Showing results by author "Steve Potter" in All Categories

A teenager's death by suicide places a final exclamation point on the unraveling lives of two families.

In Beer School, authors and entrepreneurs Steve Hindy and Tom Potter share the improbable saga of Brooklyn Brewery, the company they grew from a home-brew hobby into a multimillion-dollar business - all in the most competitive beer market in the United States. If you have a thirst for entrepreneurial success, drink up. If you are a business manager or owner and want fresh ideas and insight, tap in. You'll learn entrepreneurial basics, plus some things textbooks don't teach you, as you follow the company's successes (and a few failures).

Billy Esposito, the son of two college professor poets, has been living a quiet, nerdy life in an upstate New York college town. In the summer of '79, his life is turned upside down when, due to family circumstances, he and his mother move to the south shore of Long Island a few miles east of Queens. When the school year starts in September, Billy is thrust into a new world and must learn to navigate his way in huge, overcrowded Seaview High School. By rushing to the aid of a classmate who is being attacked, he falls into the strange, often violent subculture of high school fraternities or,...

"Nice People," is a work of satirical short fiction dealing with issues of race and class in this era of extreme income inequality and rapid gentrification. It is a quick but thought-provoking read.

Excerpt: “Oh, hey, here comes your mom.” Anna pointed to a dark red Chrysler Cordoba as it drove past on the street beyond the fence. “Already,” Jillian said. “We've been here a while,” Anna said. “Give me some gum,” Jillian said. She tossed her half-full beer cup into the wire mesh trash can. She turned to me and we kissed. I wrapped my arms around her. She slipped me the tongue. We Frenched. “Okay, give Jillian her tongue back now, Billy,” Anna said. “We need to go.” Jillian and I stepped apart. Anna went, “ahhh.” Jillian stuck out her tongue. Anna placed a ...

John always thought Potatoes was a total loser, but during a drunken joyride they take together in a stolen car, John comes to realize he never really knew the guy at all. Potatoes takes the first steps toward a new life while John goes back to his old life with a new understanding – maybe he, not Potatoes, was the real loser all along. A New Adult comedy of errors, “Potatoes in Brooklyn” explores the difficult terrain we traverse going from teenager to adult. “Potatoes in Brooklyn” is also available in the collection Easy Money & Other Stories.

"Progress on the P-Fiver" is also available in the full-length collection Easy Money & Other Stories. Sometimes you think your workday can't get any worse... and then it does. Angie and Patty are having one of those days. Sometimes a bad habit turns out to be a blessing. “So what are we, the last two smokers in all of Elmwood Hills Office Park, or what,” Angie asked. “Are you kiddin, Angie,” Patty said. “We’re the last two smokers on all of Long Island!” She took a puff, exhaled, then hugged herself and shivered. “Sometimes it seems like it,” Angie agreed. “Last real, ...

A mad, little surrealist tale about good love gone bad on a beautiful afternoon in the park. Ramona is a gorgeous young woman. Simon is crazy about her, but he's not so crazy about her strange pet, Brutus. Then, mysteriously, Brutus changes. Is it a change for the better or for the worse?

Velcro & Zippers originally appeared in the literary journal Raven Chronicles. It is also available on Kindle and in print as part of the collection Easy Money & Other Stories. True love is sweet, but it's not always meant to last. "He looked at her beautiful face and breasts, her firm abdomen, all striped by bands of light and shadow, wondering what she was doing with him, why she had stayed as long as she had. He reached across the table and touched her cheek with his fingertips, then leaned forward and kissed her lips. He sat back. She smiled." A short read with a subtle impact.

Three new adventures for glamorous bounty hunter Vienna Salvatori, including 'Self Improvement' by Ian Potter. Doctor Ludovic Glospan has a secret. He has made a scientific discovery that could change the galaxy forever, which is why he wants to keep it out of the wrong hands. Vienna Salvatori and Jexie Reagan have been hired to keep Glospan's secret safe. On a good day that will be an easy job, but this is anything but a good day.

"Scooter" is also available in the collection Easy Money & Other Stories. Is the situation depicted in this grotesque tale of absurd cruelty funny or merely disturbing? Must a protagonist in a work of fiction be likable? Is it sometimes more interesting to read about characters behaving horribly? "I expected to find Scooter sprawled on the floor completely disabled, but when I turned, he was running at me on his hands like some monstrous crab. The stiletto, drenched in blood from his shattered nose, was clenched in his mouth." A strange tale some readers have enjoyed and found darkly ...

Things go from dark to darker to darkest quickly in this noir microfiction set in a mobster-frequented bar on the south shore of Long Island, New York in the late 1970s. “We’re all people who know people,” he says. “Know what I’m sayin? When you’re around people who know people, ya gotta hold your tongue. That’s what I’m sayin. Me, I know how to hold my tongue. No one’s gonna find me face down in the parkin lot with a bullet in my head or floatin around in the marsh behind Kennedy Airport. No siree.”"Mr. Big Mouth" is also available as part of the collection Easy Money &...

Five good friends that started talking about Star Wars and other stuff including Marvel and the MCU, comics, television, music, and pop culture. Now we talk about whatever we want.

Welcome to the borderland where the outskirts of New York City overlap with the Long Island suburbs. Meet Tiny the giant, Muscles, Scooter, Potatoes, Babydoll, and Thunder – formerly known as Big Fat Hoss, the Jersey Strangler. In these darkly funny tales, men and women face the consequences of their terrible decisions. People living close to the edge of ruin wander even closer and wind up face-to-face with criminals. When an unemployed, alcoholic carpenter picks up an old acquaintance in a local dive bar, she leads him into a world of trouble he never imagined he'd find. A teenager gets ...

"How Frank Met Frankie" is also available in the collection Easy Money & Other Stories. When Frank, an alcoholic, out-of-work carpenter goes to a local hometown dive bar on Long Island and runs into the ex-girlfriend of a former softball teammate, he thinks he's about to get lucky. When she suggests they go for a nightcap at an after-hours club in Queens it turns out to be a little different than he'd expected. She turns out to have some really interesting friend. Interesting and scary. His sweet dream of a hot night with her is replaced by a terrifying nightmare. Contemporary working-class...

This story is also available included in the collection Easy Money & Other Stories. Young love leads to bad choices in this tale of juvenile delinquency on the south shore of Long Island, New York in the 1970s. "All I wanted in the summer of '75 was for Susie Orlock to like me, really like me. I wanted Susie Orlock to love me. I'd hold my pillow in bed at night and pretend it was her. I wanted to walk around the streets of downtown Rockland Park with my arm around her waist, to buy her pizza at Mario's and play Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin songs on the jukebox, and sit in a booth like ...

Billy Esposito, the son of two college professor poets, has been living a quiet, nerdy life in an upstate New York college town. In the summer of '79, his life is turned upside down when, due to family circumstances, he and his mother move to the south shore of Long Island a few miles east of Queens. When the school year starts in September, Billy is thrust into a new world and must learn to navigate his way in huge, overcrowded Seaview High School. By rushing to the aid of a classmate who is being attacked, he falls into the strange, often violent subculture of high school fraternities or,...

This is just two good friends talking about things they love most. Sports, Gambling, and Gambling on Sports. We are in this for fun and by no means professional gamblers. However, you may enjoy some of the takes we have on current topics in the sports world, what teams we think are going to cover, or even what we like to drink. We will be gambling, getting in some heated debates, and having some great laughs. Come join us!

Excerpt: Sammy and I walked toward the lobby together after Sociology. He told me about Black Elk Speaks, the book he's reading now. Actually, it's more like we slogged slowly toward the lobby among all the other kids crammed into the hallway. I don't know if I'll ever get used to how crowded it is here at Seaview High. It reminds me of being in a New York City subway train during Christmas Season, that's how crowded it gets. Sid stood near the door of the classroom he raged out of the day he slammed little Ricky face-first into the lockers. Two of his new Sig brothers, Clint and Wayne, the...

Excerpt: “College, Greg. College, college, college.” Mr. Genaro spun Greg around by the shoulders, grabbed the back of his neck with both hands and squeezed. “You and Ma didn't go.” “We shoulda. Besides, it's different now. It's gettin' so ya gotta have college. When we was kids, your ma and me, it was ya don't graduate high school, ya can't find a decent job. Now it's college. Your ma's job? She wouldn't get that right outta high school today. I dunno why they think ya need college to ring up an order and hand someone a bag of cannoli, but they'll take a college grad over a high ...