My Books
VINSTORIES VOLUME 1
THE SERIOUS SILLINESS
OF THINGS
Even the Orchestra plays A story about a triangle player who is important not for his musician skills but his skills in taking the physical hurt away from his fellow orchestra members.
First Kill A recent high school dropout, Donovan Muglia, is given an opportunity to be an enforcer for a group of three would-be mobsters as he sits in a small neighborhood park, fuming.
Half-day fishing and flying death rays A fishing charter and its offbeat customers experience a real life monster up from the deep.
Two old guys and the war that wasn’t A ‘what if’ tale, supposing WWII never having happened because two of its would be main actors, Hitler and Mussolini, were both exiled in Switzerland before they could assume power. They are here enjoying a day in the park together, mixing chatter with wistful remembrances of what could have been.
The last of the Eggheads Humans go back to a foraging, naturalistic existence while a group of holdouts, the last remaining civilized, and, of course, superior brains, carry on against overwhelming odds, determined to not see humanity’s achievements trampled by the endless herds of cud-chewing humans.
Pamela Pureheart and the Past, Tense Story of a vampire therapist and the first therapy session of a troubled would be undead.
The stinky man who ruined everyone’s ride He’s a fisherman and smells worse than one and on an east bound LIRR train caught in a snowstorm, his odor exposing the train car’s riders as they are trapped in that car with him.
A Surprisingly Restful Campout First person account of someone uniquely mismatched to such activities and the unlikely happenstance he walks alone into by agreeing to accompany his brother.
The World According to Jawbone Inner city story of a character nicknamed Jawbone who is wise and probing in unlikely ways and the characters around a crime scene.
He and Me Two fellows, friends in delusional mode and rather nowhere in their lives, making the most of their superior intelligence to procure free meals in restaurants until someone nails their game.
Two crumbs on a windowsill Two older folks who share park get togethers as life detectives to strangers in their midst.
VINSTORIES VOLUME 2
All the Lovely Oddity
All things tiny A humorous Victorian era tale of an almost invisible ‘bug’ discovered by a man of science, who then seeks help from a female friend who is intensely interested in his lovely form rather than the bug’s. At every turn she is after him until, bug captured, he relents and is captured by her.
A Gobshite Whistles in the Wind Joe Dunns is the gobshite, the speaker of nonsense, very lonely, the object of interest or ridicule, mostly taking place in an Irish pub. His endless chatter is on display. At last, he comes to realize sometimes it’s best saying nothing.
Vanpirus Pathetique A vampire hires a local, himself an outcast, to come to his castle high on a short mountain, to sculpt for him. The man is lured to remain in the lovely cottage in the courtyard of the Vampire’s castle. Both are hardship cases who form a friendship and protector-protected relationship.
The dying don’t die fast enough A tale of rebirth of wishing death to be something else, something lovely that lives in the pond on a couple’s property. The lady lingers with a horrible malady, asks her husband to deliver her from her torment, giving him a set of instructions after she is gone.
Find a way home or get lost A humorous coming of age story about a man still lives with his mother at 42, meeting what appears to be 102 year old woman in a window of her house, who stops him from his aimless walk to given him a hard time, pushing him to change his nothing life.
It crawled under a rock to live flat Kind of a fable, an artist type sitting on a sidewalk corner hears a voice, can’t locate its source, is instructed where to go and complies. Once in a park, he learns the nature of the voice, a lowly animal which he then becomes. This lowly form actually serves a hugely important function and the main character changes as a result of his experience in this form.
An Unplanned series of happy misfortunes A dark, humorous tale. The main character wants to die, or thinks he does and finds himself in a series of situations where his desire may come to pass. Finally, he meets the right person who can help him do it.
An Improbable Request How to find a clueless figurehead for the presidency of an unnamed country via a door-to-door search. The main character fits the bill but is totally preoccupied with his dog, with his own goodies, basically everything but his new ‘job’. A satire.
On the Bayou, gators eat dogs Ne’er-do-well finds a new home in the swamplands, him and his Pitbull, and though a loner, finds friendship in the guise of a local who helps him and warns him about a dog-eating gator who just might swipe his dog. Humor and drama.
Hiding Junior With their horse drawn wagon, wayward lost children are ‘saved’, brought to the home of a boy and his father. The boy cares for them, or does he? The father seems clueless, or is he? The investigator at their door doesn’t get any answers, but in the end, we do, or do we?
Tell it to the boot boy Boot Boy shines the boots of gangsters in a mythical town built by and for gangsters to settle scores and maybe have a little fun as well. He is the center of this brutal world, a child who acts tough but is clearly in need of nurturing that comes from having a father and mother and a real home.
Floating down into a yard near you A kind of mystical tale of a parachutist from beyond helping a girl in a way that will set her up for a special future. All the action takes place in the girl’s yard. Job done, he leaves the same way, but in reverse. It is a tale of promise and magic that might just explain why some people become great.