The Unexpected Tales of Lust, Love & Longing

The Unexpected Tales of Lust, Love & Longing
337 Pages
ISBN 978-0998599038

From award-winning writer R. R. Ennis: a collection of nineteen tales about characters whose personal desires and notions of romantic fulfillment take them on journeys of self-discovery, often leading to unforeseen outcomes.

In the opening story “Fairway to Love,” a middle-aged woman, disgruntled with her husband and their sex life, realizes how someone from their past can offer hope for the future. In “Victory House,” a husband who’s entrusted his alcoholic wife to the care of a secluded treatment facility visits the establishment and unearths a cover-up that causes him to regret his decision. In “Old Friends,” a narrative told in the form of e-mails, a young woman’s quest for love reveals a risky pattern of behavior that only an old friend can see and help her end. In the novella-length “Close Encounters of the Male Kind,” Annette is saddled with a less ambitious mother and a sister with a penchant for choosing the wrong guys. Needing a diversion, Annette tries hard to be noticed by Kenneth, the handsome young man in her literature class. Entering the picture is another fellow, cruising the streets of her neighborhood in a sporty white sedan, who appears too concerned about her safety. Annette’s search for attention and affection draws her into a situation she never imagined. Lorna, Annette’s sister, turns up as the main protagonist in another story, “In a Violent World,” as an abused wife attracting teenage neighbor Miles’s sympathy and interference. Will Lorna view Miles as her savior—or her enemy? Unlike Lorna, Gunnar in the title story, “The Unexpected,” seemingly has learned from his mistakes and now demonstrates good judgment when it comes to sex, dating, and relationships. Nevertheless, problems abound when Gunnar is accosted by two different women during a combined business trip/mid-week getaway.

Ennis is a writer who finds the drama in everyday life, focusing on people you see on the street all the time—your friends, your neighbors, yourselves. Start a story, any story, in this volume, and you’ll recognize the characters—their needs and longings—and be compelled to read the story through to its conclusion. You’ll want to see what happens to these people, and you’ll enjoy the artful way they are put through their paces.

Ryan R. Ennis

About Ryan R. Ennis (Detroit, Michigan Author)

Ryan R. Ennis

At age 14, after receiving the 9th-grade Outstanding Achievement in English Award for his essays, Ryan R. Ennis began dreaming of one day seeing his writing in print. He spent much of his high school and undergraduate years typing away on his typewriter, then a word processor, and eventually on a laptop, perfecting his craft. It was during his graduate studies he received success by winning the Tompkins Fiction Writing Contest at Wayne State University two years in a row for his short stories and seeing his work appear in the Ferndale Friends newspaper as a regular contributor. Since then, his fiction has appeared in a variety of publications, including The Storyteller Magazine, the Pegasus Review, Words of Wisdom, and The Catholic Leader. As an educator and librarian, wanting to show other professionals how to keep students interested in books and reading, he wrote the article "Eluding the National Trend: Strategies to Entice and Maintain Book Readers." The piece was published in the Fall 2009 Edition of the Media Spectrum Journal.

In writing his first book in 2011, he drew on his then fifteen-plus-years as an educator--to author a children's story called The Thursday Surprise: A Story about Kids and Autism. Providing an entertaining plot, the book teaches children about autism and how to befriend someone with this disability. Educators, parents, and children demanded a sequel, and Ryan Ennis followed through with a sequel that next year entitled The September Surprise: A Story about Kids and Autism. Like the first book, the sequel contains an engaging story for children with resources in the Afterword section for parents and educators. This past fall, focusing on the themes of sexual attraction, dating, and the unpredictability in relationships permeating his adult fiction, he published his collection of stories entitled The Unexpected: Tales of Lust, Love & Longing under the name of R. R. Ennis. Presently, he is at work on his first novel set in the '80s, one of his favorite decades.