Fiction

Fiction has always been my favorite and most natural form of creative expression.

Visit the drop-down boxes under the main Fiction tab to read some examples of my short stories and other fiction-writing across various genres.

Current Projects

In 2021, I began an intensive study of the historiography of the detective-fiction genre, at the same time starting a novel in the genre. Set in Southeast Europe around the turn-of-the-millennium, the Detective Grigoris series is at once an exciting and realistic set of unfolding mysteries within the greater geopolitical context, and a multi-generational family and national saga that explores the history and geography of the region and, especially Greece.

A second project would be a collected edition of my short stories in other genres.

Future Projects

In 2021, I began writing down my dreams for a future collection of dream-fiction, both simple notations of dreams and their more sophisticated inclusion within larger stories. A first example of the former type, “Two Visions of the Mountain of the Saints,” was published in an American anthology (Take Me There: A Speculative Anthology of Travel, Storyletter Xpress Publishing, 2024).

In future, I also plan to go back to my metafictional novella, The Third Emperor of California, written in 2000. Influneced by Laurence Sterne and written in a decidedly antiquarian style, I have always wished to publish it in an appropriate fashioon, via limited-edition, physical letterpress or some similar illustrated manner. We shall see.

Influences and Favorite Writers

The cumulative influence of three early-childhood book series had a crucial outlook on my thinking and imagination. They were: Thornton Burgess’ ‘adventures of’ series on the animals of the forest; D’Aulaie=re’s Book of Greek Myths, and The Hardy Boys mysteries.\

Also as a child, the major works of Tolkien led me to his more abstruse linguistics-rich fiction, which inspired a love of language. At the same time, I devoured histories and biographies of explorers and heroes of the American Revolution and thereafter, like Francis Marion, Daniel Boone and Davie Crockett. The works of Mark Twain and other 19th-century authors were also enjoyed.

A few years later, I became very interested in modern British and Irish literature, and American writers from Hemingway and Faulkner to Kerouac and Kesey. After I became interested in philosophy (ancient, medieval and modern), I also started to appreciate, if not always understand, Borges.

While there are a great many authors that have influenced me, my favorites and most important influences remain Plato, Dostoevsky, Nietzsche, Borges, Musil, James Joyce, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Brian O’Nolan (Flann O’Brien), Graham Greene, G.K. Chesterton and Eric Ambler.