PodCastle Miniature 44: Uchronia

[Heradel]

PodCastle Miniature 44: Uchronia

by Tim Pratt
Read by M.K. Hobson

When she couldn’t stand it anymore, Clio, the muse of history, decided to unhitch the present from the past and make a few changes….Let the Age of Damnfool Things come, and sweep retroactively through the past, every idiot misconception made real.

Rated PG: for mischievous muses

[Scattercat]

El.  Oh.  El.

Nicely played.  I love the implications left to the reader to discern...

[eytanz]

Sometimes flash stories are profound, sometimes they are brilliant, sometimes they are bizzare, and sometimes they don't work. Other time's, they're just funny little things. This was one of those times.

[mbrennan]

It's always a tough call with flash, how far you can run with an idea before it overstays its welcome.  In this case I feel it could have gone just a bit further.  The idea amused me enough that I would have been happy to see it explored more -- not to the extent of a full short story, but another few sentences wouldn't have gone amiss, especially if they focused on the consequences (or lack thereof) to the changes Clio made.

[Unblinking]

Cute little flash story.  Could've been longer, but I thought the idea was cool, and how history's not really what we think it is.

[smithmikeg]

I think it was the perfect length - any longer would have gotten into "world building" and weakened the story.