This morning I put the finishing touches on a brand-new story called “Finder.” This is a momentous occasion, because that means I’ve written two new stories this year, which is equal to my total story output from the past three years, I think. Guess I’ve been busy working on novels. Or something.

This one was a challenge to myself to write something completely different from anything I’ve done before. I had a handful of stories ideas to choose from, but all of the other ideas I had were related to my novels, somehow. I really wanted to write something new and unconnected.

So I wrote a mystery. I don’t read a ton of mysteries, mainly because I don’t want to read about fictionalized crimes in a world chock full of real, heinous crimes. And it seems like most mysteries deal with a death. I didn’t want to write about anyone dying. So I figured out a way around it.

And in the process, I created two very fun characters that I’d kinda like to see again. One’s a private eye, and the other one is… someone very, very unique. For one, he tends to eat. A lot.

And on his first “case,” our guy eats some of this:

Ewww. And that’s not the worst thing that happens in the story. But it’s definitely the grossest. Well, except for the vomiting. There is that…

Needless to say, I had a lot of fun with this one. Now, I gotta run to the PO to mail it off (can I just reiterate how much paper submissions suck? Email subs are the way to go, man!). And I owe a great big beer to fellow author Lee Capps for his speedy and insightful feedback. Thanks, dude.

Happy reading, and happy eating!