Stories By J.S. Lender

J.S. Lender

Published in

Reef Point Press

7 min readAug 16, 2020

My new book “KAIA AND THE WHALE” has arrived!

NEW STORIES

What Do You Want As a Writer?

LIKE MANY WRITERS, I get burned out on the writing process from time to time. Last month I independently published a…

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Bjorn the Magnificent

a tale of friendship

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Gus

MY NAME IS GUS and I am a white seagull. Actually, I am not completely white — I have specs of gray and black mixed in…

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Writing My First Book For Young Readers

lessons learned along the way

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Quit the Internet

your mind and soul will thank you

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Embarking On My First Novella

I HAVE DECIDED to try to write a novella, just for fun. I have written a couple of short story anthologies, which I…

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Devil’s Canyon

THE FIRST ONE felt like a little nip, or perhaps a flick. It was the kind of sensation you get when you scratch an itch…

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Just Roll With It

IF I TOLD YOU that I was born without a body, would you believe me? I know that it sounds crazy, but sometimes the most…

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The Writer Returns

I HAVE BEEN OUT for exactly 3 days. Three days and four hours, to be more precise. They told me that if I could keep my…

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Permanent Midnight

I COULD TELL by the look on my lawyer’s face that the news he had for me was not going to be good. My prison cell was…

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Flight of the Summer Hornet

I SAW THE OUTLINE of its yellow bulbous head and its long striped body a split second before I swallowed it. I was…

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LOVE / HUMOR

Creep at the Bar

HEY THERE, SWEET THING. I saw you staring at me from the end of the bar. Let me guess — you thought I was Kevin Bacon…

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The Road to Klump

Fiction Friday

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Teresa and the Chaka Ball

The first thing that truly scared me about Teresa was how hard she gripped the knob on the stick shift of her VW bus…

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Steely, Crystal, and Me

Unless you are an aficionado of antiques and mechanical oddities, you may be unfamiliar with automatons. They look like…

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Harold’s Great Escape

Harold was enjoying a well deserved snooze on the couch on a Sunday afternoon. A light breeze fluttered across the top…

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Sarah Manor

a tale about romantics and the fables they invent

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Two Rebel Girls

It’s Complicated: Lit Up and The Writing Cooperative Contest

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Hi, I’m Jodie

The last memory Dave had of single life was dancing the funky chicken at a disco in Newport Beach in 1980, with a gold…

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Lunch at the Vatican

Honeymoons often don’t turn out so fantastic because they involve two unsuspecting young adults who have been through a…

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A Poodle Named Denise

The highway running from Orange County to Las Vegas is desolate. Nothing but light brown earth and bright blue skies…

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Deciding on a Loaf of Bread

Stay focused and this won’t take long. I just need to pick up a loaf of whole wheat bread at the store.

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SURFING / OCEAN

The Endless Blue

Tales from the sea — short stories about surfing, sailing and the ocean

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Hand in the Water

Monday

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Aristotle’s Tornado

A Surfing Tale

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Sunrise at Dolly’s Donuts

Short Story by J.S. Lender

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Midnight Pier

Short Story by J.S. Lender

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Drifting

24 miles does not seem like a great distance when you are staring hard into the ocean’s heartlessness.

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Encounter At Dawn

The first thing Jay noticed was the bitter cold sand pressed against his bare feet. The sky was still dark and the full…

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Shelly’s Shake Shack

The horizon was cloudy, but the sun was hot. So hot, in fact, that the white sand at Huntington Beach was rumored to…

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There and Back

I am going to tell you about something that happened last year. Most folks would not believe a story like this, but…

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WESTERNS

Tumbleweed Diaries

Western tales — short stories about cowboys, saloons, and shootouts

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Tex and Marlene

Fiction Friday

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Zeke’s Golden Crucifix

A Western Tale

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Scuffle At Wet Mule Bank

Short Story by J.S. Lender

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One Whiskey, Please

By J. Lender

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Zeke Aims High

A Western Tale By J. Lender

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YOUTH

The Mummies of El Toro (Part 1)

JERRY KNEW EXACTLY where to hammer the boards into the trees, and he also knew what type of nails to use. Jerry’s dad…

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Into the Badlands

Jeffrey pressed his left index finger three times against the cracked and crusty button in the wall before he accepted…

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Winston Finds Oil

High school was coming to an end and we were all scared to death. As we drank our beers and thought about the waves we…

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Five Year Commitment

It is becoming obvious to me that they do not like Americans here very much. I can tell by the way they look at me, and…

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Frankie and the Bass

That must be a bass because it has four fat strings, thought Frankie.

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MORTALITY

The Long Darkness

THE ROAD HAD BEEN longer than I expected, and darkness had fallen suddenly. I had watched the sun slowly creep down…

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You Can Call Him Jake

They told me I could call him “Jake,” but that just seemed strange. Jake was just a large and ostentatious oil…

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She Comes In Darkness

Short Story by J. Lender

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Lloyd Knocks Twice

Short Story by J. Lender

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The Patient One

“Why isn’t my baby crying? He’s just grunting,” screamed Darla.

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HORROR / SUSPENSE

Killian Street

A new place for horror and oddities

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Clown Confession

Forgive me father, for I have sinned. It has been 16 years since my last confession.

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Flight of the Summer Hornet

I SAW THE OUTLINE of its yellow bulbous head and its long striped body a split second before I swallowed it. I was…

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Mississippi Queen

A Demonic Tale

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Ernie Ballwickle Gets an Idea

Ernie Ballwickle was pleasantly surprised when his hand remained steady as he pointed the gun at the face of the bank…

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Cabbie in the Orange Grove

The worst part about driving a cab is that people always slam the door when they get out. It was one part of the job…

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Handle With Care

Short Story by J. Lender

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The Writer

Stephen King was once asked how he wrote so many amazing stories. His response was “one word at a time.” King may be a…

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The Apostrophe Enforcer

Hey there counselor, do you mind if I smoke? Well I’m going to smoke anyway, if you don’t mind. Who wants to live in a…

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Enjoying Breakfast With the Devil

A funny thing about the Devil is that he enjoys a hot breakfast at a greasy diner just like everyone else. Lots of salt…

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Hitchhiker on a Rainy Night

No Good Deed…

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Down Below

Follow me, I want to show you something. I keep all the best ones down below.

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The Trail’s End

Even the wretched have children thought Jean, as she sauntered at a brisk pace past a pregnant hobo lying on the…

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FANTASY

They Want One of Us

There was never anything wrong with calling a female flight attendant a stewardess, as far as Ray Spencer was…

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Four Doors

Sam tentatively walked up a few stairs to enter the living room and felt violently unwelcome as the fragile wood…

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They Are Here Now

The landscape of the Mojave Desert is beautiful, especially in the lonely blackness of midnight.

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Two Shadows

The green grass tickled Ashley’s pale bare toes as she casually stepped across the empty field. There was not much…

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MUSIC

The Mastery of Stevie Ray Vaughan

HE LOOKED LIKE a drunk guy wearing red cowboy boots, leaning up against a post and cradling a guitar that might fall to…

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Thank You Neil Peart!

A Rough Week For Rush Fans

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Crossroads of the World

a tale about my stint in the music biz

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Floating In a Blue Dream

The life of a working musician is nothing to be revered. Forget what you see on the Grammys. There are no after…

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The Indestructible Frankie

Short Story

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The Indestructible Frankie (Part 2)

Short Story

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TALES FOR YOUNG READERS

Across the Cosmos

Stories for young readers, and the young at heart

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Bjorn the Magnificent

a tale of friendship

theweeklyknob.com

Cassidy and the Whale (Part 1)

ANYONE WHO THINKS it’s easy being a seven-year-old girl ought to try it sometime.

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The Walker of Eastville (Part 1)

Child Narrated Story

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The Great White Flash (Part 1)

Child Narrated Story

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Little Stevie and the Crow

Child Narrated Story

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ESSAYS

I Can’t Compete

I knew my marriage was over as soon as I saw how she was drooling over you. She would stare at you with a lover’s gaze…

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Always With Me

When we first met, you struck me as quite horrible. A real dirty bastard, in fact. A nagging, relentless, determined…

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ARTICLES

Fountain Pen

Fiction Writers Unite!— articles about fiction writing and the creative process

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Writing My First Book For Young Readers

lessons learned along the way

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Have a Beer and Write a Book

Fiction Writers Unite!

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Write Unpredictably

No one wants to read a boring story. Not even your spouse or your best friend that you have known since the fifth…

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Motivation For a Second Book

Advice From a First Time Author

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Sticking With Short Fiction

I had it all planned out: I was going to publish my first collection of short fiction, then I would quickly get to work…

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Lessons Learned Self-Publishing My First Book

On a $0 Budget

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Publishing Fiction on Medium

I finished my first short story last year, at the ripe old age of 43. In the beginning, my stories were in the range of…

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Posting Short Fiction on LinkedIn

Medium is by far my favorite place to post short stories. I write short fiction stories (and a few articles), usually…

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