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"Jasper and Tess" working title
First draft of a story about a Silicon Valley engineer who gives Tesla a bad name after crashing many of their cars, requiring them to enable an artificial intelligence in the cars, and designed to make him a better driver to solve their problem.
Next draft will be from the AI's point of view, and most of the sixteen crashes will be included, instead of the two in this version. 
The story of a unknown man's wedding band found when emptying the pond at the historic Kelley House for renovation.
"I found fresh but unidentifiable roadkill for breakfast on the Jack Peters Creek bridge. At least it wasn’t skunk." more... Won Honorable Mention in 2016 Kelley House writing contest. 
Evacuees from the Valley Fire of October '15 call their answering machine to see if the house is still standing, but instead of their message they hear a new recording of a loved one there to save the house. (fiction) "Waylon and SuzieQ barked, then Linda nudged me. The clock read 5:23. “I heard something Wes. Listen.” Red and blue lights streaked in waves along the ceiling and walls of our bedroom." more... 
In this drama of error, a wealthy US gem dealer goes to Bangkok and makes a critical discovery.
"Gill and I worked together for thirty years in the gem business around Chicago before he set himself up in Bangkok, learning the language, partying with a local glamour girl half his age, and playing the big shot." more ... 
"Taboo Tattoo"
Narrated by tattoo artist Malcolm, Saul asks him for a tattoo because Saul's dementia is accelerating and he wants the dignity of knowing his own name, but he's an orthodox Jew and incising the skin is a sin. "I skipped down three steps from the door of my tattoo shop, Inksane Asylum, and the cloudless sky brought a question of rain in April since the last three months provided so little." more... 
For Ekphrasis III, 2014, "Art Describing Art" a collaboration of the Mendocino Coast CWC with The Artists Co-Op of Mendocino. The art, a ceramic plate, as inspiration for one page of prose or poetry.
"The Berkeley campus is an all-night zoo, so I’m just another tweedy professor using my card key into Krober Hall at three in the morning. I retrieve my slate, chalk, and hieroglyphics notes from my office in the Reisner collection of Egyptian artifacts, then scurry along to my talk with Candace." more ...
"The story does the beautiful and careful dance of exploring an extremely high stakes situation, the loss of a spouse, with a quiet, calm voice. Doug Fortier chooses a specific slice of time and within the confines of that tiny space, he explores trust, promises, love and lies between two people." Natalie Serber, 2014 MCWC Short Fiction Instructor |
Thanks to Google Docs, the titles link to the documents I edit; if you happen to be reading one I'm working on, you'll see it change.
dougfortier@gmail.com Click on titles to access stories and essays. Stories are arranged from top to bottom by when they were written, and reflect my experience in learning to write. 
A website I made: CompostingAbbie.com
The true story of a whale, a tragic accident, and a man who had a brilliant idea that turned a tragedy into an opportunity to grow food and flowers for children. For Mendocino Community Library
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‘Almost everything you do, you don't know why you do it. Our assumptions are hidden to us, we are blind to our assumptions,’ he [Beau Lotto] said.
‘The biggest barrier to doing something new is uncertainty. Your brain hates uncertainty. If you are not sure it is a predator, it was too late. Your brain evolved to take what is uncertain and make it certain.’
"So That to Know Her" 3 pages--1220 words
An essay based on Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway where we see how Clarissa embodies the people she loves and those she despises, and of the places important to her now and in her past. The thesis is, “So that to know her, or any one, one must seek out the people who completed them; even the places.”
"Puzzles, Programs, and Aging Brains"
3 pages--1300 words
An essay that argues that companies vying for dollars spent on products to provide mental exercise have not offered sufficient proof of slowing age-related decline, therefore we should not buy their programs or services. Crossword puzzles and others like Sudoku are a pleasant diversion but only give the player the ability to become better at crossword puzzles and Sudoku. info link: Jan6'15 Luminosity Fine
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#3 "Welcome to the Purple Rose Zone"
"Tuesday is my night to cook, a euphemism for dining out, usually at the Purple Rose for our favorite Mexican food and outstanding margaritas. It’s close enough to walk, but on this night it had been raining heavily for several hours, and we drove with the windshield wipers at maximum for the three minute trip. Low visibility blurred a car leaving the restaurant parking lot, sliding sideways, throwing up a rooster tail of stones behind it." |
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"Dopplegänger" - Letter connecting & protecting 1 page
Dear Grace, You don’t know me, although we both live in San Francisco. We don’t have the same friends, but we go to Grace Cathedral, at least sometimes--for me. The only things I know about you appeared in the paper. That’s not quite right. That’s what I started out knowing. (excerpt) |
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"Shoe Shine Magic" 3 pages
The spark of this story came from hearing about a man who called widowers in newspaper obituaries to see if he could shine their shoes for their wife's funeral.
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"Presque Vu" just starting page four, w/notes
Kemp is a baby when her superpower is revealed. Presque vu is the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon; in her head, Kemp hears the person who can't think of the word say it in their own accent and language. Her problem; she can't stop from calling out the word.
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"Cordyceps Meets T.gondii" 1,618 words 6 p.
Professor Randy Celebra has four days to prove a human brain parasite could influence a fungus to turn people into zombies. Failure would doom his upcoming book and deny him tenure. In pursuit of the proof, Celebra joins the husband of the missing Margaret Stacey, his target.
YouTube-Sir RichardAttenborough |
"Senior Sumo" 2,631 words Ronin Judo - Elmer Gale
Aaron, a superstar wrestler in college, works out twice a day and has always said, "If you're not ripening, you're rotting." On his 60th birthday, he's invited to join fellow wrestlers of another sort. He sees a chance to regain a sense of the glory days and prove he's still got it. His antagonist knows Aaron's strengths and weaknesses, is the owner of the sports club, does physical training and therapy, but a mystery to the general public, weighs three hundred pounds.
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"Reunion Charade"
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"Arnold 1790"
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"Summer of Love"
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"Inside the Jaguar"
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"Hosteen's Problem"
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#4 "Guilty by Association"
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"Fire and Water"
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#5 "Bound by the Glory of his Past" 8 pages--4600 words
A man with no money and an impending death sentence due to bad genetics becomes the recipient of nano-size mechanical brain cell replacements for each of his doomed components; but that's only the beginning.
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"The Lesson"
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"Lares at Crossroads" 2 pages--1375 words
Lares' body reacts violently to stormy weather's thunder, lightning, and rain. He is agoraphobic and goes only as far as the residence hotel's lobby where he impersonates other people because he doesn't want anyone to see him.
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"Bringing Home the Bones" 1 page--511 words
Alone on a ruined planet, Marker feeds fossilized bones of his ancestors into a beacon that broadcasts to the universe the life and death experiences of beings dead for a million years. But Marker has a problem. "Loose Gravel"
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"Stranger Conversation" 2 pages--800 words
An online chat room with eight people who've met this way for a long time continues until the tractor salesman, ThreaTT, learns the truth about his friends. "Soule and the Magician" 3 pages--1960 words
A thousand years ago, a slight-of-hand magician encounters a black cat, Anther, who intervenes on his behalf.
"You Had to be There" 2 pages--915 words
Two short writing exercises using second person. I tell my 18 year-old self about the day on the Air Force base flight line when I had a moment in the twilight zone. 
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"My Protection"
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Once a waiter at the New Almaden Food and Beverage Company, New Almaden, CA