366 Squared Volume 2: February
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About this ebook
Welcome to Volume 2 of 366 Squared, the e-book series that poses the question, "Just how much sense and/or nonsense can one say in 366 words?" This volume contains twenty-nine entries covering the month of February. It turned out to be a difficult month, and there are more mini-essays than I originally planned. There is also a lot more fantasy and less science fiction than I thought there would be. Oh well, I can only take this project where the source material allows me to. We'll see what happens in the next volume.
But back to the present. February is, of course, the most important month of the year. The fact that it contains my birthday has nothing to do with it, it is an objective fact. What other month has the honor of varying its length depending on whether the year is divisible by 4, 100 0r 400?
Almost every story in this volume is based on a real event, a celebration, a birth or a death associated with a specific day. But you may have to read carefully to figure out just what that was. I'm certainly not going to give it away in the title: if you need to know in advance what the story is going to be about, then the story itself is a flop. But if the reference is too obscure, you can look it up in the back of the book, where all the day references are listed.
I did say almost every story. For some days of the year, I just could not find something tied to that day in history to write anything interesting about. But fear not! You will receive your daily quota of words. For such days, there will be a little essay, a poem, well, something.
Michel Clasquin-Johnson
Michel Clasquin-Johnson is a Professor of Religious Studies at the University of South Africa and was, until recently, the entire Buddhological establishment on the continent of Africa. He lives in Pretoria, South Africa with his wife, son and two motorcycles. Michel likes to think that he practices Buddhism (in his own way) as well as writing about it. The entire Buddhist world disagrees, but is too polite to say so. In his spare time, he writes what can loosely be called science fiction. Not a lot of science involved, and a fine disregard for the rules of fiction. He also writes application software, but only for utterly obscure and/or obsolete operating systems that are never going to lead to a payday. Let's hope he hangs on to his day job.
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366 Squared Volume 2 - Michel Clasquin-Johnson
366 Squared
Volume 2: February
Published by Michel Clasquin-Johnson at Smashwords
Copyright 2012 Michel Clasquin-Johnson
1st Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your preferred Smashwords reseller and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Background to cover image courtesy of NASA. All other graphics used in this book or on the cover are in the public domain or are Creative-Content-licensed and were obtained either from Wikimedia,Wikipedia or other royalty-free content providers.
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Table of Contents
Introduction
Introduction to Volume 2
February 1, 1884
February 2, 1st Century CE
February 3, 1637
February 4, 1987
February 5, 1818
February 6, 1911
February 7, 1497
February 8, 1828
February 9, 1960
February 10, 2009
February 11, 1960
February 12, 1809
February 13, 2000
February 14
February 15, 1946
February 16, 1923
February 17, 1890
February18, 1564
February 19
February 20
February 21, 1878
February 22, 1732
February 23, 1974
February 24, 1582
February 25, 1338
February 26, 1946
February 27, 1933
February 28, 2013
February 29
Day References for February
About the Author
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Introduction
This book series comes from a challenge I set myself in September 2012: write a story a day for a year (and include a bonus story for February 29). I wanted to reinvent myself as a writer, and things were going … slowly. I needed a shock to the system, something to get myself to open that same file day after day and pound away on the keyboard. Even if I didn't work on anything else that day, at least I would have done this one little thing. By the end of one year, I would have created the equivalent of a 130 000 word novel.
And so, day after day, I opened up the usual This Day in History websites and saw what had happened that was interesting, that I might be able to weave a tale around. Naturally, the best-laid plans of mice and men ... Soon enough I found myself behind schedule. People get sick. People's kids get sick. People get fired up writing on other projects. It also became clear that the Table of Contents for such a book would become ridiculously unwieldy.
I just decided to be kind to myself: as soon as I had a month's worth of stories ready to go I would put them out there in a collection. If it took me more than a year to fill out the entire calendar, so mote it be! Whether the whole lot will ever be reassembled into an omnibus remains to be seen. If there is a demand for it, sure. Let me know.
Almost every story in this volume is based on a real event, a celebration, a birth or a death associated with a specific day. But you may have to read carefully to figure out just what that was. I'm certainly not going to give it away in the title: if you need to know in advance what the story is going to be about, then the story itself is a flop. But if the reference is too obscure, you can look it up in the back of the book, where all the day references are listed.
And it is just a reference to that day. The actual action in the story may