Showing results by author "David Wilson-Burns" in All Categories

The experience of smell is the closest thing we have to intimate human contact without actually having it. A woman's perfume, a whiff of tobacco smoke, a little bit of diesel fume, and some spearmint gum might come close to someone's first kiss, for example. Of course, it's impossible to create a first kiss without the human element, but for Jim Bronson, it's the best he can do.

On a chilly San Francisco night, James Roberts steps out of his customary Union Square pub. He lights a final smoke before his nightly walk to a Chinatown apartment where he will invariably drink himself into oblivion in his living room club chair. As he smokes, a girl emerges from the bay fog, gesturing for a cigarette. In the flare of the lighter, he sees a blue and green bruise on her face, but before he can ask, she vanishes. In the coming weeks, he encounters her as before, giving her a bite of food or a smoke; their street exchanges, wordless.

Original serialized fiction podcast from author David Wilson-Burns. Broadcasts of serialized works--now featuring a new series: "A Gnomish Christmas", written, performed, and produced by the author.