Stories
Mirror Hallway
“I don’t want to go to an open house in our neighborhood. The pictures are weird, and so is ‘for sale by owner’,” said DeeDee, though she zipped up her white fleece. “If you charm the owner into selling at cost, we can fast-track our future,” replied Grant, locking their apartment door behind them, as they took a hopeful stroll across town. A…
The Revenge of Venus!
*Explicit content, for mature audiences Frankie’s eyes glittered like the star-filled summer sky, brimming with tears saltier than the ocean, crashing waves accompanying his broken-hearted, full-moon, acoustic guitar strumming. His mind was an hourglass, each memory of his beloved who left him a piece of shiny sand filling the shoreline. Frankie’s beach blanket harlequinade was complete when, overflowed with longing, he…
Shark Candy
For Cain Andrew Clark. Halloween 2022 Cain the Shark went trick-or-treating with his parents MegaloJohn & Great Blonde Mom. Sharks don’t wear costumes because they are already terrifying, but they LOVE shark candy as well as swimming, so Halloween is everyone’s favorite holiday. All the sharks in the Atlantic Ocean knew the BEST shark candy came from…
Ghost Pepper
From stem to pointy tip, Vic observed the ghost peppers transition from zesty green to boiling florescent red to ominous orange, tone brighter and hotter than a highlighter. The ghost peppers grew in pairs, scary barbed sentinels of verdant scoville despair.
Shelter, Asylum
They knew the THE BEEP: the government screaming, scientists brazenly peeling the alarm, a digital archangel with an emergency expostulation too clamorous to be ignored in the brewing, palpating environment of atmospheric surges.
The Witches of Runnamuck Series New Story: Warlock Cain and the Lionheart Halloween
The witches laughed horribly, prepared their terrible run amok potions, & hopped on their turkey vultures to fly far above the fall leaves – three witches out to make horrible Halloween last forever.
Read more The Witches of Runnamuck Series New Story: Warlock Cain and the Lionheart Halloween
Savasana (Corpse Pose)
I lay my mat back out, kneel in warrior to prepare for my practice, find my breath freer without the trampled carpet crowding & connect with the clean wood underneath, which speaks of a life growing, grown, & gone, but present, purposeful, & persistent.
Harvest, then Hunter
As Rosemarie swept around the golden oak with her handfast besom broom, she smelled their putrid souls & heard their wicked purses before she saw their sanctified countenances, Magistrate Price’s steed outstepping the rest of the rabble.
Summer’s End
The hum of the blaring air conditioner is a steady dank drone, time’s crisp ticks mushing minutes into months.
LOST IN THE LIBRARY
Lost in the library but never alone, humanity abound in the folio utopia of complex conclusions & borrowed drama, extended periodical pleasure of temporal exploration.
My Hole Heart
Throbbing over tonality, the book breathes & brutalizes itself behind my breastbone, bruising & burning with bass.
While Scissors Sleep
While scissors sleep
Lifecycle personified, twisting & slicing paper galaxy
Three sisters spin, weave, & sever individual patterns of tapestry
Red Thread Dread
Dread Red Thread
As A Tree
“The forest feels & if you’re not careful, it follows.”
Sea, Wind, Moon, & Stars
“Galatea is her own light & her life is art itself.”
The Tear of a Clown: A “Twilight Zone” Story
“Holiday pops on the red nose, snaps his oversized striped suspenders, spins sillily over gigantic shoes, & with a flourish & happy hop-step, slaps on his tiny top hat…”
Dinner With the Jersey Devil
“Mrs. Leeds, quick as a snakebite in a midnight desert, stabbed Mr. Silar again & again; she passed the knife to Mrs. Leeds who, quick as the blood already flowing, stabbed Mr. Silar again & again. The hot gate of Mr. Silar’s life remained, accompanied by screams of repugnant revulsion & terrified fading.”
The Trick or Treaters
“The Trick or Treaters covered their faces and went house to house, demanding treats, razing tricks, their daily route of terror amplified with candies, emboldened by masks, and highlighted by the horror of the holiday.” (The Trick or Treaters: Nightmare Before Christmas Lock, Shock, Barrel Story.)
The Fall Ball
“A bold, aristocratic voice spoke from behind the guests, ‘It seems I have gotten here just in time; I am Perfecto Rosso. Welcome to my estate and The Fall Ball!’ “
The Outlaw, The Mexican and the Hanging Tree
“The Hanging Tree did not move, did not waver, did not ask any questions, did not care, impartial as a door, decisive as a mob.”
The Marcher Tree
“She had been the loveliest girl, my Carolina, and had once stood tip-toe on one of the protruding roots to plant a kiss on my quivering mouth. ‘Darling Marcher,’ she whispered in my ear when Mother wasn’t looking, ‘I swear to you, while standing over the bones of our ancestors, I will be the one…
What’s Under Old Tarpie’s Tarp (A Love Story)
“The firewater that ran through Old Tarpy’s guts burned hot as the colors splashed across the early evening sky. Old Tarpie & Cowboy sat on the porch, Tarpie’s back bent over & crooked like the rocker on his warped wooden chair; he drank ‘til the darkness of the night matched the darkness in his heart.”
The Legend of Crazy Cat
“Crazy Cat turned to the people in the pub, his signature smile wiped all over his fuzzy face, fangs shining, and began, ‘Have ya’all ever heard The Legend of Crazy Cat?’ “
Lazy Bones
“On Dia de Muertos, when the dead rose, Ambrosio’s music for his quiet love was played from above ground, to the barren branches & dancing death.”
Lake Wallenpaupack: Slow, Dead Water
“It says here Wallenpaupack means “slow, dead water.”
The Ballad of the Headless Hessian
“Just as the lion cannot trade in his teeth that tear though flesh, The Hessian could not deny his sword its bloody fill.”
The Independence Day Massacre
It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of the continent to the other, from this time forward forever more. -John Adams
The Watermelon Summer
Green gardens run red. For V & V.
The Bone Yard
“Dr. York carried the sagging bodies and the sodden limbs to the community grave of the bone yard and in the quiet of the midnight moon, buried the human pieces, the heavy hopeless clay encasing his boots and hands.”
Favorites
“Have you girls ever heard of The Jersey Devil?”
The Pope is Dope: “Religion is the opiate of the masses.”
“The light of love is born when together with hearing and seeing, disciples take the Body and Blood of Christ.”
Read more The Pope is Dope: “Religion is the opiate of the masses.”
Mesingw
“The fire pit still smoldered … There was a glowing red heart log, pulsing, breathing the clear fall air as two black circle eyes stared from every direction.”
Tombstone Shadow
“The Gravedigger worked all night, digging, picking and lifting. He was the worm in the casket & stole his way into Laurel Hill’s final rest.”
COPYWRITING & DEVELOPMENT 