End of Summer Musings

public pool

PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot

“End of summer,” said Manny standing at his apartment’s patio railing. “They’ll be shutting the pool down soon. Good. People are so noisy.” He scanned up and left. “Whatever they’re doing on the side of that building looks dangerous.”

He took a sip of his coffee and continued to survey the familiar scenery.

“I really need to live someplace without neighbors,” he mused. “I’d like more privacy.”

The serial killer knew the buildings that served the public pool were vacant in winter but still too close to the street to serve as kill rooms plus moving the bodies was hazardous.

It’s Wednesday and time again to participate in this week’s edition of Rochelle Wisoff-Fields’ Friday Fictioneers. The idea is to use the image above as the inspiration for crafting a poem or short story no more than 100 words long. My word count is exactly 100.

I’ve been binge watching the television show Dexter. I’m in season three of its eight season run. It’s an older show but really compelling. Actually, it’s not what I would normally watch since it verges on horror sometimes.

wobble cover held

© James Pyles

Dexter is a series about a serial killer who murders other serial killers. He’s an odd protagonist to be sure. I enjoy the police procedure and forensic aspects of the show plus the storytelling quality is consistently high. I guess I have it on my mind this morning.

To read other tales based on the prompt or to contribute one of your own, go to inlinkz.

My YA science fiction novel A Wobblegong And His Boy is part of a collection of novels written specifically for boys who want to read adventures crafted especially for them. That doesn’t mean my story isn’t a great read for everyone else so give it a whirl. Don’t forget to leave an honest review at Amazon and Goodreads but there’s more.

What is the “Wobblegong” in my science fiction YA/Teen novel “A Wobblegong And His Boy?” When the fine folks at Raconteur Press asked me to write a promotional article for my book, it’s the first thing that popped into my head. Everyone asks me what a “Wobblegong” is. Now you have a chance to find out. After that, click the link at the bottom of the article and please get a copy of my book. Wobble is waiting. https://raconteurpress.substack.com/p/a-wobble-what

fangs out

Cover art for “Fangs Out: Aerial Combat Chronicle”

The fantasy anthology Fantastic Schools, Volume 13 is now available featuring my supernatural short story “The Battle of New Stains Castle.”

As the Second Dragon War reaches its climax, two sorceresses and a soldier must face a necromancer and his minions in the ruins of a Scottish castle in the midst of a reality gone mad.

Finally, as of yesterday, the science fiction anthology Fangs Out: Aerial Combat Chronicles is available. It features my military SciFi short story “The Jupiter War”. You can read an excerpt of my story in this blog article.

Happy Wednesday.

26 thoughts on “End of Summer Musings”

  2. James, good job of channeling Dexter. I have watched it multiple times and own the original series. It’s one of the most extraordinary character studies ever created for TV. The first sequel series doesn’t equal the caliber of the original, but the one after that gets right back to the study in a meaningful way.

    Like

    Reply

    • It’s amazing that this show took off in such a way that the character still has strong appeal even twenty years later in the current series. Dexter’s internal dialog gets inside my head and I can hear myself describing what I observe in similar ways sometimes.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  5. I love Dexter… though I didn’t watch the sequel or the reboot. I’m thinking he wouldn’t choose this particular area, either. We know he likes to bring them to his special place…

    Like

    Reply

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.