I wrote my first short story as an independent study project in high school. It was an incredibly derivative sci-fi story about a lost spaceship slingshotting around the sun. I probably modeled it partially on a Star Trek episode and partially on 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Then there was my first “novel,” which was basically a recounting of events leading up to and including my high school graduation. There I was stealing from the Emile Zola school of Naturalism, which I define in my teaching as “the artist as stenographer.” (Like my students know what a stenographer is…)
Since then, I have tried to be more imaginative and fanciful. And always, I have had the drive to be recognized as a writer, so that’s the fuel that fans the flames here.
Immaculate Misconceptions: Tales from Catholic School
This is my memoir about my Catholic School memories. In a way, these autobiographical musings served as the original inspiration for my memory-laden podcast, Audio Chimera.
I have performed it several times, at Pitt-Greensburg in 2006, and again in Second Life in SL. Both times I had my longtime collaborator Jeremy dePrisco joining me and providing live music.
I am hoping to do a tour of the show sometime.
Watchers of the Dawn:
A Steampunk Adventure
While searching for the First Vampyre, whose minions destroyed her hometown, Aemelja Umber encounters Stephano Alchimi, an immortal alchemist. She joins him and his order, the Vigilum Aurorae (the Watchers of the Dawn), who seek to end the source of ultimate evil in the world.
WOTD is also an allegory: of corporate America, the promises/pitfalls of science and technology, and consumer culture.
I had the original idea for this, and gathered a group of students to brainstorm ideas for it. (You can read their names in the acknowledgements.) My first thought was “graphic novel” but, lacking a graphic artist, I used NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) for inspiration to write the bulk of it, and then completed it later on.
I think this would make a great Netflix series.
Find it here on Smashwords.
Buttcracks and Willful Ignorance
In answer to your question, “What’s with the title??” it comes from my answer to the Bernard Pivot Personality Profile question, “What turns you off?” (“Buttcracks and willful ignorance!”) The volume contains a representative sampling of my short fiction and nonfiction writing from 1977 to (almost) the present.
There are three sections: “Short Stories,” “Character Sketches,” and “Non-Fiction.” The second section contains short bits and dramatic pieces, with longer stories (fiction and non) framing them. Readers will discover my usual poetic phrases infusing the prose. Featuring a few photographs of actual objects that inspired the stories and a brief discussion of each of the works and its origin or inspiration, this collection will amuse the reader with the author’s insight and humor.
Find it here on Smashwords.
HellWish
Technically, this is not prose, since it’s a graphic novel. However, I didn’t know where else to put it, so here it is!
“Be careful what you wish for,” they say—and be even more careful if Hell is listening in….
In a small town, a coma patient is believed to be a conduit to the afterlife. When someone makes a wish, it comes true. People start lining up to make their wishes—until Hell begins to pave its way to the town with a portal and an occupying demon force. Who can stop them? Martin Lightborn, demon hunter, who left the priesthood after he was ordained, but never left the service of God.
Okay, this might be a little derivative (see top of page), but I was playing with the format of graphic novels and seeing if I could create such a work from photos taken in Second Life. It was quite challenging creating the sets, and at times incorporating photos from RL into the mix. You let me know what you think; it’s a free download!
Find it here on Smashwords.
MUSOFYR 