Stories

Woken four hundred years off course. Crew: vanished. Company: an AI who refuses to stay just a computer.

James Carson signed up to clean toilets on a one-way trip to the stars. He got centuries of lost time, an empty ship, and a mystery no one's left to explain.

The way home is long. He won't be making it alone.

When Vickie Morrison's body is found in the river behind Grey Harbor High, all eyes turn to Caleb Holloway—the quiet, medicated boy who can't remember what happened that night. As the town closes ranks and whispers turn to accusations, Caleb discovers the pills his mother forces down his throat aren't just controlling his emotions—they're erasing his memories. Desperate to prove his innocence, he must unravel a web of blackmail, buried secrets, and a truth someone is willing to kill to protect. But the deeper he digs, the more he realizes: in Grey Harbor, everyone is hiding something.

When Tom’s life hits rock bottom—stuck in a dead-end town, dumped for his sister, and working graveyards at a 7/11—the last thing he expects is his pathetic best friend Warren to rob him with a neon water pistol. What follows is a hilarious, achingly vulnerable journey of two disaster boys fumbling their way toward love, one badly timed confession and life-sized Warhammer statue at a time.

The French Revolutionary War is finally coming to a conclusion, and after eight years of conflict, George Granger is going to have to adapt to a world at peace. While the conflict with France may be at an end, George has his own challenges to face. He has returned home to find himself richer, but estranged from his wife. His best friend and lover, Francis Calvert, has been wounded in the Caribbean and has not yet returned to England. Join George as he navigates this fraught era, which may be even more dangerous than when England at France were at war.

Ark II is now on the new world and life begins for them.

Luka and his best friend Devin, two resilient, homeless young men fighting to survive as hustlers on the unforgiving streets, face a life-changing moment when an enigmatic, affluent client crosses their path. This powerful stranger presents them with a jaw-dropping opportunity, an unconventional job that will challenge their friendship like never before. As they plunge headfirst into this rousing experience, they will face harsh scenarios, uncover buried secrets, and be forced to redefine their loyalty to one another. Will their relationship emerge stronger than before, or will their trials ultimately unravel their bond?

The story is based off comic fans prompt # 110 - creating evil.

Griffin Forrester is a Former FBI profiler, who had struggled for the last 10 years, with both his psychic abilities, and the disgrace of living with the reality that not even those powers, allowed him to see the evil that was always right in front of him. He's tried to hide from his past, but when a child Is abducted, and her parents are brutally murdered in a ritualistic manner eerily similar to the case that cost him his career, he's dragged back into a world where belief and wishes don't always set you free to fly.

Myles Valentine Paton Fleming - Widower, Father of teen son, Computer Engineer, and owner of a catamaran yacht, based in Adelaide, South Australia, with holiday adventures and unexpected changes to the family group.

Following the death of his mother, fifteen-year-old Robbie is forced to move from England to start a new life living with his uncle’s family in Canada. Homesick, confused, and missing his close friend, it soon becomes apparent that Robbie is carrying a lot more baggage than he arrived with.

Cwtch is a Welsh word, translated into English it means a hug, but the meaning is deeper and more profound than a simple hug. When you give someone a cwtch you also give them a safe place and this is what twenty something Londoner Harry gives Welsh farmboy Aled. The story tells how two souls find each other, and recognise one another immediately. It is attraction, but also love at first sight, although true love is never easy.

This story is also published under the title Eighteen Years by E K Stokes.