Why Me? Chimeras, Conundrums and Dead Goldfish by Charlotte Stuart has an unusual title and an equally unusual and interesting murder/mystery to go along with it. Bryn, an attractive, young, single, successful consultant from Seattle is enjoying her dream holiday of hiking the highland trails...

Not that author Nadia Gilkes is preoccupied with death as much as Woody Allen, but something in Woke Up Dead will make us ponder on the lessons of dying that will make us appreciate life more. This lighthearted novella is not a zombie story, but...

I like Waking Up in Vegas. I like the way it is told. I give a lot of credit to Gabrielle Dorian for the imaginative beginning. It is a text message from a drunk mother, on vacation in Las Vegas, to her son back in...

Warped by Svingen and Pedersen is a short, zany story set on board a spaceship called Agatha X, which is stuck in a wormhole inside a wormhole. Trouble is afoot and Captain Lisa Henderson must take whatever action is needed to get herself, the crew...

Susanna Janssen is a foreign language educator who lives and teaches in Northern California. Thanks to Wordstruck!, we all can now enjoy the words of humor and learning that have benefited the readers of her column, A Word in Edgewise, published by the Ukiah Daily...

Expect the unexpected while reading Wilful Misunderstandings, a collection of short stories by Richard Foreman. The House Where Jack Lived has an eerie aura that mesmerizes its occupants. In Jonathan and the Extraordinary Drawer, a child discovers magical things a drawer produces, but ignores the...

Work in Progress: The Journal Antics of Abigail Nolan by J.K. Wood is a humorous short story about the rise and fall of a single girl in modern history. Abigail Nolan is on top of the world. She loves her job, she is engaged to...

Winners and Losers by Steven Arnett is about a man named Tom Slotrak. He is just 26 years old, but he already feels like an old man. His life has no thrills, no excitement, and there are certainly no fun times with some beautiful woman...

Who Killed Randy Ratphink?: The Postmortem Adventures of a Fried-Brain Hippie by Jerry Flu is a wildly unconventional karmic whodunit - a sort of astral film noir, as it would play if scripted by a fugitive beat poet with a chip on his shoulder, a...

Wanted: Hexed or Alive is a short story by Charity Parkerson. When a mysterious woman appears in his shop, Randall knows that there can be only one explanation for his guest. Confronting his friends, he discovers she is Rowena, a Fate. Desperately seeking his help...