Jim Stitzel

Jack-of-All-Trades, Master of Words

Excerpts from Life

Fiction

Clanks at Midnight

The place smelled like shit and piss. “I thought these things didn’t have bodily excretions,” I called out to my partner. “They’re not supposed to,” she replied. “For some reason this one does. Someone’s been hard at work making a clank that can process food the way...

Meat-Eater

In hindsight, Trista realized she probably shouldn’t have fallen asleep under that tree. - Pus dripped into Trista’s eyes from the multiple infected sores on her scalp. She wanted to wipe it away, but the tree held her fast, pinning her arms to her sides, arms she...

Skin Deep

He works quickly, his deft hands flitting over the instruments with a skill that comes from a vast history of experience. He talks while he works. “You are my failure,” he says. “I blame only myself.” He sets one tool down on the tray, picking up the next. “I raised...