The Girl in Blue

When a chap is short of a crust -- and in love, to boot -- he's usually willing to embark on any money-making venture suggested...even if it means ransacking a lady's bedroom.
Views: 431

Reflections

When Chance Holly's spreadsheet doesn't add-up, the universe crashes. Then, it's up to the alien AI, Max, and a pair of researchers and their illegal magnetic-vortex to save the day. Featuring robot kittens.In this book, Kiley ends up trapped by an unknown creature until now, Deception. The word and girl is dangerous and can never be trusted. What will become of Kiley or Deception? Read on to find out!
Views: 426

The More the Merrier

When Logan takes on newborn triplets, he'd be lost without help from the Teddy Bear Club—especially Dirk, who loves being a dad. Soon they're settling into a routine... falling in love. But will their new family survive facing the ultimate test?
Views: 424

Walking That Short Distance, Childhood Enlightenment in the '50s

I wrote this short story (1987) for a class in creative writing at the University of Colorado. It is the most autobiographical story I've ever told. It's sort of a compilation of events from my own life with some alterations of family composition. I know it's difficult to believe, but I've known kids who were even more naive at eleven than I was. How things have changed in sixty years.As the bull ran, his huge pink testicles swung from side to side like the clapper of a bell. The year was 1952 and eleven year old Michael was standing in the dirt yard in front of the house with the milk barn off to his left, looking across the corral into Mr Olson's field where the Holstein bull followed a heifer in a half run, his nose at her tail. Michael's father had called his attention to the bull and heifer and had then disappeared into the barn where he was working on the milking machines. His father was sometimes like that, calling Michael's attention to something disgusting and then laughing while Michael watched. But Michael was fascinated with what the bull was doing even though he was ashamed of himself for continuing to watch. He didn't like to cater to his father's more base tendencies. As Michael watched, the heifer slowed and the bull jumped easily with his front hooves, placing his chin on her rump, elevating his chest and mounting her. His hind legs, now carrying his full load, struggled to keep up. The patch of scraggly hair and hide that hung from the center of his belly puckered and out came a thin pointed shaft, so red and dripping wet that Michael thought at first that it was bleeding, and the trembling end of it bent down like it was broken. The shaft was shooting out, hitting her rear end, then off to the side along her hip, lashing around like a whip, until it found the right spot and disappeared inside. Michael thought it must hurt the cow to have that thing in her but then realized that she was running with him not from him, that she was really helping him. But it is so long, he thought, what could it be doing inside her? He visualized it inside her wrapping around her intestines, nudging her organs. Why wouldn't that hurt? He thought of the bull's raw looking shaft and how sensitive it must be, how warm it must be inside that heifer. While Michael was thinking, the bull's front hooves dangled about her shoulders, and his knotty head stared straight ahead, bulging eyes drilling holes in the sky as his huge hips churned.Michael swallowed deeply, looked down at his black-cloth tennis shoes, then raised his dark brown eyes and looked across the pasture to the green fields of cotton and corn. He heard the screen door slam and turned to see his mother, with her apron on, watching him through a frown, her hands on her hips. He didn't understand what the bull and cow were doing, but he knew there was something indecent about it. His mother was making sure he knew. He felt wedged between his father and mother. He would set Michael up, and she would chop him down. Why wouldn't they talk to him about these things? he wondered, as he brushed curly blond hair out of his eyes. First it was the two dogs that got hooked together some how and couldn't get loose. His father had simply laughed and walked away. Michael had tried to talk to his mother about it, but she just shut him up and fell into a mad silence. And now this silent disapproval over the bull and heifer. Why did his mother just stand there like that? Why didn't she say something? Why didn't his father say something?*Michael sat in a chair at the kitchen table with his right leg folded under him, constructing a totem pole for his class on North American Indians, an orange and white striped cat named Tiger sleeping in his lap. He was alone in the house with his mother, and he like that. She switched off the static coming from the small Philco radio and leaned against the sink as she hummed "Just a Closer Walk With Thee," peeling and slicing potatoes into a large glass bowl. It was dark outside, and through the house walls, Michael heard the deep hum of the vacuum pump, the machine that sucked milk from the cow's teats, coming from the milk barn. Through the night air, the hum alternated from high to low pitch. Michael felt comforted by this pulsing heartbeat from the barn.
Views: 419

Phone Calls From God

Craig Henry is an atheist and he loves Tabitha Wolfe. Her mother, Christine Wolfe, is a devout Christian and thinks her daughter can do better. But, when Christine starts receiving phone calls from someone she believes is the Almighty, long hidden family secrets come to light.Any scientific expedition to the Arctic expects plenty of risk. However, Dr. Welham of Miskatonic University's survey uncovers far more than the usual geologic and ethnographic samples. In the severe, rock-scouring blizzards of the far north, the team comes across a hideous object from an elder age. A relic that brings earth shattering terror in its wake...  This story is loosely inspired by H. P. Lovecraft's short story, Polaris, which was written in 1918. In that story, a modern man is troubled by recurring dreams, gaining in intensity. During these visions, he assumes the role of a sentry guarding the pass against the invading Inutos people from the west. However, under the malign influence of the pole star, the watcher falls asleep. This time, when he awakes, screaming, the sentry wakes as a modern man and realises that he has failed the marble city of Olathoe in the lost land of Lomar.
Views: 418

Chess Part Two Box Set

Helpmate Knight is home from the hospital, so everything should be back to normal, right? Things are never that easy, though, and the men of Chess must fight to get their lives back. Knight has returned home from the hospital, but is far from recovered. Things seem to be going well, but depression slowly winds its way around Knight, and he spends all his time in bed sleeping, slipping farther and farther away from his lovers and life. Rook just wants everything to go back to normal now that their lover is home and Bishop is out of his depth when it comes to Knight's depression. Can Jason figure out what's wrong and take the steps needed to help Knight find himself again? The struggle has just begun in Knight's recovery—are the men of Chess up to the task? Find out in this fourth instalment of the Chess series. End Game Things are changing again for the foursome. Can they weather these changes as they do...
Views: 417

Merging Destiny

Sutherland Saga Part 6. When Elspeth Moorehead’s parents are killed in the Lockerbie bombing, Elspeth vows that she will someday avenge their horrendous murder. Her promise evolves into the quest of a lifetime, carrying her across continents and cultures, in the process subjecting her to numerous perilous obstacles. Spanning a quarter of a century, her exploits will change the world.Set against the backdrop of world-changing events of the twentieth century, the Sutherland Saga consists of a sequence of six novels chronicling four generations of the Earldom of Winston. Spanning from the late twentieth century to present day, Merging Destiny may be viewed either as a sequel to My Father the God, Part 5 of the Sutherland Saga, or as the final volume of the saga. Shortly after the death of her parents in the Lockerbie bombing, Elspeth Moorehead enters Hanford University in Boston. While there she makes friends with Connor Stuart, from Edinburgh, Scotland. Spanning a quarter of a century, their friendship will lead to mayhem, destruction, and murder. The scope of events growing with each encounter, the stakes are enormous. In the end, it all leads back to the Lockerbie bombing. Can Elspeth and Connor unravel the complexities surrounding this tragic event? For if they fail, the consequences will be life threatening indeed.
Views: 415

Kill 'Em All

The long-awaited sequel to KILL YOUR FRIENDS - preorder now!It is 2017 – the time of Trump, Brexit and fake news. And time for the return of Steven Stelfox, exactly twenty years on from his Britpop heyday. Now forty-seven and rich beyond the dreams of avarice, Stelfox works only occasionally as a music industry 'consultant'. A fixer. A problem solver. He's had a call from his old friend James Trellick, now president of Unigram, one of the largest record companies in America. Trellick has a huge headache on his hands in the shape of...Lucius Du Pre. The biggest pop star on earth. Well, once the biggest pop star on earth. Now he's a helpless junkie and a prolific, unrepentant sexual predator. Through a programme of debt restructuring so complex even Trellick can barely understand it, Du Pre is massively in hock to the record company. The only way he can possibly pay it off is to embark on a worldwide comeback tour he's in no shape to do. The...
Views: 406

Mint Condition

The second escapade in the Clegghorne trilogy in which Arnold and his grandson Michael make and then fire their own gun.What do you do when you're out voted on hosting a holiday party, complete with gift exchange and all the trimmings? Tie on the apron and deck those halls. Self proclaimed Scrooge, Maurin Kincaide accepts the challenge and tackles the yuletide with all the determination she would a Council task. But not everyone is brimming with holiday cheer. A blood coven threatens to bring the holiday festivities to an end. Can Maurin stop the dark magic before the clock strikes twelve, signaling the solstice?Other Books By Rachel RawlingsThe Maurin Kincaide SeriesThe MorrignaWitch HuntWolfsbaneBlood BathIll Fated (2015)Follow Rachel on FaceBook, Twitter and TSU for the latest info on the series and other upcoming books, fun give aways and more!rachelrawlings.comfacebook.com/TheMaurinKincaideseriestwitter- @rachelsbookstsu.com/RachelsBooks
Views: 405

Quick Service

When imperious American widow Beatice Chavender eats a forkful of inferior ham at her sister's country home near London, it affects the lives of everyone around her--her sister, her brother-in-law, her sister's butler, her sister's poor relation Sally, Sally's fiance Lord Holbeton, and, most of all, Mrs. Chavender's own one-time fiance, "Ham King" J.B. Duff, whose rotten product spoils her breakfast.
Views: 403

Finding Patience

Sutherland Saga Part 4. When Patience Walker is kidnapped on a cold winter’s night, her life is changed forever. Having met her on that very day, college professor Brandt MacCauley takes on the challenge of finding her. Spanning fifteen years, his quest will not only change both of their lives, it will ultimately alter both the Earldom of Winston and the course of history.Set against the backdrop of world-changing events of the twentieth century, the Sutherland Saga consists of a sequence of four novels, each of which chronicles one generation of the Earldom of Winston. In Finding Patience, Part 4 of the series, Patience Walker is a college student with a bright future who is kidnapped and forced to perform a heinous crime. But Patience somehow outwits her captors, and in the process she disappears. A recent acquaintance, Scotsman Brandt MacCauley takes up the challenge of finding her, and over the course of the succeeding fifteen years he goes to extraordinary lengths to locate her. Unfortunately, although Patience initially eludes her captors, they will never give up, searching for her to every corner of the globe. And ultimately, the quest to find Patience will lead to murder, mayhem, and world-changing events. But will Patience’s disappearance ever by avenged, and even more importantly, will she ever be found? In a surprise ending to the Sutherland Saga, finding Patience will for Brandt MacCauley become the quest that will change the Earldom of Winston forever.
Views: 403

A Damsel in Distress

P.G. Wodehouse\'s classic tale of humor, "A Damsel in Distress" is the story of Belpher Castle and it\'s characters muddle through impending catastrophes and ill-considered love affairs. George Bevan, an American composer of musicals, is in England to attend the performance of one. But when the Lady Patricia Maud Marsh slips into his taxi, he is drawn into the frivolous intrigues of Belpher Castle. George is mistaken for another American with whom Maud has fallen in love. Maud, in turn, is attempting to escape her aunt, Lady Caroline Byng, who is trying to marry Maud off to her step-son, Reginald. Meanwhile, her father, Lord John Marshmoreton, has fallen in love with an actress. As the Castle servants make bets on their Lords’ and Ladies’ capricious attachments,
Views: 391

Everyone and Everything

This book contains ten short stories written by William Forde, the founder of Anger Management and a leading Relaxation Trainer in Great Britain for over 50 years. It has been written for the 5-9 year-old reader and provides an ideal 10-minute reading slot fill for children during morning assemblies at school and before going to sleep at night. The stories deal with child problem issues of today.In areas of educational, social and moral development, the power of ‘story-telling’ remains unsurpassed. It is an important avenue of effective communication and learning between parent and child; teacher and pupil. ‘Everyone and Everything’ are short punchy stories that maintain the interest of the 5-9 year-old child.‘Story-telling’ stimulates the imaginative and creative processes of the mind and body and makes more things possible than would otherwise be achieved without it. To storytell about issues concerning behaviour that creates everyday problems for the child reader and which can relate to emotions that the child finds difficult to healthily express is a sure-fire way of grabbing their attention time span.The ten stories in ‘Everyone and Everything’ were written for the 5-9-year-old reader in 1990. While they helped to raise a lot of money through their sales for ‘Children in Need’ during November, 1990, their true value is that they can greatly assist in the improvement of aggressive and tense behaviours by children today.I wanted all of the stories I wrote in ‘Everyone and Everything’ to embrace and include the basic principles of Relaxation Training methods and Anger Management aspects of behaviour. As the original founder of ‘Anger Management’ courses in Great Britain during the early 70s and a leading exponent and instructor of Relaxation Training since the age of 22 years, I felt suitably equipped to write about those aspects of behaviour.‘Everyone and Everything’ was my very first published children’s book and proved so popular with children, class-room teachers and school heads that approximately 4,000 copies were sold within the Kirklees Community during November, 1990 alone.‘Everyone and Everything’ went on to prove so popular with heads of schools in subsequent years, not only because of the issues the stories raised, but because of their length and language used. They were easy to read and be read to, and for busy head teachers, the stories could be used ideally within a ten-minute morning-assembly slot. I offer this book freely as an e-book and would advise the school teachers and head teachers of our Primary School Children to consider the merits of reintroducing some of the stories therein to their future school assemblies. I would also ask any downloader of this book who enjoys its content, to promote its readership base and to make a small donation to the Children in Need Appeal next November.William Forde 22nd May, 2012
Views: 389