Stories

“The wound caused by a sword can eventually be healed; the hurt resulted from vicious remarks can never be undone.”

Under the rule of the Second Emperor of the Guan Dynasty, the Empire has begun to fall into civil ruin, with conspiracies running rampant and political unrest echoing throughout the land.

Yan Rui, a peasant of the lowest caste, has always been ugly since he could remember. Harassed and ridiculed because of his looks, the most he can do to stay alive is lick the feet of the wealthy and pray for scraps.

But when a blind man stumbles into his life, even the ugliest person can have a heart of gold.

An unfinished and cursed piano composition travels through three centuries, mysteriously intertwining the lives of two great artists. One was the brilliant composer of the work, the other became its celebrated performer.

The story starts with the fortunate discovery of a manuscript in the over-cover of the original score. From the mid-19th century it concludes at the dawn of the third millennium.

Two men in a train compartment. One man thinks he may have shocked the other, who springs a surprise of his own.

I'd crushed on other guys before, my cousin Jericho was my first experience with pure, unadulterated love.

Strolls; encounters; kisses through closed gates; lighted windows seen from below; rumpled bedsheets turning up men’s shirts . . . These are just a few of the images in August Stramm’s poetry collection titled “DU” (“THOU”).

What follows is a complete, fresh-look translation of the thirty-one poems of this set.

The day after Tombstone, Arizona's most famous gun battle, A.J. Ritter, the undertaker responsible for preparing the bodies of the victims, meets a young man who worked for the Clantons.

Various essays, many on LGBTI2S+ subjects, but some on music, etc.

"Man in Motion," follows Be Rad and begins in 1985. To most Americans, 1985 was about the second Reagan term and the economic boom that was following the stagnant 70's. The culture was wrapped up in materialism, so it's no wonder that Madonna's "Material Girl" was popular then. Then there is this parallel culture, the gay culture, reeling from the onslaught of AIDS.

George Granger has been separated from his command, and how finds himself in limbo, waiting for Valiant to return. In the meantime, the Admiralty has found other things for him to do. Little does Granger know that when his ship finally does return, he'll be given an entirely different challenge, one that will take him to entirely new waters.

It is January 2004 and the United States and its “allies” have just completed the successful invasion of Iraq and Saddam Hussein has been captured. US Presidential Elections are on the horizon. Howard Dean is the frontrunner to be the Democratic candidate to take on George W. Bush.

These events weigh lightly on the mind of Will Schluter. He just graduated from high school a semester early and is looking forward to spending the next eight months in the pursuit of hedonistic pleasure and mind broadening experiences.

Neither Will nor his country had any idea about the challenges that lurked ahead.