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Jet Pack

May 18th, 2012 | 4 Comments

“Sure this thing is safe, Manny?” With a sly but reassuring look in his eye, he nodded in reply and tightened the leather strap on his friend’s shoulder. “There. That oughta do it.” Paul took a footballer’s stance and readied himself, the homemade jet pack balancing precariously on his back. He looked, for all intents and purposes, like a cybernetic Quasimodo. Manny chuckled at the sight as he backed away behind the concrete wall. The walkie talkie crackled to life. “Manny, what do I do now?” “Turn the regulator knob all the way clockwise.” Peering around the corner of the wall, he saw his old friend reaching for his shoulder. “Check.” “All you have to do now is press the red button in your palm with your middle finger.” “Check. But I’m still worried, Manny. Sure my … Read entire article »

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Fiction Friday #141

This week’s Fiction Friday assignment was to “Pick a book of fiction you’d never read (e.g., if you read sci-fi, pick a romance). Open to a random page and read the last couple paragraphs of the page. DO NOT TURN THE PAGE. Now continue writing the story. Feel free to change the genre as you write. “ The story I have chosen is Zeke and Ned by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, a small, yellowed paperback I found in a dust-covered old metal desk at my previous place of employ when we took over another warehouse and used it for our new offices. It’s been sitting on my bookshelf for nearly a decade now – I’ve … Read entire article »

Mannequin

“Quick! Put it in the back seat before he comes out” Barry heard from the darkness as he hurriedly stuffed the mannequin in his friend’s car. Taking the extra time to buckle the safety belt around its plastic torso ensured its position; Barry chuckled to himself “this is gonna be great.” A drunken Matt Sorenson stumbled from the depths of the big white house, briefly waving goodbye to some unknown soul inside. As he turned away, his shoulder clipped the edge of the front porch’s fluted column, sending him barreling down the stairs. It was all Barry and Steve-O could do to keep from erupting in laughter. Matt lay on the ground for a second; laughing … Read entire article »

How my writing career began.

I remember sitting in the small supposed dining room in my grandmother’s house on Lay Lake in Alabama sometime in high school. It was a two story home shaped like two octagons glued together. From the living room, you walked through the long and narrow kitchen to the dining room. In it was not a dining room table as one might imagine, but a large desk where my grandmother would handle her affairs. She had turned it into a quaint little office. Grandma had a word processor sitting against the wall, the kind that came in a case and you could carry around with you – portable. I remember you slid the thing out of the … Read entire article »

the bacon strips fry aromatic and gently in the iron pan Originally posted 2009-12-13 09:11:49. Republished by Blog Post Promoter … Read entire article »

Caesar’s Palace Las Vegas

Before I went on vacation, I mentioned how resorts rip you off by charging you for internet access.Caesar’s Palace, where we stayed, is such a resort. Internet access was $11.99 a day. I could have lived with that if I absolutely had to, but they charge you for each laptop you hook up to their system. So if a client comes to your room and whips out his laptop to show you something, you’ve got to pay $11.99 for both their laptop and yours. That’s $24, half of what my high speed access costs at home.For business use, I think I’m going to have to invest in one of those satellite internet cards from my … Read entire article »

Fiction Friday #182

This week’s Fiction Friday prompt: Include at least one of these words (or as many as you can!) in your story. “blaggard” , “boorish”, “betwixt”, ”stupendous”, “spiffing” I was pleased with the way last week’s installment turned out (Fiction Friday #181) and thought I’d continue with the story again this week and see how it goes. I’ve always admired my fellow writers’ abilities to continue on with their stories in this fashion and turn them into serials and I think this one’s turning out better than I thought it would. Please go check out Fiction Friday #180 and #181 to get the back story. Trudging her way up twenty-two floors had nearly taken their toll … Read entire article »

Dead, But Not Gone

She felt the cool fall air brush across her face as she stepped off the bus onto the decrepit old sidewalk. The nagging adolescent voice of the tormenting Carrie Whetherford repeated in her head “step on a crack; break your mother’s back” as she looked down and noticed the spider web of tiny chasms beneath her feet. She hadn’t thought of Carrie since childhood; it was the cracks that brought her back.  “Mama’s fuckin’ dead” she whispered to herself. “Are you happy?” The hydraulic whoosh behind her signaled the doors closing, yet she gave nary a notice. A tear rolled down her face and fell to the sidewalk, disappearing into the soil between two loosened pieces … Read entire article »

my body is wearymy mind in a fogi hear the barkingof a far away dog i open the doorwith rifle in towand step with bare feetinto the cold wet snow yet i do not noticebecause from all aroundcomes the incessant barkingof an aged red hound i cannot find the directionfrom which it is comingand i do not even noticehow quickly my feet are numbing i trek across my landlooking for the tracksthat will lead me to this beastwhen i notice the pain in my back and suddenly i come to knowi cannot feel my feetbut to rid myself of this monsterwould bring me a sense of peace i can no longer feel painin these tired old feet of mineit has long … Read entire article »

Why They Call Me Tick-Tock

It appears my life long obsession with clocks has recently taken on a new direction.As I mentioned in a previous post, my obsession borders on the insane. I’m like Mel Gibson’s character in Conspiracy Theory. In the movie, he has an uncontrollable urge to buy a copy of The Catcher in the Rye whenever he sees it and as a result had amassed an extensive collection of them. In fact, I think I remember him saying that he had never actually read it. I could be wrong though, it’s been eleven years since I saw its release in 1997.My Catcher in the Rye is clocks.Clocks call out to me. I don’t go around buying one … Read entire article »

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