Short Family

"The things you're having me do… I was such a good girl before you came along." Abbi and her hunky older neighbor have always shared a close bond, playing all manner of friendly games with one another. Now that she's full-grown with some lovely adult parts, it's time to up the ante of their playtime… What begins as a perverted round of peekaboo leads to a risky game of pull-out, and they'll keep playing until her bumped belly spells game over. ~5900 words

Detective Jake Sharpe pulls his son Darrell away from video games and joins Tom Stone and the boy he’s befriended, Andrew, on an early morning hike in the foothills above Los Angeles. A father and son jaunt becomes a fight for survival when they take a wrong turn on a little-used path. An armed homeless man with a link to an unsolved cold-case murder is camping in a secluded ravine, and without warning opens fire on them. Stone and his group have to outwit and outmaneuver his shots in this deadly action-filled short story.

Girl meets boy on the worst night of her life, when she's decided to take a drastic step that there is no going back from. Girl is used to sitting by, letting fate deal cruel hand after cruel hand to good people with soft hearts, and she's had enough. Girl thinks it's time to fight back against fate and against men who aren't careful with all the precious things a woman in love has to give him. Fate shows girl who's boss and turns her world and plans upside down without breaking a sweat.

Lonely, thanklessly courteous, and without the benefit of status, Gordon Schulmeister is only tolerated in his younger, hip, and gentrified Oakland neighborhood. Now, amid the tensions of a pandemic, the cantankerousness of his landlord, and dog sitting an intimidating pit bull, Gordon has never felt the target on his back so acutely. To keep his neighbors off his heels, with some hope and a sigh, Gordon might have to finally speak up.

When Ashley hides to play a prank on her husband, she overhears something she wasn’t supposed to hear. Something that shatters her world. Outpranked is a part of the Mothers, Sisters, Husbands, Secrets series of short stories. The stories are unrelated and can be read out of order.

From bestselling authors Katie Wyatt and Kat Carson, with over 200 million pages read worldwide, comes a heart-stirring tale of faith, passion, and the unbreakable power of love. Immerse yourself in this unforgettable journey where danger tests courage, and love conquers all. Can their love conquer the dangers of the untamed West, or will the challenges tear them apart before they truly begin? Bonnie Wright dreamed of a love as big as the Texas skies, but arriving in San Antonio to marry a man she’s never met tests her courage like never before. Without an official invitation, and with ...

Returning to Sunset Glade was supposed to be a fresh start, but some secrets refuse to stay buried. Gabrielle Fairway thought she left her small town for good, but when her father's wild theories bring her back, she can't ignore the pull of her old life—or the love she left behind. Sunset Glade isn't the sleepy town she remembers. Shadows linger in the swamp, and Tucker Auric—her high school crush turned town protector—seems to be hiding something much darker than the past. As a panther shifter, Tucker has enough on his plate keeping the local wildlife safe and fending off the rogue ...

Thirty years ago, David Leavitt first appeared on the literary scene with a gutsy story collection that stunned readers and reviewers. Just 23, he was hailed as a prodigy of sorts: “remarkably gifted” (The Washington Post), with “a genius for empathy” (The New York Times Book Review), and “a knowledge of others' lives...that a writer twice his age might envy” (USA Today). “Regardless of age,” wrote the New York Times, “few writers so effortlessly achieve the sense of maturity and earned compassion so evident in these pages.”

In 1956, Updike published a story, "Snowing in Greenwich Village," about a young couple, Joan and Richard Maple, at the beginning of their marriage. Over the next two decades, he returned to these characters again and again, tracing their years together raising children, finding moments of intermittent happiness, and facing the heartbreak of infidelity and estrangement.

The Christmas holidays are over and it's the first Monday morning back to work. Everyone around seems tired and depressed about this fact...everyone except her, Pauline Barton. She is truly an extraordinary sort of girl. It's rare to ever see her without a smile on her face. She works in the drive-up pharmacy window of the Cedar City hospital and loves greeting the customers as they drive through to pick up their prescriptions. She has many reasons not to smile due to the fact that she had to drop out of college in order to help with her family's finances when her father became disabled due...

A perfect weekend read for fans of thrillers, horror, and psychological suspense. This collection of psychological horror novellas will keep you looking over your shoulder. Featuring the Amazon Best-Selling The Girl Who Reappeared, Outward, and There is Something in the Sky, along with bonus content. Customer Reviews: “DeLuise has created quite a horrific tragedy, and I can't wait to read the second installment.” “Thrilling, captivating. An amazing story.” “It was absolutely horrifying. Little by little the real story unravels.”

Jenna Camden knew nothing would be the same again. She felt like a guest in her own home...empty rooms echoed with precious memories, quiet nights filled with shadows of so many cherished yesterdays. Nothing was the same. Not even Christmas.A Christmas love story of hope, courage, and the enduring strength of love… Jenna didn’t have to look around her home with its colorful and shining Christmas decorations, the tall Christmas tree in her front room with the many Christmas ornaments that told in a special way the story of her family, to know that no matter what she did it would never ...

The saga continues with Claudia and Henry Johnson expecting their first baby any day now. In anticipation of this exciting event, Joy and Billy are on their way to town to purchase a baby gift when they see Doc Higgins racing out of town. They are sure he must be headed for Henry's home, so they make their quick purchase and head over to Henry's home where they find Doc Higgins' buggy and horse. They're just in time for the arrival of their new baby! Another six months goes by and Joy and her brother, Henry, are once again invited to participate on the weekend singing venues in nearby ...

A stolen Desert Eagle, a weapon designed to protect warriors defending their nations, the official sidearm of the Israeli military, continues its fall from grace in LA misadventures.

What do you do when your new stepmother is a lying psychopath, your best friend is out of the country, and the father who once loved you more than life itself kicks you out of the house at the beginning of Thanksgiving break? Well, you probably cry for a few hours and then crash at the first place that offers you a sofa. And if you’re me, that place happens to be a house of seven boys. Don’t get me wrong, I’m really glad I don’t have to sleep in my car until Alya gets back from her cruise. But staying with half a dozen strangers and some guy I once had a math class with was not how ...

Samantha Moon is used to monsters, magic, and murder cases. But this Thanksgiving, the only thing she wants to hunt is a giant turkey with her family. When her long-lost brother Clayton unexpectedly shows up—looking decades too young, thanks to faerie magic—Sam's happy reunion takes a turn. Clayton’s cursed with insomnia and guilt after failing to stop a faerie abduction. Now it’s up to Sam, her shapeshifting daughter, her empathic youngest, and her psychic witch bestie to travel into the dark faerie realm, face down ogres, and rescue a stolen infant before it’s turned into a ...

~ Sometimes all it takes is the right person in our…AfterLife. ~ In this romance with comedy, a man purchases an abandoned farmhouse in a tax sale unaware it’s haunted by the woman…ahhhhh…ghost that will become the love of his life and he the love of her AfterLife and together bring the man who murdered her to justice as only a Trans Spectral, TSP, couple can.

When Alison Strange receives a debt claim she can’t afford to pay from the Australian government’s unemployment office, she’s caught completely off-balance. As she wrestles with a slippery bureaucracy, her history-loving grandfather bolsters her resolve with the story of their ancestor John Strange, an English cobbler who was banished to Australia for his part in a political movement. Drawing inspiration from John’s life, Alison finds her own unique way to demand a future that’s fair for all.

From the author of My Documents and Chilean Poet, a wise, humorous, and captivating literary exploration of the delights and absurdities of childhood, fatherhood, and family life.

La Abuela Marta ******************* Una mañana soleada; con el cielo iluminado, El gato negro y el blanco afuera habían caminado; Para calentarse en el sol; toda esa tarde aprovechaban, Y los últimos días calurosos de junio así disfrutaban.