Cloudbreak – New Story Collection Available 19 September 2025

Plus "Solstice" a story from Cloudbreak.

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Cloudbreak: Stories

Cloudbreak, my next collection of short stories, will be available 19 September 2025. Your books purchases and paid Substack subscriptions helped produce and will promote this book—thank you.

“A life inside yourself isn’t a life.”

Seventeen stories laced with humor and heart crisscross America where ordinary men and women search for identity and order. A retired colonel investigates a cloaked figure at a naval station. Struggling with PTSD, a sister makes a request of her brother. After success at work, a man’s stress outlet creates problems on a family vacation. Old flames cross paths and tour a cave. A former athlete weighs an invitation to a ceremony honoring his team’s achievements. On the day of the winter solstice, a trail guide takes a stranger to a vista. During the last day of filming, a reality show’s contestant wrestles with his goal. And a grandfather distracts his granddaughter with the outdoors while her parents figure out their marriage. From the coasts to the lands in between, these and other characters seek connection and meaning amid expectations, responsibilities, and chaos.

Thanks to the following publications where versions of stories in Cloudbreak first appeared:

“A Circle of Men,” Origins

“Cloudbreak,” Crab Orchard Review

“Confluence,” Sequestrum

“Estuary,” District Lit

“Indirect Light,” Bicentennial Celebration of North American Review

“Little Things” (as “Good Morning Good Morning”), SunStruck Magazine

“Long Past Due” (as “A Place to Turn Around”), Cahoodaoodaling

“One Day’s Worth,” Solstice

“Pacific Time” (as “A Sweet Taste under the Skin”), Rum Punch Press

“Pinto” (as “Out There in the Sunlight”), Red Earth Review

“Retire to the Netherlands,” Panoplyzine

“Solstice” (as “Tread”), Saturday Night Reader

244 pages

ISBN (print): 9798986092782

ISBN (ebook): 9798986092799

Amazon

Apple Books

Barnes & Noble

Bookshop

Goodreads

A book’s success can thrive on word-of-mouth and grassroots marketing. Producing and promoting stories requires time and money, and independent authors like me are often overlooked because of trends, sales, and genre. I’m asking you to help spread the word about Cloudbreak. Anything below you can do can positively impact me and my work:

• Order the book (print and ebook).

• Recommend to family, friends, acquaintances, book clubs, libraries, bookstores, bloggers, and platforms devoted to American fiction and culture.

• Share on social media and websites.

• Add and rate on Amazon, Goodreads, and similar outlets.

• Place a copy in Little Free Libraries.

And now for a story from the collection…

“Solstice”

William Auten

Copyright William Auten

williamauten.com

Lounging at the end of the bar, Elijah sips his coffee and scrolls through his phone to the last email Sabreeyah sent.

Thank you for helping Bill. He’s excited to see it. And I’m also thankful you know what starting over is like.

He scans the lodge. Guests come and go under Christmas lights and carvings of deer, caribou, bear, fish, and mountains or slip in and out through the side where he clocked in before the time he agreed to meet. A scrawny man wearing a mustard jacket and black stocking cap glances around, but the kitchen manager greets him and signs for his deliveries. The gaggle of influencers he led on a hike gather near the fireplace and Christmas tree. He swaggers over and mimes adjusting goggles and gloves and flying down slopes as they raise their phones.

“Tag me.” He reminds them of his accounts.

“Are you taking us out again?” a blond woman asks.

“If my nine-o-clock doesn’t show in the next minute, yeah.”

A couple in matching retro jackets and pants relay Gabby is taking them out today.

“She’s one of the good ones. But she doesn’t know everything out there.” Elijah flexes his biceps. “I do.”