Writing Samples

Vacation Throwback: Firstborn

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Yeah I know, I might be back by this point. I’m just taking advance precautions. So whether or not I’m back at my desk, here’s one last vacation throwback post.

Any of you remember Firstborn? It was a short bit of flash fiction I pumped out one night after a Reddit prompt last year. Short, cute, and also pretty fun, this story will eventually be in More Unusual Events, but right now it’s free to read for all here on the site. When a witch attempts to con a man out of his firstborn child, things go fantastically awry … and not in the ways you’d expect for any involved.

So hit the jump. It’s short, cute, and a lot of fun.

Firstborn

Vacation Throwback: Fireteam Freelance

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I saved this one for the weekend because, well … It’s the length of an epic-sized novel. Maybe a little bigger actually.

Yes folks, I’m still on vacation. But I thought I’d take this time to remind (and notify, for some) of a little experiment I ran last year called Fireteam Freelance.

Fireteam Freelance was a full-length, fully free, episodic story set in the UNSEC Space setting (AKA the same universe Colony, Jungle, and Starforge take place in). Taking place right after the events of Colony, Freelance follows a small team of freelance mercenaries on Earth who, after events on Pisces, start getting some odd jobs from a few new clients. An experiment with episodic storytelling, Freelance gives readers a glimpse of what life on Earth is like after the shattering events at Pisces, and bit by bit the team starts to realize there’s a common thread tying all their jobs together …

By the way, I’ll say again that this is free. You can read the whole thing on the site, no fee needed. It was, after all, an experiment. Having seen the numbers on my end, I can safely say a lot of people slept on it, or waited until it was all uploaded and then just kind of never got around to checking it out, but since I’m on vacation, now seems to be the perfect time to once again promote this fully completed side-novel series, especially for those of you waiting on Starforge.

So yeah, hit the jump and find your weekend read!

Fireteam Freelance: The Complete Series

Vacation Throwback: The Last Call of Christmas Eve

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Hey readers! Max here! Yup, I’m still on vacation. This post was queued up in advance. A few years ago I wrote a short story starring Jacob Rocke, the protagonist of the first book I ever sold, and released it on my site as a Christmas Eve gift. And while looking for things to liven the site up with while I was gone, well … What fits better than an old Christmas mystery? It’s out of season, but who cares? Not me, since I’m on vacation, and not you, because hey free story you might have missed!

So anyway, enjoy The Last Call of Christmas Eve out of season. Hit the jump.

The Last Call of Christmas Eve

Flash Fiction – Firstborn

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Hey folks!

So last night I was browsing the web before (planning) to go to sleep when I spotted a writing prompt on Reddit, and well … the creative brain took over. Next thing I knew it was past 1 AM, and I’d written a fun little story about man who makes a deal with a witch for his firstborn child, but has already, unbeknownst to her, cheated.

You can see the Reddit Writing Prompt that spawned it here, but for a short bit of flash fiction I was quite happy with how it turned out, and figured it deserved to be on the site. So here you are, folks. Firstborn.

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Unusual Things’ Best of 2019

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Hello readers, and welcome to 2020! Life here is getting into gear as the New Year (and decade; yes I’m one of those people) starts off, and there’s plenty to do, starting with the final chapter of Axtara – Banking and Finance, which should be done today. At which point work will begin in earnest on Fireteam Freelance. Another chapter of Stranded is almost complete as well, for those of you supporting on Patreon.

Speaking of which, I’ve decided to revamp the Patreon page with the new year, so look for that upcoming project in the next week or so. My goal here is to trim it down and make it a lot more straightforward and clear. As is the page intro is from several years ago and entirely behind the times.

Also, Being a Better Writer will resume this coming Monday, with a whole new slew of topics and writing concepts to discuss. The break is over, and BaBW is back! And some of these upcoming topics well … they’re interesting!

But as I prepare to move forward, I thought some of you may like a look back at 2019. Specifically, some of the biggest events of 2019, articles and otherwise, to have hit Unusual Things. Now with meta-commentary!

 

Jungle

Jungle Cover

Obviously, the elephant in the room, the single biggest, defining moment of 2019 was the release of Jungle. Yes, I’m sure some of you are tired of hearing about it by now because you come here for writing advice, not to hear about the writing from the guy who generates the advice, but tough nougats. My site, my rules, and one of the biggest impacts of 2019 was the release of Jungle.

Jungle was a titan of a project, involving thousands of hours worth of work over several thousand pages. A 457,000 word juggernaut of fiction, Jungle was the sequel to 2016’s smash-hit Colony, and hit with about the same amount of force.

Jungle hasn’t even been out two months yet, but the early response from fans and readers has been clear: This is a worthy successor to what Colony built, and they can’t wait for the next installment.

There was a lot else that happened in 2019, but the release of Jungle was the crowning peak. If you’re one of the few unfortunates that haven’t had a chance to see yet why this was such a big deal, well … You can grab a copy of Jungle here and be reading on your phone in seconds. Or if you’re really out on a limb and haven’t even read its predecessor, Colony, yet, then you can grab that here. Though at this point if you haven’t done either … I mean, really? It’s akin to hanging out at the movie theater but not ever watching anything.

Anyway, Jungle was the biggest event of 2019, but there were other moments that left their impact. Hit the jump and we’ll take a look at a few more.

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Human Resource – A Free Short Story!

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All right, guys, a bit of a warning with this one. It’s … dark. Very dark, especially if you stop to think about it. And grim.

Worse still, it’s not entirely untrue.

A bit of background: I wrote this story after my second frustrating workplace injury and experience dealing with Worker’s Comp and my part-time job’s Human Resources department. If you’re interested in hearing the details about that, you can check out this post here, which is all about how I acquired the injury and the recover I underwent. But the short of it is that within days I was already feeling like I had when I’d had my knee injury. In other words, very much like my company just wanted to practice horse medicine and shove everything under the rug.

In my frustrations, I ended up writing this short to blow off a little steam. It’s dark. It’s grim. And, worst of all, it’s actually pretty true, and like most good fiction, that makes it all the more alarming.

The microphone monitoring tech? That’s real. A certain massive mega-conglomerate retailer patented it last year and has already started rolling it out into stores. It monitors all employees at all times. And yes, they do warn that ‘certain problem words’ can trigger an automatic, computer-driven firing. Boop, a text to your phone, go home, you’re done here.

That’s what scariest about this story: It’s really not that far off. The tech involved here is very real, and already being rolled into the workplace much in the same way you see it in this story. It’s just all in one package, and seeing the sudden jump from where we are now to where we may be in five, ten years really does seem jarring, compared to coming in to a new bit or piece every day.

Am I worried we might go as far as this story? Well … in a way, yes. We were once already there, if you know your history of what jobs used to be like before labor laws were put in place.

But I’ll stop waxing on it now. You’re here to read a story. So, without further ado, I present to you Human Resource. Enjoy!

And try not to let it depress you too much. I can tell you it was therapeutic to write.

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The Last Call of Christmas Eve

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Merry Christmas readers! It’s Christmas Eve here, which is the traditional time in my family to start opening gifts from friends and family. So, as some of you already know, I thought this year I’d give you all a gift in the form of a Christmas story.

A Jacob Rocke Christmas story. That’s right: set in the Unusuals Universe.

Is it weird? Of course it is. And it’s also a bit rough about the edges (it hasn’t seen any formal editing yet, but give me a break, I only finished it Friday). But hey, it’s a free Jacob Rocke story, and that’s a pretty sweet.

Later this’ll make it to More Unusual Events, but for now? Merry Christmas, guys. Enjoy.

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Metro Contest Entry – The Ride

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A bit of a forward, first, by way of explanation.

This story was written for 4A Games’ 4ALives Metro 2033 contest. The goal was to create something (a story, piece of art, etc) set in the universe of Metro 2033 (which I had just recently beaten at the time the contest was announced). Interested in exploring the Metro universe, I spent some time thinking about it and then put together this experimental little story as an exercise in my talents (and I am aware that the series is based on a book series, but alas, I have not read them yet).

Enjoy.

Oh, and as you might expect … just a small language warning. It’s the Metro, after all.

 

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LTUE Flash Fiction – Green Apocalypse

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Hey there, readers!

 

So LTUE 2016 is still going on, but the other day in a panel I had a wonderful idea for a piece of flash fiction inspired by—of all things—the apocalypse! I couldn’t resist typing it over the last hour or so, and now I offer the whole thing to you for a bit of fun. It’s a whole, complete story—though much, much shorter than what I usually write.

Anyway, enjoy! Oh, and as expected, this story is copyright 2016 Max Florschutz. All rights reserved, please do not reprint, reproduce, or copy. Etc, etc, basically this is mine, for my use. If you want to share it, please link.

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Unusual Events Sample – SUPER MODEL

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Have a look at the first chapter of Unusual Events‘ novella: SUPER MODEL.

I just flat loved “Supermodel,” because it seems to be the very best explanation of superhero stories and superhero fan stories. Did you ever wonder why Superman didn’t just go smash the enemies of America? This story explains all that.

—”Papa Pat” Patterson

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