Welcome to Authortrek.com, the home of author profiles and interviews, reading guides and reviews. Here at Authortrek, we endeavour to walk in the footsteps of authors, and to search for new literary talent. Visit our homepage:
http://www.authortrek.com/
If you would like to submit a short story, please read our submission guidlines:
http://www.authortrek.com/short-story-submission-guidelines.html
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Download: $0.70 This is an excellent short story from the American author, Joseph Miles, which is based on a couple of true stories: a chimpanzee attack in Sierra Leone, and an alligator attack on a dog in Florida. Our hero has moved to New York City, in search of the solitude he requires to continue his work on his book of virtues. His world is turned upside down when his apartment is broken into, and he is forced to call upon his landlord, SC, to repair his broken window. SC has an extreme vision of the future, which disrupts the thought processes of our hero. Until, that is, it becomes true… Jungle Rains is a very stimulating, and philosophical short story, that also abounds in a subtle humour, which makes it a great addition to this series of online stories.
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HenryHenry (e-book)
Download: $0.70 As Nick Bitzas writes, Henry “is a dark psychological comedy told in vignettes consisting of dialogue”. It’s an experimental piece, but one that I think you will find very rewarding. Nick Bitzas does very well to pull off this novel way of writing over 30 pages. The protagonist, Henry, is very much an anti-hero, but you can’t help but be stimulated by the crazy world in which he lives. Although Nick Bitzas uses only dialogue, his excellent characterisation skills superbly draw the characters that make up Henry’s world, such as his best friend Jeffrey, who wants to write a dictionary that explains what people really mean when they talk with each other, and Henry’s possessive mother, who needs someone to be the man of their house, now that Henry’s father has passed away. Henry is a story that forces the reader to become fully engaged, as the reader does have to do some work to follow this challenging but rewarding narrative.
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Download: $0.70 After successfully rearing two sons, Mary decides to attend ‘Assertiveness for Women’ classes, as she bids to return to work, much to the dismay of her mother and husband. Her friend Laura, who has 2 tickets for an upcoming Germaine Greer lecture, also leads Mary astray. Mary watches on with amazement as her newfound friends lurch back into 70’s feminism… The Retro Feminists is a hilarious short story from the awarding-winning Irish writer Breda Nathan. It’s no surprise that Breda won the Cork Theatre Writer’s Award last year, as her narrative voice is superb. You are really there with Mary as she finds that there are some things more painful than “sitting on one buttock for twenty years”!
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Download: $0.70 This is an excellent, hardboiled story from Canadian author Steve Wheeler. Jimmy McFarlane, an ex-con, gets more than he bargained for when he drives a rig full of illegal beer down to Florida, as he encounters an unwelcome stowaway… It does not help that it is Harley Week in Daytona, as there are loads of Hells Angels around…
To find out how you can submit a story to Authortrek.com, check out our submission guidelines:
http://www.authortrek.com/short-story-submission-guidelines.html
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Download: $0.70 Nadine is hurrying home from work, when she gets a piece of grit in her eye. Already exasperated, she is irritated even more when somebody bumps into her. However, just before she starts remonstrating with her offender, she notices that he has a white stick. Feeling sorry for him, Nadine offers her assistance as he gets on the London underground. They get along so well, that it's not long before Nadine starts wondering what it might be like to go out with a blind man, an idea that she is at first reluctant to entertain due to the difficulties thrown up by his disability, but one that soon fires up an her imagination... And it seems that the blind man, Jeremy, may also have similar ideas as he asks her out for a drink...
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Download: $0.70 Fran Tracey is exactly the kind of writer that I want to encourage by publishing this series of online short stories. She’s already had success in short story competitions elsewhere, and I know from previous experience that such a great track record can lead to a professional publishing contract. Despite her previous success, Fran is very open to listening to constructive criticism of her work, and this makes her a delight for any editor to work with, and this is perhaps why she is so successful. I am certain that Hiding in the Dark will chime with many readers, as unfortunately, I am sure that many of us have had to suffer one very bad teacher from our schooldays…
You will need Adobe Reader to view this story, which you can download for free from: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
If you would like to send a short story to Authortrek.com, please check out our submission guidelines:
http://www.authortrek.com/short-story-submission-guidelines.html
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Download: $0.70 This is an exquisite and subtle short story by the novelist Siobhan Curham. It’s ideal to kick off Authortrek.com’s new series of short stories, because it’s a fun and very humane tale. Terrible Beauty does deal with a very serious issue, yet Siobhan Curham’s treatment never becomes ‘preachy’, because her imperative is always to entertain us, rather than to lead us off on a moral crusade. Furthermore, its fantastical premise could never really work anywhere outside of the medium of the short story. Terrible Beauty’s a slight tale, stretching only to 3 pages, but they're full of drama! And although the tone is light, Terrible Beauty does work on several different levels, and so deserves several re-readings. Siobhan Curham is so excellent at characterisation that you really get to empathise with the character of Ray ‘The Geezer’ George, who’s not quite the man he used to be…
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Download: FREE The Necklace has a classic twist ending, something which all short story editors usually hate. Then again, when you're choosing short stories for a competition, you often read 15 short stories in a row, so it's not surprising that short story judges often end up jaded. As editor of Authortrek, my approach will be different, as I seek to nurture new writing talent. However, given that the public will be paying for these short stories, I will still maintain high standards by editing submissions to make them better if need be (a lot of entries to short story competitions fall by the wayside because they only have something minor wrong with them).
Of all de Maupassant's short stories, this has stayed with me the longest, due to the quite unnecessary suffering that Mathilde and her husband put themselves through. This story still has lessons for us today, as consumerism is even more rampant now than it was then.  Download for Free |
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