Chapter 2: Tony’s Been Moonlighting! Smack, crash, the shattering of a glass bottle over Sam’s head “Come on, Sammy! It’s not total slave hood up here while I see you bundled up all nice and warm countin’, shippin’, toy after toy,. I know you make a salary and I want my f*#@ing money! “I don’t got it, Tony! I’m tapped out, man!” Sammy struggles to talk, to reason with Tony hoping for some kind of sympathetic reprieve. “It’s gonna workout, Sam. I gotta deal for you. Since you can’t pay me...

Chapter One cont'd. He slams doors to the barn behind him, swooshing the smell of reindeer poo out into the crisp morning air and quickly, heads over toward The Grand commissary for his daily breakfast. The white, fluffy snow crunches beneath his feet as he makes his way through the village. Greeting passers by with a sneer and a grumbling tone he hurries to the smell of hotcakes, sausage, and strong coffee that swirls out of the Grand Commissary's front doors. He pushes past his fellow elv...

Chapter One: A Typical Day He slammed the alarm clock hard onto the nightstand beside his bed as the chiming of 4:30 a.m. once again shattered the warm coziness of his nightly slumber. "Urghh!!!! Another day at the North Pole," he thought to himself as he shuffled to his feet and headed for the bathroom. "At least I always get first dibs on the bathroom before the line forms. That's the only advantage of being up at such a stinky, early hour." Rudy said out loud to himself. He often talked ...

Hi, my name is Craig, and I'm an adult who enjoyed the "Harry Potter" series (so far). I've read all five, preordered the sixth one, and can't wait until the seventh one is released. However, my curiosity has been piqued by something ELSE lately... namely, "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events." Perhaps, however, this is only due to the imminent release of the movie based on said books. What I wanna know is: are they any good? Are they better (as a few have told me) than o...

Well, it's been a long wait, but I think it's worth it. I'm posting Chapter 2 of my story: Books of Magic. Story Ahead-----> Keep going down.... Now Awaken.... Now Forsaken.... Ugh. That book was a bitch. What in the hell happened? I sit up and look around. I’m not in my apartment anymore. I’m in a room. A big, big room. Light seems to come from all directions at once, making the entire room lit, but not blindingly bright. The floor tile is a nice off whit...

The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson Paperback - 784 pages Spectra - June 3, 2004 Started: October 3, 2004 Finished: October 11, 2004

Undead and Unemployed by Mary Janice Davidson Paperback - 294 pages Berkley - August 2004 Started: September 22, 2004 Finished: September 22, 2004 It's always a pleasure to read a sequel that actually improves upon the original, and Davidson has managed to do just that with the second book in the Betsy, Queen of the Undead series (the first book being Undead and Unwed). The first was a good mix of humor and romance, set in a world where a secret vampire society exists, but the p...

Pipsqueak By Brian M. Wiprud Paperback - 320 pages Dell - June 1, 2004 Started: September 23, 2004 Finished: October 2, 2004 This book, for me, was a classic example of false expectations ruining what otherwise would have been a fairly enjoyable novel. The two blubs on the cover (from Harlan Coben and Publisher Weekly) led me to believe that this book would be somewhere along the lines of a Carl Hiassen or Ben Rehder novel. But while the plot is a bit off-the-wall, the character...

Heroics for Beginners by John Moore Paperback: 246 pages Ace Books - August 31, 2004 Started - September 15, 2004 Finished - September 21, 2004I was a little leery about this title when I first saw it in the bookstore. Pulling off a decent fantasy satire is no easy task and I've read quite a few that came close but didn't really make it. I'm happy to say that that is not the case with John Moore's book. It is the perfect blend of farce and story, with neither side outweigh the oth...

welcome to my new world, this is gonna be my views on the world of racing and nascar hope you like it....... now nascar and this stupid chase for the championship....dumb dumb dumb......but not going to get in that today.where i want to go is rusty wallaces last call tour.1005 is the last season he is gonna drive....rusty you will be missed. now nascar goes away from tradition of laborday weekend and takes the race to california under the lights this cookie cutter track will be fast.. her...

I’m impressed by Sam Raimi’s new blast, Normal 1 10 2004-08-10T00:14:00Z 2004-08-10T00:24:00Z 1 1 1 9.3821 I’m impressed by Sam Raimi’s new blast, Cool effects, and the pace was set fast, And the blues that you feel, Made Pete Parker seem real, As he kicked Ole Doc Ock’s fuzzy ass.   Limerick review of   TheVillage here.   P.S. Does anybody know where he stuck the car from EvilDead/Army of Darkness in this one? T...

Introdution. This story really needs a lot of work. I never dated anyone on line so I was really out of my element. If readers have had online dating experiences or know of some friends that did online dating I'm open to suggestions on how I can make this story better. I think its time for a Cyber Lust story, so I thought I would give it a try. But it really needs something. But at least its a start. Don't be shy. If you have any ideas, lets here it. As Jill put on her make up she wonder...

I thought it might be nice if we had a least one special group board at Joe User just for short stories. With a group short story board everyone can have a place to display their short stories and get some feedback on them. Also anyone that wants to write poetry is also welcome to join the group board. And if you're a writer that's looking to get discovered being in a group may make you more visible with the search engines and make it more likely that you will be discovered. Anyway, I th...

Part two the Lorien Elves There would be up to twenty thousand at each festival. After the Declaration of Interdependence was announced, Anaya promised miracles and we planned a few surprises of our own. “The only big question- mark is the Militia .” mused Angela, who knew Hazel was in no good mood this morning. “ Do we have to talk about that ? Let’s wait until we here more from their command so far its just a few contacts with lower echelon officers, “ said Hazel as she looked out ...

I like to read historical fiction because it not only entertains but I learn at the same time. This book, The Winds Of Fortune is set in 1882 in a place called Fayette, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Fayette was, and still is, a real place. Only now it's a ghost town and a Michigan State Park. The town was found in 1864 to turn raw iron ore from the rich Michigan mining fields into pig-iron before it was shipped "down-lake" to a steel mill to be made into steel. The story is woven arou...