Stories

It is January 2004 and the United States and its “allies” have just completed the successful invasion of Iraq and Saddam Hussein has been captured. US Presidential Elections are on the horizon. Howard Dean is the frontrunner to be the Democratic candidate to take on George W. Bush.

These events weigh lightly on the mind of Will Schluter. He just graduated from high school a semester early and is looking forward to spending the next eight months in the pursuit of hedonistic pleasure and mind broadening experiences.

Neither Will nor his country had any idea about the challenges that lurked ahead.

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.

Boone and Coy have built a damn good life in Larkspur, and feel on top of the world at being able to share such blessings with each other. The Old West has its challenges for men made like them, but everything is falling into place on their little piece of the frontier... until an unexpected visitor shows up out of the blue. Suddenly, their world is turned upside down as they struggle to help the troubled man.

This story starts in June of 2003. The invasion of Iraq is over, George Bush has landed on the aircraft carrier and proclaimed "Mission Accomplished", and the insurgency has yet to begin. Some may think America is at the height of its power.

Meanwhile, in the CAP world:

JJ and Will, both in doomed relationships that seem to be working. Will they unravel, and if they do, who is behind it?

The sleepy village of Crumbington is about to get a wake-up call.

When the new chairperson of the Summer Fête Committee pushes to create a naked calendar of the Crumbington football team, mouths drop open. Her further pronouncement at having snagged a celebrity host for the fête—rising television and movie star Clifton O’Keefe, and ex-resident of Crumbington—is met with indifference.

Not by Nathan Fresher, though, local baker and captain of the football team. He had been Clifton’s boyfriend in high school, until Clifton and his family disappeared into the night over ten years ago.

It started off as a simple, innocent friendship between two college students brought together by an English project. Noah is shy, quiet and nerdy, while Jordan is the exact opposite, athletic, social and outgoing. A series of events, a break up, an unexpected injury, bring the two closer together. And as the pair delve deeper into their project, they realize that simple, innocent friendship may not be so simple or innocent after all.

Nick Jacobs has had a pretty crappy life. His mother is a drug and alcohol abusing prostitute. He never knew who his father was. Sadly, Nick ends up in the foster care system in Austin, Texas. After seven years in and out of different foster families, he ends up in a group home. Everything changes when the White family takes him to lunch and spends an afternoon with Nick at their home. It's a world that Nick had never even dreamed of. Will he fit in? Will he ever experience the kind of unconditional love most others take for granted?

Members of several packs have gone missing, and most important to Dylan Davenport, the Enforcer from Homestead, his beloved mentor, Gene. What has become of them?

This is my second story. It is mostly nonfiction with a little fiction mixed in. It is based on an real-life experience of a close friend that I thought would make for a good short story. He provided the skeleton and I filled in the dialogue with his approval. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed hearing it recounted to me.

Tony's whole life changes when he finally accepts himself. He keeps looking for love, but maybe it's closer than he thinks.