I have been writing Science Fiction for over forty-five years. Okay, there was a "little" gap for grad school, career and family, say, about thirty years? I came back, first writing novels, one good enough to publish (if you are an agent or publisher, contact me!) Then I started playing with shorter works, which clicked immediately. Because there were several Robert Morrell's around at the time, I went with Robert Morrell, Jr. on my first publication. After that, being a database nerd who'd struggled with name normalization, I stuck with it. Someone in ISFDB appreciates me. I wasn't quite so careful in my academic publications, so no one at PubMed will ever take me out to lunch.
News (October 2025) While stalled with two other longer stories, a flash piece popped out! Strange format, but we'll see. (September 2025) Picking up a story I started over forty years ago, putting a new spin on it and it took off right away. This is why I write, to see ideas form on their own.
(August 2025) Finished a new story: dark dark dark. Trigger warnings will probably necessary. Still, I am pleased. Doing some final cleanup based on feedback from my critique group. Editing is not as much fun as writing, but with the end in sight, it is exciting.
(July 2025): "Chuck's Gun" accepted and contract signed at Trollbreath magazine. It will appear in their Winter isssue this December. The editors said of it, "Aliens, financial shenanigans, and a connection to our modern gun culture... it's a wonderfully eclectic mix of ideas that shouldn't work but does." I'm blushing. At the same time my Analog flash piece came out! Analog was the magazine I subscribed to in my youth. So back to work. I am jumping between two very different stories right now, though it is taking time to return to the groove after a long stint editing someone elses work.
Reading Some Desperate Glory by Tesh for a book group. If they had not told me to hang in there through the first 75 pages or so, I would have dropped this like a hot potato! Never have I disliked a main character so much while the rest of the story is fascinating. Finished a pre-release copy of "Motus" by P. A Kramer. Hard Science Fiction with an ending that had me up late. Quite a payoff! Recommended.
Cat news: ALERT! Coming home the other night, I had to brake hard for a small, gray kitten crossing the road. It (he) stopped and hid its head in the grass by the road, so I got out and took it home. It was underweight, had fleas and parasites but is otherwise healthy. We worked with the Humane society to find a home, but as everyone but us expected, it has become our fourth cat, which we have named Dusty for its habit of crawling under things and pulling out dust bunnies.
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Science Fiction Bibliography (including pending)
Chuck's Gun (short story) Trollbreath (to be published online in their Winter 2025 issue in December. "Aliens, financial shenanigans, and a connection to our modern gun culture... it's a wonderfully eclectic mix of ideas that shouldn't work but does." (These are the editors' words. I just had fun writing it.)
Your Entry to Paradise™ Memorial Experience (flash fiction) Analog Science Fiction and Fact (July/August 2025). I'd go to a funeral like this, even my own!
A Family Matter (novelette) Asimov's Science Fiction July/August 2024 I knew that DNA genealogy kit was a mistake… Here is an interview about the story for Asimov's blog.
Podcast Guest host: Hugo's There December 2023. A sometimes funny, sometimes gross look at how the COVID pandemic might affect the pandemic subgenre of Science Fiction, with Hugo Award nominee Seth Heasley. This was part of his Hugo nominee packet, which is probably as close as I will ever get to being a Hugo nominee. (Prove me wrong!)
(Here be the embarrassing resume gap. See Academic publications)
The Scarecrow Files (short story) Space and Time, Winter 1987. You can do a lot with shared memory.
Alone in the Forest (novelette) Fantasy Book, December 1984. The world's only known telepathic human tries to help a visiting alien calm down.
The Best Medicine (Short Story) Amazing Stories, July 1984. A comical look at human psychophysiology.
Palaces of the Mighty (novelette) Amazing Stories, March 1984. (Story used for the cover illustration!) An interstellar wildlife documentary show comes to a canyon world to capture the galaxy's largest known flying carnivore.
Poetry: Down the Long Slope (poem) Pulpsmith Summer 1985, A New York literary magazine. A shaped poem about skiing and life.
Miscellaneous publications: (previous millenneum)"What's the Worst Move, a chess comedy column for "The North Carolina Gambit", the publication of the North Carolina Chess Association. "Test Your Chess Aggressiveness" was re-published in the United States Chess Federation magazine, "Chess Life" in 2005.
Also miscellaneous freelance articles in "Triad Style Magazine" including the classic: "Triad Deathstyles."