Frostproof808: 88 books

Everybody needs friends. But friends come in all shapes and sizes. When World War II aviator Archibald "Packy" Burkhalter seeks out a long-lost friend, he gets a great deal more than he bargained for.  

In a story reminiscent of Hemingway's work, a waiter works his way through a shift at an all-night café. On the table in the back booth he finds a pair of paper hearts. But when exactly did he find them?

This collection of ten stories has it all: A hit-woman who inadvertently recruits a bored youth into service; a story of pure, extremely adulterated human nature; an incident in a waiting room; a living vision on a pier in the dark; a cautionary tale that is uniquely American; a ghost story; a young...

This short story is excerpted and adapted from the novel Leaving Amarillo, the fourth novel in the Wes Crowley series. Western Z Crowley has left the Rangers and is searching for his errant lifelong friend, Otis "Mac" McFadden. As he's riding from El Paso to Las Cruces late one night, would-be...

Jonathan Kirski is tasked with the job of mining bones from the Siberian death fields. It shouldn't be a problem. After all, it's just ore, from which will be derived a calcium extract. But Jonathan's past says otherwise.  

This is a political spoof. A career politician gives an inspiring campaign speech, sort of, and has the audience eating out of her hand, until something wholly unexpected but richly deserved happens.  

What are the consequences of a fight gone wrong? As you're queued up in line waiting for your pay, you have time to consider that.  The other guy's still lying on the floor.Nobody seems to notice. Even the boss. Finally, when the others are paid and gone and it's just you and the boss, you understand.

What happens when two writers head out for a camping trip in the Gila River Lower Box wilderness? Well, they have to eat. But neither of them eats alone. Each has a full array of characters from which to draw when necessary. Come along and see what happens when these two stop in at the El Charro Café for a bite of breakfast.  

There's something about the old Jenkins place, but what's the allure? Is it the dead body in a living house? Or is it the chance to live forever?

In this intense short story, the narrator relates a story to his friend about being kidnapped by another mobster. A strange and ironic look at those who live and die by treachery.

In these five stories, you will meet people significant to the life of Maldito and the fictional village of Agua Rocosa. Eufemia and José, each of whom is the 13th child of a 13th child, she of a line of mothers, he of a line of fathers, are Maldito's unwilling parents. José comes from a long line...

A man can be nice to a woman without any thought of having sex with her, right? And vice versa? That's Pamela's theory, but will it hold in the presence of a tall, nice, very handsome man? On the night before the finality of her wedding?

Attend a writers' conference and meet an unbearable woman; move out in the woods with a couple good ol' boys to talk about what happens at the moment of death; meet a hard-luck woman who gets mixed up with the mob; witness a miniature mosquito-like creature; drop deep into the swamps to meet Granny...

Three of these five stories feature Charlie Task. Ever wonder what goes into making a psychopath? Find out in "The Odd Task." Ever wonder what it might be like to sit down in a psychopath's home and interview him? Check out "A View to the Curious." In "A False Sense of Finality,"...