Francis

In the years following the Reprisals, Colleen knew that being an orphan wasn't all that uncommon. But being that big girl as well made life doubly hard. But she was made of stern stuff, She knew that making her life a success was going to be all down to her.Standing on the stage after collecting her two Degree certificates, Colleen was feeling pretty lonely in a sea of surging humanity. Until she saw her aunt frantically waving at her from the audience....

Collected articles from The Weekly Gardener - January through December 2021; for current articles visit The Weekly Gardener website.

The post-Reprisals years were times for rebuilding in Australia.Bianca wasn't thinking about rebuilding anything though. Until her plans for celebrating her wedding anniversary flew apart.Months later her sister dragged her our of hiding to work in her bookstore that catered for BBW women.Where she quickly found herself in a whole new world of books about people like her.And the authors who wrote the stories.This story is set in the 2050's so it could...

Here are the stories of political power struggles, Reconstruction, western expansion, Ellis Island immigrants, the rise of American tycoons and labor unions, and the country's entry into World War I.

Oh that Love was always symmetrical, always reciprocated, always came in pairs. Alas it is not always these things, and when it is not it can spawn a most agonizing and enduring pain, that of unrequited Love. Yet like the pain that strengthens the fibers of the athlete's muscle, like the blow of the hammer that hardens the blade, the agony of unrequited Love can succor a lasting resilience, an enduring strength, and in doing so even heal itself.The...

The present short story takes the form of a movie review. The movie itself is not real; it doesn't exist. Nor does the novel on which the movie is supposedly based exist. In short, the review itself is a complete fiction.The (imagined) movie takes place among a tribe of indigenous people in North America prior to the arrival of Europeans. It follows the development of two strong young women from girlhood to a critical event in their young lives. It...

These are the stories from my youth that have weathered the erosion of time. Now that I have made 50 plus circuits around the sun, I feel that it is safe to put them in print. The statues of limitations have expired and the players have all grown or moved on.Many of these stories share a singular theme, the idea that I've been really lucky. Not lucky in the sense of winning at bingo or the lottery more than the average person, but in that I am still...

The short story "Burial At Sea" tells how a woman honors her father's wish to be buried at sea, and in doing so explores her feelings toward her father before and after his ashes are set free on the ocean's waves. Grief works on us differently before and after the sad events in our lives, and the story honors that difference.

It's July 2134, and Earth's VR-immersed and zoned-out humans don't know they are about to be wiped out by a technological cataclysm known as The Anachain. Ariane, a young freehand warrior, does know, and she and her family have a plan to survive. They are circling the globe carrying out military-style operations against poachers, polluters and weapons traders, to give animals, plants and other non-human species a chance to survive too. Ariane, as...

Called back to the University after working at research stations for twenty-five years, Brandy Hollander is more than a little upset when she is thrown in the middle of a evolution versus intelligent design controversy. What's worse is the leader for the other side is the husband, Norman Kettering, she deserted.Unfortunately the reason she left is still there, the woman who phoned her up to tell her that she was pregnant with Norman's child.Norman...