A teenage boy named Ben falls in love with haiku, a Japanese form of poetry. He can bestow the gift of creating haiku on anyone he chooses. Muriel is a researcher from a distant future. During an archeological excavation, she finds a leather pouch full...

As a black boy living in Atlanta, Georgia, with a wonderful family and a promising basketball career, loved by his teachers and classmates alike, Royal thought that life couldn’t be more perfect. He based his view on material things and didn’t stop to appreciate that...

Tired of reading how-to-write manuals? Meet Ruby and Kurt, two wannabes and almost good enough writers in a writing group who connect and share ideas, mostly about writing. In a clever, comic romp, these two, a 70-plus-year-old white male and a 40-ish black female (ex-military),...

A drug syndicate lieutenant named Jason gets lost in the Virginia countryside. On his way, Jason sees an abandoned church, and unpleasant memories about the South overtake him. An uneasy feeling urges Jason to escape, but he misses a turn. A skeptical newspaper editor named...

From closed schools, canceled work deals, spikes in depression and suicides, crumbling economies, and broken family ties and relationships, the devastation caused by COVID-19 attacked societies around the world at their core. Stories Written Along COVID Walls, an anthology by Melissa R. Mendelson, offers a...

Shoot the Horses First by Leah Angstman is a well-written and engaging collection of short stories. The stories vary in length and the subjects covered, but each is filled with rich imagination, and it was wonderful to read about characters so vividly portrayed, emotionally, mentally,...

The Dog Stays And Other Stories is a collection of tales by Marjan Sierhuis about animals, relationships, the pandemic, hospitals, and more. The book contains stories of farm animals bothering their owners and wild animals hunting and gathering; a dragon trying to succeed in the...

Returning to Center: A Collection of Stories, Vignettes, and Thoughts is a work of fiction in the anthology, martial arts, and spirituality subgenres. It is best suited to the general adult reading audience and was penned by author Billy Ironcrane. In this collection of intricately...

Between Night and Fog by Mr. Michael J. Tucker is a collection of short stories. It begins with a pair of homicide detectives on the hunt for a killer with a unique method of murder. Other stories include a cat woman who dabbles in witchcraft,...

The Healing Book by Dustin Grinnell is a collection of short, slice-of-life stories about people trying to navigate the various absurdities of life. "An Affable Man" follows a young man disillusioned with his corporate career who finally finds meaning in his life after a chance...