Shade: A Short Story

Colonel Hall lay beneath a jagged shelf of black stone, a sloppy trail of dust behind her on the coal-dark rock which led out into the white-hot heat of the alien day. Her ship crashed in the distance, her crew all forever silent, she pressed the beacon on her yellow environmental suit and listened to

Short Story Writing Challenge #amwriting

I’ve been writing novels now since 2007.  I’ve written three novels and one self-help book. Frankly, I’m a little burned out. I decided that during the month of July I would try to write one short story every three days.  By the time I was done, I’d have 10 solid short stories to put into

New Podcast Up: Short Story Writing and Invested Characters

In this episode Ryan and I discuss the writing of short stories and how you can use short stories to wet your appetite for writing a novel. How many of your short stories could eventually become novels? How do you translate a short story into a novel? We also discuss characters in fiction that cause us

Friday Flash Fiction: The Package

Gordon never thought in his wildest nightmares that he would end up homeless.  However, as he shambled down Reno Avenue in Oklahoma City, the summer heat baking him, the thick humid air shortening his breath, he thought randomly about where this road might lead him.  He had spent the night under a bridge, his filthy