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More Time: A Brief Anthology of Indie Author Short Fiction by R. Tim Morris (editor)

We might have made better decisions if we'd only had more time. Maybe more time would have been all we needed to love them right. More time could have fixed our mistakes. More time might have only made things worse. More time could have meant a bigger love, but eventually, it might have proven to be a lesser one. And even when the measure of time itself is altogether powerless, love will inevitably find us and leave us in so many more ways. In this short fiction anthology, a global collection of rising talents explore the connection between love and time. Their stories will take us from cancer wards to small town bakeries. From retirement communities, to parkade rooftops, to paranormal phone booths. Love will bloom beneath meteor showers, endure through the magic of mythical creatures, and elude us within the veils of memory. These twelve tales touch on the supernatural, the psychological, and secrets just beneath the surface, teasing our vulnerabilities. Eventually, love may end up being defined by nothing more than a pair of men's slippers, a pilfered hoodie, or a body on the sidewalk. And in all of these stories, one question could be asked: What if we had More Time? Featuring stories by Eloise Archer, Ioanna Arka, Emma Deshpande, Zev Good, R.Tim Morris, Natalie Pinter, Justine Rosenberg, Chet Sandberg, Abby Simpson, Isana Skeete, Lior Torenberg, and Perry Wolfecastle.

To Be Honest by R. Tim Morris

Chester K. Eddy isn't completely honest. But he's trying to be. When the struggling New York stage actor decides being totally open and honest is exactly the change he needs in his life, Chester doesn't expect being so obnoxiously transparent will only make things worse. After his brother kicks him out, his favorite bar cuts him off, and his best pal Melissa tells him she needs a break from their friends-with-benefits relationship, Chester quickly has few people left who still want to listen to him and his self-professed Honesty Movement. Along his way to newfound self-discovery, Chester will finagle his way into the tenuous role of Director's Assistant for a small-time theatre's production of an unknown play; he'll accidentally attend Sex Addicts Anonymous meetings; he'll find himself in the company of suspected serial killers; he'll drink a bit too much. And he might even have an eye-opening encounter with a talking dinosaur. But there's one truth Chester realizes he hasn't been capable of admitting: he's in love with Melissa. And he can't be completely honest until he's ready to tell her as much.

The Inevitable Fall of Tommy Mueller by R. Tim Morris

The four of them walked slowly towards the Canal Street Station. Tommy in his bulky Empire State Building costume; Kate in mint green hospital scrubs; Jesse disguised as a superhero; and Patrick dressed as a frog. It was Halloween night, and Tommy made note of all the other ghosts, spirits and specters drifting around them. He didn't feel all that different from any of them at that moment, haunting a world they were only temporarily part of. But what brought the four together in this place at this moment? THE INEVITABLE FALL OF TOMMY MUELLER tells the story of four friends - Tommy, Kate, Jesse and Patrick - and how New York City has watched closely as each of them hit their lowest points. KATE PRINCE had dreams of being a writer and living a life free of regrets. But she's been stuck for years in a dead-end editing job and married to a man she's never loved. JESSE CLASSEN aspired to be an artist with the hopes of one day meeting the girl of his dreams. Instead, he found himself lost, falling into an affair with an older woman and floating directionless through the miserable world of comic book retail. PATRICK KOHN thought he was making the right decision when he left New York to marry an old girlfriend. But now his wife has died, and Patrick must raise a son he's never been comfortable around while facing the reality of returning to the city and the friends he once left behind. And yet, whether by fate or simply good fortune, TOMMY MUELLER has managed to build the perfect life for himself. Since he was a child he had always dreamed of living in New York City and he did so upon graduating from high school. He became a published author and stumbled upon the perfect apartment in Morningside Heights. He met Rachel, his long-time girlfriend, during the catastrophe of September Eleventh. Tommy Mueller's life is exactly as he planned it. But the great city awaits the falling of all its inhabitants, because the fall is inevitable.

Molt by R. Tim Morris

Isabelle Donhelle is a professor of ornithology at the prestigious Hawthorne University in Boston. It's Isabelle's twenty-ninth birthday, and after escaping from a party she never wanted to be a part of, she has come to the conclusion that her life so far has lacked any significant, meaningful change. But following a chance encounter, Isabelle falls for a struggling student of hers. But things are not always what they seem, and this newfound relationship is much more than Isabelle wanted to believe it was. Now she must realize that change, whether desired or not, is always more complicated after the fact.

This Never Happened by R. Tim Morris

Cepik Small doesn't belong here. Around Coney Island, he's known as "Epic" but his life could not be less so. And no matter how hard he tries, he can't shake the feeling that he was born in the wrong place, at the wrong time. The cocktail of drugs he takes daily doesn't help and the face-blindness from which he suffers only adds to his feeling of isolation. In his dreams, Epic lives in the countryside with the girl he loves. In his dreams, Epic is the cherished son of proud and ever-present parents. In his dreams, Epic is everything he was meant to be. But nobody ever lives their dreams, do they? Just as he begins seeing a new and unorthodox therapist, Epic also meets the bold and blithe Abigail Ayr. And when a novel found on the subway begins to strangely mirror events in his own life, the mysteries of Epic Small's dreams quickly and uncontrollably begin to unravel.