This is a select list of stories. Some of them have been published while others have inspired longer works or bear significance in some other way. See my CV for a complete list of publications.
Literary & Magical Realism
“Carlos, a Dying Dream” is a surreal story that will soon be sent out to journals.
“The Cat Burglar” was a finalist in the NCSU James Hurst fiction contest.
“The Crash” was originally published in The Broadkill Review.
“Inferno” first appeared in Scrutiny, a journal I founded in 2014.
“Invention” is a magical realism piece that was published in Quail Bell Magazine.
“Jellyfish” helped to inspire a novel, The Sea Horse.
“Swallowed” was published in Circa Review in 2013 and became In the Belly.
“The Gore” is about a descendent of the Minotaur. It was written in 2011.
“The Swimmer” is about young love, and a bit of a mood piece.
“The Ballad of James and Angie” is not romantic, but it is alt-country.
“The Last Days of My Life as Brought About by an African Spider Bite” is a short story with a very long title.
“Scarecrow” is strange, surreal, Southern Gothic story from 2013.
“A Short Flight” is about family, mistakes, and it’s set at Christmastime.
“Worm” is a piece of flash about the importance of crawling through dirt.
Sci-fi & Adventure
“The Pharmacon” appeared in Bewildering Stories and became a short film.
“The Gash” was published in Map Literary and was inspired by the Iraq war.
“Defrag” became the framework for a series I pitched to Hidden Key.
“Capsule Berserker” is the seed from which grew the novel Only the Dead.
“The Last Emperor” led me to consider writing a modern version of The Island of Dr. Moreau.
“Dark Water” is a story about camping near raging water.
“Moonshot” is a piece of microfiction about a troublesome moon.
“Fiend Island” was my first and only attempt to write a pirate story.