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The Adventures of Spenser Oakheart, World's Greatest Untenured Professor
A life, in pieces
Serial Fiction
Short Fiction
University
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The Decanting
The Decanting
Gavin Paul
Sep 23, 2023
The Gnawing
The Gnawing
These are the dark days of summer.
Gavin Paul
Aug 30, 2022
The Leavening
The Leavening
Try making bread, everyone said. Flour, salt, water, heat. Tap the veins of civilization and marvel at the primal embers of human…
Gavin Paul
Jun 11, 2021
The Dampening
The Dampening
A brief afternoon shower, not even enough to cool the air, and after it passes Spenser is struck by the way the summer light clings to…
Gavin Paul
Apr 9, 2020
The Veering
The Veering
Longshadows in the slow fade of a late summer afternoon. Tristan’s body in the dirt. Memories. Brainshapes. Apparitions.
Gavin Paul
Jun 20, 2019
The Treading
The Treading
What if ghosts don’t float?
Gavin Paul
Feb 20, 2019
The Ruminating
The Ruminating
Nothing breaks his heart quite like seeing an old person eating alone. Park bench or corner of a restaurant, it doesn’t matter. The…
Gavin Paul
Dec 3, 2018
The Perambulating
The Perambulating
Everywhere the quiet hunger. Even here, far from the cindery guts of the city.
Gavin Paul
Oct 12, 2018
The Scrawling
The Scrawling
Most pleasures are very simple.
Gavin Paul
Jun 17, 2018
The Fathoming
The Fathoming
He rarely looks you in the eye.
Gavin Paul
Apr 20, 2018
The Pissing
The Pissing
It’s not a phobia. Don’t call it that. Phobia suggests something unalterable, something born in the blood, and this isn’t that. Phobia is…
Gavin Paul
Apr 8, 2018
The Conjuring
The Conjuring
Last night as he rolled and bucked and grappled with the covers, Spenser was temporarily dazzled by the static sparks crackling from…
Gavin Paul
Mar 7, 2018
The Quaking
The Quaking
Spenser feels it building, somewhere at the far edges of perception. Under the edges. Hot stones and sunless granite ready to break, eager…
Gavin Paul
Feb 9, 2018
The Westerling
The Westerling
In the dream Spenser walked toward the fading sun, already in motion and exhausted when the dream began, trudging mile after mile through…
Gavin Paul
Aug 24, 2017
The Plumbing
The Plumbing
Is it a bond if it dissolves in water?
Gavin Paul
Jul 30, 2017
The Middling
The Middling
Shhhh. Calm your mind. Don’t stir the embers.
Gavin Paul
Jul 30, 2017
The Commuting
The Commuting
Look at this shit. Come on. Move, goddamn it. Just move.
Gavin Paul
May 26, 2017
The Surveilling
The Surveilling
All day the sun just a rumour. Bleak light straining through taut rain drops, drowning in dark puddles.
Gavin Paul
May 1, 2017
The Ciphering
The Ciphering
0686wlbtsos?SL24
Gavin Paul
Apr 6, 2017
The Jogging
The Jogging
The hitch in his stride. The broken lope. The funky, middle-aged gait of a man who spends a bit of time each evening thinking about the…
Gavin Paul
Feb 21, 2017
The Calling
The Calling
When he was a child, Spenser was fascinated by the idea of time travel. Not just Jetsons meet the Flintstones kind of stuff, but actual…
Gavin Paul
Feb 17, 2017
The Riving
The Riving
As far back as he can remember, he’s done it like this: zipper, button, belt. Zip the zipper, button the pants, fasten the belt. Spenser…
Gavin Paul
Feb 9, 2017
The Reading
The Reading
A colleague passes on a book: the first English translation of The Crown, The Serpent, The Knife, The Bone (New York and London, Parallel…
Gavin Paul
Jan 23, 2017
The Scouring
The Scouring
The snow-covered windshield is a moonscape against the achingly clear December sky. That rare quality of winter light sharpening the fine…
Gavin Paul
Jan 12, 2017
The Drowning
The Drowning
What Spenser noticed one biting winter morning on the walk through campus was that if he took a large gulp of coffee from his travel mug…
Gavin Paul
Dec 28, 2016
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