Author's Note: Something a little spooky for Halloween. I'm no Poe (no one is), but there's definitely a bit of inspiration from the master here. The lamp was really quite beautiful. Its various shades of purple glass cast soft, eerily romantic patterns of shadow and light on the wall, a fact that Thomas had taken … Continue reading The Jewel in the Lamp
Category: Fiction
Well-Fed Wolves
Author's Note: It's fun to play with fairy tales. The smallest tweaks spin out surprisingly different stories and lessons. Once upon a time, there were three little pigs that set out into the world to seek their fortunes. The first little pig came upon a man carrying a bundle of straw and asked … Continue reading Well-Fed Wolves
Arena
Author's Note: A bit of science fiction, which allows for a mix of familiar and alien elements that help build a wide world in just a few pages. I think the shifting perspectives add drama and, ultimately, greater weight to the more meaningful shift at the end. The suns blazed harshly overhead, singeing the … Continue reading Arena
Peace
Author's Note: Many of the problems we face as adults are just variations on those we deal with as children. So too are many of the solutions. “Mom! Chrissy took my game!” “No I didn’t!” She paused in her furious attack upon the carrots on her chopping board. The third siren would sound off any … Continue reading Peace
Impasse
Autor's Note: My first stab at microfiction. I think there is so much more story in these words than the words actually say. “If you loved me, you’d fight for me,” she said with wounded tears in her eyes. “If you loved me,” he replied with false stoicism, “I wouldn’t have to.”
Drive By
Autor's Note: This one is from my college days, written as an allegory on the senselessly destructive things we do to each other. With sweat-slicked fur and wildly searching, fear-widened eyes the possum slips on some unseen obstacle and slides headlong into a shallow gulch filled with loudly crackling leaves and popping twigs -- remnants … Continue reading Drive By
Their Choice
Author's Note: When I wrote this story more than 15 years ago, I couldn't have imagined how it could possibly become more timely as the years passed. And yet, somehow, here we are ... Julie awoke to the semi-chaotic chorus of chants and jeers and deprecations that emanated from her front yard. Looking at the … Continue reading Their Choice
Heath Fogelman, author 