Noon in Florida doesn’t waste a word — I put everything I had into making Noon in Florida great. It contains 12 stories — about 6,000 words — of my best flash fiction. Here’s the blurb: Noon in Florida delivers realistic flash fiction with no wasted words. By turns angsty, empathetic, and eccentric, these minimalist short-short stories center on…

Relationship advice from a friend and a racing camel — **audio available on Kris Keppeler’s podcast, click here!** “Tom Marley is a racing camel,” Ahmed said. “The fastest in all of the Sinai.” “Tom Marley?” I asked. “Not Bob?” Ahmed appeared somewhat surprised by my ignorance, but the stupidity of tourists is known the world over. Ahmed patiently explained that…

It all started with windmills — Balls to the wall has nothing to do with testicles. Neither does balls out. Both expressions mean working at maximum effort or speed, and the balls in question are part of a device invented in the 17th century — the centrifugal governor. Please, allow me to explain. Centrifugal governors had some balls James Watt designed…

Prompted flash fiction (border collie, castle, Isle of Skye) — The day I slaughtered the first sheep, the three dogs laid their black and white ears back and their deep brown eyes looked away. They didn’t, however, turn their noses up at the chunks of mutton I tossed them a short while later, the fat still sizzling from the fire. …

Prompted flash fiction: hot springs, frog, saloon — People say lots of stupid things. I think we can all agree on that, though I’ve noticed people don’t always agree on what qualifies as stupid. Not that any of you primates ever stops saying more things, though. You all are a chatty bunch. The stupid thing I hear most…

100-word memoir — “I’m telling you now,” my wife said, “since you’ll find out eventually.” I poured coffee and looked outside. February, Southcentral Alaska. It would be dark for hours yet — and bitterly cold. “I used your email,” she said, “to contact a vasectomy-reversal surgeon.” I sipped. “Why?” She shrugged. “Thought it’d…

Prompted flash fiction (a kayak, a knife, a secret) — Joe checks his knife. The steel blade is sheathed in the moose-hide scabbard strapped to his thigh. Next, he pulls the spray skirt tight over the lip of the cockpit and taps the black neoprene four times, once for each of the four directions. …

A fragment from June 2022 — Radios blare from stalls all over the market. Norteño music competes with banda, a fast-talking DJ promotes a livestock auction, and a mariachi trumpet offers a wordless lament that is nearly drowned out by the festive babble of families and friends chatting and laughing as they breakfast on quesadillas made…

Prompted flash fiction (Detroit, supermodel, raindrop) — A signal or four got crossed and the driver dropped me at a party store in Hamtramck. …