SHORT STORIES

SHORT STORIES (Stories Under 7,500 words)

 If there are links to the stories, you can read them. For the ones without links, in the words of the esteemed 20th century philosophers Cheap Trick, “Ain’t that a shame.”

“FOURTEEN YEARS DOWN THE DRAIN”

The Hong Kong Review (Hong Kong), Volume III, No. 4, June 2023.

Teaser: Randy, Natalie and Marcia, each face significant changes in their lives.   

“MIRROR MIRROR ON THE DOOR”

Ray’s Road Review (dual location in Tennessee & Virginia), Summer 2014 issue.

Teaser: In a musty Baltimore hotel room, a dumpy pharmaceutical salesman meets up with a scrawny woman who speaks with a fake French accent. Note: For those of you who are easily offended, proceed with caution or perhaps choose not to proceed at all; you’ve been forewarned. As for the rest of you, throw caution to the wind and have at it.

https://raysroadreview.wordpress.com/summer-2014/

“LACKING THAT CERTAIN SOMETHING”

VIA: Voices in Italian Americana (dually-based in Florida and Indiana), Vol. 23, No. 1, 2012.

Teaser: A successful model returns home to Syracuse to spend time with her family and bask in the glory of appearing on the cover of Vogue magazine, but all is not well.

“MILK”

The Aroostook Review (Maine), Summer 2011 issue.

Published by the University of Maine at Fort Kent.

Teaser: It’s no longer just Frank and Amanda. Now, they are three.

The Aroostook Review

 "CRASH”

Hot Metal Press (South Carolina), Winter 2008 issue.

Teaser: This story, about a deadly accident, looks up to Heaven for hope and peace of mind.

“CAR TROUBLE IN A BLUES BAR” (Reprint)

Sonata (North Carolina), March-April 2005 issue.

Note: Originally published in Slow Trains Literary Journal (Colorado), Fall 2004 issue.

“CAR TROUBLE IN A BLUES BAR”

Slow Trains Literary Journal (Colorado), Fall 2004 issue.

Teaser: This story, set in a bar, is chock full of blues music. It was published way back in 2004 when people could still smoke in bars. So when you're reading it, be prepared to inhale a whole lot of second-hand smoke. Note: This is the second time Elaine has appeared in one of Germano’s published short stories. Readers first met Elaine in “Elaine Bellanova Finds Herself a Mentor” published in the 1997-98 Winter-Spring issue of Slug Fest.

http://www.slowtrains.com/vol4issue2/germanovol4issue2.html

“LYDIA MAKES AN EMERGENCY RUN FOR A HALF-GALLON OF MILK”

Sonata (North Carolina), July-August 2003 issue.

Teaser: A quick run to the mini-mart changes everything.

“A SLAP IN THE FACE”

Collected Stories (New York), January-February 2001 issue.

Teaser: Lucy is a political junkie; her husband Harry, not so much.

"A Slap in the Face" by Paul Germano - collectedstories.com

“ELAINE BELLANOVA FINDS HERSELF A MENTOR”

Slug Fest (South Carolina), Winter-Spring 1997-1998 issue.

Teaser: Love, friendship, mentoring and cigarette smoke.