“Complications”—Bud Ogden worries that his wife may be trying to get pregnant despite their longstanding agreement to remain childless. In a reversal of commonplaces in sexual politics, he decides what he will and won’t do for love.
—read the short story in Fall, 2010, edition of The Great Smokies Review

“Ben and the Immaculate Conception”—Ben Major might never have become a terrorist if he had politely walked away from O’Hare on the morning of May 9, 2003. By error he had been entered into the Computerized Airline Passenger Pre-Screening System as Ben Majir, a name not matching his driver’s license and expired credit card. On that basis he was denied permission to board the PhoenixAir flight to Seattle. Misdirected blows are a fact of life. Accepting them is difficult at the best of times, and this wasn’t the best of times for Ben Major.
—first published by Spoiled Ink in February 2005