Truth is Not a Good Plot

Vardis Huntre was settling on the plot for his new historic romance. The setting would be a mining camp in the Tobacco Root Mountains of Montana in the nineteen twenties. The idea came to him as he was downing a beer in Darcy’s, a dive at the intersection of U.S 287 and Meadow Creek Road. … Continue reading Truth is Not a Good Plot →

My, How the Words Rushed By!

Though they came at me they would not stop. “You will not pay attention,” they said. “You have been attending one stopping at the hospital,” they taunted. “Have you no respect!?” They arrived and fled in one motion. I caught and held one a moment, but it was “Rushed” and would not give even its … Continue reading My, How the Words Rushed By! →

That Last Door is a Killer

There were three doors for old Maddy Wilsawl to choose from, and all three of them exited into territories his seventy-five years had not prepared him for. Actually, he thought, there wasn’t much choice. He had come in one of them. Beyond it was a country in which cars drove themselves, people hired thieves to … Continue reading That Last Door is a Killer →

Bird Woman Speaks

“I don’t suppose anyone here has ever heard of the Olicanucian Flyinitus,” Robin said. The fireplace light flickered and danced in her small obsidian eyes. “No, Robie, no,” Merle said. “These folk don’t need to hear your misadventures in the Pleistocene.” He spoke quickly and his voice trembled, and we sensed in his warning more … Continue reading Bird Woman Speaks →

Getting an Earful

And suddenly nothing. Nothing. Zip. Miranda Velositer wasn’t saying anything. Nada. A typical hour with Miranda Velositer consisted of at least sixty-eight minutes— sometimes as much as eighty minutes—of monologue. Reggie Velositer would know. He has spent, by his own calculation, twenty-five million hours, give or take, with Miranda. Twenty-five million interminable hours, most of … Continue reading Getting an Earful →

He?She? Renews a Membership

Her rhymes with sure. Him rhymes with dim. Rhymes have meaning, Sometimes demeaning. Which is something to remember when pronouning “member.”

A D-8T Cat, a Single-Wide, a Large Woman, and a Grizzly Bear

All the lights were out. Rain, snow, sleet and hail drummed, thudded, and pummeled on roof, siding, and window. Lightning flashed. Thunder rumbled. Sport cowered under the bed. Ritter opened another beer. Furrz licked her paws. Dwain bitched because the internet was down and you can’t WOW and massively murder multi-players when the internet is … Continue reading A D-8T Cat, a Single-Wide, a Large Woman, and a Grizzly Bear →

Why the House at 6123 Flordock Road is Blue

If the goat had not come into the house, nothing would have changed. Meggy and Fore would probably still be married, Dick Alsmond would probably still be alive, and the house at 6123 Flordock Road would probably still be pale beige like all the other houses on Flordock Road. But enter the house the goat … Continue reading Why the House at 6123 Flordock Road is Blue →

Millie Fray Brings God to the Open Mic

It is unlikely you know or know of Lon Darby. He is one of the unfortunate lost of our time—though if it were up to Millie Fray he'd be enshrined in mosques and temples and steepled churches right now. I had certainly never heard of him, nor of Millie Fray, before one night two weeks … Continue reading Millie Fray Brings God to the Open Mic →