Merchandise - A Short Story

Merchandise - A Short Story

Michael Wright

Nonfiction / Cultural / France

Jim Shoemaker comes upon an interesting new business venture of his neighbors, a never-ending yard sale. But there is more to this sale than meets the eye.Jim Shoemaker comes upon an interesting new business venture of his neighbors, a never-ending yard sale. But there is more to this sale than meets the eye. Bram and Linda Cain are ideal folks, they're the perfect young couple with a terrible secret. Jim is about to find that their cute slogan "We Sell Anything" is more true than he could ever imagine.“Merchandise is an excellent book—a real page turner. Read it in one sitting.” – Kurt Frazier, author of 49098 to 36575 If you like what you read, write a review and spread the word!
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Joe

Joe

John Beach

Cultural / France / Fiction

John Beach's fourth collection of poetry. This time around, the 20 terzanelle poems included are works of sequential fiction, which revolve around the life of a young boy. After Joe's mother moves half way around the world without him, Joe is transplanted into new surroundings and culture. There, he befriends a pig, and, within an old photograph, discovers what he believes to be a great mysteryJohn Beach's fourth collection of poetry. This time around, the 20 terzanelle poems included are works of sequential fiction, which revolve around the life of a young boy. After Joe's mother moves half way around the world without him, Joe is transplanted into new surroundings and culture. There, he befriends a pig, and, within an old photograph, discovers what he believes to be a great mysteryThe terzanelle is a French/Italian adaptation of the terza rima to the villanelle form. Each terzanelle is meant to be 19 lines long (ten syllables each), composed of five triplets with a concluding quatrain, and are written in iambic pentamater. I don't pay much attention to where my metrical feet are stepping, but I enjoy the puzzle-like nature of this form and the subtlety of the repeating lines, the variations in meaning. I also enjoy breaking the lines and changing punctuation.
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Mother Dearest

Mother Dearest

Michael Wright

Nonfiction / Cultural / France

Tom Morrison has just lost his fiance, and then his mother grows incredibly sick. In caring for his mother and missing Trisha, he finds more about his mother than he cared to ever know...a dark and terrible secret. A story of a mother's love gone wrong.Tom Morrison has just lost his fiance, and then his mother grows incredibly sick. In caring for his mother and missing Trisha, he finds more about his mother than he cared to ever know. A story of a mother's love gone wrong.How well do we know the ones we love? How much do they keep hidden from us? If you like this, then please leave a review and spread the word!
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The Black Joke

The Black Joke

David Bramhall

Fiction / Cultural / France

A cross between Treasure Island, The Railway Children and Deliverance, The Black Joke is by turns exciting, amusing, charming, alarming, winsome, violent and strange - a rollicking read for adults with a childish love of adventure, and for children who aren't afraid of a few long words."Far off at the western edge of the world, where the green land meets the grey ocean and the wind never falters, Bodrach Nuwl, the Old Man of the Mist, rises a thousand feet above the sea. At his head the wind perpetually thunders, whipping the thin grasses and stunting the trees that lean and cling grimly with their ancient roots. He is so gigantic that each ledge and crinkle in his face is a little world in itself. On green, wind-blasted lawns the size of football pitches, whole populations of rabbits and foxes lead their lives perched in the air with no inkling of the outside world. Small crevices become great chasms, lined with trees growing from the rock itself, fed by ferny waterfalls and inhabited by finches and great dragonflies. Habitats here have no connection with the world at large. There are species of insect that exist nowhere else, and unknown pale orchids that thrive in cracks and crannies. Great caves loom open that from the sea must seem like the holes of sand-martins but in reality could swallow a small village and are inhabited by bats and blind snakes.Behind the cliffs huddles a dismal little town. In the town is a church, and in the church are some pews. And under one of the pews is a boy, hiding from the Vicar."Thus begins The Black Joke, which has been described as a cross between Treasure Island, The Railway Children and Deliverance. It is by turns exciting, amusing, charming, alarming, winsome, violent and strange - a rollicking read for adults with a childish love of adventure, and for children who aren't afraid of a few long words.There's a skeleton in the tunnel, a pair of loathsome bullies in the classroom, a mysterious ship in the harbour and vague rumours about missing treasure. But ... pirates? Oh, come on, surely not. That would be ridiculous. You don't get pirates any more ... do you?You will meet ...... the fearsome Urethra Grubb, the worst woman in the world ...... the emphatic Rosella Prettyfoot, who wears big boots and knows how to use them ...... the sinister Trinity Teague, who disappeared and has now come back ...... the odorous Billy Moon, and his mother Primrose who's no better than she should be ...... and the slightly bewildered Pertinacious Potts and his annoying sister Fenestra, who have to make sense of it all and know that no good will come of it. Probably.
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Stanley and the Football Sock

Stanley and the Football Sock

Stephanie Dagg

Cultural / France / Nonfiction

Stanley Thomas Ian Nigel Kevin Smith, otherwise known as STINKS, is in trouble. Big trouble. He's lost his football sock. And if he doesn't get it back, Mum won't let him go to football practice. So he goes on a hunt which involves friends, conkers, bullies, head masters, cows, rats and dinosaurs. And does he get his sock back? You'll have to read the story and find out for yourself!What happens when love turns toxic? Sam and Sandy had the best of starts. Most of their friends still think they’re perfect for each other. But behind the public façade lurks a skeleton in the closet: one of them is emotionally abusing the other, making their partner live in constant fear and guilt. Which one, and why does the other stay? Told from the author’s personal experience of a controlling relationship, ‘A Toxic Affair’ examines the ins and outs of emotional abuse and how something as innocent as young love can swiftly become something more sinister.
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Emily Taylor - The Slave Girl

Emily Taylor - The Slave Girl

Vi Grim

Cultural / France / Fiction

Emily is sold to Abdullah, a dodgy wheeler-dealer and slave trader. As the elevator jerks its way up to his seedy, thirteenth floor penthouse apartment she has a strong feeling of impending doom.She should have run away when she had the chance...This is a short book covering a brief, but dark period in Emily's childhood.Suitable for readers 14 years and overAfter successfully crossing the Sahara to Khartoum, Emily is sold to Abdullah, a dodgy wheeler-dealer and slave trader. As the elevator jerks its way up to his seedy, thirteenth floor penthouse apartment she has a strong feeling of impending doom.She should have run away when she had the chance...This is a short book covering a brief, but dark period in Emily's childhood.Suitable for readers 14 years to Adult
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A Dozen Steps Through Hel

A Dozen Steps Through Hel

John Beach

Cultural / France / Fiction

A collection of twelve terzanelle poems influenced by Norse mythology, specifically regarding the afterlife. The poems explore key locations and concepts of the Germanic underworld. Yeah, this is pretty obscure stuff even for fans of the mythology.A collection of twelve terzanelle poems influenced by Norse mythology, specifically regarding the afterlife. The poems explore key locations and concepts of the Germanic underworld. Yeah, this is pretty obscure stuff even for fans of the mythology.The terzanelle is French/Italian adaptation of the terza rima to the villanelle form. The poems are 19 lines long and ten syllables each. The poems are composed of five triplets and a concluding quatrain. I enjoy the puzzle-like nature of this form and the subtlety of the repeating lines, the variations in meaning.
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The Smelliest Cheese in the World!

The Smelliest Cheese in the World!

Stephanie Dagg

Cultural / France / Nonfiction

Here's a very fun story for children about very smelly cheese. I wrote it after visiting a smelly cheese factory in France. That cheese was smelly, but the cheese is my story is far, far worse. Mr Smelleigh, the manufacturer, says it's the smelliest thing in the world. If it isn't, he'll eat his pet skunk.So he's in for trouble when Stanley and friends arrive for a guided tour of the factory ...Mr Smelleigh's great, great grandfather arrived from France with no money but a recipe for smelly cheese tucked in his sock. He built the famous cheese factory that Mr Smelleigh now runs. The cheese is so smelly that it makes cars break down and flowers wilt. But it's so delicious that nobody minds. Mr Smelleigh is sure that his cheese is the smelliest thing in the world. He's so sure that he tells people he'll eat his pet skunk if he finds something that's even smellier. So when Stanley comes along, wearing a pair of socks that he's worn all week, including in bed, is Mr Smelleigh in for a shock? What else lies in store for him? Will he still be making Smelleigh's smelly cheese after Stanley's visit? Read the story, laugh, and find out!
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A Girl Called Deirdre Duck

A Girl Called Deirdre Duck

Stephanie Dagg

Cultural / France / Nonfiction

Deirdre's surname is Duck, and she hates it! Everyone teases her at school, and even her dad calls her his little duckling. It's awful! Then one day she rescues a duckling which is all tangled up in fishing line, and this is the day that changes her life. With help from her new feathered friends, she hatches a plan and starts to enjoy being Deirdre DuckDeirdre's surname is Duck, and she hates it! Everyone teases her at school, and even her dad calls her his little duckling. First Deirdre tries to smarten herself up a little, but that doesn't stop the name calling. So she decides to become a duck and go and live on the pond on the park. She eats a lot of bread and swims every day. That plan doesn't work either.But the day she rescues a duckling which is all tangled up in fishing line is the day that changes her life. With help from her new feathered friends, she hatches a plan and starts to enjoy being Deirdre Duck.
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Do Something (A Short Story)

Do Something (A Short Story)

Michael Wright

Nonfiction / Cultural / France

Riley has to do something. He can't sit by any longer. He's in a car, he has a gun. He can't believe what he's about to do.Riley has to do something. He can't sit by any longer. He's in a car, he has a gun. He can't believe what he's about to do.He must take action, despite the cost. He must do it...it's right, and she's worth it.
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Animal Rescue Club

Animal Rescue Club

Stephanie Dagg

Cultural / France / Nonfiction

Emma has started at a new school and wants to make friends. So when the twins announce that they have started an animal rescue club, she's determined to become a member. She begins to hunt for an animal to rescue, but that proves to be much harder than she ever imagined. Will she ever be a member of the Animal Rescue Club?Emma has started at a new school and wants to make friends. So when the twins in her class announce that they have started an animal rescue club, she's determined to become a member. She begins to hunt for an animal to rescue, but that proves to be much harder than she ever imagined. Will she ever be a member of the Animal Rescue Club?
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Emily Taylor - The Teenage Mum

Emily Taylor - The Teenage Mum

Vi Grim

Cultural / France / Fiction

Having just turned fourteen, Emily is finding life as the only human on Camillo a little lonely. When she decides to start a family she has no idea just what she is letting herself in for... Contains mild swear words and oblique sexual references. Suitable 13 years and up.
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