All is Not Lost

My newest story is out at Sunlight Press, titled All is Not Lost. It’s only 1,790 words—so a short short story.

The impetus of this story began with a real event. I often stored my bike in the basement of an adjoining building where the door frequently was left unlatched. One time after coming home from an early morning work out from the gym I walked on what appeared to be a drug deal. In the semi dark eerie basement. The after-effect fear stayed with me.

Then with all the shootings and killings across the nation flags always seemed to be at half-mast. They were half more than whole. I couldn’t keep track of who/what they were up or down for. Next my mind spun into how temporal life felt at the moment and something I’d heard, be it quantum physics or poetry, that we are made up of past elements, star dust as it were. Inside of me are saints and sinners, dinosaur bones and meteors that have rocketed to earth long, long ago. Our parents are only the beginning, the tip of the iceberg, beneath that DNA is billions and billions of years. The history of the world.

And, of course, I loved recycling. Even my mind recycled stories. Some of this short story is part failed novel.

Put it all together and I wrote All is Not Lost in Chicago and revised it in Eugene, submitted it in Okemos. Over a period of years and transitions, it is now come to the page/screen. Hope you enjoy reading it—All is Not Lost.