Lars Peterson

About Lars Peterson

http://www.lpeds.com

Lars Peterson lives and works in California. Hire him for writing or editorial work via lpeds.com.

Posts by Lars Peterson:

“San Lorenzo” and the Real San Lorenzo

April 5, 2019 By Lars Peterson in Story Notes and News Tags: California, Horace Annesley Vachell, settings

Thursday’s Storyweek story — Old Man Bobo’s Mandy — written by Englishman Horace Annesley Vachell, sent us scurrying down an internet rabbit hole after an idyll. Where in California, exactly, did Vachell find the inspiration for the fictional town of “San Lorenzo,” the setting for his collection of stories Bunch Grass: A Chronicle of Life on a Cattle Ranch? Vachell’s Wikipedia entry shed little light on the writer’s life on the land, noting only that Vachell “went to California where he became partner in a land company and married Lydie Phillips, his partner’s daughter. His wife died in 1895 after [Read More]

All About Amy

February 21, 2019 By Lars Peterson in Story Notes and News Tags: Amy Wentworth Stone

Whenever we publish an old story from the public domain, we like to include a note or two about the author and a link to more info — usually to Wikipedia. Unfortunately for us the ‘pedia has no entry for the author of today’s story — Amy Wentworth Stone — and we linked instead to an archive of her correspondence with the Maine State Library, which collected works by local writers (“Maine Writers”). More on that in a moment. A deeper search brought us to a couple of old Kirkus Reviews of two of her works (Treasure for Debby; Let [Read More]

Here, Have a Cobweb Valentine

February 14, 2019 By Lars Peterson in Story Notes and News Tags: valentine day, papercraft

The description accompanying the featured image attached to today’s Valentine’s Day story (John Hartley’s Valentine Day), notes that the card is a “Cobweb” or “Birdcage” Valentine card in which a secret image or message is hidden beneath an intricately cut and embossed top or front image. To reveal the secret image, the recipient must unravel the puzzle of the first, often with a piece of attached thread: This is an exceptional Valentine, with the central design being a twisted paper confection which looks like a morning glory, and when untwisted, reveals a fine cobweb device, and both have been applied [Read More]

She Used To!

June 26, 2018 By Lars Peterson in New Short Fiction Tags: short fiction, bridgeport, gas station, roadster, tom joad

I was the night shift cashier at a gas station/mini-mart in Bridgeport, California one summer. Ours may have been the only gas station or store open all night on that stretch of 395 between Mammoth and Topaz. Not too many people pulled in, but we got enough to make it worthwhile to the station’s owner. One night in late August, just before four a.m. when the chill was really beginning to set in, an old MG roadster bounced up to the pumps. It was top down and stacked with suitcases, crushed u-haul boxes, picture frames, a bit of old carpet [Read More]

The Death of Sears

May 8, 2018 By Lars Peterson in 150 Words Tags: short fiction, 150 words, sears, refrigerator

Years ago my dad bought a refrigerator for like $800 and paid for it with a check and then a couple months later I overheard him complaining to my stepmother that that goddamned check hadn’t cleared yet and it was screwing up his checkbook. This went on for months until he finally called the bank who told him to call the Sears and they told him they didn’t have any record of that transaction whatsoever. “Well now what am I supposed to do?” he said. “Enjoy your free refrigerator.” Which he did, but only because he kept that $800 on [Read More]

If a Famous NYT Restaurant Reviewer Sidelined as a Private Eye

March 20, 2017 By Lars Peterson in New Short Fiction Tags: mashups, mcsweeny-be, fictional, private dick, sighing silk

The woman who arrived for the appointment was a sigh of silk and tall brunette as she slid into the booth for her free consult. The waiter appeared a moment later, before we’d had a chance to introduce ourselves properly, perhaps a touch too prompt and efficient for the siesta service, but maybe he’d been short-tipped one time too many by young money boys who hadn’t earned their lunches yet. He smiled and greeted us with a trio of small plates: an amusing salmon croquette, two shining slivers of smoked trout, a dollop of crab leg meat and mayo. “That’s [Read More]

Remember When Amtrak Let a Bunch of Writers Ride Free?

February 13, 2017 By Lars Peterson in New Short Fiction Tags: amtrak, writers, government, zephyr

Wouldn’t it be great if lots of government orgs did that, too? US Postal Service “1 pm. Lunch over we set out to cover the southwest corner of the 90803, a route no carrier enjoys due to its paucity of shade trees and its plenty of hounds. My carrier quips that he spends his days in a haze of barks and yelps, and indeed, the barks and yelps do seem to follow us up and down the sunbaked blocks.” US Forest Service “3 pm and the fourth pot of coffee of the day. Before I agreed to accept this residency [Read More]

The Greatest Cat Tale Ever Told

April 8, 2016 By Lars Peterson in New Short Fiction Tags: vanity fiction, jerry, cat, possum, crow

My gabby landlord Jerry lived in the back house on the two-house lot we shared and he used to bend my ear for hours on end — all of it utterly forgettable except for the following tale. Jerry used to have an old tomcat that kept the local vermin population under control, or at least in a reliable state of unease. The cat spent most of its time sleeping under the rose bushes up near the house I rented or in the sun on the deck of the hot tub back beside Jerry’s kitchen door. In between was Jerry’s beautiful [Read More]

Old Man’s Day at the Park

August 26, 2014 By Lars Peterson in 150 Words Tags: short fiction, 150 words, hundred-fifty, Apa

My wife’s grandfather was a Bracero from Mexico in the ’50s. He’s a tough and charming man, 94, lives alone with some paid help afternoons. Last month he got one of his grandkids’ kids a job at McDonalds. He told them they should hire the kid, he bought a McMuffin, and they hired Albert. Saturday he told us, in Spanish because English hasn’t pierced his skull in 60 years, about an afternoon he’d had at the park. He met a younger woman (60s), and soon she asked how old he was. “How old do you think?” “Maybe in your 80s?” “My 80s? Hah. If I were still in my [Read More]

Adventures in Litter Bay: Coheed Is Awakened Early

August 19, 2014 By Lars Peterson in Serials Tags: short fiction, park, lemonade, lemons, coheed

This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series Adventures in Litter Bay

Coheed was awakened by the sound of children’s voices rising up from the park below his one bedroom apartment. “Lemonade Lemonade Lemonade!” they yelled. “Lemonade Lemonayyde Lemonade,” came their little boys’ and girls’ voices, some breaking into scratchy urgent little girl and boy screams, “Lemonaaaade! Lemonaaade! Lemon-aay-aay-ade!” He looked over at the clock; nine-seventeen. Ten minutes later it had not abated. “Lemonade Lemonade Lemon-aay-aay-ade.” He pushed the covers aside and reached for last night’s blue jeans and t-shirt that lay carefully folded on the chair at the foot of the bed. Coheed was habitually tidy, no matter the hour or his condition. He took [Read More]

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