Looking over my website tonight, I realized that although I mention on my Published Works page where to find the few small books I have self-published so far, other than the non-fiction articles I write for this website, there are no samples of my fiction on this site. Instead, I recommend on my Published Works page that you can easily find them by Googling my name and “fiction”. Making you go that extra mile is not fair to you.
Therefore, I have developed this page as a quick shortcut to some of my works online at Fiction on the Web, a site located in England. Charlie Fish, the publisher and editor of Fiction on the Web has been gracious enough to publish several of my stories. Although the site does not pay, I do like to be published there, because Charlie’s readers are good about commenting on stories published there, and I have received some excellent comments on my works.
Here are links to each of my stories at Fiction on the Web. Instead of writing up my own synopsis of each, I will use each of Charlie’s taglines to entice you into reading each. These are in italics. I will also make a brief comment following each of Charlie’s taglines each of which will be followed by my initials thus: -PS.
Phil Slattery’s lyrical vignette about the scent of an absent lover.
I based this story on an actual experience I had one evening, which is described almost exactly as it happened sometime around 2000. -PS
Alan Patterson wakes up to find past indiscretions have caught up with him in Phil Slattery’s crime short.
I based this bit of flash fiction on a report that I once heard about a mobster’s (maybe John Gotti) son who was killed accidentally by a hit and run driver. Sometime later two big guys pulled up alongside him in a van one day, rushed him into the van, and he was never seen again. This is my fictitious account of what followed, but I also add a twist. -PS
An exchange of letters between a man and a woman who had an intense relationship two decades ago, and have not seen each other since; by Phil Slattery.
I had been reading something about the definition of the literary subgenre of dark romance and decided to try my hand at it. -PS
A former naval officer tells a stranger a story of young love from his time on Aircraft Carrier USS Enterprise; by Phil Slattery.
This is based on something I witnessed on the docks at the French port of Toulon when I was on board the USS Enterprise for a deployment in 1986. I took what I witnessed and carried a few steps further to what this couple’s future may have held. -PS
The Slightest of Indiscretions
A national park guide in New Mexico has lustful urges for a Vietnamese visitor with a domineering husband; by Phil Slattery.
Once again this is based on something I witnessed. This happened when I was working at Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument in New Mexico during the summer of 2002. Once again, I expand this story into what might have happened. -PS
In early 1970s rural Kentucky, Travis, son of a cruelly racist mill worker, is forced into a moral dilemma.
I grew up in a time and area of Kentucky where there was some bigotry and prejudice against African-Americans, though nothing on the scale of what is described here. -PS
Phill Slattery’s chilling vision of hell.
I was once thrown out of a bar in a situation similar to this. Again, I postulate what might have happened had the situation turned extreme. Don’t worry. I never saw the bartender again after I left the bar that night and, so far as I know, the jerk is still alive and kicking. -PS
Phil Slattery’s powerful revenge epic about a man who visits his Mexican grandfather for spiritual guidance after a violent crime results in the death if his fiancée.
I once read about how Aztec sorcerers believed they could kill people by entering their dreams somewhat like Freddy Krueger, but 500 years earlier. So, I developed a scenario showing how this might be done today. -PS
On the day before her death from lung cancer, Christopher’s mother tells him a secret about his father that may change his perception of his parents forever; by Phil Slattery.
It always fascinated me how someone could be a kindly grandfather, like my own, and yet have a dark past. Note this is pure fiction and my own grandfather was never in such a situation as far as I know. -PS
Please let me know what you think of each of these stories and maybe provide a brief critique in the comments, if you would. I am open to criticism. I believe just and fair criticism helps a writer grow.
I have collected a few of these along with others of the horror genre into A Tale of Hell and Other Works of Horror. It is available through print-on-demand from any major bookstore along with a few of my smaller collections.
Until next time, take care and stay grounded.
Phil Slattery, Writer, Publisher 