Top 50 Stories, by Weekly Downloads

Aladdin's Lamp sends me back to my teenage years. Will I make the same mistakes, or new ones, and can I reclaim my life?

Humans, intelligent AIs, and sentient people shape the future.
Polaris is a recognized synthetic person and a gifted aerospace engineer. But someone else owns every processor, power line, and switch keeping them alive. When a routine relocation exposes the limits of that recognition, Polaris sets out to build a residence of their own—and discovers how hard it is to own a life others still regard as equipment.

Humans, intelligent AIs, and sentient people shape the future.
In 2285, college student Janice Frederick receives what appears to be a straightforward assignment: explain how synthetic sentience emerged and transformed civilization. But Professor James Wilson does not want a timeline of inventions and court decisions. He wants the people the timeline forgot. Janice’s search carries her through more than a century of human and technological change—from life-extension research and controlled fusion to optical memory, asteroid mining, artificial intelligence

Tim and his father, James McKenzie, have just been through a year of heartache. Together they decide that there's no better way to move forward than to embark on an epic journey of discovery, growth, reconciliation and healing. Join them as they find that life goes on, that broken relationships can be mended and that a lost love can be rekindled.

If happiness was measured in money there would be very few millionaires. This is a story about Dan Parker, a young man who starts his life as an adult with the odds stacked against him. Follow his journey of self discovery as he tries to achieve happiness. His story might make you wonder if you live next door to a millionaire. {Edit cleaned and reposted by TeNderLoin}

Benny Baker went from being a smarter than average, fourteen year old kid, to being a super genius. It was an overnight transformation in which his speech patterns become more precise, his mannerisms became muted, and his opinions matured. He has a chance to make things right, but he's not sure what that means.

Friends, Football, and Finding a New Path. In 2024, Blake Sims died, but that was not the end of his story. It's the beginning of a new version of his life when fourteen-year-old Blake wakes up in 1994 with the memory of a vivid dream. A dream of living a whole life filled with disappointment that went bad in high school when his father died. Armed with memories of the future, Blake tries to change what was into what could have been and make a new life for himself.

A Knox Family Story
Part of the Enfield Undrowned universe
Will you be content to drift from situation to situation, to sail the course charted for you by others, or will you take charge of your life and chart your own course? For Jeff Knox, a teenager about to start high school in Enfield, Massachusetts, choosing to take charge of his life will affect more lives than just his own.

A story in the Lucky Jim Universe
Jim Reynolds has avoided accepting the moniker "Lucky Jim" for as long as he could, possibly too long. This fast-paced story is set in 2095 and covers the most important several months of his life. If you haven't read Lucky Jim I and II, large parts of this story won't make sense to you.

Pudgy, out of shape, divorced, and laid-off; Colin thought he had hit rock-bottom. Then came the landslide that almost sent him to his grave. In the depths of despair, miles from nowhere, he searches for a way to get back to civilization and finds that his service is required in a totally unexpected role - as the person who will save the human race from destruction.

This idea came from the normal fairy tale, where a dragon gets the princess, and the knight slays the dragon and saves the princess. But what would happen more like real life? When a dragon abducts Princess Eleanor, an average knight named Thomas steps up while seasoned knights stall out. After an unglamorous rescue, they forge a quiet romance built on shared silence, missing books, and everyday compromises.

16 y/o Hal Smith is a quiet, unassuming Australian teen boy with a bad knee and no dreams. Taught to help people, he does; without thinking before acting. In Year Ten in a new city and school, it's a year of living in interesting times as he's in the wrong place at the wrong time doing the right thing. He'd once dreamt of being a world athlete and had the skills to make them true, but lost them helping a stranger; and delivered a Star Performance greater than most athletes can ever do.

A Knox Family Story
Part of the Enfield Undrowned universe
Your mother is a kick-ass black-belt karate instructor and English teacher. Your father? A combat veteran Army Airborne Ranger paramedic with a penchant for saving lives on and off-duty. So, what are you going to do with your life? Something unexpected, that’s what, and you’re not going to take any shit, either…

Mike lives through "interesting times" that follow when terrorists bring the 'War On Terror' to the United States. "This was what he was fighting to preserve — mothers taking their children to the park where they could play without fearing for their lives. {[I hate the fact that I can find no way to deal honorably with dishonorable people. I find it disgusting that in order to save what I value most, I must lower myself to their level.]}"

Ed discovers he can see and hear ghosts. After that everything changes. He helps ghosts or helps others with help from ghosts.

16-year-old David Whitehorse suddenly finds himself transported more than 1500 years into the past. This is the story of how his parents prepared him and of his life back then: how he used his considerable knowledge and skills, and how he finally came to understand why he ended up back then.

A Rivers Region Story
A young man with a unique heritage that guides his destiny has to deal with many hard issues starting with the murder of his father while 10 years of age. We follow his life for the next decade while he works to survive, protect his heritage, and fight the man he holds responsible for his father's death. He's more than what he seems, and strives to meet all his responsibilities. Set in Australia.

I like to honor unsung heroes. This year, it’s the WACs. Their badge is Athene Pallas, the goddess of war and wisdom. The WACs were all of that. They were volunteers in an era when most of their male counterparts were drafted. But they were women in this man’s Army. So, they never got the credit they’d earned and deserve. The other day, I ran across a yard sign that said, “Land of the Free, BECAUSE of the Brave.” That’s who I’m talking about here.

A non-fiction account of World War I, written from Powell’s perspective as a war correspondent who traveled extensively along the battlefronts.

Science is killing magic. The last of the magical beings decide that it is time for the return of a Merlin-like person to bring back the magic. The job requirements are: he's got to be an unlikely hero type that is lucky; he's got to own silver and be willing to trade it for a gift of magic; and he's got to be a horny guy with a bad fashion sense.

A Knox Family Story
Part of the Enfield Undrowned universe
Terrorist rage pierces the heart of the United States in a shocking and brutal attack. The attack jolts the country from its naïveté in one, horrifying instant; Jeff Knox, his family, friends, and neighbors are shaken from their comfortable lives in that same moment. How does a nation of three hundred million respond, and how does it change one man? The sequel to “A Charmed Life.”

After his wife divorced him for being poor and beneath her status, he became the subject of public ridicule. Rumors spread that he had been unfaithful, claiming he was involved with other women—but none of it was true. Left completely alone, his only remaining possession is a diamond pendant, the last gift from his late mother. Yet behind his quiet suffering lies a mysterious man—an unparalleled medical genius, a master martial artist, and someone with a hidden past no one dares to uncover.

Roy Burke has been too occupied building his construction business to go looking for a wife. So his secretary and mother join forces to push him along. No-one expects the chaos that results.

In 1843 16-year-old Lewis Clark kills one of the two sons of Mr. Tyler, the richest man in Fayette County. He also takes the blame for killing his other son. Given Tyler's reputation as a vengeful and violent man, Lewis flees for his life. This is the story of his escape and his adventures. Another of my fantasy histories.

A Rivers Region Story
They say the Chinese have a curse - May you live in interesting times. A 15 year old boy has a major change of lifestyle forced on him. We follow along while he adjusts to the changes. However, he lives in interesting times and he must deal with them as well as rising to the challengers presented to him. Through all this his true nature shows and he changes the lives of many others in the city of Rivers, and elsewhere. Set in Australia.

When the prettiest girl in the high school surprises one of the school's biggest nerds with a kiss at a random coffee shop, the world around them changes for the better.

Now married, Paul McAllister and Anna Jaramillo McAllister, continue building their fledgling Estancia into the refuge they've dreamed of. Where family and friends can live a life safe from the violence of daily life in the wilderness of the New Mexico Territory. Building levees, planting crops, cattle drives, digging for gold, and advancing the use of existing technology rapidly become intertwined with ferreting out robbers,kidnappers, and murderers.

A Wizard - A love story Story
You think you know what's real but you don't believe in Wizards? Maybe your definition of Wizard needs adjusting! Meet Sean David Kilpatrick on the day he's born. Imagine raising a young Wizard that can talk to animals and control the weather. Or a young enchantress that can talk to animals and the earth shakes when she gets mad. Let's see what you believe when you're through reading.

John Taylor
John Taylor had finally gotten his life put back together. He was living with his girlfriend, FBI Agent Loretta Whitaker, and was in the process of adopting the girl who'd returned with him from Russia. He had put the past behind him. or so he thought. Qasim, the man who'd held him in the desert for three years and tortured him every day, was back and in the US. Now Taylor must stop him from committing his next act of Terror. Can Taylor bury his past once and for all?(New Posts Every Sat)

Every 4th of July, I post a tribute to those who’ve served. The main character evolves from childhood to adulthood. That happens when you take the oath. I try to highlight lesser-known contributors so they are also memorialized, and this year’s story certainly fits that bill. Before researching this, my only knowledge of the 442nd RCT came courtesy of Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid, which is unfortunate, since those were real-life heroes and this is their true story. Please enjoy...

When, in the course of human events, a Government of a Nation has forgotten that it is founded and predicated upon the singular sentiment, We the People, it becomes necessary for Men and Women of good conscience to stand tall and remind those who govern on behalf, by forbearance, and at the will, of We the People; that the law of the land is specified in the Constitution of these United States.

An angry young man grows up to be an angry middle-aged man. Now he's stuck in a dead-end job, married to a woman that detests him, and has children that don't even know him. A close encounter with death makes him realize that he deserves more than what life has dealt him thus far. Can he get it? Concluding Chapter has been posted. Enjoy! }:-)

The Grim Reaper is now medically retired and trying to become a consultant. How will that work out? There're more than a few bumps on the road. You'll want to read The Grim Reaper and Adventures in Southern Law Enforcement first.

David works in a cubicle. His greatest adventure? Surviving data entry and passive-aggressive memos. That is, until a mysterious lamp transports him to Elyria—a realm of dark queens, elves, and sorcery. Now, armed with nothing but sarcasm and a stapler, David must navigate a world where rebellion brews, magic is weaponized, and the key to saving both realms might just be found in a curio shop. And the Dark Queen is watching...

Graham Reaper is a young boy growing up in West Georgia. Follow him as he grows up, finds love, and becomes a man. He earns his nickname and more. Caategories and tags will be added as the story progresses.

A man scarred by injustice, a lost love, and wounds of combat, finds himself volunteered as a foster father, a protector, and a combatant in a lethal struggle against a past bully and a vengeful cartel lord.

Evolution
The only hope humanity has to meet the Aliens, on an even footing, is with US resources, so Scotty must win the Presidency. Preparing for Aliens aren't the only challenge the host/Companion cadre face. Robert Branch (AKA Abdul Ali Hassan) is loose in the world, and he is inhabited by a Demon, the antithesis of Companions. Branch and his Demon escaped to Syria in 2012, and began organizing groups of Saddam Hussein's officers and fighters. The power behind the throne of ISIS is evil incarnate.

This is the second in my Tugboat Man series. This time, Tug is in the race of his life against some very bad...well... not quite people. The title tells the tale. No, it has nothing to do with the Da Vinci code. But it's in the ballpark. The wife is from Atlantis, so there are some unavoidable sci-fi aspects. But this is actually nothing more than pure romantic adventure. I hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. D.T.

Country Roads
Music, Baseball and Bullies. Charlie's life is busier than ever as he continues to put down roots in his community, making friends and enemies, and explore who he wants to be. Charlie decides to follow the two things he always loved when he was a kid, music and baseball. Joining the school team and forming his first band both pull him in different directions, adding to the pressures he already faced with school, bullies, making friends, and trying to become his own man.

This story is fiction, but not the facts. Information from Sumerian translations are true. Hindu texts of battles in space...true. Einstein's brain autopsy proved that he used more of his brain than other humans. How is that possible? How do men get flashes of genius, and why doesn't everyone function at that level of ability all the time? Why did the Dark Ages happen, and why does mankind seem to be sliding that direction again? This story is fiction, I hope.

A Story in the The Trilogy and More Western Universe
Young man must leave home and ride west or stay and watch the death of a dream.

A marine biologist studying a rare coral colony that recovers from damage faster than it should is injured during a dive. The wound is shallow, almost trivial. What follows is quiet, clinical, and increasingly wrong. The injury closes. Then it closes again. A surface, he keeps reminding himself, is only a surface.

They, whomever they are, say Texas is the place to be; or was that someplace else. Whatever! This story is about there and a few other places. Not in modern times but not much has changed.

A Rivers Region Story
A 9 year old boy's parents are killed by terrorist. He goes to live with his great grandfather until he's 16 when his great grandfather dies of cancer. His parents raise him to be free thinking and independent. His great grandfather adds to the training. David wants to stay living in the house he helped to build, but the welfare authorities won't allow it. So his great grandfather helps him to be true to himself when he runs away to stay free, and he finds a new life.- 52,200 words of action.

A Story in the The Trilogy and More Western Universe
A strange and wondrous adventure for a young man from Texas.

A Rivers Region Story
Farmers lives are ruled by the land they work and nature's cycles. James is the son of a farmer who's orphaned by a bushfire. He continues to live with his father's old boss, but knows he has to make his own way in life after school. Life has it's ups and downs, and many challenges for James. He leaves the farm for the Australian Army, but ends up back as a farm worker due to combat wounds. Join James as he meets many challenges and changes in his life.

When teen Corey James rescued a young girl from drowning, he set off a long train of events. He never wanted recognition or payment. But running from himself came close to wrecking four lives. Resolution came in a totally unforeseen way.

It started with a botched robbery in which Sonny Daniels was shot. All that his family wanted was for the robbers to get put in jail, but they were in Los Angeles and things work a little differently there than in the country. When cultures collide, the potential for misunderstanding is huge.

A Survivor Story
Pat has survived life on the ranch and high school, but it's now time to go to university. He has lots of plans and intentions when he leaves home, but life and events change some of them for him. Life away from the ranch exposes Pat to a lot of different problems and dangers which he must steer a safe course through. It's time for him to move on with his life, and he does. - 51,500 words of adventure.

Time traveling Vikings! Do we need more of a description than that? How did they get here and what do we do with them? Enjoy!