Stories tagged chapter

The Great San Francisco Poetry Wars, 7

932932 views33 comments00 favs

Warren Jeffries had called me on the phone the night before and said, “Listen to this,” as he held the receiver out his bedroom window at the noise coming from the riot on campus. They were spraying gas over People’s Park, trying to get them to disp

Wild Dreams of Reality, 12

908908 views00 comments00 favs

I went out behind Parker's house and saw Darrell's tent set up in the grass. The flaps of the pup tent were open. I could see him through the mosquito netting. He had a Coleman lamp burning and lay on his back in his underwear on top of his sleeping bag.

i found this.

10341034 views00 comments00 favs

Home is where my parents live and my relatives visit.

Luminous Nights, 5

815815 views00 comments00 favs

It turned out that my brother's newly acquired building in downtown Pasadena, was what developers called a "see-through" building. That meant you could look from one side of the building all the way through to the other side, without obstruction. In oth

Luminous Nights, 7

746746 views00 comments00 favs

Robbie took me out to Fox River on his father's ski boat one day, as he often did — but this time it was my eighteenth birthday. That was when he opened up his robe and showed me all there was to show of himself, begging me to make love to him, saying h

Luminous Nights, 8

799799 views22 comments00 favs

Overnight Robbie had lost his youth. But since he was still only nine and his arm looked like a nine-year-old's arm, people didn't notice much at first, until he tried running. Or if he was introduced, and they went to shake his hand. He immediately lea

The One-Dollar Minister

768768 views22 comments11 fav

The man could be a total brute, though the truth was he had the softest of hearts too. A real gentle giant. But get him going on a drunk jag with too much ouzo in his system, and look out.

X, Chapter 17: What 23 Looks Like

260260 views22 comments22 favs

The phoenix doesn’t rise from its ashes because it wants to, or because it is worthy or better, it rises because that’s its nature.

Character & Fitness

882882 views00 comments00 favs

Character & Fitness, the opening chapter to my novel, "Death of the Dying City."

Rags to Riches to Rags, 1

759759 views11 comment11 fav

1 Al Capone was ruling the backstreets and alleyways of Chicago during Prohibition, and we lived in a little house right next door to a speak-easy. I could peak through our curtains and see right into the bar next door when cops came in to get pai

Rags to Riches to Rags, 2

736736 views22 comments00 favs

My brothers, who helped support our poor mother, were Rudy and Emil, and there was a sister Blanche, who got married early on and ran off to Atlanta and never looked back at our dire situation. And Helen, who stayed in Chicago. And Silvia, who moved out

Playtime

11121112 views33 comments22 favs

Her head was free from restraint...

DRIVING WITH JON

10631063 views55 comments33 favs

“There’s no real freedom in this world. But a car and the open road is close enough for government work.”

Marion, Texas

10161016 views22 comments22 favs

Marion had decided to stop whenever she came upon Amarillo. It was close to two a.m. when she pulled into the motel parking lot. Momma, read the nametag on the woman at reception. Her face was illuminated by a TV. Her hair curlers were illuminated by the lone desk lamp…

The Fourth Prague Defenestration: 1

792792 views22 comments22 favs

Defenestration - the act of throwing someone out of a window. I went to Prague recently to visit my family’s castle, which is called Krivoklat. I’m not even going to attempt to explain to you how to pronounce that. It’s outside Prague, about an hour t