With hundreds of police officers lining the street across from the cemetery on one side, and 3,000 Hells Angels attending a funeral and a shooting at the same service inside the cemetery, the resulting traffic jam between the two sides made for an interesting Saturday afternoon on October 15, 2011.This essay IS NOT an account of the funeral for Jeffrey "Jethro" Pettigrew and the subsequent shooting that took place inside the cemetery. This is about what happened outside the cemeter...

On the last day of summer before their junior year in high school, two boys finish blasting illegal fireworks inside a deep bomb hole in the front yard. That annoys the lady across the street like nothing else. When a police cruiser does a slow crawl down the street, they sit on top of the bomb hole and grin like idiots while the lit fuse works its way to the final big explosion.An original 2,050-word short story ebook.

A bored intern at the U.S. Department of State mail room takes home mis-routed diplomatic letters to steam off the colorful stamps for her collection, starting a war with an obscure island nation of Nowhere in the South Pacific during the 2008 presidential election.An original 5,560-word short story ebook.

As three veteran spymasters discuss the future of a senior spymaster running late for his own surprise birthday party, the uninvited spook across the street listens in and disagrees with every word they say.This 1,000-word short story was first published in The Storyteller (July/August/September 2008).

Have you ever wondered how far a grandmother would go to get the hottest Christmas toy for her baby granddaughter? I never did until I witnessed how desperate my mother was to get a Cabbage Patch doll in the early 1980's. A fist-punching brawl between mothers and grandmothers at Toy "R" Us that forever changed my childhood.A shorter version of this 950-word essay was first published in Soft Whispers Magazine (November 2009).

As their respective dates wander off for refreshments and then the dance floor, George, a low-level C.I.A. analyst from San Francisco, and Gracie, a medieval history student at Stanford University, compare notes on why their dates conspired against church rules to see each other at a wedding reception in the manure capital of California.An original 1,700-word short story ebook.

With 15 minutes left on the clock until the county courthouse closes for the weekend, Leticia was all alone at the front desk, deep into a bodice-ripper paperback and hoping that no one walks in at the last minute. As fate would have it, an old man walks through the door wanting to pay his tax bill. In pennies. After trying to convince him not to pay in pennies, he gives the place a good look over and promises to come back. She locks the door after him, ready to go home. Or so she thought....

After Cumulus Media switched KGO Radio (810AM) from an all talk format to an all news format in December 2011, laying off the best radio talent in the San Francisco Bay Area and throwing away 40 years of broadcasting history in a desperate bid to improve ratings, the lost of familiar voices over the airwaves was heartbreaking.An original 3,660-word essay being published for the first time."When popular radio stations change formats, no matter what city in the USA, that's a ...

A minister and her unemployed driver argue about the spiritual consequences of driving in the fast lane to get to a church meeting in San Francisco on time while running late in rush hour traffic in Silicon Valley.A shorter version of this 2,340-word short story was first published on Fictionaut (October 2012).

After a retired U.S. Marine sergeant evicts a group of pot-smoking, beer-drinking and promiscuous teenagers from the back stairs of his apartment building, they return that night for cold revenge and dump his dying body inside a shopping cart into the dumpster. His fighting spirit refuses to rest and takes possession of the shopping cart to hunt them down. Their worse nightmare is an enemy that hides in plain sight.An original 9,000-word short story ebook.

After Alejandro the waiter performs a new magic trick that humiliates him in front of the whole kitchen, Johnny the pot washer comes up with a new magic trick of his own to serve up a cold dish of revenge.An original 2,190-word short story ebook.

Claudia and her three guy friends get more than they bargain for when they pick up the mysterious girl in white hitchhiking on the I-5 in Southern California. Their late night road trip to Mexico takes an unexpected detour when their new friend taunts them about vampires being evolutionary dead enders. With fangs bared in the glare of the headlights, a deadly secret is revealed in a battle royal of the sexes.This 4,975-word short story was first published in Fem-Fangs anthology (Pi...