Jose R Rodriguez: 29 books

In this short story a private investigator is hired to find out who “killed” and old servant bot by smashing his head with a pipe. He takes the case just to tie him over the dearth of his usual customers, suspicious people looking for dirt on their cheating spouses. His snooping leads to the conclusion...

In this short story a young man is the accidental witness to a rape, unknown to perpetrators and victim. The young man flees and needs to figure out where he stands but his moral compass has to be re-calibrated. The resetting of his true north happens on an unexpected way.

First published in 1994, this was my first story ever written and first published, all that in the same month. Man, I said to myself, this writing thing is a piece of cake. Of course, beginner's luck doesn't last long and while I got to see more of my stories published during the years to follow,...

Unhappiness can be self inflicted when we fail to appreciate what we have or get sidetracked by worries that are not worth our time. In this short story, a young boy who is poor but doesn't know it, who is happy with his simple life, has that life tarnished by worries that, while look to him insurmountable, are small peanuts. Death and a missing love one reset the boy's priorities in life.

An Internet porn obsession drives a common family man into divorce, the horrors of incest, and a life he had not planned for. Exiled from his former world he escapes into oblivion until years later the daughter he had abused tracks him down. The young woman has her own addictions and troubles. Father, daughter and a revolver meet and destinies change.

A short story about BMX racing and the odd relationship of sorts between and old guy and a punk kid. Winner of Dirt Rag Magazine's 2010 Literature contest.

A middle aged and lonely Melanie wakes up with no recollection of her past. Her lack of personal memories forces her to impersonate the old Melanie, a person who she now dislikes and cannot understand. The new Melanie proceeds to fool the world into thinking that nothing has changed while trying to recover her memories but also trying to reinvent herself as a new and improved person.

In this short story a family man ends up in the Colorado high plains to take care of business after the dead of his alcoholic father who he has not seen in almost twenty years. The father he knew and had the displeasure of growing up with is not the man buried in the wind swept cemetery. Something has happened in the years since and a journey of discovery starts.

In this short story a mountain biker struggles uphill. It is not just the steep climb, but his age, asthma, and monkey butt that he has to overcome to make it to the top. Along the way he briefly meets other riders who come and go seeking their own two-wheeled happiness. The reward for long climbs...

Short story. Life memories are our treasure when old and pushed aside by a younger world. But an old man's treasure is just old tales to his son, something to be endured out of politeness and deference. The hurried world of the young is impatient with the little time left to the old.

People come across each other, more by necessity or happenstance than by desire, and the odd relationships they forge become obsessive, inappropriate, and murderous. A blue collar menagerie becomes entangled in webs of deceit, extortion, crime and unfulfilled desires. What seems to be unrelated stories tie into a common and unexpected finale where art imitates imperfect life.

Short story. A young wannabe mason in Florida tries to find his place in the world but things not always work out as one wishes for. When things don't go one's way, just enjoy the present as is. I was also a wannabe mason in my younger days, out of necessity more than out of vocation. I don't...

In this short story Pedro Orozco, a man with a violent past, is hired to hunt down a cattle killing jaguar. He stalks his prey with his single-shot shotgun. Jaguar and man meet their common destiny under a full moon.

Short story. A young man sees no future in his small town and seeks an unorthodox way of getting out, leaving behind those who he thought he hated but realizing that those left behind are also victims of their common sad circumstances.