By Lawrence Martin, M.D. drlarry437@gmail.com Prize-Winning Short Story January 2021, in competition run by Hallard Press (https://hallardpress.com/) *** The TV in Memorial Hospital’s doctor’s lounge was on mute, but CNN’s running headline showed the grim news: May 28, 2020: U.S death toll from Covid-19 passes 100,000. “No big surprise, there,”…

by Lawrence Martin The Villages, Florida drlarry437@gmail.com *** I have spent a good deal of my leisure time on the water. Owned a cruising sail boat. Certified in Scuba. Many visits to lakes, rivers, beaches. But never fished. Not once. Had no interest. Then, shortly after we moved to The Villages…

By Lawrence Martin, drlarry437@gmail.com Published in: https://www.amazon.com/Landed-Villages-Other-Short-Fiction-ebook/dp/B083MXDNNF/ BRONZE AWARD WINNER in 2019, Florida Writers Association, category Published Short Story *** I entered Jake’s Deli on Cleveland’s west side and, as instructed, took a seat in one of the booths. The waitress came over and I told her I was waiting for someone, and we would order together. A minute later he walked in…

By Larry Martin drlarry437@gmail.com Published in: https://www.amazon.com/Landed-Villages-Other-Short-Fiction-ebook/dp/B083MXDNNF/ *** “Okay, Jordan,” says Samantha, our Critique Club leader, “it’s your turn to read.” The seven other members of our Fiction Writers of Sunnyville club all have a copy of my story, previously emailed, and will follow along as I read. FWS is an…

By Larry Martin, drlarry437@gmail.com Published in: https://www.amazon.com/Landed-Villages-Other-Short-Fiction-ebook/dp/B083MXDNNF/ AWARD WINNER, FLORIDA WRITERS ASSOCIATION FOR FLASH FICTION, 2018 ***** As he drove home in the late January afternoon, Harold Clarke replayed in his mind the visit with Dr. Johnson only an hour earlier. Harold didn’t want to arrive home and have his wife ask a bunch of questions he couldn’t answer…

by Lawrence Martin — drlarry437@gmail.com *** The golf gods are not nice. They’re not benevolent either. Maybe you don’t believe in golf gods. Or maybe you’re one of those non-golfer mono-theists, and just assume there can only be one golf god. If so, doesn’t really matter what you think. Most of us who play…

By Lawrence Martin drlarry437@gmail.com *** “Maestro, the candidates are waiting.” The fifty-year-old conductor, tall, handsome and urbane, nodded to his young assistant. They walked to the audition auditorium. “How many performers today?” “Four, sir. Two from Curtis in Philadelphia, two from Juilliard.” “These are a chore, Robert, but I must…

by Lawrence Martin drlarry437@gmail.com Silver medal winner in Florida Writers Association’s Royal Palm Literary Awards, 2020, category Published Short Story. “An Ordinary Patient” was first published in What Just Landed in The Villages? and Other Short Fiction. https://www.amazon.com/Landed-Villages-Other-Short-Fiction-ebook/dp/B083MXDNNF/ *** Dr. Katz’s Pulmonary Clinic, March 15, 2006 Dr. Jerome Katz’s last outpatient…

By Lawrence Martin drlarry437@gmail.com *** Leafy Bough College, Vermont. Winter, 2020. Classroom seminar titled “Writing Fiction: Basic Rules for Beginners” Sitting around a large table are twelve sophomores, along with their teacher, a middle-aged man called the Professor. …