tales, essays, lies:
Some of my stories, yarns, rants, poems, interludes, and collections. A few have actually been published in traditional media.

Stories from the Tallahassee Beach Mythos
A somewhat self-aggrandizing label for an alternate reality centered on the Florida panhandle and sketched out in various entries tagged "mythos" at monsters from the id, a sort of performance-art weblog.

and certain stars shot madly from their spheres [pdf]

I think this is the best piece of fiction I've produced so far. It was published in the Apalachee Review in 2003.

 

1539 [rtf]

Retro me, Sathanas! A story mixing H.P Lovecraft and Hernando de Soto. Never submitted for publication.

 

Pleistocene

A short-short read aloud once at a celebration of that genre in 2003.

 

Tallahassee Beach

Many years ago I compiled some old Q Magazine columns and crude maps into this mini-site about a possible future Florida; a rather crude but occasionally amusing start for the mythos.

 

RoosterTail

One of my first pieces written for Bill Brubaker's fiction workshop back in 1991. The treatment needs major overhaul, yet it's still one of my favorites. Not explicitly a part of the mythos, but related.

 

Other Stories/Riffs
A mixed bag.

Wisteria Blue

One of two pieces written in a Tom-Waits-burnout-junkie kind of voice, this piece seems to resonate with people strongly. You won't look at wisteria the same way again. Published in Q, 1992.

 

The Freon Jones

Them old Air-Conditioned Blues; another Tom Waits-ish rap from a fellow AC addict. A bit more preachy. A condensed version appeared as one of my Community Columns in the Tallahassee Democrat back in '92, and I was gratified to see it clipped out on the bulletin board at the Florida Governor's Energy Office shortly thereafter.

 

Of Sockhops and Cybernauts [rtf]

A wistful and partly true tale of reconnection. Ironically, this is the only "straight fiction" here, folks. Never submitted for publication.

 

Poetry
or, possibly, Reasons Why I Mainly Write Prose.

Sink Whole

Joe Follman included my very early poem in his Springs of Florida online guide.

 

Palmetto Bugs

Doggerel composed in 1994 by a bachelor with poor housecleaning habits. Needs music. Needs to be on a coffee mug.

 

Essays
I don't know what else to call these.

Mullet Protest

Political satire meets magical realism; published in Kim MacQueen's short-lived 'zine DIS (Southeastern Culture Quarterly) in 1994.

 

Dibble-Dancing

Why I don't care if you waste paper; a Community Columnist sample from 1992.

 

Recovery Ridge

As far Southwest as you can go - and still be in Georgia; a Community Columnist sample from 1992.

 

Images from an old copy of True Men found in a junk store.