Cast of Characters [Note: Spoiler Alert - this includes updates that may ruin some plot points] Life as a New Hire By Nut Ranch and FinalStand Impossible gratitude to Nut Ranch who not only made this list - he made it thrice. Only my ineptitude had kept the first two creations from the light. As always, the subject matter is my responsibility. If you li...
Scent Marked: A biologist learns her true power on the trail of the snow leopard My heartfelt thanks to mollycactus and Brittni4u for their generosity in reading and editing this story. Chapter 1 "Fucking bollocks!" I uttered softly as I watched the large chunk of ice break away from the cliff where my axe had struck it, trying to give myself an anchor...
An introductory note to readers, especially my Literotican followers. I am flattered and pleased by the reception of my stories, and thank one and all for their comments and suggestions - all such are very welcome. To all suggestions for sequels or follow-ups, those are under serious consideration. ABOUT THIS STORY - This is a longish story, but I think...
"The separation between past, present and future is only an illusion, though a convincing one..." - Albert Einstein. Feet tucked in close, she sighed, picked up the newspaper and looked over the front page, settled on a story and started reading. From time to time she picked up her coffee, took a sip, a little grin crossing her face here, the shadow of a...
I first heard about Birgul, which means One Rose in Turkish, from my best friend. Before I get to what he told me about her though, I need to explain some things. First off, I'm a 53 year old American, living in Turkey, and married to a Turkish woman as my third wife. My best friend is a 37 year old Turk, who was once married to an American, and has been div...
I've leveraged the Hemingway canon for a few of my stories. And A Farewell to Arms is the only one left now. That is the definitive war novel; as iconic as The Red Badge of Courage. I was hesitant to try to cover it because we don't fight wars like that anymore. But my pal Richard Gerald talked me into at least looking at it. And in the end I saw that the...
"But why? I make really good money. Why would you want to try something so risky and jeopardize our future?" he asked in that quasi-patronizing tone of voice she despised. "I know you do. You're very talented. I was just thinking how good it would feel to own my own business," she replied politely not wanting to start another argument. "A food truck isn't...
A short letter to my readers. First, I need to apologize. Real life got in the way of this story. First my wife had a life threatening accident. Then a sibling collapsed and was on a death watch for a while. He's better now, but not out of the woods yet. Then my wife had another accident, not life threatening but very painful. Happily, she's on the road to...
The late spring sun came through the window, illuminating the dust motes drifting in the air currents. Cindy, my wife of three years, and I were recovering from a lazy afternoon lovemaking session. She tousled the thick hair on my chest, then lowered her lips to my nipple and suckled gently. "Are you thirsty, honey?" I joked. She raised her face and grinned...
December 26 I'd just settled down to my morning coffee and an extreme Sudoku when my phone rang. I always do one of the puzzles before work to limber up my mind, and I'd gotten so accustomed to the exercise that I did it even on the days when I wasn't working. I guess you could say that solving puzzles is my profession. The group I'm in gets suspicious com...