My fiction style has been alternately described as “hazy”, “dreamlike”, “wonderful”, and “magical”.
I suppose I can’t argue with those descriptors. I tend to write about absurdly funny, ridiculous, and fantastical circumstances that have a touch of the supernatural, but also a solid emotional grounding and a focus on character. These are stories about people, people experiencing great turmoil, facing frightening change, or otherwise longing for something more in their lives. Liminal stories, in liminal spaces.
“I knew Carter Reid . . .”
A story of humor, wonder, and absurdity, “Jamesy’s and the Jack of Rock” follows Douglas, a less-than-genius busboy in a small-town restaurant, and the unlikely friendship he strikes up with Carter Reid, a famous rock star who longs for spiritual connection in his life.
“Red was the scent of memory . . .”
“Three Hours to the End of October” tells the story of Aron, a boy on the eve of his thirteenth birthday reminiscing on his childhood as he walks through Hidden Rivers, the town his family recently moved to.
“He took a sip of the Fog. The Miata had spit out white mist the day it broke down, like some lazy pothead grinning smoke.”
“Life is Strange” is one of my earliest stories and holds a special place in my heart, even though I’ve grown so much as a writer in the days since I wrote it. It follows Hedge, a college student on an odyssey home, and all the absurdities and difficulties he encounters along the way. This story was really the first indicator of what would develop to be my writing style: vague, funny, and absurd. But for all the bells and whistles, for all the ridiculous circumstances and characters, for all the fact that the world might be ending in the background, this is really a story about cancer.
“That is the way of things. Fathers go to war to protect their sons. Sons go to war to live up to their fathers.”
“Swift Left Hook” follows two characters on different sides of my invented little town of Hidden Rivers. Red Lewis is the town sheriff, and is investigating a series of animal maulings that have left a string of victims behind, while on the other side of town, Sarah, a high school student and boxer, is preparing herself for a mission of revenge.
“Grandpa Allman had come back from worse, and Peter didn’t think fire could kill either one of them any longer.”
“Plus Ultra” is a fun story. I think every once in a while a writer has to write a piece just for the sake of the idea. But there are also etchings of truth in this story. To me, in many ways it’s a story about electricity, life, the flame that flickers inside people–and what happens when that flame begins to diminish.
Mike's Writing Portfolio 