Showing results by author "Short Story Press" in All Categories

The Tronik Gambit is the story of a rag-tag group of air pirates. Like their older, sea-borne brethren, they spent years terrorizing aerial shipping, raiding ships on the seas with float-planes, and robbing towns and remote outposts on land, and using their machines to make the fastest getaways imaginable. Operating from a massive flying aircraft carrier and using clouds, mist, and forbidding terrain to hide their presence and move around with impunity, their weapons and machines are makeshift and purchased from corrupt industrialists and created entirely from scratch.

Brigitte had a rough start in life. It all began when her village was bombed when she was just a child. After being sent to the US by a refugee agency, she drifted from one foster home to another for some time. In her pursuit to find the sense of family, she is recruited by the Russian mob, where she meets up with an old friend. The mob offers them everything except freedom. She wants more. She changes her name and makes a new life for herself.

In the summer of AD 777, Charlemagne rode out to conquer the Saracens and reclaim Hispania for the Holy Roman Empire. While immortalized in the words of medieval poets, scholars, and historians, the story never told is the one of what happens when all the men leave and the village is left to run itself. This is a story of Lady Matilda, the wife of Lord Harold, one of Charlemagne’s many lieutenants. After Lord Harold departed, nearly two years ago, Matilda, her maiden, Marta, and her steward, Otto, had been left to maintain the affairs of their small hamlet of Doblesmark.

Eddie has stepped in a virtual-travel cabin looking for a distraction from his bleak life, and on an impulse, he has made the journey to the era of the 1950s. There he meets Marylyn, a pretty waitress working in a snack bar. She is so different from the women he has been keeping company with that Eddie feels himself attracted to her, attracted to how real and transparent she is. However, Marylyn is not real and is the product of sophisticated computer coding. He tries to rationalize his attraction for her, but nothing can convince his heart, and that is where the trouble starts.

Waiting for Martin is set in a nebulous future-never in which catastrophic environmental change has returned ancient beings to Earth, as well as raining down a disastrous helping of new ones. A family of children try to make their way home to their older brother, who is their guardian, when a bit of environmental fallout gets in their way.

“True Wind” is a fantasy adventure story set in a secondary world where magic exists and so do merfolk (although not in the form traditionally depicted in similar stories). Moonheart, a young merman of the Calm Winds tribe, is sent on a mission to rescue a human (or “drylander”) woman from the clutches of another drylander country’s enemy nation. He must also take his young, vulnerable sister, True Wind, so that she may discover her destiny.

Tub the ogre is tired. Tired of the unfounded stereotypes placed upon ogres by humans. He also happens to be bored. Bored of the same menial tasks day in and day out. As we have found throughout history, being tired and bored is not an ideal state of mind for coming up with great decisions. And so, Tub comes up with a bad decision. Tub decides to become a hired killer for a mysterious contact. Alas, Tub ends up a mere pawn in the hands of someone who doesn't have his best interests at heart. The ogre finds all the excitement he could ask for, and more, but will he survive?

Keldon is an honor student who often spends late nights studying, wanting to be a great wizard. The headmaster decides to administer a more practical final in lieu of tests and essays. Instead, Keldon will have to journey to a dark lair where many undead abominations await, and he will ultimately have to battle a dark and powerful necromancer in order to stop him from achieving his sinister dreams of immortality and lichdom. In order to pass his test, Keldon must not only survive by defeating the necromancer and his undead minions, but also by displaying selflessness and virtue.

Dad's Down Under chronicles the tumultuous - and often humorous - funeral of an emotionally abusive husband told from the point of view of the man’s 18-year-old son. Present are the distant relatives and immediate family, all of whom have different recollections of what kind of man he was. His immediate family views him as a monster, while his side of the family remembers him as a kind, loving, and generous man.

Scandal forces Maria Posaltakis out of her job as a celebrity reporter. Media mogul Mark Bannerman takes her under his wing, intent on making Maria the newest addition to his politically charged news network. He brings her to Isla Loci, his private resort, to personally train her on sticking to the channel's message. Then Chester, Mark's youngest son from a failed marriage, comes to the island. He's a moody, overweight bookish type who's just graduated from college and hates his father with an intense passion. Against the backdrop of a tropical paradise, a family conflict is brewing.

"Squire Ryanus" follows the tale of a young man who’s been a member of the Order of Majestic Truth most of his life in pursuit of the dream of becoming a Paladin. There he has given up childhood, friendships, and family in pursuit of the dream to gain a title in the order. After years of strife, he finally receives an invitation from the council to finally gain his title. Becoming a Paladin will consist of more than a mere knighting ceremony, however. Instead he will embark on a journey alone in order to obtain the Shield of Light, a powerful artifact that has been stolen.

“Seven Roads to Love” is a story that is close to Christine’s heart. It is the true story of how her and her soon-to-be husband met. Not only are the feelings real; but the events happened as stated in the audiobook. It was a feeling of almost true love when she met this man and, oftentimes, they still wonder how they really ever got together. Everything happened so quickly; but the fact of the matter is that through everything they have done, it always seems like they have known each other for years.

Short Story Press Presents Lies We Tell One Another by Don Codner. A woman that was living a normal, mundane existence with her fiancé is thrust into a world that she isn’t equipped to deal with. Her life is shattered, and she must pick up the pieces with the help of a strange man who appears in her room.

After suffering a break-up of a long-term relationship, Mattie felt she would never find love. Mattie invites her friend Rebecca to travel to Florida with her for two weeks of fun in the sun - a trip that had been planned as an anniversary getaway for Mattie and Dillon. In the midst of a street party, Mattie encounters a mysterious, handsome sailor with eyes only for her. She agrees to be his date for one evening. That one evening turns into two days. The short time they would have with each other would change the course of both their lives.

Caitlin left her Canadian home at 16 with a dream in mind: gain an American high school degree so she could enter a top-notch American university. Full of energy and promise, she works hard. When she unexpectedly falls in love with an older man at the gambling club she works at, she takes it in stride. Soon, at 17, Caitlin is running a household and preparing for graduation. When the education laws change suddenly, it seems all her work has been for nothing, and she will be stuck with international tuition fees unless she changes her life forever.

Emilia was a normal teenage girl on the verge of elopement when her entire world was turned upside down by a catastrophic accident. Left miserable and deformed, Emilia uncovers a magical family secret that promises to bring her salvation and eventually...her destruction. In this small town, in a land far away, the people are being preyed upon by an unknown presence, and many have been abducted. Fear and ignorance ensue, and blame is soon set at the doorstep of a disfigured and reclusive Emilia, and she is hunted as a witch.

When wronged, is it better to seek revenge or to forgive? A Serious Matter describes the efforts of two long-lost childhood friends, Jeannie and Violet, to come to terms with their hatred of a mutual, unnamed enemy. Jeannie already has a restraining order against the man, her estranged husband who previously tried to kill her. The same man also killed Violet’s fiancé in a drunk-driving accident on Violet’s wedding day and feels no remorse. Jeannie learns about the accident and reaches out to Violet at the funeral, rekindling their friendship.

“An Illustrated Warning” is a carefully crafted and creepy tale designed to unsettle and chill you. You’ll be held rapt to attention as the dread sets in and things go from odd to eerie and then from eerie to utterly frightening. There is plenty of fright in this story, which is made up of several elements that work together to create a terrifying whole.

Mark is handsome, and he knows it. He is also ruthless and arrogant. It is often a very dangerous combination, and Mark is no exception. He uses his good looks to seduce beautiful women and do terrible, unspeakable things to them. He enjoys it immensely and considers this occupation the real purpose of his life. Then, one night, as he is on the prowl for his next victim, he spots Jasmine. She is beautiful and intriguing, and he wants her. Her appetite for life is an irresistible turn-on for Mark.

The audiobook The Gig is a story of American horror and tragedy that involves the downfall of a once-successful musician who had traveled the world, one coffee shop, one bar, and one stage at a time. Under the recession, he fell out of work. He began searching coffee shops, just begging different shop owners for work. He was never seen without his sax in hand, but after the 30th "No" from the 30th club or coffee house, he is sitting having coffee when he falls to the floor in a massive, convulsing seizure.