Not too long ago, I saw a guy walk past my desk eating something on a stick.
It looked like it had little legs, that thing on a stick.
It jarred me.
I soon realized it was just a corn dog, but it gave me a great idea for a short story. Well, that and the troubling reality of acronym-inflation.
Add an interesting item from my son’s recently acquired book on Northern California insects, and I had some of the primary elements of my new short story, “Some Kind of Rugged Genius,” which now appears in 3:AM Magazine.
Of course, if roasted rat on a stick, California stink beetles and acronym insanity ain’t your thing, you may wanna pass on this one.
A novelist, columnist and veteran of Silicon Valley, Greg Bardsley tells stories about people trying to find their way in a rapidly changing world.
He is the author of The Bob Watson [2016] and Cash Out [2012], which was listed by the New York Times as one of five notable novels written about Silicon Valley. His award-winning short fiction has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, and his columns have appeared in CNN, The New York Post and other forums.
A former journalist and speechwriter, he lives in the San Francisco Bay area.
Hey, Jed. .. I’d be a pleasure. Tons of acronyms and double entendres and way-fun offsites. .. Who wouldn’t want to apply for a job at a place like that?
What I enjoy most about your stories, simple prose that twist the reader along, line by line, paragraph by paragraph til its too damn late, you’re hooked, wanting more. Damn fine work!!!
Good job on this one, buddy. It’s like Office Space meets Naked Lunch, but written by Terry Gilliam, and co-authored by Hunter S. Thompson. Just kidding, it’s not that over-the-top. Great read.
Not too long ago, I saw a guy walk past my desk eating something on a stick.
Greg Bardsley 
April 21, 2009 at 4:34 am
I don’t think I ever want to work in an office with you. Jeez, between this one and HQ Likes Your Style I feel fortunate to be a minimum wage monkey.
April 21, 2009 at 9:00 am
Hey, Jed. .. I’d be a pleasure. Tons of acronyms and double entendres and way-fun offsites. .. Who wouldn’t want to apply for a job at a place like that?
April 23, 2009 at 12:24 pm
What I enjoy most about your stories, simple prose that twist the reader along, line by line, paragraph by paragraph til its too damn late, you’re hooked, wanting more. Damn fine work!!!
April 24, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Good job on this one, buddy. It’s like Office Space meets Naked Lunch, but written by Terry Gilliam, and co-authored by Hunter S. Thompson. Just kidding, it’s not that over-the-top. Great read.
May 15, 2015 at 11:29 am
Of the panoply of website I’ve pored over this has the most veracity.