Thanks for visiting Stories and Books. I hope you'll enjoy the free short stories for children and adults and the children's Mystery novel I'm offering as a paperback or audio download.

I am like a lot of writers who have produced volumes of material while holding other jobs to keep the mortgage paid. I have been very fortunate because, for more than 20 years, I've been a professional journalist and get paid to do what I love best - to write.

I was a radio news reporter, a TV spokesperson and speech writer, daily newspaper reporter and editor, the editor in chief of a national trade magazine and creative writer (when I could make time). I now focus on Web content writing in my "day job" and make time each day to do personal writing.

It's the latter writing that appears on this site, along with new work and, as I find it, books and stories by other writers as yet unpublished by conventional publishers.

The Publishing Challenge

The publishing business has become very selective about what it offers the public and bookstores routinely sell space on shelves as part of their contracts with major publishers. This now pervasive practice makes it extremely challenging for new and talented writers to be read by anyone outside of their immediate family!

If you are an independent - indie - writer and publisher or represent a small independent press, Stories and Books welcomes your input. We'll select particularly good works and authors to feature on this website, plus provide links and space in our Bookstore. Just Contact us with information!

For readers, this focus on independent writers provides new and affordable opportunities to read short stories and books by authors who are not front and center on the shelves of major book distributors. It is very important to realize that many of today's most beloved writers wouldn't make it past the first-reader's muster at most publishing houses today. Publishers are cutting back on new titles and sticking with the tried and true, the sensational, celebrities, scandals and tell-all books that are frequently ghost written.

A Work Always in Progress

Stories and Books .com is a forum for my writing - children's books, short stories, and a children's mystery book in addition to travel stories. I'll add work by other independent authors as we grow this reader's and writer's website. I look forward to entertaining you and hearing from you.

Thanks again for your visit and, please, come back soon.

Darby Patterson