Click a link to read a story, parable, article or novel:

 

 

The Black Mirror          The Break of Night          The Dream Temple                Nothing Left for Isaac       

 

The Worthy                                  Ms. Kitty and the Couch of Death                                     The Puerile Fish

 

The Father, The Daughter, and The Holy Ghost                              The Priest and the Atheist        

 

A Novel Idea: From Symptom to Sublimation                                Happiness Loves Company    

 

Music          Strength of Heart        Vanity's Tooth          Who Fired Prometheus?            The Remedy

 

The Human Aesthetic      Jacob's Last Rite      Justice Lies Within (or Beauty, Truth and the Philologist)

 

The Colonists          Beauty is Strength            The Round           The Devil's God            Fractal Evolution

 

A Wish and The Grove          Rain and Snow            Time            A question of Faith            Innocence

 

 

Editor's introduction to the work of Dr. Greg A. Grove:                 Leopards in the Sky

 

Editor's introduction and biography for John Laue:

 

Big Mind by John Laue [first appeared in The New Orphic Review, Canada]

 

Wayne Bachner's short story: "EARLY WINTER"

 

An Unusual Love Letter To The World Or Whoever May Happen To Read It   by James Quirk

 

Editor's introduction to the work of Eva Townsend:        Velvet Slippers         Nothing to Regret

 

Plant X   by Tom Mahony                             The Manic Thoughts of a Cab Driver  by Tzolov Rosko

 

 

Rich Norman's Novels:

 

Time Saw a Fly: The human mind contains a mystery, a mystery which unlocks the reasons for the inexplicable things we do, our true soul, hidden in darkness and twice unknowable: The Unconscious. Here in the invisible heart of Man lies his impossible unspoken truth, a truth forever sealed away from his view but always turning silently within him, the unknown hand which his reasons never manage to explain––dark, omnipotent and invisible...until now. Sam Lessing can see into the hidden unconscious theatre in the minds of his fellow Americans. What he sees reveals a hopeful terrible truth, our truth.

 

This novel tackles the big questions, the purpose and meaning of life––the huge, impossible existential questions. If you have an appetite for humor and beauty, a hunger for the oldest questions and the answers they crave, you will enjoy this book. Through means often beautiful and poetic, sometimes clear and direct, the nature of our hidden soul is laid bare amidst an overarching examination of the human spirit and potential. Touching, funny, hopeful and shocking, Time Saw a Fly is a photograph of our unflattering human "truth," and the creative answer to the meaningless question we see.

 

 

Ever Deeper Never Better is an action novel based around the transformation of James Holdsworth from an average young American, "one of us," into the us we do not see. War makes invisible allegory come alive as we are swept in its tide toward survival and our unknown animal self–––the shadow self we all hide. James Holdsworth moves from morality to immorality and madness by way of action and humor, until the enormous tensions are resolved in a sumptuous liquid ending which offers up the answer sought by every divided soul. Ever Deeper Never Better is Action, Allegory and Answer.

 

This novel approaches our American psychology via allegory. The essential fundamental elements of the American personality are explored as we watch its construction in James Holdsworth. As a society, we can see our hidden but omnipresent unconscious aspects emerge in war. Here, the root unconscious fantasies which make the American economic system, foreign policy and national character tick, are exposed. The unconscious is given vent in war so be warned––this book contains violence! Gasp! Many aspects of criminal psychopathology are authentically produced for your examination! The main theme of the novel is the genesis of morality and immorality, both so deeply mistaken. Then the disorder is dissolved, and James Holdsworth is healed in the beautiful Alaskan wilderness. The end is the answer.

 

 

Enough, the continuation of Ever Deeper Never Better, holds a unique and special place within the body of my work. This is the finest, most profound and image rich piece of fiction I have ever created, a work so far above its author, that it stands alone as the single most beautiful and insightful piece of fiction you are likely to own. Written as a piece of music, the most important topics which plague and enrich the human experience are asked, and answered. In the life of a creative soul, sometimes a piece of work emerges which in and of itself, justifies the entire life of its creator. This is such a work.

 

What evil springs from our good? What violence do we crave, and even savor, to become… moral? What wish, what perverse wish is within the holy? What wish is hidden beneath our devotion? Do you know the truth––?––that our Gods are daemons! Have you seen the black glistening fangs of Hope, and the drawn cheeks of Contentment? Have you heard death's true name spoken aloud––?––How profane and sacred is this name, this last ugly word: "Happiness?" Can we find the impossible is simple, our pain is but light, but a folded knot of light darkening the mystery, a blackness feigned, once poured out to become––everything? Yes! Our Pain is our Light––but for one thin error! Can you guess it––?––can you see it––?––the diamond of our pain, our treasure spilled into Life and silver laughter but for this? And do you know who––Who has destroyed the world?

 

James and Carolyn are as God and Goddess living in the voluptuous bliss of the Alaskan wilderness, until seduced to foolish hope by a broken Mad Man. As the truth unfolds, the lovers are initiated into the most sacred, beautiful, inaccessible and dark recesses of the human soul, until at last, the ultimate answers, the heart of human abomination, horror and hope are revealed. Through the vehicles of parable, song, science and story, our most poisonous daemons and gods are brought into the light of day and known. Once vanquished, the final human question remains, our last and deepest hungry doubt rises up, and in gratitude, brightly falls away: What of human suffering?