Destiny's path is not always a clear cut trail, a discovery the tinker's daughter is about to make in this dramatic sequel to Hope Flies on Broken Wings. Armed with little more than a tattered shirt, a whisper of hope, and a protective charm, Collie flees from the seaside ghosts of Donnel that haunt her soul and dares to cross into the Tillaman Realm. There, she succumbs to a charismatic young knight named Morgan who offers her sanctuary, only to learn that a pretty smile is not always to be trusted. Her ultimate fate is precariously held in the mind of a catatonic child, and a deep, winter snow has settled over the boundary mountains, blocking all roads of escape. Bound to Morgan and hopelessly entangled in a dangerous game of brutality and possession, all Collie wants now is to return home.

"Strange luck, it is said, is swift to befall one who dares look through a broken window." The strange--the deranged--the short-shorts--and the novelette. Take a peek, if you dare and step into a world that balances upon the fringes of sanity. Experience the curse laid down by the Mad Scotsman of Seven Troughs. Visit with the ghosts of Virginia City. Why does Ronnie crave the taste of cranberries? And, is anyone safe from the Devil of the Desatoya? Set your imagination on edge with this collection of ten short tales sure to tickle your darker side. Discover what lies beyond. Don't be shy. Dare to look--through a broken window.

It is the final summer of Collie's innocence when an ill-fated romance forces her into maturity. Fast approaching the age of adulthood under the king's law, Collie, the beautiful, eldest daughter of a Middletown tinker, sets her sights upon a handsome young fisherman named Dugan, the troubled son of an unscrupulous man from the lower-class village of Ganty. A tumultuous love affair soon ensues as they attempt to cross the lines of class segregation, bigotry, and religious differences amid their own internal conflicts. Collie clings to her dreams of grandeur--- a life of unfettered leisure, travel, and excitement, for she fears to end up like her mother, tied to a kitchen and a house full of children. The rebellion against her mother and her way of life is a constant source of contention between them as she doggedly pursues Dugan, shunning the affections of the blacksmith, Arrick, a more proper, acceptable suitor, favored by Collie's parents. Down in Ganty, there are two dangerous men of power---a pub master named Barrtel, and Dugan's father, Harlo, cordial enemies that tolerate one another in an uneasy truce. Dugan spends a great deal of time drinking at Barrtel's pub in an effort to escape some of the unspeakable horrors he has been involved with at the hands of his father. As Collie resists becoming her mother, Dugan resists becoming his father while the two young lovers struggle in their rocky, forbidden relationship, and Collie slowly begins to unravel the mystery of a secret past involving Harlo and her own parents. Set in the mythical realm of Donnel by the sea in the rising spread of Christianity, Hope Flies on Broken Wings delves into two adolescent minds and their individual, personal struggles that draw them together while pushing them apart---two souls seeking redemption, each with a completely different life view of what constitutes hell on earth in this poignant tale of love and loss.

If a train leaves Boston, does it ever reach its final destination, or is it bound to roll onward to hell for eternity? Jonas Dumar is about to find out. Not trusting his lawyer to get him acquitted of the murder charge he faces, Jonas decides to run, taking his dog to flee the country on an old fishing boat under an assumed identity. But Jonas Dumar has problems, and a murder accusation is simply one of the many troubles that plague him. For one: Jonas can't stand being all alone. And two: Jonas has secrets. If a train leaves Boston, does it ever stop screaming? Making a quick stop in Newfoundland on his voyage across the Atlantic to seek out asylum with an old college chum in Scotland, Jonas takes on board two hitchhikers, Gabe and Izzy, who are trying to work their way back to Spain. Only when they get out into the open sea, does Jonas begin to suspect his passengers are not what they appear to be. After a failed plan to abandon them in Greenland, Jonas awakes one morning with the lingering memories of a nightmare, finding himself sailing all alone. Gabe and Izzy have vanished, leaving behind a subtle, haunting trace of their existence, as Jonas finds himself reunited with a long lost childhood friend. A friend he'd hoped never to see again. Then Gabe and Izzy return. Now all Jonas wants is to escape before he completely unravels, coming to realize a man really can learn more about himself than he ever wants to know.