First Two Chapters of Pinholes as a FREE audio!

Pinholes book cover As a New Year's gift to you all (which has absolutely nothing to do with book promotion), I'm making the first two chapters of my latest book, Pinholes: Traveling Through the Curtain of the Night, available as a free audio! Here is the link for its Internet Archive page below. Enjoy! FREE …

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POEM: Plague of Dragons

Photo by Craig Adderley on Pexels.com “Plague of Dragons”the world opens up as a new monster looms on the horizon, belching fire, slaughtering victims without thought to gender, creed, or age: the smallest of the small, resistant to her older brother’s charms, no longer spared infectious breath.not content to massacre millions by breath alone, she …

CURRENT EVENTS: Books Read in 2020

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com Happy New Year! Hopefully, 2021 will be less problematic than 2020.  In the meantime, I’ll share the books I’ve read in the past year. Due to the recent interesting times, many of them are books I’ve read before. When I want a comfort read, I’ll often reach for old favorites: …

Friday Flash: An Optimist’s Journal of the End of Days

The following story also appears in my short story collection, An Optimist’s Journal of the End of Days and Other Stories, published via Venetian Spider Press. Favorite Things Journal Wednesday, December 20th: I suppose, in light of what's happened and happening, I should try to look on the bright side. I kept a Favorite Things …

Short Story: Family Holidays

  The holidays: that time of year when family and friends you avoid are suddenly thrust into your life again, when you give gifts because of obligation rather than inclination. That time of year when those unlucky souls are forced to say "I didn't get you anything"...or worse, be told, "It's the thought that counts." …

POEM: The Dead Celebrity Cocktail Lounge

"The Dead Celebrity Cocktail Lounge"   In a netherworld of eternal nights, The Dead Celebrity Cocktail Lounge sets within its murky depths, the stage for yet another act beneath its neon lights.   Nina Simone's piano they replace with guitars and mics; her solo ended. It's hard to run a lounge that's attended by those …

Friday Flash: Con Games

Buttercup, could you help me with this, please? Really, Wesley! What am I, your mother? What? Can’t you get it yourself? Well, yes, but I'd rather you helped me. Why do you need me to do things you are perfectly capable of doing yourself? Huh? Buttercup, don't be ridiculous. It's hardly ridiculous. So far this …

Friday Flash Revisited: Pucked Up

The following story also appears in my short story collection, An Optimist’s Journal of the End of Days and Other Stories, published via Venetian Spider Press. Puck looked at the watch and pondered the nature of time. It was almost as fickle as he was. What marriage – or a good binding-spell brought on by …

Friday Flash Revisited: Puck’s Surprise

The following story also appears in my short story collection, An Optimist’s Journal of the End of Days and Other Stories, published via Venetian Spider Press. Fairies were neither prudish nor temperate by nature, but when Puck's pranks graduated from tipping old ladies to strategically placing whoopee cushions, he crossed a line. Something needed to …

Friday Flash Revisited: As You Liked It –or– As You Like It, Part 2

The following story also appears in my short story collection, An Optimist’s Journal of the End of Days and Other Stories, published via Venetian Spider Press. “Father, the seating arrangement simply must be changed.” “Why, Rosalind! Whatever do you mean? The couples are all seated next to each other, as befits an Anniversary dinner--” “But …