Cia - Stories

Website designer Scottie Ness is taking a well-deserved vacation from the grindstone, and he plans to spend it in the solitude of Washington’s Gifford Pinchot National Forest around Mt. Adams. He’s prepared for everything—except the lightning storm that traps him in a wildfire. Or meeting Jax Quintero, an abrasive firefighter whose bulky uniform couldn't hide a jawline chiseled from stone and intense eyes that burned him with scorn. Or was that the flames surrounding them?

Maybe Scottie should have gone to Hawaii on vacation instead.

Plants and animals were my thing. The intricacies of nature intrigued me and yet there was an elegant simplicity that I loved.

6888 Ardra. Heavy gravity planet. Human-compatible atmosphere. Generally temperate climate; I’d aimed for the southern continent which had milder weather and a good mix of terrain.

“Damn Sonez anyway.” He’d tried to keep me on his ship instead of letting me explore the planet with a team after the probe returned. Well I’d stopped his plotting before he could ruin my life.

And I’d show everyone just what Essell Deray could do.

The magic of that first snow, not just of the season, but the first ever!

The war with the demons in the Underrealm can exhaust even the strongest soldier. As the war drags on, how can one commander face his duty when each and every battle threatens his heart and soul?

Alone among the humans with only whispered rumors to guide me, I longed for the cool meadows of my homeland, but I was on a mission. Humans plagued me. They sought me out for the magic I could weave into metal, never divining my true purpose searching among their stables.

Ayden worked hard to make a better life for his son; he was so close to being done with school, then he could get one good job instead of working two jobs and studying at night. Then they could move out of their tiny apartment, into a nicer place, and have a decent schedule. He just wants to give Anthony a better life, all the things a little boy wants and needs, and spend quality time with his son. Of course he'd ask Santa for a dog for Christmas.

I endured years of experiments at the hands of sadistic aliens. Barely eighteen, I've been rescued from the tiny cell and the years of enforced sensory deprivation. Lost, with no family or friends I can remember or would turn to if I could, I'm alone in the universe... except for the humans who saved me. The Captain. Zeke. Doc. A crew of misfit Rangers, a ragtag bunch operating just this side of legal--and often on the other side when circumstances are right--are not the kind to help someone “like me” recover. Captain wants to send me away, but I can't leave. No one else can touch me.

He's it for me, the strength I can't function without.

Cory read tons about coming out, that one friend who's "more", and those stupid "He's straight, but can I turn him gay?" posts. His life was about as cliche as they came, but sometimes romance stories had to be true... right? Or they were all false advertising. All he had to do was risk telling Elliot he was gay and how he felt about him. Bam! Love!

Two teenagers, lifelong buddies, in college just outside of Bible Belt Southern USA could totally end up both gay, in love, and just not say anything to each other for two years of being roommates. Sure....

Cory might just stay in the closet and keep his best friend instead.

He discovered artifacts that no one can explain--twin stars and a solar system carved thousands upon thousands of years in the past--that are just now being photographed and sent back to Earth by a space probe that has gone farther than any other man-made object before. So how did those early people know? Professor Trestan has to go back, but is the grant offer too good to be true?

Ashton is exiled to the middle of nowhere when his stepdad gets a promotion. Boring, small town life is not how he expected his senior year of high school to go. He's got plans though. His eighteenth birthday means the release of the trust his dad set up before he died. As soon as he gets his diploma, he's gonna split. Just him, his car, and his camera. He'll take pictures of everything, everywhere. Make a life on his terms and no one else's.

Make a name for himself.

He just has to make it through six more months.