Showing results by author "Short Story Press" in All Categories

Michael is a professional photographer. He knows exactly how to take the best pictures and is desperate enough to accept any work when the rent comes due, which is slowly creeping up on him. When he’s offered a new job opportunity from a high-end client, the last thing he expects is to be confronted with an abuse scandal in the midst of the cast.

In a future time, well after all the countries of the world have engaged in a global nuclear event, a select few have survived The Great War and reorganized civilization within a sealed Bubble. In this day and time, there are only a handful of people remaining who ever lived and breathed outside the Bubble; most habitants were born within its sealed plexi-interior. The Bubble is a monarchy with one ruler, Arch Sedric. He has commissioned an intimidating army of police called the SAC, or Security Advisor Cadre.

When Riley Jensen hears that Len Wilkins, a family friend who also employs her father as a farm hand, has been found dead with his eyes burned out of his head, her latent but innate heroism emerges. When news of several deaths of the same nature as that of Len Wilkins’ travels throughout Silverton, Riley becomes gripped with concern and fear for her grandfather Murray, who is a stubborn, leather-tough old man living alone in the countryside, miles outside of Silverton.

Never Been on Broadway is a romantic short story about the reality of fame and about how far away from reality the famous can be. The story follows the first day of Evelyn Alford’s first ever trip to New York City. The allure of Broadway, the millions who come each year seeking fame but the few who truly understand the luck and the randomness involved. Never Been on Broadway goes behind the closed dressing rooms doors and shows the true fears and attitudes of today’s stars living in a 24 hour social media world.

Mary is a gas-station attendant with an epileptic son who can barely make ends meet, when she makes them meet at all. She has dreams of a forbidden love but can’t focus on those dreams when she can’t even buy her son’s medicine. She has a real knack for staying calm under pressure and steadfastly does what she needs to, in order to keep food on their table and a roof over their heads.

Mermaids, mermen, treacherous villagers, and a Nix: these are some of the exciting things in store for you with the latest Natashiah Jansen story entitled Pearl Port Singer. You’ll be taken on a dive into the magical world of merpeople...If you love humorous stories, you will love Pearl Port Singer.

After his mother goes deaf, a young boy must navigate through the many difficulties of his childhood. The boy witnesses his Mom deal with loss, his father becoming distant, his older brother living a life of his own. The protagonist feels alone, powerless, voiceless. At the same time, the boy tries to impress the girl of his dreams at school, leading him into a troublesome situation. He must make choices which could affect him for the rest of his life. Through it all, he must figure out how to endure and grow, how to become the man of the house.

Blindness never stops a friendship; is not just about a friendship, but also other powerful themes. The story centers around a girl named Katherine, 15 years of age. Recently blind in a car accident which killed her mother. Now is in the care of her estranged aunt, who is hiding secrets. Katherine tries her best to make a relationship with Morgan, only it is clear that the woman is hiding secrets. Each section is a riveting experience building up to an on-edge confrontation. It’s up to you to picture the events. Blind Girl Meets a Ghost will not be a disappointing listen.

Ten years ago, Ellie Stephenson married her husband, George, because if she hadn’t, her father would have disowned her and taken away her $18 million trust fund, along with excommunicating her from her father. George knew Ellie did not love him and never would but gave her the best life he could. The stipulations regarding the money expire on Ellie and George’s 10th wedding anniversary.

Sometimes we have no control over what life brings us. This is completely true for Marie, who had her dreams set on a life of prosperity and propriety. She finds that life isn’t as simple as she has been taught to think, and when she finds herself torn between a life of love and a life of convenience, she finds that decisions aren’t so simple, either. Her dreams have always been pinned upon the life she would have if she were to marry Leroy Bouche, but when another man enters into the picture, things aren’t always so certain.

"Inside Melting House" is a creepy and suspenseful story that will draw into its mystery. It introduces you to sympathetic characters over two generations who, even in the short space of the story, you come to sympathize with and understand.

Anya and her sister, Dawn, grew up with their parents teaching them how to use magic. Unbeknownst to her sister, Anya is a nephadin, the offspring of an angel and a demon. Anya, being the more powerful of the two, is envied and secretly hated by Dawn. In young adulthood, their rivalry comes to a head when they both fall in love with Seth, the prince. Anya’s accident in the woods brings the prince right to their door and into their hearts.

“Dead People’s Letters” is a story that should appeal to fans of ghosts and zombies as well as fans of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s classic works. It not only places the undead in the middle of 19th-century Russia, but also makes them the central characters of the story and also good friends with one another.

Jennifer McCain has dealt with more than her fair share of mishaps over time. Her wife’s ex, institutionalized for attempted murder, seems to be the ultimate culprit yet is unable to perform the crimes that she has been accused of. Her health has failed her miserably, but Jenny has insisted that Casey is out to get her still. But if Casey is locked away, how can Jenny even think it would be her?

Cora and Lewis, two youths with seemingly nothing in common, come together in spite of their peers. Unlikely friends fall in love, and four years later, their life together seems perfect: Lewis has a high-paying job, the two share a luxury apartment in the city, and Lewis is ready to ask Cora to marry him. But what happens when Cora disappears without a word? How does Lewis react when he sees her lurking in the doorway at one of his conferences?

Jack has recently graduated from high school with his best friend Lilac. They go back a long ways, but they never imagine they will be working at the same grocery store during the same shift. Guise Markets is not Jack’s ideal choice for a job, but there is more to the store than it seems. What might have been a typical boring job proves more exciting than Jack has bargained for. The other night employees reported seeing strange things, objects falling off the shelves. It is even rumored that the company’s founder may have died in the store.

This story includes a universal theme that, though expressed through events that occur in the future, is still highly applicable to the world of today. Listeners will be able to view the events of the short story as a warning of the future that will come to be if the illustrated morals are not observed.

“When Love Leaves” by Elizabeth Owens is a story many people can relate to: What do you do when love leaves, and you are left heartbroken and alone? Cassie is a divorced woman who had gone through years of abuse from a man she once loved dearly. When the abuse leads to a life shattering loss, she realizes she must escape the cruelty and try to make a life of her own. Leading a successful life as a social worker and making changes in children’s lives gives Cassie a feeling of contentment and satisfaction.

Sense and Super-Abilities is a pastiche of the settings, style, and sort of characters usually associated with Jane Austen and Superlatives subjects, superhuman characters similar to modern comic book heroes. Though it combines two previously existing elements, it is an original story and not a mash-up. Sense and Super-Abilities is the tale of one girl’s coming of age, and how she learns to do what is right, even if it is not what comes easily.

John is thrown into a world where he has no idea what is going on. First he’s chased by zombies and they aren’t real. He is then thrust into the world of fantasy. For a boy who plays Dungeons and Dragons it’s just like an adventure that he and his friends have played before. However, this time around he’s not a boy, and it’s all real. He can tell by the broken nose he gets the first few hours he is in that other world. But how did he get there, and where can he find a way back to his own world?