Sweet and honorable is sleep for him who dies for his country. But what if he lives? Shrink is the story of a soldier who lived.

I’ve written a lot of stories, finished some of them. Shrink is one that I wrote a long time ago, almost 20 years ago now. It was originally titled “The GI” (as in the general infantryman…not gastrointestinal), and had its roots in a novel that I wrote half of back in 2001. Although that novel is still only half done, Shrink is completely finished.

Shrink, the Paragraph: a Summary of a Short Story

Even though the story is a little longer than the original, the premise, plot and characters are still mostly the same. The GI was only a few pages, and that wasn’t long enough for what I wanted. Also, as I re-read it, I realized it was pretty skeletal in terms of a story. I had left the soldier’s secret unrevealed and left most of the characters’ personalities to the imagination. All of this seemed good at the time I wrote it, but leaves the reader feeling pretty unfulfilled.

To fix some of those issues, I added in a lot of detail about what really happened to the soldier. Originally I had left all of this out because it’s a spoiler for the novel I was writing back in 2001. But since that novel is not (and might not ever be) finished, it didn’t seem to make much sense to preserve any of its mystery. Rather than sacrifice the quality of this story, I went ahead an spoiled that other story, which you might never read.

The story is written in first person, which let’s the reader share in the mystery faced by the narrator. The main character has to piece together a mystery with no witnesses, which is one of the things I like best about this story.  I say I like this, but only in a story setting. Ironically, I hate it when I’m dealing with real life, especially my kids…and you might be surprised how often stuff happens without witnesses around my house.

Seriously, though, the search for “what really happened” fits in with the overall theme of Thread and Other Stories, which is about challenging reality and our perception of it.

Reviews (please…)

If you’ve been following all these recent posts I’ve been writing about my short story releases, then I offer my heartfelt thanks. I really am grateful for people reading what I write, even when it’s about me. Also if you’ve been reading these, you’ll notice a plea for reviews in all of them. Reviews help authors immensely, it’s one of the things most readers look at on Amazon before making a purchase. I don’t think many people buy a book cold without some kind of endorsement by another reader.

So, if you have a minute, please write a quick review and post it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Goodreads, wherever you like to buy books. I would be so thankful!

If you’ve read thread, you could post a review on all four of my books (Thread and Other Stories, Conflict, Deception, and now Shrink). Other things you can do to help are add my stories to Goodreads lists, recommend to a friend, or share my blog. All of these help.

The Cover

You might also note that I’ve been focusing on the cover design art in each of these posts. First, that’s because people actually do judge books by their covers. And I’m really pleased with how the covers look on each of my books. Second, I hope the cover designers find some more business this way. MatYan (also designer for Deception) did Shrink, and I think it is perfect.