Short Stories and Published Articles
The Beat: A Major Blaine Mystery in Three Parts
Part 1 – Baltimore
When I met him, he was a beat cop working in the toughest town. He worked alone. Alone, because no other cop wanted to ride with him. Getting shot was a frequent habit of Marlboro’s partners. Sergeant Philip Winston Marlboro rode the night shift, past the sleaziest bars, back alleys, and vacant lots of Baltimore.
Part 2 – The War
They shipped Phillip Winston Marlboro to France. The war was raging, and his number came up. He’d stayed in Baltimore, but someone or something bigger than him had a different plan. It wasn’t God’s plan.
Part 3 – Back on the Streets of Baltimore
Philip Marlboro no longer had a badge or a uniform. He was just another cold, hungry veteran thrown back into civilian life. The Baltimore police couldn’t hire him back and he was too old to retrain. Retrain to do what? Carry a nightstick, fight crime—these were the only things he knew. The only things he wanted to do.
Fiction in a Nutshell
In December 2023 I won the “Flash Fiction” contest for our local paper. Then She Walked By was a distillation of my short story The Beat. Read more here.
The Passion: A Major Blaine Romance in Four Parts
Part 1. All the Romance Anyone Needs
After years of a lifeless marriage, they had but one fantasy left. Making love on a secluded beach. Living in Iowa presented some obstacles, but they had time. Time was all they had left.
Part 2. The Passion Builds . . .
And so, he in his world, her in hers. Alone, yet together. The Iowa winters can be cold. An Iowa home without love is like an unlit stove. Full of potential. But potential and the internet can’t keep the Iowa wind from blowing and chilling your bones.
Part 3. Wings of Passion
The plane ride was miserable. First, you have to drive to Dubuque, catch the shuttle to Des Moines, and then onward to Minneapolis. Minneapolis is where everyone from the Midwest goes flying out of the Midwest.
Part 4. The Lapping Waves of Passion
The budget resort, which looked promising in the online brochures, looked more like the Travel Lodge on I-80 than a Caribbean getaway. Anyway, the single vending machine was broken, and room service, while available and plentiful, didn’t provide food.
You can find two of my stories published in the following Anthologies.
Snapshots is the 2023 Anthology of the
Military Writers Society of America
Ripples is the 2024 Anthology of Lionheart Publishing Group.
My short story, The Passion was included.