Michael Edwin Rudd saved 20 million American lives. Then, he shot footage of the worst attack on American soil in U.S. history. The 24-hour cable news cycle reacts.

“Tysons Corner” is a short story about us, our confusions, our fears, our prejudices, and our passive, media-driven view of the events that govern our lives … and our deaths.

Although released first, “Dun Cat” is the second short story in John’s Observer Tales series. More are on the way!

When the Security Corps Observer assigned to the port city of Lemaigne hears about a series of mysterious disappearances along Mill Creek, he dismisses them as neither his duty nor his jurisdiction, until vagabond girl Diana Ashcraft insists that he is the only one who can put an end to the cycle of death.

When “Sufi chick” spa owner Núr Lucas hires him to locate the angel of despair, private detective C. R. Oliver thinks he’s taking another safe and easy missing-person case, but he soon finds himself swept into the otherworldly schemes of the Seven Sins, the emotional manipulation of his own client, and the temptations of a young fallen angel who clues him in to the secret for  cheating Death Herself .

PRAISE FOR ON THE HEAD OF A PIN FROM AMAZON:

“This story had all the trappings of Mickey Spillane, except more depth and subtlety than I’ve seen a long while. Leith carries the metaphor, seemingly without effort, and manages not to spill a drop. The story was rich with texture and ambiance and the author shamelessly addresses the camera and makes you laugh for having done so. A successful straddling of two worlds and at least two genres, a brilliant convergence of language and ideas.”

“Such rich, vivid detail; ample depth and seductive language.”

“Very engaging, slightly shocking and yes it is quite literary … but the sex scenes are actually really HOT!”

“A breath of fresh air from the mainstream books out there. Mr. Leith has managed to tie together mystery, fantasy and thriller into one great read!”

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On The Head Of A Pin

When “Sufi chick” spa owner Núr Lucas hires him to locate the angel of despair, private detective C. R. Oliver thinks he’s taking another safe and easy missing-person case, but he soon finds himself swept into the otherworldly schemes of the Seven Sins, the emotional manipulation of his own client, and the temptations of a young fallen angel who clues him in to the secret for cheating Death Herself.

Veda J. Taylor is an artist and professional session photographer living in Virginia.

John C. Sorello is a political activist  and “book addict” in the District of Columbia.

Samson Krugg is an intelligence professional and amateur comic designer in Maryland.

They’ll be discussing literature, art, publishing, and other matters here at Leith Literary.  They will also be promoting my writing and their own artistic endeavors.  Feel free to say hello!

But, every once in a while I find something that is just too good not to pass on.  The short story “What Everyone Remembers” by Rahul Kanakia is one of those stories.

This is a good example of fiction that breaks the “rules of writing” successfully.  For example, the protagonist-narrator is largely passive while the other characters take action around her.  Also, most of the story is dialogue.  Lastly, a lot of the information you need to understand the story is established by telling, not showing.*

Yet, this is a well-written, emotionally engaging story nevertheless.  The language is touching, the character interactions natural despite the strangeness of the main character.  I believe these aspects of story-telling are far more important to literary quality than most of the mechanistic advice we typically read in writing blogs and books.   I encourage writers and readers to take a look!

And, once you’ve read it, take a moment to think about how perfectly the title matches the precise boundaries of the story.

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* This final point might be more a consequence of length than style; if Kanakia were to make a novel of it, he might show more.

So then, why self-publish On The Head Of A Pin?

After years of writing without submission, mostly short stories but also a couple of novels, Pin forced itself into my consciousness … the way stories do. It started as a single sentence, which is still the opening line of the story, but quickly exploded into the sort of metafictional literary stunt commercial authors typically wait to pull until well after they have achieved some degree of success.

Having completed it, I could have shelved it while working on more conventional fiction, but I recognized (as the story itself demonstrates) that Death might find me at any time.  And, Pin is clearly not the sort of thing that would turn an agent or editor on to a first-time author — try pitching a novella sometime, even a high-concept one.  “Private detective on a missing-person case, and the missing person is an angel?  Cool!  Only 20 thousand words?  Hmmm, have you considered expanding it into a novel?”

After you read Pin, you’ll realize the story could not be stretched far without undermining its pacing reference to the inter-medium romance between text and film.  From a literary standpoint, the story must remain in that unGoldilocks dead zone between the periodical-friendly short story and the house-friendly novel.

So the only option was to don armor and rush into the self-publishing riot.