The Extraordinary and Unbelievable Tale of Ignatius Lowdermilk and Other Stories

A collection of Mr. Lemme's most exciting, thought provoking, and entertaining short stories and essays from the last two decades. These stories run the gamut from the eponymous sci-fi tale of Ignatius Lowdermilk to the thrill ride and deep dive into the esoteric world of electronic trading in the era of George W. Bush in the adventure "Too Many Options". Mr. Lemme's style is honest and enlightening while exploring themes as wide ranging as love and breakups, to medieval fantasy, to the nature of writing itself, all delivered with a captivating charm and wit that is both humorous and provocative.
 
The Extraordinary and Unbelievable Tale of Ignatius Lowdermilk
Mr. Lemme finished the following story in April 2020, just after the COVID-19 pandemic started, but before the presidential election   that year.
 
Blank Cards
This short story was writtne in October 2005 and was eventually
incorporated as a chapter in Mr. Lemme's first novel Finding 
Bartholomew published September 2015.
 
Unfaithful
This is an previously unpublished short story Mr. Lemme wrote in  2008 loosely based on a breakup in one of his previous lifetimes.
 
Three Body Blade
This story was first published in the Spring 2017 issue of The
Silver City Quarterly Review, an online magazine for writers from
southwest New Mexico. It later was published in The Silver City 
Quarterly Review 2018 Anthology, which is still available on
Amazon.
 
Genesis of a Story
Mr. Lemme's first attempt at trying to exemplify the writing
process. He wrote this as a spoken word presentation, this one in
2017. He has included it in this collection because it provides a
different look at the insanity that inhabits his head when trying to write a story. For another example, read What's It Like? later in this collection.
 
Phishing Trip
We've all dealt with email scams. Sometimes they hit too close to home.
 
Fired
This was a cathartic piece Mr. Lemme wrote in 2004 after, you  guessed it, he got fired from a job.
 
What's it Like?
Mr. Lemme wrote this as a more in-depth introspection of how the writing process works for him. The first attempt at this concept turned into Genesis of a Story which you can find earlier in this collection. Recently, he has adapted this short story as a chapter in his novel Chapter One.
 
On Peanut Butter Sandwiches and My Existential Fear of Death
 Another piece written with the intention of being presented verbally at a spoken word event. It was also published in the Winter 2016 edition of The Silver City Quarterly Review.
 
Get My Head Right
Mr. Lemme is an avid cyclist, both road bikes and mountain. In 2015 he was between relationships and honestly, was fantasizing about meeting an interesting woman. But as a writer, he thought the
fascinating story would be to flip it around and tell it from the
woman's perspective.
 
An American Story
During the COVID pandemic Mr. Lemme had this idea for a novel based on a famous family in the news (you'll probably figure out who). He wanted to include themes ranging from the Black Lives Matter movement to the tensions between liberals and conservatives,
rich and poor, to other strains on the American Dream like the
immigration crisis. Perhaps he bit off more than he could chew,
because the story stalled and he gave up at some point. But he liked the beginning, so here it is.
 
Late for Work
Written in response to a writing prompt, which happens to be
the last sentence of the story, Mr. Lemme enjoyed this story so much that he worked it into a chapter in his novel The Seekers : Tales of the Tarot Archetypes.
 
The Land of Enchantment
Sometimes an unusual sighting spurs a story idea. After Mr. Lemme spotted a beat up Suburban with a broken back window driving down a dirt road, this story sprang into being as a possible explanation.
 
Do I Know You?
This started as a story written for a long ago girlfriend who was
really into past lifetimes and other esoteric stuff. Mr. Lemme dusted it off recently and molded it like a clay sculpture into something a little different.
 
Fire in the Nuts
This essay was written in response to a prompt given out by a
spoken word group to celebrate the birth date of Hunter S.
Thompson. It was subsequently published in the Summer 2017
edition of The Silver City Quarterly Review.
 
The Hermit
One of those stories based on an interesting person. Having never met this person, Mr. Lemme has thoroughly fictionalized this account.
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Too Many Options
In a past lifetime Mr. Lemme was a software developer laboring in the trading industry in Chicago. He worked for many colorful and sometimes notorious characters in an industry full of them. This is a fictionalized version of an actual incident from that time in his life.