This is the final part of this serial short story, which doesn’t have an overall title yet, but I’ll come up with it when I post the whole tale in one take in a day or so. The first five episodes, in order, were “Different Goals,” “A Taste for Mischief,” “All Fall Down,” “A …
Tag: Monte Dutton
Nothing Witty About Regaining Wits
This is the fifth episode of my short story about culture shock on Homecoming Day at a private college in the South. The first four episodes were, in order, "Different Goals, "A Taste for Mischief," "All Fall Down," and "A Stroke of Smoke." “Well,” Charles Dough reported, “I finally got Christian to answer one of …
Various Absurdities of the Televised Sporting Life
Between episodes of an irreverent short story, I’ve decided today to write about sports in this space, rationalizing it on the basis that what will be written forthwith is fictitious and exaggerated. ORCHESTRAL INTRO “Live from Grand Canyon Arena in Teaneck, New Jersey, it’s the finals of the Rust Belt Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament, matching …
Continue reading Various Absurdities of the Televised Sporting Life
Different Goals
This short story is about a cultural conflict at a fictional college on Homecoming. Here’s the first episode. Jonathan Elbert McCutcheon was a direct descendant of the founder of Calliham College, his great-great-great grandfather Estes Calliham, who had also been a lieutenant governor and signed the Articles of Secession that briefly separated the South from …
The Writing Sanctions
I have to protect myself. From myself. The world provides too many things to do. It’s too easy to while away a day dragging a finger across an iPhone screen on a Twitter scroll. It’s too easy to wonder what made that dog seem so happy, or that cheeseburger so succulent, on Facebook. Plus, too …
Drudgery for a While
I’m between stories right now. I just spent a couple weeks or so on a short story, “The Bright Lights Burn,” that wound up being about 16,000 words. It takes up the story of Riley Mansfield, the likable rogue who was the main character in my first novel, The Audacity of Dope, six and a …
Completely Unawares
This is the seventh and final episode of a short story about Riley Mansfield, the hero of my first novel, The Audacity of Dope. This story is set in the present, nearly seven years after the events of the novel. The first six parts were, in order, “Seven Years If It’s a Day,” “Like Old …
A False Sense of Security
This is the sixth episode of this short story about the character, Riley Mansfield, I created for my first novel, The Audacity of Dope. The first five, in order, were "Seven Years If It's a Day," "Like Old Times," "High in La-La Land," "Far, Far Away," and "Melissa, Under Water." Riley Mansfield had no sixth …
Melissa, Under Water
This is the fifth part of a short story which takes up the story of Riley Mansfield, seven years after the events described in my first novel, The Audacity of Dope. In order, the first four episodes are entitled, “Seven Years If It’s a Day,” “Like Old Times,” “High in La-La Land,” and “Far, Far …
Far, Far Away
In response to some small demand, I took up the story of Riley Mansfield, the main character in my first novel, The Audacity of Dope. The first three episodes, in order, were “Seven Years If It’s a Day,” “Like Old Times,” and “High in La-La Land.” This is the fourth episode. Some adjustments had …
Nightrider's Lament 