Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Black Coffee Fiction
    Black Coffee Fiction
    Black Coffee Fiction
    Ebook111 pages1 hour

    Black Coffee Fiction

    By Wade Peterson

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Welcome to stories of the uncanny, the odd, the beautiful, and the weird: the best stories from Black Coffee Fiction year one. Fourteen tales which can be enjoyed with your favorite cuppa.

    The Rapture - Papa says the world will end ... on Christmas.

    Rufio - On the night of the big game, security is tight. But Rufio has a plan.

    The Sand Bar - When you want to get romantic, how do you separate a girl from her dog?

    Right Heat, Wrong Event - TJ swims the race of his life at the wrong time.

    Bank Job - What happens when you rob the friendliest bank teller in town?

    Sixty-four Squares - In the middle of a German offensive, a much more important battle is taking place.

    Candle in the Window - Two neighbors, separated by two wars.

    Bob - Dogs resemble their owners in Christendom.

    Base Ted - A story of kids, baseball, and suspicion.

    Rock Singer - When it comes to love on reality TV, can an average Joe compete with a rock star?

    If Only - Should a long-lost love stay lost?

    Betty was a Racecar Driver - A tale of elderly rebellion.

    It's Coming - A race against time and nature.

    Felonies and Misdemeanors - Two shadowy men come to take away a man's inspiration.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWade Peterson
    Release dateFeb 27, 2013
    ISBN9781301161225
    Black Coffee Fiction
    Author

    Wade Peterson

    Wade Peterson writes award-winning sci-fi and fantasy stories you think about long after finishing. He's poured a lifetime of tabletop RPGs, 80s and 90s hair metal, electrical engineering misadventures, and dog-eared paperback novels into his story worlds. When not writing, he's in the back yard trying to master the arcane mysteries of Texas barbecue while also wrangling two over-scheduled teenagers, serving the whims of two passive-aggressive cats, and agreeing with whatever wine his wife picks to go with dinner.

    Read more from Wade Peterson

    Related to Black Coffee Fiction

    Related ebooks

    Anthologies For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Happily (n)ever after…

      Mar 4, 2019

      Happily (n)ever after…
      4 min read

    • Article

      Shanda

      Jan 1, 2024

      Shanda
      13 min read

    • Article

      Connecting the Dots

      May 24, 2019

      Connecting the Dots
      4 min read

    • Article

      Last Love

      Dec 8, 2023

      Last Love
      13 min read

    • Article

      The Art of Fiction No. 251

      Mar 15, 2022

      The Art of Fiction No. 251
      20 min read

    • Article

      Death On The Limpopo

      Sep 16, 2019

      Death On The Limpopo
      5 min read

    • Article

      Three’s Company

      Feb 1, 2024

      Three’s Company
      6 min read

    • Article

      ‘Toni, It’s Mum. There’s Been An Accident’

      Oct 13, 2021

      Edited extract from Lost & Found: My story of heartbreak and hope by Toni Street with Sophie Neville Like many teenage boys, Stephen loved sport and he loved hanging out with his mates. But he was happiest out on the farm with Dad. They were a tight

      11 min read

    • Article

      Riccardo

      Jun 14, 2022

      My understanding of my family’s religion was that we didn’t have to go to church if we didn’t want to and that our belief in God was tenuous at best. I grasped the seventh principle, “the interconnected web of all existence,” and I understood the hum

      14 min read

    • Article

      Q&A Percy Daggs III

      Mar 26, 2022

      Q&A Percy Daggs III
      5 min read

    • Article

      My Three Grandfathers

      Jun 16, 2019

      My Three Grandfathers
      9 min read

    • Article

      There’s Something About MAGDA

      Mar 25, 2020

      There’s Something About MAGDA
      10 min read

    • Article

      Paul’s tears I MISS MUM EVERY DAY

      Nov 1, 2020

      Paul’s tears I MISS MUM EVERY DAY
      6 min read

    • Article

      Heirlooms

      Nov 3, 2022

      Heirlooms
      3 min read

    • Article

      David Sedaris

      Sep 15, 2017

      Our house on Emerald Isle, The Sea Section, is divided down the middle, and has an E beside one front door and a W beside the other. The east side is ruled by Hugh, and the bedroom we share is on the top floor. It opens onto a deck that overlooks the

      12 min read

    • Article

      Remembering Dad

      Mar 12, 2024

      Remembering Dad
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Light of Faith

      Nov 27, 2021

      The Light of Faith
      6 min read

    • Article

      Night Visions

      Sep 10, 2022

      Night Visions
      6 min read

    • Article

      There’s Something About MAGDA

      Feb 26, 2020

      There’s Something About MAGDA
      10 min read

    • Article

      Why the Choir Was Late

      Nov 25, 2023

      Why the Choir Was Late
      4 min read

    • Article

      STEPPING Out

      Feb 12, 2020

      STEPPING Out
      9 min read

    • Article

      Family Dynamics

      Aug 5, 2021

      Family Dynamics
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Climb Back

      Jul 13, 2023

      The Climb Back
      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Black Coffee Fiction

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Black Coffee Fiction - Wade Peterson

      Black Coffee Fiction

      Short Stories to Amuse and Edify

      by Colleen Sutherland and Wade Peterson

      Copyright 2012 Colleen Sutherland and Wade Peterson

      Smashwords Edition

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the authors.

      For Norma, after fifty-four years, she still believes in me.

      —CS

      For Su, Erica, and Lucas

      —WP

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      We'd like to thank those who aided and abetted: Tim Meier, Nikki Kallio, Dana Krueger, and Colleen Swanson. A special thank you to Ben at the Copper Rock North coffee house for providing the space and caffeine required for writing.

      Table of Contents

      Introduction

      The Rapture

      Rufio

      The Sandbar

      Right Heat, Wrong Event

      Bank Job

      Sixty Four Squares

      A Candle at the Window

      Bob

      Base Ted

      Rock Singer

      If Only

      Betty was a Racecar Driver

      It's Coming

      Felonies and Misdemeanors

      Introduction

      We met at a Saturday morning short fiction class at Fox Valley Technological College in Appleton, Wisconsin taught by Tim Meier. We and several other students eventually formed a critique group to continue our efforts, for the most part meeting at the Copper Rock North coffee house in Appleton.

      The group dwindled, but we kept at it. We love the short form and both needed the encouragement that only collaboration can provide. Only writers understand the insanity of spending long hours pounding on keyboards.

      Sometimes we discussed the novels we were working on. Each of us wrote individual blogs, Colleen about her travels as a storyteller, Wade about his struggles to become a full time writer. But the one constant was the short story.

      One day, Colleen suggested starting a short story blog and that very day we opened up Black Coffee Fiction and began the process. The plan was to publish one short story each Friday, alternating weeks. Other authors joined in from time to time. (Their work will appear in Volume II no doubt.) Black Coffee Fiction quickly picked up a global audience, with readers in every continent except Antarctica.

      After a year, we had 52 stories to choose from.

      These are the best of those first stories.

      The Rapture

      (a Christmas story)

      by Colleen Sutherland

      The Rapture is going to occur at any moment, Papa announced one summer day at breakfast. Jesus will come down from heaven to take the Chosen with him. He will leave the sinners behind. We must prepare to be taken up to heaven. I will want all my family there with me, so we must work together. We will pray and do Bible studies.

      Yes, Papa, Mary said. Honor thy father and thy mother, the Ten Commandments said. That meant she must be obedient. She had learned that in the True Christian Community Church Sunday school. Papa was a good Christian, so Mary knew that whatever he said must be right.

      Papa thought it was time for Mary to start reading the real Bible instead of the children’s Bible storybook Mama gave her when she learned to read. He gave Titus and Paul some scriptures to read, too. Mama said she had already read the Bible all the way through twice, so she would help Mary, but Papa said he could answer her questions. Paul and Titus took their passages to their room, but Mary knew they played Battleship instead of reading their Bibles.

      At first it was fun. In the cool autumn that year, Papa made bonfires in the back yard. The true Christians from the True Christian Community Church came with their Bibles and discussed the End Time around the fire, while they roasted wieners. Sometimes, Papa let the children roast marshmallows, though in general, he thought treats were sinful. S’mores were a creation of Satan, in his opinion. The True Christians played guitars and autoharps and sang hymns as loud as they could late into the night until the police arrived to tell them the neighbors were complaining and to cut it out. Papa said the neighbors should prepare themselves for hell and damnation but ended the parties when the police came.

      Papa received a weekly newsletter in the mail, the Rapture Alert. One of his church friends got it on the internet, but Papa said the computer was the tool of the devil. He would not have one in his house. Mary, Titus and Paul were taught how to use computers in school. None of them told Papa or he would have stormed down to the school to put a stop to it. Titus and Paul warned Mary that if they were taken out of computer class because of her blabbing, there would be consequences. Mary prayed for forgiveness after every computer class.

      Papa did allow television. Cablevision held wicked dangers but there was the Trinity Broadcasting Network that had religious programming and gave daily updates on the Rapture. He allowed them to watch the special movies that showed fire and damnation. The network experts told about the glories of Heaven, the joy of being with Jesus, and the horrors of hell. They discussed dates and talked about current events. They explained that that those who were taken up to heaven would not be missed by the unbelievers because God would replace them with mere shells of the originals but it would fool those left behind.

      Titus and Paul always agreed with everything Papa said, but they laughed about it later with their friends. They said the network experts had caps on their teeth, new suits and gold pens. Mary was sure that Titus and Paul were not going to Heaven when the Rapture happened.

      Papa had the whole family watch one of the shows every Saturday night. Mary could stay up later for that, he said. There was a man who seemed to know every Bible verse, but when Mary looked up the verses in her Bible, she didn’t know what they meant. Sometimes she couldn’t even find the chapters and verses at all. The man said that the Rapture would happen soon, but Mama said he had set the date many times before and it hadn’t happened. She showed Mary the verse in the Bible where Jesus said No man shall know the day. She said that as long as that man kept making his prophecies, the world was safe. But Mary still worried.

      Maybe the Rapture had already happened, said Titus, but we did not know it because we were not taken up. Then he laughed.

      The man said that black holes were where Hell was. Mary did not know what a black hole was, so Paul told her about them. Mary did not understand that, but Paul said she should not worry because everything, including fire, would be crushed in a black hole, so how could you burn forever there if you were squished? Papa told Paul

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1