The stories of Bryan Young

This is a sample of this story.  The complete version is available in my collection Man Against the Future.   From there, you can order signed copies, or buy it for the Kindle or the Nook.             My wife and I often take a constitutional with our feline companion, Chester, most evenings after I arrive home from work.  This particular evening in question, I was intrigued by an invitation my wife received from our mutual friend, Miss Harriet P. Stander. Miss Stander had requested our presence this evening for a rendezvous on her front porch for beverages in order that we might behold a marvel in her possession that she assured us simply couldn't be described in words.              The sojourn to Miss Stander's house was perhaps a mile on foot and as Chester, my wife, and I walked, we had a lovely conversation abut assorted things of various natures.             My wife marveled at the weather and the sorts of flowers in bloom.  I myself pondered aloud about the status of

This is a sample of this story.  The complete version is available in my collection  Man Against the Future.   From there, you can order signed copies, or buy it for the Kindle or the Nook.             It had been a full night and most of a day since we'd been trapped in the basement of my mother's house.  There was one door leading up and out and bars over windows to small to escape from.             We had to barricade our one escape route to keep my mother and sister out.             "I don't know long we'll be able to stay here."  Leave it to my little brother to state the obvious.             "I know.  But what else can we do?"             "I don't know."             I shouldn't have come here.  He called me and asked me to come check on our mother and sister.  They'd come home from a shipping trip with a fever that put them both down in bed with a vengeance.             "They're not responsive.  I know you'r

This story is part of Michael Stackpole's Chain Story .  The Chain Story is a series of free fiction from accomplished writers tied together by the common frame of The Wanderer's Club . What follows below is the first part of "The Colossus".  It is available now for the Kindle and the Nook .  You can also get the ePub on Goodreads . I f you like this, you should check out my books " Lost at the Con " and " Man Against the Future ". The Wanderers’ Club has always been the best place to listen in on the latest happenings in the world of adventuring, and today was no exception.  Sometimes, one could just sit, snifter of brandy in one hand, cigar in the other, and just open one’s ears. There was not a thing more tranquilizing than closing my eyes in that immense red, leather chair in the back corner of the club’s main room and listen to the stories being told around me. “That was quite the tale, Billy,” a voice to off my right s

This is but a sample of this story.  The complete version is available in my print collection  Man Against the Future.   From there, you can order signed copies, or buy it for the Kindle or the Nook.             "Order!  We will have order!" the town elder shouted over the din of his panicked townspeople.  They had gathered at the town's hall, an immense room with high echoing ceilings, thick beams, and a thatched roof.  In better times the town and it's people would have been celebrating their idyllic lifestyle, the kind a community of simple dairy farmers could do.  But now, a darkness had descended over them.             "One at a time, one at a time," he shouted again.             He pointed to one man, giving him permission to speak, "She's dead already.  Let's just finish it."             A woman stood up, babe in arms, "But he said he'd kill us if we hurt her!"             "All of us!"             "But

I said there'd be at least one more short story this month, and I was right.  Though this isn't the one I planned on.  This one just sort of came out over coffee this morning. Be sure to check out all of the stories on the site by clicking on the  complete list .  I'm still waiting on final approval to post my  Chain Story  as well.  Be sure to check out my recent collections available on the Kindle.               She smiled and added a deep love and care to her voice, "I love you."             I smiled back and laughed.   "I love you, too."             "What's so funny?"             "I'm not laughing because of anything funny."             "What then?"             "It's just been a while, is all."             I ran my hand across her cheek and down her neck, pulling the sheet down to her waist and pressing her bare chest up against mine.   Then, I kissed her quickly, trying to catch her before she

We have another Guest Story from my brother, Jason Young.    These are excerpts from his second novel that read as short stories.  Be sure to check out all of the stories on the site, including Jason's by clicking on the complete list .  I'm still waiting on final approval to post my  Chain Story  as well.  I'll have another story this month also, to make up for last month. Be sure to check out my recent collections available on the Kindle.   You can check out Jason's Kindle offerings here .      I had a dream of a stone prison…      I didn’t know where I was, because I could see the world outside myself. There was a transport that traveled an endless desert. It rolled across the golden sand with its deep iron tread. It lifted the sand and dropped it back onto itself like a water wheel. It would move as long as there was sand in the desert. I tried to point my focus to the burning sky, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t comprehend its dimensions. There was

This is but a sample of this story.  The complete version is available in my print collection  Man Against the Future.   From there, you can order signed copies, or buy it for the Kindle or the Nook.             Things had been bad for a long time for everyone, not just me.  Everybody's got their own problems but I've got my own unique crosses to bear.  I don't like talking about them, though, because that's always liable to cause more trouble than it's worth and it pretty much always ends up with me and my girl getting run out of town.  Mostly though, we keep to ourselves.  We've got a room in the hotel right about the town saloon.  That's where we spend our time and take our meals.             We don't talk much to strangers and other folk.  I work hard enough for the both of us to keep us out of trouble.  It's a rough life and plenty of hard work, but it's worth it because I love her so damned much, no matter what anybody says about people

It's been a long month, and I've been working on my Chain Story (which should be up soon), but I wanted to offer this bit below.  I've done a couple like it, but it's modeled after the short 3-6 sentence short stories in some of Hemingway's Short Story books.  I wrote one back in April of 2007 called The Rat's Nest  and another one in April of 2009 called So Many Night's Ago . Be sure to check out my recent collections available on the Kindle. I loved you, but I found someone else to share the life with me I wanted for us. It was near impossible to let go, and I still wonder how things would have come out between us, but I couldn't wait for you any longer. I'd have been a fool to. The life I have now is so happy and so wonderful that it's hard not to think about how things could have been with you.  I wonder sometimes where you are now and think about calling, but I know you wouldn't answer.  Even if I could muster the courage to mak

This is but a sample of this story.  The complete version is available in my print collection  Man Against the Future.   From there, you can order signed copies, or buy it for the Kindle or the Nook. The year was 2081 and so many of the social problems humans had faced over the last hundred years were still a pretty big problem. Most people were still poor, corporations still ran the government, and politicians were constantly caught with prostitutes of both sexes, living and dead. When politicians weren't blowing each other's personal lives completely out of proportion for political gain, they were starting wars with other countries. Sometimes, they would even start wars with people inside their own country, but those were usually ideological. Perhaps the biggest and worst change was that the polar ice caps had melted and much of the Mojave Desert was now prime beachfront property, and the air across the globe tasted like you were sucking on a tailpipe. As pressing and