Short Stories
Before novels were invented, people had to read short stories. Of course, then they were just called stories, as longer-format stories had not yet been invented. Some of the short stories below appeared in my first two books, The Sum of Memory and Destination Okinawa. The others, well, who knows where they came from, but they’re here now, so you might as well read them.
Also, it should go without saying that these stories were written a long time ago, before I had learned pretty much anything about pretty much anything. They are included here as a warning to future writers.
Unpublished
Silvan’s Demon
It was the lamp on the corner of the desk, thought Silvan; the lamp was the one casting weird shadows on the stained oak, making each of the little pills look like exclamation points on longer gashes, black scratches on the hardwood.
Daniel Verastiqui
Hurricane Lori
The thing I’ll remember most about Heather were her eyes. Her vacant, empty eyes. Staring at me like nothing in the world was wrong, like my questions were devoid of meaning and of answers. Hers was a face of impassivity and betrayal…
Daniel Verastiqui
Once a Convict
They could call it freedom if they wanted to, but the truth of the matter was that they wouldn’t be undoing Pony’s cuffs until he had made his way through the gauntlet of barbed fencing and razor wire to the last guard shack on the perimeter fence.
Daniel Verastiqui
The Litagent and Professor Kemp
Rain, for some reason, excited him. Perhaps it was the variance, the fact that no two storms were really alike. Sometimes it was a heavy downpour, other times nothing more than a light drizzle. The truth was that it operated randomly—a rarity in a world where control was the norm.
Daniel Verastiqui
R9 at Baker Lane (2008)
It was closing in on three in the morning and Jerry the Driver along with Billy the Tech were coming to the end of an uneventful but tiring twelve-hour shift.
Daniel Verastiqui
Well Digger (2008)
Charlie sat on a makeshift chair at the side of the well with his chin in his hands wondering what was going on down there. For several hours, he had not heard a single sound, nor had there been a tug on the rope indicating that a bucket of dirt was ready to be excavated.
Daniel Verastiqui
The Third Option (2007)
He had shifty eyes, that Dr. Hirsch. Shifty eyes and a smooth way of talking that made Paul see him as more of a salesman than a medicine man. If it weren’t for the one diploma hanging conspicuously behind him, his office would have been indistinguishable from a marketing intern’s cubicle.
Daniel Verastiqui
No Rewrites (2007)
“Everything is a damn challenge.” I was trying to break the moment of awkward silence in the elevator, but I realized just after saying it that it might not have been appropriate to curse in front of a complete stranger.
Daniel Verastiqui
Nixle Recursion
Ten. Trapped, trapped, trapped. A circle within a circle within a sphere, rotating around the axis with no one the wiser, except me. A system of repeating algorithms, functions calling themselves with no end in sight, no observable delta in the arguments. It just keeps repeating, no bigger, no smaller,
Daniel Verastiqui
From Destination Okinawa (2006)
Ride the Red Bullet
Johnny woke up that morning and on the holy name of his mother, couldn’t find his car keys. He searched the apartment frantically, even going so far as to check behind the filter in the air conditioner. They weren’t there.
Daniel Verastiqui
Flying Car (2006)
Andrew sat outside the sanitation building in the cold December morning for fifteen minutes, rubbing his hands together and wondering whether it was too early for him to go inside. He didn’t officially start work until six; that’s what it said on his contract. It was his first
Daniel Verastiqui
- The Hair Fairy
Cassie 3.0
What Franco realized in the twenty minutes that he spent staring at the drapes of his bedroom window was that somehow it had just passed eight in the evening and he was without anything to do. Not one thing. The house was a mess, but that was to be expected.
Daniel Verastiqui
- All by One
- Grasshopper
- In the Hearts of Men
- Blood Money
- Scotty Peanut
- Going Back
- Where They Cannot Follow
Flight
Frankie wanted to fly, wanted to fly so badly that he could taste it. It was the only thing he wanted to do. He thought about it all the time; during class when he was supposed to be paying attention, during dinner when he was supposed to be eating, and
Daniel Verastiqui
- Slow Burn
- Money Tree
- Holloway
- Destination Okinawa
From The Sum of Memory (2004)
Parlance
SHE WAS SITTING IN HER FAVORITE CHAIR, holding a Corona in her hand, when she looked over at me and with all the seriousness in the world, said in a low voice, “I am eternity.” I found this odd because normally she wasn’t given to such profound statements. As
Daniel Verastiqui
Mosey General
THERE IS A STORE in Thurber, Maine, by the name of Mosey General. It is on the corner of Crane and Gilman, across the street from a barbershop and post office. The store occupies the lower floor of an old two-story building. From the street, you can see an old
Daniel Verastiqui
- Chelubai
- Midnight Playground
- Third Period
- Moonlight
- Mateo X
- Dreamlover
- Marinero
- Listen
Case 442
Running, running, running, circles in a dark room. Carpet worn in rectangular circle where the girl of fifteen has been running running running all night and all day for a week now. Mumbling to herself in the darkness, I hear her from behind the safety of the mirror-window, dimmed now
Daniel Verastiqui
- Reflections
- Ten Thousand Hits
- Spark
- Code
- Timeless
- The New Kid
- Shadow Beach
- The Sum of Memory