Recommended stories

A Body Divided, 5

14841484 views00 comments00 favs

Physical therapy was on the agenda every morning, first thing. A nurse would come to my room from the basement floor where they did physical therapy. She'd wrap me in a blanket and put me into a wheelchair, even though it was obvious I didn't need one to

Walking To Gibraltar, Chapter 7: In Which Pictures Were All He Could Feel (First Musical Interlude)

992992 views00 comments00 favs

"The Impossible Dream." That time they drove to North Carolina and Ellen threw up and nobody but Dad felt like eating, so Dad stopped at McDonald's and the smell of hamburgers made Ellen throw up again. This time, on Frank.

Begonia {part seven}

11461146 views00 comments00 favs

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh; the rhythmic thrust of Mezereon’s wings…Th-Bumm, th-bumm, th-bumm; the drumming of his heart…Hooou, hooou, hooou; the exhalations of his breath…

Lord of Autumn

19961996 views00 comments11 fav

Gordon He pressed the side of his face to the pillow and waited for the sound of birds. The room was black, the window open; when a breeze came the curtains billowed out against a lighter sky. He heard the clock. He heard the dry sound of Helen breathing;…

Things You Probably Didn't Know About Michigan

20852085 views00 comments11 fav

I love Michigan. Michigan is my home. I love living in Michigan. There are so many things about Michigan that people don't know. People of the world don't know anything about Michigan. Our haiku festivals, quality cheeses, our love of skinny neckties and

Frankenstein (In Three Sentences)

11541154 views00 comments00 favs

I made a man of men. He made a man of me, the way all men are finished, in tragedy and sorrow. Together, we make a story, for other men, brothers and sisters.

Snow Bird

23332333 views00 comments00 favs

Snow Bird Then Bess was officially a Snow Bird. She was on the waiting list to become a permanent resident at the camp as soon as the expansion they were planning was completed. But it was being held up by some county people who were doing every

Wild Dreams of Reality, 4

14771477 views00 comments00 favs

It was days before Parker and I could even get up the nerve to look in each others' direction at the cafe. We kept trying to avoid the other's glance. But after a time things began to soften between us. I could sense it the day the tension began to eas

Walking To Gibraltar, Chapter 8: In Which Love Is Declared

10401040 views00 comments00 favs

Astrid hadn't always hated him. They met at the Beta house in the fall of his junior year. Typical Friday night. Stoned, drinking beer. He and Red Chapman sitting in their room playing guitars. The girls in their blues jeans. The guys from the house hi

Breath

999999 views00 comments00 favs

Michael lay on his back and counted his breaths, measuring their depth of inhalation and release.

Man On The Run

10001000 views00 comments00 favs

Don't slow down, he said, time grows shorter every minute. So you pretended to stay young or cheated on your marriage or forgot to watch your children growing up, and still never found someone who could understand you.

Pork Chops and Apple Sauce

19351935 views00 comments00 favs

When I went to the SPCA, I had the intention of looking for a Beagle. I had done the research and thought the breed would be a good fit for my lifestyle. I am a long distance runner and wanted some company on the long night runs. I wanted a dog that would…

The Lottery Ticket, First 20 pages of a novel excerpt

15951595 views00 comments00 favs

SO ABOUT TEN minutes later Heidi arrived at the house with her boyfriend in tow, looking as if she had stepped out of an MTV music video, her black leather jacket loaded with sequins and silver studs, her blonde hair now colored green, all frizzy and unke

February 7th, San Diego

889889 views00 comments00 favs

When I step barefoot on sand you're here again warm and soft and you let me sink in while you hold me up and make my legs like running drunk in a dream; away from all the nice things everyone said about you. And it seems like you're right here…

Walking To Gibraltar, Chapter 3: In Which Everyone Was Wrong

978978 views00 comments00 favs

What's the protocol for telling people your spouse has cancer? How do you tell your son, your friends, your co-workers? How do you tell your mother? How do you tell her mother?

The Messenger, Chapter 2

14771477 views00 comments00 favs

"Something happened to me, Rasul, and I got these powers for a reason ... then I just happened to have a karaoke buddy who happens to have grown up in a family of magicians, who knew something about what I was going through?  That's *fate*!"

Pets

10091009 views00 comments00 favs

But in the dust bunny there was an equally relentless and sneaky foe. A brilliant General that silently marshaled its troops under tables and chairs, in obscure, shadowy corners, and along the unsuspecting flat surface of things.

The Devil's Bedpost

30403040 views00 comments00 favs

A cellphone vibrates ineffectually against unfeeling skin. One last rivulet of blood slowly oozes down the wall as it dries. The rest of the room is still.

I'm Writing

15211521 views00 comments00 favs

More and more, incoherent masses of letters scroll through my mind. Ideas struggle to form. Flashes of images flit rapidly in front of my mind’s eye. There are fish, mountains, presents, forests, mirrors - a menagerie of meaningless symbols march pas

The Clique

16781678 views00 comments00 favs

On the other side of the world the Moon spun on its way.

Coconut Milk

10051005 views00 comments00 favs

"The baby's head..it was so big. There were complications...I saw it all. They tried to get me out of the room but I saw it all. He split her apart like a coconut Norm! She was gone like that."

Summer At Lake Elsinore

43794379 views00 comments00 favs

Bess spent the summer that year at a lakeside court in Lake Elsinore. They told her she only had to spend three months there, before she was allowed to have a spot of her own at the nudist camp. Just three months. But Lake Elsinore seemed like something

Walking To Gibraltar, Chapter 9: In Which A Cause Is Proffered

10491049 views00 comments00 favs

"I think you're a great candidate for a sentinel node biopsy," said Dr. Kartes. They sat in the small, dark office. On the sofa, not touching. She still wouldn't take his hand.

Ten Minutes, That's It

17471747 views00 comments00 favs

They tell me I’m crazy. I say I’m just keeping up.

Working Without a Net

18811881 views00 comments00 favs

The next day, John's kneecaps looked like Tennessee Pride Real Country Sausage. The bandage on his head kept coming loose, having to be tucked in, and he was suffering the Stone Mountain of hangovers.

Walking To Gibraltar, Chapter 10: In Which A Vital Fact Is Recalled

955955 views00 comments00 favs

Late spring, summer before cancer. Frank drove Max and his pal Jason to Cincinnati for their first rock show. Less Than Jake at Bogart's. A two-hour drive for ska-punk.

Vernon, Last Seen In Hawaii

15201520 views00 comments00 favs

Dear Bess — I go to the First Assembly of God's church. (a Praising Spirit-Filled Fellowship.) It is in Maui. Dr. James Morocco, Senior Pastor. He has been pastoring the church for over twenty years. My, what a big change I am finding in my new l

She’s Dead

10071007 views00 comments00 favs

Hank: Yeah, the way her head was bashed in, it looks like someone really had it in for her. Did you call the coroner? Bill: Yeah. Boy, you couldn’t pay me enough to do the stuff those coroner and medical examiner guys do. It seems like

Wild Dreams of Reality, 7

14311431 views00 comments00 favs

7 We sat in Darrell's truck in the deserted silent world of the down-trodden industrial area of West Berkeley, where no one in his right mind went at five in the morning. "Put the gun away, Darrell," I said. "I mean it." "I can't help but keep

The Pilgrimage

14551455 views00 comments00 favs

Frey wanted to see heaven without having to die. He had returned from the sea after being gone for three weeks, ranting wildly about a giant ship he had seen in the distance one afternoon.