Author: Randy Pearson

Experiencing Common Ground

Experiencing Common Ground (2010)
(c) 2015 By Randy D Pearson

With a corn dog in my hand and music in the air, a smile overtakes my face as I stand looking out at the Sand Bar. From my perch on top of the large, concrete bowl, I can see the band members’ legs and feet. But due to the tarp keeping the sun from beating down on their heads, I can see nothing above their torso. It hardly matters, since I don’t know the name of the band and wouldn’t know their faces if I could actually see them. All I know is, it’s a hot, glorious day here at Common Ground, I have a plastic cup filled with Newcastle Ale in my right hand, a thick, tasty corn dog in my left… oh, and my phone is ringing. Read more

Wingman Blues

Wingman Blues
(c) 2015 By Randy D Pearson

As read at Fiction 440 on 4/28/2015 – the words to use were stiletto, lust, and taxidermy

“C’mon,” said Victor. “Ya gotta come with me! I can’t go without my wingman!”

Octavio sighed. For one thing, Victor never needed a wingman. He’d score regardless. But the bigger issue for Octavio was his own psyche. It’d only been three weeks since Cassie left him. He had no interest in standing around with a bunch of drunk people, pretending to be okay. Read more

Excerpt #1 – MegaShop Stakeout

“The MegaShop Stakeout”

This is from pages 157-161

Pacing up one aisle and down the next, I scanned the crowd laboriously for quite some time. Once I’d wandered through my whole section with no results, I opted instead to pick a location and hover. Perusing the fresh fruits and vegetables section, I feigned fascination in their selection of cucumbers, strawberries and broccoli. I’d pick up an item and do all sorts of freshness quality testing, or at least what I’d hoped would be construed as such. For any given item, I’d smell, thump or shake it, only to return it to, or in the general vicinity of, its original location. Though I did garner some peculiar glances while shaking broccoli near my ear and smelling sealed bags of salad, I think I managed to fool the majority of the shoppers. Read more

Excerpt #2 – Slug Bug

Slug Bug

This is from pages 39-41

I had spent the last forty-five minutes staring out the passenger window at the constantly moving landscape, not really focusing on any of the sights as they flew by. Turning to look at Austin, I became a bit concerned at the droopiness of his eyelids. Fearing this as a possible harbinger of a bad situation, I uttered, “Are we there yet?” Read more

Deleted Scene #1 – Story Time

Story Time

This scene was written as a stand-alone short story, but I wrote it with the intention of putting it in the book at around page 39. During one of the edits, I decided it didn’t really fit, so I removed it and added the “Slug Bug” scene, which is displayed here as Excerpt #2. Read more

Deleted Scene #2 – Phil Savage

Phil Savage Description

These few pages were originally written to give insight and depth to Phil Savage, the guy who our heroes borrow the pickup truck from. But I came to realize I needed to get to the meat of the plot a bit sooner, so I removed it. But still, in my opinion, this is an interesting bit of text. Also, this incorporated one of my past career choices, and I’d always wanted to write about it. On top of all that, it has a rather vulgar joke that didn’t sit too well with my proof-reading staff. I like it, but I wrote it, so y’know. Read more

Deleted Scene #3 – Dirk Irtly

Dirk Irtly, channel forty-two action news central

The Dirk Irtly bit, on page 195, originally included this joke. However, one of my proof readers didn’t get it, so I tried to expand on it. Then she thought it was too vulgar, so I removed the whole thing. But every time I read it I laugh, so I wanted to share it with you. Read more

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