Stories

This has been my flash fiction collection 2022. Due to unforeseeable developments, spontaneous ideas, and the wolf and the dragon not keeping their mouths shut it is now my Claws and Paws flash fiction collection. Shorts will be added randomly.

A king with an open secret, six sons blocked from normal human adulthood, and a daughter who tries to save them by her silence. Based on "The Six Swans," "The Seven Ravens," etc., and the Oedipus cycle. In four parts.

Andy's father pushes him to take a position as assistant to a gambler. No one but Andy seems to notice that his new employer is a snake. An actual, scaly, fork-tongued, yellow-eyed, limbless reptile.

“The wound caused by a sword can eventually be healed; the hurt resulted from vicious remarks can never be undone.”

Under the rule of the Second Emperor of the Guan Dynasty, the Empire has begun to fall into civil ruin, with conspiracies running rampant and political unrest echoing throughout the land.

Yan Rui, a peasant of the lowest caste, has always been ugly since he could remember. Harassed and ridiculed because of his looks, the most he can do to stay alive is lick the feet of the wealthy and pray for scraps.

But when a blind man stumbles into his life, even the ugliest person can have a heart of gold.

Website designer Scottie Ness is taking a well-deserved vacation from the grindstone, and he plans to spend it in the solitude of Washington’s Gifford Pinchot National Forest around Mt. Adams. He’s prepared for everything—except the lightning storm that traps him in a wildfire. Or meeting Jax Quintero, an abrasive firefighter whose bulky uniform couldn't hide a jawline chiseled from stone and intense eyes that burned him with scorn. Or was that the flames surrounding them?

Maybe Scottie should have gone to Hawaii on vacation instead.

Plants and animals were my thing. The intricacies of nature intrigued me and yet there was an elegant simplicity that I loved.

6888 Ardra. Heavy gravity planet. Human-compatible atmosphere. Generally temperate climate; I’d aimed for the southern continent which had milder weather and a good mix of terrain.

“Damn Sonez anyway.” He’d tried to keep me on his ship instead of letting me explore the planet with a team after the probe returned. Well I’d stopped his plotting before he could ruin my life.

And I’d show everyone just what Essell Deray could do.

Marc Wynn has accompanied his beloved aunt to estate sales for years, but he's never found anything he couldn't live without-until he meets Sawyer Calhoun. Sawyer wastes no time in revealing his romantic interest in Marc, but their promising first evening ends badly with Sawyer as adamant about broadcasting his sexuality as Marc is about hiding his. But when Sawyer hires Marc to restore his grandfather's house, their intense attraction grows into an emotional connection neither can resist. During the renovations, surprises come to light, and Sawyer must face his past when a tragedy threatens Marc's livelihood.

A place for my prompt responses and other experimental shorts.

A place to put prompts

The Cat Burglar is the first book of The Professions Series. It was inspired by the 2021 anthology theme An Unconventional Gift.

Kavan has an unsuspected encounter on his 24th birthday that changes his entire life.

The Professions Series series should best be read in order, but each book follows a different brother.