Today, this very day, I finalized the final draft of my new novel Stella Maris. This book is the sequel to my last novel What the Hell Ever Happened to Yuri Rozhenko? My mother Virginia Vernon was the one who taught me to read, who made me the best reader in first grade by a …
Forced Out – End of a Lifelong Era with the San Francisco Bay Area
All my life I have lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. Either Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco, and occasionally in a Contra Costa town when I was a child. On August 31st, 2021, that lifelong status will come to an end. I am putting virtually everything I own into a U-Haul moving van and driving …
Yes, I am a Conlanger! (Sort of…)
Yes, I am a conlanger! Sort of. For those who don’t know what a conlanger is, it’s someone who works on a constructed language. (AKA conlang for short.) You know, like Esparanto or Klingon! I started working on a constructed language when I created an alien race for some Star Trek fan fiction I was …
A Pair of Old Slippers
My soft and cushy indoor slippers were packed away. They were still like new. I put on my old outdoor slippers to carry out the last few boxes. My girlfriend had broken up with me seven months before. We had been living in her house at the time. After she told me she didn’t want …
Backup – AKA Fight at the Gum Club
This is my first ever piece of literary fan fiction in which I take Dani Dassler’s intrepid punk jock character Andrea, (AKA Dre,) the main character of PR and Coming Up Gray, and put her in a story with my very own punk extraordinaire Skye Wright, MC of my last novel What the Hell Ever …
How Not to Run a Financial Business
The other day, going into a drug store, I found someone’s credit card on the ground. I picked it up and pocketed it. Once I was home, I called the customer service line for the issuing bank. “Good afternoon my name is _____. May I have your account number?” “I don’t have one. I’m calling …
My Gay Characters – A Perspective for Pride Month
It’s pride month, and when people talk about LGBTQ issues, representation in fiction is a big issue. I write literary ficton about the urban underworld: clubbers, drug addicts, artists on the fringes of life, and the working poor. There are gay characters in all of my works, but I don’t say I have gay characters …
The Berkeley Neighbor and Her Cats – An Excerpt from my Novel-in-Progress Stella Maris
Stella Maris is the sequel to my recently published novel What the Hell Ever Happened to Yuri Rozhenko?, available now on Amazon.com. Stella Maris is slated to be released this summer. This is the very first scene, the opening of the book. She could see his faint outline in the shadows, as the beast crouched …
Reviews of my Latest Novel – What the Hell Ever Happened to Yuri Rozhenko?
Reviews of my latest novel What the Hell Ever Happened to Yuri Rozhenko? – “This book is so good I bought copies to give to friends!” – “These characters and situations could be real and are relatable to anybody who has ever had to struggle through the daily grind.” – “Pure punk aesthetic. Reminiscent of …
Learning German – An Excerpt from my Novel-in-Progress Stella Maris
In this excerpt, punk extraordinaire Skye Wright finds the infamous Molly Mix, singer for the punk band Bus Stop Hookers and the retro 80’s new wave band Hat Confusion, hanging by a liquor store and talks to her about the German language, a subject relevant in her pursuit of finding amissing friend. Stella Maris is …