Raconteur Press
The above illustration is from a Raconteur Press Substack post on 14 June 2025. As part of their advertising the “Mad Science!” anthology, they challenged their Substack readers to write a 50-word story based on the picture as a prompt.
Raconteur Press regularly publishes anthologies, like every two weeks. A wonderful boon for short stories reader. The theme vary from weird west to detective noir to mad scientists and more. The anthology they are pushing can be found here: Mad Science! (Raconteur Press Anthologies Book 54)
My 50-word story (EXACT! as required by the prompt) is below and was first published on 6/14/2025 on the Substack post.
***
“What are you doing up there Undergrad Student Shephard?” the professor asked Luke.
“Um,” came the over-educated reply from the man hovering mid-air.
“Did you store your drink in the lab sample refrigerator again?”
“Um.”
“It’s basic lab safety, Shephard. Food in the food fridge, lab in the lab fridge.”