Horror Fable One

A guy I know in Russia recently messaged me and asked if I wanted to write a short horror story for an anthology he's putting together and publishing in Russia. He'll translate my story into Russian. I previously helped him edit a horror anthology in English, 'Horror Without Borders: Volume 1', and was even interviewed in a Russian magazine about it. He needs it within a few days. I ran a couple ideas by him and he liked them. So, even though I don't normally create or consume horror, although I do like dark fantasy and science fiction, I shall create a short horror fable. It has to be just 100 words long, exactly. There will be 300 of these in the anthology.

Slow and Steady Wins by Jeffrey Alexander Martin

"This is ridiculous!" yelled Squirrel, "You can't beat Hare in a race!"

"Calm down." said Tortoise, "Your thoughts are frantic. You have to think slow and steady about these things. Hare challenged me to a race, I accepted, there will be a race. What matters is who crosses the finish line."

Tortoise took a deep breath and looked over at Owl. "Who do we know," he said with a slow and steady voice, "that could help us with this problem?"

"Well," Owl looked deep in thought, "Fox owes us a favor from that time we helped him before. I've seen him and Hare talk before. Maybe we approach him with an offer. He can pay us back, and maybe get something that he wants too. Everybody's happy."

(Alright, this is developing nicely, if I do say so myself. But, it's already at 127 words. Writing super short stories is its own weird art. So, I have to go back and try again and tighten this up. How do I make it scary and surprising in such a short space? I'm not sure.)

Slow and Steady Wins by Jeffrey Alexander Martin (The title has to be less than five words.)

"You can't beat Hare in a race!" yelled Squirrel.

"Slow and steady your thoughts." said Tortoise. He looked over at Owl. "Who can help us with this problem?"

"Well," Owl thought, "Fox owes us a favor."

Tortoise nodded his head. "Make him an offer, one he can't refuse."

On race day Hare sprinted off quickly. Tortoise started walking slow and steady. Fox was the judge and waiting for them at the end.

When Tortoise got to the finish he was first. Squirrel and Owl congratulated him. Others came up to him and showed their respect. Fox used a toothpick to clean the fresh meat out of his teeth.

Slow and steady thinking wins the race.

(That's good, but it's 115 words. I have to cut 15 words. I'm going to change the title a little too.)

Slow and Steady Thinking by Jeffrey Alexander Martin

"You can't beat Hare in a race!" yelled Squirrel.

"Slow and steady your thoughts." said Tortoise. He looked over at Owl. "Who can help us with this problem?"

"Well," Owl thought, "Fox owes us a favor."

Tortoise nodded his head. "Make him an offer he can't refuse."

On race day Hare sprinted off quickly. Tortoise walked slow and steady. Fox was the judge and waited at the end.

When Tortoise got to the finish he was first. Squirrel and Owl offered him their respect. Fox used a toothpick to clean the fresh meat out of his teeth.

Slow and steady thinking wins the race.

(That's 104 words. So close. I want to keep the moral of the story at the end, but it would work without it.)

Slow and Steady Thinking by Jeffrey Alexander Martin

"You can't beat Hare in a race!" yelled Squirrel.

"Slow and steady your thoughts." said Tortoise. He looked over at Owl. "Who can help us with this problem?"

"Well," Owl thought, "Fox owes us a favor."

Tortoise nodded his head. "Make him an offer he can't refuse."

On race day Hare sprinted off quickly. Tortoise walked. Fox was the judge, waiting at the end.

When Tortoise got to the finish he was first. Squirrel and Owl offered him their respect. Fox used a toothpick to clean the fresh meat out of his teeth.

Slow and steady thinking wins the race.

(Boom! Exactly 100 words. I think it's pretty good. I also have to include an author bio. So here's that.)

Jeffrey Alexander Martin grew up in rural Michigan with the intention to do things worth writing and write things worth reading. He holds a BA in philosophy and an MSc in public policy and management from the University of London. He served a four-year term as an elected township supervisor in Michigan, has been an adjunct professor at community colleges in Michigan and West Virginia, published 500 blog posts, led a virtual reading group for a think tank, gave hundreds of speeches for fun, and read thousands of books.

For adventure Jeff has jumped out of a perfectly good airplane, run with bulls, jumped horses, whitewater rafted, ice luged, bicycled over the Cascade Mountains, traveled once around the globe, climbed Mount Rainier, climbed Mount Spathi, scuba dived with freshwater jellyfish, fed a giraffe a leaf out of his own mouth, broke a bolt in half with his bare hands, vomited blood in Kenya after being poisoned, received a black eye and bloody nose in a tomato fight, was detained at the Canadian border by US Border Patrol, was maced by police during the 2025 Athens protests in Greece, was robbed by the cartel in Mexico, wrestled alligators, and was bitten by a stingray.

You can read his work at JeffreyAlexanderMartin.com or JeffThinks.com.

Find more at JeffThinks.com or JeffreyAlexanderMartin.com