Category Archives: podcasts

In which I tip my toe into the noir pool

A recent prompt for the Sudden Fictions podcast was “femme fatale,” so I thought about my time in Los Angeles and came up with this one: “The Mystery Girl of Doheny Boulevard.” Enjoy!

 

Happy (Accidents) and New Year

If you’ve been following along on my fiction journey, you may note my recent appearances on Sudden Fictions, R.B. Wood’s podcast. He likes to toss out a writing prompt every month or so, and ask his fellow writers to contribute.

Well… I saw the prompt (“Celebration”) and came up with I thought was a cool low-key horror story that might work in <1000 words. In reality, I had conflated that word with all the NY Eve prep. The actual prompt was “Champagne.”

champagne cork flying out of bottle

D’oh!

So I threw my original idea into the metaphysical drawer and sat myself down on Jan 1 to write something about that fancy wine. A day later, I had “The Last Year of Champagne.” It was a fun idea to play with. The ever-gracious R.B. bought the piece and recorded it later in the week (despite his, ah, disagreement with la langue française).

Enjoy episode 40 of Sudden Fictions.

Eligibility Post 2023

Want to support an underdog writer? Now’s your chance! Here’s a list of everything I published this year:

Short Fiction

Novelette

Thank you for your consideration. Now I must feed the cats.

 

November ghost story and a reboot of NaNoWriMo

My latest story, “The Poltergeist of Fastini Crater,” appeared on Sudden Fictions this week. I wrote the flash story based on a prompt (“haunting”) from the editor, R.B. Wood, in what was then a Halloween-themed submissions call. However, mundane reality™ got involved, delaying the project past the holiday. Still, I set out to write a little ghost story on the moon, and it came together in two quick bursts. It was definitely the most fun I’ve had at the keyboard in a while. (For those keeping score, it’s publication #9 this year. Huzzah!)

Sudden Fictions, Episode 39

Unfortunately, my dayjob situation tool an unexpected downturn (i.e., our project was put on hold and all the writers furloughed), so I decided to revisit the ghosts of Unfinished Short Fiction for my version of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). The goal is to complete (or revise) 5 stories by 11-30-2023. It may not be as tough as 50,000 words but it’s enough of a challenge!

Let’s see what happens.