Short Stories

Before I started writing novel-length thrillers, I spent five years writing short stories only, learning the skills to write fiction. During this period, I had a mentor, Author/Publisher Arline Chase, and I read a myriad of books on writing fiction.

My point is that short stories are “bite-size.” When you don’t know what you’re doing, the first thing required is to learn the tools of storytelling–and that is no time to begin writing your version of War and Peace. And, by the way, if you think that short stories are easier to write, you’re wrong. Telling a captivating tale using a minimum of words is not easy.

As a new feature to this web site, I’m making available here all of the short stories that I published in The Errant Ricochet: Max Raeburn’s Legacy. To start, I have included below “The Curious Miss Crabtree,” a humorous tale of two boys fearing a Christmas assignment from their mother: taking cookies to a scary neighbor lady.

Note that you can either read OR listen to my stories. On approximately a monthly schedule, I will be adding each of the remaining stories from my book.

Click on the books below for a general description, and from there you can link to hear/read the story.