Captain Coherence
K P McCarthy
I’m certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart’s
affections and the truth of imagination. -Keats
Available Sept 2023
After enduring the loss of his wife and surviving a near-fatal accident, story junkie Stanhope Ellis is ready for a change of scenery. Unfortunately, the new storytellers he meets are dropping like flies, and he might be the reason. As he struggles with whether he’s Death Man or a cosmic witness, he meets a wise nurse, Gayathri Das, who helps him navigate the emotional minefield. But will she die, like the others?
Humor
Love and the Mountain Mutt
Tricia said sure, she’d spend the rest of her life with me, or try to. We were alone in the Idaho Sawtooths, on a turquoise morning. I figured being alone was important. I’d never cared for theatrical proposals – skywriting and other such grandstanding. Bullying a potential mate into saying “yes” in front of witnesses always seemed a bad start. Even if you’re sure of yourself, it’s only fair to give a maiden the opportunity to decline the honor of your hairy presence every day of her life without fear of public shaming
Essays
The Ego Experiment – Part 2: Individual Resolve
Everyone has an ego — and you must believe in yourself to accomplish anything. As usual, it’s all a matter of degree. True narcissists are considered untreatable because they cannot admit imperfection and are expert at projecting their issues onto others.
Travel
Aloha kakou!
Cameras cannot capture a fraction of the beauty of the sunsets here. Most people go inside after the disk disappears, but the afterglow often goes on for an hour or more. Tonight, half the sky was deep violet and the other half bright, baby blue. I don’t have many new...
Poetry
Warrior Jaw
An artist spoke casually of my warrior jaw and embedded the phrase, neat as a spearhead…
Among other things, Kevin Patrick McCarthy has been a geothermal geologist, a technical writer, a critic, and a screenwriter. His humor, essays, poetry, and fiction have been widely recognized.