What Happened to Penny?

An excerpt from The Former Hero. With a clamor she burst onto the bright doorstep, one hand across her brow. She strode out to the street and looked one way and then the other. Up and down the sidewalk she saw a long mural of pastel chalk drawings: a winged horse and...

Lucy and the ongoing quest for superheroism

If you are like me and do not have your analytical faculties constantly running full bore, you may have looked at the movie trailer for Lucy and thought to yourself, “Hm. Looks cool. And maybe for once Scarlett Johanssen will have a role where she can show a...

Flash fiction – The Test

The young girl sat in the bathroom stall. It was the same stall, the only stall she had ever used since she arrived seven months ago. Even if it was occupied she would wait by the sink and nip nervously at hangnails until the occupant left. Nobody could say they knew...

2013 Epic Vacation

Our family had the epic vacation last summer. Some people were so impressed they asked for the itinerary. Here it is. We rented a nice, clean minivan. Made a huge difference to have a nice car, and it wasn’t wildly expensive. Under $300 I think. Day 1 –...

On death by drug overdose

Like many people, I was deeply saddened by the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman. He had some great lead roles (Synecdoche New York, The Master, Doubt, and of course his Oscar-winning performance in Capote which I wasn’t crazy about). But we also remember him for...