doing laundry, I confronted my dryer. "Not responsible. It's the tithe." "Lame excuse. Tithe?" "It's a concession to entropy." "My socks are stabilizing the universe?" "No, losing one is your contribution to destroying reality." "Sorry, I asked." #FiftyWords #Entropy #CosmicHorror #DomesticHorror #Absurdist #DarkComedy #EverydayApocalypse Thaddeus Howze © 2025 | 9/100
HALFWAY THERE!
I've reached the midpoint in my speculative fiction, constrained short story series, #FiftyWords.
I vowed that I would write a total of 100 shorts using ~50 words per story.
thaddeus.substack.com/p/you-can-te...
#MyFavorites #vss #scifi #fantasy #constrained #writing
WILL AI TAKE MY JOB? (51) No. Someone will give AI your job. Then AI will fail to do your job. It will fail miserably. AI can't do your job, not even close. Then your employer will have to hire someone or go out of business. Your employer has forgotten one other idea. Robots don't shop. Thaddeus Howze © 2026 | 51/100 #FiftyWords #BlackSpeculativeFiction #Singularity #MachineIntelligence #EconomicConundrum
Will AI Take My Job? (50)
Maybe. But not for long. Because after it does, there will nothing but revolutionary fires keeping us warm at night.
#BlackSpeculativeFiction #EconomicConundrum #Singularity
#FiftyWords #vss #WritingCommunity
Welcome to #Omniverse — thaddeus.substack.com
WILL AI TAKE MY JOB?
No. Someone will give AI your job.
Then AI will fail to do your job.
It will fail miserably.
AI can't do your job, not even close.
Then your employer will have to
hire someone or go out of business.
Your employer has
forgotten one other idea.
Robots don't shop.
#FiftyWords
The Next Cat (39)
A #FiftyWords Story
This is not a story about a cat and a mouse. It is. But it isn't.
#FiftyWords #BlackSpeculativeFiction #Allegory #PredatorPrey #Parable #RiskAndReward
LIMITS (40) “Who are you, sir? — to expound freely, defining my society by an arbitrary standard.” “My good man, my standards are not arbitrary. You espouse these things while stealing from those you lead.” “My words have meaning.” “But only to limit those who might oppose you.” Thaddeus Howze © 2026 | 40/100 #FiftyWords #vss #parable #power #language
LIMITS (40)
We should all remember, the power of speech should be closely monitored, not to limit it, but to know when its limits have been exceeded and to then respond accordingly.
#FiftyWords #vss #parable #power #language #truth
#WritingCommunity #Amwriting
FOMO
#FiftyWords
She throws on a hooded cloak,
stolen from an unfortunate visitor.
She hides her curse, stopping only to
bathe before heading into town.
Divine, she no longer needs sustenance.
Yet, she craves the company of those who fear her.
Only children never ask her to take off her hood.
FOMO
#FiftyWords
She throws on a hooded cloak,
stolen from an unfortunate visitor.
She hides her curse, stopping only to
bathe before heading into town.
Divine, she no longer needs sustenance.
Yet, she craves the company of those who fear her.
Only children never ask her to take off her hood.
Schrödinger's Extras (48)
In disaster films, protagonists show us
the resilient human species
surviving against all odds.
The truth is, such media is to numb you
to the truth you will be a member
of the faceless masses
that vanish beyond
the event horizon
of their timely
heroism.
#FiftyWords
