From a desert highway in West Texas to the plains of frontier Kansas to an abandoned mine in New Mexico, from a courtroom to a high school girls’ speech contest to a nursing home, from the side yard of a suburban home to a youth revival to the halls of an urban high school, K.C. Knouse puts the main characters of the thirteen short stories and novella included in this collection into circumstances that challenge assumptions they have made about themselves, their lives, and the world in which they live:
The mother who is estranged from her son.
The young woman who has doubts about her relationship with an older man.
The widower who struggles to accept the death of his wife.
The young man who is fearful of becoming his abusive father.
The homesteader who fights to redeem his pride.
The aging salesman whose livelihood is threatened by technology.
The father who relives his past at the expense of his relationship with his son.
The boy who discovers that having money creates as many problems as it solves.
The veteran teacher who crosses an emotional boundary in spite of herself.
The teenage boy whose relationship with God is complicated by a pretty girl and a misunderstanding.
The woman who doubts her decision to put her husband into a nursing home.
The man whose faith in the justice system is shaken.
The high school girl who is self-conscious about a birthmark on her face.
The middle-aged insurance adjuster who receives more than he bargained for when he comes to the aid of an attractive woman.
K.C. Knouse uses compassion, humor and an eye for detail to bring these characters to life and bind their stories to your heart.
K.C. Knouse is the author of Twenty Miles West of Branch, Texas and other stories, a collection of short fiction, A Short Stack of Short Fiction, Three Character Driven Short Stories, and a non-fiction book, True Prosperity: Your Guide to a Cash-Based Lifestyle (1996, Double-Dome Publications).
Knouse began writing for publication in 1985 and has had his short fiction published in print literary magazines and online at Wattpad.com. He wrote a personal finance blog, LiveOnCash, from 2010 to 2021.
A career outside salesperson, Knouse enjoyed a forty-year career in the printed products industry. He spent most of his career as a self-employed person.
K.C. Knouse lives on the U.S./Mexico border in far west Texas. More information can be found on the author’s website, KCKnouse.com.
Once upon a time, there was an age of kings. An age of mighty kingdoms and dynasties ruling over vast stretches of land with unlimited wealth and unmatched renown. But the memory of man is fickle and short lived. Common tales passed unto history, history became lore and lore faded into myth.
These stories will give you a momentary glimpse into the lives of the kings and the queens. They would tell you of the lives these men and women lived and the challenges they faced – from incapable princes to indecent relations, from sharp swords to seductive traps and from single minded greed to selfless sacrifices.
Be warned however, that you will feel their fears and their pains. Your heart will burn with rage, and chaos will stupor your thoughts. It would be sad, and it would be ruinous, but it would surely be magnificent!
Afro-Bougie Blues is a collection of twelve original, engaging, and occasionally edgy short stories that dig into the souls of ordinary black women and men meeting life’s challenges with courage and care. A newlywed considers her past abortion after having a miscarriage. An Army veteran subdues his war memories with alcohol. A woman who loses weight watches her marriage crumble around her. A single father reflects on his pre-teen daughter’s complicated questions about love. A married woman falls in love with a jazz singer. Watch as the protagonists find their way, find love, or find themselves amid the chaos. Explore the world of Afro-Bougie Blues. An extraordinary assortment of stories awaits you. Dig in.
“About a Gardener”This book is filled with an abundance of delightful surprises, but you don’t have to be a gardener to appreciate the 111 chapters that provide practical advice, share personal experiences and offer a rich harvest of wisdom for your life. “My Father is a gardener,” Jesus once said. That is the foundation of this book and the author, Werner Langer, introduces us to many wonderful gardening metaphors that will enrich the reader’s personal landscape. We are all gardeners, the author claims, whether we are aware of it or not, each one of us in possession of a valuable allotment, our inner garden, where love and a noble character ought to grow. This book will bless your life, because it is about God, a gardener, who loves us very much.A wonderful book, containing many surprises for readers who seek inner growth and perhaps enjoy gardening.
Does crime pay? Not quite in the way a burglar wanted in THE OTHER ROOM – it will deter you from life on the wrong side of the law. A Manhattan detective finds that being murdered is more than just bad luck in A BUSINESS OF CHANCE. Blackmail is an ugly crime, but someone turns things to their favour in HUSH MONEY. You can push a woman so far…and no further… in THE CHINA DOG.
Crime has many guises. From the authors of LITERARY ALLSHORTS come the above tales and 15 more short stories, of events which are by turn dangerous, atmospheric, occasionally humorous and even poetic…but always written with criminal intent.
The TEN GREEN JOTTERS consistently keep you hanging on for more…
C.G. Harris, Tony Ormerod, Richard Miller, A.J.R. Kinchington, Glynne Covell,
Richie Stress, Janet Winson, Julia Gale, Jan Brown and Lilly.
The sun has finally set on humanity…
What happens when we give in to the darkness?
Ékleipsis is a debut short story collection written by Canadian author Tamel Wino, with hints of Chuck Palahniuk’s and Cormac McCarthy’s stripped, vivid writing styles. This gripping book explores the havoc wreaked when ordinary people abandon their humanity to pursue their darkest desires, and questions just how far people will go to follow their baser instincts.
Each story takes a version of a person we’ve known in our own lives and transforms them into something completely unnerving—yet all too familiar.
These dark, complex characters and twisted tales of the once ordinary will change your perception of humanity forever.
