WORDS

From age 10 on I always felt that the blank page held the appeal of a magnet to be filled with words of my own magic.

My major passion, other than photos, are words. (Other than soccer, good craft beer, Indie rock).

How about a couple of quotes to try tying the two main creative horses together.

“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.”

— Ansel Adams

“The best thing about a picture is that it never changes, even when the people in it do.”

— Andy Warhol

Words can be a daunting, novel idea (having finished my third) or can expose a cute or blatant bumper sticker philosophy that one can also put on a T-Shirt. It’s a line that I had thought of pursuing, but then dropped, because I have no plans on inviting disagreeable cranks.

Instead, I’ve been doing way more writing these days. And loving it! Great to have a passion or two.

My name under which I write fiction and creative non-fiction is Hart Christopher Vetter, more recently just Hart Vetter. My given first name is Hartmut.

While I finished novels and screenplays that it is quite difficult to place, I got hooked on weaving shorter tales.

This one is creative nonfiction that appeared in Nov. ‘22 in the Wild Word online journal. I still miss “flying” like Superman.

https://thewildword.com/goodbye-midlife-crisis/

This flash fiction story includes a key event from my Houston days. It’s about a father who’s had a hard time opening up to his daughter. The request he keeps making is not really what he wants.

https://thewildword.com/fiction-hart-vetter/

I had a lot of fun writing this crime story. The initial work ended after chapter 1, but then I thought, hey, that can’t be all.

https://theyardcrimeblog.com/2022/09/25/patches-of-paradise/

This one appeared in NEW ENGLISH REVIEW, the only journal to which I’d submitted.

https://www.newenglishreview.org/articles/the-mary-oliver-of-trash/

Here’s another piece of flash fiction, very popular on the web, taking about five minutes to read — and people love to devour on their lunch hour. ‘CATWMAN’, was published in FLASH FICTION MAGAZINE which has 17,000 Twitter followers.

https://flashfictionmagazine.com/blog/2021/12/11/catwman/?

On Dec 27, 2021, ADELAIDE LITERARY MAZAGINE came out with their issue no. 52. They are online and hard-copy; the issue will be available for purchase on Amazon ($24).

http://adelaidemagazine.org/2021/09/15/lost-in-thought-by-hart-christopher-vetter/

‘The Stuff of Fearless Dreams’ is autobiographical and was picked up by YORK LITERARY REVIEW in the UK for their 2023 anthology, themed ‘voices’. I was able to zoom-read an excerpt for their launch party event.

HEIMAT LITERARY REVIEW: I was thrilled to publish another one of my creative fiction pieces, only the second journal to which I submitted the piece ‘Murfreesboro’.

https://www.heimatreview.com/murfreesboro.html

LITERARY HEIST out of Ottawa was quick to accept ‘Minor Marvel’. US publications seemed more inclined to pass. Whatever that is about. A sequel to that story is currently under consideration.

https://www.literaryheist.com/short-stories/minor-marvel/

While speculative fiction has never been my thing, this attempt has its dystopian overtones. I am proud of the mood that settles over the landscape with wall-to-wall traffic in ‘Stand Still’. Thank you, THE WRITE LAUNCH.

https://thewritelaunch.com/2023/03/stand-still/

The editor of BULL Men’s Fiction responded to ‘The Periphery of Stars’ within eight hours of my submittal. He wrote: Dude, this is fucking brilliant. Just the right tone of earnestness and pomposity. Dialogue, briliant. Final scene, brilliant. So glad you sent this my way.

The story is based on a real-life concert “sideshow” at the ‘Sea Hear Now’ in Asbury Park in September of 2023 in which a certain “uncanny” individual making the rounds at the beach venue. I figured later, what all might be going on here.

https://mrbullbull.com/newbull/fiction/the-periphery-of-stars/

‘Waves’ was very special to me. It contains snippets of real-life events around Sandy Hook, NJ, a place that I love. I was especially proud that Across The Margins accepted whose podcasts and publications I’d followed for quite a while.

https://acrossthemargin.com/waves/

This one is another beach tale inspired by Sandy Hook and my own actual work experience, entitled ‘Hollywood Squares in the Sand’. The pushy boss was taken right from my life experience. It’s nice to get paid for your writings. Workers Write is an anthology; its ‘Further Tales From The Cubicle’ is available on Amazon.

WW!_Further_Tales_from_the_Cubicle.pdf

Discretionary Love is an energetic, lovely online journal. While, maybe, they could have picked a better photo to accompany my piece, I found it a hoot to write and I’m glad they welcomed me to the ‘Discretionary’ family. The idea started out on an early-morning dog walk, when a certain street walker kept coming unnervingly close.

https://www.discretionarylove.com/black-n-white/

Halfway Down The Stairs is a wonderful quarterly journal. ‘Before And After’ was their theme and I knew from my most recent Germany visit in September that this painful yet deeply loving recollection would be a fit.

https://halfwaydownthestairs.net/2024/06/01/this-old-man-learns-a-new-truth-by-hart-vetter/