Catherine Valenti

The characters in the twenty short stories in this next Read on the Run anthology are all having trouble with time travel. Some have trouble with the equipment, some have trouble with what they find, others have to deal with unexpected consequences.Some travelers intentionally reach out to their past or future selves, others work to avoid this.Some travelers focus on the future, others focus on the past, a few look in both directions.Travelers travel by time machine, cell phone, time cap, elevator, compass, or without the need for a device at all.And then there are the mistakes made and paradoxes created when you mess around with time. Fortunately, we have a story telling us how to fix all of that This entertaining collection of short stories is just what you need to forget about the year 2020 for awhile

In this Read on the Run title, we present eighteen romances. Not love stories, although some of them do include aspects of that. But whereas love stories are often sad, each of the selections in A Wink and a Smile has either a "happily-ever-after" ending, or at least a strong suggestion that this is where the characters are heading. That doesn't mean these tales all sound the same; to the contrary, we've found quite a diverse collection of romances. Yes, there are some traditional romances, and there's a healthy handful of budding romances, but you will also find a story set in the future, and a couple of fantasy tales. You will find stories of pastries, and candies, of young lovers and old. You will meet several matchmakers and you'll see couples reconcile, and there are even a few stories that will make you laugh. As always, each story in the Read on the Run series of anthologies is short, to suit your busy lifestyle.