Small Town Fiction - Stories

Life is filled with surprises. We are constantly reminded that we are at the mercy of the universe; from the people we meet, to the events that shape us, to the places we find ourselves in. If we are among the lucky ones we will find our place in the world, and someone to share it with, and life will be sweet. But even then, everything is subject to change, and we either roll with the flow, or find ourselves fighting against the tide, because you just never know what might come at you from out of the blue.

Benny's parents are sending him to spend the summer with his great-aunt, because they can't afford to pay someone to watch him while they work. Benny is resistant, because he knows it means that he won't be with his friends over summer vacation, but his parents have no choice. The thing is, it doesn't turn out as bad as he fears.

Owen has been hiding his whole life. Closeted in a Catholic funeral home family, fake-dating his best friend Margot for three years, headed to a college he doesn't want. Then Ryder messages him on a dating app and everything shifts. Ryder is rough, honest, reckless, and completely unwilling to be someone's secret. As their connection deepens over one Ohio summer, Owen finds himself caught between the safe lie he's been living and the terrifying truth Ryder keeps pushing him toward. Something has to break. And Ryder's determined to take him on the ride of his life before it does.

In a lawless land where bullets write the law, an arrogant city-dweller ventures into the Wild West seeking revenge. What he finds is a world ruled by outlaws—and a dangerous man who becomes his captor. Bound by circumstance and drawn by an irresistible pull, they clash in a game of wit, pride, and survival. But as the desert sun sets on their hatred, something far more dangerous rises between them. On the Wild West, to try and ride someone means to break them, to own them—or to lose yourself completely. Only one of them will be tamed.

A rural farm boy has a chance encounter with handsome tattooed roughneck that may change the trajectory of his life.