On this date last year, hours after being notified that my father died, I learned that contest editors chose my short story “Deal with God” for publication in an anthology titled “Reaching the Dead End.”
One year to the day, my story about a lakeside memorial reading of a banker’s will, “Betsy’s Boy,” which inspired an artist to draw two sketches by hand, was published in Classic Chicago magazine. Read “Betsy’s Boy” here.
Listen to the author read “Betsy’s Boy” here.
Read about Scott Holleran’s Classic Chicago magazine winter trilogy.
Related Episodes, Links and Articles
Read “Betsy’s Boy” in Classic Chicago magazine
Love Poetry
Like politics, and, in a different way, like religion, holidays are uniquely personal to one’s past, one’s childhood—the psychology you develop and create in whatever mysterious way it manifests in you—one’s philosophy. I think this is particularly true of Valentine’s Day. What does Valentine’s Day mean to you?
Winter Fiction Trilogy in Chicago
This is the story of mine becoming the first fiction to be published in a Chicago magazine. I think it’s relevant because it shows the power of persistence and that man is, in Ayn Rand’s words, a being of volitional consciousness—he must choose to think—and that progress happens slowly, not faster than the speed of sound, with an effort to achieve clarity, commitment, consistency, connection and contemplation.
Summer Preview
When I launched the podcast this year, I wanted to create an outlet for reading my short stories. Happily, “Deal With God,” the first tale in this series, was picked up for publication in an anthology (Reaching the Dead End, Free Spirit Publisher; March 2024).
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