Nerd Church - Short Story: Crystal Clarity

 

This story was originally published in the Promptly Written publication on Medium by yours truly, in response to the prompt 'Either dream or reality' from editor Ravyne Hawke.

Crystal Clarity

Image by meineresterampe from Pixabay 

He stepped out onto the crystal deck. Unable — unwilling — to look through the refracted layers of light beneath his feet.

It seemed so fantastical. A miracle of modern craftsmanship and engineering, they called it. He hated it.

Layers of quartz and glass melded into one another to create this sturdy viewing platform, over the crater. It didn’t seem real. And yet… it was strong beneath him. Physical.

He wouldn’t look down, through the surface, the prism, the light. Instead he looked across at the crater itself, ragged, raw, a bleeding wound on the landscape.

They told him the platform was very beautiful — stark contrast, they said, with the catastrophe it looked out upon. But he kept his eyes resolutely ahead, away from the glimpses of sublime achievement beneath him.

Beauty had no place here — not like this. No matter how much the tourists clicked and clacked across the quartz and crystal, oohing and ahing, he would not look down.

He wondered how many of them had even taken a videogram or a panoramiograph of the real attraction — the reason the platform was even here: the ugly crater which once held so many hopes, dreams, lives. None of them seemed to care.

They’ll tell people they visited this place. Not quite the truth.

If you enjoyed this story, please consider buying me a coffee here.

Whatcha think?

Talk to me! 😊💬

You can follow me on Twitter @CeeDoraReads, on Pinterest, and on Dora Reads @ BlogLovin. For more ways to support me, check out the Support Me page

Previous Short Stories on Dora Reads:

• Nerd Church - Short Story: The Midday Sun

• Nerd Church - Short Story: A Broken Princess

Sharing and commenting is a welcome boost to my fragile writer's ego! 😅

← Previous Post

Month In Review(s) - April 2023

Have I mentioned that 2023 hates me?

Because 2023 hates me.

I'm having the worst year. And that's saying something.

Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: I Just Wanna Write Something Beautiful

(Warning: this post briefly discusses Depression)

'Well I wanted something better man

I wished for something new
And I wanted something beautiful
And wish for something true'

- The Foo Fighters, Wheels 

Nerd Church - Basic Levels of Niceness

(Warning: this blogpost discusses low self-worth and mental health problems. It also briefly discusses toxic/abusive friendships.)

"Oh My God! You remembered!" 

She's holding the chocolate orange, still partly covered by reindeer wrapping paper, like it's the most beautiful thing she's ever seen.

"Yeah?" - of course I did, she and our friend spent a good half an hour a month or so back discussing how sad it was that no-one ever gets them chocolate oranges, how much they love chocolate oranges, and that they hadn't had chocolate oranges in forever. 

So, when I was buying their Christmas presents, I bought a couple of chocolate oranges. No brainer; no biggy.

"You're so sweet!"

...Am I?

Nerd Church - It's Bannau Brycheiniog, Deal With It

In the spirit of friendship with our English neighbours, before we start I would like to wish you all a Happy St. George's Day! (Which is today - 23rd April)

You wouldn't think that a Welsh location having a Welsh place name would be controversial, but here we are...

Wales is full of mountains.

Like, there's so many mountains that most of the time we don't even notice they're mountains, let alone know what they're called. Most of them contain the scars of human industry and/or habitation.

But there are a few mountain ranges - a few national parks, in fact - that aren't untouched by humans, or even untouched by industry, but have kept enough of their own character, and enough tether to the natural world, to be classified as 'wild.'

Like Y Bannau Brycheiniog.

Nerd Church - Short Story: The Midday Sun

 

I have a bunch of stories from Medium that I was thinking about posting here once a month-ish, because why not? (Possibly gonna regret asking that! 😅)

This story was originally published by yours truly in the Promptly Written publication on Medium, for the following prompt, set by Ravyne Hawke:

‘Write a ‘moody’ piece around the following:

— a monumental decision
— confusion
— a fork in the road’

The Midday Sun

Image by Ruben from Pixabay 

Month In Review(s) - March 2023

 

March 2023 was like the rest of 2023 so far - it effing sucked.

This year is really going down as one of my least favourites atm, and I've got some bad years on record, y'know? *sighs*

Anyhow, a good neighbour - a neighbour who'd been my neighbour since I was a toddler - passed away suddenly.

They were always there, y'know? They came to my brother's wedding and everything.

So that, on top of everything else I've been dealing with this year, was pretty damned horrible.

Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: When the Words Won't Go Where They're Supposed To

 

You know when you're trying to write something specific, but things just won't quite click?

Like, the thing you're trying to say refuses to come together - you might get close, but you won't get there. You can't quite manage to get the concept across, to communicate what it is you're trying to communicate.

Like... you can feel the thing, lurking in a corner of your brain, trying to free itself. But it just can't quite make that leap.

...That's one of the most irritating feelings you can have when writing.

Or at least, that's what it feels like to me.

There's a special kind of frustration - as a writer - when the words WON'T GO WHERE THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO!

Nerd Church - The Black Phone: The Film Adaptation of A Horror Masterpiece

 

The Black Phone is one of my favourite short stories of all time, from one of my favourite authors of all time, Joe Hill.

I've read the collection 20th Century Ghosts (where The Black Phone appears,) more times than it's truly a good thing to admit to - it's my comfort reading, don't judge me.

So I love this story. It's a masterpiece.

Not perfect, no - it mentions how fat the villain is at least six times too many, for a start - but a masterpiece, all the same.

And I'm fully prepared to admit that I'm entirely biased when it comes to this story. So be aware of that. 😅

Nerd Church - Short Story: A Broken Princess

This is a (very) short story, first published by yours truly in the Medium publication EwhyE after I found it languishing in an old notebook.

Content warning: refs. to violence/murder. 

Also whatever spell my mother put on me to stop me from swearing doesn't seem to work on fiction, so this is quite sweary - and without *'s for once!

Image by Ruth Archer from Pixabay 

Nerd Church - The Little Things Are There To Enjoy...

 

It's good to remind ourselves - as often as is necessary - that the little things are there to enjoy.

...By 'ourselves' I obviously mean me - we need to remind me. 😅

Warning/Disclaimer Time: 

I very briefly discuss mental health problems in this blogpost.

I also give opinions on what can contribute to people's mood, so: I'm not any sort of scientific/medical/psychological professional - I'm a chick with personal experience of mental health issues and an internet connection. OK? OK.

The little things contribute so much to our lives.

Our beautiful, messed-up, everyday lives are made up of the bracelet you wore this morning, what you had for breakfast, whether you tripped over the doorstep on your way out, what song is playing on the radio... etc. etc.

Month In Review(s) - February 2023

 

What can I say about February?

As February tends to do, because of the length, it kind of zipped past.

It was not as bad as January for yours truly (because that, unfortunately, would take some beating,) but it was still full of more downs than ups, really.

I struggle when the people I love are struggling, dearest nerdlets, I really do.

And I tend to turn those feelings back on myself - like if I was just 'good enough' then things would be better, if I knew what I was doing with my life then things would be better, if I was just fundamentally 'better' then things would be better.

Objectively, I know that is a pile of b*llsh**.

Subjectively, I feel it.

Nerd Church - Sometimes, This Is OK

I don't know what I'm writing but I hope it'll turn out OK. 

I'm literally just typing things and hoping it turns into a blogpost at this point.

Wish me luck.

Thoughts are hard to form, sometimes. 

Let alone trying to write something insightful, pithy, witty, or just plain worth it.

Sometimes I put way too much pressure on myself and on this blog. 

Not everything I write has to have some deep meaning behind it.

(I know - you wouldn't think it for by reading some of my posts on such heavy-weight topics as fanfiction and weird superhero videos I found on the Interwebs. 😅 )

Nerd Church - Increasingly Post/Apocalyptic Situations

Warning: this post discusses current events so mentions a lot of potentially distressing topics, including, but not limited to: war, child labour, train accidents, Covid.

WTF is actually going on?

The 2020s are something else, honestly.

Someone needs to turn reality off and turn it back on again - simulation or not, this sh** is glitching.

Nerd Church - The Roald Dahl Edits Are Capitalism, Actually

Warning: this post discusses general bigotry, as well as more detailed anti-Semitism and racism, and other related topics. 

Links may include distressing content.

I'm Welsh, bookish, and a rebel - of course I'm going to talk about the Roald Dahl edits. 😅

Nerd Church - Brianna Ghey

(WARNING: This post discusses the violent death of a Trans child, i.e. the murder of Brianna Ghey, and related topics, including but not limited to - Transphobia, systemic Transphobia, hate crimes, misgendering, deadnaming.

Any links may likewise contain distressing material.)

There is only one topic that I could see myself writing about this week.

The thing that has haunted so many LGBTQ+ people in the UK and beyond. The murder of Brianna Ghey.

Month In Review(s) - January 2023

January was hell.

I got some Very Bad news about a very close family member.

The 'it doesn't get better' kind of news.

I'm not really ready to go into it, further than saying I've found myself becoming a carer again. Yay.

So January was enough to say that 2023 is a bad year. Straight off.

I'm just hoping it stays at this level of bad and doesn't get worse. I can just about cope if it does that.

Nerd Church - Versions of History

Warning: this post discusses various historical shenanigans, which means it ends up covering topics including but not limited to: racism, Homophobia, colonisation, and war.

The phrase 'revisionist history' is one I've seen crop up from time to time, usually from someone right-wing and ill-informed, when people are discussing diversity in history.

Since it's LGBT+ History Month here in the UK, and Black History Month in the USA (the UK's is in October,) - I've seen it more than once, in my online travellings, since the start of February.

And it's irritating.

So...

For all those who assume that European history, in particular, looks a certain way, a few snapshots in time, from across the continent:

Nerd Church - The Best and Worst of Humanity

Warning: this post talks trolls and bigots, but mostly in the abstract sense

The internet is an interesting cesspit.

The best and the worst of humanity in one place.

(Thank God it's not still 2016 - for graphic imagery and threats, that year has thankfully yet to be beaten for me.)

Nerd Church - The Writer Diaries: Purpose and Existential Crises

 

I'm used to an existential crisis or two in my life. I usually have at least one a week.

(And the more naive among you probably think I'm joking, or exaggerating in some way. *laughs in hysterical Queer millennial*)

But one of the few things I've never doubted is my purpose - reading, and writing.

...But whether to fulfil that purpose? 

What fulfilling that purpose looks like? Whether that purpose means anything, in the grand scheme of things? Whether I'm destined to fail in that purpose? Why this is my purpose? Whether we are all doomed to meaninglessness in a universe that dissolves into entropy, and if that is the case, then whether writing some silly little poems or stories is actually worth anything...

...OK. I think you get the gist.