M.K. Lee's Blog: Telling Tales

The look Erdan gives him from across the ice is one of threat, putting all the hair up on the back of Onan’s neck. Onan pretends not to see, eyes forward as he continues his lap around the rink. The whoosh behind him warns of Erdan coming. Onan takes a wide side step and hears Erdan swear under his breath when he almost topples. Then Erdan falls into stride beside him, matching Onan step for step as they skate.

“Can we not do anything without trying to out-compete one another?” Onan asks, spi...

When the cooling tower at the nuclear power station failed, a deathly silence fell on the town. Everyone knew the drill, monitoring their phones for instructions. They’d been warned if this station failed, it would be more catastrophic than any other. Why the powers-that-be approved its building anyway, knowing the damage it might cause, nobody knew. Well, they did, they just hoped their elected government didn’t value money more than human life.

The siren sounded first an eerie wail putting...

Seth’s never made anyone breakfast in bed before. Gone for an early morning McDonalds to soak up hangovers with, once or twice. Maybe started up the coffee machine for any guests to drink their fill. Not that he’s had all that many guests stay over. This is different. This feels special, even if Neil has stayed over so many times before. They have been a thing for four months now, and every moment they share together just makes them closer. Seth sees it that way, anyway, and hopes Neil does too....

The scrape of the branches against the window had ceased to irritate him, blending into little more than background noise. He only looked up for the clattering at the back gate, jolting as the bin struck the side of the house. He looked at the window, debating even getting up from his desk. But the thought of the bin lid rattling around out there and what damage it might do sent him rushing to the back door, yanking it open and bracing against the expected gale.

There was nothing but stillnes...

Lewis’ first memory of meeting Billy is a sticky coke float. Their parents had sat at neighbouring tables in the shiny new ice cream house that had just opened. And when Lewis had looked, Billy’s face was already covered in ice cream. He’d not tried one before, so after discreetly leaning on his mum to ask what it was, a coke float had been what he’d ordered. He’d been just as sticky and messy after probably a minute, and is equally bad now, years later, replicating the thing with rum and coke. ...

Summary: Alan needs a start-over. A new job, in an unknown place, far away from an unrequited love that he needs to get over if he’s ever going to live his own life.

Summary: Ruben has a crush on the cute barista in the coffee shop opposite from where he works. Will he ever work up the courage to at least say hello?

Summary: No friends. No family to speak of. And no end to his latest manuscript in sight. Tyler moves across the city hoping a fresh perspective will turn things around in his world. He doesn’t expect his life to be turned upside down quite like this. There is a ghost in his apartment, and new people who are insistent on giving Tyler their time. And then there is Xavier, the beautiful man Tyler keeps seeing around his neighborhood even when he’s not looking for him. How do all of these t...

“How do you feel?”

Jack checked his limbs, cataloguing their movement as he felt for aches and pains, wincing when he rolled his neck.

“Your knee looks bad,” Garrison added, drawing Jack’s attention to the stinging, pulsing redness of his kneecap.

“Did I hit my head?

“You did.”

“I feel… zombified,” Jack said, clutching tight to Garrison’s fingers as he helped him up, then
gripping tighter still for the headrush that followed. Jack dug his fingers into Garrison’s arms until less diz...

Summary: After heading off on an impromptu road trip, Ryan, his brother Ronan, and his life-long crush Travis stumble across a story about missing children and a ghost story at an old, abandoned carnival. This was supposed to be a vacation, and they haven’t a clue what they are doing. So why are they driving across the country chasing ghosts? What might they discover about each other along the way?