In Every Issue · Fiction

Mini-Dude

He is nine inches tall, carries a board he could not possibly ride, and has never once looked at the forecast and decided to sit one out. Every month, First Coast Lineup invents where he ended up.

Mini-Dude: a nine-inch figure of a weathered, sun-bleached surfer in sunglasses and flowered boardshorts, holding a surfboard and throwing a shaka
Mini-Dude stands in an open portable toilet with his arms spread wide as a uniformed deputy aims a Taser at him
The sign did say please lock door.

Read the interview

Images generated by Michael Smith September 2026

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The fine print

Invented, not reported. Mini-Dude, his interview and every image here are made up; the pictures are generated, not photographed. Everything else in this magazine is reported. This is the one page that isn't.

Nobody real is in these pictures. The people, uniforms, agencies and animals are invented. Any resemblance to an actual person, department or event is unintended.

Punching up, or not at all. The joke is never at the expense of a surfer, a volunteer, or anyone who showed up. Usually it's at his.

Images generated by Michael Smith for First Coast Lineup