Motel Americana

This sampling of motel flash fiction was collected for the fantastic new Listen, Rinse, Repeat Podcast, which was conceived in response to the peculiarities of our time: stories that run about as long as it takes to wash your hands. Some of these stories have been published over there already so check them out!

And get those hands clean folks! Stay safe.

Check out the Listen, Rinse Repeat Podcast

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Oliver Adkins checks into the motel, where he’s harassed mercilessly by his doppelganger.

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After receiving strange postcards from his old pal Ahab Cloud, Jack tracks him down at the former site of the Motel Americana to confront him about the theft of The Knee. Technically a preface to the forthcoming story Oscar called The Double, this account runs longer than the actual tale and arguably stands as a motel tale unto itself.

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Marion calls a bonafide healer to the motel in attempt to save his immortal soul. The Healer, an ex-paparazzi, has different ideas about redemption.

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This episode contains audio surveillance audio captured by Oscar Garret at the Motel Americana in 1987. To hear a full account of Oscar’s tapes and how I came into possession of them, be sure to check out episode 1 and episode 2.

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When a couple of two bit gangsters lose the man they were hired to kill, their employer has words with them.

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This episode contains audio surveillance audio captured by Oscar Garret at the Motel Americana in 1987. To hear a full account of Oscar’s tapes and how I came into possession of them, be sure to check out episode 1 and episode 2.

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Lindsey consults with Spiro, a psychic medium who promises to eradicate the spirits that have been haunting her.

[Read Along with the episode]

This episode contains audio surveillance audio captured by Oscar Garret at the Motel Americana in 1987. To hear a full account of Oscar’s tapes and how I came into possession of them, be sure to check out episode 1 and episode 2.

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Easily the oddest of Oscar’s tales to date, Lloyd Farberware, a regular tenant of the Motel Americana, is forced to sell his prized possession– a set of rare dominoes– in order to recover his Uncle Louie’s knee (really, his half leg).

As Jack mentioned in the into, here’s the short film his so-called acquaintance made based on Oscar’s work:

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To hear a full account of Oscar’s tapes and how I came into possession of them, be sure to check out episode 1 and episode 2.

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Talk radio personality and self-help guru Remy Danger checks into the Motel Americana during a stopover on his book signing tour. When a die-hard fan tracks him down and knocks on his motel door, Danger tries to give the kid what he thinks he wants, but Danger just might get more than he bargains for. You can’t just talk your way out of the Motel Americana.

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This re-issue of Episode 3: Center of the Universe features the actual surveillance audio Oscar’s bugs captured weaved into the narrative:

A teenage runaway has a strange and remarkable affliction that’s become too much of a burden to bear. When she summons her hapless friend Noah to the Motel Americana for moral support, the situation gets a little better… before becoming apocalyptic. A sci-fi short story audiodrama.

[Read along with this episode]

To hear a full account of Oscar’s tapes and how I came into possession of them, be sure to check out episode 1 and episode 2.

The original release is intact for posterity: episode 3 Center of the Universe

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The solar storms are wreaking havoc across the country, but perhaps nowhere have they been felt as strongly as at the Motel Americana, where a troubled man called Lang has just checked in. Everywhere he turns he hears a mechanical voice– incessantly sputtering from TVs, droning on every radio station, spilling ceaselessly over the phone lines. He’s been trying to ignore it, but he can’t anymore. He finds that it’s been describing intimate details of his life, a life he may have misunderstood entirely.

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