Showing results by author "Simon Wood" in All Categories

A serial kidnapper known as the Piper spent years snatching children from San Francisco’s wealthiest families. When crime reporter Scott Fleetwood got himself involved in one of the cases, the Piper went from kidnapper to murderer…and vanished. Now, after Fleetwood has languished under crippling guilt and public scorn for eight years, the Piper emerges from hiding to kidnap Fleetwood’s son. He’s demanding $2 million, but it’s not really about the money: the Piper wants blood - and he’ll use Fleetwood to get it.

Graduate students Zoë and Holli only mean to blow off some steam on their road trip to Las Vegas. But something goes terribly wrong on their way home, and the last time Zoë sees her, Holli is in the clutches of a sadistic killer. Zoë flees with her life, changed forever.

Somebody’s gunning for Josh Michaels. They must be. There’s no other reason why a stranger would run him off the road, taunt him with a “thumbs-down”, and leave him to die. Josh may have made some messy mistakes in the past, but who’s suddenly decided that he’s worth more dead than alive? As more and more near-fatal accidents befall him, there can be no denying it: he’s got a bull’s-eye on his back. But why? Is it revenge? Mistaken identity? Or is it something far more insidious?

Former reporter Scott Fleetwood and his family are still recovering after tangling with a notorious kidnapper, the Piper, when another kidnapper grips the city. The Shepherd has snatched a young girl from a vacationing family. Other than money, he has one demand: he'll talk only to Scott.

Olivia Shaw grew up poor on the wrong side of the tracks, but with her thriving real estate business and a solid marriage, her life finally feels stable...until she discovers her husband is cheating. Enraged, her sister offers a solution: Infidelity Limited, a firm that promises to rough up her husband and scare him straight. Overnight, Olivia's life is upended as she, like all of Infidelity Limited's clients, is drawn into a dark web of blackmail and murder.

Terry lands at San Francisco International Airport ready to start his new life with Sarah, the American journalist he married after a transatlantic love affair. But Sarah’s a no show. Convinced something terrible has happened, Terry reports Sarah’s disappearance to the sheriff, who shrugs it off as a case of a new bride with cold feet. But then dead women start turning up, all with two things in common: each victim had exposed a scandal just before her death...and all of their names appear on a list written by Sarah.

Trying to rekindle his marriage in a lonely seaside village, a man meets a strange young woman from his forgotten past; when a man takes a garden gnome to a museum, he gets an unexpected surprise; a lonely widow encounters an enigmatic character from an embryonic pop group; a baby hare comes of age with a momentous idea. Continuing in the spirit of To Cut a Short Story Short, Vol. I, these and 83 other stories - varying from 100 to 5,000 words - are found in this eclectic and captivating collection of flash fiction by Simon J. Wood. 

Marcus Slater decides to forgo the cold, wet, wintry weather of England to join a walking party in the sunny climes of Morocco. There, against a backdrop of the curious, ancient towns of southern Morocco he meets the enigmatic Sylvia and finds himself embroiled in a game he cannot possibly afford to lose.

A young magician in a pub opens his hands to release a cloud of tropical butterflies; a female bookseller is forced to attend a dance in drag to atone for a misdemeanor; a lonely man searches for a mysterious woman on a cruise; four school friends experience terror on a caravan holiday, and a macabre stranger wanders the streets at midnight, stealing dreams. Ranging from just 100 up to 4000 words, these and 106 other memorable little stories are found in this eclectic and tantalizing collection by Simon J. Wood, an exciting new voice in the Flash Fiction genre.

Nouvellement diplômées, les étudiantes Zoé et Holli prennent la route pour Las Vegas juste pour décompresser. Pourtant, les choses tournent horriblement mal sur le chemin du retour, et la dernière fois que Zoé voit son amie Holli, celle-ci est aux mains d'un tueur sadique. Zoé parvient à s'évader, mais pour elle, plus rien ne sera jamais comme avant.

In this short crime story, Childs is a son of a bitch and a bastard - literally as well as figuratively - but what he really is, is a small time con man. He's about to upgrade to the big time and go after the score of his life by bilking the software mogul, Charles Reston, out of every penny he can get. He's going to do it by convincing Reston that he's his illegitimate son, which shouldn't be too hard as the billionaire is his father.

In this sci-fi-fantasy, short story, Martin Warwick is a down on his luck racecar driver. His only accolade is to make the other drivers look good with his mediocre performances. It's not that Martin is a bad driver. He's just not had the breaks. He needs a better sponsor which would get him a better car and a little luck to put him ahead of the pack. The break comes in the form of the mysterious Mallory. He doesn't have money or connections. He has a device to make Martin and any car he drives better.

Todd Collins has failed in every job he's ever undertaken, but that all changes when he backs his jalopy in a shiny, new Porsche belonging to a drug dealer. When the police stop the drug dealer for a broken taillight that Todd has caused and discover a cocaine shipment, a West Coast kingpin holds Todd responsible. On the run from organized crime, Todd discovers his true calling.

San Francisco Detective Larry Hayes thinks he's hit bottom when he wakes up in an alley after a bad trip with no memory of the last four hours. This is only the beginning of his problems. Two blocks away, Hayes' informant, a homeless man named Noble Jon, lies dead, beaten, and stabbed. The eerie pangs of guilt seep into Hayes. Is he Jon's killer?

Über Jahre hinweg wurde der Entführer mit dem Spitznamen "der Kinderfänger" reich, indem er serienweise die Kinder der wohlhabendsten Familien San Franciscos entführte. Als der Kriminalreporter Scott Fleetwood einen Anruf von einem Mann erhält, der sich als der Kinderfänger ausgibt und ein exklusives Interview anbietet, packt Fleetwood die Gelegenheit beim Schopf. Aber der Anrufer erweist sich als Schwindler, und die überhastete Entscheidung kostet das aktuelle Opfer des echten Kinderfängers das Leben.

Not every crime is committed with intent, but each has one thing in common: The guilty party was asking for trouble. In "Making Ends Meet", Richard can’t stand the idea of supporting his deadbeat in-laws anymore, so he decides to remove them from his life - permanently. Matt is ready to reform his brawling ways, but the group he joins doesn’t turn out to be a typical 12-step program, in "The Taskmasters". "Protecting the Innocent" features Nick, who fails to heed the warnings of his girlfriend’s possessive brother....

James Straley might think his life is cursed, but it doesn't compare to what lies ahead of him on life's highway. He's on the run with the proceeds of a botched bank robbery. It's all he has. His crew is dead and his getaway car just died on him. He's on foot with the cash when he comes across a two-car pileup. There's no saving the drivers, but he can save himself by stealing one of the wrecked cars. Unfortunately, he boosts the wrong set of wheels.

Hayden Duke has the naive ambition to make some money and prove to his family that he can take care of himself, so he accepts a short-term contract working for his old college friend, Shane Fallon. All seems like a dream come true…until Shane kills himself. Right in front of Hayden. Detective Santiago has seen it all before. Shane had narcotics in his system when he hanged himself, and the dope had to come from somewhere - like an old college buddy. Case closed. But only a week before Shane’s suicide, another employee from the same office walked straight into the ocean. Both men’s last words are the same....

Things are looking good for Aidy Westlake. He’s Pit Lane magazine’s Young Driver of the Year, which has earned him a drive in the European Saloon Car Championship. But his good fortune ends at a race car show when he discovers Jason Gates, a mechanic from a rival team, with his throat cut. The murder sets off a disturbing chain reaction - someone is breaking the rules in the ranks of saloon car racing, on and off the track.

People spend their entire lives staving off the dark - but no matter the measures taken, black paths and shadowy pits lurk in the unlikeliest of places, waiting to pull the unwary into the depths of despair. These 11 tales offer a morbid sampling of the many forms and fashions of terror - from the subtle prickling of neck hairs at the kiss of a ghostly breeze to the raw-throated screams and feverish clawing of a desperate fight for survival.