The Triptych

The stories Blur, Schoharie and Paper Kites were written to be read in that order. They go together and intertwine.

The idea for the first piece, Blur, was graciously given to me by Andrew L. Wilson who said, you should write a hunting story in which a person is killed. My first attempt at that, called Gun Season, was a miserable failure.

I found that I could not write that story until I knew more about the mysterious woman wandering alone in the woods. Her story became somewhat of an obsession. I wrote Schoharie in one session and completed it within five revisions. Blur took over twenty revisions. Paper Kites, seventeen. I have never worked so hard on a short story in my life. And even now I am not entirely happy with them. But here they are, alive and living...

These are three very personal stories that hit close to home for me. My father was a cop and a hunter. My mother was a struggling single mom. Those facts alone are the only parts of this triptych that have any connection to my actual life. The remainder is pure fiction.

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