Stories 
For original works or excerpts by Brian Abbott.
Too Soon To Say Goodbye
(2)This one hits harder… On Wednesday, January 19, my Pekingese Ching passed away. This time, there was no other Peke to meet me at the door when I returned home. The house was empty. His food and water bowl were full and waiting for a dog that wouldn’t be coming back. I hadn’t anticipated the… Read More ›
Visualizing Characters
Whether reading or writing about them, we all tend to conjure up an image of the characters in a story. What does he or she (or they) look like? We take cues from the text. Hair color, eye color, complexion, stature, and build all give us a sense of a character’s appearance. I’m sure we’ve… Read More ›
Just One More Day
I suppose it’s presumptuous to post photos (and stories) about one’s pets and expect everyone will care as much as the pet’s owner and be moved by what they see or read. But pet lovers understand, and there is a catharsis in sharing. So here’s my tale. My little Pekingese Ming-Lee passed away on Wednesday,… Read More ›
Short Story: The Confession
They gathered in the library, the place where it had happened. Last Friday, Tony Pagliano, the gym teacher at St. Ann’s Elementary, had been found dead among the dusty volumes in the very room where they now sat fidgeting. In The Confession, a phys ed teacher at an elementary school has been murdered. The suspects… Read More ›
Deleted Scenes
You’ve seen them. Check out a DVD (or Blu-ray) film or TV series and more likely than not, there’s a deleted scene(s), commentaries by the director or cast, behind-the-scenes featurette(s) and more. Why aren’t there such extra features in books? After writers pen their novel (or short story), revisions and edits may more often than… Read More ›
Meet Edith Baxter
“At first glance, Edith Baxter seemed a tiny, fragile septuagenarian with slightly stooped shoulders. Wrinkles lined her pink complexion, and wisps of white dominated the auburn strands of her hair like clouds on a sunny day. However, these signs of age could not mask the vitality in her sky‑blue eyes.” Edith Baxter, née Pontmercy, married… Read More ›
A Mystery is Announced
I am excited to announce that—after several drafts, revisions, rejections, and more revisions—my first murder mystery novel, Death on Stoneridge, will be published this summer. Imagine, if you will, a balmy night. A soft breeze blows in through the open window, as you settle down to go to sleep… All of sudden, you hear raised… Read More ›
The Poisoned Martini VII
It’s long past time for Part VII of The Poisoned Martini, an original eStory written by yours truly. To protect his grandson, Thaddeus Alcott will investigate a murder… Recent college grad Rick Gray met an intriguing and pretty co-ed who invited him to a party at her sorority. The next morning, Rick woke up and discovered a young co-ed… Read More ›
The Tragedy of Whitehall
Here is the prologue of The Tragedy of Whitehall, the fantasy novel I’ve decided to work on as part of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) 2012. I’ve long had the concept for this prelude novel to a fantasy trilogy, which is in turn part of a larger fantasy series that I’ve yet to come up with… Read More ›
The Ogham Society
It finally has a name. Creating the world in which your characters reside is an ongoing challenge. What places and organizations are a part of their world? Are they real or imagined? Ever since reading Anne Rice’s The Witching Hour (see post here), I’ve wanted to create a psychical research society for my own series. … Read More ›
The Poisoned Martini 