Stir Fry
It’s just stir fry. How hard can it be? Fry Chicken Add Veggies Stir But about the chicken. How do you know it’s done? On sight? Or by taste? And about the veggies. How do you chop them? In bite size pieces? With which knife? And the stirring. HowContinue Reading
Rusty Apple Toddy
Graham Knox was coming off four days of roughing it in the back country when he walked into the Knapp County Christmas Eve party at The Blue Collar. He didn’t feel much like socializing. What he wanted was a meal, shower, and a good night’s sleep on the floor ofContinue Reading
Epitaph
Nights like this, when autumn’s stained-glass skies blow jagged kisses, death comes sweet as candy and cruel as coincidence. A gun in hand is a promise, like a left hook or an engagement ring. I am that promise, sworn to maintain order, defend members, protect the club. This ‘sergeant-at-arms’ patchContinue Reading
Noodle House
The Phoenix Noodle House was a fixture in the Fog City neighborhood. Its menu was billed as ‘the most authentic Asian food this side of the Golden Gate’. Tourists came for the food. Locals came for the food and the patio. Patio was a polite term for the twenty-by-twenty patchworkContinue Reading
the Marine Chick
Noa Garza hesitated on the sidewalk. Coming to Fog City without an invitation had been impulsive. A twenty-something in a bright yellow dress walked past, opened the coffee shop door, and nodded to her. “Insider tip: the fog makes your clothes damp. Come inside, get a latte, and warm up.”Continue Reading
Berlin Static
Socialite Bunny Barlow was everything the media promised: beautiful, charismatic, and fashionable. But she was also bright, practical, and resourceful. So when her husband, Fortune 500 bad boy Jim Barlow, dropped off the radar while she was vacationing alone in Germany, she reached out to the only enterprise she trustedContinue Reading
Friday Flat
Robin Wildman was having a hell of a Friday night. The hearse got a flat and the rest stop she’d managed to coast into didn’t have cell reception. After an hour of sitting alone in the dark and the rain, she got out, rummaged around the area, turned up aContinue Reading
Fairy Tales
“Just between us,” Rosa said, kicking off his shoes, “I never put much stock in fairy tales.” Evan stood at the water’s edge, still fully dressed. “Why’s that?” “Take Cinderella. Girl’s sweet as shit but she can’t get herself sold without a new pair of stilettos. That kinda bullshit’s beenContinue Reading
Dinner Is Served … Or Not
Ten paces away, a buck tests the wind at the creek’s edge. Its antlers are a heavy crown and its legs are as fluid as the water. Brash can take the shot now, have the animal skinned and on the spit for dinner before sunset. But he waits, takes joyContinue Reading