Jim Stitzel
Jack-of-All-Trades, Master of WordsExcerpts from Life
A Shift In Dreaming, Wafted In On a Gentle Breeze
I appear suddenly in a crowd of people. Initially, they are all blurry, without faces. I am confused, unsure of where I am. However, I know immediately that I’m outside, standing on a paved brick sidewa- no, a courtyard! There are some booths set up around the area,...
Sin Is a Fabrication
One of the most profound moments in my spiritual journey was the moment I realized I no longer believe in the concept of sin. About seven years ago, I was lying in bed, trying unsuccessfully to find my way to sleep because I was wrestling with guilt over some trivial...
That Time I Tried to Reclaim My Faith
Right after my first hospitalization and subsequent separation from my ex-wife in 2016, I made an attempt to reclaim my former faith. Up to this point, I had been a reluctant atheist, and I was still struggling through the ramifications of my lost faith, my lost sense...
Fiction
Spawn
The children were shocked. Literally. The bolt of electricity that ran through them should have killed them all. But these children were no ordinary children. They were the children of a demon. Their systems were overloaded, yes, but they were also turbocharged. Their...
Stormy Weather
The wind howls outside my bedroom window. A tree branch, swaying in the wind, raps against the glass, tck tcking in an irregular rhythm. There are voices in that tempest, voices that I can just barely make out. They speak to me of times long past, of errors made and...
Critter
I have a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach. That's where it lives. The critter, if you can call it that. It burrowed into my torso, and it took up residence there. All I can see of it is its mouth, sticking out of my abdomen, and it is insatiably hungry. I...