Author Clive West has provided an excerpt from The Bench for you to read and enjoy.

Hobson’s Choice is a collection of short stories by Clive West. I enjoyed these stories. They were very well written, entertaining, and thought provoking. The situations we go through in life do not always have happy endings. Each story ends with an unexpected twist, but not necessarily a happy one.

What new words will you learn on Thesaurus Day? Will you discover all of the different ways to say ‘hat’? Or maybe you are more interested in words that have to do with computers. If you are a writer, what new words will you be learning to put in the book you are writing?

The beautiful flower graces my yard during the spring, and you may even find it in yours. Its large, upright stems are called pipes, and from them hang sweet-smelling, bell-shaped, white flowers, and its berries are orange-red. Don’t be fooled by its beauty; all parts of it are extremely poisonous

Do you brake or break the eggs? Is bread or bred served with dinner? Do you breath or breathe to stay alive? When you ride a horse, do you put a bridal or a bridle on it? Would you brows or browse through the selection of books in a library?

How many things will you doubt on International Skeptics Day? Will any of your dreams come true on Make Your Dreams Come True Day? Will you buy a new rubber ducky on Rubber Ducky Day? Does your pet have a new outfit for Dress Up Your Pet Day? What kind of hat will you wear on National Hat Day?

Would a glazer or a glazier put the glaze on your doughnuts? Would you describe your pleasant neighbor as gneiss or nice? Do you watch the gnus or news each evening? Is it a gofer or a gopher that digs holes in your yard?

Who decides what monsters will be in each book? Which scene was the most fun to write? What advice does he have for authors who are striving to be published? Charles Gilman, author of The Slither Sisters, answers these questions and others.

We return to Lovecraft Middle Schools for another creepy adventure in The Slither Sisters. At the end of the first book in the series, twin sisters Sarah and Sylvia Price had returned to the school after their mysterious disappearance. But there is something different about them.

Gehenna. Tartarus. Sheol. The moaners, or zombies, made their unexpected appearance in the Old West town of Gehenna and chased the survivors all the way to the Tartarus River. The few who survived that made it to the town of Sheol.