Tag Archive: flash fiction
Eric San Juan
February 6, 2025
For those who enjoy brief blasts of flash fiction, please enjoy my new work, “The Girl and the Dog,” now published in the excellent online magazine, 365 Tomorrows. It’s a (very) short piece, a scene more than a story, that puts you into a post-apocalyptic world. I hope you enjoy it. PS – The art at right is sourced on Pinterest via Deviant art (which is down for me right now, so I can’t confirm if it’s from this artist or this artist. I will update this as soon as I have confirmed credits and info.)
Eric San Juan
December 25, 2024
The air tastes like electricity. Stairs are no obstacle; I take them four at a time. If Mom saw, she would be furious. Dad would pretend to be furious, too, but he’d secretly be proud of my stair-leaping prowess. I am the best Stair Jumper in the house. Downstairs, the scene couldn’t be more perfect. Pine needles. Tin ornaments. Bulbs straining to give off light without catching fire. Dozens of neatly-wrapped gifts. Except Debra is there, too. She’s up. She’s awake. Debra. The girl who eats salt in the morning and spits it at people the rest of the day. The girl who chews gerbils. The girl whose eyes melt happiness. The worst sister. Debra. “You slept late.” She’s nuts. It’s 5:37am. Not even Dad…
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Eric San Juan
June 22, 2021
14 seconds of oxygen left. She pulled at the airlock handle again. It wouldn’t budge. She could feel the heat of the flames behind her and the ringing of the damned klaxon was boring into her skull and the handle wouldn’t budge, because of course it wouldn’t, and the klaxon wouldn’t shup up. 13 seconds of oxygen left. When she was 12, she wanted to ride horses. She knew it was a cliché even then, but it didn’t deter her. She wasn’t the princess type, she didn’t dream of elegant gowns and fancy ballrooms and Prince Charmings, but horses? Absolutely. The more horses the better. Not riding side saddle with a stiff back and “proper” air, though. That wasn’t her. She wanted to ride horses…
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Eric San Juan
June 11, 2021
She reached down for the water bottle at her side, remembered it was empty only when she brought to her lips, sighed, and hung her head. “I should have stayed in the city.” She knew she was wrong about that, of course. The city is where it all started. Things were still bad there. And the smell? She didn’t want to think about the smell. But at least she knew what to do in the city. What abandoned stores to search, which apartments had storerooms others might now know about, what neighborhoods were left at least somewhat intact after the Event. She could find something to eat there. Something to drink. A place to sleep. Hell is other people, though, as someone once said. However…
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Eric San Juan
May 19, 2016
Post-apocalyptic flash fiction by me. Here’s a tease: By the time the sandstorm passed, the sun had fallen and the orange skies had faded to a bruised brown and purple. The towers still seemed unreachable, perched on a dream horizon. Faint whispers of yesterday clutching at sky that no longer wanted it. Read the rest here at 365 Tomorrows. It will only take you a minute or so and it will make your day the greatest day you’ve ever had, ever, because that’s what demon-infested cities will do.
