STORIES

The list below highlights more than 50 stories, in a semi-random order. New stories will be added as they are released, probably at the top of this list.

If you know the name of a story, find it quickly here:

            Master List   (alphabetical)

To obtain a PDF of any story, please visit that story and submit a comment containing your request, and I’ll email the PDF to you as soon as possible. (You may use any comment field on the site for this purpose.)

The stories are also available as streaming audio, read by the author. These MP3 files may also be downloaded. 

Feel free to add your comments to any story. Although I very much appreciate all reader feedback, space limitations may require limiting display to those of general interest. 

Anabasis

In the remote Maine woods, time stops, for a while.

Yoznok

First contact, inspired by the pulp Sci-Fi magazines of the 1950’s. Don’t look a gift-Yoznok in the mouth.

Rubbernecking

In the Covid pandemic, #MeToo still prevailed. But is it also Him Too, or Them Two?

Thin Air

Sometimes the path is so narrow and convoluted that the only option is just to go on.

Deadness

One of the Big Questions, all of which might be reduced simply to “what the hell is going on?”

Eagle Dreams

Everybody wants to fly, and there are so many ways to do that.

Alexia

A familiar familial scene, where everyone has a touch of alexia. (MP3)

Expletive Pizza

Learning to be soldiers, all the boys and girls must also learn to be brave. (MP3)

Everybody Gets a Drum

The drums of war beat in unexpected dimensions of our lives. Some of us march to a different beat, but the message is the same, and it surrounds us all. (MP3)

Driving to Boise

It’s a long, high road across the Wasatch, and the long, high drive takes on a life of its own. (MP3)

Deaths in the Family

The departure of a soul is a great mystery. For some it is tragic, for others mainly confusing, but for the soul departing, it might be magnificent. (MP3)

Beatpiphany

Rolling through his brief beat road trip, one intrepid hipnik finally blows his mind. (MP3)

Barnaby Goes Home

Perhaps we can’t revisit the past, but we can try. And in so doing, perhaps the past can revisit us. (MP3)

Archive Guy

Sometimes we just put too much pressure on ourselves. Sometimes the help just can’t take it any more. Sometimes we are the help. (MP3)

Another Threnody of Hope

We’re never certain how we feel about one another, but sometimes the answer is as simple as a piece of toast. (MP3)

Underground

We all have our roles to play, and once in a while a streak of kindness, or even nobility, shines through. (MP3)

The Myth of the Long Road

In this modern, secular world, mythic elements lie hidden beneath quotidian disguises, but are nonetheless real. (MP3)

The Meaning of Life

When things go wrong, we look everywhere for resolutions, but the resolution can go wrong, too. (MP3)

The Catastrophe

Karma is unfathomable, they say, but perhaps mischievous is a better word. An unembellished true story of Loki, Kokopelli, or Lila Shakti. (MP3)

The Knock

Do you ever wake up suddenly after hearing a loud sound and discover it was nothing? What if it wasn’t? (MP3)

The Red Nun

When you’re just a boy, your world is full of limits and constraints, but the mysteries and possibilities are unbounded. (MP3)

Monkeytype (Reductio Simiorum)

If enough monkeys on typewriters work long enough, they’ll eventually produce the complete works of Shakespeare. Or will they? (MP3)

Somnium

Don’t you hate it when a story ends with, “It was all a dream?” This story begins there. (MP3)

The Gates

Whatcha gonna do when St. Peter greets you? (MP3)

Rocky Mountain High

They said it was a diatribe. A filibuster against reason, to take refuge in a wall of words against the storm of impressions. Such nonsense, to think words protect against what has never been named! (MP3)

Montague

How much RAM is required to store a person? Once stored there, what will he do? And what will we do with him? (MP3)

Letter to the Editor

It’s hard to get a story published, so you have to seize upon every opportunity to get yourself heard. But that pesky acquisitions editor! (MP3)

Our Lady of the Ellington

We’re all travelers, and some of us never escape life’s long series of lodgings and hotels. But for others, the resolution of a life can take them all the way home. (MP3)

The Beginning

One inquisitive soul, lost in the skein of events and memories, tries to reason its way out to the surface. (MP3)

Winter Moon

In the end, it’s what you’ve done, and what you haven’t done, and none of the above. (MP3)

Möbius Trip

One thing leads to another, usually. But what if it doesn’t? Can the tale still unfold and carry us somewhere? (MP3)

Simultaneity

How does the thinking machinery work? If we observe its mechanism up close, what does it tell us about ourselves? (MP3)

Little Torments

It’s difficult to do what you’re told when they won’t tell you. (MP3)

The Mirror

Desperate times call for desperate measures, but the worst may be just around the corner. Or in your room. (MP3)

Signs

It can be hard to find one’s way in life, but with luck there will be signposts in the fog. (MP3)

Mr. Smith’s Strange Day

Mr. Smith, as usual, is just doing the best he can, like the rest of us, but it’s not always easy to keep it all straight. (MP3)

The Tiger

Logic and imagination don’t always work together, but sometimes you just have to give it a chance. (MP3)

The CD

Sometimes Daniel could get carried away listening to a great piece of music. But this Brahms CD was going much too far. (MP3)

Mistaken Identity

David Byrne once asked, “How do I work this thing?” Turns out that’s a very pertinent question, and for some more than just pertinent. (MP3)

No Brainer

The brain is a marvelous instrument. Where would we be without it? (MP3)

Tiny Sam

We take the simplest things for granted. But maybe it’s not that simple. (MP3)

The Journalist

When the psychology of a great psychologist comes into question, things can get dicey. (MP3)

Perfecter

As society evolves, everyone learns to accommodate. Unfortunately some folks just don’t have the required flexibility. (MP3)

Sunday Morning

Everyone has his or her section of the Sunday Times, with a little slice of domestic bliss on the side. (MP3)

iProduct Review

The new blog journalism triumphs again with this brilliant unboxing of the latest, latest, latest i-Item of the year. (MP3)

Interview with the Zombie

Not the easiest guest to interview, but with a little heart and some empathy, it’s not all bad. (MP3)

Interview with the Muse

Where does a writer get his inspiration? From his muse, of course. But where does she get hers? (MP3)

Hoobner on the Post

Even a dog’s life has its ups and downs and exceptional dogs are no exception. (MP3)

Hole in the World

Revising someone else’s book can be trickier than it should be, especially with temporary brain damage and a recalcitrant author. (MP3)

Highlights of Henry

Henry’s smart phone is not his friend, but it does its best to add to the confusion. (MP3)