Synopsis/Set-Up: In the year 2040, Daniel is research scientist who has quit his college post, administered a gene-changing injection to himself obtained on the black market, and abandoned his house to live in a mountain cave. What he changed about his genetics is the introduction of the mutation which causes…

Some fiction. Night again, and he is in the den, the cave, having hiked down to Mrs. Rickets, his hairy body covered in a civilian suit, and climbed back with the heavy flats of canned goods strapped to his back. When he returned in the afternoon, he ate, then perused…

I’m writing a story about my evening. In it, I take a walk up the road past Jablonski’s place to see if he should happen to be mudding that godforsaken concrete wall he’s been failing at for the last three winters. I have a strong sense of how things will…

An account of some introductions made at a party — Hey, Karl. Come on in. Good to see you. Hey, you remember Denise, whose ham salad went viral last year. You remember Joan, the dental assistant with the really successful autism blog. You remember Augustine, the former bank president who wears a crooked brown mustache. You remember Harold, the graphic…

A writer’s journey from point to point — Part 1, Bullshit Self-Esteem October of 2019 Day Zero Where else could I have been when I spotted Ken? At the bookstore, of course. The memorial was underway. Bookstores are where recently passed poets are remembered these days. …

A poetic adventure — Hail to you, gray-haired gentleman / on that summer porch. Let us put down / our fishing magazines and nod / sternly to your valor You have met her eyes, there on the wicker davenport / with a curtain of lush hemlock and hard / ash behind you; Trickling /…

It's been a long time since I've come back to an article a second time to read it just for the pleasure. This one slays. Nice job.

Part of the Spring 2021 collection The Pandemic Pant returns to the spring lineup. Back by loathed demand, and sponsored by Doritos, this classic is literally timeless. As in, all recollections of sanity and personal grooming will be sucked into the void of something called a “distant past.” Available in…

A plan for compartmentalizing your creative writing tasks and responsibilities — I want to introduce you to something I call “The Editorial Department Schema.” It’s a way to think about your fiction writing, or other creative writing work. What’s a schema? Let’s have a look.