JJ Carlisle is a guy who grew up thinking he was destined for greatness. Instead, he finds trouble, though his sister Jackie and stepsister Karen regularly bail him out. While their lives settle down as the years pass, JJ feels personally affronted by the roiling 21st century economy. Occupy gives him a shot at leadership. But his anger threatens to radicalize him beyond the family’s imagination.JJ Carlisle is the beloved youngest brother of his blended family, a boy who grew up thinking he was destined for greatness. Instead, he finds trouble, with sister Jackie and stepsister Karen regularly there to bail him out. While their lives settle as the years pass, JJ feels personally affronted by the roiling economy of the 21st century. The Occupy movement gives him a shot at leadership. But his hubris and anger threaten to radicalize him farther than the rest of the family can imagine.

When I was a boy I imagined I was James Bond. When I grew up my adventures were not quite so spectacular. But when I became a writer, I decided my earlier imaginings had value. Hence, in this collection of Flash Fiction meet heroes, spies and villains aplenty, topped off with a series delving deep into the nature of conspiracy theory. But don't worry. Everything is under control.The Melbourne Writers’ Social Group began as a social outlet for those in a craft where most of their work is done in isolation. Our membership is a melting pot of novelists, short story writers, poets, playwrights, screenwriters, songwriters, and those who have an idea they want to write about, but don’t know where to begin. The events we organize have become the proverbial water cooler for those who use the written word as their creative outlet.This anthology is a representation of the spirit of what the Melbourne Writers’ Social Group is all about--cultivating an atmosphere where writers are encouraged to explore their passion, improve their craft, learn about their trade, and to do so in a social environment that is supportive and fun.The stories you will read are a snapshot of writers at various points in the development of their craft, each with different strengths and weaknesses, each with unique voices, and all of whom have done what each of us as writers believe we should always do more of--commit to a project, write it, submit it for feedback, revise and then finally submit it for publication and release into the world.The topic for this inaugural anthology is Valentine’s Day. We chose this topic because it’s a day that has the power to evoke warm, fuzzy, and romantic feelings or equally cold, harsh, and bitter ones. These writers have taken on the task of addressing this topic from their own original perspectives.So, as we say in the Group, we invite you to sit back with a cuppa or a drink, relax, and enjoy the following stories. May these pages charm and delight you, or run a chill up your spine, if you prefer.

The first book in the series The Feelings Are the Same.Since 1954, the Neubulisskys, from Planet Neubulis, have abducted people from around the world for their psychological experiments. The experiments are about human feelings and interactions, and Suki, having few friends and relatives, seemed perfect for the project of loneliness. Or so they thought.The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance. –John 10:10, AMPGood Friday started off as anything but that for Melinda Black. After losing her job and self-dignity, a series of events cascade her onto an emotionally charged roller coaster ride that drastically changes her life forever.Will Melinda be able to handle the pressure when she stands to lose what's most important in her life? Once Upon a Sunday is an inspirational short story.

The Adventures of Paddy and Seamus comprises of a series of epic fantasy adventure stories, told in ebooks.Over many, many years Paddy and Seamus have been the objects of jokes and ridicule, usually revolving around their dim wittedness and foolish antics. Don’t believe everything you’ve heard. If you want to find out what really happened, this is where you start.The adventures begin;The village of Damanta Mallaithe is home to outcasts, exiles and those who need a place to hide. Everyone here has a past and secrets to keep. The village is run by Glute, a six foot, telepathic slug who enforces the one rule of the village; never ask about your neighbors past or what it was that caused them to be exiled.A short walk to the east of the village lies Boggy Marsh, a dark, dangerous and fog bound swamp that is a prison to the evil folk of the land. No one who has gone into Boggy Marsh has ever come out again.On a bright autumn morning, Paddy and Seamus and Mr. Elf (a winged elf from the mysterious Aelfin) are lured into Boggy Marsh to find the pot of gold at the end of an astonishingly beautiful rainbow. Beset by the inmates of the swamp the companions find unexpected help in the form of the newly hatched invisibility bird, Mody.Captured by the witch Hag Head, the companions find themselves working to complete tasks at her bidding and end up accepting a quest that will lead them to their destiny. But first they have to escape from Boggy Marsh, while being pursued by an angry Dragon and her minions, the Fugglies.The Secrets of the Boggy Marsh is the first in a series of new fantasy adventure stories. Populated with unusual characters and creatures, all have secrets that bind them without their knowing it.

This is a true story based on the diaries of Fanny Seward, daughter of William H Seward,, Secretary of State to Abraham Lincoln. Several days before Lincoln's assassination, Seward had a severe and almost deadly carriage accident of which his daughter was a witness. The night Lincoln was assassinated, Seward, who was still recovering from the accident, had an attack on his own life as well.When I was younger, I was afraid of dogs for a while. I would actually run from even the smallest of dogs. Then one morning, as I recall my mom and dad surprized me with this brand new little puppy named Susie. She was the cutest little thing I had ever seen. I wasn’t very old at the time. I may have been 5 or so.

In this haunting short story, Ian Hawes moves into his wife's Regency estate out in the countryside to finish his opus for the Sussex Symphony Orchestra. Despite being in the perfect setting to focus on his work, Ian finds it difficult to write. He suspects there might be more to the house than he first realised and he begins to uncover a dark secret about the house... and his wife.A young woman is possessed by the demon Shkazzrt, and faces a difficult choice: go through with the perilous exorcism or not? Zombie researchers are standing by while she consults an expert on exorcism - a vampire.THE 'ZOMBIES VS VAMPIRES VS DEMONS' WORLD:In a post-apocalyptic world, humans are a just valuable resource: zombies want their brains, vampires want their blood, and demons want their souls. Pure humans are difficult to come by, and the factions scrape what they need from each other, either through brute force or fragile alliances.SUPERNATURAL FANTASY STORY [1500 words]

The wizard's tower is falling down, falling down, falling down! The Wizard's tower is falling down, my fair lady.The wizard's tower is falling down, falling down, falling down! The Wizard's tower is falling down, my fair lady.This is the second short story in the Evenings with Rory series. It is only tied in with Harriet's Mystery in that the inspiration came from Rory's Story Cubes, which are fun and awesome.Should you like to appear as part of Evenings with Rory, please email the author.

When an ex-serviceman seeks answers about his military past, how far will people go to make sure he finds out exactly what he wants to know?And how much harder will they work to make sure he doesn't?A toyshop owner builds a set of magic clockwork dolls that delight a factory town. A three-inch tall samurai faces a giant iron ogre with only a sewing needle and a coin. A scientist seeks an antidote to his formula gone wrong, with the help of his partner’s beautiful daughter.All of these stories and more are included in Steampunk Fairy Tales. Written by authors from three different continents, every enchanting tale combines the futuristic Victorian concept of steam and fashion with memorable stories, from the recognizable “Jack and the Beanstalk”, to other popular and unfamiliar works from Germany, France, Italy and Japan. With steam driven gadgets such as mechanical goggles, hoverboards, and an orchestra of automatons. Steampunk Fairy Tales is a charming and unique collection of works for current lovers of the genre, and those just diving in.

In 'Beyond the Crossing', Liz and her partner Martin, lived together in Melbourne in the early 1970s. Nearly everyone was attending antiwar protests and smoking dope in dimly lit folk clubs. They found they had inadvertently joined the rat race and decided to move to outback Australia and work in an Aboriginal community. It changes their lives forever.Lorraine Watts, author, is passionate about the regional, rural, and remote parts of Australia and the people who live there. She has lived in capital cities too, but it is the outback of Australia that captures her heart and provides much of the raw material for her writing. In this short story, Beyond the Crossing, two of the main characters, Liz and Martin, met and started their lives together in 1972 in Melbourne. This was a time when it seemed that nearly everyone was attending anti- Vietnam war protests, and smoking dope in dimly lit folk clubs in city basements. Liz and Martin, along with thousands of other young people, saw a need and opportunity to change the world to a kinder more loving place. They wanted a revolution.A few short years later, they married, had two young children, and were grinding their way through the rat race along with the rest of the population. That is, until an exciting opportunity arose for them to go north to a remote Aboriginal community in Arnhem Land. This experience was to shape their future together: for better or worse. They returned to Melbourne in 1981 but not for long. Next time they went to Fitzroy Crossing in West Australia's North West. This very different experience brought about a crisis in their lives. This story commences with the main character, Liz, in 2003, as she reflects on her time at the Crossing and wonders what the future holds for her. I hope you enjoy this story and that it gives you some insight into the human condition we all share.

A man's story as he enters a new town south of Lake Erie.A ghost story of a different kind !Katherine Rebecca has always done exactly what was expected of her. Her prim and proper upbringing taught her the importance of family, sacrifice, and social stature. She has followed in her parents' footsteps, being trained and groomed daily almost from birth, to take over the family law firm. It was never a question of IF she wanted to but WHEN she would take the reins of the company. She worked rigorously toward that predetermined goal her entire life. She gave up friends, boyfriends, and an exciting social life in order to propel herself through school and college. Katherine Rebecca strives to please her parents. More than anything, she basked in their praise and approval. But now, at 21 years old, she finds herself leading a life that is nothing like the life she imagined for herself.Becky has always possessed a deep love of magic. Ever since she was a small child she has been fascinated with magicians, illusions, mystery, and the vague hope that there was some sort of real magic in the world. But this is a secret no one knows, or at least that’s what she thought. Until one day Becky finds a mysterious business card in her pocket that leads her to an equally mysterious man. He opens up a whole new world of possibilities to her, one with a tantalizing proposition that she never thought imaginable.Could magic actually be real?

this book contains thirty poems on flowers, light, creatures, water and places, these are followed by four connected poems on peace.It's 1981 in Dallas and Stan decides to throw a Christmas party at his home as a way of saying thanks to the clients who have sustained him during his first tumultuous year in the practice of law. As Stan's luck would have it, a client is killed in a freak accident and Stan is blamed for his death. While trying to shield himself from the wrath of the grieving widow, he's asked to defend a young woman charged with murdering her newborn child. Since Stan has only been practicing a year, he knows he shouldn't take the case, but his client begs him to do it. Reluctantly, he agrees but enlists the aid of his former criminal law professor at SMU to be "Second Chair." He thinks everything is going to be okay now, but what he doesn't realize is that his professor is a drunk and probably won't show up for trial.

An aspiring young journalist seeks a job as a reporter and finally lands a position as a copy boy. His wannabe spirit to become a writer is not damped as he finally is given the opportunity to report on the story of a lifetime. His dreams are unfolding and will they finally be revealed or dashed to ashes?"Midterms" was my entry in NPR’s Round Nine of their occasional feature, “Three Minute Fiction,” in which they invite listeners to submit an original, unpublished story of 600 or fewer words which fulfills a condition set by that Round’s author-judge. In this case, each story had to “reference a U.S. President, real or fictional.” Inasmuch as the day before the September 23 submission deadline was the 150th anniversary of one of our history’s most momentous—and politically shrewd—decisions, I felt dutybound to indulge that reality. My conceit: What if that “game-changer” presented itself in an electoral environment like today’s?

A short urban fantasy. Physicians often spend nights awake, up at the hospital caring for patients. On most occasions this doctor is no different, but on Halloween, his nocturnal activities take on a different hue...blood red."Amusement" is the story of one man's battle to make the world a better place through a dedicated sense of professionalism, despite the psychedelic hell it puts him through. It's the story of a man who wants revenge against anyone who ever said, "Whatever gets the job done is good enough," before what's good enough leads to tragedy. It's the story of a soul who wants to right those wrongs caused by professional inadequacy while hopefully reclaiming his long-lost happiness in the process."It should always be done perfectly the first time, or it shouldn’t be done at all"--that's Sammy’s motto. Perfectionism is his calling card, and he thinks that showing anything less is a sure sign of professional immaturity, and immaturity is what makes the world a terrible place. He's obsessive about it. And, the last thing he would ever do is to cut corners or disobey orders from his bosses at Dinners and Waters just to save time or face. So, when he finds out his Monday meeting is being held offsite at a theme park called Happy Fun Land, he acquiesces to the change in routine (a routine that keeps him professionally-minded) because his boss expects him to attend the conference and learn how he can help make the partnership with the theme park's parent company successful. But there's a hitch: Sammy hates the company that Dinners and Waters wants to invest in. Hates everything it stands for. And he hates everything Happy Fun Land stands for. So, when his initial confrontation with Happy Fun Land's parking staff turns violent (unprofessional) and makes him almost an hour late to the meeting (highly unprofessional), he realizes he is about to embark on a personal hell through a "professional" experience that could very well destroy his mind and his sense of reason.He continues on anyway because that's what a professional would do. However, his standards for quality performance are constantly challenged as he stumbles through a world filled with madness, manipulation, and candy, leading him ultimately to stand face to face with the most unprofessional creature he has ever met, the theme park's mascot, Nippy the Cat, in a confrontation that could either change the atmosphere of the theme park or cost him his professionalism and his sanity.Sammy is not amused.

Annalise speaks with all the confidence of a PhD student defending her homeland security proposal. Council needs decide—to risk their valley on the voice of Kiki the kindergarten girl or keep roving drones loaded with ammunition and wrap straps. Movers, the climate refugees, want valley access while Council needs their social model of an engineered future to succeed.Annalise faces the challenge of her early adult life as she stands before valley Council with a unique idea. She wants so bad to wrap a gentle feeling of security around life in their mountain valley but old thinking dogs her attempts at the radical. Having escaped the worst of the urban climate crisis in a desperate night time drive as a teenager with her father, she feels driven to translate her career study into a double solution. To keep the social engineering model their valley is developing on track while keeping the valley safe from invasive refugees. And still her nightmares of mover invasions. Standing solid in her way, some Councillors retain the traditional thinking that brought on the climate crisis in the first place. But she can never voice that out loud. Through her graduate work, Annalise became entranced by a fantastic yet practical line of research. The analyzed mindset of girl children, especially those in the Tribe 5 category, has good potential to help any human conflict. Little girl rules of social engagement can be proven valid with drone technology eliminating violence at valley entry points. Highly motivated to get her message through, she knows if she can just get Kiki in place talking, the little girl voice will sell itself. Standing before Council, she has to be smart enough to keep quiet and let old women challenge old men. But how will that work out?

Chapter 6 : The Junker The Governor of Grand Bitania has Andee on his radar. At the next big race Andee is staggered to discover who's been watching him, and how. His friends too are shocked by this twist of events, but their worries are forgotten, sucked in by the greatest race they have ever seen. After this race, you will never forget 'The Junker'.Lightship Chronicles is a young adult adventure set on a mysterious world. Carpatia is a harsh desert land, but one with spectacular vistas and populated by two very different yet resilient people, the Carpati and the Bitani. Both believe in competing myths of their history. Myths of great ancient battles fought over by a clan of mysterious Sacred Warriors against magical Light-Fairies. Under the glowing warmth of their red-giant sun, it's easy for the Carpati to believe in their beautiful myths. They spend most of their long 36 hour days living a simple farming lifestyle in the Township built on the lower slopes of the mighty Table Mountain. The Bitani meanwhile rule over the Carpati from their futuristic city atop the massive pillar-like tabletop of a mountain, and have a very different, and quite mysterious perspective. For the Carpati the only respite from the drudgery of their simple days are the monthly lightship races. The hovering lightships speed at more than 700kph over a 600km course that runs up the sides of mesas, through the canyons of the Crags, over the 10m waves of the Great Salt sea, over the Long Straight, the Dunes, and through the Eastern Hills and its many giant Baobab threes. It's a spectacular race unlike anything else and the favorite pastime of Andee and his little brother Mykee. Both dream of being lightship pilots while watching the race from their favorite hangout, the 1000m high Outcrop overlooking The Crags. Join the adventure now, because this is growing into an epic tale years into the making. Visit LightshipChronicles.com for more in depth details of the race circuit, including images of the course, the outcrop, and the lightships.

Incurable prion disease eating your nervous system?Abandon everyone you love. Go to a clinic in a universe where prions can't replicate.When aliens attack, prion disease patient Sherry Rogers finds herself behind enemy lines.Nobody can save Sherry. Except herself.And nobody at all can keep the aliens from massacring everyone... except -- maybe -- Sherry.Incurable prion disease eating your nervous system?Abandon everyone you love. Go to a clinic in a universe where prions can't replicate.Sherry Rogers fills her days as best she can with her rattletrap nervous system. When aliens attack the clinic, however, she finds herself behind enemy lines.Nobody can save Sherry. Except herself.And nobody at all can keep the aliens from massacring everyone... except -- maybe -- Sherry.

William Blake, happily settled in the peaceful countryside of Brittany, meets a beautiful Frenchwoman at a local sporting club. But, after meeting her son, things begin to go wrong and the Hunter becomes the Hunted."The Hunter" is the first book in a series of William Blake novels. It is a fast moving read, where our once professional hunter becomes the hunted. The story is set in the north of France where William, an ex Royal Marine, becomes the hunter's quarry in a bizarre initiation ceremony when he joins a local hunting club. The ceremony ends in disaster and sets William on a course to defend his innocence by again becoming the professional hunter to find his only witness.