Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

Ha! it took me until well into Saturday, but I have for you an all-new story, the 20th installment in the adventures of Xavier Xanthum, Space Explorer.         Xavier Xanthum and the Unsettling Settlers   “I don’t think this was a good idea.” Xavier Xanthum, Space Explorer, found the words uttered by his ship’s AI to be both true and pointless.   The spears aimed at him from all sides were, alas, all too pointed. Xavier attempted a tried and true approach. “I come in peace.”   “And you’ll go in pieces.” The response came so quickly that Xavier knew it hadn’t gone through the translator box.   “What the hell? You speak Galactic Common? Here?” Oops. Not tactful.   Larry, the AI, gave him a local history lesson. “New Home was settled about ten generations back by a group opposed to all tech. They spent the first two or three hundred standard years eliminating any tech that came with them, even most machinery.” ...

I haven't published a story about Xavier Xanthum, Space Explorer, since sometime in 2020, and I thought it was about time. Imagine my surprise when I found that I seem to have a story I wrote and never published (I'm not sure why; evidence suggests I eventually used it as a writing sample when applying for an artist residency). I may simply have given up; 2020 was a difficult year. In any case, I clearly wrote the story to highlight the birds of New Zealand, and it was kind of fun revisiting some of them. I've included a couple of photos at the end to match at least one of the birds mentioned. It's just over 1100 words.   It’s for the Birds   “Larry, are there any unexplored planets in this sector?” The Wanderlust ’s AI took a moment to respond. Even a computer needs time to review all the planets in a sector as crowded as their current location, or so Larry would have him believe. “Negative, Captain. There appears to have been at least a preliminary review of ...

  It's that time, a little early this month because of the holidays. I put off writing my story to the last minute, hoping for inspiration. You get to decide if I got it :) WEP/IWSG challenges are open to all. On the 1st of the challenge month, there will be a get-your-thinking-caps on post. The badge will include the dates of the challenge and the winner’s prize. Going forward, the InLinkz sign up will open on the third Wednesday and close 3 days later. Participants link up with the DLs. Team members collate a SHORTLIST and Nick Wilford judges WINNER, RUNNER UP and ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD. The BEST COMMENTER AWARD will continue, shared by different people, so keep on reading wonderful people! And look who won the Commenter Award this time! Xavier Xanthum may deserve a little explanation. I invented him years ago for an X post in the A to Z blogging challenge, and kind of fell in love with my absurd space explorer. He's a bit of a dweeb, a bit of a nerd, and a loner who is...

  Flashback Friday is a monthly meme that takes place on the last Friday of the month . The idea is to give a little more love to a post you’ve published on your blog before.  Maybe you just love it, maybe it’s appropriate for now, or maybe it just didn’t get the attention it deserved when you first published it. Thanks to Michael d’Agostino, who started it all, there is a solution – join Flashback Friday! And thanks to Jemima Pett , who has kept it going--visit her blog to add your name to the list ! Just join in whenever you like, repost one of your own blog posts , including any copyright notices on text or media, on the last Friday of the month.  ###### This month's Flashback post is a 650-word story I'd forgotten all about. I thought it was about time for some action from Xavier Xanthum, Space Explorer, and this in my opinion is on of the best of his tales. Xavier Xanthum's New Year Xavier Xanthum, Space Explorer, gazed morosely at the fuel-level indicator of the...

We got no new flash fiction challenge from Chuck this week, so I went back to the last one and picked another title from the list. I'd already decided to write another story for Xavier Xanthum, Space Explorer, so I just used the title to give me an idea where to take it. Larry makes reference to a couple of Xavier's previous attempts at a little R&R, so I threw in the links to those stories. The Princess’ Game “Larry, I’ve signed us up for a week’s R&R on G37-X.” “Indeed.” The AI materialized in front of Xavier Xanthum (in his standard form, a pair of glowing eyeballs). His tone sent a clear message to the human half of the partnership that ran the Wanderlust. “Do you have some objection?” “Not at all, Captain.” Xavier sighed. Larry only called him “captain” when he disapproved of something Xavier was about to do. This was probably about Xavier’s choice of a rustic retreat for his holiday. Larry liked vacation in high-tech centers where he could find...

This week's Wendig Challenge was simple: write a story around the idea that sometimes you have to break something to fix it. I suspect he was thinking about politics, but it made me think of good old Xavier Xanthum, since he's pretty good at messing up.  And hey--if you like flash fiction, consider joining us next week for the Fiction in 50 (words) feature. Write your 50 words, post your story, and link back to my #Fi50 post (goes live on Sunday). It Ain’t Fixed Until You Break It “Blethering belugans!” Xavier Xanthum, Space Explorer, cursed as he struggled to reach into the narrow adjustment slot for the left thruster, scraping the skin off three knuckles. Wanderlust was showing a decided tendency to veer off-course if he or Larry didn’t keep an eye on it, and Xavier wanted to save the cost of a repair. Of course, Larry had two eyes he could keep wherever he wanted, along with enough bandwidth to do everything else around the craft at the same time. At the moment, he was adj...