Stories

Aleksander has finished university and come home to his father's estate accompanied by his new friend and companion, Daniil Vinogradov. Daniil is a modern man who has been studying art and has ideas and passions that both influence and overwhelm Aleksander. There is a clash of old and new, a furore that threatens the peace and calm. Revolutionary ideas and sensuality form a heady mix that one might not survive.

“But whom to love?
To trust and treasure?
Who won’t betray us in the end?
And who’ll be kind enough to measure
Our words and deeds as we intend?”
― Alexander Pushkin, Eugene Onegin.

Flux continues the CAP series in 2002, where everyone is still trying to cope with the horrible aftermath of 9-11, and is trying to move on with their lives. Many of the characters in this story were introduced in prior stories.

The world's oldest known epic poem is a story of the love of two men. This is my take on the Epic of Gilgamesh, in brief.

The story continues (from "Chronicles of an Academic Predator" and "1968") with a new narrator, Stefan, and a new era. This story is set in 1973-74, a period of history that is noted for events such as the Yom Kippur War, the Arab Oil Embargo, and Watergate. More than in past stories, economics are a big issue here, due to increasing inflation and an extended bear stock market.

"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.

"If It Fits" is the 7th installment in the Chronicles of an Academic Predator series. The story starts in 1995, a year packed with events like the Oklahoma City bombing, and the OJ Simpson Murder Trial.

Millennium is the tenth story in the CAP Saga. Brad is the narrator, and takes us from 1999 into 2000. Many of the characters in this story were introduced in “Chronicles of an Academic Predator,” “1968,” “The Land Whore,” “Be Rad,” “Man in Motion,” “A Summer Love,” “If It Fits,” “Bloodlines,” and “The Box.” You don't have to read them before this story, but it will give you a deeper insight into those characters and their pasts.

Jim and his partner Michael live in a socially-oppressed town where being gay is a sheer moral death sentence. At the dawn of the computer era, and in an age where work seems to find him little money or pleasure whatsoever, Jim decides to venture into the world of computer sciences, all the while supporting a man who seems all the more removed from society as time goes along.

The French Revolutionary War is finally coming to a conclusion, and after eight years of conflict, George Granger is going to have to adapt to a world at peace. While the conflict with France may be at an end, George has his own challenges to face. He has returned home to find himself richer, but estranged from his wife. His best friend and lover, Francis Calvert, has been wounded in the Caribbean and has not yet returned to England. Join George as he navigates this fraught era, which may be even more dangerous than when England at France were at war.

Wanted criminal Hong Shen finally meets his end after being stabbed in the back by a comrade. As he makes his final resting place under a dead plum tree, he submits to death.

Instead, he receives two choices: die, or be given a second chance.

To take the second chance means he must complete a trial in the past in order to return to the present. But what he doesn't know is that the trial isn't only difficult for him, but even more difficult for the person he must be to fulfill it.