Sports Short Storey Anthology

All-American wide receiver Kyler Tate's life is about to change. A fairy-tale college career skyrocketed him to the NFL draft. Adoration and opportunity are thrown in his direction wherever he goes, thanks to being chosen in the first round by the Los Angeles Rage. None of the accolades mean anything, though, without his high school sweetheart, Bree Justice, by his side. Four years ago she walked away from Kyler, choosing a quiet life over the flash and notoriety his career would someday bring.

F. X. Toole knew boxing. Between bouts, he wrote, and two years before his death he published this collection of stories, giving listeners an unprecedented look at the gritty life around the ring. He tells of a cutman with a sweet tooth, young fighters with dreams of celebrity, and a talented boxer who goes to Atlantic City for his biggest bout, only to be humiliated by the prejudices of a callous promoter. In "Million $$$ Baby", the inspiration for the Oscar-winning Clint Eastwood film, an aged trainer takes on a female fighter, guiding her through disappointment, pain, and tragedy.

MacKenzie Decker was a question Avery never got to ask, much less an answer. They met when she was a young reporter fueled by ambition, and the ink on Deck's first NBA contract was barely dry. Years later, they've climbed so high and lost so much, but one thing hasn't changed—the attraction that simmered between them in a locker room before is still there. With success like theirs, everything has been possible...except them. But that was then.

I was living my dream until one phone call changed everything. As the second line center for the Arizona Vengeance, my mind has been on one thing - helping my team bring home a championship. But that all changed when I found out my dad had cancer and only months to live. In that moment, nothing mattered more than getting home to North Carolina to be by his side. That meant asking for the unthinkable - a trade to the Carolina Cold Fury.

Terrence McCauley delivers up the tale of a former moonshiner looking to make his fortune on dirt tracks of stock-car racing. J. Walt Layne details one of the first interracial college football games ever played. Up next, John Rose gets us into the ring with a boxing prodigy from the hills of Kansas, and then Fred Adams Jr., offers up a barnstorming adventure with the Negro Baseball League Moline Wizards.

Kamdyn Ellis is the man. Mr. All-Star athlete and resident bad boy. Number 7 quarterback on the field, and number one player off. Every guy at school wants to be him, and every girl at school wants to date him. Well, except Laney Summers that is. The sassy city girl is the only one immune to Kam’s clear blue eyes and arsenal of southern charm. But when a debilitating injury sidelines Kam’s future and ability to play football, it’s Laney who is tasked to be his tutor while he recuperates at home.

Life was simple until an intriguing proposition came my way. When the IT Tycoon made me that offer, I thought it was a good deal, until it wasn’t. A perfect balance of beauty and intelligence, but the fire inside her refused to be tamed.

Dana Campbell has spent the past seven years in self-imposed isolation for a crime she didn't commit. The danger is well in the past, but her panic attacks make it impossible to have a normal, healthy relationship with a man. Even her counselor has given up on her. She has to find someone she trusts to help her fight through the panic, or her seven-year ordeal will become a lifetime sentence. There's only one man she feels safe enough to ask.

After playing the semi-final in our Lacrosse league, we throw a big party at the clubhouse. As I smoke a cigarette outside, I discover the coach and his secret romance by the light of the moon. Back at the motel, I discover my teammate has a secret of his own; but do I want to come (literally) between him and his boyfriend, or will he join in?

A first-year runner’s shocking breakthrough hides her dark secret. A college walk-on remembers his vexing friendship with teammate Steve Prefontaine. An embittered rebel emerges from seclusion to attack her hated rival over 26 miles. An obsessive jogger tries to maintain his streak in the face of mounting obstacles. Seventeen short stories — some dark, some comical — portray the world of runners, from weekend jogger to Olympic star, offering a unique exploration of sport and the human condition.

I’m sleeping with someone who doesn’t recognize me from our past. And who also doesn’t know I’m having his baby in the future. I’ve been crushing on Nick since high school. Back then, he was the popular jock and I was his nerdy tutor. Now he’s a star athlete and I run into him again on campus. He loves my curvy, hourglass figure. But he doesn’t even know I’m the same girl. One thing leads to another, and I find myself in his arms. And in his bed. And he finds himself in my panties. Then I find myself pregnant, with his baby.

My whole life, my mother told me I would never find love. So when my university’s hot, rich, starting quarterback asked me to marry him, this girl said yes. We had only been dating for two weeks. By the third week, he had shattered my heart. Maybe I shouldn’t have made a big deal about bringing him to the next family get-together. Luckily, there was one person who could always fix things when a guy left me in pieces: my best friend, Titus. He was my rock. That’s why I asked him to come home with me to pretend to be my fiancé.

When Kendall wakes up from a night of drinking with a note pinned to her shirt, the last thing she guesses is that it was put there by a gorgeous guy who desperately wanted to see her again. Why would she? She was nerdy, more than a little awkward, and had never even kissed a guy. And it wasn’t like she had come to university to date. She had big plans. She was going to help people who were going through difficult times and she was going to be the best in the world at it.

A hot night in Vegas is just what the rockstar ordered…until someone ends up married.

Michael Shawcross is living the dream, opening up for his idols, Oblivion, on his band Warning Sign’s first tour. Until an overzealous fan goes too far and his hard-partying ways catch up to him in the form of an ultimatum from his manager, Lila Crandall.

A lineman with something to prove. A vendetta against a baseball legend. The rise of a real-life NHL all-star. The luckiest grapefruit in sports history. Open up The Sports Pages, the third volume in the Guys Read Library of Great Reading, and you're in for all of this and more. From fiction to nonfiction, from baseball to mixed martial arts and everything in between, these are 10 stories about the rush of victory and the crush of defeat on and off the field. Compiled by kid-lit all-star Jon Scieszka, Guys Read: The Sports Pages is a thrilling collection of brand-new short stories.

Drew Foster is trapped in a one-man operation. Focused on building his small IT consulting business, the workaholic thirty-one-year-old has no time for close relationships except with his sister and widowed mom. But at a Halloween bash hosted by his brother-in-law’s hockey teammate, he hits it off with an unknown woman in an outrageous mascot costume.

Tennis als Spiegel des Lebens - in ihrem literarischen Debüt schlägt die ehemalige Top-Ten-Spielerin Andrea Petković die Brücke zwischen Sport und Literatur, und begeistert mit zutiefst ehrlichen und anrührenden Geschichten rund um ihr Leben als Tennisprofi. Wie fühlt es sich eigentlich an, das Leben als eine der weltweit besten Tennisspielerinnen? Wie gelingt die Balance zwischen notwendiger Siegesgewissheit und gefräßigem Selbstzweifel? Wie schafft man es, trotz manch krachender Niederlage und nervtötenden Verletzungen die Freude am Spiel nicht zu verlieren?

After All These Years: The Seattle Knights have the hottest players in the game. On and off the field. First love. Second chances. After the Fire: In his lifetime, Gaige Benson has dreamed of only two things. Playing football and loving Violet Reed. Welcome to the NFL.

What happens when a 40-year-old body tries to relive the days of sandlot baseball? A story of how the body and its learned reflexes can get you into trouble.

When college football star Graham Lawson is given one last Hail Mary chance to pull up his GPA or lose his spot on the team, he turns to the sweet but shy bookworm from his hometown - the girl who saved his ass back in high school. Skyler Sutton is beyond stunned when her longtime crush asks her to come stay with him for the entire summer. She’s even more surprised when Graham’s two incredibly hot, fun-loving roommates decide to educate her with a lifetime of firsts she’ll never forget. Charlie and Tyson show Skyler friendship, compassion, and love that knows no limits.