Friday Fictioneers is hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields who provides us with a photo prompt. Each week’s challenge is to write a 100-word story inspired by the photo.
PHOTO PROMPT © Dawn Miller
Tunnel Vision
Tunnel vision was one of the side effects of time travel.
Metaphorically, it was good to focus on my task.
Literally, it could be dangerous.
My target was Dr. Leonard Strauss, a disgruntled biochemist who would soon unleash history’s most deadly chemical attack.
I found him as he was exiting his car in front of a restaurant. I drew my gun. He lunged to the left. I fired twice.
I ducked into an alley and activated my return.
I immediately searched Dr. Leonard Strauss, author of multiple terrorist attacks, which were inspired by the murder of his wife and daughter.
NobbinBlog 
Well, oops. This is the problem of going back in time to sort the activity of a monster. What else could happen as a result? Good story!
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I think that’s the most fun thing about time travel stories. Thank you.
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Have you ever read Connie Willis’ The Doomsday Book? If you like sci fi and haven’t read her, you may find her books a lot of fun.
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I have not. I’ll have to look into her.
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She’s very good. She writes with a sense of humor, which I think you’ll appreciate.
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Douglas Adams is one of my favorites, so yeah.
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I have to read him. I think I started the Hitchhiker’s Guide many years ago….
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Dougals Adams and Kurt Vonnegut are my spirit writers.
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You can change things, but they have a way of getting back to the old flow
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In 11/22/63, Stephen King called it “the obdurate past.”
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This is the sort of story I would happily read in a novel. Good stuff.
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How interesting it would be if we could really do that. Well done.
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Most if us would never know. Thank you.
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Oh, and then you leave us hanging, wondering if he succeeded! 🙂
Susan A Eames at
Travel, Fiction and Photos
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He made it worse.
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Dear Nobbin,
The problem with going back in time to take out a villain is that you change time and, most assuredly, another monster will take his or her place. Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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The butterfly effect would be my biggest concern. The tiniest thing could change everything. Thank you.
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I loved this story!
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I loved this comment! Thank you.
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I’ve always felt it’s best to leave history alone… 🙂
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Me too, and my grades reflected that stance.
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Time travel is always such an interesting concept to write and read about. I liked that you ended this story showing that going back in time ultimately didn’t change anything. Sometimes, events can be stubborn :(. Great writing!
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Yes, time travel is fun. There are so many possibilities. Everything can change. Little things can change. Nothing can change. Thank you.
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I classify this as brilliant storytelling.
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I dig the way you classify. Thank you.
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You’re welcome.
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Ah yes, the ongoing question of what happens if we change the past.
Nicely done, sir.
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It’s fun to play with. There are so many possibilities. Thank you, sir.
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There are indeed, and I have written perhaps 79 of them!
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I would say, you’ve made your contribution
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History teachers would have quite a difficult job if the facts kept changing! Nice one.
Here’s mine!
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We have to keep them on their toes. Thank you.
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Oh, what an error. How horrible. Great writing…disturbing, but great!
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That’s the danger of playing with time. Thank you.
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Trying to fix something can at times only make it worse. should have gone further back and got his grandparents.
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Ah! His poor innocent grandparents? Harsh.
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Oh dear, best intentions but ultimately the cause of catastrophe. This makes you think, nice one.
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You never know what’s going to happen when you play with the past. Thank you.
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Great story, time travel. I’ve been reading a few stories on time travel and it’s brilliant on all the different approaches taken.
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Yes! I love time travel stories. There are seemingly endless possibilities. I read Timeline recently. Michael Crichton argues that the past is set and nothing a time traveler does can change it. I thought that was interesting, but I disagree completely.
Thank you.
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It is definitely a thought to go back and stop the damage before it starts… then again, we don’t know what else will happen as a result. Dangerous thing to do! Fun post to read.
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It’s not original, but, with time travel, the possiblities are virtually endless, which made it a fun story to write. Thank you.
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Indeed!!
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Whoopsie, indeed. Nice time travel story.
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It’s amazing how many of us zeroed in on the tunnel vision theme. I guess it just comes from something we all saw in the photo.
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I tried for a barn story, but that tunnel kept calling me.
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Yeah. It’s kind of big one. Thank you.
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I can imagine this story being developed into an exciting novel!
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You have a better imagination than me. No, it probably would be a fun one to write. I’ll have to think about that.
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Whoa… what a mind-blowing twist! Engaging writing.
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Thank you, Mags. Time travel is fun to play with.
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Yes, it is. I recently read H.G. Wells’ Time Machine and watched the movie based on it from the 1960s. It’s always fascinating to see past predictions about the future.
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I’ve never seen the movie, but the book is great.
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