Find out why “Rabbit Eyes” was written, and how this recording differs from the original manuscript.
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A Magic Life
While Not About Lumberjacks exists to share my short fiction, behind the scenes I’m always working on bigger things. I’m currently working on the second draft of a novel called A Magic Life.
A Magic Life is about a girl born in the circus in the 1920s and her rise to fame as a magician in the 40s and 50s.
Cynthia Griffith, who edited Episode 4 of Not About Lumberjacks — fan-favorite “Horus” — narrated the first chapter of A Magic Life.
To give you a taste of something bigger, I thought it would be fun to share the first chapter here.
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Rabbit Eyes
The owner of a software company becomes very uneasy when he discovers someone close to him is trying to control his mind.
Content Advisory: Swearing, manipulation, controlling relationship, deception, sex.
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Credits:
Music: Ergo Phizmiz , Chad Crouch, and Craig Kelman
Rabbit Photo: Serious Fun
Story and Narration: Christopher Gronlund
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Behind the Cut – Episode 5: Looking for Dogs
In this behind-the-scenes look at the latest episode of Not About Lumberjacks, I talk about the real-life events that became the basis for the story — and how it was developed from there.
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Looking for Dogs
Dicky Wingfeld has it all: a great job, a loving wife, and a new house. But Dicky also has a problem: a father who cannot seem to stop collecting junk.
One morning when Dicky’s father, Richie, appears at his son’s bedroom to ask if he’ll help him track down a couple Great Danes he saw running loose in a field, Dicky finally figures out why his father’s yard looks like the county dump.
Content Advisory: Swearing, smoking, depression, hoarding, loss of mother to cancer.
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Credits:
Music: Ergo Phizmiz and Kai Engel
Field and Tree Photo: John Mark Arnold
Story and Narration: Christopher Gronlund
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Behind the Cut – Episode 4: Horus
“Horus” is the first short story I’ve written in at least half a decade. (My focus in recent years has been novel-length fiction.) To get back to short fiction, my motivation was simple: write a story for my wife. My wife is a fan of parrots, so a story about an unemployed writer who lands her dream job, but gets more than she bargained for in the form of an African grey parrot named Horus seemed like a good way to go. “Horus” is almost the most downloaded episode of Not About Lumberjacks. I like to think that’s because the story is good (I, and others, believe it is), but I think so much of the episode’s success was the result of having my wife, Cynthia Griffith, narrate the story. Cynthia’s narration was the highlight of the episode for so many people…so for this episode of Behind the Cut, I interviewed Cynthia about reading the story.
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Horus
Sarah Nelson is an unemployed writer trying to find her next gig while dealing with her overbearing mother. Her world changes the day she answers an ad as a writer’s assistant for a famous author.
With time to focus on her own writing and learn even more about the industry from her new mentor, everything seems perfect until the day Sarah gets more than she bargained for in the form of an African Grey parrot named Horus.
Content Advisory: Swearing, an overbearing mother, and two instances of death from natural causes.
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Credits:
Music: Ergo Phizmiz and Chad Crouch (aka Podington Bear)
African Grey Photo: BlondieB38
Story: Christopher Gronlund
Narration: Cynthia Griffith
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Behind the Cut – Episode 3: Mr. Knowitall
You don’t think, “What does the voice of a Magic 8 Ball sound like?” until you’re faced with recording a story in which the old toy is a character. I didn’t think about any of the voices in “Mr. Knowitall” until I was sitting before the mic, recording. This episode of Behind the Cut is all about turning the voices heard in our heads when reading to ourselves into something physical for people to hear.
A little departure with this episode: no sneak peek of the next episode of Not About Lumberjacks. I don’t want to give too much away with the next story (other than it’s about an unemployed writer who lands her dream job, only to discover it comes with more than she bargained for in the form of an African grey parrot named Horus), so…you get a bonus story called “Be a Man.”
“Be a Man” is probably the shortest story I’ve written…and definitely one of the most brutal as well.
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Mr. Knowitall
Jerry Hachard was destined for big things, but left his family fortune behind for a quiet life of adventure and travel. When his parents are killed in an accident and he returns to his hometown, he’s amazed to find only one thing left to him in his parents’ will: a plastic Magic 8 Ball.
Jerry’s brother got the family business, and his sister got the family fortune. The Magic 8 Ball seems like a strange thing to leave to the first child in the family. It’s only when Jerry’s life begins changing in dramatic ways that he understands the gift…and all that comes with it.
Content Advisory: Loneliness, swearing, family rivalry, family fistfight, parental death, gambling, hospitalization.
[A $0.99 e-book version of Mr. Knowitall is available in the Store.]
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Credits:
Music: Ergo Phizmiz and Chad Crouch (aka Podington Bear)
Magic 8 Ball Photo: BarkBud
Story and Narration: Christopher Gronlund
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Behind the Cut: Pride of the Red Card
They say truth is stranger than fiction. My reply to that is those who make the claim aren’t reading the right fiction. I understand where they’re coming from, though — sometimes life can get strange. Add to that writers being told to write what they know, and it’s no wonder so much fiction takes reality and skews it a bit to a point a writer can say, “What? That’s just a story,” when accused of writing about things that really happened.
I tend to not pull from my life in the fiction in my life — at least directly. With “Pride of the Red Card,” I wanted to change that. Because the story is based on real-life incidents, I decided to use this episode of Behind the Cut to share what is true and what is not in the story. I also share a preview of the next episode of Not About Lumberjacks, a story about a 40-something-year-old drifter who returns to his hometown after his parents’ death, where he discovers the only thing left to him in their will is a plastic Magic 8 Ball.
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