Stories worth carrying.
Two distinct journeys. A question of what matters most.
Inspired by Southern Christian values, this Sullivan’s Island family story moves from an unexpected discovery before Thanksgiving to a heartwarming Christmas Day ending.
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The Story of the Rich Young Ruler
Before he became the Rich Young Ruler, Esteban was a poor young man who gave what little he had. Through service, friendship, loss, and rising fortune, he builds the security he once longed for. Then an encounter with Jesus asks something of him that wealth cannot answer.
$3.99 USDComplete book · PDF + EPUB included · One-time purchase
Read Chapters 1–7 free. Prologue included.
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Stories offered freely. New voices encouraged.
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Browse all 16 short novels · Find a story by theme, mood or length
Discover our authors and a literary journey inspired by the beauty, heritage, and character of America’s 50 states.
16 stories
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Atlanta, Texas
While preparing to sell her Atlanta, Texas, repair shop, Nadine finds an unfinished work order in her late husband’s handwriting. Keeping a promise will require judgment about what she owes, what can change, and when to leave.
Buffalo, Wyoming
When his son and granddaughter come to stay on his Wyoming ranch, Sam offers work, advice, and a patient horse. Their needs ask something less familiar of him: the strength to hear no without withdrawing his care.
Loogootee, Indiana
An Indiana barber believes he is defending his granddaughter when he explains her troubles on the basketball court. As his version travels, he must face what he did not know and learn to listen before speaking.
Asheville, North Carolina
An Asheville master carpenter knows how to make things hold. His adult daughter’s future calls for a different kind of judgment, as he discovers the limits of a father’s skill when someone else must choose.
Greenville, South Carolina
A construction professional in Greenville discovers a serious safety problem. Speaking could protect people she has never met while threatening her livelihood and the business she built with her brother. Silence carries its own responsibility.
Savannah, Georgia
Nearly twenty years after her sister took family money and disappeared, Vivian sees her return to the Savannah restaurant she built without her. Making room for a second chance will mean deciding what trust can ask.
Abingdon, Virginia
In Abingdon, a daughter inherits her father’s unfinished property dispute. A workshop, a blocked gate, and old wounds draw her into a question of loyalty: how much of another person’s fight should become her own?
Fairhope, Alabama
A newspaper editor in Fairhope discovers that her late father’s public record needs correcting. Honoring the man she loved and meeting her responsibility to the truth may require choices that cannot protect every reputation.
Oxford, Mississippi
An accomplished Oxford mechanic has spent decades hiding his difficulty with reading. Becoming a beginner will ask him to accept help without surrendering the dignity and competence he has earned across the rest of his life.
Bismarck, North Dakota
A Bismarck diner owner has always known how to care for everyone else. When an injury makes her the one who needs help, accepting love becomes unfamiliar work, especially when she cannot immediately repay it.
Columbia, Kentucky
A respected retired band director in Columbia, Kentucky, returns to a world of music and traditions he helped shape. Finding his place now means allowing another person to lead without treating change as an erasure.
Thomasville, Georgia
A Thomasville dressmaker is asked to finish the wedding gown she began for her late son’s fiancée, now marrying someone else. The work brings grief and affection together, asking whether celebration can leave room for remembrance.
Stillwater, Oklahoma
A retired school secretary in Stillwater has spent years offering quiet help. When a former student becomes a giver himself, she must consider whether generosity can keep doing good beyond the reach of her own plans.
Bellevue, Idaho
After repeated pregnancy loss, Hannah begins opening her table to other people in Bellevue, Idaho. Offering them a place in her life may mean accepting something harder for her: care she cannot arrange or control.
Summersville, West Virginia
A wildfire takes a family’s home and workshop in Summersville, West Virginia. As they begin again, rebuilding becomes more than practical work: it asks which parts of their old life they can carry into a different future.
Nashville, Tennessee
In Nashville, two friends find their loyalty tested by musical ambition, family pressure, and questions of creative ownership. Staying beside each other will require more than shared history when telling the truth carries a cost.
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