Kurt R.A. Giambastiani

Short stories, essays, and poetry are, to me, the writer’s laboratory. It’s a concentrated form wherein you can explore an idea, a technique, a device, a voice, what have you. This blog has become my de-facto essay testing ground, but for short stories and poetry, well, those take more than a few hours’ work and deserve a longer-lived page.

Since I’ve never considered short stories to be a money-making activity, I’ll be bringing them to you, gratis, as time permits.

In order of publication…

• “Sum of the Angles“— The first story I ever wrote, the first story I ever sold. I put it up here, unedited, in all its cheesy glory.
• “Supplanter“— My second sale, strict science fiction.
• “Veiled Glimpses“—Midnight Zoo, vol 2 nbr 5, 1992
• “Still Falling“—The first of many genre-blending works; I like this one: it’s odd.
• “Spencer’s Peace“— An unusual fantasy, wherein I start playing with the idea of magical “threads.”
• “Bio-Dome“—Year 2000 #1, 1995
• “Intaglio“— A tale of war, occupation, and forgiveness
• “Of Light and Color“—Talebones, Fall 1997
• “Long Distance“— Inspired by a Lisa Loeb song, a tale of scientifically possible time travel.
• “Ploughman’sSon“— This short story eventually became two novels (bit of a spoiler, so I won’t publish it here. Read the book instead!)
• “The Duenna“— Modern fantasy with an historical twist; plus some extrapolation on the magical threads idea.
• “The Revitalization of Emily“—Oceans of the Mind #3, 2002
• “Destrier’s Will“— A short fantasy tale with an unusual POV—Reynald’s first appearance in my fiction.
• “The Text“— Hope in a dystopic future.

Unpublished stories, provided here for some fun:

• “Bring Them Up Right, Marguerite” PG13—The last man on Earth sets the record straight.
• “Channeling History” PG13—A humorous sf what-if.
• “Carp” PG13—A tale of dark humor and black cats; it’s partly a true story, but which part?
• “Kodachrome” PG13—A dark twist on an old Wilde tale.

This page has the following sub pages.

• Long Distance
• The Text
• Destrier’s Will
• Bring Them Up Right, Marguerite
• Carp
• Kodachrome
• Intaglio
• Spencer’s Peace
• The Duenna
• Channeling History
• Bio-Dome
• Of Light and Color
• Sum of the Angles