Stories

Former policeman Dan and art critic Vaughan’s relationship has an unfortunate start, but second time around they find that life has something different in store for them. Amidst interfering family members and lively friends, their relationship develops. But then Dan’s employer, Francis Heyward starts to take an interest. Heyward is seemingly stupendously rich, a giver of notorious parties and the possessor of an enviable art collection. There’s a question of whether a line should be crossed, and whether Heyward can even be trusted at all.

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..

A response to Prompt #68:

Imagine where your character leads a pretty decent single life. Then there is a phone call and that life is turned upside down as they find out, they have just become a parent—to a teenager. Is this a cousin that has been left with no other family members? A god child? A niece or nephew? What is this first meeting between them going to be like?

The circumstances whereby Manny obtains guardianship are a little strange, to say the least. Not to mention what happens afterward.

We follow Ken, Joe, Tom and George as they take a long awaited vaction. They decide to go to South Beach.

Owain returns to live in his home town, 20 years after leaving when he was disowned his parents for being gay. He needs to rebuild his life following illness and come to terms with his messy family history. There is much to learn and discover, along the way he meets Colin, a builder who has his own family issues. The two explore how to make a life the way that they want, irrespective of the weight of their family experiences.

The story takes place in Cheshire, UK. The main setting, Netherwich, is my invention based on elements of Crewe and Nantwich. The language uses some regional idiom.

Rusty Parker has one big-ass problem, unlike any other big-ass problems he has ever had in his life. No, it’s not the impending sense of doom that comes with senior year and the fact that he has no idea what to do after or that he’s running out of kink ideas. No, it’s a very peculiar issue.

(Full summary inside.)

George Granger has been separated from his command, and how finds himself in limbo, waiting for Valiant to return. In the meantime, the Admiralty has found other things for him to do. Little does Granger know that when his ship finally does return, he'll be given an entirely different challenge, one that will take him to entirely new waters.

Greg Danvers, a former London police sergeant now a part-time waiter, tends to his ten-year-old son and his paraplegic father. Forced by poverty and desperation, he becomes a “high-class escort.”

Swept into life as a spy and brushed into The Agency’s path, guided by his handler, Jean de La Fontaine, with the help of the mysterious Nathaniel Worthington, he learns his only chance of safety lies with their help. What begins as a duty to serve his country becomes a need to answer an urgent desire, as Greg finds himself torn between two very different men, in two irreconcilable lives wading through sex, secrecy, and espionage.

Kyan can’t imagine ever moving on. With four small kids, what would that even look like? Surely not his best friend and brother-in-law; the man who drops off groceries, forces him to confront his depression, loves his kids unequivocally, and supports him without question.

The plan was simple: survive high school and get the hell out of his hometown.

Alec Kennedy failed miserably.

He fell in love. Unfortunately, he still carried out his plan and left town. Leaving his first love behind.

Years later, Alec's forced to return home to deal with an unexpected family emergency.

There was a new plan: desperately try to avoid his former partner.

He failed miserably again.

There seems to be a pattern here.