A peek into a few weeks of the disparate life in a small town, as it prepares for a holiday weekend. Fictional, flawed, facetious, fumbling, and fundamentally funny (hopefully).Hope this provides a bit of a change and some smiles.As always, my stories are complete before posting (contests excepted). So the chapters will be posted regularly.…
My entry in the TEGSA2025 challenge. 10 chapters based on specific musical prompts for each chapter.Charlie Croft had it all and lost it - his own fault. This is his rocky journey, trying to recapture all the things he carelessly threw away, and only now realizes it wasn't just things he discarded - it was his life.…
At age nine years, Emmeline witnesses, undetected, the brutal killings of her parents and the main man responsible. A child's promise over her parent's grave sites leads to a lifetime of tracking down the killers, carrying the vivid memories and feeding her quest for retribution.…
Cover courtesy of @BarryVoslooAn action adventure pirate tale with all the expected elements. The ship carrying the governor's daughter is attacked at sea and she is kidnapped by Tortuga's most notorious pirate, Terrance Hollick. Spirited away to their haven in a hidden cavern on the rocky north coast, Alicia Francorte discovers a lot more about the pirate captain than she imagined and when her father's ships come looking for her, the action builds.…
SELECTED FOR FEATURED LIST BY WATTPAD PICKS - JUNE/20182nd PLACE IN THE 2018 CORONA MYSTERY AWARDSTed Wagner has taken a sabbatical from life to travel and write. He chose the desolation of the southwest to escape from the city's pace. On a whim he gets off the bus he was riding in the middle of nowhere at a roadside diner and decides to begin his search for a story there. He's not in the diner more than fifteen minutes when the place is robbed and the waitress murdered right before his eyes.…
ONC2025 Round 2 winner, Ambassador Pick and Long List Selection Entry based on Prompt 110. 20 days of freedom and Prompt 77. In a world where art and entertainment are forbidden, you're born to challenge the system and change the world.…
This story was written about nine years ago, and resurrected now because I've hit a wall with another story I was currently writing. It follows a wannabe detective through a maze of characters and bizarre situations involving a family trust. It came from a previous book called The Mistake which had a bevy of characters I grew quite fond of, and on occasion, are referred to in this story.…
Parker Nevens, stand up comic in a seedy roadhouse, and fed up with the way his career is going, barges in on his boss to say he's quitting and discovers him being strangled. While fleeing, he gets help from the club's lead pole dancer, and gains some sympathy from a detective who has a thing for the same dancer.…
A young female college student at an end of term beach party in a small community s found murdered. A young man with a mental illness is convicted of the crime but the girl's uncle is not satisfied with the findings and sets out to learn the truth himself.…
*** FIRST PLACE WINNER UIC2023 ***12 chapter contest based on specific weekly prompts. An assassin realizes something isn't right about the new target they've been given. They switch sides to save the person they were meant to kill.…
THIRD PLACE IN HISTORICAL FICTION - 2020 SOAP AWARDSWith nothing to remain for or even forget, Allison Bleeker listened eagerly to the descriptions offered by the agent who encouraged her signature on the marriage contract that would see her travelling west, dreaming of a new start in life with the man who sent for her.The nightmare awaiting her would give her something she would never forget.…
A retired homicide detective finds that retiring physically and retiring mentally are very different animals. A two-week getaway for sun and relaxing start right away with curiosity that leads to involvement, and that leads to defending the life of a widow as well as his own.…
The sequel to PIRACY where Hollick's wife, Alicia, continues the pursuits of her husband, as Captain of the newly renovated Bold Sea, captured from the naval fleet in Hispaniola. Lieutenant Phillip Downs was first officer of the Bold Sea when it was partially destroyed in the attack on the pirate haven in Tortuga. He is out for revenge and is using the very enemy he was fighting to attain that measure.…
Rule Number Two follows the dramatic adventure of Hitman Dane Chase and the woman he refused to kill in Rule Number One, as the man who hired him tracks him to the island of St. Lucia and back, for revenge.…
After achieving success in business, and anticipating similar success in marriage, Mathew Hayward boards his flight from Toronto to Vancouver. In order to meet him and complete their plans, his fiancée has already given notice at her place of employment and requested additional time off.Both anticipating the friendly skies of a shared future.…
Yamashita's Gold. During the occupation of the Philippines, Japanese military looted everything - temples, homes, and government offices, amassing a huge fortune in treasure. When it could no longer be shipped back to Japan, Prisoners of war were forced to bury it.Much has been recovered since the war - but not all. Our story concerns a number of competing groups vying over information of a site, uncovered through a letter delivered by a dying man, as a last act of a promise made.…
Three agencies. An international criminal organization. A mother and daughter. Moles. Assassins.All of the above in a deadly competition for The Dossier.…
Reginald Harrison is found dead in his apartment. His guilt and secrets died with him. No witnesses. No fingerprints. No murder weapon, and a time frame that defies plausibility. Detective Art Springer and his partners, Detectives Gary Crawford and Grace Champion, have a department deadline to meet, or the mayor will be chopping budgets, personnel, or both.…
