Something Special is a novella-length story by author Russell Bittner that is featured in the new collection, Stories in the Key of C. Minor. It is about Bruce, a middle-aged agent for models whose plans to spend a romantic weekend in the wilds of Yosemite with his gorgeous protege Angie go horribly awry. Written with an impressive eye for detail and an awesome command of language, Something Special is an intriguing and absorbing tale by an emerging author who is sure to leave his mark. Click here to read the first chapter of Something Special.
“Brucie, I need work,” she whines.
She says this, mind you, as she reaches out and begins to toggle a long, manicured fingernail back and forth against a small lump of something stuck to the square of my desk calendar. I glance down; see that it’s stuck to a smaller square of blank white space; see that it’s the only thing residing on that small square other than the print of today’s date. The grating of her fingernail—never mind the gesture—makes me want to do the same with my teeth, but I squelch the urge.
“Yes, I know. We all need work, Angie. It’s what keeps us happy, healthy, not housebound.” I’d like to think I have a way with words.
“Well?”
“Well, Angie, you know there’s always that one thing you can do—.”
She raises an eyebrow but not her glance from that lump of something brown and unsightly stuck to my calendar. I decide it must be a remnant of yesterday’s lunch—left over from a week earlier and feeding on its own ration of MSG in a small refrigerator I keep humming above the supply closet in the far corner of my office. That same closet is home to a combination copier and fax machine. Times are tough all around.
To read more about the author, Russell Bittner, click here.
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Throughout August, Faraway will be highlighting the work of Pushcart Prize nominated-author Russell Bittner. Bittner’s stories, poems, and photography have been widely published online and in print. To honor this author’s work, Faraway is proud to present a collection of six stories, including one novella, available online for purchase tomorrow. The novella, Something Special, will also be serialized in installments throughout August, along with other stories and photographs by Russell Bittner.
Return to FarawayJournal.com throughout the month to download new chapters of Something Special and to read other work by this talented author.
Friday, August 7: Introducing Russell Bittner
Saturday, August 8: Chapter 1, Something Special
Sunday, August 9: Chapter 2, Something Special
Tuesday, August 11: An Interview with Russell Bittner
Thursday, August 13: Chapter 3, Something Special
Saturday, August 15: Chapter 4, Something Special
Sunday, August 16: Chapter 5, Something Special
Tuesday, August 18: Chapter 6, Something Special
Friday, August 21: Publish or Perish
Sunday, August 23: In the Animal Kingdom
Tuesday, August 25: Last Exit
Friday, August 28: Aubrey Ference
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Faraway is proud to announce the upcoming publication of a collection of short fiction entitled Stories by Russell Bittner. Stories includes six short works, including the novella Something Special. Stories will soon be available for purchase, while Something Special will be published in serial installments available for download right here on www.FarawayJournal.com.
Check back soon for more updates.
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Now, for the first time, you can read K. C. Wilson’s powerful new novella completely for free, presented by Faraway. By Florida-based author K. C. Wilson, Doing the Dead – 1983 is a superb piece of writing about a man turning thirty and recognizing the entanglements that made him who he is. Along the way an unforgettable cast of characters deals with murder, betrayal, love, friendship, music, and loss.
Click here to download the novella in its entirety.
For interviews with the author and more, click here.
And to purchase a print edition, click here: 
In December, we serialized K. C. Wilson’s novella Doing the Dead – 1983. To start off the new year, we are going to bring you that novella, in full, for the first time. Come back tomorrow to download the full novella by this outstanding writer!
And now for the final chapter of K. C. Wilson’s novella Doing the Dead – 1983, presented by Faraway!
Click here to purchase a copy of Doing the Dead – 1983, or click here for complete coverage of the publication of this new novella.
]]>Kate came by early in the Cougar. Ingrid got up to see me off. Lyle was leaving to go to work. Susan slept. Russell sat on his couch on the porch, drinking beer and watching early morning TV on the portable black and white. The house was peaceful, calm. Ingrid waved a tender goodbye from the doorway. All I had to do was get in the car and go.
The moment of going provided a focus on the receding house. Inside the Cougar, reality and time were linked to no houses. The moment of going extended outward into a prolonged transition, like one of those endlessly changing Dead jams that segue in a hundred different directions before the full surging power of the band converges on a single resonating chord that announces the end of the song they were playing as it fades into the beginning of the next song, the next new song in the sequence. The music never stops.