The Californer - Domenic Migliore Releases New Short Story Collection, Frame Story

Trending...

Ice Melts. Infrastructure Fails. What Happens to Clean Water? - 131
The Legal AI Showdown: Westlaw, Lexis, ChatGPT… or EvenSteven?
François Arnaud, star of Heated Rivalry, is the real-life inspiration behind Christopher Stoddard's novel At Night Only

Seventeen Dark, Unforgettable Tales That Will Frighten, Make You Laugh and Keep You Out of Your Comfort Zone

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. - Californer -- Frame Story, the new short story collection by writer and filmmaker Domenic Migliore, is now available. Comprised of seventeen dark, unsettling, and often darkly comic tales, the book pushes narrative form and reader expectations, favoring risk over reassurance and intensity over ease.

Migliore's stories move freely between the violent, the surreal, and the grotesquely funny. Readers will encounter psychotic talking dogs, corrupt cops, murderous children, cursed tattoos, bizarre prank calls, and even Lovecraftian creatures partying at anime conventions. Throughout the collection, Migliore's signature voice remains sharp, confrontational, and unflinching.

Several stories in Frame Story experiment boldly with form. One chapter unfolds entirely as a chat conversation between an autistic teenager and an artificial intelligence, examining miscommunication, curiosity, and the uneasy intimacy of human–machine interaction. Another is presented as a tense exchange with a highly aggressive caller to a suicide prevention hotline, capturing the volatility, exhaustion, and emotional brinkmanship inherent in moments of crisis.

More on The Californer

Early reactions to Frame Story emphasize its memorability and refusal to soften its edge.

"Domenic Migliore has no interest in making you feel better. Entering his world comes with risks," writes actor Bill Oberst Jr. (Rob Zombie's 3 From Hell, Criminal Minds). "His writing is a cracked rock bouncing down a grungy hill… You're likely to laugh at some stories, cringe at others, and skip some passages that are too uncomfortable to imagine. But you're unlikely to forget the experience… They ought to be in movies. And probably will."

Kirkus Reviews calls the book "a memorable batch of moving tales," noting that Migliore "dishes out dread, violence, and gallows humor in equal measure." The review praises his "direct, concise sentences that stoke the narrative pace," and highlights the book's unpredictable nature, even as it navigates bleak terrain populated by deeply flawed, often hostile characters.

More on The Californer

Rather than offering redemption or moral clarity, Frame Story presents fractured people in collapsing systems—technological, social, and personal. It is a collection designed not to soothe, but to linger.

Frame Story is available now from Amazin.com

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CRC9XF8Q

About the Author
Domenic Migliore is a writer and filmmaker whose work explores extreme emotional states, contemporary communication, and unconventional storytelling forms. Frame Story is his latest book of short fiction.