Michael’s novel Blomqvist is free all day today on the Amazon Kindle Store, and is flying off the shelves at an incredible pace. If you haven’t read Blomqvist yet, why not pick up a copy today?
Blomqvist Free Fridays on Kindle
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Blomqvist Hits Kindle, Free on Friday!
Blomqvist
Set in 11th Century Europe, Blomqvist is narrated by the protagonist’s devoted amanuensis, faithful standard-bearer, and unrequited lover, Axel Oxensteirna.
Axel tells us the story of Blomqvist’s search for his betrothed, but in the telling, he also bares his own struggle to find his spiritual footing in a confusing and shifting world.
Part historical fiction, part mystical meditation, this Mediterranean odyssey traces the course of human history in matters that are relevant to this day.
If you’ve already read it, please consider reviewing it on Amazon! Don’t forget you can get a Look Inside on the Amazon.com Blomqvist book page
Kindle eBooks free for Prime Kindlers
Two Hickins shorts are now in the Kindle Lending Library, Prime Kindlers can get these titles for free at http://amazon.com/author/mhickins – please borrow them and leave a review on Amazon!
The Actual Adventures of Michael Missing (Paperback)
Eleven stories told from the depths of anger, lust, and the confusion of doing the right things at the wrong times.
Michael Missing, the name of eleven different young men in various states of unrest, is the linked but unrelated protagonist of these wry and angry tales; a hit man, the cabin boy of 19th century French pirate Jean Lafitte, erstwhile baseball hero and the man who would be President of France, a frustrated salesman who loses an evening with Captain Kirk in the unrequited hope of laying the town slut of Scarsdale. Continue reading
Dead Cat Bounce – Preview
(This is the opening portion of Michael’s novel Dead Cat Bounce)
Chapter 1
For a long time, I admired the work of John Leslie. I thought he was way ahead of his time. I have a collection of his videos (I believe he only made videos, but perhaps there are some 8 mm films somewhere out there, if only in his own private collection) which I used to watch over and over again when I was in film school. I watched them less after I started making my own erotic shorts, but they were always in the back of my mind, a hidden inspirational mentor. Probably a lot of writers carry James Joyce or other Henry Millers throughout their careers, a mentoring presence in their writerly hearts, although it may be years since they last picked up one of those books. Continue reading
Who is the Little Guy?
I moved to Paris, France, in April 1985. It was cold, and the people were anything but warm. Getting anything done was a chore because people weren’t interested in getting anything done, they stopped whatever they were doing between noon and two in the afternoon, they closed on Mondays, and they generally don’t like anyone with whom they didn’t go to high school.
I was lonely.
Even my birthday turned out to be depressing, because it falls on the most important holiday in France – May Day – and all the stores were closed, and the Parisians had all gone away for the weekend. Continue reading
Bluelight – Preview
Chapter 1
Rifling blindly through the real estate section of the Kingston Freeman, Earl Rayburn picked up the phone on the half-ring.
“Kingston Realty,” he said, his voice deep and pebbly, pushing his butt deeper into his swivel-back chair and propping his feet on his son Spencer’s desk.
“Mr. Rayburn?” It was the excited voice of a young man, and Earl caught himself wondering which property the guy was calling about–knowing he hadn’t placed any ads because it was Thursday, that he never placed ads on a Thursday, and that the ads didn’t include his name. He wondered if he owed anyone money. Continue reading
Football Players
Here is what is irremediably, irredeemably, intrinsically wrong with the game of professional football: it is like the worst aspects of American life. Individuals are expected to sacrifice their bodies and minds for the benefit of the collective endeavor, just as office workers are expected to be team players, meaning that they should put the company before themselves, their families, and their communities.
Just as American office workers work longer hours for the same pay, it being understood that if they don’t, they will be replaced by overseas workers, most football players are paid relatively poorly (with very few exceptions), especially given the short life expectancy of their jobs. Moreover, like all American workers, football players have no guarantee of keeping their jobs or of catching on with another team, particularly if they are cut near the end of training camp or in mid-season. Continue reading