7 Short Fiction Stories That Included a Volunteer
Sunday, 5 December 2021, was International Volunteer Day, so this week I chose to read short stories that included people volunteering for something.
International Volunteer Day reminds us of the valuable work that volunteers do for people and communities and recognises the fantastic work these people do.
This week’s stories included someone volunteering to test a new machine, work the Christmas Eve shift, risk their life, help a magician, help clean up after a monster’s rage, defend their town, and work on a kibbutz.
These are the stories I read this week and what I thought.
** I’m not here to criticise any writer. The fact that these writers have put themselves out there and made these stories available for me to read for free is amazing and I thank you.**
Sunday: Tune Out of Time
Tune Out of Time by Philip E High. From A Step to the Stars, published 2004 by Wildside Press. Read on the Infinity Plus website.
The scientist shrugged. “If I were a volunteer for the position, your assurances would fail to comfort me. Those safety devices might cut in fractionally too late.”
What it’s about: A man volunteers to test a new device that can supposedly predict the future.
A science fiction time travel story about a machine that connects a human mind with a computer to look at the past and predict the future.
The scientist who developed this new machine says it will be able to go back in time up to 5,000 years or into the future up to 10,000 years. Other scientists ridicule the device, the idea, and the scientist.
Thirty years of similar human/machine interfaces working within known variables have proven safe for humans. So, the assumption is that this will be safe too. But this new machine is attempting to go into the unknown: time and space.
Stapleton volunteers to test it, something goes wrong, and he finds himself in an unknown civilisation. In his travels, he learns a fundamental truth about the universe. When he finally gets back to his own time and place, he tells the scientists and reporters that they’re not going to like what he’s learned.
This is a straightforward read, even with a bit of ‘science’ thrown in. It’s easy to cheer Stapleton on when he stands up to the bullies.
Monday: And the Clock Read Ten
And the Clock Read Ten by Chris Richter. Submitted to Reedsy as an entry into a prompt competition.
When her manager had threatened a lottery on Christmas Eve duties, Eloise had raised her hand to volunteer.
What it’s about: Eloise volunteers to work the Christmas Eve shift alone in the grocery store.
This is a Christmas story about a retail worker working on their own on Christmas Eve.
Eloise is bored. She’s the only one in the store and it’s less than half an hour until closing. It starts to snow outside, and she’s watching car lights pass on the nearby highway. A white van pulls slowly into the parking lot.
Eloise is suspicious of the old man that comes into the store and tries to keep an eye on him. By the time closing time comes around, the snow has turned into a blizzard. She and her creepy customer are stranded together in the store.
This was a fun, ‘who was that old man’, Christmas story.
Tuesday: Badass Moms in the Zombie Apocalypse
Badass Moms in the Zombie Apocalypse by Rae Carson. Published in Uncanny Magazine, Issue 32.
“We all volunteered,” Min says.
“We really wanted a baby,” Rebekah says. “I mean, I don’t ever want a baby, but I’m glad for you to have yours.”
What it’s about: Giving birth in the zombie apocalypse is dangerous but some people volunteer to put their lives on the line to help each other.
It’s ten years into the zombie apocalypse and Brit is about to give birth. The birthing place is a fair distance from the main camp. Brit and her partner, Marisol, have to get there in time and avoid the undead on the way. But, the undead can smell them and hear them, and they’re hungry.
I enjoyed this story for the most part. It seems like what would happen in these circumstances. The sensory details and the tempo of the story are excellent. This is a story of community and hope and wanting to create a better world than the last one.
There was one detail at the end that jarred me, though. While I understand what the author is going for, I’m still not sure how I feel about it.
Wednesday: Inside Out
Inside Out by Rohan Fitzpatrick. Published on the Flash Fiction Magazine website.
“A volunteer?” he asked. He had been speaking very little all morning, teasing us with glimpses of his skills, promising to “shower us with magic.”
What it’s about: An magician performs on the street, then calls for a volunteer for his finale.
An unnamed narrator is watching a magician entertaining a street full of people. No one knows who he is or where he came from or why he’s doing this. Katie, who’s there with the narrator, volunteers when no one else seems keen.
I classify this as a horror story. You’ll never again volunteer yourself or a loved one to help a magician after reading this story.
This is a very nice piece of flash fiction. I didn’t see the end of coming.
Thursday: Entanglement
Entanglement by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam. Published in Lightspeed Magazine, Sep 2020, Issue 124.
I tried to undo his damage, in my small ways. When he leveled a city, I volunteered for roadside cleanup.
What it’s about: A girl tries to work out who she is and who she wants to be. Is she human (like her mother) or a monster (like her father)?
A modern-day fantasy in which an unnamed narrator struggles with her identity. Her mother is human but her father is a sea monster who takes out his anger on humans and their cities.
When she turns fifteen, she collapses and in hospital finds out she has a small sea monster wrapped around her heart. She’s told it can’t be removed and she’s referred to a therapist, a former witch.
The treatment includes, among other things, doing good deeds, such as helping in the aftermath of the destruction caused by her father. When this doesn’t work, she decides she has to kill her father.
This is a self-actualisation story, in which the narrator goes from confusion and doing what other people want her to do, to working out what she wants and being strong enough to follow through.
Friday: An Affair of State
An Affair of State by Guy de Maupassant. Read on the Classic Short Stories website.
In two weeks he had induced sixty-three men to volunteer in defense of their country — married men, fathers of families, prudent farmers and merchants of the town.
What it’s about: During the French revolution, a doctor tries to oust the mayor of his town and take over.
During a time when “Everybody was playing at soldier from one end of the country to the other”, Dr Massarel prepares a militia. The doctor is a republican and wants to be ready to remove the existing mayor, who is an Empire man, from his post. He parades his men in front of the mayor’s house and harasses the man every chance he gets.
He learns, before anyone else, that the emperor has been imprisoned and the country has been declared a republic. He gathers up his men and marches to the mayor’s house to claim the position for himself. However, things don’t play out quite as he expects.
This was my pick of the week. It was a fun tongue-in-cheek story. The less-than-interested spectators and even his own men don’t take him as seriously as he takes himself. The characterisation is well done and, considering when this story was written, it was a delight to read.
Saturday: Strange Encounter
Strange Encounter by mwac. Published on the shortstories101 website.
There were forty volunteers, some stayed and some went early, you lost your deposit if you left early after signing your contract for six months work.
What it’s about: Two English women meet on a kibbutz, then run into each other again and again over the next few years.
The narrator, Chris, meets Angela on the kibbutz and they become friends. Chris is a stable personality, not stuffy or dull, but she knows herself and works hard to get what she wants. Angela is unstable, drinks a lot, and is more of a rebel. Angela doesn’t seem to know what she wants to do with her life.
Chris believes that Angela’s tough exterior hides a fragile interior, and the narrative plays it that way. They both lead separate lives, consistent with their personalities, and they run into each other several times again throughout the years.
There’s a lot of nice description in this story. If you can get past the punctuation errors, it’s an interesting story, albeit with a slightly unsatisfying (to me) ending.
TL;DR
This week’s short stories that included a volunteer, in the order that I enjoyed them.
- An Affair of State by Guy de Maupassant (Comedy)
- Inside Out by Rohan Fitzpatrick (Horror)
- And the Clock Read Ten by Chris Richter (Christmas)
- Tune Out of Time by Philip E High (Sci-fi time travel)
- Badass Moms in the Zombie Apocalypse by Rae Carson (Post-apocalyptic)
- Entanglement by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam (Urban fantasy)
- Strange Encounter by mwac (Contemporary)
I’m fascinated by short fiction. I write it and I read it.
As well as reading longer-form fiction, I try to read at least one short story every day. I select out-of-the-way stories and authors I’ve never read and sometimes never heard of.
Sometimes I pick competition entries, often ones that didn’t win. Sometimes I find random personal websites where someone has published their own stories. Sometimes I seek out professionally published stories from hardcopy books or online magazines. Sometimes I look for really old stories that are out of copyright and available online.
I’m open to suggestions for genres or themes for me to read each week.
