Stories

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.

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.

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".

Three friends stumble upon artifacts seemingly not of their world, and set out to discover what turns out to be bigger than they could ever imagine.

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

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.

A chance encounter in the wilderness leads to adventues and more

In the perilous journey toward adulthood, Valentín Gómez hasn't quite found his north. He's not much of a cartographer, but he and his boyfriend are still going to try their luck at map-making. Growing up is hard, isn't it?

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The North Down South is a series of vignettes serving as a sequel to Southward.

What happened at Nordia that has the Alliance on edge?

20 year old Ben knows his life is about to change for real when he returns from the army to discover his brother has become a vampire, and not just any vampire, but the King of them. Ben ends up being captured by a mysterious vampire who wants to use him to get to his brother, Rider. Then, while in their captivity, Ben meets the gorgeously dark man Erebus, who just happens to be prince of the werewolves. Watch a story unfold that is full of danger and smokingly hot men with attitudes!