Stories

Mickey Ryder is twenty-three, deeply in debt, and the captain of a barely-functioning mail ship held together by salvage tape and bad decisions. When a runaway cult boy named Isaiah hides in his cargo bay, Mickey does the one thing he never does—he says yes. Now they're running from New Eden, hauling mystery cargo, and trying not to kill each other. But between a dead exploration ship, a screaming alien in a crate, and a religious mandate that just dropped a nine-year-old son on his doorstep, Mickey's about to learn that surviving is easy. Living? That's the hard part.

Mac and Devin are back from their treasure hunt in the Ozarks and now they’re ready to start their Senior (4th) year at Colorado State University. What new incidents will they become involved in?

Sam never expected to abandon his modest life as a blacksmith’s apprentice, yet the harrowing death of his parents leaves him no choice. When the reserved knight errant Ser Graeme proffers him a place at his side, Sam grasps at the chance for escape, despite having no clear destination.

With winter closing in, they aim to reach the city of Langscott before the roads become impassable. Their journey, however, is delayed by a chance encounter: an offer of coin too tempting to refuse. The task is far beyond their expertise, but to earn a living on the road, risk often becomes a matter of routine.

Emory had his whole life planned out. Go to college, become successful, marry Danielle. Then one night, he met a boy who took his virginity, and now Emory is about to turn his life upside down and follow the boy across the country. It's time for this boy to meet other boys.

James reunites with his ex, Evan, now a determined law student, and they slowly rebuild their relationship with new boundaries. While James is sent out of town to rescue a failing engineering project, his homophobic family crises erupt: his father’s cancer and death, and his brother Sam’s years of manipulation and financial abuse. Supported by Evan, James protects his mother, pursues justice, and begins to imagine a shared, hard-won future where love, not fear, defines the rest of his life, one cautious step at a time, finally choosing himself.

Upper-class slave Dante is sold from the glittering metropolis to a lonely farm. There Carolyn Mitchell not only rules over the slaves with an iron grip, but also over her family. To find his place and a new home there is hard, especially because his new mistress Alice is only superficially interested in him, he clashes right away with the work slave Tom and Frank, his mistress' brother, seems to haven taken quite a liking to him...

Having crashed and burned after early success as a composer, Alex has managed to rebuild his career and his life. Carpenter Neil is between girlfriends, and his knowledge of music is limited. Yet despite their differences the two come together, and each spurs the other on to explore life further and to take risks. Add in a pair of mothers who are friends and Neil’s fragile younger brother—as well as a manipulative rich uncle and some lively friends—and you have a dynamic mix.

An alpha without a pack is like a house without a roof.

Theodore Pembroke has lived for years with only vengeance in his heart. As the last of his kind, he knows the dark forces that destroyed his pack will come for him one day—and when they do, he’ll be ready.

But even the best-laid plans will often go awry. The enemy he’s been preparing for turns out to be an unexpected ally, and a sudden and fragile spark of hope makes a mess of everything.

(Full summary inside)

Ex-Military recluse Hank runs his isolated farm with measured violence and tactical clarity. When Jesse, a 22-year-old, stumbles into Hank’s world, the "math" of the farm changes forever. Jesse is more than a stray; and his dark past is about to catch up with him.

Hank doesn't offer pity; he offers an absolute, grounding ownership. But while trying to protect the boy, he realizes he can’t hold the line alone and calls in favors.

The debt is about to be paid in lead and spent fury.

When two hunters run afoul of a mythic figure, they have one chance to saved their hides. It's not the boys weekend either expected. (This takes place in the same universe as the story Sol, but both are stand alone tales, no other reading needed.)