M.J. Downing “You look like a monster in that thing,” Finn called from the porch. He was speaking to his father, Professor James McCoy, just home from his college office, who was carrying the yard waste to the curb. He wore a long wool coat with a wide hood as he walked down their... Continue Reading →
M.J. Downing Sometimes, when Halloween comes and the barriers between the worlds grows thinner, we get caught up in the changes, in the colder air, the falling leaves, in how those around us just aren’t like they used to be. It’s hard to see the changes in ourselves, too. Ghosts and monsters become just... Continue Reading →
I learned a great deal in my few years in the Louisville Fire Department. One of the first and best and hardest lessons was that, unlike my father, I was not cut out to be a firefighter. I was shy, reticent, and mostly unconscious about what I wanted out of life. That’s quite common... Continue Reading →
M.J. Downing Some time ago, now, Ray Grider sat at the front of his cardboard castle in the quiet alley behind the shoe repair shop, wondering of Mr. French, the owner, would bring him a meal tonight, not that he wanted one. His hunger faded after the diagnosis given him by young doctor, earlier that... Continue Reading →
M.J. Downing [Please note that the action here begins immediately following a previous story call “Obits,” found on this website. MJ] “Tom?” Albert asked as they cleaned up from the Halloween party. “How come nothing happened to you, you know, when we first went to the Stanzic house?” “What do you mean, nothing happened to... Continue Reading →
M.J. Downing It might have been on the fifteenth of December this year, or maybe the year before—or a hundred years before. Edward McKinney, in his heavy Irish sweater and flat cap against the chill, leaned toward his computer screen in the darkest corner of a coffee shop on Eastern Parkway. Lean and angular... Continue Reading →
MJ Downing’s Place 