Nashville DreamsLast week, I was stocking groceries in Freedom, Alabama. This week, I live in Nashville, Tennessee, about to take the stage at the famous Bluebird Cafe.Sounds fantastic, doesn't it? Only one problem: I've got stage fright.But after years of being ruled by fear and hiding from my dream, I confronted my limited reality and left home. Forget the hometown hunk who wants to make me queen of his doublewide trailer. Forget Momma's doubt-inspiring tirade. I can make it in Music City . . . can't I?So I took a leap of faith, gathered my old guitar, my notebook full of songs, and packed up my '69 Chevy pickup. Look out NashVegas!With the help of some new friends, especially handsome Lee Rivers, my dream is about to find the light of day. But as I face my first night at the Bluebird Cafe, I realize . . . I might just do what comes naturally: Look for the nearest exit and run!Nashville... Views: 20
Rhiannon Castle is a D'Anu witch whose is a D'Anu witch whose Coven sisters know nothing of the Shadows that lurk within her. Rhiannon can't reveal the truth to anyone—least of all Keir, a rugged warrior soldier who walks into Rhiannon's life and awakens her to a wanton reckless desire...Keir's Tuatha D'Danann Tuatha D'Danann brethren are the only real family he has ever known. He trusts no one—until he is sent to San Francisco and meets Rhiannon, the one woman with fire enough to tame him. Every seductive encounter convinces Keir that she belongs with him—even though Rhiannon knows her powers could put him in peril... And then a new threat rises from the depths of the Underworld. When a demon goddess unleashes her evil upon our world, Rhiannon's secret could prove the ultimate weapon in this epic battle—or forge a pathway to destruction for the only man she's ever loved... Views: 20
Sentenced to death for abandoning his unit, a soldier recounts the events leading up to his arrest.The reality of trench warfare is a shock to Allan McBride. Like many other young soldiers, he enthusiastically signed up for the chance to join the war effort and be a part of the fighting. But after months in the ravaged battlefields, watching men, including his friend Ken, get blown up by German shelling, something in Allan snaps and he leaves his unit, believing he is "walking home to Canada" to get help for his friend.After nearly a week of wandering aimlessly, Allan is taken in by a band of real deserters — men who have abandoned their units and live on the edge of survival in the woods of northern France. Once Allan realizes what he's done, he is paralyzed by the reality of his circumstance: if he stays with these men, it's possible they will be found and have to face the consequences; and if he returns to his unit, he will be charged with desertion... Views: 20
The new novel from the critically acclaimed and award-winning author - When Joe Reddick and his family are threatened in their LA home by a masked, knife-wielding intruder, it means serious trouble for a gang of desperate criminals. The threat sends Joe Reddick over the edge. He's lived the nightmare of losing a family to a crazed killer once, and he's not going to let it happen again. After sending his wife and son to safety, he goes to war, determined to kill those responsible. Soon Reddick’s living nightmare will finally be over. One way or the other . . .ReviewA volatile man gets pushed to the wall once too often. One night nine years ago, Joe Reddick of the West Palm Beach Police Department came home to find his wife and children slaughtered by an intruder. His fellow cops caught the perp, but Joe's nightmares raged on, so he decided to make himself a new life in Los Angeles. Although Joe could escape West Palm, however, he couldn't escape himself, and now Dana, his second wife, is about to divorce him and take their son Jake, 5, because she can't trust his volcanic temper. That temper will be sorely tried after Joe's car is sideswiped by a van whose driver, Andy Baumhower, is jittery because he's been charged with getting rid of the corpse of Gillis Rainey, the squirrelly financial advisor Baumhower and his three associates in Class Act Productions--Perry Cross, Ben Clarke and Will Sinnott--had kidnapped in a futile attempt to get him to pay back the $100,000 he'd taken from them before they had to repay their even bigger debt to druglord Jorge Lizama, Jr. Naturally, the Class Act partners feel they can't risk the chance that Reddick might remember his brush with Baumhower at the wrong moment and go to the cops. But Clarke picks exactly the wrong way of insuring that he won't: breaking into his home and threatening him and his wife and son. Reddick, who has no intention of losing a second family to violence, decides to take matters into his own hands, and by the time the curtain comes down, the cast will have been decimated, much to the gentle reader's righteous satisfaction. An efficient noir actioner that's also a sharp study of a hero who "wasn't an evil man, just an astoundingly unfortunate one." -- Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2011In this brutal stand-alone from Haywood (Cemetery Road), former Florida cop Joe Reddick relocates to Los Angeles following the trauma of discovering his wife and two children slaughtered in their home. Nine years later, a minor car accident involving a careless driver with something to hide, Andy Baumhower, precipitates a similar threat to Reddick's new wife and son, Dana and Jake. Reddick, determined to eliminate the threat by whatever means necessary, goes after Baumhower and his three business partners, who are trying to cover both a kidnapping gone bad and a $250,000 debt to sadistic Mexican drug boss Ruben Lizama. In a battle of wits and violence, Reddick is constantly on the verge of going berserk. The action takes plenty of suspenseful twists toward the showdown. This is as dark as Haywood's Aaron Gunner series (All the Lucky Ones Are Dead, etc.), but the tortured Reddick is a much less likable character. -- Publishers Weekly, 5th September, 2011 Views: 20
Two years ago, on the same day but miles apart, Finn Darby lost two of the most important people in his life: his wife Lorena, struck by lightning on the banks of the Chattahoochee River, and his abusive, alcoholic grandfather, Tom Darby, creator of the long-running newspaper comic strip Toy Shop. Against his grandfather's dying wish, Finn has resurrected Toy Shop, adding new characters, and the strip is more popular than ever, bringing in fan letters, merchandising deals, and talk of TV specials. Finn has even started dating again.When a terrorist attack decimates Atlanta, killing half a million souls, Finn begins blurting things in a strange voice beyond his control. The voice says things only his grandfather could know. Countless other residents of Atlanta are suffering a similar bizarre affliction. Is it mass hysteria, or have the dead returned to possess the living? Finn soon realizes he has a hitcher within his skin... his grandfather. And Grandpa isn't terribly happy about the changes Finn has been making to Toy Shop. Together with a pair of possessed friends, an aging rock star, and a waitress, Finn races against time to find a way to send the dead back to Deadland... or die trying!ReviewHitchers is a great read -- and one that really shows off Will McIntosh's range as a writer. -Stefan Raets, Tor.comHugo-winner McIntosh delivers a moving tale of individual grief and recovery against the backdrop of a devastated world. -Publisher's Weekly (Starred review)"You will never read a novel quite like Hitchers - it is a singularly unique work of genius." -Paul Goat Allen, freelance book reviewer for The Chicago Tribune, PW, Kirkus Reviews, and BarnesandNoble.com. About the AuthorWill McIntosh is a Hugo Award winner and Nebula Award finalist whose debut novel, Soft Apocalypse, was published by Night Shade in 2011. His short fiction has appeared in Asimov’s (where his story “Bridesicle” won the 2010 Reader’s Award, as well as the 2010 Hugo Award for Best Short Story), Strange Horizons, Science Fiction and Fantasy: Best of the Year, and others. A New Yorker transplanted to the rural south, Will is a psychology professor at Georgia Southern University, where he studies Internet dating, and how people’s TV, music, and movie choices are affected by recession and terrorist threat. In 2008 he became the father of twins. Views: 20
In the sequel to the bestselling novel, KILLER, Stephen Carpenter has entangled his character, mystery writer Jack Rhodes, in a web of sex, murder, and money--this time in Hollywood, where Jack spent his early years as a screenwriter. Jack's past comes back to haunt him when a B-movie actress-turned-hooker, Penelope Fox, is found murdered in a suite at the Chateau Marmont. Jack's friend, FBI Agent Melvin Beauchamp, discovers shocking news: Penelope was Jack's wife. Jack cooperates with the investigation and uncovers memories of his brief, drunken fling with Penelope. He also learns he may have a daughter--15 year-old Karen, who becomes Suspect Number One in the murder of her mother. On the run with Karen, Jack revisits unsavory characters from his past to solve to puzzle of Penelope's murder--and find out if Karen really is his daughter. Gripping and rich with detail from current Hollywood culture, KILLER IN THE HILLS is a ripped-from-the-headlines story that will keep you guessing right until the shattering conclusion. Views: 20
Uncover a land that has been hidden for over a thousand years. Beneath the land of Britain, a great army is sleeping. On a visit to an old church, Daniel Tully and Freya Reynolds awaken two ancient knights from a centuries-old slumber. They are kidnapped and taken to an underground city that stands in peril, besieged in all directions by a vicious warhost. Nidergeard is the only thing protecting the upper world's blissful ignorance of mythical forces that have been held at bay since the creation of the world. In order to return home, Daniel and Freya must strike at the heart of the opposer's power. Fast forward eight years. Daniel, now homeless, still wages what he believes to be a righteous war against those he judges to be evil. Freya has tried to put the past behind her and concentrate on getting an education, a job, and a life. When they reconnect in Oxford, unseen forces begin to ally against them. Daniel is pulled through a portal and into another world.... Views: 20
