"Clean Slate" (a story from Inroads), NetGalley, and Complimentary Paid Subscriptions
A brother decides between the family business or his estranged wife.
Inroads
Below you can read “Clean Slate,” a story from Inroads, my short-story collection available on the 23rd of March 2023.
NetGalley
Inroads is now available on NetGalley, and if you are a member, you can you can read and review it and help promote it before and after it's published.
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Early reviews include:
5 out of 5 stars. An amazing book of short stories. Some will sure to make you smile, and some will bring a tear. The stories touch on young, old, losing, winning, and how to keep loving.
4 out of 5 stars. An intriguing collection of short stories that open your mind to other people's lives and their dilemmas. All the short stories are well written and a delight to read. A well put together collection by an accomplished author.
Complimentary Paid Subscriptions
I promised that anyone who signed up for my Substack between October 2021 and January 2022 would be converted to a paid subscription at no charge for one year. On 24 February 2023, those complimentary paid subscriptions revert to free subscriptions.
If you received a comp paid subscription and, after 24 February, choose not to become a paid subscriber, your comp reverts to free: you will receive newsletters and previews of new stories.
As a paid subscriber you receive new stories, newsletters, and access to the archives.
Your paid Substack subscriptions and book purchases help me produce and promote my work.
Until next month—thank you. And now for a story from Inroads…
“Clean Slate”
William Auten
Copyright © William Auten
Coffee cup in hand, a judge crosses the lane dividing booths. Shipping boxes and containers—cardboard, plastic, and climate-controlled; fliers, signs, and banners; and kegs, single bottles, and six packs—multiply the maze of vendors and exhibitors streaming inside the exposition center and near the loading docks where Gerald emerges with a table he sets on a hand-truck and wheels to a middle booth. The judge throws his hips out of the way, dodging a collision, but the table’s edge taps the coffee cup.
“Sorry about that,” Gerald says. The raven, singing NEVERMORE! and perched upon a skull inked along his forearm, snatches a towel off the hand-truck.
“No harm, no foul. It’s a busy morning.”
Gerald glimpses the judge’s lanyard. “And now I’m really sorry. Don’t chop off any zeroes from the prize.”
The judge points to WATERMELON MTS. BREWERY on the booth. “Where are you from?”
“Albuquerque.”
“Congrats on getting in. It gets tougher and tougher. Well, thank you for…”
Gearld rears up. “Have we got a stout for you. Best one here.”
The judge clutches his clipboard closer to his gut.
“We got high marks for it at Four Corners Brew Fest.”
“That’s a good one. Congrats. I need to…”
“We lost to some IPA infused with weed from Boulder hippies. They were giving the judges weed on the side. Probably. But an IPA? Everybody from the West coast to the Rockies brews IPAs. That’s lacy fairy wings and rainbow bubbles. But a stout…that’s black magic. Like a deal with the Dark Lord.”
The judge smiles politely.
“You don’t need to try anybody else.” Gerald looks toward his booth’s loading dock where silhouettes grab items from an SUV. “If you give me a sec, I can get you a preview.”
The judge waves to men and women wearing lanyards. “Good luck today. I’ll see you this afternoon.”
“You should start with ours first.” Gerald pops out the table legs. “It stands on its own.” His black-painted thumbnail jabs at the booth as the judge’s bald head moves down the other half of the expo until it disappears among mohawks, crewcuts, ponytails, ball caps, and more bald heads.
A pony keg clanks behind Gerald who winks at his brother twisting the dolly from underneath.