CHAPTER 74
I was watching him closely, of course, and there was no way I could miss his smugness. It matched the impression I had gained when the two had met us at the airport: they were no longer a pair of lovestruck teenagers but a settled couple. There was that casual assumption of how the other would react, the obvious relaxation around each other. I almost felt jealous.

The transition from the blinding light of the arrest to the oppressive gloom of the processing centre was a blur of agony and terror. Roisin felt as though she were drifting through a nightmare, her body a map of bruises and her mind a fractured mirror. Then came the processing.

She was shoved into a cold, tiled room that smelled of bleach and old sweat. Four male guards stood there, their expressions ranging from bored indifference to active malice.

"Strip," one of them commanded. His voice was like gravel.

The Ardmore has the wine list they told him it would have. Mark's already made a choice when I get there, a bottle, a Côtes du Rhône, something he says he's been meaning to try for six months and keeps not getting around to, and he pours for me before the server can offer. The glass is a little too full. He drinks it like a man who drinks what's in front of him rather than a man who thinks about wine.

His phone is upside-down on the table.

"So," he says, "health systems consulting. What does that actually mean?"

Dieithryn Chapter

© Maeryn Lamonte 2026

For those who appreciate a little regularity, I'll be aiming to put up posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from here on, maybe switching to daily in the last week This means I should reach the end of the story by Christmas.

William and Julian lived in the boring, conservative, flat, mid-section of the United States called Kansas. They were “friends with benefits” who were about to graduate from High School. Socially they did not fit in with the traditional cliques but they fit well with each other. They would do ANYTHING to get away from Kansas including joining a unique Fraternity-Sorority based in exciting Southern California. It was rumored that they were two of those ‘sensitive’ boys you read about.

That “anything” requirement was their participation in a Gender-Modification Hormone Therapy (GMHT) program. It could be argued that the program was more of a re-alignment than a modification.

Eighteen years after the events of The Kelly Anderson Chronicles, Kelly and Julie Anderson-Sanders have built a family and a life together. When the death of Kelly’s grandmother brings old friends and family together, memories of the past meet the realities of the present. But as the 2026 election approaches, a growing political backlash threatens the rights and security of transgender people. Kelly and those closest to her must decide how to respond, and what they can do to protect the future for the next generation. Welcome to 2026 is a story of family, friendship, and the continuing fight for progress.

Bobbi Smith is back! This first chapter is catching up with what happened after her first Christmas Party

I had received a call at work asking me to come down to the HR department. When I went down, I was greeted at the door by the Chief of Human resources executive assistant and asked to take a seat in the conference room. Shortly afterwards a woman about 28 and a man who was about 35 both wearing suits entered the room. They introduced themselves as special agents King and Manning of the FBI.

The dome doesn't fit under the desk anymore. I've stopped trying. I keep the chair pulled back a full foot now and lean forward to type, my forearms braced on my knees half the time.

Thirty-four weeks.

I rest both hands on the black nylon panel of my maternity slacks. I feel a hard push against the inside of my stomach. The intrusion still spikes my heart rate. A solid object, a growing human skeleton, displacing my organs and bruising my lower ribs.

Chapter Three

In the week leading to the half-term break, Hank and Olaf were back at the university and the four friends were told to meet them in one of the offices. When they arrived, Prudence was with them. Hank made sure that they were all comfortable and then started talking.

Chapter 4: Mommy Dearest

I had just butchered an eight-foot-tall, cleaver-wielding monstrosity that used to be my father, hacking his bloated neck until his head rolled across the floor in a puddle of oily black sludge.

I was soaked in his foul-smelling grease, panting like a winded dog, and feeling pretty damn invincible.

Which, in retrospect, was probably my first mistake.

Indecorous
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Daniel came along quite suddenly and that forced me to marry his mother and become a father and a husband. It is a lesson learned about being a man – you hold in your loins a fluid that has the power to destroy people’s lives and the desire to spray it about. Add that to things I hated about being a man.