Enlighten Someone
Daily
Short Stories.
If you have read through any of our other pages, you know one of the issues we are struggling with is how to best share our works, while protecting our intellectual property. Our unique works that spawned exclusively from our minds are protected by copyright laws, but technology does not make it easy to prevent sharing. The truth is, we're doing a lot of ambitious creative projects this year and we'd like to make some money at it. Short stories are going to be a great way for us to both experiment with existing technology and get readers reading.
Two Projects: Fanfic And Original Work
The short story writing we will be releasing in conjunction with Enlighten Someone Daily is comprised of two very different projects. To present our unique takes on some existing universes, we are presenting links to an ongoing body of fanfiction works.
To promote our publishing business, we're eager to share our writing. If you check out the page for Unnamed Perils Policy Claim, you'll know we have an impossible task. We're trying to sell an i.p. where we cannot talk about it because of the nature of the story. The surprise and twists are part of the experience. So, we're taking a different tack. To sell our own, unique work, we need to sell potential readers on our mind and the quality of our writing. To do that, we're sharing that which we cannot sell: fanfic! Fanfiction is an opportunity to play in other people's universes and it cannot legally be sold. It's pure artistic expression and we support that, as we support the IPs who allow artists to play in their sandboxes under the doctrine of Fair Use. So, for your enjoyment, I invite you to enjoy (free of charge):
Empty
Playgrounds - Set in the Destiny 2
universe,
this
mood piece explores the most sensible Darkness villain in the
game's universe.
Remaining
Ahamkara - Just in time for The Dawning 2023, we finally
wrote out our story of who Eva Levante truly is. In an exchange
with Zavala, Eva begs the Vanguard leader to reconsider allowing
Guardians to aid the spirit of Riven in the Season Of The Wish.
Told with humor and references any Destiny 2 player will enjoy, we reveal who
Eva Levante has been all along...
No Prize Inside The Box - An outing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe! Following The Avengers: Endgame, Steve Rogers is in 1952.
He knows where Bucky is. He wants to mount a rescue mission. But just because he's ready to go, does not mean he will succeed...
Henchmen - Set in the Masters Of The Universe universe, this is now a finished work (it turns out, it's novel length!) that makes adult motivations
and interpretations of the characters. There is such richness and potential in this universe that we're having fun - this is a great example of our desire
and ability to play with different narrators and really flesh-out characters. In order:
The Lesser Evil Of Compromise - Mer-Man
Scars Of The Whip - Beast Man
Magic Of The Streets - Evil-Lyn #1
Rival - Tri-Klops
Apprentice - Trap Jaw
The Trial Of Foreknowledge - Evil-Lyn #2
Infiltration Risk - Mekaneck
Tomorrow's
Threat - Shadow Weaver
The
Smell
Of Victory - Stinkor
Horror
Magic - Evil-Lyn #3
Sticky
- Webstor
Revenge
Fantasy - Tri-Klops & Trap Jaw
The
Loneliest
Child On Eternia - Evil-Lyn #4
Epilogue
-
After Their First Encounter With...
Marriage License - Set in the Star Wars universe, this humorous vignette is what happens when Han Solo and Leia Organa apply for a marriage license!
My New Best Friend Is Out There! - Not to toot my own horn, but this is probably the most funny thing I have ever written. Set in the Star Wars
universe, this is The Empire Strikes Back from the perspective of the plucky Imperial Probe Droid that arrives on Hoth.
The other project is our own intellectual property. These are completely original short stories that are intended to entertain, inform, and challenge readers. It is also, quite frankly, a way for us to generate some capital to both grow the site, publish works, pay for copyrighting and start to make a living off our writing. We finally found a way (we hope!) to do that and we are excited to present it. Every month, we release a new short story for purchase. The short stories are self-contained stories that are in a google documents folder.
How It Works
Google Docs offers writers the opportunity to share works and readers the chance to read works based on a permission system. Writers have to manually add the e-mail address of the reader who has been granted permission to view the work and the reader receives an e-mail from Google with a link to the project. So far, this is the best way we have found to both give readers access and prevent them from sharing. We're also hoping that our readers will enjoy the works and respect the author enough to help enforce this - sending people to this site instead of trying to find a workaround with Google Docs.
How we'd like it to work (in case any website designers are reading!): below are links (updated monthly) with short story titles and a blurb. We wanted to set it up so clicking on the title will open a PayPal invoice widget, which will allow buyer to get access to the short story (off-site, on Google Docs). That's not quite happening, though we now have a pull-down menu and payment options available. Access will NOT be instantaneous; we will have to manually add permission for the reader to have access to the story and reader will have to get the link from their e-mail. We intend to keep up on this multiple times a day, but we need some patience here. Anyway...
But wait, there's more!
$10 a short story is pretty steep. Yeah, we get that. We want to reward our readers, not just bilk them for a couple dollars at a time. The fine line between the two things that we have come up with is a subscription service AND physical collection. The plan is simple: readers can pay $10 per short story and get digital access in perpetuity to just the short stories they want (no refunds if you do not enjoy it!). Alternatively, readers can pay $100 for all 12 months of short stories (plus, it seems, now BONUS stories!) AND in December have the collection mailed to them in physical form! First access to the book, tentatively entitled, Tales From Our Current Apocalypse. No additional fee for the book and postage; it's our thanks for your investment in our business and writing career. We have each month's (and bonus short stories!) through May 1 and subscription option are available now.
Speakeasy - Set in the United States in a world roughly 20 years after the repeal of abortion access rights, this story explores
the clever way women have found to safely circumvent the oppressive laws they find themselves living with. 28 pages, 15750 words.
Philanthropist - A clandestine meeting in Bermuda between an active-duty General in the United States military and a billionaire author...
After a lifetime of war, a General has a bold idea on how to save the lives of the women of Afghanistan following the Taliban
recapture of that nation. To succeed, he needs the aid of an unlikely source.... 13 pages, 6578 words.
Rest For The Warlords - A U.S. Senator delivers a rousing speech on the Senate floor in which he compares the U.S.
reaction to the 9/11 attacks with the response to the February 2023 earthquake in Syria. We are very proud of this. 5 pages. 2688 words.
You Are Going To Have To Stop
- Leslie, the owner of Leslie's Great Books!, is confronted by an irate
youth over the content of
her store. She recalls working as a "problematic" author's agent years
before. 17 pages. 8263 words.
Heathen Shift - The night
shift is where the Christian-run Heaven's Hobbies sticks their employees
that do not fit
their corporate image. So, while an atheist, a lesbian couple, a Muslim
woman, a Latina, a black woman and another
woman share their nightly routine at work, of course a discussion of the
Bechdel Test ensues. 9 pages. 4741 words.
You Are Free To Kill Yourself. -
Seven years after a mass suicide event, the F.B.I. investigates one of
its own, an agent tasked
with helping to prevent an anniversary event. Cutting between the
original video posted that spurred millions of people to take their
own lives and the effort of the government to prevent another event
raises serious questions about the state of the world today. 15 pages,
9010 words.
Without Question -
After more than fifty years of marriage, Helena wakes up to discover
her husband has an erection (it's been a while).
Then their breakfast is interrupted by a student selling candy bars.
Want a geriatric child-free slice-of-life... here it is! 15 pages,
7683 words.
Hermits:
A
Love Story -
Fifteen years into his marriage, Martin realizes that he has given
his wife the life he wanted,
which was the opposite of what was most important to her. This is
his epiphanic therapy session, 20 pages, 11580 words
Pigeon On The Road -
A girl talks with another girl about a single moment that defined
the character of the boy
they were both mutually attracted to. Some moments are that
impactful. 9 pages, 4879 words.
Gentleman
Aberrant - A
vampire story like only we would write... So, it's a guy and a young
woman in Arkansas having
a conversation in a bar on a Friday night. More than that is what
the actual story is about, so, you know... you have to read it. 13
pages, 6863 words.
Only
Begotten Daughter - Not for the feint of
heart... In 2023, God's daughter, sent to Earth, returns to His
heavenly realm.
This is the conversation they have upon her return. It turns out,
it's not bad. Heretical, probably, but not bad. 4 pages, 1921 words.
Every
Opening - Our Thanksgiving story... This one is
rough. Monica awakens in her dorm room to a text message from
her cousin, a young woman a year older than her who she has never
met. This starts Monica on a path to understand the (lack of a)
relationship between her mother (Janice) and the aunt she has never
met. While Monica searches for the truths of her family's history,
Janice works to prevent her from learning her past. 48 pages, 25,351
words.
The automated pull-down/payment method actually seems to be working now. If not:
$10 per story, $100 for the annual subscription and the collection at the end of the year. Interested?
and we will send you a PayPal invoice. You won't be put on
a mailing list, the only contact you'll receive from us is:
1. The PayPal invoice with the terms of sale,
2. A message from Google with the link granting you access to the story,
(and possibly) 3. A confirmation of shipping address and/or name for inscription if you order the full year for
the book (in late November/early December). If there are problems, you can contact us below, but we will respect
your privacy and not bother you otherwise. Thank you very much for your support.
Thank you very much for your interest and support. For any issues with your order, please email us and be sure to check your junk mail folder for a response. Please be patient with us during this process. Thank you.
© 2023 Enlighten Someone Daily Productions