eBook - An Ironic Flash of Life

My newest ebook, "An Ironic Flash of Life," a collection of nine flash stories about the sacred and profane an ironic kind of way, is now available.

eBook - A Pumpkin's Life

My newest ebook, "A Pumpkin's Life," a collection of ten poems, is now available.

Four New Short Story eBooks This Week

Got a handful of new short story ebooks for your reading pleasure:

Marigolds For A Vampire
Paying Taxes, American Style
The Bomb Hole Incident
The Pot Washer's New Magic Trick

Available for purchase from either Amazon or Smashwords. If you enjoyed or hated any of my short story ebooks, please write a review to let me know.

eBook - A Few Short Stories Omnibus Volume 1

My newest ebook, "A Few Short Stories Omnibus Volume 1," is now available for $1.99.

Read 18 flash and short stories in this first omnibus volume for one low price, including: "The World's Best Coffee," "The Uninvited Spook," "The Forgotten Sinner," "Uncle Fred's Wild Splash Hit," "Blind Faith," "The Old Frenchman," "Jesus Saves You Money," "Pure Indulgence," "An Old Man's Confession," "Bubbles & Stickers," "Walking Home," "The Unfaithful Camera," "The Devil Came A-Collecting," "The Pot Washer's New Magic Trick," "Walking Into The Night," "Paying Taxes, American Style," "The Bomb Hole Incident" and "The Nowhere October Surprise."

Save nearly $8 over buying all ten ebooks individually at $0.99 each.

eBook - Dead Enders

My newest short story ebook, "Dead Enders," is now available.

Claudia and her guy friends get more than they bargain for when they pick up the mysterious girl in white hitchhiking on the I-5 in Southern California to Mexico, who is neither human nor vampire and hates male vampires enough to hurt them where it hurts the most. After the dead enders are dealt with, Claudia discovers the true identity of the girl in white and finds her own freedom.

Since this short story is a continuation of my vampire novella, "Marigolds For A Vampire," I'm offering the Smashwords ebook for only $0.99 (regular price $1.99). Use coupon code SR43W (expires 2011/10/1).

Updated 16 September 2011: "Marigolds For A Vampire" is now $0.99 USD on both Amazon and Smashwords, and $1.00 USD at Scribd, until the end of the year.

eBook - Saved By The Bell

My newest short story ebook, "Saved By The Bell," is now available.

As a guardian angel working for God and collecting contributions for the poor, you get to know the regular customers coming out of the store: the little old lady looking for unusual coins in her change purse, the man who writes out his check like it was made out of pure gold, and the woman too busy to stop talking on her cell phone. With a smile and blessing, the bell is rung each time. But the guardian angel isn't there to collect money from the poor. When a little girl runs pell mell from her harried mother towards the parking lot and into the path of a speeding SUV, the bell is rung with special care to prevent tragedy from happening.

This 1,000-word short story first appeared in Ink Beans ezine (28 May 2011).

eBook - The Hungry Red Devil

My newest short story ebook, "The Hungry Red Devil," is now available.

As Derek and April discuss their dire financial situation after being rejected for food stamps and told to have children by the county welfare office, their ten-inch long red devil cichlid fish paces the 50-gallon with an expression that every owner knows too well: Feed me! Feed me! Feed me! When Derek gets the brilliant idea of serving up the red devil as fish filet, the red devil has other ideas about what's available for dinner.

This 1,380-word short story first appeared in Fiction365 (4 July 2011).

eBook - How Not To State A Vampire

My newest short story ebook, "How Not To Stake A Vampire," is now available.

A collection of five 500-word flash stories about vampires, werewolves, golem, and killer trout, previously published in three flash anthologies by Pill Hill Press and Wicked East Press.

"How Not to Stake A Vampire" — A master and his apprentice vampire hunter have a disagreement about staking technique while inside the crypt of two vampires.

"Hog Wild Under The Moon" — Three teenagers trespass into a biker's backyard to fool around with the bench press under a full moon.

"Golem Got The Blues" — A computer science student shows off the golem he created for his artificial intelligence class when the operating system crashes.

"An Unanswered Question" — A woman U.S. Census worker asks ten questions to an old man who lives alone in a trailer as the full moon rises over the woods.

"A Wild Fish Tale" — A pair of fishermen find themselves trapped inside an outhouse on the pier when the aggressive trout decides to fish for them.

These flash stories first published in Daily Bites of Flesh 2011 (Pill Hill Press), Daily Flash 2011 (Pill Hill Press), and A Cup of Joe (Wicked East Press).

eBook - A Few Short Stories Omnibus Volume 2

My newest fiction omnibus ebook, A Few Short Stories Omnibus Volume 2, is now available.

Read 14 flash and short stories from seven ebooks in this second omnibus volume for one low price, featuring: "Salt Of The Air," "Swine Of The Earth," "Honey Of The Fire," "Rice Of The Water," "Silent Observers," "A Leap Of Faith," "Dead Enders," "Saved By The Bell," "The Hungry Red Devil," "How Not to Stake A Vampire," "Hog Wild Under The Moon," "Golem Got The Blues," "An Unanswered Question," and "A Wild Fish Tale."

Save nearly $4 over buying all seven ebooks individually at $0.99 each.

eBook - Experiencing The Death of Elvis

My newest essay ebook, Experiencing The Death of Elvis: A Childhood Tragedy, is now available

I read about the death of Steve Jobs five minutes before everyone else did at work on Wednesday, October 5, 2011. As a PC technician doing a Windows 7 refresh at a Fortune 500 technology company in Silicon Valley, I was waiting for the data transfer from the old computer to the new computer to complete before I moved on to my next task. Sitting in the chair of the user whom I ejected out of his cube, I turned to the laptop on my cart and, seeing no work-related emails that required my immediate attention, started browsing the Internet. MacRumors reported the death of Steve Jobs via the Associated Press announcement and that more details were forthcoming. Unlike the false report a month before that appeared on the CBS Twitter feed, this one looked like the real deal. An immense feeling of sadness overcame me, but not that of mourning for a technology visionary. I felt like I was experiencing the death of Elvis Presley all over again, shuddering at the thought of another childhood tragedy in the making.

This 3,230-word personal essay is about remembering a mother's reaction to the death of Elvis.