Stories

One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl and four for a boy.

Five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told.

I am sure many of you, like me, learned this children's nursery rhyme about magpies. According to an old superstition, the number of magpies seen predicts whether you will have good or bad luck. Something I came across subsequently, was the existence of many variations on this rhyme, some more sinister than the children’s version.

One of those is incorporated into this short story about boyhood abuse.

Why research can make a difference to your story.

Emeric's life sucks; he's unhappy, drifting, lonely and sad. Things go from bad to crazy with the opening of a set of secrets that no one could have prepared him for. He quickly wonders whom he can trust, who is working for 'them,' and why this misfortune fell upon his shoulders in the first place. A twisting thread through history pulls him tighter and tighter, and eventually, either he or the binding may snap.

As another one of the character spinoff tales from the zombie apocalypse series, "Shelter" (http://www.gayauthors.org/story/comicality/shelter), this story follows young 'Preston Miles' and his struggles before society fell all to pieces in a matter of days. I hope you enjoy this prequel miniseries before the main story! And be sure to check out the other spinoffs ("Walker Road", "Rotting Apples", "Safehaven", and "Release Me") as they are posted here! Or, grab an ebook copy at https://imagine-magazine.org/store/comicality/

Where Charles Wentworth is now, I do not know. I thought he was dead. It took decades to get over the heartbreak of his disappearance. And yet now that he has sent me a message, I feel not relief but horror… because, if my interpretation is true, then we are all in danger. The message in the sky is clear. Humanity may be about to go extinct.

Amnor Sen and Jeremy are out to save the world. Traveling to the Worldwound far to the north, they are delayed by the discovery of a runaway slave in the undead land of Geb. Now the two must deal with the slave, while continuing on their way north.

Jakun is a cat on the run. Forced by his master to commit the most heinous of crimes, he flees, only to be caught by a paladin and a cleric. Will he be returned to his master? Or can his captors free him from his evil owner?

Cooper is an accomplished 15-year-old young diver. With his friend Sebastion and crush Elliot, they make the perfect combination for the regionals. Yet what starts as a routine practice drill at the rec center turns into an evening of terror when a series of strange occurrences lead to the boys fighting for their lives. Will they make it out alive? Will they defeat what is stalking them. Who knows. Can Cooper step up to the task to show his crush his bravery? Well, let's find out, shall we?

A part of the zombie apocalypse "Shelter" storyline, this three part mini-series tells the story of young Walker...who is caught in a bad situation as the chaos begins to take hold of his once peaceful area of town! I hope you enjoy this completed short! And be sure to check out "Shelter" when you get a chance!

http://www.gayauthors.org/story/comicality/shelter

Stephen just stopped to buy a soda and his whole life changed.

'Teddy was old and battered, and Jamie loved him.'

The tale of a boy and his teddy, and how teddies keep the monsters away.