SF stories: only six words long

WIRED magazine asked a plethora of mainly SF authors but also some others to try writing a complete short story using only 6 words.

Something tells me this is one of those formats that, like haiku and limericks, is insidiously addictive, like the literary equivalent of Lay’s potato chips.

Bet you can’t write just one.

Now you know my secret compulsion.

Could I stop myself? Doubt it.

Resolved: find a better hobby immediately!

Okay, let’s hear from the pros.

What follows are my personal favorites:

Computer, did we bring batteries? Computer?
- Eileen Gunn

Gown removed carelessly. Head, less so.
- Joss Whedon

Machine. Unexpectedly, I’d invented a time
- Alan Moore

Longed for him. Got him. Shit.
- Margaret Atwood

His penis snapped off; he’s pregnant!
- Rudy Rucker

With bloody hands, I say good-bye.
- Frank Miller

“Cellar?” “Gate to, uh … hell, actually.”
- Ronald D. Moore

Epitaph: Foolish humans, never escaped Earth.
- Vernor Vinge

We kissed. She melted. Mop please!
- James Patrick Kelly

I’m your future, child. Don’t cry.
- Stephen Baxter

Lie detector eyeglasses perfected: Civilization collapses.
- Richard Powers

I’m dead. I’ve missed you. Kiss … ?
- Neil Gaiman

The baby’s blood type? Human, mostly.
- Orson Scott Card

Kirby had never eaten toes before.
- Kevin Smith

Rained, rained, rained, and never stopped.
- Howard Waldrop

We went solar; sun went nova.
- Ken MacLeod

“I couldn’t believe she’d shoot me.”
- Howard Chaykin

Don’t marry her. Buy a house.
- Stephen R. Donaldson

TIME MACHINE REACHES FUTURE!!! … nobody there …
- Harry Harrison

Easy. Just touch the match to
- Ursula K. Le Guin

New genes demand expression — third eye.
- Greg Bear

K.I.A. Baghdad, Aged 18 - Closed Casket
- Richard K. Morgan

WORLD’S END. Sic transit gloria Monday.
- Gregory Benford

Epitaph: He shouldn’t have fed it.
- Brian Herbert

Batman Sues Batsignal: Demands Trademark Royalties.
- Cory Doctorow

Heaven falls. Details at eleven.
- Robert Jordan

Bush told the truth. Hell froze.
- William Gibson

whorl. Help! I’m caught in a time
- Darren Aronofsky and Ari Handel

Thought I was right. I wasn’t.
- Graeme Gibson

Dinosaurs return. Want their oil back.
- David Brin

Democracy postponed. Whence franchise? Ask Diebold…
- David Brin

Metrosexuals notwithstanding, quiche still lacks something.
- David Brin

Please, this is everything, I swear.
- Orson Scott Card

Mozilla devastates Redmond, Google’s nuke implicated.
- Charles Stross

Will this do (lazy writer asked)?
- Ken MacLeod

Cryonics: Disney thawed. Mickey gnawed. Omigawd.
- Eileen Gunn

Clones demand rights: second Emancipation Proclamation.
- Paul Di Filippo

We crossed the border; they killed us.
- Howard Waldrop

Salinger story: three koans in fountain.
- Howard Waldrop

There were only six words left.
- Gregory Maguire

Starlet sex scandal. Giant squid involved.
- Margaret Atwood

Parallel universe. Bush, destitute, joins army.
- Steven Meretzky

Dorothy: “Fuck it, I’ll stay here.”
- Steven Meretzky

Go here to read them all.