Alfred Martino

Navigating high school isn't easy for Melinda Radford. She's the lone girl on the Ashton High wrestling team, grappling with opponents who refuse to compete against her, a few who want to crush her, and a coach who's less-than-pleased having a female in his practice room. At home, Mel's parents forbid her from seeing her new boyfriend, her grandmother insists she start preparing for her future by taking a dreary office internship, and her infuriating...

A whimsical short story, set at a Southern California university, about a grad school student who daydreams and pines for a beautifully exotic woman with long legs and magnificent hair sitting next to him in class.

A short story bubbled up from the grim and violent mean streets of 1990's Los Angeles, as the protagonist explains, sweat from the Southern California heat dripping onto his Glock, "I have never murdered, and I have never been murdered. But, I have dreamed of both."

Imagine for a moment, you're Marcus Cooper. A slick stranger meets you in a bar. You're drunk. You talk a lot. Without you realizing it, he's learning about you. Your desire for money and women. By night's end, he makes you a million-dollar proposition to cause a drunk-driving accident. Sounds crazy to you? Maybe, maybe not. You're out of work. Bills are piling up. You owe your bookie six grand. But mostly, you're twenty years removed from being...

Waiting For A Friend is a stage play about a fifty-something-year old man who is confronted by the unexpected visit of his best friend, who died tragically when they were kids in high school. The man must come to terms with his lost youth and innocence, and the unstoppable passage of time, while a painful but heartfelt conversation with his teenage friend puts into perspective a life cut short versus what it means to have lived a full life.

At a upscale bar, a man notices from across the crowded room the woman of his dreams sitting alone. He can't let her get away. Smoothing his suit jacket, pulling his tie knot tight, he walks over to the woman and starts a conversation. Where does it go from there?

In this short story, a traveling businessman settles into, yet another motel room. This one just like every other one. Same dull curtains. Same faded wallpaper. Same stale stink. While the world moves on in a rush outside the motel door, he assesses his career and his life, asking, "Where am I?"

Requiem For An Athlete is a somber look at the unfulfilled expectations of a once-great athlete, seeing through tear-clouded eyes the trophies and medals of a life long gone.

This is the 1550-word text for the audiobook program, "Audio Nuggets: Paparazzi 101," published by Listen & Live Audio, written by Dr. Rick Sheridan and Alfred C. Martino. The reader will learn about the history of the paparazzi, how someone might make it a career, and explains some of the often contentious issues between the paparazzi and their celebrity targets. Alfred C. Martino is the author of three highly-acclaimed young adult novels, "Perfected...

The reader will learn the basics about what corporate espionage is, and the best practices for reducing the possibility of theft of your company's proprietary products, services, contracts, and algorithms.