Finestories

A Christmas Story
Even these days sometimes miracles happen on Christmas Eve. Just ask Rachel. A short romantic story

You Can't Go Home Again. Henry Brewer's life has fallen to pieces. His NFL dreams disappeared years ago and now so has his life in the NYPD, along with his soon-to-be ex-wife. Forced to return to the small West Virginian town he grew up in, Henry comes face to face with his past, seeing it through the eyes of an adult. As if this wasn't hard enough, he must figure out who he is now and what he wants at the same time. Is it possible to reinvent yourself as an adult?
Added Chapter 5

Imperium (2)
The Carthaginians are marching to destroy Rome and it is up to Ky, a test pilot from the future thrown into an alternate past, to keep the once mighty Roman Empire from being destroyed. As Ky gathers Roman and Caledonian forces together to form a new Britannic Empire to defend against the Carthaginian host, he must also struggle to contend with a malfunctioning AI implanted in his brain that is slowly gaining sentience. Thankfully, Ky is not alone.
Added Chapter 16

Country Roads (2)
Music, Baseball and Bullies. Charlie's life is busier than ever as he continues to put down roots in his community, making friends and enemies, and explore who he wants to be. Charlie decides to follow the two things he always loved when he was a kid, music and baseball. Joining the school team and forming his first band both pull him in different directions, adding to the pressures he already faced with school, bullies, making friends, and trying to become his own man.
Added Chapter 36

Here is an account of Skarth’s adventures in and around the town of Saltmarsh as he explores his newly-found freedom and establishes his place in the town and the world. A telling of a D&D campaign. This follows on from the story “Skarth”, I recommend reading that first.
Added Chapter 15

Yep, I won an all-expenses paid extended staycation at ‘The SPA’. It’s not exactly what you’re probably thinking though. You see, ‘The SPA’ is the acronym for the local hospital and the ex ... more

BE WARNED! This is a dark story. *** It takes two parents to raise a kid, not one parent and an enabler. He's always been the parent, but that's not enough. It's obvious that his wife lets the kid get away with anything and everything.
Added Chapter 8 (final)

Al, son of Ernest here giving one final blog update regarding my father. He has passed away peacefully in his (medically-induced) sleep as-of 2022/07/16 03:30 AEST. I along with his brother Gary w ... more

Lawyers go out on dates just like normal people or do they? Things are a little different when the lawyer is an Anders.

My plan to revise ACL before returning to the next story foundered, as I should have expected; I haven’t gotten anywhere with either for many months. Only after being away on vacation for two days w ... more

I just read another story by an author who clearly does not know his subject matter. This particular individual, who apparently got his information out of firearms catalogs, has a preteen kid learning ... more

There were snakes, bugs, leeches, and other pleasures to be found on walks in the delta nights.

A story in the The Regiment Universe
A group of young men and women join the regiment. They start out as individuals but become a team and then part of the family.
Added Chapters 13-15 (final)

Mark O'Toole and Molly Andrews are enrolled in a very special culinary school. There is lots of cooking going on in the kitchen and not all of it deals with food.
Added Chapter 6 (final)

The latest installments of Imperium and Country Roads continue posting every week, and the next installments of both have already started being written. In the meantime, I have a new story called Go ... more

As I mentioned in my last blog I have come home to God. I am now rereading all my novels and although for the era that Once and Again is happening in there is nothing inappropriate, but some moments a ... more

Night sounds: a remembrance of things long past.

A Rivers Region Story
A retired soldier's farm is attacked. When his weapon is damaged the 11 year-old son is told to take is almost 2 year-old sister and escape out the hidden exit after promising to care for his sister until she can care for herself. Their parents are killed while they travel down the tunnel, so he sets off the final defences as the enemy moves in, and kills more of the attackers. He's faithful to his promise as they live through 'interesting times' while his sister learns to care for herself.
Added Chapter 9 (final)

In which Hopalong does his Best to Top his Infamous Werewolf Story… Likely, it’s just another story with a moral. But, me? I don’t get it.

I'm in the midst of doing several things which I've mentioned to you all before. I'm currently adding some new scenes to book 1 and 2 and making some slight revisions to make the story even better. I' ... more

I'm damn near speechless at the wave of kind words and compliments that "Accidental Family" has received. The downloads, the scores, the feedback, and... to the delight of my wife, the family bean-cou ... more

A man scarred by injustice, a lost love, and wounds of combat, finds himself volunteered as a foster father, a protector, and a combatant in a lethal struggle against a past bully and a vengeful cartel lord.
Added Chapters 20-22 (final)

Today I begin posting a new story. This is a story in the Regiment series. As I usually do, I'll post 2 or 3 chapters a week. Comments are always welcome.

A youth makes a promise, and then fights the bureaucrats and killers to keep it. It takes many years, but he's lives is life as he was trained and is faithful to his promise. 98,000 words over 9 chapters if action. Also available on Bookapy https://bookapy.com/s/539/keeping-a-promise

March 2018 Aliens invade Earth, "Ground Zero" is near the Barranca del Cobre (the Copper Canyon) in western Chihuahua state of Mexico. "Any sufficiently advanced technology may be indistinguishable from magic." Government officials in Mexico, the USA, and elsewhere are focused upon other "more important" matters. This is a story of those who witnessed these events; while most other people didn't take these events seriously, if they paid any attention at all.
Added Chapter 27

A story in the A Thousand Years of Peace! Universe
This is Book V of A Thousand of Peace! It is about the Watcher Division that protects Earth. How it goes from an afterthought to the hero in saving Earth from a Radiated insect. One of mankind's misstates trying to play at God.
Added Chapters 23,24 (final)

A man hits rock bottom and then gets super lucky, his luck always runs at the extremes.
Added Chapter 183

It's easy to forget what you wanted out of life once you get caught up in the rat race. The things we wanted when young get forgotten while competing to out do the neighbors. At some point, you just become lost. Does it have to be that way? Not necessarily!
Added Chapter 38 (final)

A whole bunch of updates across most of my stories going up today fixing grammar and spelling errors. They're queued up and should be processed through later today at some point. Thanks to everyone whose sent me corrections.

I've been away dealing with day job stuff, and just got back to find I somehow had chapter 15 loaded up as chapter 17 when it posted, making the wrong chapter go up. I've submitted the corrected chapter, although this can sometimes take a few hours to process.

Space is huge and governments control as much of the space around and between their systems as they can, but there are still a very small parts of space not claimed by any government. Very few people are born on the ships travelling between the stars, and even fewer are born in the unclaimed areas of space, but that one thousandth of one percent who are so born are called Space Born and have some very odd citizenship rights and duties.
Added Chapter 07 (final)

Anyone who has purchased a copy prior to today at 9 pm PDT, I've uploaded a corrected version of the three formats (ePub, Kindle, and PDF). There was a doubling of Chapter 19; nothing was left out, bu ... more

Somehow the postings got confused; chapter one had the content of chapter two; and chapter two was correct, so it was a repeat of chapter one. A kind reader emailed me to point out the error; I've s ... more

Accidental Family is in the queue for posting. The first four files include the "First Beginnings," a historical introduction to the discovery and extraordinary roots of the Yankee Girl mine, her pros ... more

It looks like there was an issue with this weeks upload. I'm cueing up a replacement for it now.

John Taylor (8)
An old love's husband and a team from the defense contractor Northbridge have been taken hostage in Somalia and the company is refusing to pay the ransom. Instead, a rescue mission is planned and Taylor is suspicious of the real motivations behind the rescue and the men picked to attempt it. With help from his old flame, Taylor gets a spot on the rescue team, where he must face hostile warlords and an even more hostile allies, all while finding out what Northbridge is hiding.
Added Chapter 16 (final)

Book 2 of the Imperium Series will start posting on April 22nd. As always, information on pre-orders can be found on my author site tstarnes.com

Alana is an intelligent, hardworking woman who has always been sure of one thing: As long as you work hard and do the right thing, only good things will come to you. But, right before college graduation, people are starting to attack each other in the streets. Suddenly, what she's always known as right and wrong isn't so black and white anymore. The world is changing, and Alana must decide if she can change with it, or if she'll be just another ghost wandering the streets.

Melinda is a highly driven executive of a major aerospace company. Life was perfect until she tangled with the Donaldson family - a group of the most arrogant and difficult people she had ever met. After that, life gets a little strange.
Added Chapter 11 (final)

The last chapters of The Sword of Jupiter posted up today. The next book, called The Trumpets of Mars, is very nearly finished being written and just has to go through final proofreading. You should s ... more

Imperium (1)
An Uncertain Future in a New Past. During the test flight of a prototype faster-than-light craft, Lt. Commander Ky is flung into the ancient past that never existed. Rome has fallen, defeated by the mighty Carthaginian Empire. Hounded by the Carthaginians bent on conquering the known world, Rome is on the verge of destruction. Stranded and alone, except for a tactical AI implanted in his head, Ky has lost everything and must find a way to live in a world different than anything he's ever known.
Added Chapters 37,38