Stories

John Renkin has recently retired, but his investment firm in The Land of Lincoln is the only thing he can look back on as a success. His painful life and brighter future are revealed in a series of shorts. Each will stand on its own, but the sum will eventually tell his story. Be sure to follow for periodic updates.

Roger Cicero is an enigma. Behind the man’s meticulously crafted facade lies an angry and broken boy. When he is pushed into a case that hits close to home, the successful lawyer is forced to draw on his buried past to save another battered boy’s future.

Ludo has a nice life. A lovely wife and son, an attractive modern house, and a good job, idyllic really. But his wife is restless and spends too much time at work; Ludo finds himself getting too close to Arthur, the father of one of his son’s friends. Then his wife’s job takes a sinister turn, casting everything else into the shade.

Ralph has a successful web-design firm, lovely twin daughters and an ex-wife with whom he is on reasonable terms, though his parents persist in regarding him as a disappointment, disliking his choice of career and general lack of ambition. But, in the wake of his divorce, he experiences a return of feelings and ideas that he hasn’t had since his teenage years when an affair with another boy at school left an indelible mark. And now, he has to decide, does he want to be that person who hides, lashes out at any suggestion he might be gay, or does he want to break free.

Jeremy, a gay high school senior, moves to a new city with his family, struggling to fit in and process his father’s death. He befriends Cal, a charismatic skater, whose playful hints leave Jeremy questioning Cal’s feelings. As their friendship deepens, Jeremy battles self-doubt while Cal, inspired by his own past, takes the leap to confess his feelings. A kiss seals their connection, marking the start of something new. Amid family struggles, Jeremy finds hope, love, and belonging.

Leaving home for the first time and heading out into the big, wide world to forge a life for yourself can be a daunting thing for anyone . . . unless, of course, you have your best friends right there beside you, sharing the experience with you, the ups and downs, the highs and lows . . .

We first met Matt and Luke, Tim and Guy, and all of their friends in After We Danced, The Rip and Song For Guy. Now they are living together in the small town of Thompsonville, a place they had quickly come to love . . . and their adventures have begun!

For sixteen year old Danny Anderson life is about to change. School is out and summer is here and hanging with his friends is all he wants to do, but there are some things he just can't share with his best friend, Nate. And then a handsome young stranger, not much older than he is, arrives in town and his world is turned upside down. The summer was now turning into something he could only ever dream of as he begins a journey of self-discovery filled with new adventures and experiences, a new friendship and just a hint of danger.

Prompt #385 –

Brendan Nelson had a tough week at work. He is a Project Manager at a small software company. Nothing went well on his current project. The last delivery to QA (Quality Assurance) was a total failure, the techs couldn't even install it. Add to that, a serious problem in the development of a new feature arose. Finally, on top of that, the customer was screaming about a bug that hadn't been fixed for months, and now it apparently crashed the system. As if things weren't bad at work, he had to come home to a surprise.

A recent college graduate has a painful coming out to his family but gets a surprising response from his father.

The new kid in town was quite the looker, but for Tim Patterson: gay, seventeen years old and single, he didn't think he'd stand a chance . . . even with his best mate, Ben Walker doing his best to interfere! What he didn't count on, however, was that the new kid in town had a secret of his own, and that the two of them were more alike than anyone could realise. And so it begins. Boy meets boy . . . and everything that they both hoped for looked like it was falling into place. Can they truly make it work? Can they avoid the pitfalls that seem to come with young love? Will they be able to find a way to work it all out?