Category Archives: Fiction

Soft, filtered light seeped through the canopy of mixed oak and pine, brightening as if the sun were awakening as it inched over the horizon. Fog drifted low between the ridges of ragged remnants of a worn mountain range. Fallen … Continue reading →

Maria invited him to meet her again, saying she needed to ask his advice about approaching a local political figure with a ticklish, almost accusatory, question. Based on what he later wrote in his journal, he claimed he saw through her … Continue reading →

Elvin Sharp awoke with a start. His eyes sprang open to reveal ribbons of soft blue and white light billowing from beneath the motel door. The swirling strips of light confused him. Light doesn’t curl like that, does it? Of course not. … Continue reading →

Boy, could I tell you some stories! You probably wouldn’t believe them, even though they’re all true. See, when you’ve lived a life as crazy as mine, people think the stories you tell are pure fiction. Nobody believes me when I … Continue reading →

Whisper. Tell the story, but tell it at such low volume that the audience must strain to hear it. Tell it like the truth can’t bear loud noise. There, now you know the predicament I’m in. Truth dare not speak … Continue reading →

“They’re stunted little men who live in those hills,” he said, pointing to the houses across the street. “They’re tiny, like elves, but these bastards have sharp teeth. And their claws! Goddamn, they’re monstrous beasts!” Calista Glazier winced as she listened to … Continue reading →

“It was as if I saw it happen in slow m-m-m-motion.” Recuerda Villa, her eyes wide, recalled what she had witnessed. What she had seen, though Recuerda wasn’t close enough to see it quite so clearly, was this. Jolene’s right arm, hanging motionless at her … Continue reading →

Four in the morning is the time of day when one is free to think unthinkable thoughts. It is a time of day at which sadness and loathing intersect with fear and rage. Depression and a multitude of other forms of … Continue reading →

Once upon a time, an old Norwegian fisherman took his granddaughter out in his fishing boat. His boat was not the pleasure craft one sees so often today among men who call themselves fisherman. Rather, it was an old workhorse of … Continue reading →

I watch her, as she sits on a comfortable spot near the ocean. I see her eyes scan the horizon. She seeks answers in the waves and the clouds. She peers intently into the distance, striving to bring the answers … Continue reading →

If you could see inside my brain, if you could see the images of you that reside there, coming into sharp focus several times a day, you might know. You might understand how much you still mean to me, even after all … Continue reading →

Agostino, struggling to escape  a frenzied nightmare, awoke to a choking swirl of thick brown and beige dust. His wife, Bernardina, lay motionless beside him in the bed, the upper quarter of her body beneath a slab of broken stone. Stone … Continue reading →

Death came unexpectedly at 4:34 p.m. on Wednesday, June 24. Milford Grey Oberweis napped on his leather loveseat, as was his practice, on that day. He expected to greet Julia Smithers at 6:30 p.m. for dinner but, instead, he died … Continue reading →

When he looked in her eyes, he gazed into the soul of a sorceress, a woman so practiced in witchcraft that she made him believe a woman like her could love someone like him. Of course, he later came to understand, that was impossible. … Continue reading →

Meniscus Plevens rolled his eyes. His sister, Cleopatricia, shot a dark, menacing glance in his direction, a glare hot enough to melt the bacon-grease-saturated smile off his face. Every time she started to tell the story about her conversation with President Roosevelt, Meniscus rolled … Continue reading →

Dirty dishes filled the sink to overflowing. The moist remains of milk and cereal clung to bowls and spoons on the counter top. Dried tomato sauce, a few brittle loops of spaghetti, the remnants of chicken drumsticks, and flaccid pieces of spongy broccoli stuck … Continue reading →

[This is pure fiction; nothing about it is real.] Let me first say I do not know where I am. In a physical sense, I am not “here” nor “there,” but neither am I a “spirit” of some sort. In … Continue reading →

This morning begins one of those unusual days, those days that seem fresh and new like the first days of the long-sought-after job in my youth. My good fortune, this morning, is almost impossible to believe. How wonderful—and what an utterly … Continue reading →

Sheila gasped, gulping air as if it were in short supply, her chest heaving with every involuntary intake of breath. Perspiration beads on her forehead, too heavy to cling to her clammy skin, trickled into her eyes and down her … Continue reading →

Griffin the donkey was a sad little guy, the saddest donkey I’ve seen. And I’ve seen some sad donkeys. But Griffin’s sadness exceeded the normal sadness one expects in donkeys. He was forlorn, dreary, bereft—downright unhappy. Let me tell you … Continue reading →