Stories

After a brutal breakup, shop owner Bruno Vignau has focused on rebuilding his life. Now a horrific series of events threaten to tear that new life apart.

This story contains characters introduced in Mr. Brightside, but is not a direct sequel.

A gravitational wave sweeps the USS Explorer to the star system 55 Cancri. The crew detects a deserted alien airport on a planet in the habitable zone. The planet, however, is not deserted. A young native and a stranded alien crew spots the arrival of the spaceship from Earth. Unsettling events follow. Will the humans ever return to Earth?

Manchester 2009. Adam, 25, has just broken up with his long term boyfriend and moves to the city despite knowing nobody and nothing about city life. He dives into his new-found independence and experiences the highs and lows of drinking, dating and dealing with his unusual flatmate, his emotionally troubled workmate, his environmentalist neighbour, her sexually frustrated roommate and a local Councillor who was once the hero of the gay village. The story unfolds through the eyes of each of the six characters, as their lives weave in and out of one another, with political ambitions, sexual exploration, personal demons and unearthed secrets.

A couple of young guys in the present try to figure out a mysterious legend from the past.

Meanwhile, some years earlier, a young, Native American wife is being admired by a young warrior from another family, temporarily stranded because of an injury.

And there are bears.

It will be the darkest of times that give birth to the greatest of lights. The final battle is upon them. The Chosen are drawn into conflict with enemies that know them better than they know themselves. And across the battle lines stare familiar faces.

At the same time, the final symphony plays unknown yet heard to some. Its notes are getting louder as the circle completes. Soon entropy will descend upon all.

Hunter, a brilliant gay teenager, has just lost his boyfriend to Cyber Bullying. In his search for the culprits, he uncovers a massive conspiracy that will force him to face an integrated world, without boundaries or ethics. It is a world of Fundamentalism, Intrigue, Covert-actions, and Enmity. Where success and failure are relative to its silent "Observers". Can he achieve justice for his dead boyfriend and all those trapped in this "Web" of conflict?

Phillip was chosen to be the first person to travel back in time. However, things don’t go quite as planned and he ends up somewhere he’d never expected, starting the adventure of his lifetime.

Charlie Hughes encounters an old friend who has four children, but there's something going on with this family. After taking the oldest boy shopping and buying him an expensive watch Charlie is called in the middle of the night because the boy is being kicked out. When Charlie goes to the family home he discovers the boy and been beaten, whipped, raped, and one of his arms is broken. Charlie takes the boy into his home and all hell is loosed on his life.

Adam and Kaleo meet on the Pacific island of Poa, where they came for entirely different reasons. Adam is a tourist, looking to escape his stressful life for a few weeks. Kaleo returns to the island to spend his last days in the place where he was born. The lives of these two men become connected as they learn about each other and the ancient magic present on the island.

When young librarian Rowan finds a letter hidden in a book, his curiosity gets the better of him. He tracks down the owner: an ex-Navy SEAL living alone in the woods. Grant is the rugged man of anyone’s dreams, but he’s sullen and withdrawn – a damaged hero struggling with the loss of his hearing.

Sensing a man in need of company, Rowan starts learning sign language to communicate with him, and an unconventional friendship forms. But their differences may be too vast to overcome… even as an intense, forbidden attraction simmers behind every stolen glance and signed word.