SHORT STORIES
What you’ll find in the pages of GRITTY PRESS short stories are heavy doses of action, self-reliance, steel nerves, sheer terror, resolve in the face of unbeatable odds, stories that quicken the pulse and stir a grim smile, the sort of smile that happens just before something happens….
SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE FOLLY OF FLIGHT
A Gritty Novelette
eBook Edition: Kindle | NOOK | KOBO
(Gritty Press, August 2015)
It’s an aeronautical adventure of high-flying proportions teaming master detective Sherlock Holmes and his stalwart sidekick, John H. Watson, M.D., with wily French dandy, master thief Arsene Lupin. Are they too late to foil the formidable Lord Ruddy’s murderous scheme? Will a famed French aeronaut’s plans for the ultimate flying machine fall into the clutches of Germany’s notorious Count von Zeppelin?
This action-packed novelette is filled with airships, intrigue, murder, swordplay, global espionage, fisticuffs, romance … and a dash of wit! Make haste … the game is afoot!
GET TEAGUE!
A Gritty Press Short Story of Redneck Revenge
eBook Edition: Kindle | NOOK | KOBO
(Gritty Press, June 2015)
White-trash dimwits Judd and Kurl set out on a drug-fueled mission to track down the man they blame for their addictions — they aim to GET TEAGUE! And they aren’t about to let anyone stop them, until they cross paths with a crusty old mechanic and his baggy full of strange blue powder….
Fans of Elmore Leonard’s bumbling baddies and wise-cracking weirdos will find themselves right at home in this 6,700-word romp as Judd and Kurl lurch their way through their latest escapade, baying at the moon and white-knuckling down the highway to GET TEAGUE!
TERRIBLE TESS
A Gritty Press Short Story of Piracy, Deceit & Madness
eBook Edition: Kindle | NOOK | KOBO
(Gritty Press, August 2014)
Yo-ho-ho, buccaneers! It’s a Gritty Press Short Story of Piratical Proportions!
Pirates aren’t the only thing to seize control of the ill-fated vessel….
Scurvy-ridden marauders have wrested control of the Tess, locked the captain, crew, and young runaway, Corbin, in the hold to wither and die. The captain’s wife? They keep her above decks. What the ill-bred raiders don’t know is that an unseen evil will soon turn the Tess into a floating hell….
FUR, FANG & SHADOW
A Gritty Press Triple-Shot of Freakish Beasts and the Havoc They Wreak
eBook Edition: Kindle | NOOK | KOBO
(Gritty Press, approx. 20 pages, July 2014)
A Trio of Creepy Creature Short Stories:
KIN
Uncle Joe is having a rough week, rough year, rough life. Then he encounters a rare viper under his porch and Joe’s countdown begins.
SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME
What does the little imp in the tree want? Is he causing the narrator’s life to fall apart? Is he even there?
ROADSIDE ATTRACTION
Orrie the carny won the caged man-beast in a card game. But now he can’t afford to keep him. What to do? Orrie has a solution. So does the beast.
Holy dripping fang, flying furball, and shadowy imp! It’s a Trio of Gritty Press Creepy Creature Short Stories, by award-winning author Matthew P. Mayo, that will claw their way into your brain and nest deep. Might as well break out the cheese and crackers and pop a cold one, ’cause these beasties are here to stay….
OUT OF THE FOG
A Barbaric Tale of Flench and the Freebooter
A Gritty Press Short Story of Savage Proportions!
eBook Edition: Kindle | NOOK | KOBO
(Gritty Press, approx. 19 pages, July 2014)
In the tradition of Robert E. Howard … it’s Flench and the Freebooter’s first outing.
A stranger—freebooter, lawless adventurer, barbarian—rides into the little market town of Carana early one day, parting the fog on his massive, blood-eyed battle horse. Flench, the crippled stable hand, recognizes something about the man, something he’s not entirely certain he likes. He soon comes to learn the stranger is not there by chance. Will he pillage and plunder the little market town? Or does he have something else in mind?
Holy chain mail, broadsword, and brimmin’ flagon! It’s another barbaric Gritty Press Short Story, by award-winning author Matthew P. Mayo, that rides in on big, stomping hooves and takes the law into its own hands! Hoist a tankard … or get outta the way!
BEEN A LONG TIME
A Gritty Press Short Story of Neverending Torment
eBook Edition: Kindle | NOOK | KOBO
(Gritty Press, approx. 16 pages, July 2014)
Bad vacations never end, they just get worse….
He was looking for a vacation, a getaway to fulfill childhood fantasies. He was finally going to be a cowboy. An honest-to-god, fast-ridin’, quick-shootin’, hard-drinkin’ cowboy. And a highly recommended time-travel company was going to make it happen. He should have been worried when the pretty attendant strapping him in said the machine’s problems were finally fixed. All the bugs had been worked out…. He should have said something. But now it’s much too late. He is trapped in a run-down, fly-blown, forsaken Western town he can’t leave. Each day repeating, each day worse than the last. Trapped. With no hope of escape. Ever.
Oh, the horror of it all! It’s another tooth-grinding, eye-rolling, freaky Gritty Press Short Story, by award-winning author Matthew P. Mayo, that will help convince readers to never, ever, under any circumstances, take a vacation. Ever!
THE WITCH HOLE
A Gritty Press Short Story of Ancient Terror
eBook Edition: Kindle | NOOK | KOBO
(Gritty Press, approx. 18 pages, July 2014)
Who Dares Enter the Lair of No Return?
He is warned — never enter the cave, for it is said that evil dwells there. But he is young and lured by lust. He stumbles forward into the gloom … and finds himself trapped for eternity, the latest guest in a hellish trophy room as old as time itself. And his host? A shamanistic creature with a taste for….
Weird! Chilling! Astounding! THE WITCH HOLE will leave readers jumpy, disturbed, and desperate for a way out!
TWO FOR THE TRAIL
A Pair of Gritty Western Short Stories
eBook Edition: Kindle, NOOK
(Gritty Press, approx. 34 pages, February 2013)
This tough twosome — available right now for the Kindle and NOOK — includes the following stories:
Half a Pig
(2010 Spur Award Finalist, Best Western Short Fiction Story, Western Writers of America)
Blood is thick. Rope is thicker…. Rancher Eamon Riggs is a hard man disinclined to tolerate theft—no matter the thief, no matter the reason.
Snows of Montana
On his way north, Texas cowboy “Pal” Palchik stops at a small farm for a hot meal. Then he meets the farmer’s daughter…. Pal should have kept on riding.
PLUS: This ebook includes an excerpt from Roamer, Book 1: Wrong Town!