Serials
Serialised fiction published in Piker Press, a weekly journal of arts and literature.
1,485 articles — page 40 of 50
It's showdown time, and Valentine and Augusta are both furious -- but they're angry about things that don't even exist.
Listening behind a door, Lynn's getting clued in to who's going to live, who's already dead and how they're disposing of the bodies. The good news - due to a strange family connection, Harry Adkison is determined that Lynn should be saved. The bad news - it's too late for the town... and for Lynn's old way of life.
The lusty Moersgard has some revelations for Augusta, and a tentative job offer.
Lynn gets a few of the answers she needs, but if finding out what's happening to her own body and the people around her involves watching Harry Adkison brutally murder someone and drink their blood, maybe the questions were better left unasked. As unreal as it may seem, there are even stranger things than vampires preying on this little town.
Why does knowing that it's better this way hurt so damn bad?
Harry Adkison shows up at Lynn's door, full of compelling mystery as usual, but for all his skill as a hunter, he is about to find himself the prey. Seems like Lynn's sleepy home town is becoming populated with stalkers... of every variety. Some games of cat and mouse are silly, but Lynn's oddly pleasurable bruises indicate some of the games are anything but.
Neil Radigan is new and improved, and a date with him actually starts out with fun and laughter, but then Fate steps in to rub Augusta's face in her heartbreak.
It's going to take more than a pancake buffet to win the affections of Harry Adkison, but you can't blame Tina for trying. Meanwhile, a menacing dream torments Lynn's sleep, with strange changes to her body that won't fade away upon waking.
"I read books about older women and younger men; I talked about what it was like being in love with a younger man; and I thought about the younger man almost all the time, except when I was cooking or stoned," says Augusta. "Kimsky said I should get a prescription for medical marijuana and become a chef."
The FBI agent divulges a chilling past with startling similarities to Lynn's -- murder, stalking, strange behavior by people she had known all her life. With that in mind, could the Winters' strange argument have anything to do with Lynn?
The phone rings. But the voice is not the one Augusta most wants to hear, and she limps back to Ohio, to Kim and Burlie's home remedies for heartbreak. Hope there are plenty of munchies!
Why isn't the FBI pursuing the murder of Lynn's mother anymore? Behind Cinda's tactless doggedness, Misty is asking the questions and it seems at least one of the FBI agents has more than professional interest in the case...
Heartbroken, Augusta turns once more to her best friend Kimsky. But Moersgard, her former lover, shows up on Augusta's doorstep for a visit. Is it enough to take her mind off of Valentine?
Leo Winters and his wife are stretched thin and unpleasant, outside and in. By chance, Lynn overhears Leo buying information in the coffee shop. What kind of facts could a rich old man be digging for in a town where the mysteries all seem to end in death?
Where is the playful lover who kissed from her hand all the way up her shoulder and neck to find his way to her lips? He's not in Augusta's bed, or her arms, or her kitchen, and she no longer knows where to look for him.
With a killer at large, Lynn is put in the local inn for safety. But while Cinda and Tina, the Dirty-girl-turned-Donna-Reed owner, bicker over the yummy FBI agent, Lynn has more serious concerns: where did she get those strange bruises on her neck?
Love is patient, Love is kind ... Love is selfless, Love makes life worth living. Doesn't Love overlook our faults and rejoice in our differences? Doesn't it?
A horrible crime committed against Cinda's mother, rumors of killers lurking down by the river -- it seems nowhere is safe for Gwendolynn anymore.
At last, a rainy night with no conflicts or worries, and only one thought in common. The door opens, and Valentine steps across the threshold.
How's this for scary? Bobby Curry, small town police officer, has approached Lynn and Cinda. But it's not ditzy, tactless Cinda in control, it's dangerous, otherworldly Misty staring out of that one green eye. And Misty's in the mood for more than a cup of coffee...
What would you be willing to give up for the person you love most? Riches? Power? Everything, you say, but what if what you had to give up were your fears and preconceptions?
Margie has the scoop on who's most likely to be named the next mayor, but Lynn's a little distracted getting to know the strange -- and slightly menacing -- being who has taken up residence behind Cinda's green eye.
If Valentine promises to love her until the end of Time, will Augusta believe him? Will she lose her resolve to leave him? And will she follow through on her decision to be honest with him?
The hairstyle Cinda's mom inflicted on her isn't the only strange and horrifying thing that Lynn discovers when she returns to the beauty salon after a cryptic walk with FBI agent Harry Adkison. The walls are falling and soon nobody will escape.
Images of the children she babysat while in high school press against Augusta's brain. Every single one of them is older than Valentine. When she began her affair with Moersgard, Valentine would have been a boy of sixteen! What should have been romance has become a horror story.
Lunch is over. Even a simple trip to the local beauty salon can't be normal now, however. Lynn can't take two steps without tripping over a well-wisher, a gossip or an FBI agent. Not that it's a bad thing when the agent is that strangely attractive Harry Adkison.
It's all about Time. Time the vast distance, Time the villain. Augusta could travel back in Time to tell herself how good life has become, and how to avoid the mistakes that were made. But if she did, she wouldn't grow up to become Augusta. Ah, but maybe that would have been better and she would have missed Time's cruelest trick of all.
Special Agent Ericka heads to the small town diner to catch a quiet meal. What she doesn't figure on is running into the town's most tactless local there. No invitation? No problem! Cinda plops herself right down to enjoy a power lunch, asking questions in the manner only Cinda can.
He'll show her <i>his</i> if she'll show him <i>hers</i> ... but this is a more adult show and tell, with unspoken issues clouding their views.
In the wake of her mother's death, Lynn is staying with her longtime friend and hardcore gossip, Cinda. With the innocence of one born without a sense of tact, Cinda is singlemindedly returning to the drama of the Mayor's death and whether or not any of his mistress's other lovers knew about each other. Lynn is still trying to assemble the big picture, however. One that seems to include special agent Harry Adkison in strange places...