On a coolish autumn night in New York's Lower East Side...

A reading. In front of an audience--that, let it be said, contained only two friends of mine. Only two people I knew from before that night. Everyone else--and it was a pretty solid crowd--was a stranger or had been until an hour or so earlier.

The crowd.

#atozchallenge: Family & Fiends

2014: A Year In Stories
A twelve-volume anthology published by Pure Slush Books.

Ah, family. The home of our souls.

Where no one judges us, where no one makes demands on us.

"Graduate college!" your parents tell you. "Go get a job and live your life!" Well, plonk, here I am. I've graduated college. I've got a job. What do you want me to do now, authority figures? Give me a map, because without all those demanding voices in my head, I'm a little bit lost.

Isa, by Rachel Ambrose (2014 January Vol. 1)

Going back home, his own tail between his legs. Begging for his old job back. Giving Pa the satisfaction of another I told you so. They say decisions are choices between consequences. Compared to Pa, Milena is a beast he can tame.

The Miracle of Small Things, by Guilie Castillo-Oriard (2014 January Vol. 1)

#atozchallenge: Endings Are Beginnings

2014: A Year In Stories, a project of Pure Slush Books. All work is copyrighted to the individual authors.

So trite: every ending is a beginning. Right up there in the list of Truisms Everyone Hates To Hear, just under "If you love something, set it free," and above "Everything happens for a reason."

But this post isn't about motivational crap. I'm talking storytelling.