Literary Works

A Childhood Lesson That Lasted a Lifetime

Published in 2025

In this novel, a five year old child is taught by his parents to respect people of all races. While growing up on a farm near a small town in Michigan, he often witnesses racism from various acquaintances and even members of his extended family. While he is fed stories of violent behavior, lack of intelligence, and laziness, every interaction he experiences with minority individuals and groups is enjoyable, thoughtful, and anything but threatening.

Years later as a professor of history, he deplores the racism of inept university administrators who target some of his colleagues. In his research and teaching, he is drawn to African American history while pursuing innovative methods in the classroom. Among others, he and a friend who is a DJ on an R&B radio station demonstrate how music of the 1950s played an important role in helping to break down racial barriers.

Some of the stories presented here are autobiographical while others are fictional but inspired by many friendships and actual events.

The Train That Finally Arrived

Published in 2023

In this novel, a teenage boy runs away from his unhappy Chicago home and rides a train headed for northern Michigan. While passing through a small town, the engine breaks down. An unusual series of circumstances determines he will remain indefinitely in that town. In the ups and downs that follow, he makes a life for himself meeting supportive friends and eventually working for the railroad.

The story develops the theme that railroads can be captivating whether they are actual (like the Chesapeake & Ohio or Illinois Central), scale models (like Lionel or American Flyer), or merely metaphorical (like the pre-Civil War Underground Railroad). All play a part in the plot presented here.

Rediscovering Home

Published in 2023

Four alumni of different ages intend to minimize the time of their stay in a small town en route to their separate class reunions. Despite never having met previously, they soon find themselves caught up in unexpected contact with each other and events beyond their control including white collar crime. As a result, will the communities of their youth and their perceptions of them never be the same?

The Trio With Four Members

Published in 2023

This novel is about three men from distinctly different backgrounds whose initial aspirations bear little or no resemblance. An unmotivated surfer beach bum who dropped out of three colleges, a highly intelligent orphan who was adopted by overbearing micromanaging parents, and a gay small town sportswriter are brought together by accident of circumstance. Their friendship is cemented when a fourth young man, known only to one of the three during early childhood, reenters the scene. The support all four offer each other produces no miracles but substantially improves their temperament, life expectations, and concern for others.

A Canadian in Michigan: A Novel

Published in 2023

Despite steady daily travel across the border, very few people born in Canada settle permanently in Michigan. Is it possible that lifelong relocation occurs only under relatively unusual conditions? This story is about one of those “temporary” visitors and how his life changes when he first enters the scene, each time he leaves, and the unique circumstances under which he returns over the course of four decades. Adventure, humor, romance, travel, and small town life are all part of the narrative.

Michigan As It Once Was

Published in 2022

A collection of short stories, all set in my home state of Michigan. Many appear in print here for the first time; some were previously published. Included in these tales are such noted visitors to the state as a 19^th century U. S. President, an advisor to Colin Powell, a NASA scientist, and Buddy Holly as well as Jesse Owens who lived there and who I had the privilege of meeting. Most of the characters are “ordinary” small town residents who have left an extraordinary legacy to those with whom they came in contact. Others are corrupt corporate executives, religious leaders with questionable values, and grossly incompetent university administrators. Unfortunately, they have left a legacy as well.

For the First Time…..Again

Published in 2022

In this anthology of short stories, adventurers travel back in time to: a northeastern college campus in 1900, a small Texas town in 1948, Elba Island where Napoleon is exiled in 1815, Bronze Age Poland, 1888 rural California, and a Michigan village just prior to the 1929 stock market crash. Others travel to the future: a woman “accused” of being a lesbian in the 1920s avoids prolonged electric shock therapy in a mental institution while an Eastern European Rip Van Winkle sleeps through collapse of the Soviet empire in the early 1990s. Crises are confronted: Can a young boy who sees the future prevent deadly accidents? Will a team of divers be able to stop sailors from boarding a ship destined to sink in Lake Superior? What effect will prevention of an assassination have on the underlying hatred that motivated it?

Living in Multiple Times

Published in 2022

In this collection of the author’s best sci fi stories, the voyages across time generate a mixture of outcomes. Some odysseys end happily, others far less so. Tampering with the past and learning from the future do not always guarantee positive results. Some travelers are unable to return and are destined to experience a life far different from the one begun in a different time period. Delivery mechanisms vary from sophisticated electronic devices invented by scientific geniuses to quirks of nature to simple gadgets with unusual capabilities. For all who journey through time, confusion, anxiety, and moments of joy are present in their past and future.

Time Does Wait for Some

Published in 2021

The stories in this collection raise several questions: Did the voyage to the past change a previous occurrence in any meaningful way? Is a trip to the future likely to alter present day behavior? Have results made a case for pursuing or avoiding interferences with the normal course of events? Are the voyagers heroes or villains? Is the technology something to be welcomed or feared?

When Yesterdays Change: Uncommon Temporal Voyages

Published in 2021

The twenty stories in this collection involve travel back in time where voyagers attempt to change only individual lives and small communities. As a result, do major events remain undisturbed? This theme is explored with surprising mixed outcomes. Imaginative templates include a cave on the dark side of the moon, the ocean floor, a 22 centuries old Peruvian pyramid, and a citywide frozen electricity grid. Time jumps take the reader from 26^th century earth to a livable planet Venus 3.8 billion years ago, from present day Poland to its Bronze Age, and from the time of Mao to medieval China. Two brothers reverse the grandfather paradox by keeping theirs alive during a Quebec bridge disaster. A final story examines the possible chaotic consequences of mass producing time machines.

As Narrow Paths Widen

Published in 2021

Paths can be crude or dusty like trails in a forest, smooth like paved roads, or intellectually gratifying like scholarly disciplines, influential books, or noteworthy people. The poems in this collection address these and other either direction-driven or serendipitous sources that may impact life pursuits and decisions.

Wonder at its Apogee

Published in 2020

Wonder is a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar or inexplicable. This collection of poems aims to identify situations when appreciation of wonder can reach either an actual or metaphorical pinnacle.

When Leaves Fall Upon the Winding Road

Published in 2020

Poems in this anthology are inspired by a love of history, geography, and astronomy as well as a fascination with trains, preference for small town life, and recollection of personal experiences. While many voice optimism and occasional humor, some lament the current state of the human condition.

Voyages Across Time

Published in 2018

These short stories differ from my earlier work both in terms of destinations and templates to get there. Time travelers arrive in late 18th century Ecuador to warn of an earthquake that will destroy a village, in late 19th century Michigan to help an inventor fly before the Wright Brothers, in late 20th century Poland where a modern day Rip Van Winkle has missed the collapse of the Soviet bloc, and 40 years into the future where an unknown man learns of his posthumous fame. Imaginative templates include a unusual wormhole in distant space, an elevator in an abandoned coal mine shaft, a deserted Canadian lighthouse, a race car with a jet engine, harsh weather on the slopes of the world’s tallest mountain, an antique radio, and error on an alien mothership.

If time travel has already taken place, has it on balance improved or harmed the human condition?

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Thirteen Time Travel Templates

Published by Vanishing Glacier Press, 2018

An intriguing aspect of time travel plots is how the trip happens: time machine? interdimensional space-time portal? instant teleportation? awakening from a deep sleep? This collection of short stories explores different templates for getting there as well as what happens upon arrival. It also addresses in some hopefully innovative ways to what extent existing events can be altered by the traveler. In an age filled with disappointment and frustration, other eras past and future frequently offer greater fulfillment. Or do they?

Small Town Michigan Tales, 2nd ed.

Published by CreateSpace Publishers, 2018

A second printing of my first short story collection published nearly a decade ago. My sincere thanks to readers, friends, and fellow writers who have encouraged this updated edition. Physical entry into small towns is relatively easy; psychological exit may be considerably more difficult.

Recollection

Published by Vanishing Glacier Press, 2018

The diverse topics in this collection of short stories include small town life, career struggles, dishonesty in universities, racism, homophobia, and youthful mischief. The plots are rich in thoughtful complexity but not without humor. An accomplished and prolific writer, the author offers here a sample of some of his best work.

Poems Inspired By Waterfalls

Published by Vanishing Glacier Press, 2018

Poems explore nature in both its grandeur and anomalies, locations that offer contentment or anxiety, historical events and their cast of characters, and unusual experiences.

Partial Contents:

Colossal Cosmos / When Time Inverted / Michigan Winter / The Black Snake at Standing Rock / Wanted! A Rational Explanation / Self-Absorbed and Device Obsessed / What We Have Become / In Pursuit of Brain-Deadness / I Sure Do Miss Walter Cronkite / Vera Lynn at 100 / The Legacy of John Muir / Repetitive Torment / Clear Lake, Iowa / Carmel Valley Morning / Piedras Negras / On This Island / A Field of Wildflowers / The Power of Myth / Path to Unhappiness / Life in a Pre-Pesticide World / Will Humanity Prevail? / Finding Yourself When You Are Not Lost / The Girl Down the Hall / New Life

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Familiar Footpaths

Published by Vanishing Glacier Press, 2017

A mix of humor and poignant drama, this collection of short stories touches on myriad facets of human achievement and folly. Childhood innocence, benign mischief, prudent trepidation, uncommon heroism, complex family dynamics, and the art of making crucial decisions are all portrayed with wit and candor. Real and fictional characters come together to shed new light on events of historical significance. Racism, homophobia, and dubious morality are exposed in ways heretofore unexplored; warmth and deception in personal relationships are recurring themes. Surprise endings are common.

My Best Stories

Published by Distant Echo Press, 2016

Carefully selected from over 100 published short stories, this collection offers readers a sample of the written work produced during the career of a talented yet often overlooked author. An astute blend of solemnity and humor, specific topics include unique views on major historical events, small town life, racial conflict and harmony, blatantly scandalous behavior, uncommon situations, and unpredictability in romance. The stories are set in places as varied as Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, northern California, and Asia. Their characters are as diverse as Buddy Holly and a man who flew before the Wright Brothers. Readers of these stories will see the world through the hopeful eyes of courageous refugees, innocent orphans, and dedicated teachers. They will also witness the carnage resulting from the always unprincipled and often treacherous minds of wicked pirates, pedophile priests, and inept overpaid university administrators.

Strolling Through an Orchard: Selected Poems

Published by Distant Echo Press, 2016

A casual walk through an orchard of diverse fruit trees may be an apt metaphor for life’s unpredictable journey. Within this collection of over 100 poems, readers glimpse the beauty of nature along with sometimes harsh lessons of history and unintended effects of technology. They also explore the folly of misguided pursuits whether by heroes or adversaries and visit faraway places including the Roman Empire, medieval times, present day Asian cities, geographically spectacular Canada, contrasting American landscapes, and even distant planets. A varied cast of characters from Aesop to Hiawatha, Darwin to Rockefeller, Valentino to Capone, and popular musicians to refugees assist in bringing many of these notable settings to life. Broad in their focus, the poems share a common theme of human adventure and discovery.

Before The World Lost Its Compass

Published by Distant Echo Press, 2016

Follow the experience of a talented female refugee from Syria in an American small town, a young couple who become two of the many Vietnamese boat people, and faculty who struggle in a resource poor historically black private college. Witness both the skill of a psychologist whose advice to a troubled young woman enables her to achieve notoriety as a scientist and the mischievous ways of a ladies’ man who receives his comeuppance in a most unusual way. These and other human interest themes are chronicled in this collection of short stories. The volume also includes more than thirty poems that capture images ranging from the beauty of nature to the chaos caused by human greed.

Whatever Happened to Our Dreams?

Published by Distant Echo Press, 2015

Meet a man who in 1976 offers a compelling claim that he knows who really killed JFK, an African American janitor who in 1954 becomes the most beloved mentor at a wealthy private elementary school, and a college dorm maid who in 1963 runs an off campus bar where she serves underage freshmen. Read first hand accounts of chronically inept university administrators and of corruption in the conduct of the Vietnam war.

This collection of 24 short stories looks beyond mere nostalgia for a past that may or may not have existed to capture various human emotions during different stages of life. The stories, fictional… or some maybe not so fictional, contain a mix of mystery, humor, romance, drama, and unique slants on major historical events.

21 Yesterdays

Published by Friesen Press, 2013

Experience turn of the century life in a small Midwestern town where the visit of President McKinley causes reporters to miss a nearby manned flight more than four years before the Wright Brothers. Attend the last concert of Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens in Iowa before their tragic plane crash in 1959. These and other historical events are presented through the interaction of real and fictional characters.