This Itsy Bitsy Spider Spews Venom
They had left two days before. Lynn’s job was to care for the house while everyone was gone. It was an easy task, or series of tasks, unless something went wrong. The generator ran all by itself, fueled by two huge tanks of diesel in the garage. It was barely audible. In fact, unless she thought about it, she didn’t hear it at all. If the generator quit, there was nothing to be done. Lynn was not mechanical. Not in the least....
Algiers, a Short Story by James Strauss
Algiers, Algeria. I asked him how a country could have a city named the same thing as the country, but he ignored me.
Arch Patton, Down in the Valley, Chapter 1,
How in hell he came to be lying in cloying dismal mud at the base of an extinct Hawaiian volcano eluded Arch Patton. He just lay there, trying to catch his breath…..
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The Clearing, A Harvey Adventure – Short Story by James Strauss
The winter storm took three days to pass and those days were anything but restful or relaxing. Bad Taffy spent the entire time running back and forth from the to inside of the house….
Holy Moly, A Harvey Adventure, Short Story by James Strauss
HOLY MOLY Short Story by James Strauss The forest abided. The spring fed the stream that gushed downhill toward the lake with the gurgling sounds of coming warmth penetrating everything on both sides of it. The stream was the winding arterial graft that wrapped the heart of the forest in its continuous beating and eternally moving embrace. The snow was gone. Worms surfaced for whatever reason worms surface, and the crows fought...
Sunday, Short Story by James Strauss
SUNDAY Short Story By J. Strauss The boy sat on the sand atop the low rocks, staring down into clear lapping water. He carefully lowered his small hand down until it was just beneath the surface. He waited. There it was again. A solid thrumming vibration. It lasted for a few seconds before it was gone. The boy pulled his hand out, and then gently wiped it on his “T” shirt. The shirt had been a gift from his grandfather on his eighth...
The Fish Does Not Have to be Real, Short Story by James Strauss
John Whitworth sat at his desk, his head turning to peer through the glass double doors that also served as his only window to look out over a small portion of Puget Sound.
Herschel, a Short Story by James Strauss
HERSCHEL Short Story By J. Strauss The ground didn’t seem wet at all from six feet higher up. But Tom wasn’t that high up from it anymore. Instead, he was on it, moving slowly through the forest in short scrabbling bursts. He rested the right side of his face against the surface. He felt the sharp prick of pine needles, but he made no move to brush them away. The needles were damp, like everything else a millimeter,...
FULLY FUNCTIONAL, a Short Story by James Strauss
FULLY FUNCTIONAL Short Story By J. Strauss Lieutenant Howard never ran with lightening speed. He was more controlled, as befitting his rank of lieutenant and position of shift commander. He moved with a glow across the spectrum of his small town fiefdom. Twenty-five thousand citizens rested under his care, almost all asleep, as he commanding the midnight to eight shift. He took his first dose in his cruiser down at Main Beach...
Zack, a Short Story by James Strauss
ZACK Short Story By J. Strauss Zack prepared himself for the confrontation. Winter had been hard. So very hard. He hadn’t really been ready for that kind of cold. He’d thought he was ready, but it was the wind off that lake that nearly did him in. He’d been saved by the boathouse. But everything was over. The owner of the big house up at the end of the old runway, which led directly down to the boathouse, had come back...
Roughy, A Short Story by James Strauss
ROUGHY Short Story By J. Strauss Holder didn’t engage the man because he had a kid with him, not that the son-of-a-bitch didn’t deserve to be properly encountered in spite of the child. Coffee shops suck in Boston. They aren’t the warm fuzzy places that dot Seattle’s landscape, where people are running around, talking and generally being friendly. No, the Boston Common Coffee shop, in what they call the North End, is a cold place...
Matchless, a Short Story by James Strauss
MATCHLESS Short Story By J. Strauss The old bike wasn’t much, certainly nothing that any islander would buy. Kam counseled with his dad about getting a new Harley, but the old man was no help. “Sell the damn thing to one of those dumb Haole’s down at the base,” was all he said. Without selling the Matchless Kam couldn’t make the down payment on the Sportster. It would take him another year of waiting tables at the Royal...
The Present, a Short Story
The child who was not a child, crouched with his back to the warm window. It was below zero in Wisconsin, but not in the deep window well. A mouse looked up at him, it’s puzzled stare demonstrating no understanding, but also no willingness to back down. The child smiled. ……..
Christmas Pueblo, an Arch Patton Adventure
Christmas Pueblo An Arch Patton Adventure by James Strauss Arch Patton found himself inside the confines of the Santa Fe County jail, on some vague trumped-up barroom brawl charge. He was in the “drunk tank,” which is what they call the cells they use for new prisoner intake. No bars, no windows, just concrete and steel. No way to see out of the ten by twelve box, and no ability to hear. He was alone for the first few hours,...
Alone in the Forest, a Short Story by James Strauss
The hike was not a real challenge. Though it would’ve been impossible without his mom’s last gift; the special aluminum snowshoes. Thomas floated across the top of the pure white surface, even though his backpack weighed more than half as much as his own ninety pounds…….
About Me
James Strauss was born into a Coast Guard family during WWII. He’s lived in four countries and twenty-seven states, in places from South Manitou Island in Michigan to Honolulu, Hawaii.
He’s held a variety of positions in many careers, from being a Marine Corps Officer wounded in Vietnam, a college professor in anthropology, a CIA team leader in the field and more recently as a screenwriter and novelist, along with publishing a Lake Geneva, Wisconsin newspaper.
James has published three novels; The Boy, The Bering Sea and The Warrior.