Tangents

Online, b&w, 2026–

TANGENTS is a recurring literary section for flash fiction, short prose, and fragments that move outside fixed categories, published by STRATUM. It is a dedicated space for compressed narratives, strange turns, and writing that sits ambiguously between fiction, memory, humor, unease, and dream logic.

Maybe it’s my Midwestern roots showing, but I always feel conflicted discussing process. If I jump right in, I worry it’ll come off self-important or pretentious. But if I open with a disclaimer examining my discomfort, that seems cutesy and self-indulgent. Perhaps going a meta step further and acknowledging my concerns with both approaches will serve to sort of cancel them out. Hopefully I avoid being overwrought while being just messy enough to put the reader at ease with my flawed folksy wit.

Sure, yeah, let’s go with that.

I usually write prose as an engaging and interesting activity in which I find out what I’m writing as I write it. There’s no formula. I find fiction writing to be much like how I dream—with absurd, bizarre, or random storylines whose origins are a mystery to me, though sometimes clearly influenced by my experiences. In revision, I continue to figure out what I might be writing about and work to get the piece to the point where it feels right…or at least a good place to stop. This is all especially true of my fiction prose, but also applies to non-fiction or autobiographical stories. Often fact and fiction mix along the way to the piece becoming what it is. Writing for me is exploring and discovering and playing all at once.

For several years now, I’ve done far more writing than publishing—which brings me to Tangents. Each week, until otherwise determined, I’ll release a pan-genre flash or short story in STRATUM. And, since it’s 2026, I’ll address the AI elephant in the room: these stories are written by me without utilizing Gen-AI or LLMs in any capacity at any point of my process. You may notice a predilection for the Oxford comma and em dashes—well that’s just how I roll.

I appreciate a good tangent. Not the pointless ones of course, nor aimless tangents that go on too long and lose the thread, leaving you lost and annoyed. A good tangent enriches and deepens what’s being communicated, interrupting rote info dumps with some personality and panache. Tangents are like sidequests or appetizers—both of which are sometimes better than the mains. However, tangents can lead to treacherously boorish waters (hic sunt odiosus dracones), so travelers, and readers, beware. I’ll do my best to navigate us safely as we go on these tangents together.

Jerry White Jr.
Taipei
Friday, May 22nd, 2026