Tall Story Time: Two Stories, Two Journals, Two Days

        My short story "Post No Bull" begins this way:

Our first stop, of course, is Charlie’s.

“Do you remember when we used to come here?” she asks, as we contemplate the glass front of Charlie’s Cheap Eats & Saloon.

“No, we didn’t,” I say. “You must be thinking of someone else.”...

She laughs and swats me lightly. “It wasn’t somebody else. I don’t know what you think of me.”

           The story is up on the online journal "Carpe Bloom," which has just published its "Issue 7/ Paperguts"

           Written a few years ago, "Post No Bull" is a mostly funny story about what happens when a couple of youthful hipsters look for places to put up posters for their free music festival. It's wholly fictional. I am not guilty of any of the offenses recorded therein (though most of them were in my heart). 

            The story was written originally to be part of something much (much) longer, a novel about the follies, and aspirations, of being young. I thought I had to try to capture some of the currents, self-inventions, and ways of living peculiar to a period in every life that leaves its mark, though it passes so quickly -- while, that is, I could still remember something about it.  

           That novel of the inspirations (and perspirations) of youth is still around, and I've lately gone back to reworking pieces. 

            Here is the link to "Issue 7/ Paperguts" below. https://carpebloom.com/issue7paperguts/

            My story is the THIRD STORY story down.


Today, March 13, the Potato Soup Journal published another of my short fictions. Titled "Two of Us," this fiction is about as different as can be from "Post No Bull." In that story, the characters were very young, dealing with young people issues -- drugs, nonconformity, building relationships. In "Two of Us," the characters are dealing with the passage of time and looking at eternity.
            Again, as in "Post No Bull," none of the events depicted in "Two of Us" took place in my own experience. I have certainly to at least one of these settings, the 'hospital,' and most everyone has been on an 'airplane,' but happily my situation did not resemble that of the male character in this story.... I wrote this story some four or five years ago. Enough time to allow me to see this story from a distance and feel for the characters.
             Here's a brief excerpt from the section called "The Hospital."
 He stares at the clock over the reception desk. The line moves. An older man approaches the desk accompanied by a young woman with thick dark hair, who proves to be his translator.
        It’s more like ten minutes now.
        You wanted this, Scott. You wanted me to push you to do this.
        I know you believe that. Facing straight ahead, not looking at her. 
        I believe it because it’s true.
        He frowns.
        How are you feeling? Is it happening? 
        Don’t ask. He shakes his head. 
        She whispers. I know you’re suffering. 


You can find the whole story (it's not long; neither of these stories is) at this link:
http://potatosoupjournal.com/two-of-us-by-robert-knox/