Below are some pieces I have written recently. I began taking submissions more serious and was hashing out some experimental forms of writing for the manuscripts. These pieces may not be superb - some of my favorite works are on this page for reference - but they are vital capstones in me learning to write a certain way for one of the manuscripts. As stated on various places on this website, the short stories you read here are rough. However, I try to get them polished in terms of idea and writing style. Look for the idea, almost all of them have an underlying criticism of society. Some do it well, others fail, but this is a visual journey of my progression in my writing. In the end, enjoy them, they are free.
Biases | 3105 | April 14, 2015
The drabness of the auditorium is one of the most hated things of my job. No matter where I speak, no matter the topic, it is the auditorium that sets the mood in the most depressing sense. I am not sure if the theaters of the past were designed this way, but the average American podium sits in the middle of the most uninspired décor of the world. Perhaps, just maybe, I am only presenting in the most depressing venues, but I could be wrong and these things could have been designed to be boring on purpose. Maybe, the architecs didn’t want the audience to focus on the façade but rather the speaker. If that is the case, then I am grateful, but I don’t think it has done much for my subject matter.
Oliver the Orc... | 1299 | January 10th, 2015
Some say that Oliver’s mom dropped him on his head when he was kid, others say that he used to eat paint chips, but the bulk of people just laughed and called him names. It is odd, I don’t really remember my childhood much, but I do remember Ollie’s book collection. Here we are, on the border of Mordor and Gondor, and somehow Ollie has a collection of books hidden in a cave. No one knew about them but a few of us – Ollie’s friends. What was even more peculiar was that Ollie knew how to read but that is a recent realization.
Franks Slipstream | 2612 | January 9th, 2015
Undertow ho! Dodge to the left dodge to the right! It doesn’t really matter which way he goes, it’s going to snag him, undertow always snatches and drags people. To be honest, it is negligible, because he has been swimming for so long… oh so long. But he is really good at it, and every once in a while he is caught by the great currents of the ocean. They don’t really yank you around; they just tend to collect people together like a bar or coffee shop. It has been ages since he popped onto an island and had a substantial meal. It is insane to think about it, but he started swimming so young and met so many people.
Better than a Ream of Paper | 2730 | October 7, 2014
Clickity-clack, the hammers press through the thin black ribbon and deposit an imperfect letter against the interwoven fibers. In a moment, a world begins to form from the displacement of ink throughout the paper. The letters are malformed and off-center at times, but he continues to strike at the keys with a vigor akin to a teenager playing with himself. His hair is disheveled, his fingers sore from the fervor he needs to force the story onto the page, and all of this is the culmination of his head trying to empty itself into a medium that is reproducible. Each stroke lends itself to his legacy. A legacy of coffee stains, three day old underwear, and a putrid smell of body odor.
Like Laika | 4411 | September 22, 2014
A blink there, a dancing needle here, a switch over there, and of course, the occasional bleeps. Some would say that was me, but I was so much more. To be honest, I never really cared for my mission but it has gotten better. Luckily, I don’t have a nose, otherwise, I would probably have gone insane from the smell of festering eggs, sewage, and coolant (that is what I deduced it would smell like). I think back on what I was like before leaving Earth, and I am frightened by my own maturity.
Precarious Air | 2721 | September 22, 2014 (Competition)
“Good, that’s nice, but we need a little bit more.” A squeak was heard as the doorway on an old wood-burning stove opened. From the small furnace, orange light was dancing upon the walls, and obliterated the work their eyes had done to acclimate to their surroundings. With both squinting, the daughter tossed an additional log into the inferno. Her mom’s face was dotted with sweat as she stood over a large cast iron pot. The mother patted the girl’s head and cooed, “Excellent—that should be enough for now.”
Relationships | 1212 | August 11, 2014 (Competition)
Uniqueness is not what most people think when they see me. Individual, ha, I used to be reproduced hundreds of thousands of times a day and some of those clones were illegal. To be fair, I don’t really care, because I am a novelty nowadays. In the eighties, I was crisp – some would say innocent – and useful. It was a different time – literally – and I was freshly minted and excited. Then again, that could have been from all the cocaine flowing through my body. I spent two years with the same guy; I had fun… a lot of fun. Tons of naked women, a few men, and I believe a chimpanzee twice – I can’t really tell if it was the same one.
Solution | 1894 | January 31, 2015
Lowe’s was such a wonderful place to go for all of your home improvement needs. It just has that clean sterile feeling; I miss that. But, I will always remember Lowe’s for a different reason… that first fight with my ex-wife. You know the fight I am discussing, everyone has this fight at some point in their life, that first home improvement project in your new house fight. For you it could have been a husband, but the fight is the same: “We should get this one because [insert their reason].” Then you say: “But that [their reason] isn’t really that important my [insert your reason] is much more practical.” I still remember her reason, it was based on the cost over time, and she was correct.
Last Will and Testament | 1875 | September 13, 2014
Dearest Family,There is no easy way to start this because I remember how awkward it was for me… so I will just start. I don’t remember the date exactly, but earlier that day – that oh so fateful day – I had been out with my boyfriend. He had graduated two years before I did, but we came from the same area. I had lied to my parents and took their car to visit him. Being young and having seduced my boyfriend on a picnic blanket and once again in the back of the jeep (remember, I was less wrinkly then).
Similarities | 2204 | August 31, 2014
Pardon my English, I am not a native speaker nor writer. But, I am like most of you in that I love watching them. It is unfair though, because I know when the vehicle will come; I know what it will do; I even know who will scream. Life is pretty easy… when you are dead. It all gets explained in a handy dandy notebook, the intricacies of life that is. But, see that is all written down in a spreadsheet in the notebook. We lack the flair of the event, that moment when brake lines snap, lug nuts come lose, all of these “random” events.
Redirect | 2091 | July 28, 2014
“Stephanie, pleasure to meet you, I am Bob!”—he had a lot of energy when I met him—“You know, I remember my first day. Oh man, I was so nervous I even said eek like in the cartoons. Thinking back, I felt so normal like… everyone else. I kept thinking, ‘Oh no, what if they don’t like me?’ It was like a sitcom was playing out in my head: ‘They’re not going to like my ideas. Oh man, I’m totally fired when they realize I’m stupid and have nothing to offer.’ I think we all have these thoughts and it’s natural, hell, we work for the best company in the industry. And, the best part, they let anyone work for them as long as they’re brilliant. We had this one woman… God what was her name… I swear it was right here”
House of Bourbon | 1476 | July 28, 2014
“Is it weird?”“What?”
“Calling me Maria. I know you loved her.”
“I did love her, and will always love her. But, we have a duty to France.”
“Do you love me?”
“I believe so, but whether or not I love you, it’s our duty to perform.”
“Maybe we aren’t supposed to have an heir.”