About My Short Stories

I have often been amazed at the quality of creative content that you never read or hear about.  Original songs that singer song writers or bands have performed that I assumed were on the radio, but in fact never were released. 

In the area of short story publication, I believe that it is even more extreme.  Consider the old "pulp" magazines.  The number of authors that were paid very modest sums.  Sure, you hear about the ones that finally hit it big, but there are some great stories out there from relative unknowns. 

I had aspirations of being a writer.  In writing my short stories, I learned just how long it took to write a reasonably good 3000 to 5000 word story.  Novels were clearly out of reach as long as I had a day job.  And I wasn't about to quit my day job and seek fame and fortune trying to get a book I had written published.  Distant relatives did it.  But they had connections.  In the end, you need connections to get published.  Google micropublishing, or just publishing, and you will learn how difficult it is for writers that are established.

So, what to do?  Abandon it?  Do nothing?  That was pretty much the inspiration for Walking Ridge.  I believe that to a degree, just as in the time of DaVinci, commercial appeal is valid.  Put another way, is art good art if only the critics like it?  That makes little sense to me.  But the wheels of industry have become so big, that small bands and small books and writers get totally buried.  So what was needed was a small venue.  A micropublishing venue.  More important than the money was to see that the work was appreciated.  Money is certainly one way to show appreciation.  But for those of us with day jobs, that create because creating is living, it is more important to have a forum to share.

So I created the Java Lounge and put in a couple of the stories that I have written.  I hope it will inspire me to write more short stories.  I may not be a Hemingway, or a Westlake, but I enjoy the process and hope that others enjoy my stories.  The pulp fiction short stories were my inspiration.  Not many bells and whistles in a short story.  Keep it lean.  Set it up, tell the story.  Make it come alive with impact.  To be interesting, short stories must by their nature have a twist.  Some eclectic take.  I can at least hope to write short stories worth sharing and keep my day job.  Perhaps when I retire I will try to write a novel that no one will read.

Until then, read and enjoy.  This site is my way of micropublishing.  And if you have a short story that you would like to micropublish, contact me and we can add it to the site.