MineTime
March Marvel
from MineTime
Just Before Spring Special
Make the most of breezing into spring. Limited series for teens.
Mischief, excitement, and unexpected opportunity awaits, based on Bungalow in the Snow. Get it here
Based on the Bonfire of the Vanities epic, this walks you right into that world. Can you make it to the end of the day? Get it here
Are they friends or enemies and who can he really turn to in his time of need? Hear the excerpt. Get it here
You wake up in this unnerving environment but can you make it out? Based on Attached at the Hand. Get it here
The world looks very different than it ever has, and not in a good way. Hear the excerpt. Get it here
Teen Sleuths
Teens discuss micro mysteries to discover who did what, when, why, and how. Limited series.
Tiff: Okay, I'm starting because I know who did it. Was it Domino, Luigi, Marina? Let's discuss.
Bennie: If you know who did it, tell us who it is!
Tiff: I will. I just don't want to ruin the discussion first.
Cindy: I say that it was Luigi. He had the opportunity and he just sounds guilty.
Bennie: Based on what?
Bennie: I just want to know who thinks it was the neighbor?
Cindy: That option felt like a distraction to me.
Tiff: I think it could have been the neighbor. Why not?
Cindy: But do you think it was the neighbor? What about the focus on the change in the best friend? What was her name?
Bennie: It was Leigh or something. I really think it was her!
Tiff: I would agree but that wasn't an option. Why did she have this sudden change?
Tiff: Real quick, real quick... I'm so ready to graduate! I don't know if I can make it to the end of this school year!
Cindy: Well, just imagine life for me. I only a junior!
Bennie: But back to the real topic, I don't think the friend's parents would pay. They didn't even do anything for their own daughter!
Tiff: We don't know that!
Bennie: And it wasn't the foster mother. I know a couple of foster children. Forget that.
Cindy: You might be assuming too much. Either way, it sounds like you think her father did it. Or are you still making up your own culprits?
Bennie: A destroyed prom dress? Get out of the way and don't let Marie catch you or you will be sorry!
(Laughs)
Cindy: Okay, guys probably don't care if their rented tux gets destroyed.
Tiff: Well, they care about whatever they have to pay for the damage. I would hate to get in your way if I caused you to lose hundreds, bro.
Bennie: Wait, hundreds? I don't have to wear a tux to prom, do I? Can I wear what I have on right now?
Cindy: Let's get back to Marie and her mystery, please!
Tiff: (Laughs) Bennie did it!
Cindy: (singing) Who stole Tina's bracelet?
Tiff: It could not have been me, but that tennis bracelet sounded really nice. I might have wanted to grab it.
Bennie: Didn't you accuse me the last time? Now you are admitting to being a thief?
(Laughs)
Cindy: If Tina didn't do it herself, and I guess she didn't, I say it was the sister. It was Peyton.
Tiff: If it wasn't Bennie, it could have been Peyton. Maybe. I say it was the friend, Carla. She had the opportunity to do it.
Bennie: The smartest one of the bunch was the boyfriend. He did it. In fact, what if Tina gave it to him?
Solve Me
Two high school seniors stumble into a gambit that will either protect their classmates or lead to catastrophe. Limited series for teens.
Halee's close friend, Ru, tearfully confides after school that she's in trouble and will be gone for a while. Ru begs Halee to keep her secret phone until she comes back. Halee hides it in her room, but when uses it once to try to contact Ru, messages with puzzles lure her into replying. She solves them quickly at first, drawing her in more or more, until one stumps her. Dune, her classmate, catches her working on it in class and solves it himself. They begin working together as the puzzles become increasingly sinister.
After two weeks of working together to solve puzzles, Halee and Dune receive congratulations for completing all of them. She kisses him out of joy, leading to immediate awkwardness between them. Their conflicted feelings get interrupted by new messages proclaiming them worthy to begin the real task of completing challenges in order to protect the school and their fellow classmates. Dune refuses to continue so they leave the message hanging. The next morning, reports of a death inside the school building leads to canceled classes.
Dune shows up at Halee's door on the day of suspended classes to accuse her of using him and leading him on in order to keep him involved in a scam. Halee denies doing any of that and states that the rumored death in the school building must be connected to their refusal to continue solving challenges. Dune angrily suggests that Halee's friend is playing with her and announces that he wants no part of it. Halee tries to reach Ru but gets no answer.
Dune shows up at Halee's door on the day of suspended classes to accuse her of using him and leading him on in order to keep him involved in a scam. Halee denies doing any of that and states that the rumored death in the school building must be connected to their refusal to continue solving challenges. Dune angrily suggests that Halee's friend is playing with her and announces that he wants no part of it. Halee tries to reach Ru but gets no answer.
After Halee packs Ru's phone away for good, she begins to receive messages to her own phone number requesting solutions. Dune admits to her that he received messages also and he knows that she is not responsible. They begin working together again with the plan to report the messages to the police. As they reply to the messages with solutions at the end of their class, they notice that a phone is the class seems to ding when they send messages, though no person shows any signs of response. Dune finds an unattended phone on a shelf in the room. They take it, careful not to touch it directly, until they can check it further. Right before lunch, the school goes into lockdown and Dune and Halee must shelter in their separate classrooms.
Re-Cast Best Picture
Ahead of the 2026 Academy Award winners announcement, movie-lovers share their preferred cast for selected Best Picture nominees. Limited series.
Re-Cast Best Picture, Episode 1: Marty Supreme, preview summary
Sharon: Shall we start with the main character, the supreme Marty himself?
Lou: Marty himself! Sure. I can start. I thought Mr. Chalamet was well cast. But had I been choosing, I think I would pick Kieran Culkin. He's hilarious!
Tom: Maybe, yeah. I'm not just saying this because we share names, seriously, but a decade or two ago, Tom Hanks would have had that role.
Sharon: Oh, you're only saying that because he played table tennis in Forrest Gump. My Marty would be a young Robert Downey, Jr.
Re-Cast Best Picture, Episode 2: Bugonia, preview summary
Lou: I'm going to jump in with this one because this film was bonkers. Not really what I thought it would be and I like Emma Stone. She's always great but--
Tom: We're starting with that role, the Michelle Fuller character?
Sharon: Why not?
Lou: I've got to jump to that one because I really see a younger Jamie Lee Curtis in this role, and I see her bringing something that Emma Stone didn't, even as good as she was.
Sharon: I do like that. I would never have thought of that. You know, I would love to see Meryl Streep in this role. At any age! I can see Jamie Lee Curtis knocking it out of the part and I see Meryl Streep adding something subtle and unsettling.
Tom: Wow, those are great thoughts. I would not re-cast Emma. I can't see anyone else doing it, honestly.
Re-Cast Best Picture, Episode 3: Sinners, preview summary
Sharon: How horrid would I be for wanting Tom Cruise to play the Remmick role?
(Laughter)
Tom: With the ponytail and the debonair clothes and everything? I liked Jack O'Connell. I wasn't familiar with him before this at all. I don't think the cast could be improved upon but, kind of like Sharon, just for the fun of what another actor might bring to the movie... I know this is strange but I wonder about Hugh Jackman playing Remmick.
Lou: That can't be any stranger than Tom Cruise. (Laughs) But I like that we are going out on a limb here. I really like Benedict Cumberbatch for Remmick.
Sharon: (Laughs) Our version of this movie would never get made!
Re-Cast Best Picture, Episode 4: One Battle After Another, preview summary
Tom: Can I request that we start with the Willa Ferguson role? That one might be the easiest.
Lou: Who for?
Tom: Well, me. Obviously. (Chuckles) Apparently. If there are no objections, I don't have a preference and I liked the actress cast in the movie.
Sharon: That is Chase Infiniti. Great name!
Tom: Right, Infiniti. But Zendaya is another actress that could have been interesting for this. Just a thought.
Lou: I'm with you. I don't really have one for this role. That others are much more interesting to me. But just to get a little wild like the last one, I saw an actress in another movie. She could have been interesting. Uh, also a singer. Uh, FKA Twigs? This role is for younger, but...
Sharon: Yeah, I think both Zendaya and FKA Twigs might be beyond this role. Not that we haven't seen actors playing way outside their age before. Anyway, I want to stick with Chase Infiniti. I don't even know enough actors in this age group!
Re-Cast Best Picture, Episode 5: F1, preview summary
Sharon: Can we just make this easy? I didn't expect these to be so tough! Does anyone have a preference other than Brad Pitt?
Tom: I have a strange one. Once we opened the door to any idea, no matter how far in left field, I've enjoyed this more. Okay, so, something about this one made me think of Michael Fassbender. I could have watched him in this.
Lou: I didn't think about him at all but I might be able to top that. Just put the accent aside for a second. Gerard Butler.
Sharon: (Laughs) I really wish that we could see these. Just one scene would even be great. Okay, I'm going to go for it. Jason Statham. Top that.
Request full Re-Cast Best Picture
Biting Cold
The winter brings threats and danger Mel and those around her will need a silver bullet to escape. Limited series.
Mel visits her older parents and notice they are unusually lethargic. When her former postal worker father passes out mid-sentence on the couch, she checks his pulse and notices what looks like two tiny puncture marks on his neck. She and her mother get him to a hospital. Later, Mel finds similar marks on her mother and warns the in-home nurse to take special care. After cooking dinner for her fiancee, Sam, they discuss her parents' condition. He promises to look into it while conducting his doctoral research. The in-home nurse caring for Mel's mother leaves her overnight shift the next morning with a rash on her neck.
Sam brings Mel to visit her mother urgently after learning that her mother's in-home nurse died the day after working overnight. They find her barely conscious and get her to the hospital where her husband's condition is not much better. Sam comforts her and she accompanies him to the medical library where he conducts research for his doctoral studies. Mel tells him about the puncture marks on their necks, which piques his curiosity. While he searches, Mel receives a call from a medical worker questioning her exposure and describing the deceased nurse's neck rash. Mel and Sam immediately quarantine in his nearby apartment.
Panicked over being quarantined with Sam in his apartment with no way to visit her critically ill parents, Mel begins obsessively searching online for leads about bites on the neck. Sam searches medical literature to give her balance when he receives a message from an esteemed professor in his field relaying strange cases of winter neck wounds and something described as micro monsters. Mel jumps on this lead, which drops her out of her depth. She presses Sam to contact the man, known as Dr. Abe. Dr. Abe agrees to speak with them confidentially but will only do so in person. Meanwhile, Mel's parents experience an unexpected recovery, both looking and feeling decades younger.
Dr. Abe arrives and keeps distance when Sam and Mel approach him with news that her parents are remarkably better. Dr. Abe insists that they are too late to help Mel's parents because they are already consumed. Dr. Abe advises them to check one another for bite marks and encourages Mel to forget her parents. He leaves documents for them, then flees. Each searches the other's body and finds no bites. They work through the documents together and conclude that Mel's parents were exposed to micro monsters in their home, which is the most likely danger zone. Mel begins receiving calls from her parents but she does not answer.
Mel falters under the weight of the possibility that her parents are vampires. Sam approaches her carefully about how to seal her parent's home to ensure that others avoid harm. Mel hesitates to make any decision but shares her anxiety about her parent's phone calls. Sam finally answers the call to spare Mel. He speaks to Mel's father, who sounds young and strong. He tells Sam on speaker that they've burned down their home and are on their way to travel the world. Mel's mother speaks directly to Mel, saying that they will return later in her life when she might want to join them. Mel goes on to grieve her parents while wondering if things are better for them or worse.
Past Post Roundtable
Eager participants discuss past posts of yore, their reactions and their opinions. Limited series.
Past Post Roundtable, Episode 1: Extraordinary, preview summary
Hal: I like this one. I was not expecting audio.
Minnie: Yeah. I wasn't expecting audio or a song!
Rose: We got a serenade. And I liked the message about it. I felt encouraged or just a little more optimistic.
Past Post Roundtable, Episode 2: Let's Poem!, preview summary
Rose: I don't know how many people on the platform took advantage of this fill-in-the-poem, but they should have. This was fun and super easy. I liked that it was easy and I felt like I almost wrote a poem.
Hal: (laughing) I can do poetry when it is easy! Yeah, I liked it. It wasn't that bad of a poem, either. It was bad, but it wasn't bad bad.
Minnie: This felt like a word game that didn't require too much out of me. That was perfect. I would have loved for it to be longer. I wanted to keep going.
Rose: Nope. Perfect length. More would have been harder.
Past Post Roundtable, Episode 3: Who's the Champ?, preview summary
Hal: You both know how I like competition. I love to pick a winner.
Minnie: Right, but I get hives when things get too competitive.
Rose: Does that mean you didn't like this one?
Minnie: Absolutely not! This was fun. I might sound like him for a second but turning reading, or stories, into a competition makes sense.
Rose: So we all enjoyed this? I actually wondered how I could do this with my son's books!
Past Post Roundtable, Episode 4: Text Neck, preview summary
Minnie: Did you notice that this is right on time for the upcoming time change?
Hal: What's that?
Rose: (laughing) Stop it! Yes, it is right on time.
Minnie: What I like about this is that it is so short but it made me smile.
Rose: I smiled. I laughed out loud. There are a series of this kinds of posts, you know.
Hal: But before you take us down another tunnel, did this remind anyone else of Bert and Ernie or something like that?
Past Post Roundtable, Episode 5: Class Warfare, preview summary finale
Rose: Music again and a story tease.
Hal: This was for younger readers, I think, but it caught my attention.
Minnie: I watched this a few times. I wanted to hear the rest of the song. It sounded like an intro, right?
Rose: I don't know. I keep hearing that attention spans are getting shorter but not mine. I want longer videos.
Hal: Longer? Really? You want, like, five minutes?
Request full Past Post Roundtable
Hearts Ablaze
This one is for every heart. Come one, come all. Limited series.
Courtship may be old fashioned in the world today but can you pick Prince Charming? Get it here
No one saw this coming or going. Who could have done it? Get it here
It was supposed to be a lovely night but things went left. Guess who! Get it here
Excitement at every turn and love in the air, based on Bungalow in the Snow. Get it here
Grab a seat and do your best as quickly as you can, based on Let the Date Begin. Get it here
Holiday Weekend Rewind
Spend this end of the year with unique, surprising, unexpected, laugh-out-loud, and more.
Holiday Weekend Rewind, Episode 1: Marriage Arrangement
Holiday Weekend Rewind, Episode 2: Master the Holiday Munchies
OOP Youth, Episode 3: First Day At School
Request Holiday Weekend Rewind
Know Your Role
A game of stealth, requiring close observation and strong conversation. Limited series for teens.
Know Your Role, Episode 1
Know Your Role, Episode 2,
Know Your Role, Episode 4
Know Your Role, Episode 5 finale
More Rolling Reads
Charmed Birthday Year
Kendra receives multiple correspondence stating, "This is your charmed birthday year until it all runs out." Limited series.
Read full Charmed Birthday Year
Date Auction
Daters are on the auction block and any interested in bidding for the chance for a date must be ready to commit to a reading list. Limited series.
Big Game
Bay must stop the high school football team's suddenly dangerous behavior, including her younger brother and her crush. Limited series for teens.
OOP Retrospective
An in-depth exploration of story, characters, and themes of an OOP favorite. Limited series.
Fic Fash
Fiction and fashion combine when readers of all ages come together to pull style off of the page. Limited series.
Fic Fash, Episode 1: Starting Pretty Fall
Fic Fash, Episode 2: The Style Friend
Fic Fash, Episode 3: Coffin Nails
Fic Fash, Episode 4: Faultless and Flawless
Fic Fash, Episode 5: Perfect 10, finale
Reads Excerpts
Cash Out, preview
"You've got it, Lela. Roll 'em."
June said those words, and blew on the dice in Lela's hands. For Lela, time seemed to stop.
They'd both had their contracts come up but neither of them had earned the necessary numbers to win their freedom. They'd been dragged to wherever they'd been dragged. They thought they were going to meet their end. Well, Lela thought that. June seemed incapable of understanding what was at stake.
Even that, at the very moment, June seemed not to realize what was happening.
Big Dough, the one calling the shots, upon seeing them seemed to grow a heart. No, not really. He just like to play with people. He liked to pretend to give a chance when he knew they had no chance. Instead of handling it quickly, he gave them a chance to play for their lives.
But Lela had to roll for the both of them. Only one of them would go free. "Free." Whatever that would actually mean.
June said, "I don't know if blowing like that helps but I've seen people do that before in the movies."
Despite the noise, the jitters, the threat of death that caused her to want to pee, time seemed to stop.
Lela could barely see past June, the dealer, and the crowed around the table.
They had no way out.
Swallowing a glob of nervous spit and blinking her eyes, Lela made a decision.
Read Cash Out, a MineTime Discovery
Dinner Or Death, preview
Kwan artfully slid the bills to the other man. Smiling and nodding, he started to speak but was cut off.
"Just remember, if anything happens, I don't know you, never seen you."
Sighing, Kwan felt a brief moment on uncertainty. He couldn't do that. He almost put a grin on his face but went serious instead.
"I've got this, cousin. Always had it."
Kwan's cousin thumbed the money. When he was satisfied, he headed for the kitchen door. "Good luck."
Scoping the dining area, Kwan wondered at how he'd so soon gone from "No doubt" to "I hope so." But he kept moving. He saw the table and he saw his target. Then he moved, trying to be swift but without a care, not wanting to attract any attention.
"Helio," he said, dropping a hand on the man's shoulder.
Helio's shoulder felt stiff as stone. His head turned with the precision of a machine, at a painstakingly slow speed, and his eyes fell on Kwan with the fear of God.
"Helio," Kwan repeat, slightly shaken, "Kwan, P-Pause, haven't seen you in a while, man. I thought I'd come over..."
Helio's tension released instantly and he glanced toward every entrance.
"Right, P-Pause," said Helio. "Well, look, I'm expecting someone."
Read Dinner Or Death, a MineTime Discovery
Let's Play, preview
Arily felt sweat run down into her eyes. She flicked it away. The sauna had just become less confortable and the other two ladies had already exited, leaving her there alone.
She breathed deeply, wondering what her test results might reveal. Something unexplainable had taken over her body. She needed answers.
The sauna door opened. Arily paid no mind until she caught a male figure in her peripheral vision and saw the towel drop. Arily sighed.
"Feels great in here."
Arily recognized the voice of Doctor Robinson, Le Med's medical director. She kept her eyes on her feet. The doctor was handsome and helpful--he'd agreed to run tests for her privately. But if this was the payment he expected... She was in no mood.
"Yes. I think I'll leave soon before I over-heat."
"Before you do that, I got the results of the test. Everything looks fine. Care to tell me what you expected to find?"
Arily did not care to tell him.
"Maybe once I've showered and dressed. Thank you again."
Arily allowed herself to look over the naked doctor's body where he laid out on the platform. She shrugged, impressed. Then she stood.
"That's an excellent idea. Dinner this evening?"
Read Let's Play, a MineTime Discovery
Delwyn In Wonderground, preview
In a dark place, somewhere few people could ever identify, or find, or escape, a man's motionless body lays out like the dead. Until his arm strikes out without warning to reach for something that he does not find. Then he freezes. Then he jumps up and flies into a rage.
"Let me out!" he shouts.
"Mr. Delwyn," responds a voice immediately, "let's calm down, shall we? Anger won't get you out of here. Why don't we just discuss what will?"
Delwyn looks feverishly around himself. Where is the exit? Where is person attached to the voice? Where is the--
"Mr. Delwyn please. Can we just get down to business? You've been resourceful and creative and you've escaped all of this for many years but you are here now. You won't be released until we get what we need."
Delwyn takes a deep breath. He sits back down on the cot he sprang up from. He sees his prison, a low-lit, sparse room with a large, dark window in one wall and little else.
He says, "And what do you need?"
"The pole shift is here," says the voice. "Certain geographic locations require protection."
Delwyn's head falls to his chest. He closes his eyes. He feels the rage welling up before he slows his breathing. Delwyn lifts his head.
"Okay."
Read Delwyn In Wonderground, a MineTime Discovery
Plain Twain, preview
Because May dropped the phone, she did not hear the ranting woman on the phone and her frantic words.
"May," the voice distantly squeaked, "I want you to come in for an evaluation. You don't sound well. Your thoughts are scattered, you are drawing wild connections, and frankly I don't know what to say. You think that you may have been cloned without your knowledge and that this identical twin of yours has been out to get you? I don't want to scare you but this kind of talk can be very dangerous if clients get wind of any of this."
"Why don't I get that for you."
The woman who only recently entered the room, reached down and picked up the phone. Without a word, she disconnected the call with a smile.
She said, "Hello, May."
Shocked into silence, May stared at the very one the caller had referred to, the clone, the identical twin, the one out to get May. The same one she'd felt stalking her.
"Who are you?" May asked.
The other woman frowned. "You mean to tell me that you don't know?"
Read Plain Twain, a MineTime Discovery
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