Stories

Blake is on the pursuit of the solution of his problems. This lead him to a strange manor, a strange Lord and an even stranger deal. It contains acts of mutilation.

What happened at Nordia that has the Alliance on edge?

A chance encounter in the wilderness leads to adventues and more

Summer vacation had started out well for Derry and Caleb. There was much to occupy two adventurous boys in the rural landscape in which they lived. They had the woods, and the fields, and the waterways to occupy them.

And they had each other.

But then they made a discovery - a strange place hidden in the forest, a pathway to lands beyond description. And suddenly, the summer was not quite so simple any longer.

An unnamed narrator recounts his first sexual encounter with an unlikely college classmate.

Three boys have turned the old MacBriar house into a clubhouse,and they spend Hallowe'en night. The house is not as deserted as it appears. This story is based on the third 2006 anthology theme "Hallowe'en".

Harlon Eldrick's mother is dying of recurrent breast cancer and wants him to go tell his father. Harlon lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and his father lives across the country in a small collection of buildings called Black Dog, Washington. Harlon wants to make this an adventure. He will take the train to Chicago and hitchhike from there to Black Dog. It's been over a week, since Harlon left Chicago on a trip that's been anything but an adventure. He is welcomed into a semi by Steve Lennard for what he hopes is his last ride.

Carl Waite goes out for his morning walk in the park, and along the way he passes an old man sitting on a park bench. Since the man looks sad and appears down in the dumps, Carl wishes him Merry Christmas. The old man, who we later learn is Bob Swartz, responds, “What is there to be merry about?” Carl immediately stops so he can find out why the man reacted this way.

Joseph lives in a tiny town with his alcoholic and abusive father. His mother is dead. He and his father argue hotly and would have become physical had Joe not fled to the base of the near mountain and started climbing. Night came. Joe stumbled, hit his head, and strange mysterious forces steered him in a specific direction. He came to an abandoned sawmill that looked verboten in the moonlight.

During a time when the old ways are waning in favor of a new belief system, two men explore an unlikely friendship.