Short Game

Roll the dice, pick a card, tell a lie, hide the truth. Whatever the move, it's all just part of the game. Follow the lives of four very different characters who are all trapped in an insidious game. Each story delves into the intricate web of misaligned motives and obscured half-truths. Stories include "In This Business", "The Joker", "Dolly", and "Escaping Avila Chase".

Off the court, tennis star Jason Cartwright's playboy image is taking a public beating. On the court, he's down 40-love. A knee injury is shutting down his game, and the paparazzi are splashing his love life on every magazine. A comeback is in order, but the makeover he needs to save his faltering career is in the hands of the woman he loved and left 15 years ago. While single-mom Izzy Connors sees people for who they really are through the lens of her camera, even without it, she knows Jason isn't the star he appears to be.

These women all want to hook up an alien, and what better way to find one than on a TV show? Too bad the show isn't all that it seems. These high-heat short stories include women who are just looking to hook up with aliens and didn't plan to become fated to one. The Bolan men are dominant in the bedroom and know exactly how to thrill their human mates. Contains all four stories in the Mated to the Bolan series, as well as Halloween Mating, which is a related story. Alien Love Games: The Arena Ava's tired of her life and is obsessed with aliens. When she's handed the opportunity to go on the...

This is the audiobook for Sly Flourish's Fantastic Adventure, a book of 10 short adventures for the fifth edition of the world's most popular roleplaying game. This audiobook helps the listener bring these adventures into their head and is intended to be used along with the print copy of the book for use at the actual gaming table. Listening to these adventures helps prime your DM mind with the material you need to run the game at the table.

SHORT-LISTED IN THE LICHFIELD AND DISTRICT WRITERS´ SHORT STORY COMPETITION A funny, charming and original story that will be loved by children and adults alike. In an old book of Philosophy there were once five naughty and rebellious letters. They belonged to the word: ORDER. And it happened one day that the letters were so bored and the panorama around them was so gloomy, that they decided to jump out of the line in which they were imprisoned and run and play through the yellowing pages of the book. "Come on, let's jump," shouted the "O", excitedly.

The nine stories and one poem in this volume formed the basis for the astonishingly original film Short Cuts, directed by Robert Altman. Collected altogether in this volume, these stories form a searing and indelible portrait of American innocence and loss. With deadpan humor and enormous tenderness, this is the work of "one of the true contemporary masters" ( The New York Review of Books).

It takes a lot of effort for Jimmy Crocker to become Piccadilly Jim – nights on the town roistering, headlines in the gossip columns, a string of broken hearts and breaches of promise. Eventually he becomes rather good at it and manages to go to pieces with his eyes open. But no sooner has Jimmy cut a wild swathe through fashionable London than his terrifying Aunt Nesta decides he must mend his ways. He then falls in love with the girl he has hurt most of all, and after that things get complicated. In a dizzying plot, impersonations pile on impersonations....

Legendary Maine woodsman and bush pilot Charley Stevens tries to convince young Mike Bowditch of the dangers awaiting rookie game wardens.

Stagehands argue about their relationship between acts, a mountain climber struggles to rise above the summit of public opinion, the man once sent to kill a princess finds her working at a diner, retired superheroes lament their new life, and a villain threatens to blow up the world if he can get the Henchman Union to end contract negotiations. These are some of the situations found in this second collection of ten-minute plays. Each one is designed to be produced with just a few actors, few props, and within a single setting. They are easy to perform or fun to just read.

Twenty-four heart-warming, mind-boggling, and history-defining short stories of moments and players—go on a journey through the exciting and emotional world of baseball.

She’s not even a contestant on the Alien Love Game show, so how did she become fated to one of the alien men? Lyra I was finally taking a break from my grueling tour schedule on Earth between album releases. I was trying to do a good deed and helped my sister get on an alien love reality show. Somehow it got all messed up. The man my sister chose is now claiming I’m his one and only. How do I get out of this mess so I can go back to Earth and continue living my dream. Dhavoi When I saw Lyra, it was like I was hit over the head with a sledgehammer. She’s the only one for me, and now I ...

Can a space pirate be a good guy? Captain Gore: The outerworld shipping lanes are slim picking lately for pirate Captain Gore. He takes an Operator assignment that puts his broken-down ship, The Black Pearl, and hid degenerate crew in the path of the Mechanurge drones and quite possibly a hideous death on their Harvester ship. Operator Throd: Despite being betrayed by Gore, Throd-an infamous Operator who is half cybernetics-sets up a scenario using the pirates to help him get his assignment completed with the goal of leveling up. But this assignment could mean a gruesome death for the lot ...

From tales of chilling horror, to heart-stopping stories of suspense, Warped is best-selling author Jeff Menapace's ultimate collection of short fiction. Warped contains currently published tales of the macabre like "Princess" and "The Straw Man and a Murder", the currently out of print and award-winning "Sugar Daddy" and its sequel, "Sugar Daddy 2", and the author's preferred version of his controversial "Torment".

Time to steer the Short Shorts series in a different direction. The drift began during Short Shorts 2, but it’s time to take this series back a little to where it started. This is the fifth compilation in the Short Shorts series and likely the last, although I never planned to run these shorter short stories beyond two collections. Devoting a few weeks to put this group together from scratch allowed me to better match the plotlines to focus more on the ENF angle and to include some different ideas. This mix certainly focuses more on public humiliation. It reminds me more of Short Shorts 1...

Michael Maloney reads this original adventure by Dan Abnett, featuring the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory. For centuries the Maintainers have worked. With no help from other worlds, they subsist on the food they can grow and that’s little enough. But their purpose, their whole life, is to maintain the machines that will one day make their world as habitable as old Earth. Life used to be hard. Now as crops fail, livestock sicken, and the temperature drops, it’s becoming impossible.

Ellie is the nicest animal in the jungle, but she is very sad. Her friends Lyle the lion, Fatima the flamingo, Rex the rhino, and Micky the monkey want to find out why! Each story is easy to comprehend and exciting. Join in on a great listening experience with friends and family, whether you're traveling, in a waiting room, or closing in on bedtime.

Stephen Crane's fascinating story "The Blue Hotel" is seen by many as a study of fear. Crane used the stereotypical 1890's American West as his setting, and the story uses a card game to show how fear feeds upon itself. There are both inner fears and fears existing in reality, and the ways that they interact with each other make for a fascinating tale.

Sherlock Holmes is one of the most iconic and lasting figures in literature. In this new edition of Baker Street Irregulars, authors present the iconic detective in over a dozen wildly entertaining new ways. In Keith DeCandido's "Six Red Dragons", Sherlock is a young girl in modern New York City. In Sarah Stegall's "Papyrus", Sherlock is a female librarian in ancient Egypt. In Daniel M. Kimmel's mesmerizing "A Scandal in Chelm", Sherlock is a rabbi. Derek Beebe sends Sherlock to the moon, while Mike Strauss, in "The Adventure of the Double Sized Final Issue", casts him as a comic book character.

Richard just wanted a girlfriend - not the apocalypse. Richard Peak's senior year is looking painfully ordinary - fighting for position on the soccer team, his parents' constant arguing, a glaring lack of a girlfriend. He can't wait to graduate and join a soccer team overseas, preferably as far from home as possible. Then the president is assassinated and his life changes forever. As an alarming chain of nationwide terrorist attacks trigger a civil war, Richard finds himself on a dangerous journey for survival.

In the digital realm of Virtual Nightmares, three young friends find themselves trapped within a malevolent video game. Guided by their unwavering friendship, they navigate treacherous landscapes, battle formidable foes, and confront their deepest fears. As the line between the game and reality blurs, they discover the true power of their bond and the resilience of the human spirit. Together, they defy the game's malevolent grasp, emerging as heroes who inspire others with their triumph over Virtual Nightmares. Their extraordinary journey becomes a testament to the strength of friendship ...