INSIDE THE DARKSIDE is a collection of 12 dissimilar stories inhabiting the near future. A long-winded, umbrella-like philosophical long story description might be more appropriate if you, my readers, are presented with story clues. Here they are in order: GREY – A hotshot pilot, attempting to follow in his father's galactic shoes, finds even his own whining is grey-ting. MISTY JOURNEY – The way out is unclear, even with help. THE LONGSHOT – What chances do a ragtag band of mismatched surv...

Nonfiction books like Welcome to my Soapbox are hybrids; there's just no theme. Uh, I prefer to describe this book as a literary buffet table. I've got fibrous protein with real bite. There's mushy mashed potatoes in the form of unabashed pandering. I lied—they have lumps you didn't expect. Following is the mixed media of string beans with little pearl onions and grey mushrooms. Stories of varied interest. At the end are desserts, sweet, plain vanilla and chewy chocolate with nuts. If you'...

Lovers of short fiction stories will enjoy the 17 in "short stories by a short guy in shorts." I'm better at 1000 to 8000 words than trying to construct ten or twenty times that. In my stories, you'll get the essence quicker with the motivation to find out what's next. Next, I am a short guy. Gravity is winning. Finally, I dread summer and its accompanying requirement to wear fewer clothes. Shorts are my anathema. When I wrote the subtitle, "musings, meanderings and mindfulness (sort of),"...

If you baked a cake from scratch, you'd find a recipe and follow directions. I didn't do that. I reached blindfolded into my mental pantry, saw and wrote, interviewed and memorialized, had an idea and, you know. It's about funny kids and brave veterans, bad situations and redemption, on the right track and off the rails, some fiction but mostly truth. It's my cake; have a slice.

Derrick Brown’s long awaited new collection of poetry and prose, Scandalabra, is a book that boils with true grit Americana, sensual power and black oceanic wildness. About.com rated his newest collection 'Scandalabra' as one of the top poetry books of 2009. Written at sea aboard a fishing vessel and in the hills of Tennessee, these poems roar in six unique sections never before seen from this acclaimed writer. I wish I had written “Patienceâ€. I mean written it down on paper. I’ve though...

**"Take your time with these poems, and return to them often.” —The Washington PostThe New York Times-bestselling collection of poems from the award-winning writer Ocean VuongHow else do we return to ourselves but to foldThe page so it points to the good partIn this deeply intimate second poetry collection, Ocean Vuong searches for life among the aftershocks of personal and social loss, embodying the paradox of sit...

**"Kristi Coulter charts the raw, unvarnished, and quietly riveting terrain of new sobriety with wit and warmth. Nothing Good Can Come from This is a book about generative discomfort, surprising sources of beauty, and the odd, often hilarious, business of being human." —Leslie Jamison, author of The Empathy Exams and The RecoveringKristi Coulter inspired and incensed the internet when she wrote about what happened when she stopped drinking. Nothing Go...

SHE WANTED TO QUIT BEING HER WORLD'S BEST ASSASSIN—BUT THE ONLY WAY TO QUIT WAS TO DIE!Look into the abyss—For as long as Cally O'Neal could remember, she had lived in danger. While her father was off fighting the invading Posleen she had been raised by her grandfather, practically on the front-lines of a war that had erased five billion humans from the face of the earth.The abyss looks back—In the final stages of the war she had offi...

When the world ends, what do you do when you realize you are still alive?In a world devastated by natural disaster, only the most stubborn refuse to give up. When Ed Walker learns that others have been preparing for the disaster for years, he realize finding them may be his only shot at survival. But time is running out...In a dying world one man makes a choice to keep going, hoping against hope there might be a future after all.Alive is a 10.000 word story loosely ...

-a Firehawks Lookouts romance storyTess Weaver is only at home at the top of the mountain above a thousand square miles of Idaho-Montana wilderness, watching for wildfires. It’s the quiet place she makes sense to herself, alone in the sky.Right until Jack Parker becomes her closest neighbor, on the next ridge, one lookout tower and fifteen long miles away.A magic summer, connected only by the wildfire watch and radio, they discover that they’re both Looking for the ...

In the new millennium, what secrets lay beyond the far reaches of the universe? What mysteries belie the truths we once held to be self evident? The world of science fiction has long been a porthole into the realities of tomorrow, blurring the line between life and art. Now, in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Second Annual Collection the very best SF authors explore ideas of a new world. This venerable collection brings together award winning authors and masters of the fie...

These poems topics range from hate crimes to playgrounds, from international conflict to hometowns, from falling in love to the desperation of loneliness. Gibsons work seizes us by the collar and hauls us inside some of her darkest moments, then releases us out the other side.