Stories

Peter Morticelli finds himself thrust into a ghoulish mystery, along with the rest of his small town. Strange sightings and happenings are leaving many to beg the question: is somebody tampering with the spirits of the dead? While a mystery is afoot, Peter is more interested in solving the mystery of Simon Chernosky, an unfriendly loner at his school.

Boccaccio's Decameron, a story of renewal and recreation in defiance of a decimating pandemic, relates how ten self-isolated Italians pass the time regaling each other with tall tales during the Black Plague. While Covid19 wasn't nearly as decimating, the opportunity for such entertainment did exist. As a takeoff on that idea, this short story might well be a modern version of one of the tales, recounting events of earlier, less stressful times.

Lysander - Andy to most people - got saddled with a strange name from a mom who is a little...off. Looking forward to college where he can leave mom behind and find boys who actually like kissing boys is his biggest goal in life, for now.

Kai just wants to slide by in this new school. He's a senior and only has to get by unscathed for 10 months so he can move on and figure out...well, whatever comes next. He's had enough drama and heartache to swear off the human race.

Even if we don't want to change, we do. We wear different faces at different ages, different faces for different crowds.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to The Playground - the biggest and wildest competition featuring your favorite stars. Over the next seven days, ten celebrities will be living in our Playground Mansion and competing in a variety of games. But they better hold nothing back, because there can only be one winner! Each round, one person will be eliminated from the show until we crown the Playground King or Queen!

Adam and Kaleo meet on the Pacific island of Poa, where they came for entirely different reasons. Adam is a tourist, looking to escape his stressful life for a few weeks. Kaleo returns to the island to spend his last days in the place where he was born. The lives of these two men become connected as they learn about each other and the ancient magic present on the island.

"Tragic Genius" is the fourth and penultimate book in "The Trial", a series beginning with "Shadow Honor". In this book, we follow the early days of the Demon War, and focus on the stories of Neredos and Veil predominantly, but with many other familiar faces as well. What does it take to make a leader, and how do the horrors of war twist a person's mind? How do we fight for good, life, and peace in a world full of evil, death, and pain? This is the heart of what The Trial means.

When young librarian Rowan finds a letter hidden in a book, his curiosity gets the better of him. He tracks down the owner: an ex-Navy SEAL living alone in the woods. Grant is the rugged man of anyone’s dreams, but he’s sullen and withdrawn – a damaged hero struggling with the loss of his hearing.

Sensing a man in need of company, Rowan starts learning sign language to communicate with him, and an unconventional friendship forms. But their differences may be too vast to overcome… even as an intense, forbidden attraction simmers behind every stolen glance and signed word.

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.

Phil Weber, a Iowa college math teacher in his mid-twenties, heads off to Mexico for the summer, to try and forget his ex-lover. He's looking for an adventure, and he finds a couple he hadn't expected.