A woman is drawn to a shop that looks like an antique store; she's looking for furnishings for her home in the French Quarter, where she lived a very long time ago... a lifetime ago.

Married to an uncaring, workaholic husband, Shylia Allred walks to alleviate stress and to consider her divorce. Typical of many abused spouses, she dreams of escape but always comes up with a reason to thwart her own plans. Then, as she's walking past the local parish hall just as an AA meeting is letting out, she literally bumps into Randall Sly. As they get to know each other, she comes to trust him completely. He's the one man who can bring a huge change to her life. But change isn't a...

What's a mobster punk to do when the detective he's talking with about an attempt on his life turns and walks away? Or worse yet, simple fades out and disappears?

Some boys are reared by cruel fathers. For them, the beatings don't stop until they're old enough and large enough to fight back. Carson McCullers once wrote, "The hearts of small children are delicate organs. A cruel beginning in this world can twist them into curious shapes." Duffy Griswold is just such a boy.

What's a guy to do when he just narrowly avoided taking a bullet in the skull? Where can he hide? What can he do? Maybe he should sit in a dumpster for awhile and mull his future.

Mr. Kristen dreams of world domination. Finally his chance comes. He finds himself in a launch bunker with the red button before him. Yes, that red button. And what he launches will not soon be forgotten.

This is an intense psychological suspense short story by Eric Stringer. Dorothy is brought into the hospital, the victim of an accident. While in the hospital bed with her head in a fixed position, she sees a spider that takes her back to a childhood regret. The rest is just payback.

This is a psychological thriller by Eric Stringer. His friend Janie is a collector, but a collector of what?

Johnny Marsden sets out for home after a few hours' fishing. His grandfather becomes concerned and goes out looking for him. But what happens with Johnny and his grandfather is far from anything you might expect.

In this SF short story, Jim Cable, a professional recovery expert for System Retrieval Inc., has been sent onto the Grenlow, a Morgan-class interplanetary transport, to stabilize it and bring it home. He scans and checks every space on the ship, but the engine room holds a mystery he and System Retrieval Inc. didn't bargain for.

They say gold can bring out the true character of a man, but how deep does that true character go? Read this intense short story by Eric Stringer and find out.

This is an intense, humorous short story. What happens when one guy is so taken with the scenery that he decides when he dies he wants to become part of it? And what happen if he gets so depressed he decides he'd like to become part of it now? Can a lack of Mexican food really cause depression?