Category: Fiction

Transformed

the meaning of the message is the response it elicits

A man is drowning in the ocean.
Another man, walking on the shore, sees him and calls out “Come this way. You’ll be safe once you get to where I am on the shore.”
The drowning man has been drowning for a while, has been struggling for so long, he has no strength left to get to the shore, and begins to sink.
The man on the shore calls out louder, “No, don’t give up. Come this way so I can save you.”
The drowning many dies and in death is transformed.
The man on the shore shakes his head and turns to walk away. The transformed man is standing there.
“Why did you stay on the shore? You could have swum out and saved me.”
“But then I might’ve drowned, too.”
So the one man, fearing death and not willing to leave his safety, never transformed, and never realized who he truly was, and who he could be.

The Alibi (A John Chance Mystery) – Chapter 1 (backstory)

Long Ago and Far Away…okay, starting in August 2022, I shared chapters from The Alibi. That lasted to mid-September when life and starting a new business got in the way.

Life and a new business consumed more time than I expected. I still wrote – actually updated, edited, and got ready for publication my first non-fiction in six years, That Th!nk You Do (due out 15 Jan 2023. You should all buy a copy and leave glorious reviews) – but The Alibi took a backseat (and it annoyed me I did so, by the way).

But I’m also sensitive to my own cycles, transits, methodologies, dispositions, … . I knew the story wasn’t going where it was suppose to go, but I didn’t know where it was suppose to go.

So shelve it. Give it time. Ruminate.

Some time late-September 2022, Susan and I talked about it. I mentioned my biggest challenge with the story was not seeing a character who would change through the course of the novel, didn’t know who or what would act as the throughline, both of which are (to me) critically important.
Continue reading “The Alibi (A John Chance Mystery) – Chapter 1 (backstory)”

Those Wings Which Tire, They Have Upheld Me in Penumbric Dec 2k22

“Worthy of Philip K Dick himself. I would buy the whole magazine for this story alone. For fear of ruining the experience, I’ll simply say that a bullied child with a disability and the tech he relies on lead him to make a very unusual friend.”

 

Spring

Cowan was walking in the woods the first time he saw Angel. He was really looking for a haunted house the real estate lady told his parents was back there and he’d walked further into the woods than he’d ever gone before.

 
Enjoy!

My “Don Quitamo Sails” now in Rabbit Hole V anthology

I’m lucky enough to have my work included in The Rabbit Hole Volume 5: Just…Plain…Weird anthology along with quite a group of talented authors. I especially love the teaser

Welcome to the Rabbit Hole. On our fifth excursion into the warren of the odd, 37 authors lead us down their own little burrows of strangeness : an army of penguins, music that cures, aliens that communicate through old cartoons, images of the future that save, unwanted visions of the now, and, oh yes, it is raining lawyers. All have one thing in common, they are just…plain…weird.
Weird can be funny, weird can be sad, weird can be thoughtful, weird can be mad, but the one thing in common is that weird shares experiences you have, thankfully, never had.
Just be careful, all little bunnies are not nice, but they are memorable.

 
About the Author
I’m boring and dull, haven’t you heard?
If you’re desperate to be bored, you can find a basic bio on my About page or on LinkedIn.

How the stories came about? Continue reading “My “Don Quitamo Sails” now in Rabbit Hole V anthology”

A neuro-caprolitic converter

A Facebook group offered the following challege a while back

Write a flash fiction about this piece and let us see how you use it as story fuel!
1. Write a flash fiction inspired by the article.
2. 200 words is the limit.

The article in question is Sure, We Can Build a Better Toilet. But Will People Use It?.

Okay, sure.

Tuscany’s eyes went from the device sitting in the corner of the lab to Vergenne’s hopeful face and back. “A neuro-caprolitic converter?”
Vergenne’s face became beatific as he walked over to his invention. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Think of all the problems it’ll solve.”

“I didn’t know we had problems this could solve.”

Vergenne’s unbuttoned white labcoat flared like a ballroom dancer’s skirt as he turned to face Tuscany. “What? Just this morning you said you needed something like this. In today’s meeting. We all heard you.” Vergenne walked over to the wall console. “Computer, replay today’s staff meeting, first two minutes.”

The screen opened a video replay. Vergenne and several others sat around a conference table, their eyes down, some shakily lifting coffee cups, others tapping wildly on their tablets.

Tuscany entered the frame and threw a folder down with such force it slid across the table. Pages flew out as it spun past the people seated there.

Tuscany, his eyes wide and face red in the replay, slammed his fist down on the table. “Look at these results! Look at them. Stupid! Idiotic! You all have so much shit for brains this place stinks!”