Title: How Brown Smells **Author’s note: Another story with violence. Well, implied violence and a gruesome body part. Also another story with a violent criminal who happens to be in a wheelchair. Who knows where these things come from? I like the narrator in this one, as tiredly tragic and condescending as he is. The

Title: Mouse Himself in Action **Author’s Note: I like trying stories like this, where there is a bit of overlap in timeline and a shift in perspective. I italicized the middle section where we are privy to the junior henchman’s thoughts, but I sometimes feel like that is cheating, like you should be able to

Title: Rotting Stagger-Claw **Author’s note: I probably tried to do too much with this story, but it’s an exercise, so that’s what you’re SUPPOSED to do. Hubris is really the only correct posture for the artist to strike, especially while experimenting and drilling. But even though I tried to do too much probably, the story

Title: The Size of Wasps **Author’s note: The title of this occurred to me first, and then I remembered some stuff I had read about Kinsey. I kind of like the effort here, but it does indeed fall short of a fully-fleshed-out short story, which is the idea of these exercises.** First you bury the