A Story in the Spider and Fly Universe
After being estranged from all of his family for some years, a divorced man's teenage children suddenly pay him an unexpected visit. / (Reviews)
A man is killed by religious militants while protecting his fellow workers. He unexpectedly wakes up to find he's been abducted by aliens and they have an offer for him. He accepts the offer to be placed in an environment like Earth was 35,000 to 40,000 years ago, complete with animals and humans of that time. But there's a catch, it's a one-way trip and he's a star in their version of a reality broadcast show. They supply some gear to help him survive, and now it's up to him to do so.
He was a nice guy with a nice Mormon girlfriend, right up until he came out of his outhouse and found he could heal plants and people with a touch. Nothing went right after that. Some Baptists wanted to kill him, the police wanted to arrest him, the mormons wanted to make him an icon of their faith. All he wanted to do was get married. Some gifts came with a price tag that was too high to pay.
A Rivers Region Story A two hundred year old Australian building is destroyed by fire when a jet taking off from the local airport is shot down. This is how the owner turns a fire gutted building of five sandstone walls back into the elegant building it once was, despite not having much cash to do it with and having to fight the state bureaucrats. It also talks about his important personal and family events during the reconstruction. The fire is very much a life changing event for the owner and his family.