Fiction – Windhovering

Why are we reading, if not in hope of beauty laid bare, life heightened and its deepest mystery probed? Can the writer isolate and vivify all in experience that most deeply engages our intellects and our hearts? … Why are we reading if not in hope that the writer will magnify and dramatize our days, will illuminate and inspire us with wisdom, courage, and the possibility of meaningfulness, and will press upon our minds the deepest mysteries, so that we may feel again their majesty and power?

―Annie Dillard, The Writing Life

Fiction is about everything human and we are made out of dust, and if you scorn getting yourself dusty, then you shouldn’t try to write fiction.

―Flannery O’Connor

Angeling 6 | welcome to the have it all mall

February 22, 2014 by Jerry Windley-Daoust

Jonah didn’t know exactly what he expected to see when he stepped from the elevator, but he had a vague sense that it would be something mysterious and otherworldly. A wide-open space full of fog, mist, and lots of whites … Read More

Fiction

Angeling | 5: dead people don’t wear bellybuttons

February 5, 2014 by Jerry Windley-Daoust

The instant Jonah let go of his grandfather’s hand, his shadow jerked him backward, hard—like a parachute suddenly braking a skydiver’s fall, but in reverse. Okay, that was a bad move, he thought. To read Angeling from the beginning, see … Read More

Fiction | Works in progress

Angeling | 4: over the brink of eternity

January 12, 2014 by Jerry Windley-Daoust

“And that is why we always wear a helmet, people,” Campbell quipped as he stood over Jonah, who lay unmoving where he’d landed, slightly to one side of home plate, arms and legs splayed out. That is why we always … Read More

Fiction | Works in progress

Angeling | 3: without death, life wouldn’t be half so precious

December 31, 2013 by Jerry Windley-Daoust

“I’m going to kill that Grubinski kid,” Alaska muttered darkly. “Wouldn’t that go against your Quaker beliefs?” Jonah asked. Alaska wrinkled her nose. “I’ll convert.” Alaska and Jonah were playing with Mr. Berning’s tabby cat on a sunny windowsill while … Read More

Fiction | Works in progress

Anna Fox: A Year of Snows

December 26, 2013 by Jerry Windley-Daoust

Anna should not open the door for the beautiful woman in black. How many times have her parents warned her against opening the door for strangers while she is home alone? Up until now, she has obediently ignored the various … Read More

Fiction | Works in progress

Angeling | chapter 2: welcome to james buchanan regional high school

December 18, 2013 by Jerry Windley-Daoust

Jonah made his way into the school as quickly as possible without actually breaking into a run, dodging around packs of kids to lose anyone who might have followed him from the bus. By the time he was sure no … Read More

Fiction | Works in progress

Angeling | chapter 1: o brave new world, that has such people in it

December 11, 2013 by Jerry Windley-Daoust

Four days before he woke up in the hospital able to see and hear things he shouldn’t, Jonah stood on an unfamiliar street corner waiting for the bus that would take him to his first day at James Buchanan Regional … Read More

Fiction | Works in progress

Angeling | prologue: the echo of a song

December 3, 2013 by Jerry Windley-Daoust

There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun. —Thomas Merton It was the sound of his mother’s voice that woke Jonah Wilder from his drug-induced coma—the echo of a song, … Read More

Fiction

Leaving Ransom

December 3, 2013 by Jerry Windley-Daoust

Ransom was so small that the state highway department noted its existence only by the SPEED LIMIT 40 sign on the way into town and the SPEED LIMIT 55 sign on the way out. Lacey was on her way out, … Read More

Fiction

Ascension

April 5, 2013 by Jerry Windley-Daoust

The crab apple tree was in full bloom, glowing white in the moonlight. Cathy stood underneath it, her small mouth slightly agape as she looked up into a galaxy of blossoms. She was dressed in a pink flannel nightgown and … Read More

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