Short Stories

Riding the Dog

Riding the Dog
Title: Riding the Dog
ASIN: B00PJL7WDS
Publisher:
Published: November 12, 2014
Author:
Riding the Dog is a collection of nine short stories that all take place on a Greyhound bus. Strangers collide in cramped spaces. Secrets are told to nameless seatmates in the dark of the bus in the middle of the night. Two strangers exchange trinkets, unaware of a past that connects them. A woman crisscrosses the country looking for her brother who disappeared in New York City on 9/11. A soldier returning from Iraq with PTSD finds unexpected solace in the chaos of a broken-down bus. A down-and-out musician loses his most treasured possession on a deserted West Texas highway. Riding the Dog explores an often-invisible world – the world of a desperate, funny, resilient, heartbreaking America.

Assessed for Awesome Indies

 

To Do the Deal, A Novel in Stories

To Do the Deal, A Novel in Stories
Title: To Do the Deal, A Novel in Stories
ASIN: B00NUAOTPY
Illustrator: GB Tran
Published: September 22, 2014
Author:
This humorous career and family drama will captivate anyone who has ever held a job, lived in a family, or been on either side of a sales transaction. To Do the Deal, A Novel in Stories is about the quotidian — the challenges, minute dramas, and endearing moments that make up the every day. Set in a suburb of Washington, DC, To Do the Deal sets its focus not on the power brokers that dominate the nation’s capital but rather, on one family that is muddling along. Through ten stories, one each set in the years 1991 through 2000, we follow Kenneth Bodine on his quest to make a decent living in commission sales. We also follow his wife, Jodi, who tries hard as wife, worker, and mother and who often gets it right but just as often overthinks. To Do the Deal will appeal to readers who like witty stories, well told; who appreciate carefully plotted narratives; and who want to be entertained by an ensemble cast of deftly drawn characters. The language is literary yet light: readers who put check marks in the margins next to lines that resonate will mark a lot of pages. Beyond the appeal of its writing, To Do the Deal will captivate anyone who has ever held a job, lived in a family, or been on either side of a sales transaction.

Assessed for 

Fifty Egg Timer Stories

Fifty Egg Timer Stories
Title: Fifty Egg Timer Stories
ASIN: B00IBEFIKY
Category:
Published: February 26, 2014
Author's Twitter: @RichardBunning
This is a collection of mixed genre, flash fiction short stories from one author. To be accurate, a few of the stories are flash nonfiction; but that’s chaotic diversity for you. None of the stories runs to more than 1000 words. Some have a classic twist in the ‘tale’ and some don’t. Expect everything from the trivial to the disguised rant. If you would like something to read during breaks in a dedicated chef’s life, then the egg-timer will seem like a bit of a red herring, as none of the stories has anything whatsoever to do with food arts. Well, unless one considers the time it takes to boil an egg to be the yolk of all reading material. However, this is actually the perfect book for the busy everyday cook, executive banker, child maintenance engineer, or candlestick maker, in fact for anybody with a couple of minutes in which to grab a much needed, short dramatic, distraction. No one will like all the stories, even the author wouldn’t want to read some of them everyday, but everyone should find a few to resonate in a ‘that was worth a moment’ sort of way.

Assessed 

The Dark Inside

The Dark Inside: A short story collection
Title: The Dark Inside: A short story collection
ASIN: B00BL8MDWS
Publisher:
Published: February 24, 2013
Heartbreak, danger, lust, and betrayal blaze to life in this collection of stories that reveal the dark places hidden within us. When what you most desire is on the line how far will you go to get it, and what will you give up? A young man desperate to leave a world that doesn't accept him–and a father who hates him. A tormented man imprisoned as a science experiment experiences love for the first time. A secret agent gives in to his carnal desires and risks exposing the one secret he wants to keep. A college freshman betrayed by her lover takes matters into her own hands. A young girl is determined not to suffer at the hands of her molester anymore. A sadistic leader who thrives on mind control leads his people into a new life. A teen seeks escape from his abusive foster father and faces a life-or-death situation to survive. They must either fight the dark inside or embrace it. Which will they choose?

Assessed for Awesome Indies