late 20th century - Stories

A runaway criminal sidekick teams up with his missing boss's monstrous mentor—a sociopath with a taste for precision and an even bigger secret—in a chase across the UK. Riley Shaw, scrawny and scared, is used to being an afterthought. But when Kieran Varys, disappears in a haze of blood, the only person left looking for him is Kieran's terrifying, obsessive architect: a man named Ben. Now Riley must navigate a landscape of motorway services, posh houses, and monstrous authority, and figure out if he's bait, a witness, or something more terrifying—a student.

When the body of Lukas von Keller, a third-year student at Veridien, a prestigious all-boys academy, is found at the bottom of a ravine on March 10th, 1986, life at the quiet elite institution is shaken to the core.

After months of investigation, authorities are ready to rule the death a suicide. Detective Whitlock, however, is not. A chance to solve the case, now a personal nightmare, presents itself when Marius Vassier, a local private eye known for his sharp instincts and impeccable fashion, approaches him with a plan.

An unorthodox plan.

(Full summary inside)

After graduating from the University of North Carolina in 1974, Jody DiFranco joins the US Navy and moves to Newport for OCS and then Norfolk for his first assignment. Having known since childhood he was attracted to guys, Jody learns lots about M2M sex on the varsity baseball squad at UNC. As he makes the transition from UNC to USN, he has great concerns about fitting into military society where he might lose his career if his sexuality becomes known. Join Jody as he maneuvers through his new life in search of belonging and fulfillment.

In a plague-ravaged duchy, Lord Elian must convince Damien Chamberlin to offer and accept his hand in marriage before their engagement ball on the night of the first blood moon of the century. This union could save his people and his younger sister, who has been in a coma for nearly two months. Damien rarely appears, sending doll-like servants, but Elian soon discovers he is not the monster he feared—beautiful, strange, and hiding something… familiar. Bound by duty yet drawn to each other, Elian must choose between love or the lies he tells himself.

Adam Walsh is a popular small-town Irish boy who gets paired with the new arrival in town. Ross, however, is a city boy, hailing from London. Being total opposites, they somehow manage to cross paths. What starts as nervous giggles and jittery speech turns into a bond that will forever change both teenagers, as they'll experience something more than friendship. How will the boy's parents, friends, and love for each other come together? Will it either work in their favor or wedge them apart forever?

Two friends meet up with a stranger in the Pyrenees who gradually tells them his story of life and love in the last years of Franco's regime when homosexuality was a crime. We meet Ximo and the love of his life. Can that love survive what life in a dictatorship throws at them?

A university dropout is brutally shoved into the concrete hell of Cradle Grove. Targeted and destitute, Kieran’s only path is scavenging and shame. Then Ben, a terrifyingly silent force, saves him from a beating. A protector? A predator? As bodies start to fall, Kieran is thrust into a savage new hierarchy, where survival means embracing the violence and dark loyalty of a world that wants to destroy him.

In 1969, two boys from opposing nuclear-armed nations along the banks of the Amur River met. This is their untold story with the backdrop of ideologies, rhetoric, and national priorities.

(Part of the 2025 Prompt Team Event)