English Books

I had completely forgotton about writing a short story for Structo magazine, an English periodical, until my contributor copy arrived in the mail.  As one of 3-4 U.S. writers in this issue (the others being British, Irish or Scandanavian, including one poet translating from Icelandic to Shetlandic) I wrote perhaps the most "American" of stories:  an organized crime tale about a truck driver who works for a mysterious Miami syndicate. 

But thanks, Euan and Keir, for including me in this issue and for publishing an artistic and well-conceived magazine of fiction and poetry.

Every time I see another of my stories in print I get the bug to begin collecting the lot into a book.

Excluding science fiction and literary works, I now have enough published mystery/crime stories to form a decent collection, I think.  Stories about:

A priest who believes he hears God's voice instructing him to kill . . .
A teenager waiting in the rain to rob a convenience store, but finds love instead . . .
A tale about a palm reader . . .
A college professor who writes dark secrets into his scholarly works . . .
A man who travels to Mexico to find a new drug that may save his wife . . .
A returning Vietnam vet who discovers that he cannot leave the war behind . . .
And others.

Until then, I'm grateful for my English editors.  They make me feel so international.  Even when I writing purely American tales.