Ever find yourself in a dead-end with no future? Years after graduating from college with an art degree, Bugsy finds himself on a treadmill to nowhere and wonders how everything went wrong in the first place.Bugsy first appears in my short story "East Village" as a 16-year-old runaway living near Tompkins Square Park in 1967. Here we meet him again exactly one decade later and his circumstances have changed dramatically. If you don't set a course in life, you begin to drift, which has good and bad aspects. This story takes place in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, twin-cities dominated by the biggest university in Illinois. Many graduates hang around town for a few years after graduation trying to figure out a next move.

A celebration of people of all kind and their pursue for the lost wonder years of infancy. These are poems that evaluate human life in and outside a city lost in its own creation.'When Dawn Arises' reunites some of my best works so far. A celebration of people of all kind and their pursue for the lost wonder years of infancy. These are poems who evaluate human life in and outside a city lost in its own creation.---(Poems written between February and March 2015)

A few poems written in the past couple of years, but haven't been published until nowCourage. Compassion. A warm light for all to follow. In a world where playing games on cell phones give people superpowers like flying or teleporting, twelve-year-old Leon can shine light from his hands which is the least useful superpower of the nine. But when he discovers his real ability, he turns his world upside down chasing more and more power. Not only is that devastating for his family, but he also destroys his friendship with his best friend, and then discovers that his real ability is tricking him into following a sinister power. He’ll have to give up everything that made him popular in order to do what’s right.

Laura's Shorts is a random collection of unrelated short stories. Many were prepared in response to prompts or criteria of competitions, all were prepared for the sheer joy of storytelling.Sam wins the lottery and asks Natali to marry him and run away to see all the hidden beauty the world has to offer. He wants her by his side through all the great and secret adventures he can dream of with his new wealth. She denies his proposal so he goes it alone, only to return fifty years later. that's when the story truly begins.

Average college student, Patrick Wright, is chosen to be Shadow Star, the final member of the Star People. He is trained in the ways of the Star People while trying to keep up with his college course work. Life, as Shadow Star, is difficult. A mysterious new girlfriend may have the answers. Shadow Star must make choose to make the decisions which could determine the future of the universe.Average college student, Patrick Wright, discovers a cave and receives an ancient scroll after which his life will never be the same. He is chosen to be Shadow Star, the final member of the Star People. He is trained in the ways of the Star People while trying to keep up with his college course work. His teacher and mentor with his new talents must return home. The challenges of his new responsibilities make life, as a Shadow Star and as a college student, difficult. He finds a new girlfriend who just maybe the solution to more issues than he first realizes.After a pivotal dream, Patrick knows his life has changed forever and he might not survive the challenge of being Shadow Star.An intergalactic war has begun with Shadow Star as a key player. Patrick must choose as Shadow Star to make the decisions which could determine the future of the universe.Come along with Patrick as Shadow Star and discover the strength which lives deep inside each one of us.

**Madame X invites you to test the limits of control in this provocative new novel from* New York Times *bestselling author Jasinda Wilder.** *My name is Madame X. I’m the best at what I do. And you’d do well to follow my rules...* Hired to transform the uncultured, inept sons of the wealthy and powerful into decisive, confident men, Madame X is a master of the art of control. With a single glance she can cut you down to nothing, or make you feel like a king. But there is only one man who can claim her body—and her soul. Undone time and again by his exquisite dominance, X craves and fears his desire in equal measure. And while she longs for a different path, X has never known anything or anyone else—until now...

What if you could ask God anything? What would you ask? And how would He answer? Chelsea Chambers is on her own. After a public split from her NFL superstar husband, Chelsea takes a bold step out of the limelight and behind the counter of the Higher Grounds Cafe, an old-fashioned coffee shop in dire need of reinvention. But when her courage, expert planning, and out-of-this-world cupcakes fail to pay the bills, this newly single mom finds herself desperate for help. Better yet, a miracle. Then a curious stranger lands at Chelsea's door, and with him, an even more curious string of events. Soon, customers are flocking to the Higher Grounds Cafe, and not just for the cupcakes and cappuccino. They've come for the internet connection to the divine. Now the cafe has become the go-to place for people in search of answers to life's biggest questions. When a catastrophe strikes and her ex comes calling, Chelsea begins to wonder if the whole universe is conspiring against her quest to make it on her own. After a shocking discovery opens her eyes to the unseen world around her, Chelsea finds the courage to ask God a question of her own. Heaven answers in a most unexpected way.

The members of the Tribulation Force face their most dangerous challenges. Following the assassination of the Antichrist, some are murder suspects; others test the precarious line between subversion and being revealed. All over the news, reporters announce that Rayford Steele is Nicolae Carpathia's assassin, but Buck soon learns the truth. The world mourns the loss of a world leader until events at Nicolae's funeral bring all mourning to an end. A repackage of the seventh book in the "New York Times" best-selling Left Behind series.

Benjamin Alire Saenz's stories reveal how all borders--real, imagined, sexual, human, the line between dark and light, addict and straight--entangle those who live on either side. Take, for instance, the Kentucky Club on Avenida Juarez two blocks south of the Rio Grande. It's a touchstone for each of Saenz's stories. His characters walk by, they might go in for a drink or to score, or they might just stay there for a while and let their story be told. Saenz knows that the Kentucky Club, like special watering holes in all cities, is the contrary to borders. It welcomes Spanish and English, Mexicans and gringos, poor and rich, gay and straight, drug addicts and drunks, laughter and sadness, and even despair. It's a place of rich history and good drinks and cold beer and a long polished mahogany bar. Some days it smells like piss. "I'm going home to the other side." That's a strange statement, but you hear it all the time at the Kentucky Club. Benjamin Alire Saenz is a highly regarded writer of fiction, poetry, and children's literature. Like these stories, his writing crosses borders and lands in our collective psyche. "Poets & Writers Magazine "named him one of the fifty most inspiring writers in the world. He's been a finalist for the "Los Angeles Times "Book Prize and PEN Center's prestigious award for young adult fiction. Saenz is the chair of the creative writing department of University of Texas at El Paso.

She said I was like a song. Her favorite song. A song isn’t something you can see. It’s something you feel, something you move to, something that disappears after the last note is played. I won my first fight when I was eleven years old, and I’ve been throwing punches ever since. Fighting is the purest, truest, most elemental thing there is. Some people describe heaven as a sea of unending white. Where choirs sing and loved ones await. But for me, heaven was something else. It sounded like the bell at the beginning of a round, it tasted like adrenaline, it burned like sweat in my eyes and fire in my belly. It looked like the blur of screaming crowds and an opponent who wanted my blood. For me, heaven was the octagon. Until I met Millie, and heaven became something different. I became something different. I knew I loved her when I watched her stand perfectly still in the middle of a crowded room, people swarming, buzzing, slipping around her, her straight dancer’s posture unyielding, her chin high, her hands loose at her sides. No one seemed to see her at all, except for the few who squeezed past her, tossing exasperated looks at her unsmiling face. When they realized she wasn’t normal, they hurried away. Why was it that no one saw her, yet she was the first thing I saw? If heaven was the octagon, then she was my angel at the center of it all, the girl with the power to take me down and lift me up again. The girl I wanted to fight for, the girl I wanted to claim. The girl who taught me that sometimes the biggest heroes go unsung and the most important battles are the ones we don’t think we can win.

A Journey of two angels, a unique view of Bible stories through the eyes of two angels on missions from GodOn a lonely country road a family of three finds themselves in a life threatening situation. To save her family, Mary walks through a snow storm to find help. Mary herself receives help from surprising sources.

A collection of poems I've written over the years.This story is entirely free of aardvarks, has no mention of a Jenkins and has no lesser than which to be further! If you see what I mean...

This book is the product of my young, high school self. Most of these poems were written during one long summer about one boy who took over my heart.This book is the product of my young, high school self. Most of these poems were written during one long summer about one boy who took over my heart. These are the first few poems in my composition notebook. Stay tuned to read more.

A collection of thirteen short stories by William Faulkner."I'm a failed poet. Maybe every novelist wants to write poetry first, finds he can't and then tries the short story which is the most demanding form after poetry. And failing that, only then does he take up novel writing." - William Faulkner

Short Story:Join Author Quincy Loux in a classic tale between good and evil.David is a man torn between his Christian faith and a life of alcohol and drugs, when David finds himself at the wrong place at the wrong time, he finds himself in front of the Devil. David turns to his lord for help in his time of need; Arch-Angel Michael comes to his aid and helps him battle the beast, and preserve hiShort Story:Join Author Quincy Loux in a classic tale between good and evil.David is a man torn between his Christian faith and a life of alcohol and drugs, when David finds himself at the wrong place at the wrong time, he finds himself in front of the Devil. David turns to his lord for help in his time of need; Arch-Angel Michael comes to his aid and helps him battle the beast, and preserve his position in heaven.