A Walk in the Woods and Other Short Stories: Including Phil the Bath, Pig Tales, The Boy in the Picture, Strange Adventures and Even Stranger Yarns. by Graham Watkins (5 Reviews)    Price verified 2 hours ago

An enjoyable collection of twenty-one short stories that will make you smile, wonder about human nature and stifle a giggle. From the absurd to the thought provoking, the past to the present, this eclectic anthology of original tales takes an irreverent look at life, pokes a stick at officialdom and explores the daft side of our existence. Such as: • Tom Wellies takes a Bath - A gentle story involving a length of string, a pair of Wellington boots and boundless optimism. • A Walk in the Woods - It starts in the present but becomes a mystical journey into the past. • I Blame Spud - A tale with a twist of a night out, a train ride and unexpected consequences. • The Boy in the Picture - The narrative of a growing child with an ancient aunt and a photograph above the fireplace. And more: • The Man Who Never Was - The saga of an imaginary character made so famous that his obituary made the news. • The Mart - Carwyn and Jean go shopping but do they buy Thomas the Turkey or will they escape the brutish bird. • Scrumpy - An adventure that begins with a wheelbarrow full of apples. What could possibly go wrong? • The Reckoning - A diary, a year goes past before an annual accounting; Victorian life laid bare. • A Quiet Time in Carmarthenshire - He booked the holiday cottage; to escape and relax, away from his manic life. It was the picture of the dog lounging in the road that clinched it. These are just a few of the stories told in this compendium of tales.

Genre: Literary Fiction

Boxes of Time: Stories by Jack Matthews (1 Review)    Price verified 45 minutes ago

Stories about messy emotions, troubled families and damaged personalities. 11th Story Collection. Over his lifetime Jack Matthews (1925-2013) wrote over 200 stories, many of which were published in literary journals. Although stories varied widely in subject and style, they often could be described as urbane, philosophical, poetic and sardonic. Stories in Boxes of Time were mostly published between 1961 and 1981; they feature characters who are troubled or unsure of themselves trying to deal with life's usual disappointments. Stylistically, these stories are polished and carefully written, but they deal with messy emotions, troubled families and damaged personalities. The characters may not be as educated or self-assured as the people in his other collections, but they still manage to figure out interesting things about themselves and the people around them. Stories from this period focus especially on the emotional stresses that separate parents from their children. This ebook contains 24 stories by Jack Matthews which have never been collected, making it the author's largest story collection. Matthews picked "Boxes of Time" as the title for this collection because each story reveals the drama of worlds long since gone but whose dreams and fears and anxieties still resonate today.

Genre: Literary Fiction

Oemor: Where Evil is Bred by Marc Towers (11 Reviews)    Price verified 2 hours ago

Amber, a 30-year-old widow burdened by recent misfortunes, sought a fresh beginning. In a hurried decision, she relocates to a small, Midwestern town. As she settles into her new surroundings, she can't help but notice the peculiarities that engulf the community. Intrigued, she embarks on a quest to uncover its secrets, gradually peeling back its layers and revealing a nefarious cult. Devoted to a powerful and ancient demon, Amber learns they've been kidnapping children, murdering, and raping in plain sight. With time running out, Amber attempts to expose them before they become aware of her intentions. Will she succeed, or will they apprehend her, subjecting her to the same fate suffered by their numerous victims? Blending elements of history and horror, Oemor takes readers on a captivating journey, chronicling the cult's origins and delving into the present, where justice may finally catch up to them after centuries of heinous crimes.

Genre: Literary Fiction

The Trouble with Girls by Kirk Adams (4 Reviews)    Price verified 2 hours ago

Eric Eules is in trouble -- always. The sixth-grade graduate has a big problem -- and it isn't just that Woodland Hills neighborhood guru Burnout pushes him down a hippie path he can't possibly travel. Eric's problem is that he's at war with nearly every woman in his life at the very moment he has grown to desire nothing more than the love of one girl. That is, his mother assigns him never-ending chores, his aunt taunts him as a male chauvinist piglet, and his sisters protest his frequent tinkling on the toilet seat. Most of all, he must face down classmate and nemesis Skinnydip -- who stands between Eric and the new girl to the neighborhood, the beautiful Lori Bloom. The Trouble with Girls in an exciting coming of age story in which a growing boy first perceives how the true desire of his heart is something -- someone -- greater than playing baseball and riding bikes with his boyhood friends. Set in an Indiana suburb during the summer of 1972 -- a year of tumult and change in how men and women saw each other -- the clumsy and awkward twelve-year-old boy must navigate the perils of his own home and neighborhood. Maddened by first love, he must complete a series of Herculean labors to win the heart of she who now matters most to him. Return to a lazy Midwest summer when noisy boys played in ball fields and wooded lots, bicycled across town without supervision, and checked out books from the county bookmobile. Remember a quieter world without mobile phones and video games, a world where boys learned how to get along without the nagging oversight of their parents as they fought through problems themselves -- learning life-changing lessons even in their foolish and short-sighted solutions to thorny and complex concerns. See how boys scrounged for spending cash in old-fashioned families quick to provide love and discipline to their children, but slower yet to indulge mere boys anything more than food, clothing, and shelter. Still, The Trouble with Girls is far more ...

Genre: Literary Fiction

Bad Blood: A Vampire Thriller by J.R. Rain (Rain Press) (440 Reviews)    Price verified 5 hours ago

When teenager Parker Cole finds herself sitting next to the mysterious new student at night school, she assumes he's just another goth wannabe. Little does she know how wrong she is... Meet Spider: an ancient vampire stuck in a perpetually young body. After centuries of being a not-so-nice guy, he's decided it's time to turn over a new leaf. After all, who wants to spend eternity as a bloodthirsty jerk? Spider soon discovers that Parker has more than her fair share of problems -- two major ones, to be exact. Her dad leads a wacky cult at the base of Mount Shasta, and her best friend has recently become an all-you-can-drain buffet for some creature of the night. To make matters worse, these two issues seem to be weirdly connected. Embracing his new "people are friends, not food" philosophy, Spider decides to lend a hand. So, off to Mount Shasta he goes, diving headfirst into a whirlwind of mystery and mayhem. Expect demons, chaos, and -- oh yeah -- plenty of bodies. Lots and lots of bodies. WHAT READERS ARE SAYING: "Bad Blood is fast, hilarious and sexy. Rain, Nicholson and Night just might have created the coolest vampire since Kiefer Sutherland. The Mount Shasta setting is dreamy. The cult is deliciously creepy. And Spider is as sexy as they come. I was pressing the Kindle's 'forward' button so fast that I broke it. Let's hope we hear more from Spider." -- H.P. Mallory, bestselling author of Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble "I fell in love with Spider. The more I learned about him the more I loved his attitude and ideals. This vamp rocks! Trying to help the professor's daughter leads Spider down a very interesting trail. The bad guys think they have this vamp all figured out -- his high school boy charm really throws them. Little do they know they are dealing with a very old vampire that has been around the block a few times. These three authors do a fantastic job!" ?Amazon reviewer "What do you do when you put three unbelievably awesome authors together on ...

Genre: Literary Fiction