Short Stories - Fiction

Short stories about those who are able to rise above being called “mediocre.” Whether or not they are able to reach the goals they want they will try and pursue a higher goal no matter what or who may be an adversary.

Stories that move anyone trying to grab the “brass ring” can be found when the reader needs encouragement.

Allow me the opportunity to tell you about this book. This book is divided into eight chapters. Each chapter stands on its own except for one major commonality. Each chapter is about life on Earth sometime before the Rapture of the Church. All real Christians will disappear at that time. The author is not predicting the time of the Rapture, but can say or write that it is on its way. However; I have known people to not use common sense and not prepare themselves for the long haul. It may take place before I can finish writing this sentence or a hundred years from now or who knows? All true Christians need to be about the Master's business. I am not going to go over every chapter, but briefly write about the first chapter. All chapters start with the notion that the year is 2081. This date was chosen as a warning to people who are depending on the Rapture taking place in a year or less and are not prepared for the so called long haul. Remember that tomorrow you could die!

The first chapter starts off about the preacher of a floating church on the Pierre Part Bayou, in the State of Louisiana preparing to preach a sermon. The congregation is overwhelmed at slapping mosquitoes that are biting them. The older sisters are determined to control the young people making much racket. A pause in the church service takes place and the story wanders back in time centered around a man named Martin LaFront. Martin was a monster of a man standing at 7’ 7” and weighing over six hundred pounds. The rest of the chapter is about this human giant in mortal battle with the largest bear in that part of the country in three or four centuries. They rightly named him Old Killer Bear!

Here is a book of short stories that may touch some of us, if not all, at some time in our lives. We all have those moments when we become blind to the future. Then again, there is always hope we will go from the darkness to eventually see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Henry Schmidt is writing again during his otherwise quiet nights in Las Vegas, Nevada, wondering if any person or persons will recognize his portrayals in his latest book An American Game. He tries to avoid any resemblance of truth to protect the innocent and to make his stories interesting to anyone feeling a bit guilty... Oh well, inside this book you will find a few stories for which we all may feel a few moments of being “special” concerning days and nights of our past....

Book Three of the Trilogy: Ghost Words and Puppet Plays

Each volume in the trilogy is a series of interlocking sketches or stories intended to give a view of a period in human history. It is a trilogy about human nature and thought.

The Uncertainty Principle has twenty-seven scenes set in the 17th and 20th centuries. By the 17th century the certainty which went with the authority of rulers, religious dogma and the science of Aristotle and Galen had begun to erode. The so-called Modern Period became a battleground between those who would live with new or tentative answers and those who demanded the certainty of the past.

This third volume begins in 1606 as an ice storm approaches London, and ends in 1990 as a winter storm moves across the center of the USA. The characters include the famous and the obscure. Among the former are Rembrandt, Bashô, Spinoza, the Queen of France and the Empress of China. Among the latter are an aging Nazi, an American PFC, an Iowa farm wife and a child preparing for a play.

Each volume in the trilogy is a series of interlocking sketches or stories intended to give a view of a period in human history. It is a trilogy about human nature and thought. Triumph of the Skies has eighteen scenes set in those complex centuries known as the Middle Ages when much of humanity lived under the revealed authority of the skies. It begins with the state closing of the Platonic Academy in Athens (529) and ends with the final version of Chartres Cathedral (1235). Among the many historical figures are: the Byzantine princess Anna Comnena; Caliph Harun al Rashid; Du Fu, China’s greatest poet; and the adversaries Peter Abelard and St. Bernard of Clairvaux.

Each volume in the trilogy is a series of interlocking sketches or stories intended to give a view of a period in human history. It is a trilogy about human nature and thought. First we see the ancient world where the seeds of philosophy, science and religion are sown. Every Mother’s Son has sixteen scenes from the Greco-Roman world. It opens with letters from an Ephesian clergyman in the service of the Mother Goddess (500 B.C.) and closes with a letter from a cantankerous Christian clergyman who has just survived the Council of Ephesus (431 A.D.) where amid the hostilities Mary was declared “Mother of God.” Among the historical figures are: Alexander the Great, Mo Ti, Lucretius, Saint Paul, Nero and Marcus Aurelius.

As the title suggests... this book is a collection of stories about choices. Sometimes we have our eyes wide open and can clearly see the result of the choice we are about to make. At other times the path into the future is murky and where a choice may lead is uncertain and perhaps frightening. It may be a seemingly unimportant choice that completely changes your life, a major choice that circumstances thrusts upon you, or something in between... the only certainty is that life is a series of choices….

Sit back, relax, and enjoy this collection of stories. When you have turned the last page, put the book aside and consider the choices you have made....

Short Stories of Reflection About Folks Trying to Just Get Along

I am a writer. Such a bold statement deserves some clarification... I don’t claim to be the next rising star in the literary heavens, nor do I claim to be a prophet providing life changing insights. However, I believe these stories inspired by my past and present dreams, illusions and delusions will provide entertainment for most readers and, perhaps, some thoughtful introspection about similar personal experiences.

The central theme of these stories is something everyone can relate to... just trying to get along... usually in the finding, keeping or losing of someone to love. As you enjoy these stories, keep in mind the old Beatles song... “It Don’t Come Easy”...

Your author hopes you will find some interesting reflections as you read Smitten... And Then Some. He has used names that may, or may not, sound like some you have heard in the past.

Please read his work and enjoy his perspective on the good and not so good relationships he has written about.

We all have had our good days and even better nights as we aged and found that maturity is not always the answer to a satisfying period of time spent with a loved one....