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.
Can a second chance with a first love lead to happily ever after?
Axl never believed in love until he met Mara. But four years later, she dumped him. Seeing her after two years at her great-grandparents’ party, Axl realizes he’s still in love with her.
And he’s not happy about it. But it doesn’t matter because she’s married now.
Mara is finally putting her disastrous rebound marriage behind her. She’s happy to spend a comforting weekend with her enormous, loving family. But that changes when she realizes her great-grandmother, Gigi, has invited her ex-boyfriend.
Mara is steaming mad, but her traitorous body feels a different kind of heat.
Gigi knows that Mara and Axl belong together. And she’s not above using her party to give them the opportunity to see it.
The searing chemistry between them is as hot as ever, but Mara’s ex-husband wants a second chance too…
The One is a standalone, steamy second chance romance, with an HEA and no cheating.
Author’s note: Second chance romance. Opposites attract. Playing with fire. A spunky great-grandmother who knows a thing or two about love. A stubborn hero who realizes what he’s lost and will do whatever he needs to do to win back a feisty, even more stubborn heroine, whose eye is on her future not her past.
Other books by Jessica Marlowe
Rocked in Love – Rock Star Romance series
With You (Jack and Emily Book 1) HFN
No More Yesterdays (Jack and Emily Book 2) HFN
All Your Tomorrows (Jack and Emily Book 3) EPIC HEA
…more to come (Buzz’s story)
Found Family – Spinoff series from Rocked in Love (Eddie and Sheryl are part of Emily’s Found Family)
Night and Day (Eddie and Sheryl – Book 1) HEA
Night and Day: Ever After (Eddie and Sheryl – Book 2) They meet Emily and help her overcome her trauma, and their HEA gets even happier.
…more to come?
While strolling down the block, stray cat Zoe smells blood on a backyard fence. Within moments, a mangy pup named Rex is begging to join her on the streets. A cat babysitting a dog? Preposterous. As Zoe tries to shoo him away, she realizes that there may be a more unsettling reason why Rex doesn’t wish to stay home.
When Meena Chechi witnesses a bus accident on the busy streets outside her store, she never could have imagined the series of events which would unfold in her village. Quietly watching the world through the window of her storefront, Meena has a story – and words of wisdom – for everyone who crosses her path. And in this small and quiet village, life isn’t quite as simple as one might expect…
With an intriguing and enigmatic narrative, this imaginative short story collection explores life in a remote village in the heart of southern India, effortlessly intertwining rich themes with vibrant characters to create a unique yet strangely familiar setting.
Blending the daily lives and perspectives of characters with relatable struggles and universal themes which span all cultures and people, The Village: Short Stories of Indian Life stands as a profound piece of cultural expression, seeking to touch the hearts of readers and give you a newfound insight into the lively – and at times very different – lives of the people living there.
Inspiring, thought-provoking, and deeply spiritual, this engaging collection is the perfect read for anyone who enjoys anthologies, Indian culture, and discovering the world through literature.
This is a Short “Murder” Mystery meant to entice and engage the reader for the ultimate experience in fiction entertainment.
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I always know what I want. I always get what I want.
When I see her, there is no doubt in my mind. I want her. Innocent eyes and a wildness in her that hasn’t been unleashed. I’m going to be the one to release it. To take her body to new heights of desire until I’m imprinted on it. Until she knows she belongs to me.
He’s dark and magnetic. I can’t help but fall into his orbit.
Without even touching me, he makes my body feels things no man has ever made me experience. I’m falling into a tunnel of lust and submission. He does things to me that feel too good to be wrong. So why does it feel like I’m being pulled into his sweet darkness?
This steamy short story is the first of the His Dark Desires trilogy. It has a sexy Alpha dominant male and the fun-loving college girl he has all intentions of making his. If this sounds like your kind of high-heat short, dive right in.
A collection of 9 dark and twisted tales to fuel your dreams.
Stories include a hospitalized invalid confronting a horror no one else can see, a con-man who receives his own personal dose of karma, and a mother who’ll do anything to feed her kids.
Author Jeff Dosser presents an assortment of shorts, some have been previously published in acclaimed anthologies and popular magazines, while others have never seen the light of day.
Adult themed literature best consumed before the sun goes down.
Alfie Brown doesn’t really care that he has different colour eyes to everyone else, he feels normal in his normal school, normal town, normal grandparents and normal(ish) best friend Tommy.
But things take a turn for the strange at the start of their last year of school that throws them into a world of magick (with a K), wizards and evil demons…
After following a white rabbit, Alfie and his best friend Tommy stumble into a corridor in their school that wasn’t there before, before being saved by a man, or more a Wizard, in a cowboy hat.
There is a whiff of destiny in the air as the mysteries about his purple eyes, the whereabouts of his parents and the existence of real magic are set to be revealed…
But when Alfie is attacked and makes an enemy of an evil demon that is intent not just on killing him but on ending the entire world, Alfie knows he needs help.
Just in time, he meets the charismatic wizard Nikolas Wiseman, who introduces Alfie to the magical world, taking him to the magical city of Magicity and helping him in his quest to defeat a very tricky killer demon.
With double crosses at every turn, Alfie struggles with who to trust.
Will Alfie live up to the pressure and save the magical world he’s just found?
Will he find out where and why his parents disappeared when he was a baby?
If Alfie and his friends don’t work out the ancient magical mystery and defeat the demon then everything he knows and loves could be lost forever.
“Alfie Brown: The Boy With Purple Eyes (Who Discovered He Could Do Magic)”is a standalone fantasy novel. If you like Harry Potter, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, The Sword in the Stone and The Magicians, then you’ll love a book that combines all of their best traits in a fast-paced, captivating, magical adventure.
Buy the book to start reading Jack Simmonds tale of magick, wizards and demons today!