The Freeze-Dried Groom is one of the nine stories in Margaret Atwood's fantastic new collection Stone Mattress. A collection of highly imaginative short pieces that speak to our times with deadly accuracy. Vintage Atwood creativity, intelligence, and humor: think Alias Grace. Margaret Atwood turns to short fiction for the first time since her 2006 collection, Moral Disorder, with nine tales of acute psychological insight and turbulent relationships bringing to mind her award-winning 1996 novel, Alias Grace. A recently widowed fantasy writer is guided through a stormy winter evening by the voice of her late husband in "Alphinland," the first of three loosely linked stories about the romantic geometries of a group of writers and artists. In "The Freeze-Dried Groom," a man who bids on an auctioned storage space has a surprise. In "Lusus Naturae," a woman born with a genetic abnormality is mistaken for a vampire. In "Torching the Dusties," an elderly lady with Charles Bonnet syndrome comes to terms with the little people she keeps seeing, while a newly formed populist group gathers to burn down her retirement residence. And in "Stone Mattress," a long-ago crime is avenged in the Arctic via a 1.9 billion-year-old stromatolite. In these nine tales, Margaret Atwood is at the top of her darkly humorous and seriously playful game.

Margaret Atwood’s story “The Freeze-Dried Groom,” from her new collection Stone Mattress, leaves the reader with many tantalizing questions. How does it end? Will Sam be a killer or a victim? What are the other characters’ versions of events? Answer some of these questions, or ask some of your own, by writing a fanfiction inspired by the characters or events of “The Freeze-Dried Groom.” Share your version of this haunting tale with Margaret Atwood and Wattpadders everywhere, and you could win!

A collection of short stories in which I write about the regular, everyday struggles of life with an over the top, dramatic twist. Highest Ranked: #154 in Short Story Copyright © 2016 by TheEnigmaticPhoenix

A dangerous stranger pays a visit to a desolate space outpost where everyone has something to hide. A young boy who is shunned by his community for being different creates fantastical drawings of steam powered beasts. Years after an apocalyptic event wipes out most of humanity, a small group of soldiers explores the abandoned cities for one small black book. If any of these story ideas sounds appealing to you then please read on! The following is a compilation of short stories of the science fiction genre. A number of thrilling sci-fi sub genres have been explored such as space western, SteamPunk and post - apocalyptic dystopian fiction.

A singing automaton performs each night in Atlantic City. Like every work of art, the toy has a fascinating story behind her creation. An old barfly recounts the tale to a young server, teaching him the power of technology in helping man cope with life's trials of love, loss and regret. This is one of my earlier works, which was published in the Spring 2015 issue of Mad Scientist Journal.

Claudia is a shut-in, a nerd. She creates custom cybernetic limbs, unique works of art. Lumi is everything Claudia is not, exotic, exciting, outgoing. Claudia comes to realise they both have their secrets. Secrets that will tear them apart.

This is a collection of short stories written by Wattpadders who love their Science Fiction as much as we do. It aims to celebrate the diversity of the genre both in sub-genre, length and style, so whether you like Steampunk or Hard SciFi, Space Opera or Dystopian, fanfiction or a drabble, we know you'll find something in here you like. Explore, read, enjoy. Come one, come all. Welcome to Nano-Bytes!

This is a compilation of Flash fiction stories I've written using writing prompts (credit given). I especially like photo prompts.

Each day of the year in 2016, I will be attempting to write a short story, using a prompt. It'll be wild and hard and who knows? I might even turn out some good stuff. Maybe you'll even want to do this too. (Dedications go to followers.) This is part one of the 365 Day Challenge, and contains days 1-200. 5/31/17 - Some of the more personal parts have been unpublished. Some of the poorly written parts I set to private.

Stereo Hearts, is a writing challenge inspired by songs and music as a whole. Feel free to create a story based on only one of the song prompts inside or all of them. Any questions regarding the prompts inside, feel free to PM me at my main account: @esoterically [cover credit to @algort]