Urban Short Stories

In this psychic magical-fantasy short story tale, Amanda, Jeff, and Lukas travel to South America for their vacation. Later on, after an unfortunate incident leaves the trio stranded on a remote and vast stretch of land, they’re forced to find their own way back home. Yet as the group encounters an unknown tribe in the thick wildness of jungle, they’d come to find all of their initial suspicions about the place to be wrong...Where the heck were they? How were they still alive?

This collection contains three short stories: "The Vampire Hunter", "The Undead", and "The Gatekeeper".

From murderous crowd-sourcing apps to nefarious faeries, Reflections is a collection of short stories posing a single question: Where does goodness end, and evil begin? Ten soaring stories, each exploring original and thought-provoking perspectives of love, secrecy, loyalty, and destruction. Tangling future and fantasy, Reflections is a kaleidoscopic exploration of the frailties, foibles, and dreams of humanity.

The night brings more than darkness after the Fall. With her fangs bared, Tilla attacks a camp of savages until a mysterious young girl emerges from the wrecked, post-apocalyptic landscape. “The Hunt” was originally published as Retrograde and won first prize in the 2009 Boutique du Vampyre Short Story Contest.

Many a confident urban lesbian in New York, San Francisco, and Chicago was once a wide-eyed newcomer. Every year thousands of young women arrive in these queer-friendly cities, seduced by downtown life and its erotic possibilities. In Where the Girls Are, D.L. King collects explicit memoirs and stories about these newly arrived country girls. Here are stories of first times, initiations, bars, dance clubs, and parties, reading (or misreading) the codes - and sometimes teaching those city girls a thing or two in the process.

Guardians don't celebrate Christmas, but this year Quintus doesn't have a choice. When Olivia gives him a very special assignment for the holiday, he will have to reconnect with what Christmas means to him or fail the one person he is destined to save.

On the seventh day of Christmas, I and my buddy David Eckstrom finally got around to holding that shindig we've been talking about for so long. Only, we weren't the only bodies looking for a good time on New Year's Eve. There were monsters afoot on the lake, and the remedy for 'em was something I didn't expect at all.

Gula chats with a girl who's obsessed with her body image. It's about a guy, and being too hard on herself.

What ancient evils live beneath the waters of the great Lakes of North America? During a massive snow storm in a small diner, we get a glimpse of the terror below.

Tessa Graham has loved Malus for years. They were once a wildly popular band, topping the charts and leaving broken hearts in their wake. But for the past five years, they've been playing the same old hits, incapable of creating anything new. As an assistant working for the band's record label, Tessa is given the opportunity of a lifetime. Her boss informs her that she must help the band write and record a new album - and she only has seven months to do it. If she succeeds, she's in line for a huge promotion. If she fails, she's fired. And so is the band.

What is pleasure?

Everyone will think about this question only for a few minutes. It is easier to ask than to explain, right? The world is ruled by sex, drugs, and imaginary family values. These are the three main pleasures that people experience in the City of Angels. Amongst this, there is a separate caste of people as well—escorts. Over here they are the best, the largest collection for every taste with over ninety percent coming from far away countries.

In the world of Eternal Night, Johnathan Masters is at the top of his game. He’s worked hard to build up his influence, trading favors and playing politics. But when a Blood from another city arrives on the scene and attempts to cut into his business by increasing his own status, Johnathan is forced to defend his turf. Maybe he’ll play nice. But then again, sometimes a bit of tough love sends the right message.

Victor McCain is used to fighting demons, satanists, and even fallen angels. But when God's bounty hunter travels to the Windy City to take on one of Chicago's most notorious mob bosses, he is confronted by an assassin the likes the world has never seen. Literally.

This short story combines the multiverse concept of changing one’s fate with a new-adult level of mystery. Animator-style printing and colorful illustrations give this quick audiobook a real adult-swim, comic book store feel. When Eva studies quantum physics in a seedy bar, she finds some unwelcome attention, and Killian...the best transdimensional research subject she could ask for. Eva is fascinated, and invites him for a drink. In return, he explains how he can trek through different dimensions to find other versions of his life.

When a client claims her house is being haunted, Ivy tries to keep her mind open and her weapons handy. If her psychic gifts and recent cases have taught her anything, it's that you're better off arming yourself for the unexpected.

A boy is given a girl's name so that he can escape the attention of malignant ghouls. A devout Catholic priest is suspected of hanky-panky with a submissive Chinese wife when she gives birth to an albino child. A young girl student dies before her English examinations, but still manages to write an out-of-point essay for the Cambridge Syndicate. From societal superstitions and the imagination come these 15 tales of the paranormal.

One family rule has shaped Esson’s life: never open a door. Esson comes from a family of doormakers - people who unleash otherworldly violence when they open something even as simple as a refrigerator door. Esson’s family lied to him. Esson didn’t die when he opened a door.

With only two hundred dollars, Unique packed her suitcase and headed to New York City for a brand-new start. It's there that Unique meets big-time boxing promoter Kennard, and it is love at first sight.... After nine months of living in the lap of luxury with Kennard, skeletons from Unique's past show up, and it will cost her a cool million dollars to keep not only her relationship but her life.... Unique isn't about to lose it all. With the help of her best friend, she devises a major heist; to pull it off all she has to do is stay alive....

Dr. Kohms is used to listening to people talk about the pieces in their lives that aren’t playing well together. But does he know his own life as well as he thinks he does? Does anyone truly know what their partners, dependants, or friends are up to? In this short tale, sink into the prison to which Peter Kohms is sequestered, and forced to watch a version of life at home when he isn’t around.

Two immortal, magical beings, Peace (Rayzan) and Chaos (Broza), are in constant battle. This time around, though, the embodiment of peace is defeated and thus has to undergo rebirth, losing his memory in the process. Tucker assumes himself an average, if abnormal teenager, who knows little else than the countryside, where he grew up. Tucker’s journey towards rediscovery begins when he loses control of what he believes are minor psychic abilities, as now, some strange dark and magical figure hunts him.