WILLIAM ARTHUR HOLMES (contact me here)

The Lazy Pug Cafe

The Lazy Pug Café was a dilapi­dated old farm­house aban­doned years ago. A massive, ancient oak tree, Ol' Lightnin', lurked out back while the house itself served as a sad but char­m­ing re­minder of days gone by. Locals were grate­ful someone was final­ly bring­ing the old girl back to life. Come meet pugs Daisy, Chandler and Joey! There are cats and humans, too, but it's all about the pugs! Pugs rule!

first paragraph or so...

Hope humored Kirk on several of his ideas, but had to say no to the bucking bronc and rider sculpture out front, with the bronc being a larger-than-life Pug and the rider being a similarly over-sized flea. One bit of exterior décor he was allowed to contribute was a sign hand-written in red, like blood, hanging from the side yard fence: "Beware of Pugs!" From behind that sign, the Pugs watched intently between the slats in the f...

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Another Way

Anti-corp­orate crusader Dobie Pokorny wants to save the world from oligarchs like Colonel Charon­ne.  On his speaking-truth-to-power tour, he meets and falls in love with Kaylie while enduring attacks at every turn.  They each think the other is out of their league, but there's a con­nection between them.  They both feel it, but can they outrun and outwit Charon­ne and his minions?  And, what's up with Semmy, the little blue alien?

first paragraph or so...

Dobie Pokorny was on tour in support of his manifesto, Another Way: Beyond the Status Quo. He started in Tennessee, then headed north through Kentucky and Indiana before escaping an angry mob and veering southwest. After stops in Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas, things got weird in New Mexico. ...

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Operation Detour

A beautiful young black ops agent on her first assign­ment tries to turn a complete stranger into an asset, just to prove she can. When he loses both his job and girl­friend, she thinks he's putty in her hands. When he decides to go out with a bang, she's afraid she's over­played it.

first paragraph or so...

Riva's gray eyes reach out and grab anyone careless enough to look directly at her. Her flawless skin glows in contrast to her long black hair. She knows the effect she has on men and is not afraid to use it... most days. Not today. Her hair is a tangled mess, eyes bloodshot, skin a sickly pallor from whatever ailment has befallen her as she holes up in a 4-star high-rise hotel on LA's west side. She hates waiting ...

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Last Train Out

Clay and his adopted daught­er Jenna look forward to their up­coming "home­land tour" to Russia. His intent­ions are pure. Hers, not so much. When she goes mis­s­ing, he goes looking, only to find she is not the innocent little girl he thought she was. Not even close. His only hope is to get her on the Last Train Out.

first paragraph or so...

Zenya was two-and-a-half when two very strange people came to visit her orphanage. They talked funny, as if almost able to speak properly, but with such horrible accents it was difficult to understand them. She assumed they were stupid. Gloopy, in Russian. They were there to see her, though – just her! – so she let it go. She was devastated when they stopped coming after just one week. It was not fair! They had been coming ...

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Lottery President

For most people, win­ning $300 mil­lion in the lottery would be enough. They would retire, buy a big house and travel the world. Not Benny. He took the money and ran... for presi­dent. The house he had in mind was the White House. He didn't want to travel the world so much as save it from politicians. Retire? "I'll retire when I'm dead!" he said, not know­ing so many people had that exact retire­ment plan in mind for him.

first paragraph or so...

Benny sat alone in a recently-opened, generically-Asian restaurant. The laminated menu offered dishes from Mongolia, China and Japan, with each item written in its native language and alphabet. He had no idea what it said until flipping it over for the English version on the back. He was taking his therapist's advice, "throwing caution to the wind" and "letting the chips fall where they may." A sex therapist branching out to grief counseling...

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Temporary Insanity

Long before win­ning the lottery and run­ning for presi­dent, Benny was living in L.A. work­ing as a word pro­ces­sing temp. He thought his latest assign­ment was just another gig, never antici­pating Venelia and the Dynamos. The what?

first paragraph or so...

Benny was on the elevator of a building he'd never been in before. It was climbing fast. Too fast. "It didn't stop on those floors," he said, looking at the still-lit numbers as it sped upward. When no one replied, he looked to see if anyone heard him. Apparently not. To his right stood an attractive blonde woman, thirtyish, in a blue blazer, matching skirt and white silk blouse. Seeing the crazed look in his eyes, she turned awa...

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