Kelly's Bar

Kelly's Bar

Jessie G. Talbot

Jessie G. Talbot

A gentle Mexican chef and his favorite waitress cook a loudmouth customer’s goose. That's all I'll tell you. Click the blue below to see why. Here it suffices to say that the story is short and free. Why read a summary when with little more effort you can read the whole thing? If you can't spare a moment more, you shouldn't be wasting time reading fiction anyway. Go back to work!"One can not judge a book by its cover." So we are told. But a cover is usually the only thing a reader has to base a judgment on. Smashwords tries to aid readers by providing summaries, one short, one long, for each book it distributes. For non-fiction this works well. But this, it seems to me, defeats the whole purpose of fiction. After all, one reads a story to find out what will happen. It’s the uncommon twists and turns that make a story interesting. But if a summary has told all this beforehand, what fun is to be had in the reading? Therefore, no summary of the present short story is given. It's short and it’s free! So read the whole thing and see if you like it. I ask you to do this because I think it is the best book judging method. To find fiction you like you must first read around enough to learn something of the style and stories of different authors. Then you can judge books, not by their cover, but by the your opinion of the writer. I'd like to help you do this. The present short story is one of several which I will make available free at Smashwords. Read a few (or all of them) and decide if you like them. It won't cost you a dime. If you like them, you can then purchase some of my not free (but still inexpensive) longer stories. All these stories are of one particular kind. To reflect this similarity all have the same cover picture, the Kitty & Rose shown above. So after you’ve read a few, you can, in fact, judge them by their cover. The common theme of the Kitty & Rose stories is human sexuality. This is not unusual. Most fiction concerns sex in one way or another; ranging from romances so sedate and demure an extraterrestrial could never know sex is at the root of everything described, to erotica so unrestricted even an extraterrestrial might blush. Kitty & Rose stories are in the middle of this range. All deal with human sexuality, but none do so explicitly. Rather, they are seemly. The dictionary gives three meanings for seemly: Attractive or agreeably fashioned; Decorous or conventionally proper; and Appropriate or suited to its purpose. With respect to appropriateness, seemly sex stories range from the humorous to the inspirational, but all concern human sexuality. So they are clearly appropriate. These stories are also seemly in the decorous and conventionally proper sense. For, while they treat sex candidly, they do not do so graphically. There is nothing pornographic nor erotic in any seemly sex story. Of course, different persons’ opinions about this may differ. A few consider frank pornography decorous. At the opposite extreme are those like the abbot of the monastery where the great biologist Gregor Mendel did his epochal research. This abbot thought Mendel’s studies were decidedly indecorous because they involved the sex of pea plants! Finally, there is the principal sense of seemly, attractive and agreeably fashioned. Like every author I exert my every effort and ability trying to make these stories seemly in this regard. But like every author, I must await your determination of the degree of my success. Since both of us will be pleased if you find them attractively seemly, I very much hope you do.Happy reading!BobbyBP.S. This is free Kitty & Rose short story #13, uploaded 3-2-17.
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Souls by the Sea

Souls by the Sea

Jessie G. Talbot

Jessie G. Talbot

Held for ransom in a town made of dreams and memories, Burlie McLauren must take down Fisk Iping, the criminal witch that holds her and her family. He thinks a girl without a spark of magic is helpless. He's so painfully wrong.Held for ransom in a town made of dreams and memories, Burlie McLauren must take down Fisk Iping, the criminal witch that holds her and her family. He thinks a girl without a spark of magic is helpless. He's so painfully wrong. 'Souls by the Sea,' a fun ongoing paranormal fantasy series with an unexpected, but very effective, young heroine. The Great Recession has its hooks in the McLaurens but a new start in a new town comes with new problems. Souls by the Sea has a larger Dissimilar community than the family would like. Still, the monsters make for a great distraction. Until something, or someone, goes wrong. When that happens, Burlington 'Burlie' McLauren shows everyone what real strength looks like. 1 - 'Souls by the Sea'2 - 'Souls by the Sea: Without' - Burlie McLauren is the first victim of a dark force that sends normally decent townspeople running wild. No one, not even the strongest witch, is safe. And who's safe from that witch? Here's a hint...nobody! Burlie, without any power at all, must step up to save the town from itself. Without a prayer. 3 - 'Souls by the Sea: The Glorious Fourth' - Billions of lives are on the line as an insane, elemental threat targets the world...because of what Burlie McLauren did. What did she do? And how can she fight an Ultimate Power with no magic of her own? With the Earth doomed no matter who wins?4 - 'Souls by the Sea: The Visit' - COMING SOON
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