Appaloosa Radio

Tautologies By J. J. Mounts-Miller For Appaloosa Radio October 2024   I have been thinking a lot about something I read in a magazine. I had read: “Brain waves spike during death.” Researchers found that in the process of dying, brain activity increases. When it is graphed, it represents a distinct series of sharp, upward spikes. Before these spikes, there is usually a period of low-level dormancy...

Here are four micro-stories that I worked up for the Summer 2024 Micro-Write Challenge. All are extremely short, ranging from 116 to 465 words. They are: ·        Shoes – a basketball story ·        The Man with the Perpetual Cough – a western character sketch ·        Risk Averse – taking risks as a senior adult ·        My English Teacher was a Space Alien – a fictional memoir  Enjoy! J.J. Mount...

Appaloosa Radio offers An original musical story Skirts Swayin’   Celebrating the infectious rhythms of Western swing music   It happened in Fort Worth, Texas in the summer of 1928. It could not have happened anywhere else. It could not have happened at another time. No one else could have done it. A cigar salesman with a rich baritone voice, a barber who was also the best fiddle player in Texas,...

Appaloosa Radio offers An original musical story Skirts Swayin’   Celebrating the infectious rhythms of Western swing music   It happened in Fort Worth, Texas in the summer of 1928. It could not have happened anywhere else. It could not have happened at another time. No one else could have done it. A cigar salesman with a rich baritone voice, a barber who was also the best fiddle player in Texas,...

Appaloosa Radio offers An original musical story Skirts Swayin’ Celebrating the infectious rhythms of Western swing music   It happened in Fort Worth, Texas in the summer of 1928. It could not have happened anywhere else. It could not have happened at another time. No one else could have done it. A cigar salesman with a rich baritone voice, a barber who was also the best fiddle player in Texas, an...

Cherry Blossoms at Night a biological warfare mystery thriller Appaloosa Radio is pleased to offer a dramatization of the first chapter of Brandon Michaels’ forthcoming novel, Cherry Blossoms at Night --- a biological warfare mystery thriller.   In 1945, the Japanese military ordered Operation PX, the release of biological weapons on civilians inside the United States in retaliation of the incendi...

NIGHT RIDER UP TO TRUCKEE An original story from Appaloosa Radio Chapter 9  Lorraine   An itinerant musician gets off the Sacramento light rail train and brings his bicycle, guitar, and other belongings to where a group of frustrated and perspiring  bus riders wait in the hot August sun for a very late eastbound bus. He announces, “I’m riding up to Truckee. Some of my old friends are performing in...

NIGHT RIDER UP TO TRUCKEE An original story from Appaloosa Radio Chapter 10  On Making Bad Choices   An itinerant musician gets off the Sacramento light rail train and brings his bicycle, guitar, and other belongings to where a group of frustrated and perspiring  bus riders wait in the hot August sun for a very late eastbound bus. He announces, “I’m riding up to Truckee. Some of my old friends are...

NIGHT RIDER UP TO TRUCKEE An original story from Appaloosa Radio Chapter 8 Tearing it into Little Pieces  An itinerant musician gets off the light rail train and brings his bicycle, guitar, and other belongings to where a group of frustrated bus riders wait in the hot August sun for a very late eastbound bus. He announces  “I’m riding up to Truckee. Some of my old friends are performing in a club...

NIGHT RIDER UP TO TRUCKEE An original story from Appaloosa Radio Chapter 7  Radio Surfing An itinerant musician gets off the light rail train and moves his bicycle, guitar, and other belongings to where a group has gatherer waiting for a very late eastbound bus.  Bicycle Guy began the conversation. “I’m riding up to Truckee. Some of my old friends are performing in a club up there. I’m hoping to d...

NIGHT RIDER UP TO TRUCKEE An original story from Appaloosa Radio Chapter 6 rode that bike like a maniac   "Once we were in the rustic cabin, I began. “Mr. Kirkby was killed last month. He was riding on his bicycle up the freeway to Truckee from Auburn. It was dark. I don’t believe he had any lights on his bike. A vehicle hit him. Probably, not the driver’s fault. Apparently, Mr. Kirkby swerve...

 NIGHT RIDER UP TO TRUCKEE An original story from Appaloosa Radio Chapter 5 My Place is at the End of the Road "In the morning in my hotel room, I looked through the local phone directory to see what else Mescalero had to offer. I also wanted to cross-check the phone number that Stan had given me.  In the slim phone book, I found two listings under “Andersen, Robert.” The first was just a pho...

NIGHT RIDER UP TO TRUCKEE An original story from Appaloosa Radio Chapter 4 Not on a Cruise Anyone in his right mind would want a five-day cruise sipping Margaritas next to their really sexy girlfriend (in a bikini no less). Far more preferable than a trip to the empty deserts of New Mexico. A trip for some poorly defined purposes.  However, at this point, I was no longer in my right mind. I left e...

NIGHT RIDER UP TO TRUCKEE An original story from Appaloosa Radio Chapter 3    Winds of the Roaring Plains Stan, my private investigator friend, finally finished his two massive chili burgers, gulped down a 22-ounce Coke, and then shared the results from his latest investigation. “They are a country-western group, but they are not called Winds of the Plains. No, they named themselves the Winds of t...

NIGHT RIDER UP TO TRUCKEE An original story from Appaloosa Radio Chapter 1  The Bicycle Guy   An itinerant musician gets off the light rail train and moves his bicycle, guitar, and other belongings to where a group has gatherer waiting for a very late eastbound bus.  Bicycle Guy began the conversation. “I’m riding up to Truckee. Some of my old friends are performing in a club up there. I’m hoping...

NIGHT RIDER UP TO TRUCKEE An original story from Appaloosa Radio Chapter 2  News Story   Two days later, I was reading a local newspaper when a small news item caught my attention. “Transient killed riding bicycle at night on Interstate 80.” Not much more. The driver of the pick-up was not at fault, said the California Highway Patrol spokesperson. The bicycle had swerved unexpectedly into on-comin...

The note was all too brief. It had been placed where they believed it would be readily found, under the cairn marking the exploration of the region by an earlier expedition.  The note simply read: “25th, April 1848. Her Majesty’s ships 'Terror' and 'Erebus' were deserted on the 22nd April, 5 leagues North, Northwest of this spot, havIng been beset since 12th September, 1846. Th...

My True Love is a Sonnet A Story and a Song Taken from  Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18   Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate:   Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all too short a date; Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance...

Just the Facts “He had done this hundreds of times while working on hundreds of cases. The grizzled, veteran, police detective sergeant checked his notepad for details, and then he turned to the eyewitness to confirm the facts. His job was to confirm the facts. “Just the facts,” as the fictional radio detective Sergeant Joe Friday did every week on the show, Dragnet .” The police dectective believ...

A Love Letter Berlin January 1945   This letter was never mailed. It was found in 2011 neatly folded inside a family Bible. Ingrid’s father had been the Director of one of Berlin’s most prestigious hospitals which had provided care for many of the Nazi elite. After the War, he was sanctioned, but not imprisoned. The family moved to Dusseldorf where he again worked as a physician. In 1948, Christa...

Escape! A work of fiction based on a true story Part 2 --- Time to Go   Nearly 23,000 American soldiers were captured during the Battle of the Bulge. Among them were three G.I.s from Western Pennsylvania serving in the 422nd Infantry Regiment of the 106th Infantry Division who were captured on December 19, 1945.  This work of fiction tells about their escape from the notorious Stalag IV-B P.O.W. p...

Escape! A work of fiction based on a true story Part 3 --- A Bluff   Nearly 23,000 American soldiers were captured during the Battle of the Bulge. Among them were three G.I.s from Western Pennsylvania serving in the 422nd Infantry Regiment of the 106th Infantry Division who were captured on December 19, 1944.  This work of fiction tells about their escape from the notorious Stalag IV-B P.O.W. pris...

Escape! A work of fiction based on a true story Part 4 --- Surrender and Return   Nearly 23,000 American soldiers were captured during the Battle of the Bulge. Among them were three G.I.s from Western Pennsylvania serving in the 422nd Infantry Regiment of the 106th Infantry Division who were captured on December 19, 1944.  This work of fiction tells about their escape from the notorious Stalag IV-...

Susan Abrams gives us a short story about one of her favorite kitchen utensils, an older ice cream scooper with a yellow, fluted handle.

Gladys Patricia Symington  by Jeannie Turner  originally published in  From a Writer’s Finger to a Butterfly’s Wing An anthology by the Sacramento Suburban Writers Club   Jeannie Turner shares a brief poem about her favorite travel companion.