Received acceptance and payment for my short story, "Tardigrade on Parade" from Gypsum Sound Tales this morning. The story will appear in the anthology, "Big," later this year.

For everyone who's asking, "What the hell is a tardigrade?", here's a brief answer from from www,livescience.com.  I'll post when the book is available.

Gypsum Sound Tales

Tardigrades, often called water bears or moss piglets, are near-microscopic animals with long, plump bodies and scrunched-up heads. They have eight legs, and hands with four to eight claws on each. While strangely cute, these tiny animals are almost indestructible and can even survive in outer space.

A short horror drabble for today - "Bad Mario"

June 28, 2019: Hot day, ran, mowed, ran some more. 28 days in the month and 119.7 miles. I'll get another nine and finish the month with 128 miles, 30 miles per week. 69 straight days after today.

A running drabble today. A 100 word story originally published in my book, Running Into Trouble. The book contains several of my stories and three more and a cover from my daughter, Robin Lupton Clisby.

Order "Running Into Trouble"

Here's the drabble. Hope you enjoy "Bad Mario."

Mario held his gun on the clerk until the woman emptied the cash drawer, grabbed the loot, and sprinted into the darkness. The petite policewoman was after him in seconds. He didn’t want to shoot her, it’s bad to kill a cop. He ran, but she ran easily alongside. He raised his gun and she slapped it away. He sped up and she matched his pace. She smiled, her fangs glowed white under the streetlight, and without breaking stride, she said, “I’ve run ten miles every night for two hundred years. I can do this as long as you want.”

Program Delete

I haven't posted for a few days. Life gets busy. One of my good friends fell and broke her pelvis. I tell people that the only rule that matters after age 70 is "Don't Fall Down." I hope I can follow it. Here's a short one hundred story from my new book, "Through A Wine Glass Darkly," published last week by Gypsum Sound Tales. Buy multiple copies or read it on Kindle Unlimited.

Through a Wine Glass Darkly

Here's the drabble - a short 100 word story.

Program Delete

Jim was a hacker, a former Catholic, and a drunk, not necessarily in that order. He hacked into the Vatican and fought his way through security and found a file called. “Intelligent Creation – Control Data.” While he was searching the file, alarms went off and the Vatican system started to access his computer and location.

“Screw this,” said Jim and he hit the key to delete the Vatican’s files. The percentage deletion popup raced across his screen and when it showed eight-five percent, his desk, computer, and room disappeared.

Jim’s last words were, “Damn, I wish I hadn’t done that.”

Ran this morning for a streak of 60 consecutive days. 288 miles during the streak. Not bad for a 70 year old.  With that said, here's a 100 word drabble from my book, Running Into Trouble. Running stories of science fiction, fantasy, adventure, horror, and humor. Here's the link to buy the book. You can read it free on Kindle Unlimited.

Running Into Trouble

Here's the drabble, a story of exactly 100 words.

RUNNING WITH AUDREY

Audrey invited Tom for a trail run through the forest. Tom, who wasn’t much of a runner, but was mesmerized by her, met Audrey Saturday morning. They ran a mile and stopped in the deep woods.

Audrey smiled demurely and said, “I don’t like to wear clothes when I run. I hope you don’t mind.”

Tom kept the leer from his face, pulled off his shirt, and said, “Should I chase you?”

Audrey stacked her clothes in a neat pile, and said, “No, I’ll chase you. You should run now.”

She dropped to all fours and turned into a wolf.

Today is Father's Day, in America anyway, and on a totally unrelated matter, I want to talk about three homonyms, they're, their, and there.

I know it will come as a shock to a lot of people, but these words are not interchangeable. A couple of short tests will help you.

"There contains the word "here." If you can replace "there" with "here" in the sentence and it still makes sense, then" there" is the correct word. Here it is and there it is an example.

"Their" is the possessive form of the pronoun, they. It is their stuff. You wouldn't say, It is here stuff, so it is there stuff' is wrong.. You can say, "There is their stuff," but don't let that confuse you.

The final homonym is "they're." This is a contraction of the words, "they are." If you can't replace 'they're' in the sentence with 'they are' and have it mean the same thing, don't use they're. (By the way, don't is also a contraction.) They're going to celebrate Father's Day is good. There going to celebrate Father's Day is bad.

If you can get through the last sentence of this post without getting confused, then you've got it.

"They're going to have a picnic for their father's birthday in the park over there."

Use the right homonym. Help save the English language. Happy Father's Day.

My newest short story collection, "Through A Wine Glass Darkly"  is available in paperback and on Kindle as of today. Fourteen of the short stories were previously published by EZines or in print anthologies. There's one new story, "Eddie and the Cruisers." Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, all with a little touch of humor and some with more than a little touch.

The publisher is Gypsum Sound Tales in Australia. Visit their website.

The paperback is $10.95 Buy Paperback "Through A Wine Glass Darkly"

The Kindle version is $4.95 Buy Kindle "Through A Wine Glass Darkly"

If you buy the paperback, you can buy the Kindle version for ninety-nine cents.

Today Robin finished the cover for "Through a Wine Glass Darkly," a collection of fifteen of my short stories and (5) 100 word drabbles. All of the stories except one were published in anthologies, print or online, in 2016-2017. Consider this a best of collection.  When the publisher approves everything, usually 72 hours, I'll post the cover, the link, and the price. By multiple copies.

On a grammatical matter, today I'll look at three similar words commonly used as prefixes, inner, intra, and inter. Proper usage isn't difficult, although incorrect usage abounds.

First word is "inner." This is easy. "Inner is a word all by itself. Don't add it to another word. Inneroffice is not a word. Don't do that. Inner office is proper grammar, but still don't use the words that way. Inner  means "father inside," although colloquially it's used to mean "inside." If you mean inside, say inside.

That brings us to the other five letter prefixes, intra and inter. These are not words. Well, technically, inter is a word, but it isn't pronounced like you think and it means to put a corpse in a grave. Nice.

As a prefix, inter means between, among, mutual, shared, carried on, or reciprocal. For example, interracial - among the races, intergalactic - between the galaxies,  and intercourse (shame on you, it means to talk together.

As a prefix,intra means within, during, or between layers.

If you don't know which one to use, here are two tests. First, don't use inner as a prefix. That was easy.

Second, substitute the word, inside. For example, do you want to say interdenominational or intradenominational.  Interdenominational means there are several denominations that share something. Intradenominational means something inside a single denomination. Got it. Go forth and trust your inner judgement. I mean interjudgement, no that's not right. Must be intrajudgement.

Hell, just be careful out there.

My short Scottish fairy tale, Fiona and the Golden Salmon went live this morning on Enchanted Conversations. Wonderful website. Here's the link:

Read "Fiona and the Golden Salmon."

Periods, commas, and quotation marks.

Do periods and commas go inside or outside quotation marks? The answer depends on where your audience lives because in America we always, repeat, always put periods and commas inside quotation marks, but the British put periods and commas indiscriminately inside or outside.

Don’t get confused when you see the period outside the quotation marks on the BBC website; just remember that it’s different across the pond.

Just because they do it one way, doesn't mean it's alright to do the same way in America. We are two peoples separated by a conman language after all.

The American usage reportedly began with typesetters, the people who layout printed material with type.The  rule that places periods and commas inside quotation marks originated to protect the small metal pieces of type from breaking off the end of the sentence. The quotation marks are on a larger piece of type and they safely fenced in the commas and periods. 

There is a school of thought that claims an exception to this "always in America" rule for technical writing. Don't worry about it. The exception claims that sometimes, like when quoting a web address or password, it's acceptable to place the period or comma outside the quotation marks. Maybe, maybe not. Lots of disagreement. Some grammar gurus claim that the technical writers only want the exception because they're too lazy to remember the right way. I don't take a side on this.

It's not that hard in America: Put the period or comma inside the quotation marks where the little dot or arc is protected by the big bad double slash. That way it won't get eaten by the big bad capital letter lurking at the start of  the next sentence.

I fell like you shouldn't use "I feel like" when you talk or when you write.

I know this is not a new phenomenon, but I notice a lot of people saying, “I feel like” rather than “I think” or “I believe.”  It's almost as bad as the number of people who don't realize that there is a "n" in the words didn't and wouldn't. The "n" should be used when pronouncing those words.

From a New York Times article titled “Stop saying ‘I feel like.’”  “This reflex to hedge every statement as a feeling or a hunch is most common among millennials.  As in so many things, the young are early carriers of a broad cultural contagion.”

The article goes on to point out that the phrase became common in the ‘90s. And it states that people use it because it gives them an out. They aren't stating a fact, they're giving an opinion. When people are just stating their feelings, you can’t really fight back with logic. You can’t really disagree with feelings.

And it turns out that the New York Times is not alone in their dislike of the phrase.

Entrepreneur published an article called “’I Feel Like’ Is the Newest Controversial Phrase You Should Avoid.” The article states, “Saying ‘I feel like’ is a nonassertive, fearful way to introduce an idea…In protecting the person who says it from being judged or offending anyone, it also ‘halts argument,’ because it suggests to others that they cannot understand or challenge the speaker’s subjective feelings and experiences.”

Have some guts. Don't say, "I feel like taxes are too high." Say, "Taxes are TOO HIGH!"

The phrase is wishy-washy and non-committal.

But many people simply use this term as a matter of habit. We all tend to use popular phrases that we hear, and this one is pretty prevalent in U.S. society. That's doesn't make it right. Habits can be good or bad and this is a bad one.

The only time you should use the phrase "I feel like" is when you really feel a certain way to the touch. If you've been out in the hot sun and you're sweaty, you can say, "Touch my arm. I feel like I've been dunked in a horse-trough, because if you're wet enough, that's how you feel. 

Hope you're feeling what I'm trying to say.

Cold Spell published on Aurora Wolf

Another day and another story published. Cold Spell, a short humorous sword and sorcery story was released by the  Aurora Wolf EZine this week. It's available to read online at no charge, although I'm sure the publisher and editor would appreciate it if you wanted to toss a couple of dollars their way.
Anyway, enjoy the story. Here's the link.

Cold Spell

I'm ashamed I can't keep up with everything. I missed this. On April 21, 2019, Mystery and Horror LLC released "Strangely Funny VI. It contains my short story "Dial M For Marvin." Actually the product description on Amazon goes like this.

""My name’s not Clarence, and this ain’t Bedford Falls. I’m more like a pixie on probation and you’re my punishment.” – Dial M for Marvin by Robert Allen Lupton. Welcome to the seventh book (yes, seventh) in the Strangely Funny series. 

Pretty cool. Thanks Sarah Glenn. I hope using a quote  from my story helps sell the book.

It's available in paperback and on Kindle. Buy it here.  Strangely Funny VI

Great book with great stories.

Just a note, My short story, New Witch in Town is available at Sirius Science Fiction, an Ezine, at

New Witch In Town . The story is not hidden behind a Paywall. Check it out.


Sirius Science Fiction is published by Lou Antonelli. Here's the mission statement. "Sirius Science Fiction is an on-line web site dedicated to publishing original speculative fiction - science fiction, fantasy, alternate history and horror. We like stories with a sense of wonder and excitement."

I received an email from Lisa, the editor at "Running Wild Press" that payment for my short story, "Madame Ursa's Performing Bears," is eminent. That's good news. Madame Ursa is my second "Circus" story.  I don't have a publication schedule, but will post it as soon as I know.

I found out a few minutes ago when my author copies of "Classics Remixed" arrived that the book has been released. It includes my short story, "Treasure Moon." The editor, Karen T. Newman, calls my story  humorous science fiction. All the stories are science fiction, fantasy, or horror reworkings of "classic fiction. Long John Silver never had it so good.

Here's the link to buy the book. Purchase "Classics Remixed"

The cover's pretty cool. The art is by Paul K. Metheny.

This morning I heard from Michael Pennington, the editor of Aurora Wolf, an online science fiction and fantasy magazine. One of the things I like best about Aurora Wolf, other than the fact that it's published in Alaska, (duh, Aurora and Wolf) is that Michael, the editor, and his wife, Joan, the publisher, only publish stories with happy endings. Good guys win and bad guys lose. I love it.

Here's the link.   Aurora Wolf.com

Anyway, Micheal let me know three things this morning. First, he accepted my short story, "Cold Spell," a humorous sword and sorcery story for publication. Second, he is closing submissions for a while because of personal issues. 

I don't have his permission to share those issues, but depending on your personal belief system, please send some positive thoughts his way. If you're an Orthodox Jedi, send him a little positive universal force, if your religion is prayer centered,  please send one his way. Light a candle, spin a prayer wheel, or hang some colored prayer flags where the wind blows. Paint your face and dance around a pentagram if that's your thing.

Karma is real and sending a few good thoughts to Michael and Joan, will be appreciated.  Visit their website. It's well done and most of the stories are quite good - even mine.

Thanks