Fiction
The Peacock
HARRISON BLACKMAN
In “The Peacock,” a producer for the podcast “Detective Radio” travels to his hometown of San Diego to research an episode about the US Navy. Along the way, he confronts grief, reconnects with an old flame, and stumbles into a military conspiracy that threatens his life and all that he loves.
Silver and Gold: A Hollywood Story
JEFF FLEISCHER
Dash Silver and Carol Gold were Hollywood stars in the 1950s, lovers on screen and off. Decades after their relationship ends, Carol receives an envelope with a surprising request from Dash – will she honor it or not? As she considers her options, she recalls their Tinseltown past and the surprising reason she’s had nothing to say to him for so long.
A Cry in the Night
NATALIE SIERRA
In Hollywood in 1929, a young actress working as a telephone switchboard operator receives a terrifying call — a woman screaming for help, silenced by a sudden gunshot. When the police investigation leads nowhere, she jumps into action to try to learn the identity and the fate of the mysterious screaming woman.
Hawkesmoor: A Novel of Vampire and Faerie
ANNE MERINO
British vampire Robin Dashwood has been hiding from his past in New York City. He’s poured himself into his work as a history professor at NYU. Since his painful transition into a vampire, he has avoided the place of his 18th-century human birth, Hawkesmoor Castle, in Yorkshire, England. However, a twist of fate returns Robin to Hawkesmoor Castle to uncover what he suspects was an 18th century murder, and to pursue the beautiful woman who has captured his heart.
Hideaway Lounge
WILLIAM TORPHY
This is the story of Margaret and Bernie’s long marriage, told through a series of nostalgic flashbacks to Hollywood of the 1950s. As they near the end of their long lives, the couple hatches a surprising plan, and one fateful night they return to the Sunset Inn, where they first met sixty years earlier.
Bar Kafka
FRANCIS DUFFY
“Bar Kafka” is the gripping story of Joe Nickerson’s adventures after serving in Vietnam. We travel with him from Vietnam to Japan, and after he arrives home, from Los Angeles to New Jersey. Captivated by a stalwart, seductive, and enigmatic woman, he ultimately returns to Japan… which leads to a most unexpected encounter.
Sandhill Cranes
ANNA PRAWDZIK HULL
Hector, a young man from Albuquerque, is one semester away from getting a degree from the University of New Mexico. His mother, who was recently deported from the U.S., is sick and needs urgent care in Oaxaca, Mexico. To help her, Hector gets a job working for a secretive character, a man named Johnny G, whose dangerous side business — if you can call it that — opens Hector’s eyes, and his heart.
Summer of the River Bottom Dragon
JENNIFER O’NEILL PICKERING
This eloquent and poignant short story, about redemption and forgiveness, begins when a horseshoe-shaped belt buckle tumbles out of an old photo album into Sarah’s lap. She recalls that there was nothing lucky about that particular keepsake, and relives the momentous events of one particular summer that she called “the summer of the river bottom dragon.”
MacFarland’s Unreasonable Expectations
SEAN MURRAY
What do a box-car riding, washed up sax player, a Tijuana cop, a Scandinavian diplomat, a gorgeous high diver, and a race horse ready for the glue factory, have in common? They all turn up in Sean Murray’s highly entertaining short story.
I Have Her Memories Now
CARRIE GRINSTEAD
This is a short story about a medical miracle, a childhood obsession, and a first hearbreak. The main character develops a dark and destructive obsession with a classmate. She also experiences the first real dreams for her future, and her first crushing disappointment.
Under Overhead Lights
TIM JONES
We all make choices, and then must live with the consequences. In this story, Chase reluctantly returns to the mid-sized, middle-class mid-western town he grew up in, and had left as quickly as he could. In a moment of nostalgia during a visit home, he tours the town and reconnects with two people he had nearly forgotten.The impact of an old judgment becomes visible in the overhead light of experience and maturity.