Short Fiction

You don't become a handsome science fiction novelist overnight; it takes years of tireless work and AI-enhanced profile photos.

Though I tend to talk more about my longer books, I still have a soft spot in my heart for the shorter pieces that got me here. And because the average visitor to this site may not know what Flashes from the ’Verse means, here’s a quick explainer of the short fiction available on this page.

Short Stories

This is where I got my start—banging out blog posts with drifting narratives that eventually turned into two short-story collections, The Sum of Memory (2004) and Destination Okinawa (2006). I’ve uploaded almost every finished story I’ve ever written. These pieces don’t get a lot of traffic, but for the hardcore fans, they offer a glimpse into the early foundations of the Vinestead Universe.

Flashes From the 'Verse

Every novel begins as a little piece of scratch writing, but not all scratch turns into something bigger. Between books, I end up with a growing catalog of experimental scenes—some connected to the Vinestead Universe, some not—that don’t quite rise to the level of full stories. I share these as tiny glimpses (flashes) into characters, worlds, and ideas. They’re unedited, unrevised, and probably unsuitable for human consumption, but I assume there’s one dedicated reader out there who wants to peek behind the curtain.