---
categories:
  - 'The Worth of Immortality'
date: '2020-11-23 10:53:00 +0000'
title: 'Ocho Minutos Gets Published'
---
**Ocho Minutos**, a short story commissioned by the magazine Metal 
Obscura(!), has been published today.

This tale was born under strange circumstances. *Josco Carrillo* was 
looking for an apocalyptic tale of very specific characteristics for 
his publication. *Metal Obscura* carries a line of flash fiction with a 
dark subject matter: the death of our Sun and its aftermath.

Back when *Josco* told me about it, I was pouring all my energy on *The 
Worth of Immortality(!)*. I didn't feel quite like writing anything 
which didn't belong to it, and *Metal Obscura's* subject matter didn't 
lend itself easily to fit my series. Still, I did want to take the 
commission. Eventually, I realized I was up for a challenge. I decided 
to use *The Worth of Immortality's* setting and try to write something 
tailored to *Metal Obscura*, which seemed no easy task.

I had already written about the _Xhrkelah Wars_ in the series, and I 
thought it would be cool to use a science-fiction approach for the 
story - which is groundbreaking as far as *Metal Obscura* is concerned, 
since their flash fiction consists in more classical horror. The plot 
started to fall in place the more thought I gave to it. I managed to 
fit the core concepts that make *The Worth of Immortality* what it is 
in less than 800 words. My first instinct was to publish it as a 
_non-canon_ story... but the more I read the tale I had just written, 
the more I realized *The Worth of Immortality* could actually 
incorporate this short story.

You can read **Ocho Minutos** at the corresponding post at Metal 
Obscura(!). The story is available in Spanish only at the moment. I 
intend to make it available in English too, either via my Store(!) or a 
third party magazine.

## What Josco Carrillo has to say about the story

> Both original and brilliant. To twist an idea and showcase a whole 
Universe in a thousand words is within the reach of few authors. It 
fills us with pride that Falken has passed by, stopped and participated 
in our ineffable call for tales.


Links:
* Metal Obscura: http://metalobscura.com/
* The Worth of Immortality: 
http://www.richardfalken.com/categories/the_worth_of_immortality.html
* the corresponding post at Metal Obscura: 
https://metalobscura.com/relato-apocaliptico-ocho-minutos-de-richard-fal
ken/
* my Store: https://store.richardfalken.com