Life is conflict. While we think we know how we’d act as we watch someone else in a dispute, when it’s us we may not be quite so sure.
Shade Tree Diplomacy
Category: Short Stories
The Benefit of a Bad Beginning
A bad start in life gives the good things that finally come a rare preciousness.
Our Matchmaker was an Autonomous Car
Unlikely lovers confront technology leading to unexpected consequences within the “City by the Bay.”
Fortuna on Holiday
Lana fears the odds are against pulling off one more criminal caper. The brash Tito seductively convinces her that she’s being superstitious.
George Turns Back
George cannot remove his costume after a party. His actions cancel the future.
Too Soon
A young woman in a small town, has experienced the loss of her boyfriend and is uncertain as to what she has left to live for.
Small Big Picture
Head of a refugee camp can’t understand a woman who refuses to share a tent with a man who looks like the man who shot her husband.
Raging Rails and Campfire Tales
Mysterious artifacts are found inside a Mojave desert construction site leading to unexpected reunions for a contractor and his wife.
An Inconvenient Truth
A mother’s reaction to her daughter’s unplanned pregnancy.
ar·chi·tec·ture
A timely twisted tale where the past becomes the future for an architect, a devil, and Shakespeare riding beams of light.
Wretch
A story of a son looking for redemption after committing a grievous mistake years ago.
Jack in the Box
Do we ever really know our parents, or do we only think we do? Can an adult have a “coming of age” experience?
April’s Foul Day
This is a short story on grief and loss.
Oh Lucky One
Welcome to the aftermath – Our hero from last June’s ‘Minor Marvel’ in Literary Heist is back.
The Carny Contessa
A successful Hollywood writer, meets an unconventional protagonist and writes a new “chapter” for his career.
Oh Bobby, Why Didn’t You Look?
The accidental death of a child and the impact upon his family and his father’s lover.