Showing results by narrator "Suzy Jackson" in All Categories

Welcome to the Weenie Zone! A boy and his family narrowly escape a zombie apocalypse - or do they? A girl neglects her cat's litter box and finds herself in a heap of trouble. And a group of clicking, scrolling, tapping wireless weenies find themselves on the edge of disaster. Here are 33 hilarious and harrowing stories that will scare you, make you laugh, or see the world in a whole new way.

After an unusual spirit takes up residence at the Roosevelt house, 13-year-old Eleanor and her cousin Alice grow suspicious. The girls don't get along, but they know something is not right. This ghost is more than a pesky nuisance. It's almost like he wants to scare the Roosevelts out of their home - and no one seems to care. Meanwhile, the girls discover a dangerous ghost in the house where Alice was born. Is someone else haunting the family?

Dolly Parton is a little girl with a great big voice. She loves singing for her corncob doll and friends at church. Music fills her heart so plumb full that young Dolly starts writing her own tunes. Unable to afford a guitar, she strings up a broken mandolin and plays for anyone she can corral—ducks, pigs, and her squallin’ brothers and sisters. But Dolly longs for a real live audience to see and hear her perform. When Dolly gets her first big break, she’s scared to perform in front of hundreds of people. Will she summon up her courage and step out onto the Grand Ole Opry stage in Nashville?

For the past two years, Bailey Morgan has lived a double life: high school student by day, ancient mystical being by night. As the third Fate, Bailey literally controls the fate of the world, but as Plain Old Bailey, her life is falling apart. Shes got a tattoo that was supposed to be temporary (but isnt), friendships that were supposed to last forever (but might not), and no idea what her future holds after high school graduation.

Sixteen-year-old Kayla was born with the ability to move things with her mind-things like credit cards and buttons on cash registers - and she has become a master shoplifter. She steals to build up enough money for her and her mom to be able to flee if her dad finds them again… which would mean grave danger for them both. When she's caught stealing by a boy named Daniel - a boy with the ability to teleport - he needs her help and is willing to blackmail her to get it.

Critically acclaimed author and master of the macabre David Lubar is back with 30 more warped and creepy tales for fans of his best-selling Weenies story collections, which have sold more than 1.7 million copies to date.

Sixteen-year-old Celstia spends every summer with her family at the elite resort at Lake Conemaugh, a shimmering Allegheny Mountain reservoir held in place by an earthen dam. Tired of the society crowd, Celestia prefers to swim and fish with Peter, the hotel's hired boy. It's a friendship she must keep secret, and when companionship turns to romance, it's a love that could get Celestia disowned. These affairs of the heart become all the more wrenching on a single, tragic day in May 1889.

Welcome to the Weenie Zone! Here are 30 hilarious and harrowing stories that will scare you, make you laugh, or get you to see the world in a whole new way. Find out where the author got the idea for each story at the end of the book.

Evan West lives, breathes, and exists for everything film. His heart beats at 24 frames per second. He aspires to be much more than a film trailer editor, but he’s lucky to live and work in Hollywood. When Evan crashes into a telephone pole one night, he’s thrust into a temporal vortex—and suddenly transported back to Hollywood in 1946 during the making of the beloved Christmas movie It’s a Wonderful Life.

Storied, fiercely competitive Mariana Academy was founded with a serious honor code; its reputation has been unsullied for decades. Now a long-dormant secret society, Prisom's Party, threatens its placid halls with vigilante justice, exposing students and teachers alike for even the most minor infraction. Iris Dupont, a budding journalist whose only confidant is the chain-smoking specter of Edward R. Murrow, feels sure she can break into the ranks of The Devil’s Advocate, the Party’s underground newspaper, and there uncover the source of its blackmail schemes and vilifying rumors.

Knit me into a cocoon. Help me eat a burrito. Pretend to be a chair at my dinner party. Wrestle a Komodo dragon. Race me in a lobster suit. Author Kelly Mahon posts absurd gig ads online and shares the conversations she had with the brave souls who wanted the job.

Austin Gray is almost 15 and sheï¿¿ï¿¿s tired of not being noticed. So she hatches a plan to become Prosper County's Sweetheart in order to ride through town during the annual parade waving and smiling to everyone. To make her dream come true, however, she'll have to join the Future Farmers of America. But what's a little hunting and fishing (and livestock raising) to a determined teenager?

As the creepy little town of Nightshade prepares to celebrate its 200th anniversary on Halloween, many of it's paranormal residents are receiving mysterious blackmail letters. Psychic teen Daisy Giordano and her sisters set out to find out who is behind the threats. But launching an investigation isnt easy for Daisy, with her overprotective father watching her every move.

This short story is from the anthology Mitigated Futures. Twelve science fiction stories about the oncoming future, each of them representing a possible glimpse of what could be just around the corner... or much further down the corridor. These stories previously appeared in places like Clarkesworld Magazine, The Year's Best SF, Subterranean Magazine, and in various anthologies. They deal with the future of war, our climate, and technology's effect on our lives.

With the government of Detritus in disarray because of Superiority treachery, and with Spensa still away on her mission in the Nowhere, Jorgen must work together with the alien Alanik to pick up the pieces. They intercept a strange transmission from the planet Evershore and its Kitsen inhabitants, who say they have some of Jorgen's people and want to return them - but can the Kitsen be trusted? And can Jorgen learn to master his increasingly erratic cytonic powers before they spiral out of control and destroy all hope of forming an alliance against the Superiority?

Quinn Avery can handle change. It's just paint, right? Bright, blinding white paint covering her once dazzling red bedroom walls. Quinn knows she shouldn't be angry at her mom - she's doing what she must to sell the house - but still, Quinn is beyond mad, and she doesn't know what to do about it.

For Ruby Pepperdine, the "center of everything" is on the rooftop of Pepperdine Motors in her donut-obsessed town of Bunning, New Hampshire, stargazing from the circle of her grandmother Gigi' s hug.

Three hundred years ago, Earth suffered a mass extinction event. The last humans fled to the stars in search of a new home. In the darkness, they fought to survive. Now the fleet decays, and their hope of finding a better world is fading. Era Corinth works to preserve the archives, but viewing them herself would be treason. When she's faced with the possibility that her unborn child may be aborted due to a genetic defect, her fascination with ancient secrets escalates to obsession.

A talented runner fully committed to Olympic dreams, Sabrina Rice's future was shattered by a devastating diagnosis. One forfeited scholarship and several years later, she has new goals and dreams that have nothing to do with running - something that's become far too painful to think on. Until the day she sees Brandy Philip running across the community college campus, easily outpacing security. Soon, Sabrina begins to feel an uncomfortable nudge that her new life is just about to be toppled...that God may be calling her to minister to this talented but troubled girl.

At an elite summer program, a teen girl gets sucked into a secret society, with deadly consequences. Protect the girls. Arlee Gold has always lived in the shadow of her successful mom; even after everything Arlee’s been through, her mother still expects nothing but the best. In an effort to get her daughter back on track after a less-than-stellar few school years, she’s enrolled Arlee as a legacy at Camp Rockaway, an elite college prep summer camp deep in the North Carolina wilderness.