Location: United States
Member Since: Feb. 22, 2010
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Michael Jasper


Biography

I grew up in the small town of Dyersville, Iowa, home of “The Field of Dreams.”

I've published eight novels, one short story collection, two non-fiction ebooks, and six dozen short stories in places such as Asimov's, Strange Horizons, O. Henry Festival Stories, Polyphony, Writers of the Future, and the Raleigh News & Observer. My website is http://michaeljasper.net.

With artist Niki Smith, I created the digital comic IN MAPS & LEGENDS, which won the November 2009 competition at DC Comics' Zuda website; the comic is available via UnWrecked Press at a variety of digital distributors. For more information, see http://InMapsAndLegendsComic.com.

In the past I’ve tried bartending, teaching junior high, painting houses, being a secret shopper, working construction, and many more jobs; I prefer fiction writing. For my day job, I work as a technical writer at a software company.

Where to find Michael Jasper online

Website: http://michaeljasper.net
Twitter: michaeljasper
Facebook: Facebook profile
Blog: http://michaeljasper.wordpress.com/journal/

Where to buy in print

http://michaeljasper.wordpress.com/store/

Books

Finder    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 7160 words. Published on November 8, 2011. Fiction.
Bim and Hanky J find people. Hanky J is the procedure guy, with some mad computer skills to go along with his burning desire to make sure nobody remains missing long. Bim gets to find people for Hanky J, with his strange skill that neither of them like to discuss -- if he eats enough of the missing person's favorite food, Bim can make a connection. But the cost might be too great for this case...
Finders Keepers    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 8070 words. Published on November 8, 2011. Fiction.
Teenagers Mark and his older brother Dennis aren't happy about moving with their parents to the Oregon coast right before the fall semester of high school. Mark plans to make the best of it, but Dennis refuses. Determined to find a way to escape, Dennis thinks he may have succeeded when he and Mark uncover a series of glass balls hidden in the dark sand of the beach outside town.
Comfort and Joy    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 4350 words. Published on November 8, 2011. Fiction.
Two things, and two things only, kept Lew Zimmerman from quitting his job at the toy factory. The first was driving Marty Thier to and from work. The second thing that kept Lew from quitting was his desire to get under Marty’s skin during their fifteen-minute trip through their sleepy hometown before and after work. A story about two guys in a rut who are about to get knocked for a loop.
Riverrun Alley    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 7720 words. Published on November 8, 2011. Fiction.
In the ramshackle slum of Riverrun Alley, just east of the City of All-Worlds, winter started early and stayed longer than an uninvited guest, and Tockle the otherworlder was beginning to doubt he’d ever see spring. In a land filled with aliens, nobody is at home, and Tockle feels this the most at the height of winter. He hopes to drive off the chill with holiday tales from his diverse friends.
What the Land Takes    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 7140 words. Published on November 8, 2011. Fiction.
"I was three when the power takeoff assassinated my older brother. Like a hit man for the thirsty ground, the machine snagged my brother's coat sleeve and ripped his eleven-year-old body from the ground. He spun like a top until all I could see was his blood in the air, forming a wall." A dark tale of loss, revenge, and one man's battle against a hungry, bloodthirsty land.
Takedown    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 7660 words. Published on November 8, 2011. Fiction.
Andy doesn't want to be at the tournament, yelling at his young wrestlers until he loses his voice. He wants to spend his Saturday with Sarah, the older sister of his best wrestler, and find out why she thinks she needs time away. But he has to be responsible and do his job, despite the coldness filling him with each match.
Home Court Advantage    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 8410 words. Published on November 8, 2011. Fiction.
Steve Johnson is the new teacher at the tiny high school next to the Indian reservation, and as a result, he can't say no when his boss recruits him to help referee the upcoming varsity basketball game against Winnebago. Steve feels superior to the townies, who in turn feel superior to the 'Bago players and residents. By the end of the game, new lessons will be learned by all.
Death in the City    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 7550 words. Published on November 8, 2011. Fiction.
"His story can be summed up in this cold, uncaring manner: another death, another homeless man found, this time on a bench next to the river. His name was Porter. These few facts are the only I truly know, without speculation." A tale of one man's desperation and another man's determination, though neither man truly knows one another, despite living so close together in the city.
Breathing Trouble    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 7870 words. Published on November 8, 2011. Fiction.
Joe was too good for this town, too good for this life that the world had carved out for him. Which was why, of course, he was sitting in a bar, drowning his sorrows the night Andie walked in, took his breath away, and changed his life. Whether that change was for the better or not is left to be seen... First published in The Pedestal Magazine.
The Brotherhood of Trees    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 6720 words. Published on November 8, 2011. Fiction.
In an attempt to get in better shape, Matthew has taken to jogging in the woods behind his house with his two dogs. One morning he encounters a strange visitor to his woods: a boy, lost. He and his partner Fred never wanted kids, but Matthew forms a bond with the boy that he neglects to tell his partner about. First published in Aeon SF, this is a story about aging, selflessness, and compassion.
Repeat Performance    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 1920 words. Published on November 2, 2011. Fiction.
"'Are we taping?' she asked, pulling down the sheets of the bed and crawling on top of it, naked." ... A guy, a girl, and a video camera. What sort of trouble could he get into? A humorous tale of young love and putting on an act in the hopes of getting the right (ahem) outcome.
Making Digital Books: Formatting and Selling Your Novels and Stories as Ebooks    by Michael Jasper
Price: $2.99 USD. 12760 words. Published on November 1, 2011. Nonfiction.
(5.00 from 1 review)
What are digital books, and how are authors going digital with ebooks? This book answers those questions, and more. You get detailed explanations of how to format, upload, and sell your novels and stories as ebooks at over half a dozen sites. You'll find tips from an experienced ebook creator and author, including some excellent marketing ideas that won't take up all your time, nor break the bank.
The Disillusionist    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 7300 words. Published on November 1, 2011. Fiction.
"I was a day behind him, riding west as fast as my horse would allow. He held my future in his rotting, trembling hands, though neither of us knew it then." In the summer of 1834, a newly deputized journeyman finds himself hot on the heels of the monstrous man known only as the Disillusionist. Can an honest man defeat such a being? A dark fantasy tale from the distant past.
Family, New and Old    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 10070 words. Published on October 27, 2011. Fiction.
Tommy Roling has an awful secret he can't share with anyone but his mother, and now that he's a father, he's worried his daughter may have inherited his particular condition. A condition that leads him to run wild in the fields outside his small-town Iowa home, with every full moon. He both hopes and fears his infant daughter will share his genes. Part of the novel Family, Pack (also an ebook).
The Champ Escapes    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 13540 words. Published on October 18, 2011. Fiction.
As if newly promoted coach George Grunion's job wasn't hard enough... He has a team of men (and one woman) from around the world, from all nationalities, and they're barely scraping by in the early years of the first world war. And then, the team faces off against Jack Johnson, the heavyweight champ of the world, in a winner-takes-all baseball game. Part of The All Nations Team (also an ebook).
In the Process of Disappearing    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 8120 words. Published on October 11, 2011. Fiction.
Kaitlin Grayson knows she needs to get on with her life, but she can't seem to move ahead. Sometimes, she feels like she's disappearing... just like her grandfather did, almost a decade ago. His absence tears at her, holding her in place. Until the day she finds his favorite hat. A prequel to the digital comic In Maps & Legends.
The Rise & Fall of Basskick    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 5960 words. Published on October 6, 2011. Fiction.
"The year I turned forty was the year it hit me at last that I wasn't going to make it as a rock star." Getting old is a nasty realization to have to make. But when our hero small-town buddies got together to form a hard-rock band a decade and a half ago, they had something. A kind of magic. Can they grab that magic again, years later? A follow-on to the novel The Prodigal Sons (also an ebook).
This Divided Land    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 6570 words. Published on September 29, 2011. Fiction.
"Once upon a time, not long from now, there lived two people who had fallen in love." Though separated by distance and a nearly insurmountable border, they were determined to be together, no matter the cost. A tale of love that lights up the darkness of a science-fictional near-future. First published in Jigsaw Nation, May 2006.
Remainders    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 9130 words. Published on September 22, 2011. Fiction.
As a man with a past he'd rather forget, Jaret Lazarus cares little for history. But at the present, he's must lead his ten-creature crew of alien conscripts onto a dying planet to clear the place of any "remainders" still living there. But Jaret finds that he can't run from his past in this hard-edged, prize-winning science fiction story.
The Death Sentence    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 6040 words. Published on September 15, 2011. Fiction.
"The City had never been cleaner, safer, or quieter than it was on Erik Dankelson’s twenty-ninth birthday, and he couldn’t have been more heartsick about it." When all you want to do is be able to speak your mind, but all society wants is to keep everything clean, what do you end up with? The death sentence, the last words Erik Dankelson will ever speak.
The Deck    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 7060 words. Published on September 8, 2011. Fiction.
In the not-too-disant future, space is at a premium, and parking decks are no exceptions. Poor Jerry Lassiter and new Ford Slipstream are about to learn the dangers of illegally parking. The lesson is to be delivered by the infamous park-cop, Officer Strickland, who's about to begin his second shift of enforcing the Old Raleigh Downtown Parking Deck. Three strikes and you're out.
Contemporary Fantasy Five-Pack    by Michael Jasper
Price: $2.99 USD. 27890 words. Published on August 31, 2011. Fiction.
Five stories set in today's world, but with some strange, possibly magical twists to reality, by Michael Jasper (In Maps & Legends and A Sudden Outbreak of Magic). Stories include "Skidmark and Mudbeam," "Finders, Keepers," "Family, New and Old," and "Finder." Watch as reality and the weird collide.
Halloween Six-Pack    by Michael Jasper
Price: $2.99 USD. 24310 words. Published on August 31, 2011. Fiction.
Six stories of spooks, freaks, ghosts, and dark tasks, from author Michael Jasper (Family, Pack and A Sudden Outbreak of Magic). Stories include "Black Angels," "One Night in Rosecroft," "The Disillusionist," "Painting Haiti," "Never, Incorporated," and "A Tale of Two Shits." (Yes, you read that last one right.) Enjoy!
Science Fiction Five-Pack    by Michael Jasper
Price: $2.99 USD. 25790 words. Published on August 31, 2011. Fiction.
Five stories of dark and turbulent futures, the best and worst of characters, and a range of science fiction themes and sub-genres, by author Michael Jasper (The Wannoshay Cycle and A Sudden Outbreak of Magic). Stories include "Working the Game," "The Death Sentence," "Unplugged," "Remainders," and "The Deck."
The Last Sorcerer    by Michael Jasper
Price: $1.49 USD. 17680 words. Published on August 30, 2011. Fiction.
An old man sleeping in a cardboard box in snowy Chicago holds the secret of sorcery in his head. But thanks to the damage done to him by using magic decades ago, he doesn't realize it. But when two teens try to jump him in an alley, the magic Words come back to him. And soon Chicago has a sudden outbreak of magic on its hands... An earlier version of A Sudden Outbreak of Magic (also an ebook)
Dark Fantasy Five-Pack    by Michael Jasper
Price: $2.99 USD. 28930 words. Published on August 28, 2011. Fiction.
Five tales of dark, contemporary fantasy from author Michael Jasper, including: “Gunning for the Buddha,” “Natural Order,” ”Visions of Suburban Bliss,” “Coal Ash and Sparrows,” and ”Goddamn Redneck Surfer Zombies.”
A Game of Contact    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 10430 words. Published on August 25, 2011. Fiction.
A group of boys playing Dungeons & Dragons in the '80s. A high-tech worker finding an old friend in Baghdad, of all places. And a man who spends most of his life in a cocoon of his own making. These three stories come together in this science fiction tale of the past and future. Originally published in the Exquisite Corpuscle anthology.
Painting Haiti    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 8090 words. Published on August 17, 2011. Fiction.
Claudia drives a taxi and paints, but not necessarily in that order. She must face a new form of violence in her adopted city of Raleigh, a kind of violence that bring back dark echoes from her past, when she was living in Haiti with her family.
High Fantasy Four-Pack    by Michael Jasper
Price: $2.99 USD. 30150 words. Published on August 17, 2011. Fiction.
Four tales of high fantasy from author Michael Jasper, including: "The City of All-Worlds," "Heart and Map, Ink and Blade," "Meet the Madfeet," and "An Outrider's Tale." Stories of other worlds, of violence, and of love.
An Outrider's Tale    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 8020 words. Published on August 11, 2011. Fiction.
A mysterious hulk of a man, a tragic romance, and a violent life among a band of criminals and outcasts. This is the tale of a distant land and a curse that shattered two lives, and one man's hope for their reunion and redemption.
Meet the Madfeet    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 8240 words. Published on August 4, 2011. Fiction.
Forget the friendly hobbits of the Shire, and the kind smiles of Gandalf the Grey. "Meet the Madfeet" brings you hobbits gone bad, as our young wizard hero is forced by the Wizard's Guild to protect the Madfeet who live in caves carved out of the petrified mud and crumbling rock of the Brown Hills. And yes, there is a dragon in our hero's future...
Heart and Map, Ink and Blade    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 7200 words. Published on July 28, 2011. Fiction.
"She was broken by the dawn." Juliana waits for her lover to return, shivering in the cold, waiting, waiting... Until she can wait no longer and she takes matters -- and her family's buried sword -- into her own hands. A journey full of danger, surprises, and heartwrenching twists of fate await her in the unmapped territories...
The City of All-Worlds    by Michael Jasper
Price: $1.49 USD. 13280 words. Published on July 21, 2011. Fiction.
Bartolamus the Sorcerer is dying, and his apprentice approaches his bedside with a silver whistle in his right hand and a tarnished bell in his left. The wizard shares his history and his plans for one last quest, and the worldview of his young apprentice shifts violently as a result. Learn more about the weird City of All-Worlds and the portal at its center in this fantasy novelette.
A Sudden Outbreak of Magic    by Michael Jasper
Price: $7.99 USD. 83950 words. Published on July 18, 2011. Fiction.
Kelley Strickland and her family just moved to Dubuque, Iowa, after some trouble in Chicago. One cold morning in November, Kelley gets "infected" by magic after reading aloud from a small leatherbound book she finds. Soon Kelley and Jeroan must face a power-hungry Sorcerer who wants to rid the world of what he calls "renegade" magic-users. A novel about power, growing up, and responsibility.
Skidmark and Mudbeam    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 7040 words. Published on July 13, 2011. Fiction.
A man's daily walk veers off into a trip into what slowly becomes a nightmare, as he encounters an odd homeless man outside his safe office who begins to haunt him. They strike a deal that may or may not be just what our hero wanted, after all...
Mother of the Bride    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 7160 words. Published on July 7, 2011. Fiction.
She just wanted the perfect wedding for her daughter, Angelina. Her little Angel. But Angel's little Yankee fiancee is outside the bedroom door now, knocking, and she won't let him in. Not after what happened in there...
Unplugged    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 9900 words. Published on June 30, 2011. Fiction.
Rehab for cyberpunk hackers. Mickey's been here before, with a head full of junk, trying to get better so he can go back to his Lia. This is Jonathan's first trip to Rubin’s non-tech health facility, and being away from his tech is making him start to melt down. Find out how two recovering cyber-cowboys decide to reboot their lives, if they choose that option at all... A near-future SF tale.
Gunning for the Buddha (story)    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 10940 words. Published on June 23, 2011. Fiction.
You know what they say - if you meet Buddha on the road, kill him. A group of misfits pile into their souped-up '75 Firebird and travel the world in search of false Buddhas. This band of anti-establishment punks have also stumbled across the secrets of time travel (hint: it involves bridges). Strap on your seat belt for a violent ride through time and space, in search of Buddhas on the road...
Goddamn Redneck Surfer Zombies    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 7470 words. Published on June 16, 2011. Fiction.
"People stopped coming to the North Carolina coast when the dead returned to the beach after four decades away." A story about a small beach town that's slowly dying, only to have a wave of zombies drop in on them. On surfboards. A tale of life, death, and life after death, but most of all, a story about living.
Mud and Salt    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 7430 words. Published on June 9, 2011. Fiction.
In the near future, three armed men enter a snowy woods in search of a runaway alien. Only two men will walk away from the trees in this story of violence and first contact. "Mud and Salt" was first published in Writers of the Future 16 in September 2000, and it was reprinted in The Wannoshay Cycle (also an ebook).
Crossing the Camp    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 7910 words. Published on June 2, 2011. Fiction.
Two priests, one young and one old, stand at the gates to the detainment camp where the alien Wannoshay have been rounded up and contained. On this day, they will learn valuable lessons not only from each other, but from the aliens themselves. "Crossing the Camp" was first published at Strange Horizons and was reprinted in the SF novel "The Wannoshay Cycle" (also an ebook).
Wantaviewer    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 14150 words. Published on May 26, 2011. Fiction.
A young girl with a nasty drug habit finds inspiration with the newly arrived aliens in her small Canadian town. She starts recording them, and witnesses their integration into human society firsthand. And then a tragedy strikes that reverses all of her hopes and dreams about the future. Part of The Wannoshay Cycle (also an ebook).
Back to the Old Neighborhood    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 7340 words. Published on May 19, 2011. Fiction.
Continuing the story started in "Explosions," Terri makes good on her promise to find out just what caused the fatal explosions at her former place of employment, the brewery. So she goes back home to her old neighborhood, determined to meet one of the alien Wannoshay, to get the whole story. She gets that, and more in this near-future SF story. Part of The Wannoshay Cycle (also an ebook).
Explosions    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 8390 words. Published on May 12, 2011. Fiction.
"Of course everyone blames the aliens. But they were working right up until ten minutes before the blast, that’s what really bothers me, and that’s what makes me think it was all just bad timing." A near-future SF story about a mother, her daughter, and how they react to the integration of aliens into their neighborhood, school, and job. Part of The Wannoshay Cycle (also an ebook).
Redemption, Drawing Near    by Michael Jasper
Price: $1.49 USD. 13800 words. Published on May 4, 2011. Fiction.
"There were armed soldiers in Father Joshua’s church again." An aging priest in the near future becomes one of the first humans allowed to interact with the alien Wannoshay -- creatures whose ships have crash-landed on the Great Plains of America and Canada. Father Joshua finds his faith tested as well as his own beliefs about humanity. Part of The Wannoshay Cycle (also an ebook).
Drinker    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 12280 words. Published on April 26, 2011. Fiction.
There are Elders, and then there are Drinkers. Our narrator, alas, is a Drinker, and his life on the planet called Wannoshay is one of hardship and unimaginable labors: he must travels many miles to gather water and carry it back to his people, in his belly. A prequel story to the novel The Wannoshay Cycle (also an ebook).
Visions of Suburban Bliss    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 9930 words. Published on April 13, 2011. Fiction.
"Richard Tolliver was proud of the fact that his was the first black family to move into the Olde Carriage Ridgewood subdivision in Cary, North Carolina." A twisted tale of the delusions and visions and dreams that guide us through our days, and the lies we tell ourselves and our loved ones. Suburban horror at its most cutting, and most explosive...
A Miracle in Shreveport    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 9660 words. Published on April 7, 2011. Fiction.
"We were lucky to make it out of Shreveport alive on that early spring day in 1917." A story of the first truly integrated baseball team, decades before Jackie Robinson, set during the early years of World War I. Magic, miracles, and more... Part of the historical baseball novel, The All Nations Team (also an ebook).
Coal Ash and Sparrows    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 10180 words. Published on March 30, 2011. Fiction.
"Lina Seymour had been putting off going into the barn all day. Less than a week ago, the doctor had come to tell her, her mother, and her younger sister about her father’s fall from the church roof." A story of a book, trains, boats, barns, heroes, and loss, along with impossible things like talking sparrows... and magic! Related to the novel A Sudden Outbreak of Magic (also an ebook).
Formatting Comics for the Kindle and Nook: A Step-By-Step Guide to Images and Ebooks    by Michael Jasper
Price: $2.99 USD. 6940 words. Published on March 23, 2011. Nonfiction.
0.5 star(4.50 from 2 reviews)
Formatting comics and image-heavy eBooks can be a confusing and sometimes frustrating task. Every e-reader on the market has a different screen size, meaning that as a creator/publisher, you have to format your comic multiple times. This how-to guide covers how to assemble your comic pages or other images for Amazon's Kindle and Barnes & Noble's Nook. Now updated for the new Nook Touch Reader!
What Was Left Standing: Four Stories    by Michael Jasper
Price: $2.99 USD. 11640 words. Published on March 18, 2011. Fiction.
Four interconnected stories about rough lives, tough choices, and bittersweet loves. Meet Joey and his Pop (who isn't really his father), Ellie and her boyfriend (who will become her grudging husband), and the odd and intriguing people who come and go over the course of an eventful year in small-town North Carolina.
Siding the House    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 4750 words. Published on February 24, 2011. Fiction.
(5.00 from 1 review)
The often-silenced voices of the various members of a rural family speak out in this story set on a dead-end road in the country, as two white men come to work on their house. "I love summer because I get to ride my bike and run races all day with my best friend Toshera from down the road and I can stay outside until Grandma yells me in for supper."
Winter Hunt    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 3860 words. Published on February 15, 2011. Fiction.
Two brothers, armed, walk into a snow-filled woods, in search of their father as well as deer. Brad, the younger, has been away at college, while William has been the good son, staying at home to help his father on the family farm. And Mom just left Dad... A story of family and the damage the members can do to one another, as well as the chance each one has at saving the others.
Working the Game    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 8930 words. Published on February 10, 2011. Fiction.
"I knew it was going to be a bad day when I saw the scrag almost get cut in half twenty minutes after work began." In the future, scrags work outside the wall, dreaming of one day earning enough to go inside to the cocoons and security. Marcus and his girlfriend believe the dream, but reality is more of a nightmare...
Fences    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 5310 words. Published on January 22, 2011. Fiction.
One cold morning in the middle of nowhere, a young man struggles to finish the fence he's building for his disapproving father. Nobody asked his neighbor, but wheezy old Ray joins him anyway. "Jasper’s writing is full of vivid descriptions of the struggle of digging fenceposts, the chain-smoking neighbor with emphysema, and Canton’s own internal struggles." — Greensboro News & Record
The Fifty-Minute Nietzsche    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 1930 words. Published on January 22, 2011. Fiction.
"Peter rushed into the classroom and fell onto a seat at the bottom of the horseshoe of tables aimed at the professor. Pulling a three-ring binder from his rain-soaked bag, he squeezed his toes in the wet lining of his shoes and wished he could be somewhere else." Brothers, a memory of a skateboard, and an endless class on literary theory. A short story about reality, imagined and otherwise.
Wrecked    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 4180 words. Published on January 20, 2011. Fiction.
"My day so far had been pretty gray, but at least I hadn’t butted my head into a windshield like the guy driving this Festiva just did. The windshield was a maze of tiny little cracks, and I couldn’t tell if he was alive or not." One man's story of a choice made on a narrow two-lane, far from anyone else but the travelers in a wrecked car... and himself.
Natural Order    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 8620 words. Published on January 11, 2011. Fiction.
They picked me up outside Wilmington, North Carolina, just before the rain began, but not before the gale-force winds blew the cigarette out of my mouth. In the dark, I touched the fresh pack of Camels in my coat pocket with relief, feeling more tired than usual. But as long as I had my smokes and my ride, the wind and the rain didn’t bother me. That was just my nature. In a matter of speaking.
The Doorstop Thieves    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 3290 words. Published on December 30, 2010. Fiction.
"When I was eleven years old, my best friend was Chris Thomas, and together we were doorstop thieves." In a small Iowa town, two sixth-graders create their own brand of mischief during their final year at the Catholic elementary school -- they steal all the doorstops in the entire school, including the replacements set out each new day. All's fun and games until Sister Virginia gets involved.
Orc in the Family    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 2530 words. Published on December 30, 2010. Fiction.
"It always rains here in the heart of the Sludge Mountains." Humans aren't the only creatures who must deal with unappreciative offspring and housing problems, not to mention bad backs and body odor. Our hero, once a member of the Orkish Army, has his hands full with his family. Is it so wrong for an elderly orc to try to get some rest after a hard life? And still the rain falls...
The Chicken Project    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 2520 words. Published on December 22, 2010. Fiction.
William Koopman could never get off the family farm, while John Koopman had no other place to go. As adults, the two brothers find themselves living together again, to their dismay. John must not only straighten up his life, but provide for the one hundred and eighty baby chickens his father just bought home for John to raise on their farm. Related to the novel The Prodigal Sons (also an ebook).
Triplets: Brief Tales of the Future, Futility, and Family    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 2310 words. Published on December 22, 2010. Fiction.
Three short-shorts about a pair of futures that we hope will never be, and a past that's shrouded in failed memories and exaggerated bravado. Brief glimpses of lives we wouldn't necessarily want to share, but stories we need to hear.
The All Nations Team    by Michael Jasper
Price: $7.99 USD. 103260 words. Published on September 3, 2010. Fiction.
(4.00 from 1 review)
The All Nations Team tells the story of the first fully integrated, "post-racial" baseball team, very loosely based on an actual team that played in the years before World War I. Haunted by the ghost of their white, former head coach, George must hold the All Nations together, or he'll miss his chance to reunite with his estranged family. If he doesn't score this final run, he loses everything.
The Inverted Bearded Boy of Chicago    by Michael Jasper
Price: $0.99 USD. 8350 words. Published on June 29, 2010. Fiction.
A story about magic, the true cause of the Chicago fire, and a bunch of adventurers gathered together to tell their tales, while a shadowy stranger lurks outside… The story is also part of a Chain Story called The Wanderers’ Club. Each story in this anthology is connected, though you can read the stories in any order. This story is part of my novel A Sudden Outbreak of Magic (also an ebook).
The Prodigal Sons    by Michael Jasper
Price: $5.99 USD. 75500 words. Published on February 24, 2010. Fiction.
At 30, William Koopman knows he needs to move out of the family farm house, where he still lives with his parents and grandmother. But his wife escapes first. A week after she leaves him, William's shiftless younger brother returns home. As rain pelts the family farm all season, William must go after Marcy, keep from killing his brother, and save the farm - and maybe himself - in the process.
Heart's Revenge    by Michael Jasper
Price: $6.99 USD. 78570 words. Published on February 24, 2010. Fiction.
Off the rough coast of North Carolina's Outer Banks, Ella tracks down one man -- the infamous pirate Blackbeard. Her goal is to ID his shipwreck off the coast of Ocracoke Island, but she and her divemaster Mitch discover much more than that. They find mystery, adventure, and even romance as they struggle to stay alive against long-dead pirates, including Blackbeard's headless ghost.
The Wannoshay Cycle    by Michael Jasper
Price: $6.99 USD. 108990 words. Published on February 24, 2010. Fiction.
In a near future filled with violence from terrorists and suicide cultists, the Wannoshay aliens crash-land on the Great Plains of America and Canada. A handful of humans who made early contact with the Wannoshay converge on the aliens' mother ship to stand up for the oppressed aliens' rights. Once there, however, they soon learn that the aliens, just like humans, are not without guilt, either.
Gunning for the Buddha    by Michael Jasper
Price: $6.99 USD. 87740 words. Published on February 24, 2010. Fiction.
Gunning for the Buddha collects fifteen stories that range from near-future science fiction to historical dark fantasy and contemporary horror, touching on a range of genres in the process. All but two of the stories were previously published in magazines such as Asimov's, Strange Horizons, and Writers of the Future. Take a look at the stories that Publishers Weekly called "evocative and vivid."

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