When the Emperor becomes obsessed with a “kingdom-wrecking” beauty, he loses first his empire then his consort—to his lasting regret … and hers. A prose retelling of the poem Cháng Hèn Gē (長恨歌) by Bai Jiyu.
Follow-up story to Ten Rounds with Jose Cuervo, in which our hero discovers more than a few secrets about his mysterious hostess, himself, his girlfriend, and another woman.
In a stone age setting, men are of the land, women of the sea. But when they meet for sex, their minds merge. When a boy or girl comes of age, there are no more secrets. One young man has a terrible secret, and survives after his successful quest to find a young woman with a secret just as terrible.
On a cold, rainy winter day, he found the love of his life. On another cold, rainy winter day, he lost her. Now he waits in the cold winter rain for their reunion.
A misunderstanding leads to estrangement, a wedding leads to reconciliation. This story was written 5 years ago as a challenge to take the opening and closing words of a chapter in a classic book and fill in with a unique story. At a request from a reader I am reposting it here. I suppose it could be termed an unusual romance.