F. P. Dorchak

Speculative Fiction (New Weird) Author

Longmont Public Library

“Broken Windows”

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"Broken Windows" (© F. P. Dorchak and Lon Kirschner, 2016)
“Broken Windows” (© F. P. Dorchak and Lon Kirschner, 2016)

“Broken Windows” is out as an e-short story!

Here’s the link!

I can’t believe I’d originally started this story twenty years ago, in 1997. I’d only written four double-spaced pages. I rediscovered it last year (2016) when I was revisiting all my short stories for my blog. As I read those four pages I was overtaken with emotion—in just in those four pages! That Saturday I’d written the rest of the 22 (I’d actually written 24, but edited it down) double-spaced pages (5,000 words). While I had been working on it…revising it…revising it…I kept getting emotional each time I’d finish reading the story.

Last year I submitted “Broken Windows” to the Longmont Public Library’s anthology, and it was accepted. I decided to not post it for free on my blog like I’d done for a host of my other stories, but to instead publish it as its own KDP Select ebook-only format (like “Clowns“). I went back over it this last year as I got things together…and again…it brought me to tears.

So fine…it’s going to be one of those stories.

Once again, I had Lon Kirschner do my cover. And, once again, he did an incredible job! After working on the story, I felt like it had great potential as a “single” short story. I also had a particular vision for its cover (nothing specific, just some loose ideas)—but I couldn’t even do a cover if it wasn’t its own product! That also led to my decision to release it as a single. But once Lon got hold of the project, he again knocked the cover out of the park!

I love this cover!

Over the past year, I’ve heard more and more about how short stories are making a come back. I’d even read a handful of some really good anthologies last year. Of my own work, I thought “Clowns” was a really fun story, thought it would take off in some fashion…but it hasn’t (yet—I still have hopes for it!). I characterize it as “a fun little scare for the whole family!” Really, you oughta read it! So, now I’m releasing this one, which has more emotional appeal versus horror. Fractured families….ghosts…redemption. And it’s very Twilight Zone. Extremely so. The only “horror” is the emotional horror that some families go through in stories like this—which to some are not stories…but the actual lives they endure. And it’s brutal. Horrendous. Usually there’s little recourse for families that go through problems like this…but in my story I create a different outcome for all involved.

I really love this story…it’s moving, emotional, redemptive.

Powerful.

And it’s got aircraft. Which I love.

But damn it, it brings me to tears every fricking time I read it! So, I hope it will also be one of “those stories” for you! I reread the story for this release and have finally been able to not shed a tear reading it…though I did still well up inside.

Finally, I thought, I could get through it without tearing up!

I’ve also included “Broken Windows” into my 2017 short story collection, Do The Dead Dream? Of the entire collection, this one story has perhaps been poured over more than any other, so, geez, there better not be any errors (thanks, Joyce)!

If you do like “Broken Windows,” and you can swing it, I ask that you also consider purchasing the Longmont anthology, of which “Broken Windows” is also a part, to help support the Longmont Library. This anthology, titled You Belong 2016, Words and Images from Longmont Area Residents, is not available online, but at this time you may contact the Longmont Public Library:

Steve Kenworthy
Head of Technical Services/Systems Administrator
Longmont Public Library
409 4th Street
Longmont, CO 80501
303-651-8614
steve.kenworthy@longmontcolorado.gov

But this version and the one going into my collection are different than the one in the Longmont anthology. It has been heavily reworked and changed in areas…better fleshed out…so if you get both, you won’t be reading exactly the same story! But I hope you enjoy both versions!

Steve Kenworthy  and the rest of the Longmont library staff are great people and they’ve been gracious in allowing us writers to have nonexclusive contracts with our stories to publish elsewhere! Thanks, again, Steve!

Please be on the lookout for my first-ever short story collection, Do The Dead Dream? I am now looking to release it in early October.

And damn it, I hope someone else out there besides me sheds a tear!

A major heartfelt THANK YOU to Jimmie Butler and Joyce Combs! Jimmie pointed out a major “flaw” that was “obvious” to me, but not to readers, and that helped better flesh out the story. Joyce…Joyce has been my indefatigable cheerleader for all of my stories, but she and I have gone over this story more than we can ever count! Thank you both for your indispensable support and critique!

 

The "You Belong" Anthology 2016

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You Belong 2016 Anthology, Edited by Steve Kenworthy, ©2016 (ISBN 978-0-692-77438-0) Used with permission of Steve Kenworthy.
You Belong 2016 Anthology, Edited by Steve Kenworthy, ©2016 (ISBN 978-0-692-77438-0) Used with permission of Steve Kenworthy.

I was first included in the Longmont Public Library’s first anthology back in 2012. It was an honor to have been selected by an organization I’d never before heard of, especially since I don’t live by them! I’ve forgotten just how they found me, but they did, and it was an honor to have my short story, “Tail Gunner,” included in their collection.

This year, I was again included in their fifth anthology, You Belong 2016, Words and Images from Longmont Area Residents!

As Steve Kenworthy, anthology editor, explained to me they had gone more “in-house” with their last four anthologies, and rightly so. They wanted to keep it more local. But with the fifth collection, they decided to again extend their reach outward to those who had been in the first one. The release of the fifth anthology was in conjunction with their library festival, and a handful of us read from sections of our stories on September 8th. All proceeds from the book go to supporting the Longmont Public Library, and I am proud to have helped them and even bought 15 of their books. I gave out a bunch of them at the RMFW Colorado Gold Conference that following weekend.

My entry into this year’s anthology is my story, “Broken Windows.” It’s an emotional and tragic tale of a woman’s reconciliation with her dead father. Of course, since I wrote it, it’s paranormal. I don’t write “normal.” After the reading, as I was on my way out to make the hour-and-a-half return trip home, a lady came up to me and complimented me on being brave enough to face my emotions like that. I thanked her…but carefully told her this story was not about my family. Eeeee…I always hate to point out when someone has made an error when I’m being complimented, but it goes to show you how powerfully I’d done my job in writing that story. Wow. I’m so glad it hit at least one reader like I’d wanted it to! Sure, I used elements from other people’s lives, but it’s a story. I did, however, tell the lady that up until the present (I started this story—the first four pages—in 1997, but finished it a few months back), every time I finished reading the story, I cried.

Cried?

Yes.

Outwardly. And not on the inside, like I joked about at the closing keynote at the RMFW conference! Actual tears.

See, ladies, I really can weep….

This story is that emotional for me. So, thank you, ma’am, for your compliment.

Of note, my story, set in Kansas, fits in beautifully with the cover image! How serendipitous!

I love the Longmont area and its library, have now been there twice. Terrific people! And the stories that I’d heard at the reading were wonderful and heartfelt. It was fun! It also hit me as I sat there that except for Steve Kenworthy I didn’t know another soul in that room! That just hit me kinda funny.

So…thank you…Steve and the staff at the Longmont Public Library…for inviting me to your 2016 anthology and including some of my work! It is an honor to have been thought of and included! I truly feel that I belong!

To get a copy of this or the other anthologies, contact:

Steve Kenworthy
Head of Technical Services/Systems Administrator
Longmont Public Library
409 4th Street
Longmont, CO 80501
303-651-8614
steve.kenworthy@longmontcolorado.gov

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Sleepwalkers Are Among Us….

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Do you wonder about your dreams, stray thoughts, and alternate realities? What if they merged? Would you like to take a peek behind the curtain of life? See what might be running your life?

Tomorrow, in Longmont, Colorado, is the Longmont Public Library’s Colorado Authors’ Open House, Friday, April 13, 2 to 5 p.m. This is part of their “You Belong” Longmont Library Festival. There, among nearly 100 authors, you will find me and my novel, Sleepwalkers, a story (and some of my actual dreams!) of how and what may be going on in the background of our lives….

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Colorado Authors’ Open House!

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Come one, come all to the Longmont Public Library’s Colorado Authors’ Open House, Friday, April 13, 2 to 5 p.m. This is part of their “You Belong” Longmont Library Festival.  Some 80 authors are expected to show, all excited to be there, meet you, and share their perfectly bound thoughts and ideas! It’ll be a beautiful day for a drive, so ditch work, pick up your favorite caffeinated beverage, and hightail it on up to beautiful Longmont, Colorado (or hop a flight, if you live out-of-state)!

I will be there with my novel Sleepwalkers, hoping to see old and new faces alike. And you can get Sleepwalkers for far less than on Amazon (I think it’ll be selling for $16.50), and I’ll even autograph it for ya. And engage in some pleasant and witty (at least to me…) banter, if you’re so inclined.

So, come on by–we’ll all be waiting!

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The “You Belong” Anthology Read

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I took photo in Longmont, CO, with Canon camera.
Longmont Public Library, Longmont, CO, with Canon camera. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

National Library Week is this week, and, as I mentioned previously, in celebration of this, the Longmont Public library decided to create the “You Belong” anthology. This past Monday (April 9, 2012), the book was unveiled and went on sale, and the library held a public reading, which, my wife and I attended. Both of us were extremely impressed by the talent in that room! From the eight-year-old boy who read about the death of his grandmother’s dog, to all the adult readers (I won’t go into ages!), it was an entertaining and enlightening evening! We had to leave before the very end, but one piece of “performance art,” was an amusing sled dog song, called to “Run On To Nome,” by Sandy Erickson–and she’d gathered up the three children in the front row and had: 1) one wear traditional Eskimo garb, 2) one stand on the sled to “mush,” and 3) one “move the stuffed dog” in a running motion. It was quite entertaining! As Mr. Kenworthy, the book’s Point Man and MC noted, the collection of stories were quite varied!

And the library staff was so polite, courteous, and helpful–and even had a refreshments lounge set up, with mouth-watering cookies (unfortunately for them, I’d just downed a massive “Longmont” burger, at the Pumphouse, down the road–highly recommended)!

I haven’t read before the public in a few years, and I have to admit, it was fun being part of this group of talented writers and their audience! My wife and I sat up front, so we didn’t realize just how packed (SRO) the room had gotten over the course of the evening, but how cool that so many attended!

We each read about five minutes of our work, so my wife brought the video recorder and away she “taped”:

Thanks, again, Mr. Kenworthy, the panel involved in the story selection, and the staff of the Longmont library, for this opportunity! Here’s hoping the anthology does well!

Note:  I will be attending a local author booksigning this Friday (there will be a ton of us!), April 13th, from 2 – 5 p.m., for my novel, Sleepwalkers. Hope to see you there!

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The “You Belong” Anthology

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As I’d mentioned in a previous post, my short story, “Tail Gunner” has been accepted into the Longmont Public Library’s “The You Belong Collection: Writings and Illustrations from Longmont Area Residents” anthology, ISBN 9780615612157. The book will be available April 9th, 2012, for $15. Check out their What’s New link for updated in formation, come April.

Initially the anthology is only available through the Longmont Public Library, but in the near future, says Mr. Kenworthy, Systems Administrator and Head of Technical Services at the library, and Point Man for the project, they plan on having it available through Amazon.com. Interested in a copy? Contact:

Steve Kenworthy
Systems Administrator/Head of Technical Services
Longmont Public Library
409 4th Street
Longmont, CO 80501
303-651-8614
Steve.Kenworthy@ci.longmont.co.us

On April 9th (Monday), the Longmont library is also hosting an open house, from 6:30 to 9 p.m., and on April 13th (Friday), a booksigning of local authors, from 1 to 5 p.m. I will be attending both events, and offered to read “Tail Gunner” at the April 9th Open House. All anthology proceeds go to the library.

Congratulations to all who were included in The YOU BELONG Collection! I look forward to meeting you–and the staff of the Longmont library!

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