It started out as most other days, back in December 2014.I was ready to go to the office and get stuck into another day after the long train commute into the city.Occasionally, while walking downtown from the station, I'd stop in at the Lindt Café in Sydney's Martin place for a coffee and something nice to munch on.However, my ever-expanding waistline guilted me into avoiding the muffin that day, and I stopped by the little coffee stand around the corner from the offic...

Tim Diamond—the world's worst private detective—takes on his most dangerous case yet, and it's going to be up to his brother to keep him out of trouble. A short story from Guys Read: Thriller, edited by Jon Scieszka.

A tense short story about a cop caught out while planting a listening device. Hiding behind a couch, Adam Gellworth (a police surveillance expert or 'bugger' of twenty years’ experience) is forced to contemplate the life he has led to get to this precarious point. But what of the men he was sent to spy on? Will they leave and give him the opportunity to escape, or will they discover him, lying face-down on the floor? Is the bugger buggered himself?

How long does it take know if someone is "the one?" According to Marie Dubuque, you can pretty much tell on the first date, if you know what to look for....

"Oh dear, this isn't good," I said to myself. "How on earth can I help this poor seagull?"

Words of Love.Love can be a fleeting moment of deepest joy, or the journey of a lifetime. Here's a collection of love poems from all stages of the journey, some illustrated by the author's photography and artwork. The pieces range from finding and nurturing love, creating romance, through riding out the storms of a relationship, to acceptance of the relationship as being beyond control.Love hurts and heals, makes you laugh, makes you cry, might kill you, or...

A boy takes a dangerous journey with his father. During the journey they go through a war zone and the boy sees many things he does not understad.

1940's Chicago, a black female detective is asked to discover what happened to a rich gadabout whom disappeared mysteriously from his hotel room.Unfortunately, she does.

Five bewitching tales of love from the winners of the Power Play Romance Writer's Competition.From a moment of reflection to a moment of passion, these short stories explore the ways in which love and lust shape our lives.Writers Elizabeth McLennan, Hazel McLoughlin, Jessica Towicz, Saman Shad and overall winner Anna McHugh take us from the hustle and glamour of New York to the serenity of rural life in this enchanting and affecting collection.

"A sad specimen of life, a sadistic clown, and an arrogant jerk."Smile: You Nutter! is a fiercely raw, darkly comedic poetry collection that acts as a blunt-force survival guide for life's inevitable disappointments. Rejecting all traditional poetic vanity and formal ornament, Darren Hobson strips back the glossy veneer of the artistic struggle to document the unglamorous realities of a working-class life—balancing grand yearnings for literary genius with t...

Chelsea Campbell is about to get the worst news of her life. It's how she handles it that makes all the difference.This is an adult contemporary short story of 3300 words/13 pages. It contains strong languageKarly Kirkpatrick is a teacher by day and a writer by night. Her list of titles include her YA novels, Into the Shadows, Darkness Rising, After Dawn, The Green, and Bloody Little Secrets, and a selection of short stories, including this one. You can find out more about ...

Forget what your parents, teachers, and doctors told you…Sure, smoking is bad for you. Everyone knows that. It makes your breath stink and it gives you cancer. But it's still cool. Cool enough, in fact, to become an Olympic sport…The Art of Cigarette Smoking is a joyful story about a man's abiding passion for a disgusting habit. If you like flights of fancy, playful language, and eccentric characters, then you'll l...