Chapter 1 - It All Started in the Bathroom.

My name is Eugene, ‘Gene’ for short. I have three sisters who, when it all started, were 19 and 17, and 13. I was 15. I am the only boy. Mom and Dad must have had some kind of routine, since all of our birthdays are in August. I always view the Thanksgiving turkey with some suspicion - you do the math; how many months from Thanksgiving to August.

There are never enough bathrooms or hot water in a house occupied by three teenaged girls. Accordingly, I plan my bathroom visits with care around their expected bathroom use. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

When 13 year old twins Tyler and Jillian can't get along, their Mom decides to take drastic measures and make them see things from each others shoes by making them literally switch places, forcing Jillian to be the brother and Tyler to be the sister. Once they start the punishment, they realize they'll have to do a lot more than wear each others clothes and while Tyler struggles to get used to his new life, Jillian starts to enjoy hers.

Mercy had a rough couple of days and now it looks to be getting worse.
Wil she manage or will she drown in it?

Detective Bishop begins the hunt. Camille Jean Laignaux comes home to a strange new world. And Mr. Jack moves into town. The stage is being set for a showdown.

Copyright © 2017 by AuP reviner

Only the best bait will catch the biggest fish (ancient saying).

How could anyone settle near a star that will soon go supernova? How was it possible to convince millions of people to go there and start a new life? Had they no idea that soon nothing but ashes will remain of them?

Life continues at its romantic and often rollercoaster pace on her island and Charlotte makes another astonishing discovery and is introduced to new and very strange friends. There is passion and romance of course, some things never change particularly where, until recently, uninhabited tropical islands are concerned.
Charlotte takes her friends for a ride in the Islands latest acquisition, a Sunderland flying boat and follows this with an introduction to her most recent discovery. A discovery that will alter all their lives.
Whilst at sea on a scientific exploration trip, The girls with their menfolk are diverted to assist another vessel that broadcast a Mayday message. Whilst attempting a rescue in a force 8 gale their ship, Pacific Wanderer, is attacked by a third vessel that fires on them with heavy calibre weapons. The fire fight results in serious injuries to a number of Pacific Wanderers Crew including Charlotte’s closest friends. The timely arrival of HMZS Aurora and the Sunderland save the day until the flotilla returns to the island and has to negotiate the treacherous passage though the island’s reef with stormy seas and dangerous currents waiting for the tiniest mistake.
The question is, will Charlotte’s new friends keep their word and guarantee our heroine’s safety.
Volume 4 of this series is best read after volumes 1, 2 and 3.

I debated and dithered for several days about taking the next step. Jo, to her credit didn’t push me. I racked my brains to find a reason why I shouldn’t do this. I did a lot of investigations on the internet. Some directions it took in me were frankly… odd to say the least.

Not sure I'm doing this right... I fall upon the mercy of the site owners if I've screwed something up. Anyway, here it is, my rumored submission in the Christmas contest, written in the theme of a Christmas wish fulfilled. It ran a bit longer then I expected, but I think it's the better for it.

I hope you enjoy it.

I'm sure that you have seen an ad or two (or twenty) for one of those 900 phone services. They usually have neat names like 1-900-HOT-HOTT, which is a real number that a teenage neighbor called twice on my garage phone before I caught him. I never could understand why someone would pay $25 for the first four minutes of talk when for a smaller monetary investment you could go to a bar somewhere and buy some floozy a few drinks and get the talk live, or possibly something more if you have a golden tongue.