The Monroe Arms

It's been a long time coming, but I've fallen super behind posting on this list of publications. Published on April 1st, my story "The Monroe Arms" is in Menacing Hedge! This piece is the longest work I've had published to date, as well as what I feel is the most traditional short story. I'm really proud of this one, even if I'm sick of looking at it after editing it for so long.

I modeled the dog after Bowie, pictured below, which is my friend Jessica's dog. She's a sweetheart. I got the idea for the story from a combination of a story my uncle told me about his post-man days, and something I read in the newspaper.

Read The Monroe Arms by clicking here!

Here's an excerpt:
As he approached the den he felt like he was entering a bunker, entering the earth. There on the recliner was Will Taylor, missing a hand. There on the television set was James Cagney, smiling in the shadows. There on the floor lay an untidy pile of white bones gnawed to stubs and surrounded by wine-red streaks painted on the wooden floor, leaving an imprint that made Tommy think of tongues. There were no puddles. Fragments of bone and stringy sinews hung in clots from the flannel shirtsleeve like corpses hanging from trees that he used to see pictures of at St. Mary of the Angels. He was glad the flannel was red.