The world is but a canvas to the imagination...(Thoreau)
PUBLICATIONS
"Crossing Crystal Bridges" appears in Echoes of the Ozarks, Volume VII, released November 2011 by High Hill Press.
This is a story of one wife's attempt to "sophisticate" her husband by introducing him to the finer side of life at the opening of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.
To purchase a copy, please contact me.
"Murder on Starr Mountain" appears in Mysteries of the Ozarks, Volume IV, released October 2011 by High Hill Press.
Excerpt:
All I wanted was to feel a hot shower running down my aching back and an ice cold beer cooling my parched throat. I wasn’t in the mood to sit and banter with Old Billy. But the obligation to be neighborly — and a slight curiosity about the big secret — kept my foot on the brake pedal a while longer. “What secret, Billy?”
“Anyone ever tell you about what happened on your property before you moved there?”
“No, what?” All kinds of images filled my head. Fire? Poachers?
“Well, you see . . .” He blew his nose, then wiped the back of his neck. “There was a murder up there.”
"Ozark Howdy-do" appears in Echoes of the Ozarks, Vol. VI, released November 2010.
Excerpt:
There's a curious little phenomenon I had never seen before moving to Arkansas. Or, at least I had never noticed it before. Maybe that's because living in the city, I never took the time. I call it the Ozark Howdy-do -- one movement of the forefinger, so slight you'll miss it and the sentiments it represents if you're not paying attention.
"Xs and Os" has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize by the editors of Voices Anthology, Volume III, published by High Hill Press, released June 2010.
"Xs and Os" won First Place in the Voices Anthology, Volume III, released June 2010.
Excerpt:
Heck. These folks didn’t look like no spies. Least not the kind Jubie had seen in the movies. She felt kinda sorry for them, being taken from their homes and all. She remembered what it was like to have to leave her home when Mama couldn’t pay the rent no more after Daddy was killed. And, she knew what it was liked to be stared at by folks who didn’t want you around.
A crowd gathered around to watch the prisoners—Japs some called them. White folk paced on one side of the track, like buzzards flying around a dead animal. Blacks gathered on the other side.
A few men in the white crowd started yelling. “Go home! We don’t want your kind around here.”
Them words might as well have been rocks thrown at Jubie. She moved closer to Auntie Bess, until she realized: this time they weren’t being thrown at her. She was used to that kind of ugliness, but sweet Jesus, this time the white folk was spewing words at them Japanese. No, she’d never thought about folks ‘sides Negros not being wanted around ‘cause of the color of their skin.
"Sacrifice Rock" appears in Skipping Stones, released in 2009.
This is a story about three young boys, and the lessons they learn one afternoon about torpedos and frogs, and what it means to be a brother.
Please contact me to purchase.
"Puppy Love" appears in Chicken Soup for the Soul - What I Learned from the Dog, released September 2009. I hope you'll enjoy reading this story of how Sunny the Beagle (and her six puppies) came into our lives.
"The Dream Nag" appears in Echoes of the Ozarks, Volume V, released November 2009.
Do you ever have a nagging dream, that won't leave you alone? This is a story about the "tooth fairy-like" creature who brings those dreams to you, and why he does it.
"Captain Josie and the Whale" appears in Voices II, An Anthology of Short Stories, released March 2009.
This is a story I wrote after going on a whale watching excursion in Alaska. The boat's captain was a woman, and I wondered what brought her to Alaska to pilot a whale watching boat. This fantasy is my rendition of how it came to be . . .
"Jefferson and Delilah" is featured in Echoes of the Ozarks, Volume III, released November 2007.
How did one particular President of the United States decide between his desire to major in music or a life of public service? This is a fictionalized account I wrote about how that decision might have been made.
"Fate and Hindsight" appears in Chicken Soup for the Working Mom's Soul, released October 2007.
This is a story I wrote about an icy day in the winter of 1986, when Andi, Adam and I were in a car accident with a semi-truck. The event changed my perspective on many things in my life.
