Stories

In the shadow of a crumbling empire, Constantine XI Palaiologos stands as the last hope of Constantinople, a city teetering on the edge of oblivion. As the Ottoman army, sixty thousand strong, masses beyond the walls with cannons poised to shatter the city’s ancient defenses, he grapples with a faltering faith in the God and the weight of a two-thousand-year legacy. Will Constantine’s resolve to fight for the souls of Rome, noble and commoner alike, defy the inevitable, or will history remember him only as The Last Of The Romans, will The Purple Phoenix rise once more, or will it remain a pile of lingering ashes.

In the crucible of the Pacific War, two Marines, Tony from Brooklyn and Josh from Nebraska, find a fragile salvation in each other. Amid fire and rain, their bond deepens from comradeship to something neither dares name. A portrait of love, loyalty, and survival when the world demands silence from the heart’s loudest truths. They return home carrying more than scars. From the jungles of the Pacific to the fog of San Francisco, they navigate a fragile peace, searching for a place that will let them exist as they are, between the silences of survival and the noise of a world moving on without them.

Set in The Old West, we come upon Moss and Link, two men at a precipice in their young lives. Monsters, real or imagined, come in all forms. Perhaps the most dangerous kind are the real ones, people who believe they have the right, for whatever reason, to abuse and control through fear. When innocence is viciously taken, it can be a long road back to trusting, both yourself and others.

A Summer in Iowa is based on two key times in the author's life. In 1968, the author turned 12 and began junior high. It was a tumultuous time in which protests rocked America and MLK and RFK were assassinated. Fast forward to 1972, when the author turned 16 and was in high school. The author experienced his first time on his own while attending a summer science program at the University of Iowa. Although the romantic aspects of the story are fictional, much of the rest of the story is based on real events. A Summer in Iowa also serves as a prequel to the modern-day story in the author's New York Stories series, Reminiscing About the Future.

A historical Age of Sail story about what it means to try to define yourself as a man on your own terms in a repressive closed world that denies you that self-determination.

When Evan discovers an old photograph of two young men standing shoulder to shoulder in 1920s Newhaven, he uncovers the hidden story of Kit Merrick and Rowan Hale—dockworkers who dared to love each other in a world that offered them no words for it. What began as a ten-cent fairground portrait became their proof: tucked into a cap, stitched into a coat pocket, guarded through storms, family burdens, and the long work of becoming men. Decades later, as Evan frames the picture and gives it light, he realizes that their secret has outlasted silence—a fragile inch of closeness captured on film, carrying a love strong enough to endure across time.

Hugo Wojciech is a man of logic.

A young, aristocratic student at Cambridge in 1910, he believes in order, science, and the well-defined boundaries of his world. But when a mysterious pocket watch and a chance encounter with a country gamekeeper named Alec Stoker catapult him into a labyrinth of shifting timelines and bizarre dimensions, Hugo's carefully constructed reality shatters.

Hugo and Alec must navigate a world of anachronistic warriors, sadistic machine hunters, and enigmatic guides. They are on a collision course with a destiny neither of them chose, but one that is woven into the very fabric of their new, shared existence.

New Orleans, March 1788. In the roaring fires of the burning city, a boy is conceived. A child of magic, foretold to be too un-conforming, too powerful, threatening to overthrow the balance of power. Can his parents protect the unborn while rebuilding their home from the ashes?

The historic background of "Shadow's Reach", split into four Novellas. This first novella spans the time from conception to birth of Lucien Noir and the construction of Maison Noir.

Moira O'Brien is an archaeologist studying the ancient history of Ireland. Her particular interest is in the dolmens of the stoneranges called the Burrens in Western Ireland. But she discovers something beyond her understanding. Something that could mean the end of the world. Something that will challenge all she knows, all she believes, and all she holds dear. Now...she has help from her two Caretakers.

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Before Grithen was the guarded, stoic vampire readers met in What Didn’t Kill Me Became Me, he was Grit. A loud-mouthed, fire-eyed ACT UP activist during the HIV/AIDS crisis in 1980s New York, screaming for the dying and daring the world to listen.

This is the story of who he was. What he fought for. The best friend he loved... and lost.

The night that turned him into the ash of the man who once burned so bright.

This isn’t a happy story.

But it is Grit's story.