Short Story Press Presents Dead Shot Clock by Blaise Marcoux. Years ago, Mayan demons invaded Earth, first with zombie foot soldiers, then in person, forcing humanity into submission. Without warning, the demons retreated to their realm, with most of humankind bewildered as to why. Little does the average person know that the government bartered a treaty with the demons. Every year, five teams of fourteen-year olds, each from a different continent, must play basketball with the demons in a game that will decide whether humanity stays safe... or another hellish invasion begins. This story follows one such team's game. • Jacob, the team's captain, has a violent fit alone in the team's practice gym's locker room. His skin grays, he has seizures, and his organs rot before he manages to stave off the symptoms with a self-administered injection of an unspecified solution. • He joins his impatiently waiting team and gets on the bus headed toward the annual game. The other players are introduced: Emma, Carlos, Daequan, Deandre and Dewayne, and Eric. • The team meets Colonel Rodriguez. He explains the treaty with the demons and the team's role in defending Earth along with a quick brush up on the demon's history with the Mayans. During his presentation, he lets slip that humanity has reclaimed some of the zombies from the demons using antidotes. Jacob uncomfortably stays silent. • The team is escorted to the court where they will play the demons. In the locker room, Jacob reencounters evidence of his earlier episode and starts changing into a zombie again. He antidotes himself just in time, but the team knows his secret now and decides not to let him play the game with them. They leave him alone in the locker room. • At halftime, the team returns battered and bruised from the first half. Humanity is losing by ten. Eric is dead, killed by a demonic flagrant foul. Jacob's teammates beg him to play, a request he quickly accepts. Jacob fights alongside his teammates to even the score. The clock ticks down, almost at zero. Humanity cannot tie without consequences. A demon eyes Jacob malevolently as the boy stares down the basket. Jacob's skin goes pale. Will he score the winning basket, saving humanity? Will the demon rip him to shreds like it did Eric? Worse yet, will Jacob succumb to the monster inside him and let down his team for good? What happens next when all the world has is a Dead Shot Clock? Short Story Press publishes short stories written by everyday writers.

Mrs. Louise Mallard, afflicted with a heart condition, reflects on the death of her husband from the safety of her locked room. Originally published in Vogue magazine, “The Story of an Hour” was retitled as “The Dream of an Hour,” when it was published amid much controversy under its new title a year later in St. Louis Life. “The Story of an Hour” was adapted to film in The Joy That Kills by director Tina Rathbone, which was part of a PBS anthology called American Playhouse. HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

Short Story Press Presents Lights, Camera, Horror! by Sade Andria Zabala. A group of film majors attempt to film a horror movie over spring break for their final project. Despite the horror theme, Carrie is not a believer in the supernatural. She and her classmates enlist the help of Jack's older brother, who is a famous Hollywood director. • The eccentric director has some quirky work habits such as keeping the script from the cast until the last minute. Unfortunately, he also insists that Carrie and her friends completely commit to the project by renting an expensive Victorian mansion across the country. Grayson Manor is described as the gloomiest, most sinister-looking building in a row of abandoned Victorians on Praire Avenue, Washington. • What's daunting is that this house that they spent their savings on is rumored to be haunted. Something in the house seems to be mimicking the plot lines of their movie, Five Nights of Terror. When someone actually dies, things take a deadly turn. Is there a psychotic murderer on the loose? Or is this too much of a coincidence? • Despite the mysterious incidences, Carrie still refuses to believe in the supernatural. Can Carrie figure out who (or what) is responsible for the killing? Or will she and her friends slowly fall prey to the unknown? Short Story Press publishes short stories written by everyday writers.

Short Story Press Presents Our Red Thread by Katie Farrison Our Red Thread is a story of love, depression, and finding happiness with the one you love. The red thread theory, or the red string of fate, is the belief that there is a red thread connecting two people who are destined to be together. That no matter what obstacles there are between them, nothing will keep them apart. Cora and Lewis, two youths with seemingly nothing in common, come together in spite of their peers. Unlikely friends fall in love, and four years later their life together seems perfect: Lewis has a high-paying job, the two share a luxury apartment in the city, and Lewis is ready to ask Cora to marry him. But what happens when Cora disappears without a word? How does Lewis react when he sees her lurking in the doorway at one of his conferences? When he decides that he needs to find out why she left, he gets more than he bargained for. Short Story Press publishes short stories written by everyday writers.

Short Story Press Presents Agent Romanov by Natashiah Jansen Brigitte had a rough start in life. It all began when her village was bombed when she was just a child. After being sent to the USA by a refugee agency, she drifted from one foster home to another for some time. In her pursuit to find the sense of family she is recruited by the Russian mob, where she meets up with an old friend. The mob offered them everything except freedom. She wanted more. She changes her name and makes a new life for herself. She meets Martin who makes her an offer that was hard to refuse. Everything went well until she falls in love. In an effort to get information she makes a deal with a devil called Olga, the wife of the Russian mob boss. Her past comes to haunt her and almost takes the life of her lover. In an effort to protect her love she betrays Martin. Just when she thought everything was going her way, Olga surprises her with a special request to prove her loyalty. At first she hesitates but keeping her love alive was more important. Everything was perfect until she receives a phone call that would change her whole life. Short Story Press publishes short stories written by everyday writers.

Short Story Press Presents In The Scope by Don Codner An assassin is at the top of his field and each of his kills are never the same. In this way, he never leaves a signature and that keeps the law two steps behind. It’s a life full of turmoil and continuous travel, but it’s the life he chose. • He gets a job that requires him to kill not only the mother and father, but also the heir apparent. The client wants this done, so there’ll be no one to step in and take what’s rightfully his. • The assassin has done this on many occasions and has no problem with it, until he finds his crosshairs on a one-year-old baby. • He can’t take this baby’s life, but he can’t leave him there either. So, he takes the little one into his home and raises him as his own. • The kid learns everything that the assassin knows and he tries desperately not to subject him to the life he leads. • One day the kid, now aged 18, finds a box that reveals who he really is and that his ‘Father’ is responsible for killing his parents. • He comes out to the public and takes the fortune that rightfully belongs to him. He can’t stop thinking about what the assassin took from him and sends out various characters to kill him. • He decides that he must take on his teacher on his own. Mr. Smith the Assassin has no choice but to play cat and mouse with his own son and takes the fight across the globe. The world has his face in their crosshairs and many would-be killers come out to collect the bounty on his head. Short Story Press publishes short stories written by everyday writers.

Short Story Press Presents Monkey Freckles by Srah Zachary Liam grew up thinking he wanted to be a zookeeper. He practically lived in the zoo as a child, and his brother is wild enough to be an animal, so it seems perfect. But no one told him he had to go through so much higher education. No one told him he needed practical experience. As an unhappy volunteer who works at the zoo after high school each day, he’s beginning to wonder if it’s worth it. Suddenly, he’s faced with a mysterious visitor, a girl who: sits in front of his gibbon exhibit, refuses to talk to him, and writes all day, every day, without cease. When she finally says more than two words to him, leaving him speechless, she also accidently leaves behind something else- her journal she’s been writing in constantly every day. Taking it home with him instead of returning it, Liam decides to take a tiny peek, after all, what harm could it do? As he reads, Liam finds himself unexpectedly thrown into the life of this stranger he’s nicknamed monkey freckles and the reasons behind her strange actions begin to come to light. As he faces her once more, he has to come to grips with helping monkey freckles and facing his own unspoken past, before it’s too late. Short Story Press publishes short stories written by everyday writers.