Wednesday, October 31, 2018

(this is the post where my story And The Walls Came Down was originally published; look for it April 2020 in M. K. Dreysen - Collected Volume 2, coming soon to retailers near you.)
And so it comes time for the clock to chime, and the turnover to begin. I'll close out my Halloween season treats with this one: And the Walls Came Down. A little ghost story, just for you and me, dear reader, here just before midnight on Halloween...

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

(this is the post where my story Something Something Something What? was originally published; look for it April 2020 in M. K. Dreysen - Collected Volume 2, coming soon to a retailer near you.)
Here on the night before, a tale for all my lovely Radishes...

Saturday, October 27, 2018

(this is the post where my story Betcha Didn't Think was originally published; look for it April 2020 in M. K. Dreysen - Collected Volume 2, coming soon to a retailer near you.)
I told you that story, so I could tell you this one. Betcha Didn't Think, another tale of Gina's hunters.

As I mentioned, this one surprised me, in how soon I needed to learn a bit more of Gina, and the world she works in.

Friday, October 26, 2018

(this is the post where my story Doing the Necessary was first published; look for it April 2020 in M. K. Dreysen - Collected Volume 2, coming soon to a retailer near you.)

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

(this was the post where my story Shine On was first published; look for it April 2020 in M. K. Dreysen - Collected Volume 2, coming soon to a retailer near you.)
So, in order to tell one story, it seems I need to first tell another. This first one, Shine On, I finished a few weeks ago. It's a story of what happens when you kick over a rock.

As you'll see in a couple days, I revisited this time and place. A little sooner than I expected.

Thursday, October 18, 2018

(this was the post where my story A Dusty Little Planet was first published; look for it April 2020 in M. K. Dreysen - Collected Volume 2, coming soon to retailers near you.)
This next story's another one that fits into the time of year, if you glance sideways. This one's called A Dusty Little Planet, and it's about what happens when you can't quite get out of your own way...

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

(this was the post where my story A Space To Be was originally published; look for it April 2020 in M. K. Dreysen - Collected Volume 2, coming soon to retailers near you.)
So this next story isn't much of a Halloween story.

Well, except in the spirit of certain kinds of the Twilight Zone, or Alfred Hitchcock Presents. There in that magic space where those who deserve it, and are patient, can be seen to occasionally get their proper revenge...

Friday, October 12, 2018

(this was originally where my story Truth Through the Viewfinder was posted; look for it to come out April 2020 in M. K. Dreysen - Collected Volume 2, along with several others.)
Another Halloween lead-in story coming right up. This one's short and, well, not sweet if I follow the implications...

Friday, October 5, 2018

So apparently I'm on stories leading up to Halloween, or something like that. This is another one hot off the presses.

It's called "Go For a Spin", finished this morning, presented for your reading pleasure.

Thursday, October 4, 2018

No moon only sun. It's supposed to be harvest time, frost on the grass, and yet here we are. I can almost hear the grass growing out there. Weeks of rain, and now a break, two days of sun and the green lives reach one last time for the sky. One may hope. The lawn could use something resembling a bonus run at it, get set ahead of the winter and lay out a carpet of growth, a thicket to protect against the bad years yet to come.

The world spins only locally for us, me, and that's good. School year and marching band, homework too much of it and always something else to do at the band hall. Every weekend a game and then a competition. Get a few hours of nothing to do but veg, and then start it all over again. At this point my daughter's caught between enjoying the tension of it, she'd smack me for saying that, and then by this point in the week just ready to throw her hands up and crawl into her bedroom with a book and not look at anyone for a month.

I remember those days well. It's easy to sympathize, even as I'm working to make sure she's sticking to the homework. Her class load, oy, her teachers this year have apparently decided en masse that they are the ones to let the kids know, hey, this is the real thing, time to dig and find out what working for a living means.

One of her teachers in the long ago told her, "Work smart, not hard". Always a wonderful sentiment, right? Especially for a smart kid. Problem being, that can make that same smart kid careen off into a rut. The one where they decide that they never have to work hard.

I was like that, so's our daughter. Poor kid. She's hit the first indication that there are many, many things in this life where working hard is working smart. And oh buddy is this that year for her.

Mine own? Oh yeah I hit that wall. Took a year off to go to junior college and get my head on straight. Wandered around the country doing odd jobs for a while, came back and got a retail job, took a bus load of credits at the junior college that transferred back to the big school nicely, when I was back into the fold.

It sounds easy now. Maybe if I'm lucky my own experience can help my daughter's path be a little smoother. Not a lot, that's never how it works, just a little.

And then when she hits the really rough patches, maybe she'll be ready for them. One hopes.