'Mackerel Sky'

If he could stop the falling, he could undo whatever brought him here, to this hotel across from the hospital where she lay unconscious, unreachable. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t make sense of the illness, of his presence after so long absent, the years since he left his daughter Julia, her life since then.

A short story

The 'Manifesto'

Manifesto of Prague Writers

Here's the personal mission statement I declared in 1996 after deciding I was going to write without traditional plots or characters. I modestly titled my declaration the Manifesto of Prague Writers. Today, I embrace plot as possibly the only thing of value in my writing, but I fondly remember those heady days when I still had everything to discover about writing fiction. 

Fiction Writing

Feel free to download and print these short stories.

Three Moments

Irritated by chimes. Falling in love. Trains and St. Petersburg. 

Dream Loft 

She woke up bewildered and unsettled but knew she'd found a good thing.

Trilogy: Part One, "D"

She thought of D. In his mind, a constant rain, melodies like waking showers, of holy music, Bach and Handel.

 Swamps near my Greenville home

Once considered a dumping place for old appliances, trash and even carcasses, swamps are the jewel in the crown of eastern North Carolina's beauty. Great effort goes into protecting and preserving these wetlands.

About my writing

I began to write short stories when I realized it was the most difficult type of writing I could imagine. In 2002 I began writing a novel, which is a different kind of impossible task. The novel is titled The Curing Season.

I have never formally studied so-called creative writing. I did one time copy by hand sections of Hemingway to help me understand how it would feel to write with such simplicity and power.