Showing results by narrator "Samuel James" in All Categories

Kyle Hammond is suffering a surprise birthday party he really didn’t want. As he blows out the candles on his cake, he makes a token wish. Three days later, to his utter astonishment, that wish comes true. All his problems solved, Kyle is counting his blessings when a pensioner turns up at his door unannounced. The stranger then confounds Kyle by claiming credit for his good fortune, followed by a bizarre declaration: When Edmund Wishkin grants a wish, there’s always a price to pay. Whether he believes the old man or not, Kyle is about to discover the true cost of a wish fulfilled.

I’m the newest patched member of the motorcycle club and I want to prove myself. Do something good for the club. But when I set eyes on Marisol, things change. Now all I want is her. In my bed all night long. First, I’ll have to deal with the cartel punk she’s been hangin’ with. The jerk has ideas above his pay grade, starting with her. But I’ll finish him. And have Marisol back in my arms in no time. Should be as easy as pumpkin pie. Making the ladies holler for more and fighting the MC war is what me and the club does best. It’s a hell of a way to spend the holidays.

Ava, the oldest daughter of Isis and Poseidon, yearns for love above all else. But when she's betrothed to the formidable and brooding hero, Hercules, she begins to question her fate. Sent as a gift from Isis, Ava is tasked with marrying Hercules and convincing him to help our heroes on a treacherous journey to collect a valuable treasure. Only then will Isis agree to negotiate and order her sirens to stop attacking men.

When Henry Jones woke up on holiday in Fuerteventura, he didn’t expect to get burnt, drowned, or shot. Nor did he expect to be eaten by a mythical sea monster. Making friends with Alice, the girl in the next apartment, the two of them try to piece together their patchy memories to establish how they ended up on the island. Why have they been thrown back decades in time to their younger bodies? Why is every day the same, yet different? And why are they the only two people who can see what is going on?

Kipling, our narrator, tells this strange story: he was running a newspaper in a big Indian city. In the hot stillness of one night when he was putting the paper to bed, two men came into his office. They were red-bearded giant Daniel Dravot and his friend Peachy Carnehan. These two 'gentlemen at large', as they called themselves, lately of the British army, had put together an insane and dangerous plan: they wanted to be Kings of Kafiristan, a mountainous region of Afghanistan.

A truck crashes on the M40 causing one of the worst motorway pileups for years but the driver is nowhere to be found. Over the next few days more unexplained disappearances occur, leaving investigators puzzled, and the government in a panic. Amid claims of alien abductions and prophecies of a biblical nature, Josh believes there may be another explanation involving time travel. But his theories will have to wait because as the population vanishes at a frightening rate, and society begins to break down, those who remain are plunged into a desperate battle for survival.

In this wide-ranging collection of twelve short stories, a startling array of characters explore their perspectives on love. The stories sweep from sharp realism to heady allegory, haunting fables to sci-fi thrillers, starring teens and drifting husbands, futuristic automatons and talking dogs, gardeners and gatekeepers, a blind girl, a young father, and many more.

Bassingbourn, 1942: Americans swamp Cambridgeshire as bomber bases spring up across the county. For Stella Charlton, an aircraft woman in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, it’s a distraction from her own troubles as she listens to swing music drifting from the aircraft hangar. When she catches the eye of charismatic US bomber pilot, John "Mac" Mackenzie, he reaches for her friendship. Torn, she feels a spark between them and accepts. As they grow close, Stella, under pressure from her mother, faces a tough choice.

Thomas Scott has lived his life twice before. At night, he dreams about his wife-to-be and resolves to preserve the timeline, so they can meet in the right place at the right time. Ben Lewis was a middle-aged failure in 2020 before he was cast back into his 18-year-old body. Given a second chance, he intends to exploit it for his own selfish ends. When the two meet in Oxford in 1988, they soon clash.

Haunted by fragmented memories of a love once powerful, Persephone finds herself torn between her past and her present. Hades, the king she loathes and yet desires, is the key to unlocking the mysteries of her stolen memories. After a century of reigning as Hades' queen, Persephone is taken, her memories wiped clean by a sinister curse. With his beloved stolen away, Hades embarks on a quest, determined to break the curse and rekindle the flame of their forbidden love.

Travis had always been a confident man, but everything changed when, stripped of his memories, he found himself naked and surrounded in a time long gone. When a chance encounter gave him hope that he might not be the only one in the same tragic predicament, he took control.

Assisted dying is legalized after the NHS sell-off. Where does the killing stop? The sick and old are no longer a societal burden, healthcare costs plummet, and inventive end-of-life options emerge. Geraldine, Dawn, Jeffrey, and Woody each book their final journey at Go Gently's Charon House clinic. What they find doesn't match the brochure.