An elite Midwestern college, sometime in the 1990s The afternoon sun was bright on the dirty, melting snow as Rob and his two best friends stepped out of the dining hall. "Look at how elegant our shadows are!" Rebbie drawled in her Southern accent, which Rob had always suspected was exaggerated, as she clung to his arm on her left and Mark's on her right. T...
Who would have thought that the purchase of an old trailer could have brought such adventure? The original idea was to find an easier way for our family to camp out. I mean, my idea of camping is at the Marriott hotel, so when my wife said the trailer was a good idea, I jumped. We have had the trailer for about five years, but it was this summer that the val...
Act 1 -- High Seas Chapter 1 - Paul's horror Newly promoted Sergeant Paul Keane, Paulie, to his friends, slumped into the recliner lounge in his small but comfortable quarters at the base north of Townsville. He eyed the bottle of rot gut sitting on the table beside him, a present from the captain of his squad and grabbed it up pouring a quarter of the con...
Chapter One - Tuesday Watching the semi-truck driving away down the street, Bobby apologized on his cell phone to his sister Francis about being late. "I'm locking the house and leaving right now," he told her as he looked at the clock. "How long do you think it will take me to get there, and what's the best route? I don't want to just trust the GPS." It h...
Ten years ago A young scientist published an article on specialized magazines stating that she had developed a way to create a virus that could revolutionize medicine. Using genetic engineering and nanotechnology, she proposed to change the flu virus so that it could insert new genetic information on its targets, aiming to rectify its host body. Accordingly...
In loving memory of Grace. Gone too soon, but not forgotten. ~~~~~~~ "That's terrible." "Yeah." Claire nodded, taking a sip of her whisky. She'd already downed three more before that, trying to forget that she was single again. Had been for the last week or so, when she'd packed her stuff and left, no clue where to find a place to stay at two in the night...
Author's notes I have been contacted on many occasions by readers asking me to write about particular scenarios they've had in mind and add them into some of my multi-part stories. These I have so far resisted as their ideas usually take my characters into an area I don't envisage them in. I have also been contacted a few times with complete story ideas. Ag...
Author's note: This is a long and crazy one so be warned. I wanted to kick off the summer with something fun and hopefully this is it. There are a few people I wanted to thank because without them you wouldn't be reading this story. First the real life Helena Martinez, who claims to have read every one of my stories and dared me to write a story about this s...
Copyright 2017 by RWSTEWARD All rights reserved. Reposting without written permission prohibited. From my point of view any door that's open was an invitation for people to look inside. That's exactly what I did. There were several pianos that appeared well worn, and I carefully sat down in front of one. My fingers moved along the ivory keys, and before I k...
Notes from the Author: No, this is not the area where I warn you about ages and fakeness. That is inferred. --This story is a direct follow-up to "Heather Jenkins." You should read that first or you'll be lost. I have no idea how that story ended up in Sci-Fi & Fantasy. I blame the wheel mouse. --This story is long! (So is "Heather Jenkins.") --This...