The Unexpected Cosmology

The Policeman and the Eagle - You would think that something so simple as urine would never serve a purpose other than the purpose of disposal… If so, then you would be wrong. The fact that urine serves as a foaming agent is often overlooked in the conversation. But how many people would ever deem that to be a purpose of […]

Older Twins -   Maybe I would just call it “Snickerdoodle Vomit”. A light brown, sure—but I hadn’t seen this exact color in such a large area before. I supposed that I’ve seen most colors, but when you define them down to a single number, it was somehow satisfying. I didn’t have the exact Pantone number for it, […]

Supply and Remand - Preface   Around 1994 I began writing a series of ten books called: “Worlds Without End” and they were going to be just the thing to put me on the map. I had poured hours and months and years into a make-believe modified pinwheel galaxy eons from earth, far out in the stars. It was […]

Moth Clan - The only time he saw the moth clan was in the night. It was always in the same room, a cottage style bedroom with only a small orange molded chair and a student’s desk against the wall. The walls were lime green on two sides and it was upstairs. He knew it was upstairs by […]

The Night Eyed - And so there I was, writing this story just after watching some videos of survival in the mountains and it occurred to me to involve cryptids. I guess, after writing my first novel: By the Gates of the Garden of Eden, it shouldn’t come as a shock to me that I wanted to write about […]

Modern Epistle 1: The First Letter of Pauly to the Americas - The story of the “Modern Epistle” writing series began when I took a job delivering the local newspaper. Working in the middle of the night afforded me some small pleasures. During the day, I would write my novels, and at night, I’d drive around and throw papers out of my window. It became habitual for […]

An Island at the End of Time - In Islamic eschatology, the return of Isa (Jesus) from the Fourth Heaven will be one of the great signs at the end of the age, after the “Antichrist” is released and before Gog and Magog are released. At the first writing of this piece, I had not put God into the picture at all, but […]

Ouesso to Epena - My first novel, By the Gates of the Garden of Eden, is a story about a University student who hitchhikes the last part of his summer vacation. He is kidnapped by large beings who turn out to be Krampus, and is forced to work in their mines, digging tunnels. Chaucer leads a rebellion with the […]

Blood of the Pecos - It was ten thirty at night and things were pretty still at the Casey’s gas station in Brookston, Indiana. Jordan had gone to the men’s bathroom to clean up urine. Someone had peed in the corner instead of in the toilet. Gross, she sang. Super gross, she sang and laughed and cleaned it up any […]

A Problem of Coffins - When the editor of my newest short story collection read “A Problem of Coffins” he remarked it was by far the most enjoyable thing that he had read that I had written. It came as quite a shock to me, because I never intended for it to be any good. It was simply an experiment […]