Dahna is quite comfortable in her role as an outcast. Her favorite activities are painting her nails and hanging out on the beach. An observation by the quirky Carr leads to an endearing friendship between two unlikely people.Note: This short story was first featured in Summer Shorts II: Best Kept Secrets by Durham Editing and E-books.Dahna has always been an outcast and loves to paint her nails in different colors, as well as go to the beach. When Carr notices a nail mishap, it starts an unlikely friendship between two people. When Dahna discovers Carr's biggest fear, can their friendship survive the test, or will it drown while Summer lingers? Note: This short story was first featured in Summer Shorts II: Best Kept Secrets by Durham Editing and E-books. Views: 463
Anthology containing:
Poor Folk
The Double
Notes From The Underground
Crime and Punishment
The Gambler
The Idiot
The Possessed (The Devils)
A Raw Youth
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man
The Brothers Karamazov Views: 463
The Download was supposed to change the world. It was supposed to mean the end of aging, the end of death, the birth of a new humanity. But it wasn't supposed to happen to someone like Lia Kahn.
And it wasn't supposed to ruin her life.
Lia knows she should be grateful she didn't die in the accident. The Download saved her--but it also changed her, forever. She can deal with being a freak. She can deal with the fear in her parents' eyes and the way her boyfriend flinches at her touch. But she can't deal with what she knows, deep down, every time she forces herself to look in the mirror: She's not the same person she used to be.
Maybe she's not even a person at all. Views: 462
One by one they faced him. One by one they died...Only four hours after Walt Slade landed in Los Angeles, he was locked in a desperate life-and-death struggle with the gang of killers he had trailed over a thousand miles.One by one they faced him. One by one they died — until at last he was up against the vicious, deadly remnants whose orders from their leader were —"KILL SLADE — ANY WAY YOU CAN!" Views: 462
When the grandmother she never met falls into a mysterious coma, Siobhan Kelly comes unwillingly to the Green Mountains of Vermont with her family. She thinks the hardest thing she'll face is being the new kid at the local high school and getting used to a place so different than California But the family secret she has yet to uncover will lead her on an adventure beyond her wildest dreams...When the grandmother she never met falls into a mysterious coma, Siobhan Kelly comes unwillingly to the Green Mountains of Vermont with her family. She thinks the hardest thing she'll face is being the new kid at the local high school and getting used to a place so different than California (what the heck is a creemee stand, anyway?). But the family secret she has yet to uncover will lead her on an adventure beyond her wildest dreams ...This short is the prequel to my novel A Little Magic Views: 462
In a dark comedy of errors, Iris Murdoch portrays the mischief wrought by Julius, a cynical intellectual who decides to demonstrate through a Machiavellian experiment how easily loving couples, caring friends, and devoted siblings can betray their loyalties. As puppet master, Julius artfully plays on the human tendency to embrace drama and intrigue and to prefer the distraction of confrontations to the difficult effort of communicating openly and honestly.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. Views: 462
Magnus is an adventuring warrior with a penchant for accumulating cursed items. In fact, he has so many, some cancel out the effects of others. He keeps the cursed objects because he can't stand to get rid of any loot, but this most recent find could be the end of him! A fun fantasy tale of 2000 words.Magnus is an adventuring warrior. As such, there are two things he loves more than anything: wenches, ale, and loot. Okay, three things.Unfortunately, the warrior has been having some bad luck lately. He keeps finding cursed items. Strange and rare and oftentimes dangerous artifacts with effects ranging from the merely annoying to the dreadfully debilitating. Magnus loves loot, hates to get rid of anything, and now he's collected so many cursed items, their effects are beginning to cancel one another out.Only this time, he's stumbled across his deadliest cursed item yet (a dagger imploring him to kill—everyone!), and so he has journeyed far to visit his magic-user friend, Andre. Can the mage assist Magnus? Will this be the end for the adventuring warrior, or will Andre be able to help him? Preferably by pointing the way to another item to cancel out this most recent, troublesome artifact. Magnus loves loot, and it is a very fine dagger . . .A humorous tale of the fantastic. Approximately 2000 words. Views: 462
The Nobel Prize–winning author’s perceptive fable of cross-cultural passions in nineteenth-century China
In 1850s China, a young girl, Peony, is sold to work as a bondmaid for a rich Jewish family in Kaifeng. Jews have lived for centuries in this region of the country, but by the mid-nineteenth century, assimilation has begun taking its toll on their small enclave. When Peony and the family’s son, David, grow up and fall in love with one another, they face strong opposition from every side. Tradition forbids the marriage, and the family already has a rabbi’s daughter in mind for David. Long celebrated for its subtle and even-handed treatment of colliding traditions, Peony is an engaging coming-of-age story about love, identity, and the tragedy and beauty found at the intersection of two disparate cultures.
This ebook features an illustrated biography of Pearl S. Buck including rare images from the author’s estate. Views: 462
The Painfully Perfects targeted Delilah. When she could no longer tolerate their heartless attacks, she escaped to the island where she met Jack. The island, feared by the town because of its dark history. When they follow Delilah to the island to test her, Delilah falls victim to one girl’s jealous rage. Jack decides to save Delilah the only way he can think of; by making her Aberrant.In 1961, the town of Echo was like any other small town: peaceful, remote, and safe. The picturesque island near the town was a favorite place for the local teenagers until something sinister moved in and they started disappearing. The search party sent to the island to find the judge’s daughter and her friends never returned. As fire engulfed the island, their empty boats drifted back to shore. The town was abandoned and the truth remained hidden.Fifty years later the town had become home to newcomers. One of them was Delilah Dale, a student at Echo high, and her workaholic parents.The Painfully Perfects, Echo High’s It crowd, tormented Delilah. When she could no longer tolerate their heartless attacks, she escaped to the island where she met Jack. The island, feared by the town, became Delilah’s refuge.When The Perfects followed Delilah to the island to test her, Delilah fell victim to one girl’s jealous rage. Not wanting to lose the girl he loved, Jack decided to save Delilah the only way he could think of; by making her Aberrant.Delilah’s new-found strength and understanding bring with them a fresh confidence and rage. It is time for The Perfects to pay; after all, what goes around, comes around. Views: 462
The shadows in the damp churchyard clutched at the weary little girl, She was so tired of waiting. But she knew she mustn't give up.Few people looked at her now, and when they did, they turned and hurried away."I have to find someone to listen to me, please God," she prayed."Please God, please God..."Coming out of his reverie Olav, with tears in his eyes finally went down the steps to look at his poor misshapen daughter sprawled in a heap at the foot of the steps.He went to the shed and picked up his shovel, paced back and forth in front of the house unmindful of the snow that was falling, covering him and the little house. Finally he went to the water's edge and looked at the river, but there was no comfort there either. At last he went to the small apple tree he planted that fall and started to dig a hole.They found me under the apple tree.I was lying on top of the patch of ground that wouldn't grow any flowers. Even though it was snowing, you could see where I tried to dig a hole with my bare hands.I couldn't remember what happened, especially why I would be trying to dig a hole under the tree in winter.Jim took me off to our new doctor in Delta on the south side of the Fraser River. He recommended bed rest. No Christmas hassle, just sleep.The kids helped but they still needed direction and I couldn't hear from upstairs so I brought my quilt and pillow and settled myself on the living room couch. Everything was still heading towards a wonderful Christmas.The next day dawned bright and sunny, it was a wonderful Christmas day. That was the end of bed rest; I got up and made buttermilk waffles, our special Christmas treat. Jim even made the coffee. The kids laughing and teasing set the breakfast table. The wonderful smell of Christmas coffee seeped into my nostrils as I sat at the kitchen table savoring a steaming cup of coffee when I happened to glance out the kitchen window.There was a man digging under the apple tree. I got up and went out to the porch and called to him, he didn't listen. He just kept digging.The kids found me outside.Under the apple tree.Again! Views: 462
Calli is cursed by her beauty.
Though she knows it's cruel, Calli agrees to accompany her friends to Monster House where it is rumored the beast howls at the moon each sunset. When she hears him for the first time, her heart is wrenched by the anguish she hears in the sound.
Facing trespassing charges for her folly, Calli is forced to move into Monster House where she is to befriend the beast. Using the bribery offered by his father to gain some desperately needed money for her father, Calli accepts his terms. Horrified but trapped by her circumstance, Calli steps inside the doors of the great house to face the unknown.
Alex is cursed by his beastliness.
Alex believes Calli has bribed her way into his home in order to get a look at the beast of Monster House, and is determined to hate her. He isn't prepared as she batters down the hard walls of his soul with her kindness and humor.
Alex allows Calli into his inner sanctum, sharing with her the most private parts of his heart. But when he finds out the truth, will her love be enough to convince him of her true feelings, or will she lose him forever?
Note From the Author:
Beautiful Beast is the first short story for Enchanted Fairytales, an anthology of modern day fairytales told as if the original fairytale does not exist. Beautiful Beast is the contemporary story of Beauty and the Beast. I have long been fascinated by fairytales, and have wanted to write re-tellings of some of my favorites. So, I decided to do something about it.
New short stories in the Enchanted Fairytales will be released approximately bi-monthly (every two months) in eBook format if all goes according to plan. When all the fairytales are completed, they will then be compiled into a single anthology and will be available as both eBooks and in printed form.
I consider them the lead up to my full length Rapunzel novel to be released by Sweetwater Books in February 2013. I hope you enjoy them! Views: 461
