Welcome to my blog

I have been writing short works of fiction for about 15 years and managed to accumulate about 25 stories. I kind of like my stories. They are amusing and I enjoy reading them when they're done. I also like the writing part. My mind tends to race and to quiet it down, I like to have a story in the works. It gives my mind something constructive to do, rather than spinning aimlessly. I also get a great sense of accomplishment when I've completed a story. But most of all, I love getting feedback from my wife, family and friends who have been  my only audience up to this point. I crave a larger audience and so I intend to post a short story on this site every two weeks or so. I would love your comments.

Most stories are humourous. Even the serious ones are really just black humour. They range from 12 to 50 pages in length but are very fast paced. I live in fear of boring my audience so I race through the story at breakneck speed. Most people say my stories are very engaging but end too suddenly. But doesn't everything end suddenly? Things just end sometimes. As do my stories.

I have some frequent themes running through my stories. I like to write about people suffering various forms of mental illness. Characters frequently exhibit signs of paranoia, schizophrenia or obsessive compulsive disorder. Because some of the stories are seen through the haze of their mental illness, the reader is sometimes left to wonder what is really happening and what is just part of the character's psychosis.   I hate to resolve this confusion and try to leave the reader wondering at the end of the story.  At their best, the stories are wild and wacky and maybe a little bit like John Irving (I hope).

Every couple of weeks I'll post a story as a Word file. Just download and read. I'll talk a little bit about what the stories are about and what I was thinking about when I wrote it, just to wet your appetite and fill up a little space on the blog.  Otherwise it would just be a Word file each week and that would be boring.

Watch for Orbiting a Strange Attractor soon.