Short Stories - Volume One , livre ebook

Pneuma Springs Publishing - Neal James

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

144 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

How would YOU write to God for clarification on matters of the utmost urgency? Find out how Moses might have done it. Dry your eyes after the tragic story of Liz when she finds the father she never knew, and hold your breath as an almost perfect insurance scam comes disastrously unstuck in the most unexpected way.Shake your head at Mike's naivete in dealing with a stranger in black, and share with Dave his hidden guilt when Tommy Watkinson returns to talk to his son Paul. Fly into the realms of fantasy with James Taylor as he gets lost in a place that he knows only too well, and try to sympathise with Ray when the old couple ask him to save humanity.Follow Dennis Marks in a trilogy which brings the book to its close as he searches for the truth about his grandfather. This collection of unique little gems will expose every emotion on the rollercoaster which you are about to ride.Book reviews online @ www.publishedbestsellers.com

Sujets

Short story

Informations

Publié par	Pneuma Springs Publishing
Date de parution	30 juin 2009
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781782281382
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0160€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Short Stories
Volume One

Neal James
Copyright

First Published in 2009 by: Pneuma Springs Publishing
Short Stories - Volume One Copyright © 2009 Neal James
Kindle eISBN 9781907728655 ePub eISBN 9781782281382 PDF eBook eISBN 9781782280491 Paperback ISBN: 9781905809608
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, save those clearly in the public domain, is purely coincidental.
Pneuma Springs Publishing E: admin@pneumasprings.co.uk W: www.pneumasprings.co.uk
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Published in the United Kingdom. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. Contents and/or cover may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express written consent of the publisher.
Dedication

Gavin Jones 1922 – 2001
More of an inspiration than he could ever have known.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Lisa and Rob for their time in proof reading the final drafts, and to my wife Lynn for listening through the months of preparation.
Appreciation also extends to Sally and Kevin Hindson for their understanding and patience.
I am once again indebted to the members of the Storiesville Writers’ Community, without whose constant and consistent critique these stories would have remained in manuscript form.
Once more I extend my thanks to Vivian Akinpelu and the team of Pneuma Springs Publishing. Their advice and expertise over the past nine months has been an invaluable guide in the minefield of commercial writing.
Contents

A Deal of Trouble
It all seemed too good to be true, and for Mike it certainly did turn out that way, especially when his crippled leg mended.

Paws For Breath
Did Ollie have a pedigree? Well, let’s just put it this way, if he could talk he wouldn’t have spoken to either of us.

Battle Royal
How many more times would they have to confront each other before the conflict finally came to an end?

Flight of Fancy
George’s novel way of pensioning himself off holds a surprise for the one person who should have known him best.

Chance of a Lifetime
Like cat and dog they were, but Julia finally gave her brother Jack his come-uppance in life’s lottery.

Tell Laura I Love Her
Terry and Laura met at a disco. He was shy and reserved and she brought him out of himself. All the more heartbreaking when they finally realised the true nature of their relationship.

A Golden Opportunity
Rosemary had struggled on since the death of her husband, but her son’s chance discovery provided them with a way out of their drudgery.

Bull in a China Shop
Terry’s clumsiness had always held him back, but now he had Sandra as his girlfriend; would he be able to shake it off?

Dear Mom
Travelling can be a real pain sometimes, and when you’ve got stacks to do your mom is your best friend.

Finders Keepers
A deserted station, a thick fog and now where on earth was his wife? James Taylor was lost but he knew exactly where he was.

Loose Ends
They seemed to be the ideal couple, but ambition got in the way, and attempt an at reconciliation came very late in the day.

The Best Summer
A family story set in an age long gone, when times and pleasures were far simpler, but when troubles were still the same.

Hit and Run
David had no idea how he’d driven on to the motorway, nor why he was travelling so fast, but the blood on his forehead told him that it couldn’t be a good sign.

Falling
Falling doesn’t kill you; falling is easy - it’s the impact at the end that’s fatal.

Out of the Frying Pan
Burt Travers was the company hatchet man and Mark was his next target. Fortune gave the victim a way out but it didn’t always favour the brave.

A Shot in the Dark
He had always taken care with planning, but coming up against an opponent as meticulous as himself was not what Sharpe had anticipated.

At Your Command
You would have thought that a set of rules handed down by the boss would be easy enough to follow. Not for this man.

And Did These Feet
Simon’s hitherto humdrum life is about to take an unexpected turn when he meets a very unfortunate pedestrian.

The Cracker
Just when you think there’s nothing left to achieve, a perfect opportunity for padding out your retirement pops up.

A Sporting Chance
When you’re down and out, looking a gift horse in the mouth is not advisable. Colin didn’t know what he was grabbing, but he grabbed it anyway.

Sticking the Knife In
She had to go, there was nothing else for it. But which ‘she’ would it be?

Race Against Time
Barry shouldn’t have gone to the match up north, they lost 5-0 anyway; but then he never would have met Danielle would he?

Tommy
Tommy Watkinson was back, but what did he want, why now, and what was he doing talking to Dave’s son Paul?

A Shot Too Far
Maninga was holding all of the cards, and was about to deal Sharpe a hand that he would rather not have played.

Bitter Sweet
When her mum was diagnosed with terminal cancer, Liz thought that she was going to be alone. That was until she found the photograph.

Foot in the Door
Never step beyond what you know. The rewards were too great for David to ignore. Ironic that he was completely innocent of the job they nailed him for.

Facing the Demon
Brian Powell’s life lay in tatters until he met Charlotte - she gave him a reason to survive.

The Visitors
Ray didn’t want to save humanity, it was far too big a job for someone like him, but the old couple who came calling did not agree.
Spring Eternal
Stuck in the middle of nowhere, and in the house of a host who seemed to be just that little bit too helpful. Rob was stepping blindly into the spider’s web.

Boxed In
An almost perfect insurance scam comes disastrously unstuck in the most unexpected way.

Reggie’s Revenge
A classic example of the mouse biting the cats.

Marks on the Wall
Dennis Marks knows that the death of Susan North was an inside job, but proving it was going to be quite a different matter.

Killing Me Softly
Gary was a hell-raiser heading steeply down life’s hill. Jane put the brakes on him and turned his life around, but fate had other ideas.

Secret Life
Dennis Marks’ investigation into the death of Thomas Weston is anything but a run of the mill homicide.

Identifying Marks
The second instalment in Dennis Marks’ search for the truth about Thomas Weston.

Footsteps in the Darkness
The culmination of Marks’ investigation into the circumstances of his grandfather’s death.
A Deal of Trouble
M ike knew as soon as he’d made the tackle that something was terribly wrong. He’d heard the ‘snap’ but there was a momentary delay until the agonising pain hit him, and when he looked down at his mangled right leg he realised that his football career was over. He was 20 years old, and one of the best players in the club’s academy with a great future in prospect – all that was gone now. Three years down the line he was part way through an accountancy qualification in a job that he hated, but at least the pay wasn’t too bad. He’d been out for a drink with friends one evening and was walking home when this guy stepped out of the shadows and blocked his way. At first he thought it was an attempted mugging and set himself to counter an attack with his walking stick, but none came.
“You can play again.” the figure said. Mike couldn’t make out his features and started to get an uneasy feeling.
“What?”
“You want to play again, don’t you?”
“Well, yes……..but………”
“OK, how much do you want to play?”
“I’d sell my soul to make it in the League, it’s always been my dream.”
“Done, I’ll be in touch.”
He stepped back into the shadows and disappeared into the night. Mike stood for a while trying to make sense of what he had just seen, but then went home and thought no more about it. The following morning when he got up he found that he was able to stand unaided, and that walking was no longer a problem. He had his breakfast, phoned in sick and took a football out to the park instead. He started very carefully with some gentle jogging at first, but soon realised that the leg was as good as new. The nets around the goalposts had been left out, so he tried a variety of shots from different angles. Not only could he hit the target every time, but was now able to dip and swerve the ball – he couldn’t do that before.
He managed to get a game in the local Sunday League team run by his older brother at the weekend and ran the midfield, setting up a host of chances for the forwards. The team won 7-0 and he scored twice. As he was coming off at the end, Mike was approached by a scout for one of the local league teams, and was invited for a trial the following week. The club was languishing in the lower divisions but there was no hesitation in accepting the offer – this could be his big chance.
The trial went very well and the club offered a twelve month contract subject to him becoming match fit. Over the next six weeks, and following a strict regime of diet and training, Mike was back to his level of fitness before the accident. They put him in the reserves at first, but it quickly became apparent that he was far too good and he made his first team debut against Port Vale on November 17th. The day couldn’t have gone better and a 3-0 victory was followed by rave reviews in the local papers. The team hit the top of the league at the end of February but had to settle for a play-off place for promotion. By the end of the season he had scored 19 goals from midfield out of a team total of 82. They hadn’t lost a single game since he joined.
The post-season matches saw victory against Swansea in a two leg semi final, giving them a trip to Wembley where they would play Old