The following short prose and novels are just a sampling of my work. I've written over a hundred short stories and personal essays, and have just begun submitting them for publication. As they see ink I will add them here. If you are curious and would like to see some of my recent work, drop me an e-mail and I'd be glad to share a few.

I am always interested in your thoughts. If you have comments send me an email.

| Novels | Short Prose |

Business

Before printing or copying any of the manuscripts presented below, please read my Rights Notice.

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Capacity and Resistance (Collection)

Personal essays and short stories based upon the first two decades of my life. This collection is still a work in progress.

• Loaded
  Posted: December 13, 2009 (3 pages; 37 KB)
• Capacity and Resistance
  Posted: December 13, 2009 (5 pages; 48 KB)
• Snow Patrol
  Posted: July 1, 2009 (3 pages; 41 KB) Published: Rockhurst Review, June 2009.
• Chocolate Frosted Layer Cake
  Posted: January 3, 2010 (3 pages; 42 KB)
• How I Became a Writer
  Posted: December 13, 2009 (2 pages; 38 KB)
• Open Windows
  Posted: January 3, 2010 (2 pages; 38 KB)
• Pickle Yard
  Posted: January 3, 2010 (3 pages; 40 KB)
• Firecrackers
  Posted: December 19, 2009 (4 pages; 43 KB)
• Street Sledding
  Posted: January 9, 2010 (4 pages; 44 KB)
• French Kissing
  Posted: December 19, 2009 (4 pages; 44 KB)
• Jackalope
  Posted: December 19, 2009 (14 pages; 81 KB)
• Daemonelix
  Posted: January 8, 2010 (8 pages; 69 KB)
• Plastic Flowers
  Posted: December 19, 2009 (10 pages; 73 KB)
• Graduation
  Posted: December 19, 2009 (11 pages; 74 KB)
• Consequences
  Posted: January 8, 2010 (2 pages; 38 KB)
• Reflections Upon Frosted Glass
  Posted: December 19, 2009 (4 pages; 47 KB)
• Of Mud Pits and Grease Guns
  Posted: December 19, 2009 (18 pages; 97 KB)
• Outsiders
  Posted: December 19, 2009 (9 pages; 62 KB)
• Warm Brew
  Posted: January 8, 2010 (8 pages; 61 KB)
• Chocolate Frosting
  Posted: January 3, 2010 (3 pages; 43 KB)
• Family Religion
  Posted: December 19, 2009 (26 pages; 133 KB)
• Bohemian Sausage
  Posted: December 28, 2009 (8 pages; 60 KB)

Crossing the Chasm (Collection)

Personal essays and short stories based upon my notes from visits to and journeys across the great chasm of the Grand Canyon. This collection is still a work in progress.

• Ancient Stratigraphies
  Posted: December 18, 2009 (20 pages; 106 KB)
• Preparation
  Posted: December 18, 2009 (6 pages; 54 KB)
• Competition on the Trail
  Posted: December 18, 2009 (5 pages; 50 KB)
• Kids in The Canyon
  Posted: December 18, 2009 (3 pages; 41 KB)

Misc. Etc. (Collection)

Short stories and personal essays that so far don't fit with any specific collection of my work. This work in progress isn't intended to be a cohesive unit, but rather as sampling of a wide range of topics and experiments in style and genre.

• A Conversation With the Old Man
  Posted: December 13, 2009 (5 pages; 50 KB)
• A Mile From Nothing
  Posted: December 20, 2009 (5 pages; 48 KB)
• An Island in the Sea of Tahoe
  Posted: December 20, 2009 (11 pages; 76 KB)
• Commendation
  Posted: December 13, 2009 (3 pages; 40 KB)
• Criminal Rage
  Posted: December 20, 2009 (4 pages; 43 KB)
• Desert Exposure
  Posted: December 20, 2009 (10 pages; 69 KB)
• Evelyn!
  Posted: December 13, 2009 (2 pages; 34 KB)
• First Base at Fort Morgan
  Posted: December 20, 2009 (8 pages; 57 KB)
• How to Shoot a Rubber Band
  Posted: December 13, 2009 (2 pages; 30 KB)
• Nut
  Posted: December 20, 2009 (1 page; 27 KB)
• Ulrike Remembers
  Posted: December 13, 2009 (10 pages; 65 KB)
• The Map is Not the Territory
  Posted: December 20, 2009 (12 Pages; 75 KB)

Nevada (Collection)

Odds 'n' ends pieces written during my years working and living in Nevada, mostly focusing on mining and nature.

• A Prospector's View
  Posted: December 26, 2009 (1 page; 31 KB)
• Boomers
  Posted: December 26, 2009 (1 page; 26 KB)
• Ely is Not the End of the World (But You Can See it From There)
  Posted: December 26, 2009 (2 pages; 41 KB)
• Estwing 101
  Posted: December 26, 2009 (2 pages; 34 KB)
• Mount Moriah
  Posted: December 26, 2009 ( 3 pages; 38 KB)
• New Mown Hay
  Posted: December 27, 2009 (1 page; 27 KB)
• Open Spaces
  Posted: December 26, 2009 (1 page; 25 KB)
• The Mystery of The Table Below Moriah
  Posted: December 26, 2009 (2 pages; 39 KB)

Parker Street Trilogy (Collection)

This trio of stories was inspired by events in the 1970s witnessed along Parker Street, Anywhere, U.S.A.

• Across the Street
  Posted: December 20, 2009 (3 pages; 44 KB)
• From the Bottom
  Posted: December 20, 2009 (17 pages; 96 KB)
• No Further Comment
  Posted: December 20, 2009 (3 pages; 41 KB)

Unfolding: Meditations on a Space Blanket (Collection)

This group of personal essays are a reflection on the life of a single Space Blanket over the course of years.

• Introduction
  (Posted: January 10, 2010 (2 pages; 40 KB)
• Swish
  (Posted: January 10, 2010 (6 pages; 49 KB)
• Table Cliff Plateau
• Moore's Station
• Zion Canyon
• Down the Colorado
• A Rainy Championship
• Rock Glaciers
• The Main Corridor
• A Cold Night in Red Canyon
• On Looking Back

Wellen Chronicles (Collection)

This little trilogy of short stories revolves around the characters and situations at Wellen Laboratories, a small animal pharmaceutical company struggling for its place in the market in the early 1970s. These stories were written early in my carrier and are a bit stiff, awkward, and sometimes didactic and are not intended as higher quality examples of my work. They are just here for those who may be curious.

• Formaldehyde
  Posted: December 20, 2009 (13 pages; 79 KB)
• Quick Answers
  Posted: December 20, 2009 (2 pages; 40 KB)
• The Crib
  Posted: December 20, 2009 (15 pages; 87 KB)

Zen Warehousing (Collection)

This collection is still a work in progress. I have written several pieces for this collection, but they are not yet ready to share.

Odds 'N' Ends

These are pieces that just don't quite make it. Some are simply exercises, some are just for fun, others are early attempts at serious works that don't flow or have no depth or lack soul. Some just plain fail at what I was attempting to accomplish. But over the years some readers have found an image or character here and there that they've found appealing. For what they're worth, here are some odds 'n' ends.

• All American Boy
  Posted: December 26, 2009 (2 pages; 34 KB)
• A Lonely Hunter
  Posted: December 26, 2009 (2 pages; 34 KB)
• Ant Atoms
  Posted: December 26, 2009 (3 pages; 39 KB)
• Blasphemy
  Posted: December 26, 2009 (5 pages; 51 KB)
• Bring It With You When You Come
• Posted: December 26, 2009 (3 pages; 41 KB)
• Complicity
  Posted: December 26, 2009 (2 pages; 37 KB)
• Death Itself
  Posted: December 26, 2009 (13 pages; 85 KB)
• Deep Books in Cyberspace
  Posted: March 15, 2006 (2 pages; 39 KB) Published: In an online chat room, ~2000.
• Demuria
  Posted: December 27, 2009 (8 pages; 60 KB)
• Especially You and You. You Too. But Mostly You.
  Posted: December 27, 2009 (2 pages; 38 KB)
• Everything Man-Made
  Posted: December 27, 2009 (2 pages; 38 KB)
• For Immortal Porpoises
  Posted: March 20, 2006 (4 pages; 38 KB)
• Fundamental Patterns
  Posted: December 27, 2009 (5 pages; 50 KB)
• Nature of the Problem
  Posted: December 27, 2009 (10 pages; 71 KB)
• Nature's Blunder
  Posted: December 27, 2009 (9 pages; 65 KB)
• New Employment
  Posted: December 27, 2009 (2 pages; 39 KB)
• Observation
  Posted: December 27, 2009 (4 pages; 43 KB)
• Orgasm
  Posted: December 27, 2009 (2 pages; 33 KB)
• Placebo
  Posted: December 27, 2009 (3 pages; 42 KB)
• Rain Words
  Posted: December 27, 2009 (2 pages; 34 KB)
• Saturn
  Posted: December 27, 2009 (2 pages; 34 KB)
• Smooth Traffic
  Posted: December 27, 2009 (2 pages; 36 KB)
• The Astral Premonition Party of the May Sixth Tornado
  Posted: December 27, 2009 (3 pages; 47 KB)
• The Feel of a Book
  Posted: December 27, 2009 (2 pages; 36 KB)
• Third Wave Poetry
  Posted: December 26, 2009 (2 pages; 36 KB) Published: Orphic Lute, 1990.
• Thrice Did I Die
  Posted: December 27, 2009 (3 pages; 39 KB)
• Transmigration
  Posted: December 27, 2009 (6 pages; 54 KB)
• Wasping
  Posted: December 27, 2009 (2 pages; 33 KB)

The Hardrock Trilogy

This trilogy follows Chris Chapik through various adventures as he meets a range of characters mostly involved with some aspect of geology. This often humorous trio of novels explores three phases of hardrock geology, beginning with academic geological research along the high cliffs of the Aquarius Plateau, through exploration geology during the 1980s gold rush in Nevada and California, and ending with mining geology among the copper fields of southern Arizona. At present, only the first fifty pages of each novel is presented here, but soon the entire text of each novel will be available for you to download and enjoy.

• Aquarius Plateau
  First 50 pages (198 KB)
• Mobile Zoo Ghetto
  First 50 pages (202 KB)
• Ultimate Subsidence
  First 50 pages (203 KB)