Launching Short Stories

 

I published a little short story collection called Dark by Day, Dark by Night recently on Amazon.  Unfortunately, as a guy who attended high school in the late 1980s, some technical aspects of eBooks continue to elude me.  Thankfully, the table of contents actually functions and looks correct now.  If you caught an earlier version of the stories, this one is much improved.

They have interesting backstories.  "Stars Within the Glass" was initially acquired by a publication in Ireland, where all went well--until they began to like it a little too much.  (Reprinting in a collection without permission.) The "Blazing Darkness and Fractured Shadows" piece had its origins in a high school math class in Yakima, Washington, where I could not stay awake unless I jotted down fiction ideas.  Much to the benefit of the reader, the original version was lost in the intervening years, and it had to be rewritten from scratch.

So, without further ado, here is the new and working table of contents.  Several excerpts follow.  This story collection will be free to acquire on Amazon for a few more hours now.  PS.  One remaining (very silly) mistake remains, but I am not going to divulge it.  It will be fixed soon.  I must dislike working on Amazon's platform to such a degree that I am going a tad too quickly...

"Stars Within the Glass"

As he watched, the bottle was suddenly full to the brim of a pulsing fluorescent red liquid--at least he perceived it as liquid. Points of light, like stars, shone with a fierce brightness throughout, gliding this way and that within the confines of the glass. Bewildering lights and shadows played over the walls of the room. Strangely, the reddish light seemed to pass clean through some objects in the lab, but not others. David extended a shaking hand directly in front of one of the lights on the wall, but there was neither any shadow of a hand showing on the wall nor any faint light caught in his palm—only a sense of coldness. David was too mesmerized by the lights even to catch the strange scent of roses and pine emanating from the lit bottle. He stared transfixed at a single point of light while taking a tentative step towards where he thought the clipboard should be.

Erickson, Karl. Dark by Day, Dark by Night: A Collection of Short Stories and Essays (p. 8). (Function). Kindle Edition. 

"Blazing Darkeness and Fractured Shadows"

Derek slid into the pod’s comfortable pilot chair and watched the security squad board in an orderly fashion to the rear. They must have been tired, but they looked sharp and prepared. Even their dark blue uniforms were crisp and pressed. Each of the twelve carried a laser rifle, and Anne Jenson, who sat at the co-pilot’s station, held what was affectionately called the cannon. It was a weapon that could easily vaporize a heavy bulkhead with a single explosive shot, and it was self-charging in most environments. While it did its job well, it also posed a small radiation risk to the user. If it was necessary to use repeatedly, members of the team were trained to rotate usage among available personnel. In transit, it resembled a large shotgun connected to a collapsed heavy-duty tripod. Bright red warning symbols were visible on all its sides. Anne held it with ease. Her blond hair framed an attractive face, sternly set. Derek recalled the relationship they had briefly shared. He felt a momentary flash of guilt.

Erickson, Karl. Dark by Day, Dark by Night: A Collection of Short Stories and Essays (p. 22). (Function). Kindle Edition. 

"The Matter of a Small Gunfight"

“Don’t touch ‘em, boy,” the marshal warned sternly. “No worries, sir,” Benjamin replied. “I’ll just watch them properly.” And watch them he did. He couldn’t, in fact, avert his eyes from the pile of strange armaments. One revolver, in particular, had a handle that looked to be made out of polished white wood or perhaps ivory. Looking around furtively, Benjamin allowed himself to extend a shaking hand towards the six-shooter, but he didn’t venture more than the briefest touch. Something of the forbidden feel of the gun sent shivers down his spine. He wondered whether it had ever been used to shoot a murderer or maybe a horse thief? Someday, he hoped he would own a gun like that.

Erickson, Karl. Dark by Day, Dark by Night: A Collection of Short Stories and Essays (pp. 62-63). (Function). Kindle Edition. 

...and for the humor section.

"Take Your Trash to Work Day"

In an exciting partnership with the Portland Metro Area’s Tri-Met, Monday is Take Your Trash to Work Day!  While you can, of course, pile the garbage bags in your own vehicle when you leave for the office, may I recommend using convenient public transit on Monday?  When you climb aboard one of these luxurious and sparkling-clean buses, take your seat in confidence.  Don't worry about bothering people--sit next to anyone!  We all do our part to make Salem a better place. 

Erickson, Karl. Dark by Day, Dark by Night: A Collection of Short Stories and Essays (p. 80). (Function). Kindle Edition. 

DEI in the Context of Oregon State Priorities (A Guest Blogger)

 

As a way of introduction, what follows is a guest blog.  Before starting, though, I did a public records request of the state about a year ago concerning how many employees were working in a DEI capacity and associated payroll.  I was politely told to pound sand.  Today's blogger combed the internet to create an engaging visual and an accompanying short post on the topic.  First, however, an illustration that shows one of my concerns with DEI.  During the Great Potato Famine in Ireland, there were about a million souls lost in the home country and another million fleeing abroad to Britain, Canada, and the USA.  They would often arrive on our North American shores sick as dogs and without a penny to their names.  They began accepting the absolute worst jobs the nation had to offer from digging canals (Erie Canal, for instance) to constructing railroads.  Mass graves of Irish laborers are often found in the areas of these construction projects.  The startling truth is that even slaves held a monetary value to their "owners," but the Irish...they just kept coming.  They became seen as disposable people.  A somewhat similar history befell the immigrating Chinese.  If you have read my novel The Blood Cries Out, you learned about the ambush of a large number of Chinese miners along the Snake River in May 1887 (not too far from today's Imnaha, Oregon).  The point is that there were many different immigrant groups treated deplorably, yet DEI completely ignores the ones that don't conveniently fit its narrative.

Oregon’s DEI Staffing: A Costly Distraction from Core Services

In Oregon, the state’s commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) has led to the establishment of specialized positions within government agencies. While these roles are often portrayed as essential for fostering an inclusive environment and carrying out the respective mission of each agency, the reality raises significant concerns about their necessity and impact.

The primary question is: Are these DEI positions effectively serving the public, or are they diverting resources from essential services? With state budgets under constant scrutiny, allocating funds to roles that may not directly contribute to public welfare is a contentious issue. The effectiveness of DEI initiatives in achieving tangible outcomes remains debatable, and without clear metrics, it’s challenging to assess their value.

Moreover, the creation of DEI roles can inadvertently lead to a culture of compliance rather than genuine cultural change. Agencies may focus more on fulfilling DEI quotas and meeting regulatory expectations than on addressing the supposed underlying issues of inequality and exclusion. This approach risks reducing complex social challenges to checkboxes on a form, rather than fostering meaningful dialogue and systemic reform.

In conclusion, while the intention behind DEI staffing is to promote fairness and representation, the actual impact on Oregon’s governance and public services warrants closer examination. It’s crucial to ensure that efforts to enhance inclusivity do not come at the expense of the state’s primary responsibility: delivering effective and efficient services to all its citizens.

A Few Words on Why I'm Not a Trekkie

I am releasing a short story collection on the market shortly, and several fall into the science fiction genre. This being the case, I am offering a link to my blog (from the collection's introduction) where I might more easily digress briefly about my feelings on the Star Trek franchise. Below is the paragraph I opted to remove from the introduction of my collection, as it was a tad distracting from the content as a whole.

Appliances Gone Wild

 It's been a somewhat rough spring and summer at the Erickson household.  Sometimes we think our appliances coordinate breakdowns just for personal impact. First, our front-loading washing machine gave up the ghost.  This was followed quickly by our Samsung refrigerator requiring parts that were not even available anymore.  This was surprising, as we purchased this expensive appliance less than ten years ago.  The appliance sales and repair company confided that Samsung makes no secret of not making its parts widely available for more than a few years.  They said that this is done to help ensure new appliances are purchased to replace the broken ones.

Most recently, we have an Electrolux dryer.  It's about a year and a half old, which I would ordinarily still consider new.  Repair technician came out last week to replace a broken roller (causing a pile of lint to accumulate within the dryer).  When the work was done, he tried to turn it on. Long story short(er), it apparently needs one or two boards that are bad.  The total repair cost is almost the cost of a new appliance.  Now, I am potentially fortunate, as I am working with a credit card company on an extended warranty protection, but this is still not a sure thing.  The card benefits company is calling me almost daily for updates, tells me everything looks good one morning, then someone else calls to demand more information the same afternoon.  I won't know how things are going to go until next week at the earliest.

So, this is a refrigerator, washer, and a dryer within a few months.  Is this all an example of planned obsolescence?  I think that's a good part of it--particularly with Samsung, which I will never trust again for a major appliance.  There's more to it, though.  While this just based on my experience and those I know, new appliances seem to be suffering from a lack of quality control and pride in workmanship. While companies like Bosch seem to have a better grip on creating quality products, many of the other big players seem to have been forced into creating energy saving devices that are severely lacking in build quality.  If you consider the economic and environmental impact of having to purchase "disposable" appliances every couple years, one can't avoid seeing that, while they may be energy saving on one hand, there is nothing remotely positive environmentally speaking of creating..cheap garbage for the American public.  Come on Electrolux and Samsung, you can do better!

Sourdough Bread for Dummies

 

This is an encore (revised) post from more than a decade ago.

I've been baking sourdough bread for a while now.  Recently, my son and I began experimenting with different methods.  While it's not complicated, it can be a time-consuming process. The process begins with the "sponge." This is the sourdough bread starter, which can take some time to become ready for sourdough bread or to be used as an added ingredient in other recipes.

 

I started my first sponge with special sourdough yeast found at a local grocery store, but it never worked well. The best product I have found is called Living Dough, and it is available on Amazon.  (I selected Italian for several reasons, but one was being so impressed on my visit to Frascati, Italy, when I stopped by a local bakery.  The baker brought out his sourdough starter and explained that its heritage went back centuries.  Imagine having something akin to a family tree for sourdough!) The key is to remember to take it out every week or two for its "feedings." This ensures that the yeast remains viable. I generally remove about half a cup of sponge every time I bring it out, ensuring that I replace it with a half cup of flour and a little warm, filtered water.  Basically, you are looking for the consistency of pancake batter.  Avoid using tap water, as it contains chlorine that can inhibit growth.

 

Here's a recipe for the sourdough bread — once you've got a usable sponge.

 

1 cup warm water

3 cups bread flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup sourdough starter

1 teaspoon of salt

2 teaspoons - 2 tablespoons of olive oil

(optional) 1 tsp flax seed for Omega 3 boost

 

I start the sourdough in the bread machine, then transfer the formed loaf to a cast-iron Dutch Oven (like the one I link to) and then to a gently warmed oven. Be careful not to leave the heat on in the oven, as 200 degrees is too warm for the bread to rise properly. I generally allow the bread to rise for a total of three or four hours. This seems to improve the flavor.  I have also left it overnight, which seems to work quite well.

When you are ready to bake, remove the bread.  Preheat the oven to 500.  Once it is at the right temperature, put the bread back in and lower the temperature to 450.  Bake for the first 25 minutes with the cast-iron lid on.  After 25 minutes, remove the lid and reduce the temperature to 425°F for the last 25 minutes.  You can also add a little water to a bake-safe dish, as it may help improve the bread's texture.  

 

Don't forget that sourdough starter can be used in many different kinds of ways. I frequently use it in bread recipes as a substitute for sour cream. It's particularly great in pretzels and pancakes. Be creative!

 

When Interpretation of the Arts Wanders Off Track

 

I was recently enjoying a Bishop Barron interview with Ethan and Maya Hawke concerning their new movie, Wildcat.  Their film concerns the life and influence of Flannery O'Connor, one of my favorite authors.  While the first half hour was quite good, my ears perked when Maya began interpreting Flannery O'Connor's stories beyond a reasonable threshold.  It boils down to a debate concerning the intrinsic, objective value of art versus a more subjective rendering, and it's often discussed in university English Lit or art courses in one way or another.

For instance, one of my favorite artists is Caravaggio.  I have been fortunate to see several of his outstanding works in Italy, and I have always been captivated by how he paints light and conveys darkness.  While I love his paintings, Andrew Graham-Dixon's book, A Life Sacred and Profane, is right when it describes his life resembling his paintings as "a series of lightning flashes in the darkest of night."  He did not lead a life most would consider good, but instead brought hardship upon himself through his own crimes.  Still, we don't need to filter the paintings through the artist's life.  The art stands on its own.  It can be said that quality literary or visual art has its own life, separate and distinct from its creator.  The people who blacklist artists for failing to walk the line of political correctness, for instance, are oblivious to this subtlety or distinction.  Unfortunately, many in education circles seem intent on viewing art through a lens of psychology, symbolism, or sociology, which is their own creation alone.

This particularly struck me in the latter half of the interview I mentioned earlier. I am reading the letters of Tolkien and Flannery O'Connor, and this distaste for this manner of interpretation is prevalent throughout their letters, as well as those of C.S. Lewis. Here is how Flannery O'Connor puts it in a letter to a misguided teacher.

The interpretation of your ninety students and three teachers is fantastic and about as far from my intentions as it could get to be. If it were a legitimate interpretation, the story would be little more than a trick and its interest would be simply for abnormal psychology. I am not interested in abnormal psychology.

There is a change of tension from the first part of the story to the second where the Misfit enters, but this is no lessening of reality. This story is, of course, not meant to be realistic in the sense that it portrays the everyday doings of people in Georgia. It is stylized and its conventions are comic even though its meaning is serious.

Bailey’s only importance is as the Grandmother’s boy and the driver of the car. It is the Grandmother who first recognized the Misfit and who is most concerned with him throughout. The story is a duel of sorts between the Grandmother and her superficial beliefs and the Misfit’s more profoundly felt involvement with Christ’s action which set the world off balance for him.

The meaning of a story should go on expanding for the reader the more he thinks about it, but meaning cannot be captured in an interpretation. If teachers are in the habit of approaching a story as if it were a research problem for which any answer is believable so long as it is not obvious, then I think students will never learn to enjoy fiction. Too much interpretation is certainly worse than too little, and where feeling for a story is absent, theory will not supply it.

My tone is not meant to be obnoxious. I am in a state of shock.

Flannery O’Connor

Likewise, a shared aversion to excessive interpretation is evident in Tolkien's letters.

I have no time to provide bibliographical material concerning criticisms, reviews, or translations. 

The following points, however, I should like to make briefly. 

(1) One of my strongest opinions is that investigation of an author’s biography (or such other glimpses of his ‘personality’ as can be gleaned by the curious) is an entirely vain and false approach to his works – and especially to a work of narrative art, of which the object aimed at by the author was to be enjoyed as such: to be read with literary pleasure. So that any reader whom the author has (to his great satisfaction) succeeded in ‘pleasing’ (exciting, engrossing, moving etc.), should, if he wishes others to be similarly pleased, endeavour in his own words, with only the book itself as his source, to induce them to read it for literary pleasure. When they have read it, some readers will (I suppose) wish to ‘criticize’ it, and even to analyze it, and if that is their mentality they are, of course, at liberty to do these things – so long as they have first read it with attention throughout. Not that this attitude of mind has my sympathy: as should be clearly perceived in Vol. I p. 272: Gandalf: ‘He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.’ 

(2) I have very little interest in serial literary history, and no interest at all in the history or present situation of the English ‘novel’. My work is not a ‘novel’, but an ‘heroic romance’ a much older and quite different variety of literature. 

(3) Affixing ‘labels’ to writers, living or dead, is an inept procedure, in any circumstances: a childish amusement of small minds: and very ‘deadening’, since at best it overemphasizes what is common to a selected group of writers, and distracts attention from what is individual (and not classifiable) in each of them, and is the element that gives them life (if they have any). But I cannot understand how I should be labelled ‘a believer in moral didacticism’. Who by? It is in any case the exact opposite of my procedure in The Lord of the Rings. I neither preach nor teach.

Tolkien, J.R.R.. The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien: Revised and Expanded Edition (pp. 580-581). (Function). Kindle Edition. 

In addition, here is an excerpt from C.S. Lewis, which Glyer referenced in her book, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as Writers in a Community.

Many reviewers said that the Ring in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings was suggested by the atom bomb.  What could be more plausible?  Here is a book published when everyone was preoccupied by that sinister invention. Here in the center of the book is a weapon which it seems madness to throw away, yet fatal to use.  Yet, in fact, the chronology of the book's composition makes the theory impossible.  ("Modern Theology")

I was disappointed that Bishop Barron did not say something along these lines when the conversation took a nosedive, but I imagine it's hard for a host to be too critical in this kind of interview.  Meanwhile, I am left wondering if I should bother with Wildcat, or if I should give it the same authority as...kitty litter.

OR's Statutorily Mandated Disregard for Fed Law

It's ORS 180.805-810 and ORS 181A.820-181A-829 that set the backdrop for Oregon's sanctuary status.  While that's bad enough, Oregon's Dept of Administrative Services now promotes training modules that remind state employees that any cooperation with federal law enforcement (short of the existence of a warrant) places an employee's livelihood in peril.  This is somewhat challenging for yours truly for several reasons.

First of all, I grew up in Yakima, Washington, while it was being torn apart by drug violence brought north through the illegal drug trade and human trafficking.  It also happens that I nearly went to work for the US Border Patrol in Texas more than thirty years ago.  On top of this, however, I am active within the Catholic Church, which (rightly) interprets part of its mission to take care of the needy and forgotten--whether or not illegal immigrants.  However, it also does not oppose the enforcement of a nation's right to limit entry.  A particularly well-articulated expression of this, an apparent dichotomy on the surface, is found in the recent Wisconsin Catholic Bishops' Letter on Immigration.  So, that's my personal context.

The purpose of this post is to gather together examples and instances of when illegal immigrants were released by Oregon authorities only to re-offend--sometimes in horrific ways.  Disclosure: following this paragraph, I have employed AI.  It turns out that locating this specific information is difficult.  Several search engines and AI tools refused to cooperate--e.g., Google's Gemini.  It was as if they had protections created to avoid this kind of search; I find that disturbing.  The bottom line is that Oregon can and should do better.

1. Martin Gallo-Gallardo
In March 2018, Gallo-Gallardo, a Mexican national, was arrested in Portland on felony domestic violence charges. ICE lodged a detainer, but the Multnomah County Jail released him on bond. Seven months later, he was charged with murdering his wife, Coral Rodriguez-Lorenzo, in Clackamas County.

2. Fidel Lopez
In 2019, Lopez was convicted of sexually assaulting his fiancée's dog, leading to the animal's death. Despite an ICE detainer, the Multnomah County Jail released him after he served 60 days. ICE later apprehended him at his home.

3. Julio Gonzalez-Zamudio
A Mexican national deported four times, Gonzalez-Zamudio was arrested in Oregon in 2014 after fleeing a traffic stop with over two pounds of methamphetamine. He had prior convictions for drug offenses and violent crimes. He was sentenced to 72 months in federal prison for illegal reentry.

4. Sergio Ramos-Lopez
Deported seven times since 1988, Ramos-Lopez was arrested in Deschutes County in 2013 for trafficking methamphetamine. He had a history of drug trafficking and violent crimes. He was sentenced to 87 months in federal prison for illegal reentry.

5. Johnell Lee Cleveland
Although not an illegal immigrant, Cleveland was released early from federal prison in 2020 and quickly engaged in fraud and sex trafficking. He was sentenced to nine years in federal prison in 2024.

6. Sergio Jose Martinez
Martinez, a Mexican national deported over 20 times, was released from Multnomah County Jail in 2017 despite an ICE detainer. He broke into a 65-year-old woman's home, sexually assaulted her, and attacked another woman. Sentenced to 35 years in state prison and 92 months in federal prison.

7. Sergio Martinez-Mendoza
Also known as Sergio Jose Martinez, he committed two violent sexual assaults in Portland in 2017 after multiple deportations and release from custody. Sentenced to 35 years in state prison and 92 months in federal prison.