Jeffery, the guy with the glasses, is so proud of his work baking this cake and decorating it with the Slayer logo. Baptiste is not quite as excited about the cake as he is a ham and loves it when Jeffery’s little brother takes pictures of their escapades.

The rest of humanity is represented by Jeffery’s older brother in the background. He’s not quite as convinced as the other two. I imagine him saying, “Yeah, it’s hard core, I guess. You DO know it’s a chocolate cake, right? How hard core can baking a cake be?”

Of course, the Jeffery immediately starts smacking him with a cutting board. As his unenthusiastic brother wipes the small trickle of blood from his lip, Jeffery screams, “How hard core am I NOW?!”

Both of them look at their littlest brother and ask, “Did you get a picture of that?! THAT was hard core!” But the smallest brother is cowering on the other side of the kitchen, scared.

Baptiste says, “Things just got weird, man. I’m goin’ home.”

Photo via: YIMMY’S YAYO™

• Merriton – 35 Minutes from Home

I have been planning this story ever since I ended Merriton: Twelve Hours from San Francisco, but it took me a while to get it set in my mind. Plus, I was working on another book, The Secret Heart of Charlotte Lucas, which I only finished a few months ago.

All three of these books will be available in the Kindle store and when they are, I’ll post links to them here.

• Frank McDonough Jr.’s Odometer: The Truth and Fiction – Steampunk Stories

Frank McDonough Jr.’s Odometer was born in the Denver Museum of Art. Last September, Mike, Stacey, Dan and I all visited Denver. While the three of them attended the iPhone Developers Conference, I toured the museums of Denver. I took in the exhibits alone, which is a surprising treat that I’m not accustomed to. I was able to stay as long or as little as I wanted at each showing. If they had been with me, I would have been rushed past the small odometer hiding in the back display cabinet and this story would have never been written.

I haven’t written another entry for Steampunk Stories, but I have a great one in mind, so I better get crackin’!

• Frank McDonough Jr.’s Odometer Part 1 of 6 – Steampunk Stories: In which the current location of Frank McDonough Jr.’s Odometer is revealed, despite its dangerous history.

• Frank McDonough Jr.’s Odometer Part 2 of 6 – Steampunk Stories: Frank McDonough Jr.’s Personal Journal dated May 10, 1869: In which Frank admits the jealous nature he feels toward the northern line and its supposed transcontinental status despite the gap at the Missouri River.

• Frank McDonough Jr.’s Odometer Part 3 of 6 – Steampunk Stories: Frank McDonough Jr.’s Personal Journal dated May 17, 1869: In which Frank describes his new odometer and its jealous nature.

• Frank McDonough Jr.’s Odometer Part 4 of 6 – Steampunk Stories: Frank McDonough Jr.’s Personal Journal dated May 24, 1869: In which a threat from Fig Andrews and the bridge builders on the northern line has Frank unsettled.

• Frank McDonough Jr.’s Odometer Part 5 of 6 – Steampunk Stories: Frank McDonough Jr.’s Personal Journal dated May 31, 1869: In which Frank reveals the amazing abilities the odometer has given him.

• Frank McDonough Jr.’s Odometer Part 6 of 6 – Steampunk Stories: Frank McDonough Jr.’s Personal Journal dated June 7, 1869: In which Frank reveals the jealous and dangerous nature of his precious odometer.

I hope you enjoy this story. It’s different than The Dowager Moncur’s Spectacles and I love how it turned out.

• Frank McDonough Jr.’s Odometer Part 1 of 6 – Steampunk Stories: In which the current location of Frank McDonough Jr.’s Odometer is revealed, despite its dangerous history.

• Frank McDonough Jr.’s Odometer Part 2 of 6 – Steampunk Stories: Frank McDonough Jr.’s Personal Journal dated May 10, 1869: In which Frank admits the jealous nature he feels toward the northern line and its supposed transcontinental status despite the gap at the Missouri River.

• Frank McDonough Jr.’s Odometer Part 3 of 6 – Steampunk Stories: Frank McDonough Jr.’s Personal Journal dated May 17, 1869: In which Frank describes his new odometer and its jealous nature.

• Frank McDonough Jr.’s Odometer Part 4 of 6 – Steampunk Stories: Frank McDonough Jr.’s Personal Journal dated May 24, 1869: In which a threat from Fig Andrews and the bridge builders on the northern line has Frank unsettled.

• Frank McDonough Jr.’s Odometer Part 5 of 6 – Steampunk Stories: Frank McDonough Jr.’s Personal Journal dated May 31, 1869: In which Frank reveals the amazing abilities the odometer has given him.

I hope you enjoy this story. It’s different than The Dowager Moncur’s Spectacles and I love how it turned out.

• Frank McDonough Jr.’s Odometer Part 1 of 6 – Steampunk Stories: In which the current location of Frank McDonough Jr.’s Odometer is revealed, despite its dangerous history.

• Frank McDonough Jr.’s Odometer Part 2 of 6 – Steampunk Stories: Frank McDonough Jr.’s Personal Journal dated May 10, 1869: In which Frank admits the jealous nature he feels toward the northern line and its supposed transcontinental status despite the gap at the Missouri River.

• Frank McDonough Jr.’s Odometer Part 3 of 6 – Steampunk Stories: Frank McDonough Jr.’s Personal Journal dated May 17, 1869: In which Frank describes his new odometer and its jealous nature.

I hope you enjoy this story. It’s different than The Dowager Moncur’s Spectacles and I love how it turned out.

• Frank McDonough Jr.’s Odometer Part 1 of 6 – Steampunk Stories: In which the current location of Frank McDonough Jr.’s Odometer is revealed, despite its dangerous history.

• Frank McDonough Jr.’s Odometer Part 2 of 6 – Steampunk Stories: Frank McDonough Jr.’s Personal Journal dated May 10, 1869: In which Frank admits the jealous nature he feels toward the northern line and its supposed transcontinental status despite the gap at the Missouri River.

I hope you enjoy this story. It’s different than The Dowager Moncur’s Spectacles and I love how it turned out.

• Frank McDonough Jr.’s Odometer Part 1 of 6 – Steampunk Stories: In which the current location of Frank McDonough Jr.’s Odometer is revealed, despite its dangerous history.

It has been a lot of fun writing small and complete stories for Steampunk Stories. A very different experience than writing on Merriton. Both types of writing have their merit, it’s just fun to switch from long form to short form every now and again.

The dress is a prom dress I found at Thrift Town for fifteen bucks and a corset from a serving wench costume.

The hat is a derby hat I bought at Thrift Town for a couple of dollars with fifteen dollars of flowers, feathers, beaded trim and tulle sewed onto it. I used this hat as an inspiration for it.

The jewelry is from my collection of jewelry from the Eighties and the mourning pin was from my grandmother’s collection of “junk” jewelry.

The spectacles were found in a little shop in Baker, Oregon that time forgot. It was stuck in 1986 and still had all the “cool” stuff from back then. They kept their inventory for so long that cool finally found its way back to it.

You can see more photos of the costume here:

• Flickr: Dowager Moncur’s Spectacles

Honestly, my Halloween costume has birthed a life of its own and I’ve written an entire story about it.

• The Dowager Moncur’s Spectacles: Beyond Gretna Green (Part 1 of 5) – Steampunk Stories

There are five entries to the story and one will post at Steampunk Stories every Wednesday until Halloween. ENJOY!

Merriton usually posts every Wednesday, but I have an extra episode of Merriton posting today. If you have been reading regularly, you can see the extra post here:

• Merriton » I’m in town for a day. Wanna go to lunch?

If you haven’t been reading my fiction weblog, then it’s a great time to start. There’s just enough story to get you interested. You can start reading here:

• Merriton » That? That’s a shed…

It has been a long time since I’ve been able to regularly write fiction and it feels so good to get these stories out of my head. Come on over and enjoy things twelve hours from San Francisco.