She told the magistrate she had been abused, taken advantage of, her reputation ruined.Or had she?The village law said that the benefit of the doubt lay with the most vulnerable. And so women were believed...

While Marj is helping urban archeologists, she discovers a secret map that she hides from the authorities. It tells of an underground system of tunnels that cross through mazes of paths under North America,...

This man had ruined his life. So he wanted payback.Found him in a chain restaurant. Back booth. Playing solitaire."Maestro the Magnificent." Humbug.The guy that had launched a self-help cult based on...

Indecision has been known to kill people. In politics, it just makes fund-raising harder.That's why we gremlins love the politicians. When they built Washington on our swamp, we got the best deal out...

It all started when politicians and out-spoken celebrities and sports figures started being exposed for the stinkers they are.It all started with a science grant that created a hypcrisy scanner. Tested...

John Earl Stark had a problem. If his book sales didn't pick up, he'd have to go get a real job.So he called an old friend, a fellow author just returned from a "digital rehab" and wanting to get back...

Julie Montcalm had a problem, or two of them. Horace Hackett Jr. was behind deadline for a story she needed. But the worst of that is he had written her into the story itself, as a character.Along with...

What happens when politicians get old and can no longer be trusted?Out of power, living on a trust fund, her philandering husband living his own life without her. Only her dreams of one-time fame (and...

A Simple Job: Make a Delivery and Get Paid a Fortune - Or Die.What he was driving was an up-armored trailer rig. And was getting paid a fortune to deliver something to a fortified city.To someone who...

A Collection of the Dark Humor Satire of R. L. SaundersLife in our dystopian near-futures has never been funnier. Sauders gets inspiration from our daily news, and these stories are therapy for us as...

Ever wonder how all these Romances and Academic papers get written? Interestingly, most of these authors have pets. Cats, particularly, who like to type. Seriously. But you'll never know it. Because they...

Only a Frump could be elected in this modern age. Because no one trusted a man to get anything right anymore. The first female president fit the model, and this reporter was putting the pieces together...

John Earl Stark problems were far from over. He was up to his neck and now his stories were running his life.All he wanted was to improve his book sales. But what he got was too many stories to write....

At the beginning was The Games. Because they were running out of people.The gangs were killing each other off too fast. And the city was running out of money to keep them all on free food and free medical.The...

Our Second Civil War was over in minutes - while the conflict took decades. As in all wars, both sides lost heavily and then proclaimed victory. I knew this all too well, serving as a paramedic to patch...

"Millions will die unless you act."Two doctors had entered my office, despite my Chief of Staff's best effort to keep my schedule organized. Apparently, their message and dire looks affected his better...

The third time she was beaten up by a different roving city gang and this time left for dead. The guy who saved her life wanted to help solve how she ended up that way.What wasn't working was to be anything...

She could still remember the look on his face when they closed the Riot Wall for the final time.She could barely find him at first beyond the chain-link fence a few hundred yards away. If not for that...

Can the future be saved by returning a woman to affect the present?Peter was a perfect gentleman. When he showed up at an all-woman's club unannounced, the defences came up. Mari met him, surrounded by...

Two twin boys were born one stormy night, while flying through the Bermuda Triangle.One didn't belong to this universe, the other did.An easier entrance was made in Washington, D. C.Just a test appearance....

Of course it was a normal day. SNAFU - as usual.But no one noticed. Because it was so normal. So SNAFU.The world felt more and more programmed. Or pre-programmed. Life had become a video game, a matrix-spawn....

The more circuits in any machine, the more it's likely to get "haunted." When you connect it to the Internet then you can get more than you asked for.Installing a home system seemed obvious at the time....

When the Medicine Show rolled into town, she had to see for herself.Because there was nothing else to lose, she thought.The rumors flew, of course. But what did they know? They always depended on what...

Have you ever thought some very dangeous thoughts? Ones that could destroy all life as you knew it?In these six stories by three authors, they do just that. Of course, fiction is safer than real life,...

The adventures of the Ghost Hunters continue - with more exotic locations and hair-raising paranormal adventures than ever before.This new anthology of short story fiction by S. H. Marpel and various...

This anthology of stories all are around the fact that animals can talk.Every bit as well as humans.It's humans that have the real problem – listening.There are probably a dozen-dozen reasons why we humans...

The adventures of the Ghost Hunters continue - with more exotic locations and hair-raising paranormal adventures than ever before: - A triple crossover story, where a time-bender discovers she is about...

There's a little-known fact that animals can talk.Every bit as well as humans.It's humans that have the real problem – listening.There are probably a dozen-dozen reasons why we humans won't simply open...

If laughter is the best medicine, then reading humorous short stories should be the best practice to maintain your health.These three authors with their six stories have written stories that both poke...

The adventures of the Ghost Hunters continue - with more exotic locations and hair-raising paranormal adventures than ever before:This second quarter anthology of short story fiction by S. H. Marpel and...