I started this collection―and finished it―all in the same year: 2006. You may well ask why I even bothered. I’d have a hard time answering that question.

I think the truth lies somewhere between “denial” and “despair.” As the year wore on, my situation only worsened. I thought it might be my last―but obviously not. Working on these pieces, month by month, allowed me to avoid thinking too much about premature ends.

When I now reflect on that year, my heart tells me that July was the low point. July or August is when my kids traditionally leave town with their mother to spend a couple of weeks on the coast of Maine―something we used to do as a family up until she and I went our separate ways. My daughter continues to live with her mother just a few subway stops away; my son went off to college in New England this year, but visits on a regular basis. Our relationship, I think it’s safe to say, leaves nothing to be desired―except more of itself.

Has my situation otherwise changed since 2006? In some ways, yes―but I’m still behind in the rent. The good news, I suppose, is that this state of affairs makes for an easy diet.

Russell Bittner's "Stories in the Key of C. Minor", published by Faraway in 2009, is available on Amazon and on Lulu.

Russell has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. His fiction, poetry and photography is widely published on the web.

His stories have been published by St Martins Press, The Edgar Literary Magazine, The International Journal of Erotica, Beyond Centauri, SwillMagazine, The Angler, Sein und Werden, and Hobart Park.

Biog: To read - click here.