Chisel Chips

What is revealed by what is removed

  • What this site is about
  • Reach me
  • Blog
  • Publications
  • Going Places
  • Driving and Drinking with Dracula
  • What this site is about
  • Reach me
  • Blog
  • Publications
  • Going Places
  • Driving and Drinking with Dracula

Tags

art beyond centro big one budget buses collectivos daily life discomfort doing nothing e-mail earthquakes essay exploring by foot export economy fiction friends FSBO garbage gringos go walking inflated importance language barriers literature Mexico travel mountains out of molehills neighbors Oaxaca off the tourist path outside the guidebooks oversize loads real estate sales really big one rental cars serendipity shrine of the holy torilla something sorting it out speculative fiction transportation travel unfamiliar virgin visions walking wasting time whimsy writing
Travel, Uncategorized

Collectivos, buses provide cheap transit path to rich Oaxaca experience

With three weeks remaining on our two-month stay in Oaxaca, I took a collectivo out to the airport yesterday. “A what?” you ask. It’s a local transit option, a little…

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January 9, 2016
fiction, literary magazines, writing

Yet another story has escaped the penitentiary of my hard drive

Thanks to editor Sheldon Lee Compton for sharing my story “Lost and Found” at his online literary site, Revolution John, this second-to-last day of 2020. Like all of my work,…

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December 30, 2020
Uncategorized

RIP, Mom, this life was not for you

My greatest teacher died the other day, at age 91. For the last 34 years of her life — since retirement — Mom became increasingly angry and bitter. Her disdain…

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March 20, 2018

Tags

art beyond centro big one budget buses collectivos daily life discomfort doing nothing e-mail earthquakes essay exploring by foot export economy fiction friends FSBO garbage gringos go walking inflated importance language barriers literature Mexico travel mountains out of molehills neighbors Oaxaca off the tourist path outside the guidebooks oversize loads real estate sales really big one rental cars serendipity shrine of the holy torilla something sorting it out speculative fiction transportation travel unfamiliar virgin visions walking wasting time whimsy writing
  • writing

    New poem hits the cyberian steppes … at Spare Parts Literary

    chiselch / December 1, 2025

    Another poem gratefully welcomed into another’s house, going live today at Spare Parts Literary. As with everything of mine accepted for publication, you can read for free (best unofficial lit-mag ever) by roaming…

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  • Life,  Life as we know it,  Uncategorized

    Why I no longer partake of cannabis

    chiselch / November 6, 2025

    Like many people, I’ve enjoyed some cannabis experiences. And not. These days, it’s mainly an occasional gummy tilted more toward CBD. I grew one plant a couple of years ago, did all the…

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  • fiction,  Flash Fiction,  literary magazines,  writing

    Why short stories? Why not?

    chiselch / September 17, 2025

    It would be presumptuous to think my little site could influence you — and you, too — in your reading habits. So let me presume. I love short stories, perhaps the main reason…

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  • fiction,  Life,  literary magazines

    2nd place winner in Cambridge Short Story Prize 2025

    chiselch / September 15, 2025

    I rarely enter writing contests, not because I don’t believe in my work, but more because I’ve been to Vegas. The odds. So it was with a bit of what-the-heck that I tossed…

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  • fiction,  Life,  relationships,  Uncategorized,  writing

    Something Quirky and Gothic, Just for You

    chiselch / July 7, 2025

    Happy over here to celebrate the appearance of my story “Wisdom & Co.” among a host of other fine fictions at The Short Story site. It’s a lean, clean temple to short fiction…

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  • fiction,  Life,  Life as we know it,  literary magazines,  Lowestoft Chronicle,  relationships,  techno tattle,  Travel

    Technology justifies itself after the criminal fact

    chiselch / December 2, 2024

    Ahh, the poor, hapless tigress, blinded by the pursuit of her prey. Confident, yes, that she has executed the perfect crime. Done in, as it happens, by the ubiquitous technology of our modern…

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 Older Posts

Recent Posts

  • New poem hits the cyberian steppes … at Spare Parts Literary
  • Why I no longer partake of cannabis
  • Why short stories? Why not?
  • 2nd place winner in Cambridge Short Story Prize 2025
  • Something Quirky and Gothic, Just for You

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Tags

art beyond centro big one budget buses collectivos daily life discomfort doing nothing e-mail earthquakes essay exploring by foot export economy fiction friends FSBO garbage gringos go walking inflated importance language barriers literature Mexico travel mountains out of molehills neighbors Oaxaca off the tourist path outside the guidebooks oversize loads real estate sales really big one rental cars serendipity shrine of the holy torilla something sorting it out speculative fiction transportation travel unfamiliar virgin visions walking wasting time whimsy writing

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