This (and all of the posts in this series will be a repost from my Facebook and Instagram posting series).
So, if you've already seen these, feel free to bypass.
Below you'll find all of the social media posts about the Albatross and my inspiration for the stories.
If you want to pick up a copy, you can find it on Bookshop or by searching for it on Amazon.
Down From the Mountain and One Mile Home will be featured in my post about my current collection One Snowy Night.
The Albatross
“Where do your stories come from?”
Continuing this post series- If going by my works chronologically, next up is my collection The Albatross and Other Tales.
Instead of covering the entire collection, I think I'll share the background/inspiration for each story individually.
That means we start with the framing story- The Albatross. This story has a college student protagonist riding MARTA out of downtown Atlanta after classes downtown. He is confronted by a man with a magical book and a harrowing warning about the power of stories. The main character is based on me. I started this story in 2003 one night when I was riding the subway out of the city.
I was alone in my train car and the idea started to take place in my head. I didn't know where to take it or how it would end until 2019 when I was wrapping up this collection and it fit right in. Providing the framing for the other stories in the collection.
Which, I am I sucker for short story collections that have framing stories. I did the same in my upcoming collection One Snowy Night, and I'm planning the same for a collection I'm working on called Echotide.
Next time I do one of these, I'll talk about the next story in the collection- The Loneliest Highway.
If this sounds like something you'd like to read, you can find it at Quiet City Books in Lewiston, at Bookshop.org/shop/QuietCityBooks, or from Amazon.
The Long Summer
“Where do your stories come from?”
Getting back into this weekly (not weekly) posting series, I get to talk about The Long Summer featured in The Albatross.
Which brings us back to my first short story collection, The Albatross.
This story was originally part of a Summer collection of stories published by Wolfsinger Publications.
This story began as a kennel of an idea (as most of mine do). I was wondering what would be a scientific explanation for the extreme seasonal shifts in worlds like Westeros. And a planet in a stable orbit in a binary system would be a plausible explanation.
I did a lot of digging into what the climate and weather patterns would be like in a stable binary system and imagined the kind of world and society that would entail.
The Long Summer takes place during this planet’s long period of heat. Nessa, a bounty hunter, is hired to track a patrician into the heat if the Waste. The worldbuilding I did for this story also springboards into a novel/series I'm working on that is set on this planet.
If this sounds intriguing to you, you can find it in The Albatross and Other Tales.
The Loneliest Highway
“Where do your stories come from?”
Continuing this post series- Today I get to talk about The Loneliest Highway. The second story in my collection The Albatross.
This began life as a short film script.
I was trying to capture the essence of a classic Twilight Zone or Outer Limits episode.
I still dream of maybe one day seeing this story produced as an episode on an anthology horror series, for now I'm content with sharing it in my collection.
The story follows three thieves fleeing down Nevada’s US Route 50 (aka The Loneliest Highway) after a big heist. As they travel down the road, they discover something sinister about their score.
This story was originally featured in the Den of Thieves anthology published by Wolfsinger Publishing, but can be currently found in my collection The Albatross.
You can find it at Quiet City Books in Lewiston, on Bookshop at Bookshop.org/shop/QuietCityBooks, or by searching for me on Amazon.
If you happen to pick this up to read it or you've already read it, stop by Amazon and drop me a review.
Hope you enjoy.
Puppets
“Where do your stories come from?”
Continuing this post series- Today I get to talk about Puppets, the third story in my Albatross collection.
This story began life as a writing prompt for a writers’ group I was a part of. The prompt was to write a story about addiction. That was the only guideline.
I'm never one to be straightforward with interpreting prompts, so this story isn't exactly addiction in the simplest terms. I don't want to give away too much, but this is in the first paragraph: the main character, Jason, is struggling in with an addiction to mind control and must confront his actions as he sits with a therapist.
This story is one of the stories I've gotten the most “Are you okay?” feedback from friends who read my stuff.
If this intrigues you, it can be found in my collection The Albatross.
You can find it at Quiet City Books i
n Lewiston, on Bookshop or by searching for me on Amazon.
If you happen to pick this up to read it or you've already read it, stop by Amazon and drop me a review.
Hope you enjoy.
The Mask Maker
“Where do your stories come from?”
Welcome back to my weekly (not weekly) posting series, in which I tell you folks where my stories come from.
Last time I chatted about my short story, The Long Summer, featured in my first collection, The Albatross.
This story was originally part of a Fall themed collection of stories published by Wolfsinger Publications.
This story began as a bedtime story to my kid when she was seven or eight…
She wanted me to tell her a story one night at bedtime, so I started crafting a tale about a Maine town nestled along the Androscoggin River. I had to pivot the story I was telling her because without realizing it, I started to drift it into horror territory.
That night, I started building out the story and the setting and before long, Raven's Bend was born.
As I wrote more and more about the small Mask shop on the main drag of The Bend (as the locals call it), the town came alive to me. It felt like a nice home for my stories. This story, set in Donovan's Marvelous Masks on Halloween night in Raven's Bend is one of my favorite stories I've written. Not just because the story itself is one of my favorites, but because while writing it, I discovered The Bend.
If this sounds intriguing to you, you can find it in The Albatross and Other Tales.
If you want to read more about Raven's Bend, you can pre-order One Snowy Night.
Static
“Where do your stories come from?”
Welcome back to my weekly posting series, in which I tell you folks where my stories come from.
Last time I chatted about my short story, The Mask Maker. Continuing in my Albatross Collection, I get to tell you about Static.
This story was originally my round 1 submission to the 2019 NYC Midnight Short Story Collection.
My prompt for this story was- Sci-fi, A bachelor, and a trophy hunter.
Static is built upon those elements loosely. The story takes place in a virtual reality nightclub focusing on a date between Nathan and Charlene.
This was so much fun to explore this environment and craft technology and slang to fit the setting
If this sounds intriguing to you, you can find it in The Albatross and Other Tales.
The Legend of Aien Thornblood
Where do your stories come from?”
Welcome back to my (as of last week) twice weekly posting series, in which I tell you folks where my stories come from.
Last time I chatted about my short story, Static. With today's post, we are rounding out my Albatross Collection with the last story that comes before the except of To Tread the Narrow Path and the final framing story.
This story was originally my round 2 submission to the 2019 NYC Midnight Short Story Collection.
My prompt for this story was- a utopia, a park ranger, and a fairy tale.
Using those elements, I wove together a story written as a tale being told from a storyteller to a group of children. The elf, Aien Thornblood, was the sole ranger in charge of protecting the power source for his world’s magic providing them with a utopia. When two other elves break into the protected lands, Aien must hunt them to protect the utopia
This story was interesting to write, as it is bookended as if it's being told around a fire and written in such a way that it mimics the morality tale lessons of classic Fairy Tales.
That brings us to the end of this collection. Be on the lookout for other posts in this series as I explore other writings of mine in this way.
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