Story Themes

Several years ago when we lived in Florida, a hurricane blew threw our town, leaving a path of destruction. While driving one day, I noticed a home that had been damaged, and the entire fence around yard had been literally blown away. I mean, it was just gone. What amazed me was although the fence was gone, the gate that had been in the middle of the fence was still there, standing alone, all by itself, still closed and latched to a post on each side, almost as if it were a monument. I pulled over to the side of the road and took a picture, but the image itself is still clear in my mind.

That was the idea I used for the first story in the collection titled You Never Know. Something as simple as a gate can become a symbol — a memorial — for what happened in a place, for the life that happened there, for the people whose lives were touched in some way. And that’s what these flash fiction stories are all about.

People, Life, Relationships, Pain

Laughter, Sorrow, Victory, Failure

Ambition, Uncertainty, Excitement, and Surprise

Dreams, Premonitions, the Unknown, and Death

How we think and feel about these concepts.

And how we experience them in our day-to-day lives.

Each story reveals a small aspect of what it means to be human. And in reading them, perhaps you’ll connect with something inside yourself, relate to other people, and find a measure of hope for your own circumstances.

Meet Some of the Characters

My first Flash Fiction collection, You Never Know, will be available on March 7 both as a print book and an ebook. Each story elicits an emotional response and leaves the reader with something to think about. I had fun writing these stories, and I think you’ll enjoy reading them. Would you like to meet some of the characters you’ll encounter? Okay, since you asked.

Janeesha is a young lady who has to make a career decision. Molly loved her husband, Freddy, through thirty-one years of failure. The clown always wanted to be an accountant. Sam, the Golden Retriever, who was the loyalest friend a man ever had. George had a nickname for everyone: those he liked as well as those he didn’t. Samantha was a violinist whose family didn’t show up for her concert.

These and many other characters fill the stories with pain, joy, sorrow, and surprise.

New Book Coming This Weekend

You Never Know is my response to Writers Digest’s annual month-long challenge to write a piece of flash fiction every day for a month, and is my initial entry into the world of writing fiction.

A collection of thirty-one flash fiction short stories, each one is a thought-provoking snapshot that captures a different aspect of what it means to be human and elicits a wide range of emotional responses. By the way, flash fiction stories are typically no longer than 1,500 words and may be as short as the now-famous six-word stories, allegedly started by Ernest Hemingway.

You Never Know will be available on Friday March 7.