Short Story
Planning Vengeance excerpt
This is an excerpt from my first novel, Planning Vengeance, published in November, 2019. Feel free to check out my Amazon Author's Page for this and my other titles. If you like this, I'd love for you to check out my Vocal Profile as well.
By L. Lane Bailey5 years ago in Fiction
We Hope to See You Soon
“Hello, Dear. What treasures did you find this time?” Naomi asked as Josef, her husband of 62 years, tottered through the front door struggling with a large, wrapped parcel. Although glad he had a hobby, she always was relieved to see him return safely.
By Curt Newell6 years ago in Fiction
Dormancy
Ice clinked the side of the glass. A brief singe tickled her throat before the refreshing gin bathed her tongue. She sighed. A strong cocktail for a sobering task. She sat on the bare hardwood floor in her apartment, surveying the room stuffed with forgotten parts of her life.
By Meredith Bell6 years ago in Fiction
Buying the Fairyman
Every night at midnight, the purple clouds came out to dance with the blushing sky. A man traipsed his way through the brush beneath mauves, magentas, azures, and the ominous failing of the light. Stopping to check his copies of road maps and written directions with a flashlight, he mumbled through his beard: “What’s so bad about white picket fences…?” One side of it was caked in mud from a fall, the other still gleaming with cheap beard oil.
By Matthew Daniels6 years ago in Fiction
Deposits
The first week of chemo, Peter sits by you and rambles about everything and nothing for the sake of distraction. You’ve just learned about the money dumped into your bank account — twenty-thousand pounds that isn’t yours. It’s been there for two weeks, which shows how often you bother to check. The bank app labels it a deposit, but it’s a mistake.
By Owen Schaefer6 years ago in Fiction
Try
Was it clear from the message what they wanted him to do? * The letter arrived in a beautiful envelope, with his name and address written in embossed letters on red glossy paper. He had woken up that morning wondering if he was going to speak to his neighbor about their dog and their children again (they were always teasing the poor thing when he saw them in their yard). At his front door, he picked up the letter and thought that this might be another joke. But as he read the note inside, he realized that this was a real company and that he knew the name of the man who had contacted him. This was real.
By Kendall Defoe 6 years ago in Fiction
The Infinite Vastness
Esteban looks at me and claps his little notebook shut with one hand. He walks over to the garage door and leans forward until his head hits the wall with a faint knock. He’s still standing there with his forehead pressed into the plaster when he begins:
By mark wilkes6 years ago in Fiction
The Perfect Dress
The shop had been there as long as Lily could remember. She thought back to when she was seven years old and her sister took her there for the first time. It was enormous, with frosted glass windows and pointy spires on the roof, like miniature church steeples. She had paid particularly great attention to the door. It was a large wooden door with an oval-shaped, stained-glass picture of a pink and red rose. The glass met the door in perfectly smooth connection. The handle curved outward and then down, like a swan, craning its neck to eat the last crumb of bread thrown at its feet. A small lever above the handle would release the lock and it clicked when you held it down with your thumb. The door made an eerie creaking sound when it opened, almost like the doors in the scary movies, but this door wasn’t scary.
By Amos Glade6 years ago in Fiction
Whole New World
Maya stepped out the glass door with a shiver. A strong breeze swept through with such intensity it made her stop and regain her footing – November in the Windy City. Could be way worse, she reminded herself, taking a deep inhale before adjusting her mask. At least the sun’s still out, she thought gratefully.
By Sneha Pradhan6 years ago in Fiction
