Showing results by narrator "Chris Patton" in All Categories

Dark Ride is a collection of short fiction by one of the brightest writers in the genres of horror and dark fantasy. These stories range from the horrific to the surreal, and prove Michael Laimo to be a compelling stylist and relentless storyteller. None have been collected previously, and some are original to this volume.

Two months after Sunan, Sousuke and Kaname are in a holding pattern. He'll fire his rifle off the school roof. She'll yell at him to stop. Lather, rinse, repeat. That all changes one day when Sousuke's commanding officer Teletha "Tessa" Testarossa shows up at his apartment, trying to hide a key to a terrorist superweapon of unprecedented power. Tessa is brilliant, pretty, and the same age as Sousuke, and her presence might put a serious crimp on his relationship with Kaname... assuming the city survives the night!

Kaname is in the doldrums: There's just one week until the end of summer vacation, and she hasn't done anything interesting! Fortunately, Sousuke is here to provide a little adventure by offering her a trip to Merida Island. But what starts for Kaname as a simple trip to learn more about the mystery surrounding her quickly snowballs into a firefight in a chemical weapons facility, a reunion with a mortal enemy, and a battle for control of a runaway submarine! However things turn out, at least she can't claim that her summer was uneventful.

On orders from Mithril, Sousuke has been forced to abandon Kaname to focus on learning the secrets of the Arbalest and the lambda driver.

Montese Crandall is a downtrodden writer whose rare collection of baseball cards won't sustain him, financially or emotionally, through the grave illness of his wife. Luckily, he swindles himself a job churning out a novelization of the 2025 remake of a 1963 horror classic, "The Crawling Hand." Crandall tells therein of the United States, in a bid to regain global eminence, launching at last its doomed manned mission to the desolation of Mars.

Gabriel's inevitable transformation into a merman brings him both great joy and great sadness. Though he must soon leave his human family, he is eager to experience the beauty of Emralis, the Mer city, together with his water-dwelling lover, Casillus.

As Gabriel struggles to cope with the three days he has left on land, a new complication arises. His grandmother’s lover, the enigmatic archaeology professor Johnson Tims seems to know more than he should about Gabriel’s transformation into a merman. Gabriel’s lifeline is his own lover, Casillus Nerion, prince of the ocean-dwelling, immortal Mer. Life on land is becoming more and more difficult, but their loving mental connection grows with Gabriel’s trust in what he is becoming.

In the crucible that is the zombie apocalypse, Cade Grayson, father, husband, and former Delta Force operator has forged new friendships and tempered old ones. In those same metaphorical flames, he has seen blood spilled, loved ones perish, and dealt his own brand of justice.

Gabriel Braven knows his destiny, but is he willing to face it? Gabriel has only one day left on land before moving to the wondrous Mer city to live forever with his true love, Mer Prince Casillus Nerion. He wishes his greatest challenges were giving up making love on land with Casillus and telling his beloved grandmother that he is a merman. But ex-soldier Johnson Tims has other plans for him.

Knowing he's gay and acting on it were two separate notions to Flynn Brewer until he'd met Keith, his first boyfriend, in high school. Before then, being gay wasn't as real as the pain of living day-to-day. Flynn's fear of coming out to his religious best friend, Zach, in their conservative community destroyed his relationship with Keith, but Flynn rationalized his avoidance and bottled up the truth until it was regrettably too late.

Gabriel should have drowned twice in his life, but he survived. Casillus Nerion, his beautiful merman savior, tells him the reason for this is simple: Gabriel is a merman. Long ago, a Braven ancestor fell in love and had a child with a powerful merman. This child did not inherit the Mer gifts, but Gabriel has. Despite seeing inexplicable physical changes to his body when he gets wet and having trouble breathing when there is plenty of air, Gabriel’s head tells him that Mer, like love, do not exist.

Loss concerns a failed writer working as a handyman in an old Manhattan apartment building with a strange history and numerous oddball tenants, not all of whom may be what they seem. The penthouse is owned by a bestselling novelist and his wife, the nameless narrator's longtime unrequited love, who soon goes missing. Is she dead or somehow trapped within the endless corridors of a lair full of twisted memories and half-forgotten ambitions?

In Great Leaders Grow, a woman named Debbie Brewster becomes a mentor to a young man named Blake, as he embarks on his own career. Together, they explore four ways that leaders must keep growing, both on the job and off. Within their story are valuable lessons for anyone who desires both professional success and personal fulfillment.

Can humanity survive what it never saw coming? On October 15 at 2:15 a.m. Earth vanished. A scattered few woke alone in a world with no rules, other than survival at any cost. These survivors aren't truly alone... Someone or something is watching them. And waiting... Strangers unite. Sides are chosen.

Time is running out. As the Great Flood threatens to consume the silo, Ace and a team of divers are in a desperate battle to avert disaster. When a terrible accident destroys the person he cares about most, Ace has little left to live for. After nearly succumbing to the silo's flooded depths, Ace realizes that drastic measures must be taken in order to save their underground home. But those in charge deem his ideas too dangerous, his methods too forbidden, and he is shunned for his sin of toxic words.

It's 1959, and Judy Cooper, the Black Stiletto, sets out to confront a dangerous gangster known as the heroin king of Harlem, when the teenage daughter of her beloved martial arts instructor ends up a prisoner in an uptown narcotics den. The Stiletto has troubles of her own - a shady filmmaker is threatening to reveal her identity to the world - a close friend of her landlord and substitute father may be in cahoots with the Harlem criminals - she's fighting for racial equality - and she has fallen in love again....

Can humanity survive what it never saw coming? On October 15 at 2:15 a.m. Earth vanished. A scattered few woke alone in a world with no rules, other than survival at any cost. These survivors aren't truly alone... Someone or something is watching them. And waiting... Strangers unite. Sides are chosen.

On his first day of college, all Jeremy Miller can think about is getting away from his hellish home life, making the wrestling team, and finally getting a real boyfriend. He's sick to death of being used by closeted football players who are too afraid to admit they like guys. What he doesn't count on is losing his mind over the gorgeous, golden-eyed wrestling captain who needs to keep their attraction a secret at all costs.

Dan Fisher is a fun-loving slacker from SSU with a passion for partying and dancing. When rich girl Avery Wakefield offers him a brand-new designer wardrobe in exchange for posing as her boyfriend, he reluctantly agrees. He hates lying, but it's hard to turn down nice clothes and a chance to live in a historic mansion in Savannah for two weeks. What he doesn't count on is falling hard for her mysterious, straight brother.

A group finds itself taking refuge at The Sanctuary, a religious compound with an enigmatic leader called The Prophet. A serial killer finds himself leading an unlikely group of survivors. A young man searches to prove himself to his group, and avoid being bullied ever again. A young child is called to perform another miracle at great personal cost. Every decision. Every action. Every dream. Every alliance. Every secret. Every betrayal.