SYNOPSIS: Hunting Snipes +four.... a story collection consisting of five novellas, each summarized below.... Hunting Snipes is a literary fiction, 27,000-word length (novella), and a dark comedy, perhaps, best classified under the genre of General Fiction. The setting is the year 2000, in southern Utah. The protagonist is a sixty-nine-year-old ex- Air Force pilot named William Snipe. William is a Korean War fighter ace who takes early retirement after the Vietnam War to fly a U.S. postal air route in the remote outback of Southern Utah. By the year 2000, William’s wife, Dorothy, accompanies him on his twice-a-week mail route. Life for William remains uncomplicated with his stalwart spouse by his side, other than the fact that a competing female admirer, Edna, wants him to forget Dorothy and marry her. After all, from Edna’s perspective, William is quite dashing and, more importantly, possesses a hefty pension. Coincident with this geriatric love triangle, a serial killer is on the loose and holed-up in the Bryce Canyon region. When William’s Cessna crashes in this uninhabited area, the killer comes to his rescue only to turn the rescue into a hunt, a snipe hunt, with William the prey. Thus, our protagonist is forced to flee for his life with Dorothy by his side. Methodically, William works his way back to his ranch, Little Zion, stoked by a macabre idea he and Dorothy will somehow turn the tables and kill the killer.... Colette and Cole is a contemporary story set in 2020, a 18,000 word novella, and, perhaps, is best classified under the genre of General Fiction. The protagonist is a seventeen-year-old woman, Colette Thomas, who is about to turn eighteen and inherit her parent's estate of $150 million dollars. Five months earlier, Colette's parents perish in a tragic airplane accident. This event leaves Colette alone in the world because she has no family or, at least family she claims. Without brothers and sisters, Colette is posed to assume the estate's full fortune until word is received Colette has a long-lost half-sister, the byproduct of her father's bawdy days at college twenty-six years earlier. The half-sister is an attorney of questionable reputation and moral values, who threatens to assume the helm of Thomas Enterprises, a world leading apparel manufacturer, and steal Thomas family assets from Colette. Oddly, Colette cannot receive her full inheritance until she turns eighteen, four weeks away and, as stipulated in the will, must be "of sound mind." The only problem is Colette is despondent not only because of her parents' deaths but also because her longstanding boyfriend dumps her for a young promiscuous cheerleader. Combined, these two events throw her into a downward manic spiral. Depressed and alone, Colette attempts to take her life by jumping off a bridge into the churning waters of the Wabash River but is stopped short by a storm and an errant lightning bolt. The lightning strike damages her brain and when Colette awakens, she finds herself hospitalized at a mental institution. To make matters worse, Colette can no longer speak; when she opens her mouth it instantly erupts into Cole Porter show tunes in what her psychiatrist diagnoses as “amnesia coupled with musical hallucinations (aphasia).” As it turns out, Colette's guardian angel is none other than Cole Porter and Cole strikes a deal with 'The Grand Maestro' to return Colette alive (after her failed attempt at suicide) and back to earth as long as she sings his songs. The motivation is quite clear to Cole: singing makes one happy and Colette needs to be happy to move on with her life. Unfortunately, nonstop singing means Colette may be schizophrenic, which also means she is not of 'sound mind' and, therefore cannot inherit any of the Thomas estate. This becomes a central theme of the plot.... how can Colette achieve 'sanity' to thwart her half-sister's attempt to claim the entire Thomas fortune and remain happy? The story is laced with musical scores and lessons to be learned and is both lighthearted and fun. It plays as robust as a 1930s musical comedy and is certainly a movie-in-the-making. Orson Welles and the Lindsay Park Redemption is a contemporary story set in Brooklyn, NY in the year 2020. While it is a literary fiction, it also has historical fiction overtures. At roughly 12,500 words, it is considered a short novella. In its essence, the story is about the love between a grandfather and grandson. The plot traces to the year 1938 and the night of Orson Welles’ infamous ‘War of the Worlds’ CBS radio broadcast. The story begins with an elderly grandfather summoned to quell a family crisis. The man’s grandson has an autoimmune disorder that has kept the boy in a medically sterile bedroom since birth. Recently, the eleven-year-old has undergone a bone marrow transplant boosting his immune system and allowing him to leave his cloistered habitat within six months. The only problem is the boy's patience has exhausted and he can no longer wait to partake of the outside world’s festivities. The boy is angry and frustrated as Halloween approaches and he (still) cannot revel with other children on Beggar's Night. His parents are at wits' end and send in the boy’s grandfather to quench the flames. To calm the boy, his grandfather tells him a tale tracing its roots to 1938 and the night (also on Beggar's Night) when Orson Welles spun a fantastical CBS radio yarn. The grandfather's story, while whimsical and clever, is also a serious attempt to teach the boy a life lesson about patience. The grandfather’s story parallels Welles’ yarn of Martians attacking earth and, in this case, the neighborhood where the boy currently resides. Runner Speaks is an action-packed historical fiction set post-Civil War in West Texas. While loosely based on the only hostile attack on a Texas fort (Fort Lancaster, 1867), the plot, itself, is historically accurate. The protagonist is an eleven-year-old German immigrant, the lone survivor of the Nueces River massacre of 1862 (a slaughter initiated by ruthless Confederate soldiers). Seeking help, the boy wanders to the Union-controlled Fort Lancaster one hundred miles away only to find the fort abandoned; the remote fort sits on the banks of the Pecos River in a desolate corner of Texas. For five years, the boy lives off the land along the river, alone. Running nonstop becomes his catharsis to ease traumatic memories of murders he witnessed along the Nueces. Coincidentally, the boy has lost his ability to speak because of mental anguish suffered during that killing spree. In the summer of 1867, U.S. Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers reoccupy the fort but the boy refuses to intermingle with any adult wearing a uniform. Now, at age sixteen, a ‘hostile’ raid besets his tranquil Pecos valley. Kickapoo warriors have successfully stolen the fort’s horses but their Comanchero brothers want to continue fighting until female hostages are taken. This means a massacre will undoubtedly take place because Lancaster soldiers refuse to surrender anyone. Badly outnumbered 800 to 40 and with no horses available for a messenger to ride to Fort Stockton to summon reinforcements, the boy is sequestered into carrying a letter on foot the eighty-mile distance. If he reaches Fort Stockton in less than two days, the survivors at Fort Lancaster stand a chance to live; if he fails, death will surely follow. The Comancheros discover the boy’s flight and pursue him in a twisted hunters’ game of ‘cat-and-mouse.’ En route, the boy’s letter is lost. Thus, if the boy somehow survives his mission to Fort Stockton, he must find the strength to overcome past ghosts and verbally communicate the situation to the fort commander. Jessica Collector is a short story (7,700 words) set during the 2020 pandemic in Iowa. The story, itself, falls under the genre of commercial fiction. The protagonists are Dr. Rick Gaines, a motivational ‘life coach’ age 40, and Jessica Collector, a young woman who is a professional debt collector assigned to Rick to assist him with collecting on past due receivables. Early-on, we discover Dr. Rick has a small business as a motivational speaker inspiring a flock of devotees to pursue their dreams as entrepreneurs. However, with Coronavirus running rampant, his clients are not current with their financial commitments (a paltry $50 per month each), leaving Rick stone broke and rapidly becoming destitute. With a whopping $90,000 in outstanding past due receivables, Rick’s banker encourages him to take on an assistant to help with collections. Thus, Jessica becomes his partner in this undertaking. Only problem is that Jessica uses her multiple physical handicaps to gain sympathy from deadbeats, evoking a tactless ruse (unbeknownst to Rick) to collect money. Jessica, as it turns out, is a former St. Rude’s kid turned out to pasture late in life because she no longer is cute and youthful; her ability to raise donations from TV ads on FOX News falters as a teenager and she is fired from the network. Hence, Jessica starts her own business (debt collections) and, as we later learn, because of an inspirational Dr. Rick YouTube video. Rick’s message is simple: you can do it if you try. As the story unwinds, we meet some of Rick’s deadbeat clients and the shameless tactics he and Jessica use to collect money. All goes well until Rick attempts to collect from a mafia boss who threatens both him and Jessica with physical harm. Then, all hell breaks loose….