Stories

It's springtime in the mighty Andiol Empire. Despite the apparent tranquillity and prosperity, all is not well in the realm. There is a never-ending war on the eastern border, the power-hungry Shadow Cross is plotting, and the emperor has not been seen in public for years. And something far more dangerous is quietly gathering strength.

Meanwhile, 16-year-old Josel and his friends are leading normal young lives in their hometown Paidos, in the peaceful south of Andiol. But a dark shadow hangs over the town, and strange secrets creep into Josel's life. Suddenly, Paidos is no longer a safe place to live, and Josel finds himself on the run.

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.

Liam Henderson is the king of Montgomery High. He’s a student body president and a captain of the football team. His family comes from old money, he’s very handsome and smart. Though Liam is a near perfect creature, he made a mistake. He grew up best friends with a nerdy kid named Dylan, who just couldn't fit in with the right crowd once they got into a high school. Liam ditched him and spent the next three years bullying Dylan with his jocks.
Senior year rolled in and Dylan blossomed into a beautiful swan. Liam found himself lost in his eyes. The only problem - after everything Liam did, proud blonde boy wouldn't even look his way.

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?

Someone buys a house and receives a belated letter from the son of the previous owner. He is a Navy Seal, wounded and recuperating, unaware as he sent it that his parent has passed away. An unexpected friendship forms..

Matthew is torn from the only world he knows and thrown into fear and uncertainty. Andrew, a passionate writer, discovers more than he bargained for while researching for his book on human trafficking. Read this world-spanning story and learn how their paths cross. Sold Into Freedom is a harrowing yet hopeful tale of survival, resilience, friendship and love.

Newly coming to terms with being gay, following an abusive childhood and a failed relationship with a girlfriend, electrician Keith meets Thomas, who runs a local arts charity. Despite coming from vastly differing backgrounds, the two discover much in common, not least the need to come to terms with complex relationships to their fathers. But they also learn to enjoy exploring life together.

I remember my life now as if I'm looking out a window. Streaks of my life flash by me. I try to open the window and catch them, but the window won't open. So, I sit and watch them, and I wonder did they really happen or was it just a dream? Take a journey back in time as 78-year-old Phil Reid relates his life experiences to a younger man.

14-year-old Bryan Padilla is caught between worlds he doesn't feel connected to. Having been abandoned by their birth parents at a young age, Bryan and his younger brother, Caleb, were adopted by a family friend, Diego Padilla, and raised in a culture not of their own. Though it is the only life Caleb has ever known, Bryan inwardly struggles with his feelings about life, death, race and sexuality. Things escalate shortly after the death of his birth mother. Can Bryan come to terms with his situation as a figure from his past tries to upend his entire life?