Empty Suit: The Light Fantastic

by Ken Pelham

Edison Glass has labored for years at his giant, multinational corporation, unappreciated, overlooked, and invisible. Until one day he decides to make his invisibility a quite literal thing.A short humor story in The Light Fantastic.. INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR Q - What is The Light Fantastic? A - In The Light Fantastic , nine authors unite to bring laughter, chuckles, giggles, guffaws, and amusement to the masses amidst speculative twists and turns. Literary comedic geniuses like Kurt Vonnegut, Jonathan Swift, Helen Fielding, Samuel Beckett, Terry Pratchett, Gail Carriger, Mark Twain, and Oscar Wilde inspired the authors of the Alvarium Experiment in their quest for comedic gold, exploring every facet from dark humor to slapstick, deadpan to satire, dry humor to parody, and anything else we might consider a tickler of funny bones. The featured stories fall into fantasy, science fiction, and horror genres, but they do get up again and brush themselves off. This is the sixth project by the Alvarium Experiment, a consortium of accomplished and award-winning authors. Q - Where should a reader start when selecting a short story to read in The Light Fantastic? A - Each story is self-contained and can be read in any order. The reader is free to select any of the stories at random to begin their experience. The book description will explain the premise for each particular story. Ken Pelham lives and writes in Maitland, Florida. His thriller, BRIGANDS KEY, won first place in the Royal Palm Literary Awards and was published in hardcover in 2012 by Cengage/Five Star Mystery. The Florida Weekly calls BRIGANDS KEY "a perfect storm of menace… breathtaking!" The prequel, PLACE of FEAR, also a first place winner of the Royal Palm, was published in 2013.Pelham’s short stories, “The Wreck of the Edinburgh Kate,” earned a second-place award in 2014, “When the Hurly Burly’s Done,” won a Silver award in 2019.Pelham has published more than forty articles about writing, several of which have won awards. His book, OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF A WRITER'S GUIDE TO MASTERING VIEWPOINT, won the Florida Writers Association’s highest award—2015 Published Book of the Year—and has been translated into Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese.His 2021 release, Gumshoes, Fangs, Rockets, and How Literary Genres Evolve and Change Our World, explores the twisty tales of the genres we love."As a broad survey of genre fiction, and particularly as an investigation into the origins of classic genres, the book more than delivers. A sprawling and engrossing map of genre fiction.”—Kirkus Reviews

31 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 4, 2021

About the author

Ken Pelham is primarily a writer of suspense and thrillers, although he has been known to dip into horror, science fiction, fantasy, and mainstream fiction. As a nonfiction author, he's penned articles on environmental issues, public open space, and the fields of suspense writing. He frequently lectures on the topics of writing in viewpoint and on building suspense in fiction, and has turned those two topics into concise guidebooks.

Ken is a three-time winner of the Royal Palm Literary Award, and a member of International Thriller Writers and the Florida Writers Association.

Reviews

[Bria Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

An underappreciated, hard-working mid-level employee at B. Hemuth reaches a breaking point when his boss overlooks him for a well-deserved promotion while simultaneously humiliating him after a presentation. Thanks to his genius brother, he volunteers for an experiment in invisibility, and he takes the opportunity to repay everyone at B. Hemuth. This hilarious office comedy is a delightful blend of Office Space and National Lampoon.

[Erik Deckers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grwat short story! Now make it a novel.

Tbis was a great little scifi superhero romp that I would love to see turned into a full-length novel complete with training montage.

Also, Edison could turn a face mask and goggles invisible to hide his mouth and eyes. He could even make a suit coated with the invisibility juice. I'd love to read that story!