Stories

Once upon a time, in a little town called Dog's Creek, there was a boy named Adam...

An itinerant photographer stops by the one town he’s avoided for the last twenty years. What is it he hopes to encounter there? What is this ‘one last thing’ he feels he has to do?

Forced to leave home at the age of seventeen, soon after my parents learnt that I was gay, I worked part time while studying at university, until I received a brief text message from my older brother, informing that our parents were killed. I didn't bother to attend the funeral, since I had been rejected by the whole family.

A few years later, I was informed that our grandfather had passed away, and that I was the only one to inherit the family farm, that I had visited many times during the holidays, and where I was the happiest when growing up.

I'd crushed on other guys before, my cousin Jericho was my first experience with pure, unadulterated love.

Maxie's grandmother tells him that love and hate are two horns on the same goat. One snowy January day a boy shows up who might just be that goat. Jesse has moved across the country to the middle of "shit-all and nowhere" and isn't happy about it. As the boy's move closer and further apart, they learn that love may not be enough to fix everything, & that both of them will need to change

Boccaccio's Decameron, a story of renewal and recreation in defiance of a decimating pandemic, relates how ten self-isolated Italians pass the time regaling each other with tall tales during the Black Plague. While Covid19 wasn't nearly as decimating, the opportunity for such entertainment did exist. As a takeoff on that idea, this short story might well be a modern version of one of the tales, recounting events of earlier, less stressful times.

Caleb's sanctuary is unexpectedly invaded, at a time he is feeling vulnerable, and it leaves him with no choice but to deal with some unfinished business.

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.

My efforts at Prompt writing....

Seventeen year-old Will Waters came out in a small Idaho town when he was fifteen. The story details the consequences and the actions Will takes to deal with the rejection of his family, his church, and his friends.