FIRST PLACE COFFEE AFTER DARK WRITING CONTEST - JULY 2020 This collection has no particular category or message. They are errant thoughts and observations on various subjects. If interested, I hope you find some you enjoy.

Leonard wants to bequeath his tattooed skin to the National Gallery of Australia. He has been almost completely inked by one of Australia's best contemporary artists, but he is a canvas that nobody wants. Strange things start happening to Leonard, Darwin's moth, a tattoo from his calf, flutters around him one night, he wakes with a Cold War gas mask on his head, Mao Tse Tung appears in his bed. Tattoos from his skin come alive before him and he becomes more convinced than ever that his skin is truly precious.

"They had met a few times before. Parties, dancing in the same circles, that sort of thing. It was obvious they liked each other. Dancing close, a few drunken, slurpy kisses but never anything further than that. They were young and life was fast. Sometimes the things you wanted went past too quickly to grab hold of." Meet BB and Heather. BB's a hitman. Heather tries not to think about it. "BB and Heather" will be updated weekly on Mondays. If you enjoy this story, be sure to check out Malcolm Mackay's Glasgow trilogy: The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter (Book One), How a Gunman Says Goodbye (Book Two), and The Sudden Arrival of Violence (Book Three). Mulholland Books will be publishing all three books simultaneously in the US on April 21st.

In a world of dwarfs, elves, gnomes, goblins and dragons, one force reigns over all: The Malevolence. With his power once again growing, a brave band of men, elves and other mythical creatures set out to destroy him and his sword, from which his dark power flows. Come with me and follow their adventures... This story is inspired by my love of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

All wars are horrid; young men facing constant danger with possible death or injury ... confronting their fears in the world of kill or be killed ... But Vietnam was one of those wars that tore a nation apart; the first war we saw played in front of us on the nightly news. We saw the bodies, both theirs and ours, and watched as the news camera crews relayed the horrors during the dinner hour. In the middle of all of this, Sheila waits at home and worries for her fiancé Alan. Drafted into the army when he had to drop out of college due to an illness, he is in the midst of things, doing his part as a medic. When Alan gets R&R and asks Sheila to meet him in Hawaii, she is elated and hopeful, yet a little bit frightened. She hasn't seen him in almost a year and his letters were not as they used to be. Will this be the reunion she hopes it will be?

Life in Pesmo Beach is consistently slow and uneventful. A never-ending cycle of hot humid days and cold lonely nights. Moving to the small coastal town is Scarlett Ryan's only option since quitting the prestigious internship she'd secured after her senior year. Leaving it all behind, Scarlett heads across the country to live with her older sister, arriving with no money or friends and with no idea what to do with her life. As the days and weeks pass by Scarlett's feelings of isolation deepen until a bicycle ride and a punctured tire leads to an introduction with the sweet and charming Noah - a boy with rosy cheeks and scruffy hair. Forming an unlikely bond, the two try to navigate the storms that stir within them and the town, learning that often in life it doesn't matter how far you travel, it's those who you meet along the way that count. Wattys2015 Winner! For fans of summer romances, To All The Boys I've Loved Before and teen romances. Cover design by @Shanteena

A streetwise waif with the soul of Holden Caulfield, being raised by three poly-amorous pole dancers and a found family of colorful characters, is sent back to high school as a condition of probation, where he meets, and falls for, a troubled teacher.

I was the 6th-grade "slut." And I kept a diary. So I decided to create The UnSlut Project in the hopes that my own diary entries could provide some perspective to girls who currently feel trapped and ashamed. I am publishing these entries one at a time, without changing a single word except for the names of the people involved. My limited commentary, which is confined to brackets in each entry, is meant to provide the relief of my current perspective, fifteen years later. The UnSlut Project: Working to undo the dangerous slut shaming in our schools, communities, media, and culture by sharing knowledge and experiences.

Six teens are devoted to a game with one rule: If a player gets tagged, they must change their life within the next fifteen minutes. The better the player, the bigger the change. One might give their car away, or punch the school bully. Another might change identities or sacrifice their virginity. Anything to keep evolving, to avoid fitting into a label or caring about the junk they own. But their quest for enlightenment has taken a rotten final turn - one of the players has murdered the game's creator, the teen prophet (cult leader?) David Bloom. Our narrator is being framed for the crime; can he clear his name and discover which of his lifelong friends is the murderer before he takes the fall? [sic] is a gritty teen murder mystery that delves into the psychology of enlightenment among the criminally dysfunctional.