Duke
Duke Hanley was on one of his favorite hikes in Central Oregon. Most of the way up Paulina Peak in the Newberry Crater National Monument, he couldn’t…
Crispy
Joel noticed, or felt, rather, a movement to his right. He moved his eyes in that direction and recognized Darnell, the nurse he liked the most, as…
On the Road Again, Part 3
The Bed, the Raccoon, and the Draft “…It will run like a striped ape.” It was a vision of madness and security. Cradled safely in the arms of a…
The Legend of Forenia: The Twilight Kingdom — Chapter 7
Grancaliga sat on the wooden throne as the great hall filled with soldiers prechosen to participate in the deification ceremony. His long gray cape…
Rose on Poe’s Grave
"I wish I could write as mysteriously as a cat." --- Edgar Allan Poe The door was blown ajar, papers tossed with red leaves as if by a yearning sigh…
As We Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us
Dottie Lamer was not one of those fervent Christians who forgave the convict in jail who killed their loved one. No; she wasn’t about to forgive the…
Accordion Plan, Part 2
“It’s all the same conversations. The same words and ideas keep reappearing everywhere…confident, monotonous repetition is mind control.” “I’ll give…
The Shadow of That Hideous Strength
When I found a dead crab outside my door, it made me wonder. A fly or a spider or something I could have dismissed easily, but a crab? A crab seemed…
Meeting the Neighbors
Weighed down by the drudgery of packing, loading, unpacking, arranging, rearranging, we hoped for normalcy and finally found it when we had time to…
On the Road Again, Part 2
Desert Death It was like a giant celestial radio tuned between stations. An incredible buzz, a drone that ebbed and flowed but never disappeared. A…
