Dialogues: a Collection of Creative Conversations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

artwork created for the challenge

 

Synopsis: 
Dialogues: A Collection of Creative Conversations. A standoff with Bigfoot, an epidemic of serial killers, crossing a busy and blood-spattered road, men leaving their wives for artificial intelligence dating apps—these are just a few of the short stories in dialogue you’ll find in this new collection by Randal Eldon Greene.

Dialogues is the product of a writing challenge Greene began in 2018. For every week of the year, the author wrote one dialogue-only story. In this collection you’ll encounter a variety of topics and tones and experiments in presentation. Humor and heartbreak, philosophy and pulp are placed equally side by side in this collection that is sure to entertain any intrepid reader.

History:
Dialogues started when Randal Eldon Greene was contemplating two experimental stories he had written. The first of these was already a conversation—Expire. The second was an early draft of The Defining Attribute of a Girl, which was a monologue. Greene was wondering what to do with these two pieces when it occurred to him that the latter story would be much more interesting if rewritten as a dialogue.

After rewriting The Defining Attribute of a Girl, Greene began contemplating the possibility of a whole collection containing dialogue-only stories. So he wrote a few more fictional dialogues and realized that it was something he could and would like to do. So Greene set himself a goal; he decided to write at least one dialogue for every week of 2018.

The first dialogical story listed in his writing challenge was Expire and the last was The Serial Killer Epidemic: Interview Transcripts. He ended with 53 stories—one beyond his goal. Though just one beyond his goal, Greene actually came away with extra dialogue ideas that he didn’t get around to writing during the year-long challenge.

A few of his dialogues were published in 2018. The first of these was Tarnished Time, which appeared in The Creative Cafe on April 17th. This was followed shortly by Medea Naked on the Golden Fleece on April 30th in Lit Up. Greene began seriously sending out completed dialogues to publishers right before reaching the halfway mark of his challenge. Of these, Jonathan Knudsen came out on July 5th in Train Literary Magazine. Viagra for a Pariah was published in issue 3 of The Green Light Literary Journal. His story Everything in It’s Right Place appeared first in an Iowa’s and then an America’s emerging writers anthology from Z Publishing. A Lover’s Dwelling and Therapy were also accepted in 2018 for publication the following year.

Greene intends to begin actively seeking a publisher for his collected dialogues sometime in late 2019.

Publishers interested in individual stories, reprints, or offering a book deal for the short story collection may contact Randal at: wintergreenwriter@gmail.com

Alphabetical List of Stories:

• 88 “Spice Up Your Date” Shimmer Palette
• @ChefNipsNips
• About the author
• A Lover’s Dwelling
• A Man in the Snow
• Baby Who
• Chip You Away
• Colonizer
• Cup of Love
• Cut
• Demon Zone
• Digesting That Disillusionment
• DigiSpouse.com Testimonial
• Directionless
• Everything in Its Right Place
• Expire
• God Vomit
• Hiss, Squawk, Bellow, Mutter
• Ho Ho Ho, Mother-Fucker
• Illegal Turn
• Insults Two by Two
• Jonathan Knudsen
• Life Cycle
• LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE
• Maskenfreitheit
• Medea Naked on the Golden Fleece
• My Husband Was Killed by a Cryptid
• Pocket Chicken
• Rolling Stop
• Scentless Dreams
• Standoff with Bigfoot Deep in the Remote Woods
• Tarnished Time
• Terry Won’t Let It Live
• The Bat-Cat God and Other Self-Reproachments
• The Carnivore and the Vegan Sit Down to Dinner
• The Defining Attribute of a Girl
• The Ghost of Yesteryear
• The Melania Dialogues
• The Nihilist and the Strangler
• Therapy
• The River Flows in One Direction
• The Serial Killer Epidemic: Interview Transcripts
• The Wave
• Things I Thought My Mother Said
• To Get to the Other Side: February 02
• Two Conversations with Voices
• URBAN EXPLORING: Enchanted Castle
• Viagra for a Pariah
• Vorchaoskampf
• Weaves of Web and Cloth
• We Toss ‘Em
• What’s the Point of What Hayden Saw?
• Wine Drunk Together Again

 

These stories or versions of them first appeared in the following publications:

• Expire: Raw Art Review ; Spring (2019). Read or order online.
• The Wave: COLP: Big – Gypsum Sound Tales ; July 08 (2019). Order online.
• @ChefNipsNips: Defenestration Magazine ; April 20 (2019). Read online.
• A Lover’s Dwelling: Flash Fiction Addiction : anthology – Zombie Pirate Publishing ; April 15 (2019). Order online.
• Demon Zone: Midnight Mosaic : 13 Days of Dark Lore Contest (second place winner) ; April 07 (2019). Read online.
• Therapy (published as Pissing Therapy): Public House Magazine ; January 28 (2019). Order online.
• A Man in the Snow: Medium.com ; December 01 (2018). Read online.
• Everything in Its Right Place : Iowa’s Emerging Writers : anthology – Z Publishing ; September 09 (2018). Order the anthology.
• Viagra for a Pariah: The Greene Light ; issue #3, August 15 (2018). Read online.
• Jonathan Knudsen: Train Lit Mag ; July 05 (2018).
• DigiSpouse.com Testimonial: Medium.com ; May 19 (2018). Read online.
• Medea Naked on the Golden Fleece: Lit Up ; April 30 (2018). Read online.
• Tarnished Time: The Creative Cafe ; April 17 (2018). Read online.
• 88 “Spice Up Your Date” Shimmer Palette: Medium.com ; February 06 (2018). Read online.

 

Below you’ll find the titles of the stories from the 2018 writing challenge and the dates that the story was listed as completed.  

• Expire: January 10
• The Defining Attribute of a Girl: January 17
• Everything in Its Right Place: January 25
• To Get to the Other Side: February 02
• 88 “Spice Up Your Date” Shimmer Palette: February 06
• Colonizer: February 16
• Standoff with Bigfoot Deep in the Remote Woods: February 22
• Baby Who: March 03
• A Lover’s Dwelling: March 10
• Hiss, Squawk, Bellow, Mutter: March 17
• Therapy: March 24
• Life Cycle: March 31
• Rolling Stop: April 7
• Tarnished Time: April 14
• Jonathan Knudsen: April 21
• Two Conversations with Voices: April 28
• Medea Naked on the Golden Fleece: April 30
• Directionless: May 09
• DigiSpouse.com Testimonial: May 19
• Viagra for a Pariah: May 26
• Insults Two by Two: June 02
• Wine Drunk Together Again: June 9
• The Bat-Cat God and Other Self-Reproachments: June 16
• Vorchaoskampf: June 23
• Cut: June 30
• LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE: July 7
• Maskenfreitheit: July 14
• Digesting That Disillusionment: July 21
• About the author:July 28
• The Nihilist and the Strangler: August 04
• The Ghost of Yesteryear: August 11
• What’s the Point of What Hayden Saw?: August 18
• The Carnivore and the Vegan Sit Down to Dinner: August 24
• Weaves of Web and Cloth: September 01
• Chip You Away: September 08
• Pocket Chicken: September 15
• Scentless Dreams: September 22
• @ChefNipsNips: September 29
• Things I Thought My Mother Said: October 06
• The River Flows in One Direction: October 13
• Illegal Turn: October 20
• Demon Zone: October 27
• The Melania Dialogues: November 03
• Terry Won’t Let It Live: November 09
• The Wave: November 17
• Cup of Love: November 24
• A Man in the Snow: December 01
• URBAN EXPLORING: Enchanted Castle: December 08
• God Vomit: December 15
• We Toss ‘Em: December 22
• Ho Ho Ho, Mother-Fucker: December 25
• My Husband Was Killed by a Cryptid: December 29
• The Serial Killer Epidemic: Interview Transcripts: December 31

The dialogues from the writing challenge are not guaranteed to appear in the planned short story collection, though the author hopes they all find merit with his future publisher. Greene may also write additional dialogues for the book. Story titles may also change during the editing process.

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