Stories

Anthology Pot Luck Theme: Turn Back Time

British born Chinese gay man Stanley Cheung wakes with somebody else's hangover.

Not only that, but he is laid out on someone’s couch in a grungy student digs where a strange woman is telling him he smells like a brewery. The thing is Stanley rarely drinks.

When the woman finally leaves, he finds out that not only has he woken as six-foot-three, ripped, blond-haired, straight Caucasian Don Bradley, but today is not Friday.

It’s Thursday.

Again.

He is reliving the same day but this time as somebody else.

Werebear mates Gary and Bill run an academy for at-risk boys, and are thrilled to discover that an orphaned youth sent to their boarding school by the state is bear kindred. But, when the mysterious boy is drawn to a remote area in the Smoky Mountains by an unknown force following his 18th birthday, the Bears must band together to save one of their own from a fate worse than death.

Tony and Sean Morgia-Mulligan had been married for quite a few years, but recently they’d lost some items that they felt could never be replaced. One day, a young man named Jeremy Reinhart approached Tony and began chatting with him, and during their conversation Tony learned that Jeremy had a unique ability. In fact, Jeremy might even have a way to make up for their loss, but does it have a chance of working?

This is my entry for the Fall/Winter 2021 anthology, ‘An Unconventional Gift’.

What if you were a witness to a crime, but didn't know it? Once the crime is solved, does what you know matter? If you put a period at the end of the sentence, does that give you a final answer?

After a challenging week at work, a night out drinking at The Humpback sounded perfect to Banner Hoyt. The following morning, at the Coast Guard station’s barracks, Banner feels energized but fuzzy on the previous evening’s events. It takes some time to recall everything and even longer to realize that night had changed his life forever.

Time-travel tour guide Reegan McNamara’s job is usually a breeze. A trip back to 2030 seems no different, until a woman runs away from his tour group. Now her husband is demanding her safe return—or Reegan will lose more than just his job.

P.I. Saul Kildare’s business is running on borrowed time. When a stranger bangs on his door one night and promises a windfall for a missing-person case, it seems too good to be true.

The two men have an immediate connection, but as their attraction evolves into feelings neither can deny, will they have the strength to take a leap of faith together?

Exploring places which exist in my boyhood memory.

Paul Farmer is a cynical, single, gay man who doesn’t believe in love His MO is one night stands. Reluctantly, he is called upon to babysit his sisters children.

Al didn't know he was lonely, until he had a 'leap of faith'.