animals - Stories

They say the mountains always call you back. They never leave your heart.
But home isn't always a place. Sometimes it's the people who share our lives, the memories we carry, and the unexpected connections we make along the way.
As old friends return to Montana, two young cowboys discover that the heart has room for more than they ever imagined.
For family. For friendship. For the land they love.
And perhaps, for each other.

"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.

This one comes from Prompt #71.

Write a short story featuring only one character. No secondary characters at all. You might drop them in the woods and see how they fare, or come up with your own idea, but only one character is allowed.

Fraser Vogel knew it was dangerous to parachute in high winds. He wasn’t left with too many options in his Cessna 182 Skylane when its yoke seized and the engine failed.

Jump or crash? Pretty easy choice.

Stuck in 2026 World Cup traffic, friends Leo and Marcus are on the brink of a massive fallout over Marcus's annoying, high-energy dancing. The tension is instantly broken when Barnaby, a time-traveling capybara, accidentally teleports into their car and uses a calming temporal field to fix the radio's vibe, saving the road trip.

While working late to meet a strict deadline, accountant Arthur is accidentally teleported onto a commercial airplane by a time-traveling capybara. Using his golf umbrella and the creature's malfunctioning sci-fi collar, Arthur must quickly fix the quantum glitch to jump back to his office and finish his spreadsheet on time

These poems reflect my jumpy mind. Give it a try.

Kieran and friends, after an eventful holiday time in Mparntwe and a quick visit to the Realms, head for Melbourne to check out the successfully purchased Realm Tree site.

All bonus stories will be placed here, usually consisting of NSFW content. If they are non-canon, they will be specifically labeled.

This is a collection of very short stories, that I had written over thirty years ago, when I first started to write, and they are recollections of real events that took place on the farm where I grew up in Western Australia.

Preston aka Quokka

My 2025 prompt team event entry. I combined a few extra genre/sub-genre categories. Primary one:

Western/Weird West

Weird West - Fantasy in a Western. (Cowboys and Centaurs)

A cowboy and his centaur ride into Las Vegas. Told, obviously, since it’s me, from the Centaur’s perspective.