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New Tales Told – Original Short Stories
Brand New Short Stories – Professionally Narrated by Don McDonald
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19. The Pen — An Original Civil War Short Story by Don McDonald
24:41||Season 1, Ep. 19Henry Pollard has always had a dangerous relationship with words.In 1861 Indianapolis, while the country rushes headlong toward war, Henry would prefer to remain where he is: alive, sarcastic, and safely distant from glory. But a simple errand on behalf of a worried mother places him at a recruiting table outside the statehouse, where one ordinary moment begins quietly rearranging the rest of his life.The Pen is an original short story set in the world of The Line Uncrossed, a literary Civil War novel about family, memory, survival, and the irreversible weight of seemingly small decisions. Told with wit, warmth, and the hindsight of years, it offers a deeply human glimpse into the young men who marched toward war before they understood what war truly was.The Line Uncrossed, available May 22, 2026 at Amazon.com, BN.com, and a host of other book and e-book services.Podcast listeners can get an early access to The Line Uncrossed e-book offer with bonus stories, including this one, at donmcdonald.com
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18. The Crevice — An Original Short Story by Don McDonald
41:20||Season 1, Ep. 18In April, 2026, an American F-15E Strike Eagle went down over western Iran. The weapons officer ejected into the Zagros Mountains and was eventually recovered, in an operation whose full scope remains classified, but which is understood to have involved the destruction of hundreds of millions of dollars in American aircraft on the ground rather than risk leaving them, or him, behind.The Crevice is a work of fiction built on the bones of that event. The names are invented. The mountain is invented. The man wedged into the rock is invented. But the cost was real. The promise that brought the helicopters in was real. And the men who flew through the dark to keep that promise, the special operators and aircrews who do this work in places most of us will never know about, for people whose names they will never learn, they are real, and they are the reason the story ends the way it does.
17. The Telegram That Shouldn't Exist – An Original Short Story
16:01||Season 1, Ep. 17During the Civil War, the military's telegraph network was run by civilians. Teenagers, some of them. Elias Murrow was nineteen, careful, and precise. He trusted the procedure because the procedure had never failed him. Then two messages arrived that couldn't both be real, and he did exactly what he was trained to do.
16. The Committee Committee – An Original Short Story by Don McDonald
17:04||Season 1, Ep. 16This is a parable set in a village where things run smoothly—because they always have.Problems are addressed. Responsibilities are shared. And when questions arise, there is a structure in place to handle them.Over time, that structure has grown more refined, more comprehensive… and more complete.
15. The Rips – An Original Short Story by Don McDonald
31:51||Season 1, Ep. 15There are things we expect from the world.Walls stay still. Rooms hold their shape. The spaces we live in behave.And when they don’t, we look for explanations.Old houses settle. Pipes shift. Light plays tricks.But sometimes the world doesn’t explain itself.When an answer can’t be seen, that doesn’t mean there isn’t one.There is something.Something all too real.Something beyond frightening.
14. The Arrangement - An Original Short Story by Don McDonald
11:25||Season 1, Ep. 14Every crime begins as a solution. At least to someone. This is a story about a solution. A rented room. A promise. And a man who believes he is doing what’s necessary.
13. Civic Duty - An Original Short Story by Don McDonald
14:25||Season 1, Ep. 13This story is not about the America we live in.It’s about an America that could exist—slowly, legally, and quietly—if people stop asking questions.Civic Duty follows a retired teacher whose life is reduced to data points, compliance scores, and administrative decisions.A speculative warning about what happens when systems replace judgment and loyalty becomes measurable.