Walking With the Muse

More than thirty years in the making, this collection of short stories traces a lifelong conversation with the Muse.

It began in a high school English class: a short, comedic piece about failing a driver's test-an awkward, anxious sixteen-year-old trying (and failing) to look cool behind the wheel of an enormous 1978 Dodge Monaco. That first spark of delight at making readers laugh never faded. Years later, in C. Michael Curtis's short fiction course, the work deepened under a sharp and generous eye.

The short story became one of the author's great literary loves: compact, intimate, and capable of holding an entire world in a few pages. Assembling this collection felt less like editing than reunion-returning to the moment each story was born, and to the person he was when he wrote it.Through false starts, quiet triumphs, and late nights of revision, one constant remained: the Muse-patient, insistent, and full of grace. This book is the written record of a decades-long relationship with inspiration and creativity.

Thank you for walking this path. There is so much of the author in these pages. May they bring you the same joy they have brought him.