Short novels, short stories, drawings and cheesy poetry...

This website serves as an archive for the last four years of my life. During my stay in federal prison, while other inmates were building their bodies, fighting, or having sex with each other in the shower, I was writing. During the first two years, I did some freeverse poetry, drawings and sketches. The poetry wasn't great -- I wasn't in a great frame of mind when I wrote them. But they came from my soul, so I'm including them here.

The last two years, I went a step further. I wrote my first novel, entitled Odd-Jobs, in seven days. I finished the original draft on the evening of Christmas 2006. At that time I was in 24/7 max-security lockdown after getting into a fight. Since I wasn't in the mood to take anything seriously at that point, Odd-Jobs was suppose to have been written as a joke. I tried to make it as stupid (but funny) as I could. I only did it to pass the time. I didn't know then that I would go on to write five more short novels, and get my writngs published in magazines.

The Unarmed Robbery, an excerpt of Odd-Jobs would go on to be my first short story published in print. During 2007, it was accepted by three online literary magazines, and in 2008 it appeared in eight print magazines. Later, The 9:05 Out of Detroit, a fiction narrative based on my life as a teen, appeared in four more magazines during 2008 and 2009. Other magazines have accepted these stories for publication without notifying me, so the actual numbers are estimates.

I still write only for fun. I don't write to get published; I don't write to get noticed, and I don't write what I think others want to read. I write because I love to create. And everything I created, was for me -- not anyone else.

Two of my novels, Odd-Jobs and Just Passing Through are free to read on this website, but can still be purchased in paperback. The other four can be previewed by going to the order page.

I hope you don't think I'm being a capitalist pig for doing this, but to summarize my situation: I'm broke. I'm applying for social security because I have a birth defect in my spine. Meanwhile, my dad pays for my apartment from his own social security, and I have a wonderful and intelligent (I.Q.: 182!!) daughter who's mom needs money too. In a perfect world, I'd get some of my stories published and I'd be able to give my daughter and her mother anything they need, but this is real life: I scrape together what I can to survive, send manuscripts to publishers, pay child support when I have it, and hope I can build a future for my daughter.

Okay, that's enough lamenting. If you really like a story, please consider purchasing a 5.5"x8.5" paperback copy instead. :) Anyway, happy reading!