It was like ninety degrees and humid that day Jack arrived, and air conditioning wasn’t in our new budget. But I figured the old guy...

Hope Clark's Funds for Writers has been on Writer's Digest's yearly list of 101 Best Writing Websites for 18 years in a row. I recommend...

This is an abridged version of my novella Alice. You can read it in weekly doses, buy the complete book, or do both and compare the two –...

Written 3/27/2019 I was going to post the first installment of a piece of fiction this week, but I got a tweet this morning from...

Warped Tales – be warned. As a child I read piles of books filled with short stories – the complete works of Poe, stories from the...

Carla King’s 4th Edition of Self-Publishing Boot Camp, Guide for Independent Authors is available tomorrow (2/1/19). Check it out here. Disclosure: as an Amazon affiliate, I get a few cents if you buy anything after going there from here. But whether you do that or look later, this is my primary resource as a book coach and when publishing my own work. The best part? She stays on top of all the changes in the industry and provides free updates. Now, the story: “Defining Mome

Marvin unplugged his computer for the fourth time as yet another thunderstorm rolled through. He worked on battery, trying to meet his...

Looking ahead, James could see the train snake around a curve. Then centrifugal force gently shifted him away from the coach window. In...

Okay – we’re back to fiction. This one’s a stand-alone story from my dark side. “Your girlfriend’s here.” Miguel grinned over the counter...

I’ll be back to short stories next week, but a year ago I was blogging primarily for writers, talking about reasonable expectations,...

A stand-alone story, first published in The Maverick, Show Low AZ. Glaring sunlight intruded on Alec’s dreams. He rolled over, willing...

Novel Bites is a series of short stories from the perspective of secondary characters in my novels. Sometimes the story is straight from...

Novel Bites is a series of short stories from the perspective of secondary characters in my novels. Sometimes the story is straight from the novel, sometimes it’s not. This story is from Tough Times. Michael Dolan McCarthy's little sister Missy talking to us after a conversation with Michael in which he reminded her of Christmas in Tahoe. Please comment. Thanks. I remember the last Christmas we were all together. I didn’t used to, cuz I was only in kindergarten back then, not

Novel Bites is a series of short stories from the perspective of secondary characters in my novels. Sometimes the story is straight from...

Novel Bites is a series of short stories from the perspective of secondary characters in my novels. Sometimes the story is straight from...

Novel Bites is a series of short stories from the perspective of secondary characters in my novels. Sometimes the story is straight from...

Novel Bites is a series of short stories from the perspective of secondary characters in my novels. Sometimes the story is straight from...

Novel Bites is a series of short stories from the perspective of secondary characters in my novels. This is a scene from Running Away,...

The house is so small that the sound of brush against teeth carries down the hallway to the bed where I’ve been lying on my back,...

It was the damned dogs that caused all the trouble. If they hadn’t barked all the time, we wouldn’t have gotten evicted, which the wife...

I’m a salesman—spend half my life driving from one pitch to the next. It gives me time to think. That night I was driving through the...

“I can’t believe Charlie’s dead,” she wailed. Joe put the phone down next to the refrigerator. The sobs continued over the speaker as he...

Benny swallowed the end of his drink and looked at his last chip, a dollar. It was all set up to favor the house. Benny knew that. He’d...

Carolyn lumbered through the airport, a backpack slung over her left shoulder, her right arm stretched by the weight of her carry-on. Big...