Location: United States
Member Since: May 23, 2010

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Barry Rachin

Biography

About the Author

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Barry Rachin spent several years stationed in Yokuska, Japan as a Navy medic caring for casualties during the Vietnam War. He has studied at the University of Jerusalem, lived on a kibbutz for a year and holds a degree in clinical counseling from Simmons College. A self-taught woodworker, he presently lives in Attleboro, Massachusetts with his wife and two daughters.

Smashwords Interview

What is the greatest joy of writing for you?
My greatest joy in writing is the creative process itself – never quite knowing how a particular plotline or character will evolve. Frequently, it becomes a process of personal growth and illumination. Writing creative fiction requires a certain degree of humility along with the willingness to ‘fight through’ all the hackneyed prose in order to find just the right metaphor or imagery. Over the years I have enjoyed a number of hobbies - woodworking, jazz cornet, beekeeping, etc. - but creative writing is, far and away, the most demanding.
What do your fans mean to you?
Fans offer a small measure of validation that my shorts stories are finding an appreciative home in the reading community. I use the term ‘small measure’ because the sort of writing I favor (literary fiction), presently possesses a much smaller audience than it did back in the psychedelic sixties, when I was a college student. Still, a narrow group of readers seem to appreciate my creative fiction and I am eternally grateful for their support.
Read more of this interview.

Series

Collected Short Stories by
The short stories of Barry Rachin collected in five volumes
Collected Short Stories volume I
Price: Free!
Collected Short Stories: Volume II
Price: Free!
Collected Short Stories: Volume III
Price: Free!
Collected Short Stories: Volume IV
Price: Free!
Collected Short Stories: Volume V
Price: Free!

Books

Amina's Vision by
Price: Free! Words: 5,830. Language: English. Published: March 3, 2024 . Categories: Fiction » Christian » Short stories, Fiction » Literature » Literary
(5.00 from 2 reviews)
Amina Jackson is seeing a doctor for retinal occlusion, where a perfectly clear sky is cluttered with gray smudges and filaments that aren’t really there. Now she must confront an equally troublesome sort of vision loss.
Fay's Rebellion by
Price: Free! Words: 5,050. Language: English. Published: July 22, 2023 . Categories: Essay » Literature
Ethan Whitfield has just met his twin soul, the penultimate love of his life, but he has also taken a vow of celibacy which complicates the matter.
Pole Beans by
Price: Free! Words: 5,230. Language: English. Published: June 29, 2020 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
Freda Mullet, who could have been voted 'least likely to succeed' in her high school graduating class, is marrying one of the most illegible bachelor. So how exactly did that come to pass?
Dr. Jekyll and Grandma Heidegger by
Price: Free! Words: 5,450. Language: English. Published: July 15, 2019 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
Seventy-three year-old Grandma Heidegger recently killed a man in the alleyway behind Duggan’s Pharmacy. She shot him with a snub-nosed 38 caliber Ruger. The feisty woman, who concealed the weapon in a ‘flash, bang’ bra holster, harbors no regrets, no remorse.
Minnie Parker's Third Offense by
Price: Free! Words: 4,090. Language: English. Published: June 13, 2019 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
Seventy-two year-old Minnie Parker needs some counterfeit documents – a social security card, birth certificate, bogus health and high school records from a school she never attended. But not to worry. It’s all for a good cause.
Old Age Ain't for Sissies by
Price: Free! Words: 5,680. Language: English. Published: February 18, 2019 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
At two a.m., sixty-eight year-old Jack Monahan got a visit from his neighbor’s wife. Dilshad – the name means ‘joyful' in Persian - is having a panic attack and wants to run away from home. Or, perhaps, she just needs Jack’s help resurrecting her ‘joyless’ marriage.
Heaven's Embroidered Cloths by
Price: Free! Words: 4,860. Language: English. Published: January 25, 2019 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
On his deathbed, Mary McCarthy’s father sputtered, “You should have married the Jew.” The freckle-faced Irishman had always been a notorious practical jokester, a master of utterly tasteless and moronic one-liners, and never once in his seventy-plus years had the defiant braggart apologized to anyone, admitted a mistake or human frailty.
Curbstone Justice by
Price: Free! Words: 6,170. Language: English. Published: January 10, 2019 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary, Fiction » Coming of age
Wally Whitcomb, the town bully, just got hogtied, tarred, feathered and beaten half to death, and sixty-eight year-old Eunice Crabby, who sits behind the reference desk at the Brandenberg Public Library, may be the only one that knows what happened.
The Ne'er-do-wells by
Price: Free! Words: 6,410. Language: English. Published: December 27, 2018 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
Meredith has just traveled cross-country to the boondocks of central Maine to visit her Aunt Gwen, the family pariah and unapologetic ne’er-do-well. For her part, Gwen doesn't even know that her sister married much less has a child.
The Wedding Face by
Price: Free! Words: 5,150. Language: English. Published: October 19, 2018 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary, Fiction » Romance » Short stories
Miriam Jacobs’ parents found their daughter’s future husband on a three-by-five index card in a Jewish marriage broker’s Rolodex file. Forty years later, Miriam wishes they had chosen differently.
The Sympathetic Squirrel by
Price: Free! Words: 4,860. Language: English. Published: September 25, 2018 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
While eating lunch on a park bench, Leslie Carter watches a man recounts his life story to a gray squirrel. The rodent is a sympathetic listener, and there is more than a sliver of truth concealed in the lunatic's obsessive rants.
A Dutiful Wife by
Price: Free! Words: 5,070. Language: English. Published: August 26, 2018 . Categories: Fiction » Inspirational, Fiction » Romance » Short stories
(4.00 from 2 reviews)
In her late sixties, Granny Baxter just stumbled across the love of her life. Problem is, Bernie Mangerelli, who sold lingerie and woman's underwear for the better part of forty years, is a hapless ne’er-do-well and gold digger. Or is he?
The Stockbroker's Cleaning Woman by
Price: Free! Words: 3,480. Language: English. Published: August 2, 2018 . Categories: Fiction » Inspirational, Fiction » Literature » Literary
(2.00 from 1 review)
After a stock portfolio goes haywire, Allen Edgemont, an investment counselor with a Boston-based brokerage firm, seeks advice from a rather unlikely source – the elderly woman who cleans the office complex.
The Unemployed Minimalist by
Price: Free! Words: 5,330. Language: English. Published: June 25, 2018 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
The Hindu mystic, Krishnamurti said it was no measure of health to be adjusted to a profoundly sick society. Stumbling across this sobering truth, Ned Ogilvie has decided to drop out of college – resign from higher education but not the merry-go-round of life.
The Willy-nilly Hedonist by
Price: Free! Words: 5,030. Language: English. Published: May 24, 2018 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
Benjamin Brannigan just discovered that his fiancée, Angela, has been cheating on him since before the engagement. He went to visit his grandmother seeking moral support, but she's got even more unsettling problems of her own.
Turgenev's Lost Tale by
Price: Free! Words: 5,290. Language: English. Published: August 1, 2017 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
Professor Harry Portman, chairman of the English Department, teaches an elective titled Masterpieces of European Literature at Overland Community College. When a student agitator disrupts his class, life begins to mimic art, assuming the tragic trajectory of a Turgenev novella.
Collected Short Stories: Volume V by
Series: Collected Short Stories. Price: Free! Words: 95,590. Language: English. Published: July 27, 2016 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
(5.00 from 1 review)
Twenty-eight year-old Jesse Caldwell is painfully shy, lives at home and hates his moronic life. Miranda Huffington suffers from a gimpy leg and equally stunted personality. This is not your standard Harlequin romance.
Collected Short Stories: Volume IV by
Series: Collected Short Stories. Price: Free! Words: 106,630. Language: English. Published: July 27, 2016 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
(5.00 from 1 review)
* Bethany Glaspell approached the first-ever meeting with Great-uncle Vern, a man who returned from the jungles of Vietnam with a Hmong bride and warped personality, much as a cat burglar might plan his next heist, telling no one, neither friend nor family, her intentions.
Collected Short Stories: Volume III by
Series: Collected Short Stories. Price: Free! Words: 78,390. Language: English. Published: July 27, 2016 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
(5.00 from 1 review)
* A young boy spends a magical weekend with his sister, a former collegiate track star crippled in a freak accident. During the visit he learns a poignant lesson about the resilience of monarch butterflies and the human heart
Collected Short Stories: Volume II by
Series: Collected Short Stories. Price: Free! Words: 105,340. Language: English. Published: July 27, 2016 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
(5.00 from 1 review)
* Grace Paulson’s train wreck of a personal life takes a turn for the better when the elementary school teacher meets a gifted artisan whose handmade jewelry boxes are featured at the local museum. Well-versed in nineteenth century Russian literature, Carl Solomon also happens to be the school janitor.
Collected Short Stories volume I by
Series: Collected Short Stories. Price: Free! Words: 98,010. Language: English. Published: July 25, 2016 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary, Fiction » Literature » Literary
(5.00 from 1 review)
 Pearl Singleton, a forest ranger at the Pemberton Wildlife Preserve, is going to show eighteen year old Shawn Mariano her Osborne Smoke Finder, all six varieties of New England ferns, a beaver dam, and something he never bargained for.  A straight-laced ex-nun must decide what to do with a stolen Sony Trinitron TV. The arrival of a Russian Jew in the apartment complex where she lives resolves
Will the Rain Hurt the Rhubarb? by
Price: Free! Words: 4,150. Language: English. Published: July 6, 2016 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
Misfeasance, malfeasance, nonfeasance – Jason Flanagan needs to make restitution for a crime committed fifteen years earlier. Problem is, the moral indiscretion isn’t punishable in any court of law.
Synchronicity by
Price: Free! Words: 4,860. Language: English. Published: June 27, 2016 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
(5.00 from 1 review)
Gabe and Marie share a mutual disgust for the light-skinned Negro who never cleans up after her Great Dane at the Oak Knoll bird Sanctuary. For the lonely widower and lesbian thespian, their meeting is a textbook case of Jungian synchronicity, a serendipitous wink from the cosmos.
Fatally Flawed Women by
Price: Free! Words: 4,650. Language: English. Published: April 1, 2016 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
Every woman Ernie Summers dated possessed a fatal flaw, which is why he is taking an indefinite sabbatical from the opposite sex. Well, maybe not.
Two Zen Monks by
Price: Free! Words: 5,050. Language: English. Published: November 20, 2015 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
Sarah is travelling to rural Maine to visit an old friend, Midge Parker, who disappeared under peculiar circumstances almost a decade earlier. She drives 400 miles only to discover that Midge has moved on again without leaving any forwarding address. But the journey's end offers an unexpected revelation.
The Hornback Alligator Belt by
Price: Free! Words: 4,910. Language: English. Published: December 22, 2014 . Categories: Fiction » Romance » Short stories
Ralph Tucker wants to reconnect with an old flame, a woman who wears 500-dollar, Orvis, genuine hornback alligator belts. If the failed romance is resurrected from the dead, the middle-aged man may need a second job.
Kindred Spirits by
Price: Free! Words: 4,370. Language: English. Published: June 19, 2014 . Categories: Fiction » Romance » Short stories
(5.00 from 1 review)
Dora's face, an aesthetic work in progress, exudes an unfinished blankness - as though God had become distracted and wandered away from the wet canvas before completing a meager handful of details. Not that any of this makes a difference to lovelorn Harry Jankowski.
Damaged Goods by
Price: Free! Words: 4,870. Language: English. Published: November 6, 2013 . Categories: Fiction » Humor & comedy » General, Fiction » Romance » Short stories
(3.67 from 3 reviews)
Twenty-eight year-old Jesse Caldwell is painfully shy, lives at home and hates his moronic life. Miranda Huffington suffers from a gimpy leg and equally stunted personality. This is not your standard Harlequin romance.
Devotion by
Price: Free! Words: 3,450. Language: English. Published: May 8, 2013 . Categories: Fiction » Humor & comedy » Satire
Ralph Tucker is dating a woman who favors Orvis, genuine hornback crocodile belts. The dainty accessories retails for just under six hundred dollars. If Ralph’s romance blossoms, he’s going to need a second job.
A Guide for the Perplexed by
Price: Free! Words: 2,330. Language: English. Published: March 20, 2012 . Categories: Fiction » Romance » Contemporary
(5.00 from 1 review)
In the rear of Levinson's Wholefood Market, the owner's son, Ernie, just told Shifrah Fienberg that he wants to marry. The emotionally irascible Israeli would have preferred a first date or dozen long-stemmed rose.
Sanitation by
Price: Free! Words: 2,770. Language: English. Published: January 27, 2012 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
Maria Santos, who just bought the Breakfast Nook, knows nothing about cross-contamination, pest control, immersion gauges or reduced-oxygen packaging. The new health inspector is every restaurant owner’s worse nightmare, but Maria needn’t worry. She’s got an ace up her culinary sleeve.
The Moribund Moose by
Price: Free! Words: 6,230. Language: English. Published: December 8, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
Ruth Ostrowski’s midlife crisis hadn’t arrived in the normally prescribed manner. Rather, it snuck up on her incrementally, one negligible tribulation after another; it bushwhacked her with night sweats, sent her caterwauling toward menopause and the outer rim of her twilight years. Now, compounding her inner blight, the first frost, like a silver-haired, uninvited guest, blanketed the earth.
The Third Fairy Tale by
Price: Free! Words: 8,390. Language: English. Published: November 17, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
Sixteen-year-old Ned Scoletti is travelling north on a Greyhound bus from Fort Pierce, Florida to Spaulding, Massachusetts, to visit Aunt Josie. Problem is, his mother’s identical twin sister died when Nick was just a toddler. Or maybe not.
Leaky Pipes by
Price: Free! Words: 4,410. Language: English. Published: October 25, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
Bartholomew Schroeder, a recent widower and retired plumber, can sweat pipes and fix broken toilets, but, on a weekend excursion to Martha's Vineyard, can he mend a teenage girl's broken spirit?
Hummus by
Price: Free! Words: 7,750. Language: English. Published: October 20, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
Seventeen-year-old Sonny Gossage is infatuated with Naomi Shamir, the Israeli woman who lives down the street. He wants romance; all she can offer is a plate of hummus and occaisional babysitting job.
Guide for the Perplexed by
Price: Free! Words: 2,310. Language: English. Published: October 3, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
Ernie Levinson wants to marry Shifrah Fienberg, but the Israeli woman, whose background prior to coming to work at Levinsons Whole Food Market remains an impenetrable mystery, feels that a dozen roses or first date might be a bit more appropriate.
I & Thou by
Price: Free! Words: 4,050. Language: English. Published: October 3, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
Since going on birth control in middle school, Celeste has been on a tear, but all that sexual carnage will come to an abrupt halt when she meets the Hasidic Jew.
Hieronymus Bosch's American Landscape by
Price: Free! Words: 3,700. Language: English. Published: September 8, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
Bethany Glaspell approached the first-ever meeting with Great-uncle Vern, a man who returned from the jungles of Vietnam with a Hmong bride and warped personality, much as a cat burglar might plan his next heist, telling no one, neither friend nor family, her intentions.
The Reluctant Bigamist by
Price: Free! Words: 7,880. Language: English. Published: June 28, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
Mickey Pisludski wears a chain of armor piercing, machine gun shells around his thick neck. The week after his Army discharge, he bored the quarter-inch holes in the soft, brass casings, later threading the bullets together on a length of rawhide. Like so many gold, sharks teeth, the shells fanned out across a khaki T-shirt with a gash under the left armpit.
Twin Souls by
Price: Free! Words: 6,000. Language: English. Published: June 14, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Romance » General
Mavis Calhoun, who works the cash register at the Shop Rite Supermarket, is going to teach Harry Wong Smith the fine points of Rumi’s mystical poetry and common decency.
Narcissus and Goldberg by
Price: Free! Words: 1,990. Language: English. Published: May 5, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
Beatrice Goldberg doesn't much like Hispanics, biker broads, Franciscan monks, skinheads, or even salt-of-the-earth blue collar types, but she is going to get a double dose of all of the above, when she visits Our Lady of La Salette Shrine in Attleboro, Massachusetts.
The Herb Gatherer's Disciple by
Price: Free! Words: 5,150. Language: English. Published: April 29, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary, Fiction » Coming of age
Seventeen year-old Laurel Evers is running off to a fictional village in rural Maine in search of an idyllic existence that hasn’t existed since the era of the horse and buggy. Life was more pastoral then. People fished and hunted. They grew their own potato crops and made throat lozenges from locally-grown spearmint boiled in metal cauldrons over the stove.
107 Degrees Fahrenheit by
Price: Free! Words: 5,720. Language: English. Published: April 15, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
(4.00 from 1 review)
A young boy spends a magical weekend with his sister, a former collegiate track star crippled in a freak accident. During the visit he learns a poignant lesson about the resilience of monarch butterflies and the human heart
A Work in Progress by
Price: Free! Words: 4,210. Language: English. Published: April 11, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
(5.00 from 1 review)
Tawana Saunders is writing the great American novel. Problem is, six months into the project, she’s only got a rough draft plus three lousy paragraphs.
The Chiropractor's Assistant by
Price: Free! Words: 84,220. Language: English. Published: February 7, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
(4.00 from 1 review)
Epistemology - When Ronda Wickford, the assistant manager of Brandenburg’s ShopRite Supermarket, inadvertently hires a middle-age man with a PhD in philosophy to run the fresh produce department, weird things begin to happen. As events unfold, she learns a thing or two about Wittgenstein’s linguistic theories, common decency and how to fix a leaky faucet.
Fun with Dick and Jane by
Price: Free! Words: 2,210. Language: English. Published: February 1, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
(5.00 from 1 review)
Dick wants fun. He has no dog. He has no cat. No Spot. No Puff. But he has a plan. See Dick board the plane. See Dick fly away. Far, far away. Hello happiness! Goodbye Jane
Gandhi's Goat by
Price: Free! Words: 5,820. Language: English. Published: January 25, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
Mrs. Chowdhary named her youngest daughter after Saint Theresa, the Little Flower of Jesus. Unfortunately, Terry has more in common with Attila the Hun than her nineteenth century namesake.
The Reticent Storyteller by
Price: Free! Words: 4,190. Language: English. Published: November 29, 2010 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
Parker Salisbury is dating a girl with the social graces of a cigar store Indian. So why is he giving Lilly an engagement ring later this evening?
A Key to Paradise by
Price: Free! Words: 42,710. Language: English. Published: November 19, 2010 . Categories: Fiction » Romance » General
(5.00 from 1 review)
Grace Paulson’s train wreck of a personal life takes a turn for the better when the elementary school teacher meets a gifted artisan whose handmade jewelry boxes are featured at the local museum. Well-versed in nineteenth century Russian literature, Carl Solomon also happens to be the school janitor.
Legal Procedures by
Price: Free! Words: 3,710. Language: English. Published: November 16, 2010 . Categories: Fiction » Literature » Literary
Phoebe’s Aunt Janet, who has been married six times, is advising her niece on affairs of the heart. Good Luck Phoebe!
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craetive writing    creative fiction    fiction    fiction prose    free story    friendship    ghandi    humor    humor philosophy    humorous story    literary    literary fiction    literary humor    literature    love    minority issues    mysticism    novel    novella    philosophy    prose    pysychology    religion    romance    satire humor    short fiction    short stories    short story    spiritual    spirituality    stories    story    story of hope    war    womens issues