Russell Ruffino's Favorites
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Found

And there I stand before you as you drift in and out of consciousness. You look up at me and smile. “Yes, it’s me,” I say, “I…
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Automaton and on and on......

As Dave walked across the seemingly endless field of white his mind started to slip into the introspective auto pilot that he…
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Chasing a Dream
The first time I applied, they said I was too young. So I grew up.
The second time I applied, they said I was under-qualifie…
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The Script Editor
“This is rubbish.”
That was not the response Jeff had expected. He’d spent the night and a rather unhealthy chunk of this mo…
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Sweatin' Bullets
From the moment she walked into my office I knew she was no good. It was probably the revolver she was carrying, although the…
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The Girl Across the Ballroom
She loves me. She loves me not. She loves me. She loves me not. She… well, she doesn’t even know my name.
Actually, I do…
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Acrylic Bars
He will be talented, and what’s more he’ll know he is. It will surprise many that this knowledge will come without a single…
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The YodaOnCrack Rap Song

My name is Yoda
That’s what I told-ya
Come an inch closer and I’ll smoke-ya
with my light saber or a _jedi mind tric…
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Crime Scene Inadequacy
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My Own Jailer [Desperate Monologue Challenge]

I want out. I just really want out. Is that so much to ask for? These voices are starting to scare me. I don’t know how much …
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The Cleverest Thing Anyone Has Ever Written
“This is the cleverest thing anyone has ever written,” beamed Martin, looking at the story he’d just finished writing. He fel…
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Said the Typewriter
The typewriter mocked me with wisps of dust clinging to greased machinery in its belly. It might have spit out a message that…
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Damien Gallant: Secret Agent Extraordinaire
“Quickly!” said Damien Gallant, Secret Agent and habitual womanizer. “We must defuse the nuke before Vile has a chance to det…
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Twain and Poe: Heroes of Space and Time
“You’re going too slow. We’ll never make the jump at this speed,” Edgar Allen Poe said in that smug tone that Twain hated.
M…
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Twain and Poe Have Words with the Inventor

Without warning, the aft bulkhead shuddered and a scruffy mustached man stumbled out from behind it.
“A stowaway!” cried Poe…
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Twain, Poe and Tesla: Journey to the Center of the Future

“Hold tight, everyone!” shouted Poe. “It’s gonna be a bumpy one!”
The vessel juddered sharply, knocking the men to their kne…
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Twain, Poe and Telsa: At War With the Emperor

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Twain and Tesla's Excellent Adventure

Sparks flew from the chest of the fallen Edgar Allan Poe with a terrible grinding sigh. His servos were in agony.
“He’s a ro…
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Twain and Tesla: Funeral for a Friend

On the barren landscape of the planet I’ll Give It A Proper Name Later, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla stood looking down at the…
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Twain and Tesla and the Raiders of the Lost Morlocks

Mark Twain took a long, deliberate pull from his cigar. “You know, we probably shouldn’t have buried the chap. He might have …
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Poe: One of a Kind

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Twain and Livingstone: A Curious Reunion

“Fine,” said Twain, “I need to chat with the good Dr. Livingstone, but I’ll give you control of the ship if you promise to re…
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Poe and Holmes: Locked Up

Poe’s eyes shot open and he sat up. He was on a repair table in the Asimov Android Company’s repair lab. A familiar looking m…
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Tesla Makes a Narrow Escape

Tesla cursed as he adjusted the controls of the Space-Time Machine. He had barely managed to get himself out of there before …
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The Fedora: A Southern Haunting
Velda Clark, the liberrian fer Lampshade Public Liberry, here in Lampshade, Alabama, swears this un is true. I done heard fro…
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The Superhero Obituaries
Philadelphia, PA – Davey Daniels, alter-ego of the 70’s vigilante, Captain Wreckless, died in his home on Thursday, a spokesm…
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Take Your Time?

After rubbing the sleep out of your eyes, you try to quickly assess the situation. The pirates are coming still closer, and y…
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Keep Going Even Though You're Lost

You eventually stumble across a small stream, filled with brightly coloured fish. Thirsty from wandering the jungle for hours…
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An In-Depth and Thorough Discussion on the Existence of God
“In the beginning, God made the Heaven and the Earth.”
“How do you know?”
“Sorry?”
“How do you know God made the Heaven …
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The Kit-Kat Club
“All I’m saying,” he said, resting his hands on the arm of the couch, “Is that it’s just chocolate. We’re not talking about…
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Take the Parrot That Warns of Danger

You decide to take the parrot that warns of danger. The witch waves her hand around her arm a few times, mutters some strange…
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Walking in a Ficlet Wonderland

I’ve never been one for sappy speeches or undue melodrama.
Every ficlet is like a snowflake, beautiful and unique in its own…
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The Vacuum Cleaner Dilemma
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Critical System Failure
“There. It’s taken four hours, but your computer is up and running again like new.”
“Thank you, Karen.”
“Oh, and don’t inst…
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In Sanity, Or Insanity

They just stand there, staring at me. Oh, my god, I think. This is not happening. This is not happening!
I walk over, ...
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I Wanna Be a Cowboy [Retro Music Challenge]

Two man sat on their horses on the bluff overlooking the small frontier town. Jonas spat, “Fool’s Paradise.”
Hyrum just ch…
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Night Drive
I feel the cool breeze of the night air on my arm. As I drive home, with my window down, I notice nothing.
No traffic
No anx… -
Discussion and Dirt

I woke up to a face full of dirt and cold metal around my wrists. Sputtering and shaking my head, I tried to make sense of th…
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R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #1: Paragraph Spacing

Open any book or magazine article. What do you see? Paragraphs! Paragraphs where you can _easily tell where one ends and the …
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R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #2: Comment and Rate It!

For every one of my ficlets, I see something odd. Fully ten times as many people read my ficlets as bother to comment or ra…
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R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #5: Edit Yourself

One of the most important parts of writing a ficlet is self-editing. With only 1024 characters to get a complete mini-story…
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R_M's Ficlets Best Practices #7: Spelling, Grammar, Punctuation

You wouldn’t show up at a job interview in your PJs, with 5 o’clock shadow and halitosis, would you? Of course not. Likewise,...
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Not the Worlds Greatest Writer { A Conversation with myself}

You’re not the worlds greatest writer you know.
I’m aware of that, I never said I was, that we are I mean._Just saying, s…
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New Patient
Dr. Kinkaid walked into the doctor’s lounge. “Hey, Bill,” Dr. Chang said, sounding every bit as tired as Kinkaid felt. “How g…
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Accidental Escape Discovery [Escape Challenge]

This is bad. It means Kitty and the boys are in trouble. Weekends at quaint country estates always lead to trouble in my book…
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Intelligently Undead
Zoulag was pawing at a window again. He always did that, but it never seemed to work
Me? I’m by the door, groaning, “Brrrraa…
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The Don't Get Defensive Challenge
To commemorate my ooh, what could it be? what might be worth commemorating? 3,000th comment _yes, he said comment. So odd, ...
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Oh, The Elephants Know
None of the elephants trust me. I don’t know why. I’m a nice enough guy, but they have some sense that goes beyond that. They…
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Athanas And Molger Go To Desolace.
The Burning Blade orc grunted with boredom. Today was his day on patrol, but then every day was a day on patrol for an orc at…
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Objects In Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear [Elsha's Mirror Challenge]

The needle on the speedometer rose sharply as I floored the pedal. Speed limit signs flashed past, but I ignored them; the po…
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Condom Conundrum
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Condom Cornucopia

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The Turncoat Suitor
Roger was standing in the doorway with only the glint of his eyes and the barrel of a Mauser P27 visible in the shadows. Marg…
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Margie's Flashback

She remembered it all. The terror of the blitz, the destruction of her home in Islington. Her rush to join the war effort and…
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Journey to Deutschland

The room—or was it a submarine?—spun wildly.
“I… I don’t understand,” Margie mumbled, her forehead still smarting. She tried…
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Becoming an Operative

“No more lies!” shouted Margie. “Tell me what’s going on at once!”
The impostor Churchill leaped to his feet and placed a ha…
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The River Cold and Vile

Frida tried to maintain her composure. The ship was now passing through the strait between Pagensand and Schwarztonnensand wi…
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A Nice Dance to a Different Tune
The song was something modern, tragically pained and painfully slow. The dance floor thudded along slowly to the beat beneath…
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Remembering a Friend
I hear this song on the radio. As I am driving my car.”*Missing your laugh how did it break? When did your eyes begin to loo…
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Parallel Kingdoms: The Outset
Two kingdoms were positioned alongside each other: Azuria on the north and Athentia on the south. Presiding over each was one…
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Parallel Kingdoms: Charlie's Story

Long ago I had learned to revere Charlie’s insight. His granite lips spoke truths beyond the vision of mortals, with a kindne…
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On Sea or On Land

Suddenly Frida felt the submarine slowing, and she nearly lost her footing as it rounded a corner. The captain signaled a ful…
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Parallel Kingdoms: Unwelcoming Woods

With Charlie perched atop the roof as lookout, and I with pen and parchment, writing my request for the squarefinder, our mag…
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Back Down to Earth

After the ferris wheel came back down to earth, I turned towards her expectantly.
“Well, what next, tour guide? Or are you s…
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Automatic Anubis
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It Won't Happen Again [The Apology Challenge]

This is just to say
sorry for not coming to bed
last night. I was up writing ficlets,
as usual. You see there was this brilli… -
Don't Get Defensive Challenge Winners [Wow, what a lame, unimaginative title]

Long over-due, I know, but if it’s not painfully obvious by now that I do things in my own time and in my own way…
Winners…
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Clowns
My mommy says that clowns are nice. She says that they make people smile. But I don’t like them. One gave me a lollipop once,...
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Ask the Wonderball

“You first,” Emily prodded. “I’m nervous. The answer has to be a number of some kind.”
“Alright,” said Lona. “How many boys …
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642

Somewhere in Laredo is a building. One huge importers warehouse that has long sat vacant, at least in the legal sense. For in…
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The Future Is Unwritten

Emily dropped the Wonderball. It made a dull thud as it hit the carpet. The two girls stared at each other, both of them pale…
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HIS Pain a Song Forever

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The Wonderball's Message

Emily was seized with the sudden urge to fling the Wonderball out the window. Am I going insane? she thought as she looked …
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The Room Awaits...

“Room 34? What’s room 34? Who’s waiting for me? Tell me!” Emily half-screamed at the orb, which was now, for some reason, stu…
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The Essential, Indispensable Wonderball

The line clicked. Emily’s stomach, having finally settled overnight, began to churn once more.
She eyed Wonderball on her d…
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Anne's Resolve [Twisted History Challenge]

The hour was nigh. She could feel her body tensing, the muscles preparing themselves. She pushed back the sheets and was walk…
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Roses

Don’t stop and smell the roses.
It’s the worst possible thing to do if you’re not looking for love. And I wasn’t, but when I…
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Shooting Up
The pain is too real. It emanates from the core of my being. Consuming me. I reach for the needle.
“Mommy?”
Sam.
My hand… -
You Can Hear Them Through The Walls
”- Here they come over and over -“
She could see them through the tiny window.
“Ah, here is one of our permanent patients….

