Marco Etheridge is a writer of fiction, an occasional playwright, and a part-time poet. He lives and writes in Vienna, Austria. His stories have been published by reviews, journals, and magazines in Canada, Australia, the UK, and the USA. Here, for the first time, fifteen of his best short stories are gathered together in one collection. An aging veteran who despises his neighbor ends up in hospital under her care. An isolated married couple search for help to deliver their first child. A man pauses on a wind-swept cliff to converse with a dead friend. A young kitchen boy is sent on a perilous journey across a pestilential land. A man and women find love at the end of their lives. The fifteen stories contained within these pages tell tales of love lost and love found, of darkness at the end of life, and light at the beginning. Unforgettable characters struggle against the impersonal forces of the outside world, and against the flaws they carry within themselves. There is quiet heroism and unwanted heroes discarded, acts of defiance and of acceptance. The inhabitants of these pages learn who they are, and sometimes, who they are not. Open these pages and join in the journey that is Orphaned Lies.