Cautionary Tales from the Letter D

D is for… Welcome to an anthology of cautionary yet controversial tales that plunge the reader into the strangest contentions of life. 10 short stories. 10 different lives. 10 shocking endings. All deriving from 1 letter: D.

What These Eyes Have Seen

In this collection of fourteen short stories, you will meet people you know in your own family or from down the street where you live. They all find themselves involved in things they did not expect or want or even dream about. In one story, savor the moment as a son watches his traveling-salesman father create a unique exchange for sandwiches and cokes. In another story, a volunteer soccer coach/dad receives a compliment that makes him reflect on his life. In other stories, you will watch a son find a way to shape his own life, a major league catcher who may finally get caught, two stories about soldiers who discover that the end result of a firefight is not always as it appears on the silver screen, and another story about a soldier who passes along his family’s perfect use for eggs. Then there is the killer with a soft spot. You didn’t know he was out there, did you? As you read these stories, you may smile, you may get angry, you may shed a tear, but one thing is for certain, you will remember these characters.

Trees and Other Witnesses

Trees are silent witnesses to the passing of time, guardians of myth and memory, metaphors of life. Each story in this collection has a tree of particular importance to its characters and their communities. These are tales of childhood and imagination, of migration and struggle, conflict and change. They are about specific places in Mexico, Nicaragua and the U.S., and real and imagined sites of cultural encounter, growth and adaptation. As the characters in these stories grapple with the forces of nature and the entanglement of human relationships, the trees are their companions and touchstones, reflecting, and at times shaping, the experience of their lives. These stories follow the roots and inner journeys of a variety of characters, while embodying a deep respect for the natural world around them and the power of its imagery to structure the meaning of their perceptions.

Stepping Stones

A selection of non-fiction short stories based on experiences in a 90-year life. 1. Save this patient or die - patient care under the gun. 2. "Here doggie, doggie." Calling the bear to join the picnic. 3. Roscoe finds his courage as the babies watch. 4. A baby in the street just for fun! 5. It's 8 for Space, and the last ship to go. 6. A visit to Chisum's Old Lincoln Town, where the past never dies. 7. A Cherokee bride, it's in the family tree. 8. A glimpse of Tucson town through a scarf. 9. A hat saves the day and helps an escape from war. 10. Sightless eyes find the murderer and prevent another.

Imagining Tanya

These early stories by the award-winning novelist, David Allan Cates, take place in Mexico and Central America during the war years of the 1980s. The protagonists are exiled lovers—broken for the most part and trying to make sense of their new world of grief. Far from home and working in a boatyard, on a movie set, a banana freighter, as a veal salesman, medical interpreter, writer, and Sandinista volunteer, they’re forced to re-imagine not only love, peace, suffering, and beauty but the meaning of their very own lives. “The stories in David Allan Cates’s Imagining Tanya, sometimes harrowing, sometimes hilarious, are always moving. Like his novels, they’re the perfect mixture of tough and tender, full of heart, mystery, and wisdom. But the compressed form allows him to focus on the strange, subtle moments that turn a life upside down or right it again, even if his characters don’t always recognize the change when it comes. In these rich pages, a host of American ex-pats wandering in Central America—some innocent, some jaded—all carry with them the potential for an earthly, messy sort of grace, gifted to them by a masterful storyteller.” – Scott Nadelson, author of One of Us and The Next Scott Nadelson “David Allan Cates creates a vivid, unforgettable world of souls lost in Central America in the 1980s. The characters’ heartbreak and displacement are mirrored by the larger conflicts of war all around them, and they seek redemption in the bravery of loving through pain. Imagining Tanya is a bold, gripping, and seductive collection, full of moments of grace.” – Maxim Loskutoff, author of Ruthie Fear and Come West and See

The Two Sides of Yourself

If you find yourself as a main character in any of these stories, you are only human.

If you don’t, you are in denial.

This intriguing and powerful collection of prose reflects on the many complex facets of the human experience. The diverse narratives, perspectives, and characters in the stories touch on a number of experiences and emotions that everyone will relate to at one point or another in their lives, which is what makes the stories so captivating.

From family to love to loss to religion, the stories are sure to draw readers in and allow them to truly contemplate about what it means to be human, and the many shared experiences and emotions we have that make us so.

The Retirees

As a schoolboy, Dr. Meiksins’s stories were always published in the school’s newspaper. In his professional life as well as in his layman’s life, Dr. Meiksin had surprising, intriguing, and inspiring experiences that he likes to share with his readers. Life does not end with retirement; revenge is sweet; life does not always work out as planned. Although the stories are all fiction, they are tailored after real-life events.

The Netsuke from San Francisco

The stories of Vladimir Torchilin, representing the irrationality and phantasmagorical nature of everyday life both in Russia and in America, reveal the difficult world of the people of our time. The writer's gaze sharply notices the details - sometimes funny, sometimes tragic. Written in a lively, fascinating, and often ironic way, these stories are easy to read and at the same time make you think.

Tails from the Grooming Table

What does a day in the life of a dog groomer look like? Why is it so expensive to get your dog’s haircut? Does the groomer know she has makeup running down her face? Wait, is that makeup, or is that something that came out the backside of the dog? Is she just going to leave it there while she drinks her coffee? What is the most common dog name? What is the name heard around the store through the loudspeaker that no one will ever forget? What happens if a dog tries to bite? Do I have to have an appointment? Does my groomer actually care about my dog?

I’m your dog groomer. I have to stand on top of the table to work on big dogs. I have to carry your new puppy like a human baby and rock him back and forth to work on his paws and nails. My workday does not just include bathing and haircutting your precious pup. I wish it did.

I get pooped on, peed on, and all manner of bodily fluids have been on my person, yet I still prefer to work with animals over people. And yes, I really do care about your dog.

Sitting on a Park Bench

Robi and Vic, two old friends, are sitting on a park bench on a misty fall evening, munching nuts and reminiscing. The smell of jasmine in the chilly fall air suddenly reminds Robi of their university days, many moons ago. A floodgate of memories of this time of their lives, when ‘life held promise and powers felt indefatigable,’ opens up. Who was the mysterious creature they had seen in the Gymkhana late night after the concert of ‘87? Who ratted them out after they crashed into the social event illegally held on university premises one evening? What started the infamous mess wars that drove such a rift through campus? The past becomes the present and the two compatriots go through their own remembrance of things past, while the sinister syndicate and the feared disciplinary committee loom over every encounter.

Seeing and Hearing Imaginary Things

Diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, Jeffrey Andrew writes about hallucinations and delusions as they occur in his mental state. His girlfriend inspired Jeffrey to write about his mental condition. While analyzing his delusions, Jeffrey tends to wonder if they are real or not, as sometimes these hallucinations turn out to be creepy and fictitious. Will they ever go away so that he may have a normal life?

Mirrors

Mirrors is a collection of three stories that look beyond the surface of what reality appears to be. 

Mirrors

Katrina has worked the same job in the same small town her entire life. She has always considered herself and her existence nothing but commonplace and boring until a birthday present—one she promised herself never to use—changed everything. 

Each of us has a different version of ourselves. Some are better when left undiscovered. 

Deciduous

Daisy wakes up in a hospital bed with vague memories and broken images of her past. Her caretaker explains that she was the sole survivor of a tragic accident that left her parents dead.

They are all in a room, says a pressing voice that will soon lead her to discover the transience of seasons as they bring about death and form new life.

What’s On the Menu?

Chris Newberry has won the most coveted prize that one could win: a trip to What’s On the Menu?

In a society that relies solely on supplements for sustenance, What’s On the Menu? is the only chance to experience the long-lost sensation of eating.  

But in order to get there, you have to win the lottery. And if you do win, the trip is one you might never forget.