My short story “Cash In the Past” is a quarterfinalist for the 2024 ScreenCraft Cinematic Short-Story Competition. Also: Pepper’s Ghost second edition available 22 February 2024. And while you’re there, sign up as a subscriber. My fiction and updates reach your inbox once a month. I love sharing extraordinary stories (fiction short and long) aboutContinue reading “ScreenCraft Cinematic Short-Story Competition and Pepper’s Ghost Second Edition”
Tag Archives: fiction
Year-End Goals and Joys, Pepper’s Ghost Second Edition, and Advance Readers’ Copies
And while you’re there on Substack, sign up as a subscriber. My fiction and updates reach your inbox once a month. I love sharing extraordinary stories (fiction short and long) about ordinary Americans. Good stories don’t, and shouldn’t have to, conform to the dominant aesthetics and politics.
Pepper’s Ghost Second Edition Cover, Release Date, and Advance Readers’ Copies
BEHOLD THE GORILLA-GIRL! Charlotte Alexandra Long is determined to leave all she knows: her ill-fitting office job, her unreliable boyfriend, and the city she has lived in since adolescence. But leaving that life requires leaving her haunted father who wants nothing but the best for her yet reminds her of a past he’s not readyContinue reading “Pepper’s Ghost Second Edition Cover, Release Date, and Advance Readers’ Copies”
Happy Halloween: “Christ Air” on Substack. Plus: Pepper’s Ghost second edition update.
A mother retrieves her son’s birthday gift from diabolical hands. I compose myself and follow the route my map suggests and stand under a sign shaped like a fist jammed into a pig’s backside. The metal gate creaks open, and out steps a family of four dressed in black except for the daughter dressed likeContinue reading “Happy Halloween: “Christ Air” on Substack. Plus: Pepper’s Ghost second edition update.”
Pepper’s Ghost Second Edition, 2024 Coverfly’s ScreenCraft Cinematic Short Story Competition, and Inroads on hoopla
And while you’re there, sign up as a subscriber. My fiction and updates reach your inbox once a month. I love sharing extraordinary stories (fiction short and long) about ordinary Americans. Good stories don’t, and shouldn’t have to, conform to the dominant aesthetics and politics.
“Brella Fella” – Substack
A boy helps his father with a job. They walk under a shelter where people cry, laugh, hug, and pray near votives. They find a corner dark and quiet, and as rain lets up, Merwin flips over the signs and writes his phone number and HANDYMAN FOR HIRE. He bites off pieces of tape andContinue reading ““Brella Fella” – Substack”
“Daymark” – Substack
A woman faces her fear while photographing the Outer Banks. She steps inside the door cut into the lighthouse’s red base and slides over for visitors stepping off or onto the staircase spiraling up toward the keeper’s quarters and beacon. A ranger notes the one-million bricks used for building the lighthouse, summer temperatures inside canContinue reading ““Daymark” – Substack”
“Punk” – Substack
After success at work, a man’s stress outlet accelerates. Heart racing, he sinks under his desk, but halfway down, he tightens after he bumps his mouse and his laptop glows on. When no one walks by and the screen sleeps again, he pulls papers from his trash basket and digs out his lighter. He clicksContinue reading ““Punk” – Substack”
“Cornerstone” – Substack
Before continuing down the hall, Becker slows his cart past the dining room and signals Outside to Von sitting at the back. Von nods, smoothes his toupee—black, a swoop of shine in the middle, and stacked high like a microphone waiting for God—and, patting his chest, raises his hand; he grumbles but stops himself from faking chestContinue reading ““Cornerstone” – Substack”
“Like Land Does” – A story from Inroads
A few semis cruise through the parking lot or rumble alive. Landscapers take a break from mowing. A delivery-truck driver jabbers with them before loading a dolly. No one honks at me to have my pump or pulls into empty stalls. My legs are already numb from the first hour of sitting—a few more left.Continue reading ““Like Land Does” – A story from Inroads”