“Missing Rib,” A Short Story, is Now Available at the Kindle Store

Missing Rib, a short love story by Alex Clermont, is now available in the kindle store at Amazon.

Andrew McCarthy thought he found his other half. His other half didn’t agree, and since their break up he’s been moping around his apartment reliving the past. That stops the day his best friend Donald brow-beats him into being a groomsman at a wedding.

The day is filled with events, both tragic and funny, which make Andrew think about what it means to have family; to find love and to lose love. He’s forced to confront what it means to find someone who fits him, like a missing rib.

Dark Places – A short story about a bad neighborhood

The World is Full of Dangerous Places: Dark Places - A short story about a bad neighborhood

It was robbing season where I worked. Although I didn’t know why, it seemed to me an observable fact that the warmth of summer somehow thawed the laziness in low-level criminals. Cops patrolled more often, ramdom beatings became more frequent, and stick-up men looked for anything that shined with a focus that would be inspiring if it was directed at a book.

Angels – A Short Story About Choices

For Angels Life Is Full Of Choices: Angels - A Short Story about making choices

The newborn looked like a mutant raisin. That was all Kathy could think about as she stared her niece in the face. The pale thing lay on her sister-in-law’s chest and looked back at Kathy with black dots that couldn’t see more than a foot away. She was wrinkled, with facial features that Kathy couldn’t describe other than to say that they were there. Her nose was there; her ears were there; her mouth was there. They were all there, but they were as shapeless as a dream. The only thing Kathy could say for certain was that the wrinkles in the baby’s skin made her look like a raisin that had been exposed to some transfiguring chemical out of a comic book.

Soft – A Short Story About the Ugliness of Domestic Violence

Bend, but please don't break - domestic violence, abuse of women, fiction

He never imagined that bare knuckles could do so much damage. Peter had watched enough TV shows and actions movies to have an idea of what a strong punch could do – while channel surfing he once ran into a mixed martial arts match and saw the busted lip and shut left eye of a man with a name he couldn’t pronounce. What he was looking at now though, was something else entirely. It was Karen who had been hit. It was him who hit her. There was no plastic screen or suited announcer to separate him from the blood and violence.