Miscellany
Hiding Under Covers
Who am I? I am the least among you. I am the homeless.
From the darkness
You wake at night for no reason. Your senses are at their peak. You're fully aware, self aware.
The Letter
Your mind wanders. You're disturbed by a memory. You blurt out a response. Did anyone hear?
Short Stories
Below are abstracts from short stories that I have written. To read a story, click on the story's heading. They are listed in date order, with the most recent story that I've written shown first. At this point, I think the most recent two are my best and I recommend reading them.
From the darkness
A simple story about a man living alone and coming to a new level of existence.The Letter
A story about a man living alone in Berlin as an English teacher and a translator. He is asked to translate a letter from someone in France that hits home with him. This is another experimental story in that it deals with a bit with a neurosis.She used the F-word.
This is an experimental story for me in writing about very adult themes. It's a very sexual story--not graphically detailed, but clearly sexual--about a man's sexual abilities and how they play out with a woman he meets. Please don't read it if you're offended by sexual content.No one ever gave me flowers
A simple short story about a fellow who normally is energetic and in control of his life, but finds himself sad and reflective. In the midst of this down period, it occurs to him that no woman ever loved him enough to give him flowers.My therapist won't return my calls.
A single, divorced, lonely man has a dilema: his therapist won't return his calls. Being mentally stable and having no serious emotional problems at the time, the situation is tolerable. However, he feels a bit insecure being adrift in this way and seeks alternative methods.Concetta
This short story is written in the style of a diary, but is interlaced with some dialog but only when the diary is open and present, dialog within the hearing of the diary. It tells pieces of the story of a young Italian American girl living in a small town near Boston.Hiding Under Covers
Commento poetico e narrativa sui barbone negli Stati Uniti, si cambio in una storia per un tocco personale.Purgatory for a Technology Heretic
A dark piece set in New Orleans, its about a character who is temporarily working the night shift at a government facility installing Microsoft Windows on computers. The protagonist believes he is condemned to this work for his blaspheme against Microsoft and Bill Gates.Calvino Exercise
As a writing exercise, I wrote this piece in which I attemptted to reproduce Italo Calvino's writing style by writing a few paragraphs to mingle with his paragraphs. If you read these paragraphs, see if you can figure out which ones are mine.
Musings on Writing
Below are recent musings of mine related to my experiences as a writer. Click on an entry heading to read its full text. You can find all entries on Writing in the Musings section.
On Becoming a Graham Greene
By pushing myself emotionally, continuing to read Graham Greene's novels and writing reviews of them, I have made great progress in my fiction writing. I know I'm flattering myself, but I feel as though I'm become a Graham Greene. I think I can say this because he wasn't an artist: he was just a good writer. Shakespeare was an artist. Greene just did a good job and that's achievable. That's the trail I seem to be following in my personal growth and with my writing skills.
Evaluating Non Dead Authors
Almost all of the novels that I've read were written by authors who are dead. In college when I majored in English, older classical novels were assigned and I've read more on my own since. Only in the past year have I begun to read more modern works. However, I've not read many contemporary novels, novels involving current settings and circumstances. Now I've begun reviewing newly published novels. This is difficult for me. I don't know how to review them or what I should say about them.
I'm Not Creative
I've wondered lately if I am creative or if I merely have a creative sense. This is particularly important to me if I want to make my way as a creative writer. When I say creative sense, I mean that I can sense that which is creative--spot a good artistic idea when I see one--as opposed to coming up with a good artistic idea of my own. And if that's all I have to offer and of which I'm capable, then maybe I should be a literary critic and a professor, and not a writer of fiction. It's a difficult thing to consider about oneself: am I not creative, will I never be a great writer, and am I only good at analyzing and commenting on the writings of others?
My Books
Below are a couple of my books that have been published and are still in print. Click on the book cover image to go to a site where you can buy my book.
In Search of Kafka
This is my first novel. It’s what I call a hi-tech comical thriller. It’s not about Kafka, incidentally. It’s about a computer programmer who inadvertently breaks into a Starbucks’ computer server and gets into trouble as a result. Throughout the novel he’s being hunted by Homeland Security.
MySQL in a Nutshell
This is a reference book (the second edition) which I wrote on the computer database software, MySQL. It’s not an interesting read, but it’s useful if you’re a MySQL software developer. If you’re interested in this topic, you should also check out my web site on MySQL Resources.
