holiday - Stories

Sienna’s never been kissed and she’s perfectly happy with that. Atleast that’s what she tells herself. Then Lauren Newberger comes along and shakes things up. But a happy ending isn’t destined for all.

It was the first day of October. The Pumpkin Patch was all a buzz with the talk of who was going to be picked as the winner of the Halloween Pumpkin Contest. Every year it was always some big studly pumpkin that was mean to the other pumpkins. He always intimidated the others in the contest to back out so he would be picked to win. But this year an unexpected surprise was about to happen.

What to do to kill time while on vacation? Go for a spot of shopping and buy some new clothes. A true story that happened to me.

A short Christmas story about a special elf that saves Christmas for a sad family.

Last spring, Jeff was reunited with his long lost love, whom he last saw nearly fifty years ago, when they were both in their teens. Abandoning a life in California and moving in with Paul in New York City, merging two lifetimes into a 3-bedroom prewar apartment proved to be more difficult than either of them imagined. Things come to a head when they can’t agree on how to renovate the kitchen. Leave it to Paul’s grandson, Seth, to come to the rescue with a surprise plan, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

Asher and Seth are on a mission to save two younger boys with a troubled past. Kyle is not quite 10 and a genius. He knows he's gay, but has very troubling thoughts about the future. Freck is a freckle-faced boy, not quite 12, a gay high school sophomore with a history of drug use and a suicide attempt. Can Asher and Seth help both boys and give Kyle the greatest gift of all for Chanukah, the gift of love?

The location? A science fiction convention outside of Baltimore, circa 1980. Our little group attended all the local conventions and there were a lot of really fun times. Some people would say unusual times, I'd go with different since it wasn't at all unusual to us. Come along and get into my head as I recount some of our adventures at this fateful Balticon.

A sappy Xmas short story.

The magic of that first snow, not just of the season, but the first ever!

Larry was the son of a famous opera singer and a well-known conductor, but his passion in life was to be a medical scientist. However, when the pandemic waylaid his plans to go to the Bronx High School of Science, instead he applied to LaGuardia, New York's premier public high school of the arts. Just as an intermezzo is a short musical bridge, Intermezzo brings together characters from other stories in the New York Stories series while filling in some gaps. Told from the point of view of Larry's girlfriend, Robin, he learns that sometimes the shortest path to one's goals isn't the straightest one.