(This story was written for Three Word Wednesday and features Isaac, the hero of my novel Mirror Blue.  This week’s words are drink, feeble, and predict.) “Aphrodite,” Isaac read on the return address. Usually the mail he got in response to his novels was from soldiers, like him. Or like he’d been. Not from women [...]

Tags: flash fiction, short stories, Three Word Wednesday
Filed under: Appalachian fiction, Mirror Blue, Southern fiction, Three Word Wednesday, flash fiction, short stories

This stand-alone story was written for Three Word Wednesday (this week’s words: abuse, cramp, and hatred). Della threw the plastic grocery bag onto the floor. Outside the foggy perimeter of her rage, she heard the crunch of glass breaking. Great. There went the jar of spaghetti sauce. Now, she’d have to clean the mess off [...]

Tags: flash fiction, magical realism, short stories, Three Word Wednesday
Filed under: Appalachian fiction, Southern fiction, Three Word Wednesday, flash fiction, short stories

This teensy stand-alone piece was written for Three Word Wednesday (this week’s words: feign, imply, and virtue). My wife sees green horses, but to me, they look blue. We agreed to a compromise: for us, horses are “bleen.” We’re the only people I know who see bleen horses. Everyone else says they see brown, black, [...]

Tags: magical realism, nanofiction, short stories, Three Word Wednesday
Filed under: Appalachian fiction, Southern fiction, Three Word Wednesday, nanofiction, short stories

(I wrote this for Sunday Scribblings and Weekend Writer’s Retreat – it features Nate and Laurel, from my novel-in-progress Heart’s Chalice. These stories take place before the main action of the novel and are not necessarily being written in chronological order.) Hiking to the waterfall, Nate spied something poking out of the dirt off the [...]

Tags: flash fiction, short stories, Sunday Scribblings, Weekend Writer's Retreat
Filed under: Appalachian fiction, Heart's Chalice, Southern fiction, Sunday Scribblings, Weekend Writer's Retreat, flash fiction, short stories

(I wrote this for Sunday Scribblings and Weekend Writer’s Retreat – it features Laurel and Nate, from my novel-in-progress Heart’s Chalice. These stories, though they take place before the main action of the novel, are not necessarily being written in chronological order.) Holding the pizza box high in the air, Nate opened the door to [...]

Tags: flash fiction, short stories, Sunday Scribblings, Weekend Writer's Retreat
Filed under: Appalachian fiction, Heart's Chalice, Southern fiction, Sunday Scribblings, Weekend Writer's Retreat, flash fiction, short stories

(This is a stand-alone story, written for Three Word Wednesday.) Waking with the sun, Jonathan Sizemore Fouts rose clear-headed for the first time in days. He dressed quietly and tiptoed out of his room. If Fred, his roommate, woke up and got to talking, Jos wouldn’t get going until noon. Normally Jos would listen and [...]

Tags: flash fiction, magical realism, short stories, Three Word Wednesday
Filed under: Appalachian fiction, Southern fiction, Three Word Wednesday, flash fiction, short stories

(This piece, a riff on my novel-in-progress Heart’s Chalice, was written for Sunday Scribblings – the prompt is “wonder.”) Playing on the piano the piece he used to love, she turns her face up to the room’s only light and closes her eyes. His face, as she recalls it, paints itself on her lids. Since [...]

Tags: flash fiction, short stories, Sunday Scribblings
Filed under: Appalachian fiction, Heart's Chalice, Southern fiction, Sunday Scribblings, flash fiction, short stories

(I wrote this for Three Word Wednesday – it features Laurel, from my novel-in-progress Heart’s Chalice. These flash fiction pieces, though most of them take place before the main action of the novel, are not necessarily being written in chronological order.) While Aunt Sophie worked, Laurel sat nearby on a stool. Her legs weren’t long [...]

Tags: flash fiction, magical realism, short stories, Three Word Wednesday
Filed under: Appalachian fiction, Heart's Chalice, Southern fiction, Three Word Wednesday, flash fiction, short stories

(I wrote this story for Three Word Wednesday — it features Raoul and Renata, characters from my novel-in-progress Heart’s Chalice.) “I’m never acting again. Not even if I live to be one hundred.” On his way up the mountain trail, Raoul kicked at a twig. It stuck in his boot laces. Cursing, he shook his [...]

Tags: flash fiction, magical realism, short stories, Three Word Wednesday
Filed under: Appalachian fiction, Heart's Chalice, Southern fiction, Three Word Wednesday, flash fiction, short stories

(I wrote this for Sunday Scribblings and Weekend Writer’s Retreat – it features Laurel and her mother Marie, from my novel-in-progress Heart’s Chalice. These flash fiction pieces, though they take place before the main action of the novel, are not necessarily being written in chronological order.) One more time, and she’d be satisfied. Well, almost. [...]

Tags: flash fiction, magical realism, short stories, Sunday Scribblings
Filed under: Appalachian fiction, Heart's Chalice, Southern fiction, Sunday Scribblings, flash fiction, short stories