Showing results by author "Barry Clay" in All Categories

Patience Bellamy is a middle- aged spinster who lives an unremarkable life trying to make ends meet until, one day, she comes home to a basket and several packages on her doorstep. Improbably, there is an infant in the basket, wrapped in a blue blanket. A note pinned to the blanket explains that the parents can no longer care for the child. They implore Patience to provide a home for him, and they further warn her against taking the child to the doctor's office. The note adds, she'll understand once she attempts to feed the baby. This novella has also been collected in the anthology "...

Alesio DeLuca receives a phone call from his sister-in-law and leaves Los Angeles that night by plane, for all the DeLuca's have a secret hidden from the world at large and he knows just how much he may be needed. What he doesn't know, though, is what he has not been told -- and it may mean his life. This short story has also been collected in the anthology "Brushes with the Supernatural."

The people of Tyemon's land consider the Antrix a myth -- a story to tell around the fire to frighten children. But Tyemon has discovered that, far from a myth, the Antrix is very real. To his sorrow, he also learns that the stories told of her are not as accurate as he would have liked, and he must now deal with the consequences of approaching her. But correcting his mistake may be impossible. Or is it? This novelette has also been collected in the anthology "Brushes with the Supernatural."

Has someone ever told you (generally with a sneer) that the Bible endorses slavery and then asks how you can believe the Bible because of that? In this excerpt from his book, "Solid Ground," Mr. Clay demonstrates that what you've heard about the Bible and the question of slavery isn't quite true and presents a full picture of what the Bible says, and God really wants.

Committed free thinker and member of the American Society of Atheists, Colton Bremmerton III is suddenly faced with the unthinkable: could his only daughter truly be demon possessed? Desperate to find someone who can help and prevent his daughter from being institutionalized, he finds "Paranormal Solutions, Inc." in the yellow pages. But can they help? And what will it cost him if they can? This novelette is also included in the anthology "Brushes with the Supernatural."

In this novelette, Baron Rokosky is faced with one of the few surprises of his very long life: his castle has been invaded by mysterious intruders who have somehow disappeared. His chief of security urges him to move to a secure location, but the Baron make an unusual decision that will have far reaching and unexpected consequences. This novelette has also been collected in the Anthologies "A Little Bit of Everything" and "Brushes with the Supernatural".

This chilling anthology recounts what happens to ordinary people when they are suddenly faced with things they can't explain rationally. While some are what you might expect from decades of horror stories, others take "the road less traveled." Melissa Nelson is faced with "The Scarecrow of Bachmieir Farm", and she begins to doubt her sanity as she becomes certain it is moving when no one is looking. Teenagers discover "She Is Not Dead, But Sleepeth" when they dabble with something they think is only a party game. Baron Rokosky has always known "The Blood Is the Life", but he uncovers new ...

Days ago, Endinara Thorson, the only child of the king and queen of Vaniar, arrived in the kingdom of Sylvanlund to seal an arranged marriage to the Sylvanlund heir, Prince Quentin Bregard. But she now lies in a magically-induced coma, having only a short time to live, and without hope unless the Sylvanlund court wizard, Polongrana, can heal her. But to do so, he must have one of the halves of the RavenDisc, a damaged talisman of arcane energies. One half is too far away to retrieve. The other is jealously guarded by Ulava, a sorceress us of great power, who has no intention of using her ...

Have you ever encountered a Christian whose representation of God struck you as – cruel? In all likelihood, that Christian was Reformed. Christian thought is varied, but among those Christians who take their Bibles seriously, there are two main threads of Christian thought. One is the Calvinist (also called Reformed) camp. It is named after John Calvin, a 16th century French theologian. The other camp is the Arminian camp, named after Jacobus Arminius, a Dutch theologian who lived shortly after Calvin. Christians have been arguing over these two competing views for centuries. Often, non-...

The moon is a very religious place. The year is 2242, and Armstrong City, the largest city on the moon, maintains a precarious balance between the old United States of America and the upstart, self-proclaimed Free States of America that broke away in 2126 in protest of government policies they deemed oppressive. The majority of the population on the moon consists of Christian and cultural conservatives, the former having fled the United States to worship and act out their faith freely and the latter to pursue their own agenda free from centuries of policies that they believed had burdened ...

Can we believe anything we want? Does what we believe matter? This edition is an excerpt from the book "Solid Ground." It explores the importance of belief and how it affects our lives even while it discusses how belief in doctrine is, by itself, limited. It was written with both believers and unbelievers in mind, and it forms the foundation on which the "Solid Ground" series is built. It also discusses "cults", what they are, and how we should react when they come knocking at our doors.

Can one high school English class devolve into crime, and, if so, into what kind of crime? In This novelette, Fred Dorflinger and his friends discover that one bad decision can result in "repetitive embarrassment" for the rest of their lives. Can they ever live it down? Perhaps they could, if everyone would stop laughing. This novelette has also been collected in the anthologies "A Little Bit of Everything" and "Molded by Humor", by Barry Clay

Given how hard life can be, who couldn't use a dollop of humor? This collection of stories -- inspired by actual events -- provides more than a dollop. Several bushel fulls of humor are contained in its pages. And the stories are all the more amusing because they are slices of actual events -- or nearly so. "The Dip Takes a Plunge" relates just how badly a weekend visit can go... and just how deadly a bowl of avocado dip can be. "My Life of Crime" tells the sordid (but very funny) tale of four normally God-fearing, obedient boys who decide to exact revenge on their own when one of their ...

When Fred Dorflinger and his wife Carol visit their friends Alan and Loretta Hostetter and their 10 children, they expect a quiet, calm weekend. What ensues instead is a calamity of unexpected visitors, clumsiness, unforeseen events, and a very dangerous bowl of spinach dip. To say more about this short novelette would be to spoil the surprise. Winner of the 1983 John T. Ruhl Memorial award for humor. "I have seen people howl with laughter when Barry Clay reads this story aloud to his friends, but I really, really wish he would have spared me the acute embarrassment and not printed this for...

Since commissioned by the archangel Gabriel, Christian evangelists Dakota and Emily Peterson's floundering marriage has not prevented them from providing supernatural healing and spiritual counseling to those who flock to their meetings. But a couple approaches them, providing an opportunity that only God can foresee, if they are simply willing to obey Him. This short story is also collected in the anthology "Brushes with the Supernatural."

Melissa Nelson understands that she is being unreasonable. Her husband is no doubt correct when he says that teenage boys, bored in the rural community that is their new home, are moving the scarecrow as a prank on their new city slicker neighbors. But as she looks out in the field of corn and sees the scarecrow looking at her, she can't convince herself that she is being irrational. Is she losing her grip on reality? And then a neighbor informs her that the scarecrow is indeed more than it seems .... This novelette has also been collected in the anthology "Brushes with the Supernatural."

The writer of the book of Hebrews in the Bible refers to "elementary teachings." This title explores those "elementary teachings" that Mr. Clay hasn't already explored in other "Solid Ground" titles: repentance from dead works and faith in God, instructions about washings (baptism?), and laying on of hands. Whether your feel these topics are elementary or not, you're sure to benefit from reading Mr. Clay's explanation of them.

Family. Faith. Fantasy. For generations, the kingdoms of Vaniar and Sylvanlund have been at war over the mineral-rich mountainous region between their two kingdoms. Sylvanlund has proposed a marriage between the only children of their monarchs, a marriage that will end the war and the loss of lives it has meant for both kingdoms. The king and queen of Vaniar accept the proposal and begin negotiations, but someone with unknown motives has begun machinations – machinations of incredible sorcery – to prevent the marriage from occurring. Or so it appears. Identical twins Ian and Tad ...

This short story should have appeared in the book "Misadventures in Childrearing," but instead appears in its own Kindle edition. If you have ever been forced to deal with surly, uncaring, or unhelpful employees in your state's Department of Transportation, this story is for you.

Ten years have passed since the Princess Endinara, now queen of Sylvanlund, was saved from a mystical illness by an unlikely band of men and women, led by Quentin Bregard, the man who is now her husband and joint monarch. Ian and Tad Tomulson have both married, as has their sister, Vanessa. Like Quentin and Endinara, they are raising their children in the relative calm of the two prosperous, peaceful kingdoms in which they live. The sorcerer Dovar and his evil sister, Ulava, are dead, and the RavenDisc halves are safe with the former sorcerer’s apprentice, Mok Halim. Or so they think. For...