Hunter Hooker is a quirky, flamboyant 16-year old who loves to attract attention. Unfortunately, his new Spring wardrobe causes an unexpectedly strong reaction, aligning school political forces against him. As a result, Hunter is forced to come to grips with his identity and personal commitments.
“Camp Fires” is the story of Jesse Pena, a New York teen, who accepts a Summer job at an upscale New England camp. As the only counselor from the city, he is immediately suspect, especially because of his artistic, stylish tastes. The story follows him as he runs into conflict with the returning counselors, but still manages to find new friends, and champion campers who don’t fit the mould. Eventually, however, deep-seated issues require Jesse to make difficult choices…is fitting in that important?
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photo: wanda acosta
Mark McPherson began writing to pass time during train rides from West Hempstead to New York City, where, as a professional middleweight, he trained at the Times Square Gym. McPherson never became a title threat—he retired after a May, 1987 loss to Frank Tate—but was good enough to fight on network TV and compile a record of 20-3.
Mark is now a renowned boxing trainer/instructor at the Lexington Avenue Gym in Mount Kisco, NY, a New York City suburb. In addition to his continued commitment to boxing, Mark pursues his creative talents in writing and music. We’re delighted to welcome him to the CrocknBunk creative team. Welcome, Mark!!!
The following piece (serialized for CrocknBunk) first appeared in Ring Magazine and is presented below in a condensed, revised version.
Memoirs of a Middleweight – Episode 1.
All episodes posted. Read latest episode.
In July a new serial starts, Hands Off, which continues a series of stories exploring the challenges many face in school and at home: Torment focuses on the impact of bullying. Deception of Appearances deals with the dangers of superficial judgments. Hands Off explores the fine line between parental discipline and child abuse. Rose “Rocco” Rocatelli-Butcher has suffered a painful divorce. She and her husband, Jake Butcher, brutalized each other mentally and physically. Told from multiple viewpoints, the story describes Rose’s perception that her 13-year-old son Jake Jr. is a carbon copy of her ex, an obsession she can’t escape. Everything he does is passed off as unfavorable genetics. Her daughters, Madge (8) and Byrd (10), are clearly favorites, and she imagines she must protect them from Jake Jr. who is trying to destroy their family.Jake tries to convince his mother he has no evil intentions, but she believes otherwise, and watches him like a hawk. Jake loves his sisters, but needs to get out from under his mother’s constant scrutiny. Longing for a normal life, he tries to “adopt” a family, but keeps returning home, hoping for the best, only to have the vicious cycle repeat itself. Finally, he falls in with a group of outcasts, but things go from bad to worse, and he’s forced to radically change his life, but the odds are very slim.
A story based on the idea that hybrid plant-animal life forms began evolving in springs, swamps and oases millions of years before the dinosaurs. This is the story of a family which has coexisted with one of the creatures for generations, their next-door neighbors, and citizens of a rural town who also make contact. It tells the story of rising ignorance and fear that ends in violence, and how logical thought leads to false conclusions about something strange and different. Swamp master is a story that will challenge your imagination…and your assumptions about good and evil. Follow this amazing saga every week! Thirty-seven Episodes posted.
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A mini-serial for the ADHD set! Shorter episodes and more of them!
This serial deals with the trials of two 14-year-old best friends reaching maturity. Chet and Abby, friends since kindergarten, see their lives beginning to diverge, and desperately want to stay together. Can they do it? Are they too idealistic? Follow their lives and find out. Read first episode.
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Our third offering follows a college student traveling across country to meet a friend on the West Coast. In the Midwest, he picks up a hitchhiker who brutally attacks him. The student escapes and stumbles onto a farm outside a small Midwestern town. The town embraces him and he finds friends, love and future opportunities; however, his attacker lurks nearby stalking townspeople and awaiting an opportunity to finish the job he started. Fourty-one episodes posted! Read latest episode.
Argento’s Envy
I’d have one of them tongue piercings, sure
With that cool silver ball—if I was twenty
When I spy the smooth grey nub of metal pleasure
I imagine it must stimulate folks plenty
I delight in how denuded cheek-pinch lewd
A silver bullet can so brazenly present
The story of sexual ardor, or King of the Jews
Minutely written in its hoary flagrance
I stare with bald desire at what time can’t assuage
This cybernetic tripwire so sequestered
My Bohemian longing unbecoming of this stage
By smoke and whiskey, tongue forever blistered
—Joanie Fritz Zosike
New York, December 30, 2011
TORMENT
Taylor is the smallest freshman in a New England country school. A new classmate arrives and views harassment as the quickest way to make a name for himself, and turns Taylor’s life into living hell. In attempting to find out what makes his tormentor tick, Taylor uncovers horrific facts that bring the realization that his situation is far more dangerous than expected, and he must take drastic action to free himself from his oppressor. Twenty four episodes posted. Read last episode.
