Top 50 Long Stories This Year

A coming of age story with a twist. Addle-brained Tommy works down at the feed store, stacking Purina and sweeping the floor. A Vietcong rocket scrambled his brains so thoroughly that was all he was capable of... or was it?

She's young, exotically attractive, smart, rich, strong, and energetic. It would appear that she has everything necessary to be supremely happy, but appearances can be deceiving.

On a dark night in Los Angeles, the mutilated body of a homeless man is found in an alley. Happy Harry, along with other Druids, shows up to investigate. A huge hole is about to open in the universe.

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.

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.

Amy doesn't know it, but a couple of Druids have taken an interest in her and her Friday night activities. That's the good news. The bad news is that one of them is Happy Harry.

Dante is an artist, or at least he was an artist until his girlfriend left him for his best friend. For two years he has been unable to create anything. Then one day, a young man gives him a commission to create a statue. It's not just any statue, it's a statue of Happy Harry.

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!

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.

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.

Relive a fateful day in Afghanistan with Captain Ben Clarkson and the Marines of Bravo company. This is a short story, that may be expanded into a series.

John Taylor (9)
When a federal witness is killed by an impossible shot shortly before testifying against a New Jersey crime family, Taylor is sent to protect the remaining witness in the case. Realizing that the murder was more than a typical hit, Taylor does what he always does... he takes the offensive. In tracking down a hit man that no one has knew existed, Taylor is taken on a journey across the country and directly into the assassin's crosshairs.

For every beautiful person there is an ugly one. Shadow is ugly, real ugly. Men flinch, women scream, and children have nightmares after meeting him. Happy Harry doesn't believe that ugly is necessarily a life sentence to loneliness.

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.

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.

Da Lee and Shao Lee come to America chasing the American Dream. Instead, they find themselves trapped in a hellish nightmare. No one escapes from Hell alone.

A story in the Asteroid Hunters Universe
Gideon and Martha Sawyer return from their 5 year trip to the asteroid belt. They have a family with children and are looking for a home.

Silva is a thirty-something whore making a hard living on rough streets. Discovering that a bad life can get even worse, hope appears in the form of an odd man wearing a green robe and carrying a shepherd's staff.

Country Roads (1)
After spending his young life traveling with his musician father, Charlie Nelson has roots for the first time. Living with his mother in a small Appalachian town in western North Carolina, Charlie struggles to find his place in this new world, which isn't without challenges. Living in poverty, dealing with bullies, and having no friends, Charlie's new life is anything but a fairytale. If it were up to Charlie, he'd stay at home and play his guitar... but life doesn't always give us what we want

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.

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.

Four people are drowning their sorrows in a downtown bar. Two robbers choose the wrong place to rob. All hell breaks loose, and that's only the beginning!

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.

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.

Sally is a sixteen year-old runaway girl that left home in search of a modeling career. What she found was the seamy side of life and a Druid by the name of Happy Harry.

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.

A story in the Asteroid Hunters Universe
This is the story of a young man leaving family and friends on Earth for a job. He finds friends, a new family, drama, conflict, and war. He also finds love and a path to a better future.