In a small rodeo town in eastern Oregon, seventeen-year-old Maura is used to carrying more than most. Between caring for her younger sister and managing her father's worsening diabetes, she's learned how to hold everything together—even when it feels like it's falling apart.But when her father leaves on a desperate hunting trip in the Blue Mountains—and doesn't come back—Maura's carefully balanced world unravels.Enter Alex: her neighbor's troubled grandson, newly arrived an...

Paige Walker is finally done pouring drinks for bad tips and dodging wandering hands. After years behind the bar at The Carlisle, she's on the verge of everything she's worked for: a promotion to acting manager and a fresh start.There's just one tiny complication.The gorgeous stranger she spent one reckless, unforgettable night with? He walks straight into her morning staff meeting—holding the keys to the manager's office.Now Paige's dream job comes with a nightmare...

Owen Lake never had any interest in space.After watching his astronaut mother die, he preferred the simple life of a boat captain on Lake Superior. But the simple life was never meant to last.His charter business is failing, but an opportunity pops up in the form of Dr. Mariana Keller, who's interested in what lies beneath the waves: a mysterious, unnatural blue glow emanating from the depths.Owen agrees to take her on a clandestine dive to an ancie...

What if the only way to heal a father's broken heart was to travel 200 years into the past?Thirteen-year-old Cinda Parker always felt a mysterious bond with her little brother Ian that was too deep for words and too real to ignore. When Lexi, a stranger from the 31st century appears, Cinda discovers that bond is far more extraordinary. It is a rare gift that makes her the key to saving her family.- - -For years, their father, Evin...

Four short short-stories more or less based on the sureality of Los Angeles.

Summer may be over, but she's ready to bring the heat.When her boyfriend shattered her universe last spring, Addy convinced herself that if only she were a little hotter, then she could have kept him. Which is why her senior year goal is to get revenge.Step one: Join the swim team and get seriously fit.Step two: Find some gorgeous new arm candy to take to ex's big Halloween party and make him crazy with jealousy.

All across the country people are heading home for the holidays. Special presents are wrapped beneath the tree, mistletoe is hung, the smell of cookies is in the air, but what if you don't have someone special to share it all with?Will the magic of Christmas reach these characters? Or will they end up being a bunch of lonely grinches?Three up-and-coming young adult authors share their Christmas stories about hope and joy during the holiday season.

I was a bored tech support worker in a dead end career, as an intuitive problem solving ability that only works visually, doesn't help with study. I don't know why I started trying to figure out how the universe worked in a way that made sense, or that I would start making accurate predictions, or that at some point my instincts would take over, and start sorting out the problems I was seeing, until there were none, all logic verified by observable results from getting AI to find me the sc...

A short story about a man who has many girlfriends and children without marriage and not taking care of them, but in the end, he wants to see all his children before he die.

An eighties girl in a modern world.Sloane would rather curl up with a John Hughes movie than walk the halls of Grover High. However, all of that is about to change because on the first day of school she runs into none other than Mr. Sixteen Candles himself, Jake Ryan.Okay, he's not really Jake Ryan, but Gabe has the khakis, sports car and trademark charm to fit the role.Sloane hopes to pull a Molly Ringwald and win him over with her quirky sense of ...

Literally the last word for Hollywood trivia buffs, a celebrity death certificate is also strangely compelling. Its matter-of-fact reportage makes the famous ordinary, illuminating previously well-lit profiles with the unfiltered light of the everyday. A death certificate may also reveal information that stars concealed, such as actual birthdates. In California, death certificates are a matter of public record--a real mine of information.This follow-up to M.F. Steen's previous two ...

Welcome to Marlowe Junction, where the end-of-summer carnival is your chance to see and be seen... hopefully by the cutest guy there.Grab some cotton candy and funnel cake, stop by the fortune-teller's booth to get your palm read, and settle in for some summer romance at its most nostalgic.Carnival Wishes will make you believe that wishes really do come true.