A pro-environmental short story I wrote about two years ago and was featured on Dagny McKinley's green literary site "Undiscovered Earth". It is much less of a tale than a poetic slice of life: Stan escapes from the dust and din of city life and finds relaxation and temporary relief at the park, more specifically the famous Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia. He's a bird-watcher, drawing analogies between the life of birds with human society, as he explains to Linda, a young woman he meets there.
Fun fact: I initially wrote this short story for a short story contest that was being held in a nearby city. As it turned out, the contest was a scam -- which is not uncommon with free submission contests, regardless how legit they appear superficially. However, I set my heart on getting the story released one way or another. So I turned to Undiscovered Earth, where the ever-considerate Mrs McKinley even helped me polish up the story before posting it on her website.
- Being a Ghost Is Fun / Geistsein Macht Spaß!
Synopsis:
Between Heaven and Hell, there is Limbo, or as we call it, Earth. Ghosts invisible to the eye are condemned to act as the servants of Angels until they fulfil their divine quest. Two such ghosts, a middle-aged 1950's Chicagoan named Fred Vogel and the young, depressed Tom Williams who died in 1790, have been paired up against all odds in order to serve the Angels Council. Despite being ill-matched, they have never run into any problems, until one fateful day hey are told to escort a recently deceased gangster, Edgar Albert Trent, to Hell. After scouring the town of Trent's death, Woodrow City, they arrive in a church where lies the body of one Albert Trent, in a coffin on the altar. Could it be--?
Alas, the man in the coffin is Albert Trent, a kind soul who had never committed a crime in his life and is actually destined to Heaven.
After being scolded by Seven-Bolts, the Angel in charge of their mission, Tom, Fred and Albert search for the dastardly ghostly crook, who is still at large and as dangerous as ever. Helped by a fourth ghost, they also have to protect a mortal who is in danger of being murdered by the dead gangster. Amidst all the madness and mayhem, Albert learns more about his two companions, as he sets out on a personal mission to help them reach the end of their divine quest - whatever that divine quest may be.
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| FLZ newspaper review of the play's performance at Platen high school. |
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