Not About Lumberjacks

The owner of a software company becomes very uneasy when he discovers someone close to him is trying to control his mind. Content Advisory: Swearing, manipulation, controlling relationship, deception, sex. * * * Credits: Music: Ergo Phizmiz , Chad Crouch, and Craig Kelman Rabbit Photo: Serious Fun Story and Narration: Christopher Gronlund

In this behind-the-scenes look at the latest episode of Not About Lumberjacks, I talk about the real-life events that became the basis for the story — and how it was developed from there.

Dicky Wingfeld has it all: a great job, a loving wife, and a new house. But Dicky also has a problem: a father who cannot seem to stop collecting junk. One morning when Dicky’s father, Richie, appears at his son’s bedroom to ask if he’ll help him track down a couple Great Danes he saw […]

“Horus” is the first short story I’ve written in at least half a decade. (My focus in recent years has been novel-length fiction.) To get back to short fiction, my motivation was simple: write a story for my wife. My wife is a fan of parrots, so a story about an unemployed writer who lands […]

Sarah Nelson is an unemployed writer trying to find her next gig while dealing with her overbearing mother. Her world changes the day she answers an ad as a writer’s assistant for a famous author. With time to focus on her own writing and learn even more about the industry from her new mentor, everything […]

You don’t think, “What does the voice of a Magic 8 Ball sound like?” until you’re faced with recording a story in which the old toy is a character. I didn’t think about any of the voices in “Mr. Knowitall” until I was sitting before the mic, recording. This episode of Behind the Cut is […]

Jerry Hachard was destined for big things, but left his family fortune behind for a quiet life of adventure and travel. When his parents are killed in an accident and he returns to his hometown, he’s amazed to find only one thing left to him in his parents’ will: a plastic Magic 8 Ball. Jerry’s […]

They say truth is stranger than fiction. My reply to that is those who make the claim aren’t reading the right fiction. I understand where they’re coming from, though — sometimes life can get strange. Add to that writers being told to write what they know, and it’s no wonder so much fiction takes reality […]

A mechanic is happy to hear his son wants to sign up for football; that is, until he realizes what his son really means is soccer… Content Advisory: Swearing, alcohol use (including a child drinking), smoking, shooting a gun, teasing, violence. * * * Credits: Music: Ergo Phizmiz and Chad Crouch (aka Podington Bear) Soccer […]

With the monthly episodes of Not About Lumberjacks, I want to get into the story as quickly as I can and then close things out. Click play and you get a story. I know there are people who like hearing the story behind stories, though — or finding out what the people they listen to […]