Particle Collision-Grateful this flash fiction was accepted in 10 X 10 Flash Fiction

 

DEFINITION-In chemistry, particle collision is the basis of reaction rates. According to collision theory, atoms and molecules must collide in order to react.

    There's a chemistry lesson for you within this flash fiction piece that appeared today in Zvi Sesling's 10 X 10: Flash Fiction magazine. The above definition (in italics) is found in science, but my flash fiction is talking about the other kind of chemsitry, the kind that exists or doesn't exist between two people. In that kind of chemistry there is some jilting, stalking, interference, explosive events, which, in life, happens. (Not very healthy class-Study up!).  

In the above video, pretend that the protons in the video are four human beings colliding at a certain location, let's say in Cambridge, Ma. (And then a kitchen sink and chair come out! Did you watch it?)

  The piece 10 X 10 published , Particle Collision was written two years ago and was a blast to write. It appears on the last page when you click the link. Riding a metaphor until it pops is a lot of fun. Yes, there is some truth within it if you figure out the riddle, but often a particle is just a particle. Nothing happens. 

Maybe I was full of hot air, and that was the result of a flame,
which may have become a forced situation. Confused? Yeah, me too. 

 

How to find my latest published piece, "It's a New Year," in Right Hand Pointing #140

 I've decided to start submitting again, so I picked an old favorite Right Hand Pointing who has gratefully published me ten times in the past. This is the first time I've been included since 2017.  I wish some other old favorites were still around, such as Night Train, The Legendary, In Between Altered States were still around, as they liked my work as well. 

    So RHP started in 2004, and it turned 16. Dale Wisely points out that some of the writers included in this issue were born in that decade, so it makes one think of aging, and journals dying.

    RHP is like an old friend, and through the years they have changed the way to browse the magazine. My new flash piece, "It's a New Year," (written before the pandemic so that phrase has nothing to do with 2020), is at the bottom of their issue, the bottom of their scroll. My advice is to read the whole issue and get to mine, but if I wish to self-promote, and you just wish to read, "It's a New Year," open www.righthandpointing.net  and go to issue #140, themed 'distant dark.' 

Then use the search/find tool, which you can do using your keyboard and hitting Ctrl + F

A little search box will appear on your screen, so type my last name 'Gager' in that box

Then next to my name are 'up' and 'down' arrows. Click the down arrow until the story comes up. Right Hand Pointing is all about arrows, and hands pointing, and directional flow, so this should all be very logical. 

And there you should have it....

Oh, before I forget, the story behind this story is based on staying home (ha! Imagine that) on New Year's Eve, and participating in a midnight phone call with an exe...with bad reception (double meaning intentional)

Blurbs and endorsements for soon to be released, "Every Day There Is Something About Elephants"

"These stories by Timothy Gager are skewed, off-center, off-balance and an absolute delight to read. They begin strange, then fill like a balloon of strangeness about to pop, except they don't. They bob and quiver on your palm like so much lime jello. Oddly moving and always thought provoking, Every Day There is Something about Elephants is Lydia Davis meets Etgar Keret in a saloon and they're passing a napkin back and forth, riffing, pens blazing. That."

Kathy Fish, author of Together We Can Bury It

"Like one of his characters, a cop named Jack, Gager is "the maestro of an out of time orchestra," and his stories arrest us with their reassuring unpredictability, their devoted irreverence, and their tragicomic grasp of the absurd. Birth, family, romance, work, grief, hilarity, fear, joy, and mortality all tumble together until their colors run. These brief stories will have you thinking — even if you're unsure of what — and leave you dazzled, recharged, and ready for damn near anything. "

                                                                        Richard Hoffman

Every Day There is Something About Elephants bristles with the energy of a keen and curious mind. Timothy Gager is a virtuoso of the compressed narrative. Each of these fictions sticks like a 10. 

Christopher Allen, author of Other Household Toxins

Thank-you to such kind and generous people. Find out about them!

Kathy Fish, who is becoming one of the leaders of Flash Fiction
Richard Hoffman, whose talent and ability to write in many different disciplines is amazing.
Christopher Allen, who is a killer editor, worked with me many times, and has a wonderful new book out. 

Oh, here's Lydia Davis



meeting Etgar Keret

What about an out of time orchestra?




When I think of sticking a perfect 10, I think of this

JOY-(Two more "The Recital" and "Divided" are published in The Legendary)-DIVISION

The Legendary run by Katie Moore and Jim Parks has a Slam and Flash issue. Two of my flash were accepted. Read "The Recital"  and "Divided" especially if you're a Joy Divsion fan!

Three times the Metazen

The Soul Must Go On is a story about the afterlife and not wasting life's time which is a phrase I've

used to  base my own actions on. To me it means to live life as if it's your last day and to try to make that  last day the best one possible.

Metazen has been good to me. They've previously published some of my more symbolic prose. You are right here in the universe now and in this moment. Care about what is important to you. Don't waste life's time.

If the characters in this story seem familiar to you they've appeared before in a story about child support published in Thieves Jargon and anthologized in Treating A Sick Animal: Micro and Flash Fictions.  

Boston Cyclorama

From today's story: The next morning Wolfboy and Snickens raked my remains in with the dirt. They tossed two bits of bone to Joe and Bangles but they only sniffed at them. 

When I analyzed this for this blog post it made me think how exactly I knew people's ashes had bone in them. Years ago a co-worker named Herb died and he wanted people to celebrate his life at his memorial service. The event was held at the Cyclorama in Boston, which was a huge art space. They poured his ashes out on the floor. I saw that the ashes weren't similar to the kind you'd find in an ashtray but they were chunky. There were white bits of bone in them about the size of a knuckle.

Then the music started. It was eighties electronic music and the leader of the festivities shouted that we should celebrate and dance in Herb's ashes. I remember dancing and the sound "crunch, crunch, crunch" under my shoes.

When driving home I realized that someone would have to sweep up the ashes. What do you do with ashes that have already been celebrated upon by a group dance? The sweeping up afterward seemed so odd. Did it go from the dustpan to the trash? I really felt I needed to know.