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

Rachel Dale hasn't been home in over six years. Born in a small Midwestern town, Rachel never planned her future too far from Huntsberry or from the friends she had made growing up there. However, after a broken heart and a broken promise, Rachel found herself canceling her original college plans and getting on a plane to Europe.

An assassin gets a job that requires him to kill not only the mother and father, but also the heir apparent. The assassin has done this on many occasions and has no problem with it, until he finds his crosshairs on a one-year-old baby. He can’t take this baby’s life, but he can’t leave him there, either. So, he takes the little one into his home and raises him as his own. One day, the kid, now aged 18 years, finds a box that reveals who he really is and that his "father" is responsible for killing his parents.

Allegra, a married woman, abruptly learns her husband is having an affair. Her husband leaves her, and she must continue her caregiver responsibilities to her mother, Anita, as she struggles with her feelings of rejection. Anita eventually dies, leaving Allegra to face her husband and her fears about living a new kind of life alone.

Earth has fallen far from its splendor and progress. Humanity’s long-held fear of an asteroid colliding with the world has come to pass, and the repercussions are devastating. Resultant natural disasters, plagues, and famines have taken billions of lives. With mankind’s future uncertain, scientists set to work creating a virtual Earth in which people can live in the mind rather than in physical form.

Detective Jeffrey Madison is known for bringing miscreants to justice but lately has found himself tired of the same petty crimes that never seem to end. First Bobby Rae steals from the convenience store and then tries to buy his freedom because he feels that he has done nothing wrong. Then Ms. Clayhorn needs him to rescue her Calico cat and grandson, who managed to end up at the top of the same oak tree, although the older lady seems more concerned with the cat than her sobbing grandson.

Tyler and Caroline lived an almost perfect life of love and marriage after buying a farm and taking on the many challenges that farm life provides. Everything was going well for more than 10 years, until one night, at the end of another terrible harvest brought on by drought, when the entire foundation of Tyler and Caroline’s relationship was tested after a sudden accident in the field.

Julia has been let go from her job of 20 years as a ground water geologist in Eastern Washington and must find a new way to support herself. She decides to pack up her belongings and return to her family's cottage on Pine Island. There she hopes to find a new meaning to her life, while living in the peaceful and serene setting that she always experienced in the northern woods of Canada. She is surprised to discover that her old buddy Andrew still spends every summer across the river on Brown's Island, where he spent his youth with his family.

Sometimes it is so easy to fall into a routine that you never notice when you are becoming a part of the woodwork. When that change does come, we can either embrace it or discard it. However if we are brave enough to embrace it, we might discover that there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Or in Delancy Smith’s case, she discovered that to every dark cloud, there is a silver lining.

An old castle, a courageous knight, a beautiful princess, a sacred icon, an evil wizard, and two little sparrows: these are some of the exciting things in store for you in Edward Kurtz’s latest magical story.

They were happy once, and everything was perfect. A man and a woman and a little girl. Lots of money and an American dream life. Jake was an actor, Jane was a nurse, and Sara, their little girl, was nothing short of perfect. For years, they were a happy family, until reality came crashing down.

Ellen is a busy single mother with a daughter in eighth grade. She works as a nurse and because of that she misses out on some moments with her daughter Ashley. While in attendance at Ashley's track meet, she meets a nice man whose daughter also runs track and happens to be part of a relay team that Ashley is on. As the girls become closer it puts the parents in close proximity even away from the track.

"Without Decent Restraint" is a story about the duality of man, both the conflict between the mind and the body, and also how the desire to get what we want can put that very thing in danger. It examines whether or not the things we do, justified to ourselves as being done out of concern for others, can actually have a selfish motive. The stakes in any story such as Without Decent Restraint are always high. However, the stakes for the protagonist in this story aren’t just high, they are deeply, painfully personal.

“A Final Kiss” relates the wedding day of Natalie St. John, an educated young woman from a wealthy New England family who must come to terms with the fact that she’s made a life-altering mistake. As an idealistic 17-year-old, Natalie meets and falls in love with Joey Renetti, a charming young waiter at a local Italian café. From the very beginning, it is evident to Natalie that the two are a match made in heaven. But Natalie’s uppity parents are far from being in agreement with their daughter.

Katherine Crenshaw, whose real name was Fenton, was raised by foster parents. Although she knew she was adopted she accepted the fact that her true family would not return for her. As the days went by Katherine lived a tranquil life until one phone call changed everything. When her uncle came to retrieve her at her foster parent’s home, and invited her to Fenton Manor, Katherine found more that she bargained for in the way of a family who resented her presence and old jealousies with evil intent, hidden beneath a veneer of civility.

Liam grew up thinking he wanted to be a zookeeper. He practically lived in the zoo as a child, and his brother is wild enough to be an animal, so it seems perfect. But no one told him he had to go through so much higher education. No one told him he needed practical experience. As an unhappy volunteer who works at the zoo after high school each day, he’s beginning to wonder if it’s worth it. Suddenly, he’s faced with a mysterious visitor, a girl who sits in front of his gibbon exhibit, refuses to talk to him, and writes all day, every day, without cease.

Benjamin wakes up, laying on a strange bed in a strange room in a house he has never seen. He can't remember what happened the night before or how he ended up in this place. Ideally, he would love to gather his belongings and go home, but soon he realizes there is no going back from this house. He is not alone there and the girl who claims to be part of him is not exactly someone you could call a great companion. She's beautiful and, in very odd way, magical, but she seems very out-of-this-world distant.

If you are a person who sees failing not as a negative thing but a learning experience, this story will resonate with you. “Love Doesn’t Exist” is a story about an 18-year old boy named Bruno who experiences a lot of embarrassment and faces a lot of his internal demons only to achieve one of life’s greatest joys - searching for that eternal love. After suffering from a devastating rejection from Maria, Bruno decides to do whatever it takes to find the girl of his dreams. He found a book that he believes will cure his awkwardness with girls.

All Lesser Creatures is a refreshing and positively affirming story. If you feel like the world has got you down and there’s nothing you can do about it, just look to the example set by Gary Landry (the main character) and his friends. Your situation and the appropriate response will almost certainly not be the same but the message is clear: Don’t underestimate or give up on yourself. Realize your true potential.

Do you know a super shy guy? Some guy who appears to have it all together except for one thing - he can’t talk to women? That’s the problem, Jim, the protagonist of “Super Shy Guy” by Mark Laughlin, has. He joins a local book club to try to meet people and come out of his shell a bit and gets a serious crush on Nancy, a stunning brunette. What happens next?

Four years ago, Nick Laverdi left his hometown of Barren, New Jersey, and moved to New York City. After the well-publicized collapse of the only famous person from Barren, the town picked up a crippling reputation that it was unable to shake. Memories abound about a town that is hard to escape from. It leaves Nick questioning why he ever thought he could get away, and his arrival home does little to ease his torment. Ultimately, a conversation reminds Nick that even though he physically left Barren, it will take a lot more than relocating to wash away its stench completely.