A Shortness of Breath: A Collection of Little Stories

A pair of friendly transients, a dead Santa Claus, a torn sack of presents, and an alley on Christmas Eve. An urban odd couple of religious zealots hopped up on cocaine and hellbent on revenge. Two lovers and a tearful final goodbye. A man’s descent into hell and his attempt to save the woman he loves. A hurricane, an albino infant, a desperate country woman, a hoodoo midwife, a Grand Wizard of the KKK, and a man named Justice. A father still mourning the loss of his son spends the night on the Hollywood Walk of Fame when the Santa Ana winds blow. A post-apocalyptic world, a young man’s lucid dream, and the doctor who falls for him. And a chilling tale of two brothers at constant odds until a moment of anger changes their relationship. Dystopian, contemporary, romantic, Southern, dramatic, gothic, fantastic, strange: all describe the short fiction collected here.

D. B. Patterson writes fiction for adults, teens and kids. Over the years, his short works have been published in Elephants & Other Gods, Ramble Underground, Shalla Magazine, Larks Fiction Magazine, and Cerulean Rain. His first novel, Perdido River Bastard, was published August 2014. His books for young readers include The Christmas Witchling and Little Tiger and the Dragon King of Beijing; books for early readers include four illustrated Lamby Lambpants storybook adventures and a coloring book. Patterson is a songwriter, vocal and artistic mechanic, classically-trained actor (Shakespeare's Globe Theater, for one), sometime-puppeteer, graphic designer, illustrator, co-founder of a toy company, and the 1995 1st Runner-up National Karaoke Champion (don't tell anyone). He is married and currently lives in Tarpon Springs, Florida, with his wife and business partner Tina. NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: "Each story represents a creative milestone, which is why it exists in this anthology. I'm sure there's a deeper unifying theme, but I haven't figured it out at this point. A third of what I do is purely instinctive, so pinpointing specifics isn't always so cut and dry. I often roll with certain decisions until a reason to do otherwise presents itself. The result here is less about an obvious cohesive trait and more about a study of moods. Yes, the genres and styles vary, but they do connect. Because I don't mind sharing sketches or interesting ideas, I've included a monologue from a stage play I'm writing and a concept piece for a sci-fi novel I haven't finished developing. By my own standards, the quality of the work in this collection lies somewhere between not bad and pretty good. Those originally published by literary magazines are labeled so. Those published exclusively in this short fiction collection also are labeled so."