Stories

Having crashed and burned after early success as a composer, Alex has managed to rebuild his career and his life. Carpenter Neil is between girlfriends, and his knowledge of music is limited. Yet despite their differences the two come together, and each spurs the other on to explore life further and to take risks. Add in a pair of mothers who are friends and Neil’s fragile younger brother—as well as a manipulative rich uncle and some lively friends—and you have a dynamic mix.

"You can never trust a Crawley." Those were Albert Cooley's words to his sons, spoken every chance he got, and August did his best to do what was expected of him after his ma passed. The Crawleys and the Cooleys were ranching families, and they didn't mix, not ever, but more and more, August had a problem with letting his father decide everything for him. Was Fletcher really his enemy? Could he trust the man he'd butted heads with over and over, one he'd known pretty much his whole life? All he knew for certain was he was tired of all the conflict, and needed his life to change before he exploded. That's where his Gran came in.

Marcus Valerius Pulcher, a Roman noble raised on music rather than war, is sent to Germania’s raw frontier under the ambitious governor Varus. There he meets Ingomar, a Cherusci warrior, and finds something neither of them has words for, something a cithara, a hidden grove, and two empires’ worth of duty were never meant to allow.

But peace on this frontier is a fragile, borrowed thing. Warnings go unheeded. Confidence curdles into catastrophe. And as history’s most infamous ambush gathers in the forest ahead, Marcus and Ingomar must decide what love is actually worth paying for.

Sometimes life isn't what you expect. Finding the love of your life and keeping that love isn't always easy. Some roads are straight and smooth; others, not so much. This is the story about two boys navigating the road from boyhood to adulthood with all the potholes and speed bumps along the way.

Martin is still feeling the effects of an acrimonious divorce and more recently the death of his mother.

He receives an email that could be a scam. It triggers events that upend just about everything Martin believes about himself. His path forward is not going to be smooth. Can he navigate this new life to make friends, find love and reestablish a family?

Jacob continues his journey to form new bonds with his brothers while struggling to find his place after awakening to a brand new world. Will newfound friendships be broken? Will his first real love be lost? Those are the heart-wrenching questions Jacob must face with the ever-present fear of losing himself to light and shadow.

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.

Prompt #265

Write a story that begins with a phone call at three in the morning.

Trevor insisted the house phone be on his side of the bed. There was one problem with that; Trevor was nearly impossible to wake up. One night, the phone rings at three AM. Julius has a hard time waking Trevor, but finally succeeds. Trevor finally answers the phone on the ninth ring. The phone call starts something they never could have expected.

Mac and Devin are back from their treasure hunt in the Ozarks and now they’re ready to start their Senior (4th) year at Colorado State University. What new incidents will they become involved in?

Fourteen-year-old Aiden Callahan has been expelled and shipped off to rural County Sligo for the summer. He expects boredom. Instead he finds ancient passage tombs and a mysterious boy named Cianán who seems to belong to the landscape itself.

As their bond deepens into first love, Aiden discovers that Cianán may be the last living remnant of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the mythic race who once ruled Ireland and retreated into the ancient mounds. But summer doesn’t last forever, and some connections come with a cost neither boy is prepared to pay.