Survival Short Stories

How many times can a boy lose his home? When Jacques is transferred to the Buckners Orphans' Home in 1916 at the age of six, he hopes that he's finally found a place to belong. Unfortunately, he couldn't be more wrong. Jacques' only choice is to run away to Dallas and live on the streets. He has no future, no guarantee he will even survive. Then he stumbles on a once-in-a-lifetime chance to change everything—if he dares to take it. Origin/Prequel novelette for Black Jade - A Daiyu Wu Mystery. Stand-alone fiction.

In this first of three fast-paced, short stories, a mysterious woman gives Lancelot a message written in code which he must deliver to the intelligence agency. Adept at solving puzzles, Lancelot decodes it. Mr. Biggs, Head of Security, is to meet an agent at a safehouse. But is this a trap? Lancelot follows Mr. Biggs to the safehouse where they must overcome the threat of foreign agents. The Boy on the Bench sets the stage for this four-book series wherein Lancelot and Mr. Biggs fight the enemy at home and abroad.

Nathan Lochmueller studies birds for just enough money to live and learn on. He drives a glitter-festooned truck, the Gypsy Moth, and he is in love with Lola, a woman so free-spirited and mysterious she can break a man's heart with a sigh or a shrug. Around them swirls a remarkable cast of characters: the proprietor of Fast Eddie's Burgers, the genius behind "Thong Thursdays"; Uncle Dart, a Texan who brings his swagger to Indiana with profound and nearly devastating results; a snapping turtle with a taste for thumbs; a German Shepherd who howls backup vocals; and the very charismatic state of Indiana itself.

This is a collection of short stories about contemporary women living and working in the western United States. They each face challenges - poverty, violence, grief, discrimination - and handle them in their own way, but usually with a spirit of grit and determination. Three of these stories have never before been published, and one was a 2021 finalist in The LAURA Short Story contest for members of Women Writing the West.

Speed Kyle is a master-builder of the hottest, fastest planes around. Cal Bradley’s a daredevil test pilot who pushes those planes to the limit. Add in Speed’s blond bombshell daughter who fears that Cal will go too far—and you’ve got a winner. And as far as Speed and Cal are concerned, winning is everything. Speed’s company is bleeding cash, and they need money quick. They’re competing in the upcoming National Air Meet, and to the victor goes the spoils—some extremely lucrative contracts.

When the world is ending around you do you just give up and die, or find a reason to make the best out of a bad situation? For John Earl and his friends, Luke and Anna, the unthinkable has happened and they can either stay put and hope "they", that mysterious they people are always going on about, will show up to save them, or they can do what they normally do and turn this into an adventure. They decide that hanging around, waiting to either become part of a giant barbecue or zombie bait, just isn't on their bucket list and head out for one last adventure before the end of the world ...

For the animals and plants of the Arizona desert, every day is about staying alive. But it’s all the other stuff—desire, fidelity, hope, envy, grief, betrayal—that bridges the gap between science and fiction, and highlights the interconnectedness of the human and natural worlds. A wealthy Gila monster suffers from halitosis. A young peccary chooses a side in war. A rattlesnake upends the historic enmity between serpent and man. A subterranean termite princess comes home. These and dozens more characters run, hop, slither, and fly through captivating storylines.

An old traveler tells his grandchildren how he survived a harsh winter alone in the American Northwest during the gold rush of the 1800s, facing brutal cold and hungry wolves, and finding help from an unexpected source. This is a short story of about 3k words.

Josh Malerman is a master weaver of stories-and in this spine-chilling collection he spins five twisted tales from the shadows of the human soul: A sister tells her little brother that "Half the House Is Haunted" with a presence that only she can see, but is it her own mind that is haunted? In "Argyle," a dying man confesses to crimes he never committed, and reveals long-kept secrets far more sinister than murder. A tourist takes the ultimate trip to outer space in "Jupiter Drop," but the real journey is into his own dark past.

Seemingly unstoppable alien invaders are invading the Milky Way. Archibald Dare's ship, the Huntress is dispatched to defend an uninhabited moon to keep the alien invaders, known as Beets, from getting a foothold in the galaxy. Will they succeed, or is their mission doomed to fail? Read on to find out! *This is a side story to The Invasion of Allegra story, but it can be read as a standalone. This, and the Invasion of Allegra, both take place prior to The Battle for Allegra.* **Note, this is an edited and republished version of the story that was first published on Kindle Vella in 2022.***

In this audiobook, you will find yourself set down in a mysterious redbrick townhouse in rural Illinois (“A House on the Plains”), working things out with a baby-kidnapping couple in California (“Baby Wilson”), living on a religious-cult commune in Kansas (“Walter John Harmon”), and sharing the heartrending cross-country journey of a young woman navigating her way through three bad marriages to a kind of bruised but resolute independence (“Jolene: A Life”).

Lancelot and Mr. Biggs face a traitor, an intruder, and an imposter in this second book in the Lancelot Maddox series. There’s a traitor at the intelligence agency. Lancelot and Mr. Biggs must discover who the traitor is before classified information falls into the hands of foreign agents. An intruder hides explosives at various places in the intelligence agency. Lancelot and Mr. Biggs must locate the intruder and the explosives before it’s too late. Mr. Biggs’ life is threatened by an imposter delivering toxic material disguised as regular mail. When the imposter kidnaps Lancelot, Mr...

The last survivor of of a fallen people is offered as a sacrifice to protect her adopted village. Surviving will lead her to the truth of what happened to her people, her death will see them lost and forgotten forever.

Brace your brain for "Reboot Protocol" - a tech-nightmare that'll haunt your digital dreams! Follow Dr. Elias Roth as he sprints through neon-drenched streets, pursued by Spectre 77 - a killing machine with blood all over him and extinction on its mind. This isn't just an audiobook, it's a nitro-boosted thrill ride that'll have you eyeing your toaster with suspicion! Feel your pulse race as man and machine clash in bone-crushing battles, with humanity's fate hanging on every line of killer code. After this electrifying earful, you'll never look at your gadgets the same way again.

When a treasure hunt turns deadly, will solving the clues be enough? Enter a world where a family’s dark past is weaved with its unassuming present. From the small city of Sterling to the massive city of Chicago, the O’Neill’s family vacation has more in store than they could ever imagine. Following the loss of his wife in a car accident last year, Jim O’Neill takes his son Jay and daughter Adrianna on an adventure to his late grandfather’s house. He soon realizes that the mysterious treasure hunt his late grandfather organized is putting his family in peril. Upon facing down ...

The human instinct for survival is strong, especially when the circumstances are dire. When five women and two men return to Earth as part of a disjointed and meager population, with the intent of completing a barely conceivable mission of reestablishing themselves on the surface and repopulating the planet, dire is an understatement.

Ten more stories to heal the divide between man and machine. This is the sixth volume of the collected short stories of Joe Vasicek. It includes: Quantum Worlds Will AI herald the death of human creativity, or its startling rebirth? Bloody Justice (by J.M. Wight) The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed… A Mother's Last Goodbye When the living and the dead collide, a single act of selflessness ripples across generations. The Princess and the Professor When a kingdom is terrorized by a dragon, only Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life stand between chaos and salvation. The ...

Dragons are real, and they're hungry. Marlena never expected to be a dragon slayer. She's a bleeding heart, a geek, and a lifelong animal rescuer. But when Mount St. Helens erupted for the second time in fifty years, it wasn't just ash that poured out. Dragons, legendary creatures of myth, became a terrifying reality. Now, Marlena and a ragtag band of survivors - a gamer-turned-knight, a brilliant scientist, and a former supermodel - are fighting for survival in a world where most cities have fallen. They’ve found refuge in Camelot, a makeshift haven built to withstand dragon attacks. ...

The war of the wizards has ended. What will happen to the golden fairies now? They were enslaved for six years and forced to create golden wands for the Zandles. Will the Ardoors be any different? In any case, without their magic, their lights are fading fast. And without their freedom, death is imminent....

This audiobook includes a collection of 12 stories and poems drawn from Davis Deen's Trinidadian background. The writing is warm and rich, rooted in and uttering from the Caribbean oral tradition.