Category: Fiction

I’ve strayed from writing fiction in recent years, though I still dabble. Here you will find a few longer short stories, but mostly microfiction (which I used to share on Instagram back when Instagram was fun).


  • Little More Than Stick Figures

    Little More Than Stick Figures

    View this post on Instagram A post shared by Greg (@jimmygoodwords) Now he was being trusted to give an opinion. He felt a strange amount of responsibility to offer sage advice that would steer her down the correct fork of the crossroads to choose. He could see that she was talented, but it was also […]

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  • It Was No Democracy

    It Was No Democracy

    View this post on Instagram A post shared by Greg (@jimmygoodwords) He never understood the politics of the situation or, at least, he wasn’t willing to accept them. One omnipotent ruler watched over his moves, his neighbour’s moves, the moves of everybody that surrounded him and toiled as he did. It was no democracy. Who […]

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  • On His Side Of The Mountain

    On His Side Of The Mountain

    View this post on Instagram A post shared by Greg (@jimmygoodwords) She was gone and he could picture no future in which she would come back. The rear wheels of the pickup truck that she had driven away from him had kicked up a cloud of dust that was still settling. The sun slipped suddenly […]

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  • The Only Bliss On Which He Could Rely

    The Only Bliss On Which He Could Rely

    View this post on Instagram A post shared by Greg (@jimmygoodwords) He had been fighting for some time to avoid becoming an alcoholic but it was a losing battle in the hour between dinner and sunset. Condensation was forming on the side of the wine glass and he watched it with intensity. The heat was […]

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  • No Point In Taking The Bait

    No Point In Taking The Bait

    View this post on Instagram A post shared by Greg (@jimmygoodwords) My phone buzzed and softly illuminated the corner of the kitchen where I had left it sitting. It would be my dad asking about the weather. I initiated a chain reaction of muscle movement that propelled me toward the phone with a not insignificant […]

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  • Uncooperative In Nature And Art

    Uncooperative In Nature And Art

    View this post on Instagram A post shared by Greg (@jimmygoodwords) I hated this tree. It was uncooperative in nature and art; disagreeable in temperament. I had a sister once that behaved the same way. I still do, I guess, but we don’t talk anymore so past tense strikes me as being more appropriate. Cooperation […]

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  • A Steaming Pulse That Is Undetectable

    A Steaming Pulse That Is Undetectable

    View this post on Instagram A post shared by Greg (@jimmygoodwords) It was only after he crossed the river into the open country that he realized how much heat was pulsing below the asphalt veins and arteries of the city. The temperature cooled noticeably as he moved further and further away from a steaming pulse […]

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  • I Felt Bad For Not Liking Them

    I Felt Bad For Not Liking Them

    View this post on Instagram A post shared by Greg (@jimmygoodwords) For years I allowed the world – or, worse: my idea of the world – to define me. My sense of self came not from within but from the people around me; people I didn’t understand, couldn’t trust and some of whom I just […]

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  • There Was No Light As He Walked

    There Was No Light As He Walked

    View this post on Instagram A post shared by Greg (@jimmygoodwords) The odor of beer and piss slowly gave way to that of day-old seafood scraps. There was no light as he walked and the adjustment from neon glow to darkness made him feel as though he was quite literally seeing red. A single light […]

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  • The Peace Here Was A Fragile One

    The Peace Here Was A Fragile One

    View this post on Instagram A post shared by Greg (@jimmygoodwords) The peace here was a fragile one and the tranquillity of those gathered relied upon it. Departures upset the balance but rarely to the point of calamity. New blood was always recruited quickly and new life was thereby breathed into a community that could […]

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