Conclave 2021 literary magazine contains one of my short stories "Swampeasters." There is a long and winding back story about getting this piece into print. It was originally scheduled to be published in Conclave 2020, but due to circumstances beyond my control, it didn't make it. The editor graciously agreed to save it for 2021 unless I wanted to submit it elsewhere. This gave me a chance to complete one more rewrite under the guidance and tutelage of literary titan Jay Divine. And now it's finally in print and available for purchase. Please consider ordering a copy for yourself. If you live in St. Louis, I'll meet you and sign it. By making a small $17.99 purchase, you receive this publication and support the written arts. No proceeds come to me.

Here's a taste of my "Swampeaster's" first paragaph: "The drinker’s pavilion rose like an oasitic Bedouin tent from the Missouri Desert Picnic Grounds, a municipal park just outside of downtown Pokewood, in the bootheel land known as Swamp East. The rentable picnic and camping site was named for the native prickly pear cacti planted throughout grounds in irregular clumps by someone with a miniscule budget, no imagination, and a misguided sense of landscaping. Across the small, brittle, sun-stroked field sat the separate-but-equal pavilion for designated non-drinkers. From a distance, the two pavilions were identical, both filled with an assortment of family relations – over-nourished, slick as sweat-hogs, and beating their gums about this and that, and nothing and everything..."