What if a meteorite dug up by a Colorado oil prospector turned out to contain a mummified body believed to originate on Mars? Initially written in 1864 as a hoax by the science correspondent of the French newspaper Le Pays, An Inhabitant of Planet Mars immediately caught the attention of Jules Verne's publisher who released it in an expanded book version that included the minutes of the scientific commission summoned to investigate the phenomenon. Henri de Parville, a renowned 19th century scientific journalist, broke new ground regarding the possibilities of extraterrestrial life. By keeping his straightforward narrative to a minimum, he achieved a striking combination of quasi-non-fiction and speculative ambition, developing a theory of life and the universe that was remarkably ahead of his time. Views: 225
This is a mystery book for children and their parents. The story involves five siblings who move into a house that's dissipated and looks haunted. Strange things begin to happen: muddy footprints on the porch, voices in the night, and a trapdoor to the attic that closed by itself. As they investigate these mysterious happenings,even greater danger lurks inside the red-brick house.This is a mystery involving five siblings: Jeanie, Ann, Liz, Ricky, and Neil. They move to a red-brick house that had been vacant for years. It is located on the back of a wooded lot with tall trees and an orchard, and surrounded by an iron picket fence with a rusty gate that squeaks and creaks when it's opened.The neighbor kids think the place is haunted because it's been vacant so long, the red bricks are chipped and cracked, and the yard is full of tall weeds. After Liz sees a strange man run from their basement to the orchard, Jeanie finds the trapdoor to the attic closed after it was left open, and they see muddy footprints that only went in one direction to the middle of the porch, they all become concerned.Their mother hires a housekeeper, Miss Briggs, who has beady eyes that get red and watery when she's provoked. Her eccentric behavior frightens the children. Voices from her room in the middle of the night disturbs Jeanie and Ann, and heightens their curiosity. Who was in there? How did the person get in? When Miss Briggs forbids their only friend, Cindy, from coming over,they suspect something bad is going to happen. But what?The children try to get Miss Briggs fired by complaining about her to their mother, who ignored their pleas. She thought they just didn't want to be supervised while she was gone. She learns eventually how wrong she was. As the mysterious happenings begin to make sense, Jeanie and Ann get Liz, Ricky and Neil involved, as well as their friend, Cindy, who lives in the big mansion across the street. Views: 225
For an animated skeleton, kept alive by the Magic of Xanth, Picka Bones has lived a fairly uneventful life. The high points of his day consist of patrolling graveyards with his sister, Joy’nt, and picking out tunes on his ribs with his own collar bones.
All that changes, however, when three curious creatures, a dog called Woofer, a bird called Tweeter, and a cat known as Midrange, challenge Picka to discover what magical talent he might possess by seeking out the enchanted princesses Dawn and Eve.
But Princess Eve has gone to Hades, and Princess Dawn has troubles of her own. At the ripe age of twenty-one, she is still unmarried, having failed to find a suitable prince who is not intimidated by her power and beauty.
When Picka, Joy’nt, Eve, and the three musical pets ask the Good Magician Humfrey for answers to their perplexing problems, he responds by dispatching them on a daring mission—to locate and tame Caprice Castle, a feral palace so errant that even Humfrey can’t determine its whereabouts. For legend has it that the Castle contains the fabled Pundora’s Box, which once contained the worst puns in Xanth, until they were carelessly released a century before. Views: 225
This is a Print-On-Demand reprint of the original book. All text from the original publishing is left a is with the exception of the table of contents which has been updated with the new page numbers. Views: 225
29 year old, recent “Man of the Year” recipient Jeff Sorbenstein has it all. Billions of dollars, a high-tech office building, a loveless marriage, nasty cigarette habit and it’s all thanks to his greatest invention- the most downloaded app in the history of apps. From smart phones to tablets, laptops, the dread tower computer and even the federal government… everyone is running his app. There’s just one catch, Jeff also has a seemingly inoperable form of cancer. So he does what any multibillion dollar tech mogul would do in his situation; he decides to freeze himself until humanity can find a cure. But after he prematurely awakes from his cryogenic slumber, he finds himself immersed in a world unlike anything he had dreamed of. A world torn apart by flesh hungry zombies…oh yeah and everyone that’s still alive, believes it’s his fault. Views: 224
It's not often a Nobel Prize winner gets murdered... on your patch... very likely by a member of your own family. DCI Phil Benholme has the reputation for being a little soft because he tries to see both sides of every story. And if he hadn't on this occasion, the murder of Professor Unwala - Nobel Prize winner of 1945 - would have been recorded as a tragic accident. Was the elderly man a victim of a violent burglary? Or of a racist assault by Britforce troopers? Or did he know something about the collection of Celtic coins thought to be buried nearby? Clearly Inspector Benholme has a number of leads to follow up. Unfortunately they all point to one person - Conor Benholme. What does a 'soft cop' do when his teenage son is also his prime suspect?About the AuthorH. R. F. Keating was born at St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, in 1926. He went to Merchant Taylors, leaving early to work in the engineering department of the BBC. After a period of service in the army, which he describes as 'totally undistinguished', he went to Trinity College, Dublin, where he became a scholar in modern languages. He was also the crime books reviewer for The Times for fifteen years. His first novel about Inspector Ghote, The Perfect Murder, won the Gold Dagger of the Crime Writers Association and an Edgar Allen Poe Special Award. Views: 224
Author Sharon E. Cathcart presents ten short stories of various genres, each taking place in a different location. With subject matter ranging from paranormal to historical fiction, urban fantasy to literary fiction, there is something in this sampler for everyone.Internationally published author Sharon E. Cathcart presents an eBook exclusive: "Around the World in 80 Pages." These ten short stories represent genres ranging from Western to paranormal and provide the reader with a powerful literary experience.Contents:Heart of StoneNo Eyes But Mine Shall SeeOh, Joy; Oh, RaptureBetrayed by a KissCounting Blessings Along the Horseshoe CanyonA Cutting ObservationGhost of a ChanceGaul is DividedThe Scribe of RashidLonely Man in a New Town Views: 224
The Mastermind. The Patsy. The Heist Vegas never saw coming.... At only twenty-five, Honey has a long list of exes in her life; an ex-con father, an ex-husband, and an ex-career as an ATF agent. Playing the cards life has dealt her, she's now working as a blackjack dealer in one of the most profitable casinos in alluring Las Vegas. Soon, her life's training is put to good use as Honey develops a master plan to get that dirty money! The city is taken by surprise when an armored truck is high-jacked in broad daylight on a sweltering hot Wednesday. Normally prepared for anything and everything, the Las Vegas police are baffled by this blatant crime, and pressure from the public and casino owners drive them to desperation. Honey and her crew of loyal followers pull off one of the most rewarding and masterful heists in Las Vegas history, but not everyone will get to enjoy the loot. Someone has to take the fall. Views: 224
First in an adventure-filled historical series following Irish Knight Templar, Richard Savage, as he is forced to spy on his homeland for the King of England. 1315 AD. Ireland and England are ravaged by bitter war. Rotting in an English prison, condemned as a heretic, Irish Knight Templar Richard Savage is given one chance of reprieve. But there is a catch. He must return to Ireland as a traitor, working as a spy there for the King of England. Savage returns to his homeland, but even here he can trust no one. He soon discovers the Scots intend to invade and someone in Ireland is helping them. The King of Scotland also claims to possess a mysterious holy treasure, and many are flocking to his cause. Amid feasts, tournaments, invasion and war, Savage discovers he left more than just memories behind in Ireland... Can he decide whose side he is really on, whether this holy relic is real and, above all, stay alive? PRAISE FOR... Views: 224
Martine's former grandmother-in-law Mimi has died, and has asked Martine to collect her papers in person. Afraid of dealing with former in-laws, Martine enlists her intermittent boyfriend Francis to accompany her. What she finds in Mimi's papers is rivaled only by what she discovers about herself and Francis during their road trip.This story was originally begun under the National Novel Writing Month Organization (NaNoWriMo.org) for 2013. Now enjoy the completed story.Join the IPMA agents on another Institute for the Preservation of Magical Artifacts adventure, this time at the North Pole during Christmas 2013 to help quash a hostile takeover. The Yeti clan of North America have decided to take Santa's workshop for their own and will use magic, their ferocity, and their sheer numbers to make it happen. Who among the IPMA agents can stop them?Something fishy was up, Joshua knew it. What were the little fuzzy white hair balls that could seemingly use magic to grow to fifteen feet tall in the blink of an eye doing? Were they migrating north for the Holidays? And who were these men in black suits at his doorstep when after he tried to report what he'd seen on the internet.Will he be the key to preventing a hostile take over of Santa's workshop by the Yeti? Will the agents of the IPMA trust him to unlock the secrets of defending the North Pole if he is?As a follow up to "The Old Silk Hat", "Seeing Devils" and "Troll Brother" see what happens in a magic vs. technology battle to save Christmas Morning. Views: 224
In May 2006, armed only with a small rucksack and a staff, Tony Kevin, an overweight, sedentary, 63-year-old former diplomat, set off on an eight-week trek across Spain. But this was not just a very long walk — it was a pilgrimage.From Granada, in the southeast, to Santiago de Compostela, in the far northwest, Tony followed the Via Mozarabe and the Via de la Plata, two of the many pilgrim trails that crisscross Spain and Portugal and that all lead to a single destination. In the Middle Ages, the cathedral city of Santiago de Compostela was Europe's most famous centre of pilgrimage, and in recent years it has enjoyed a remarkable revival; every day towards noon, hundreds of hot, tired, and dusty pilgrims stream into Santiago Cathedral for the daily Pilgrim's Mass.What, in our busy, materialistic 21st century, is this apparently anachronistic phenomenon all about? What drives tens of thousands of people of all nationalities and creeds to make long,... Views: 224
Flying over the Isle of Man with a dead soul, Cosamado delivers a set of instructions on building a portal to the timekeepers, meeting a series of enlightened beings. Melting time? Territorial disputes between dreamland and the waking world? Shape-shifting beauties? Come join Cosamado as he travels through a perfectly imperfect world that unveils some of life's more profound mysteries.All of us are born in time, traveling down our measured time lines in blind faith that the moments before us shall continue to unfold without end, that the beauty of creation flows from an infinite wellspring. Come, wake from the big sleep and join Cosamado as the veils fall and it is revealed to him that the creators of time have decreed that time shall flow no more. Stars fall, light fades as the young Mayan priest climbs the 49 steps to the pinnacle of the great pyramid at Uxmal. It is from there that his spirit ascends through the crack of dawn to join with a dead soul who will lead him to Richard of Wallingford, the one person on earth capable of making a portal that can connect our world to the land of the creators of time. Provided with a set of instructions on how to create the portal tattooed upon his back, Cosamado must make an incredible journey from the southern tip of the Mexican peninsula to the damp, gray world of Oxford, England. Along the way he will meet a series of enlightened beings who will help him with his quest. Melting time? Territorial disputes between dreamland and the waking world? Shape-shifting beauties? Come join Cosamado as he travels through a perfectly imperfect world that unveils some of life's more profound mysteries. Views: 224
Polly, Pepper and Fred are three young hedgehogs that live in Keltie Wood, home to a community of animals. It was meant to be a perfect picnic on the first nice day of the summer holidays, but Polly and her younger brother and sister had reckoned without the interference of naughty Walter Weasel. What was meant to be a relaxing day out turns into quite an adventure, especially for poor Fred.Krayburn Hollow is a collection of paranormal/fantasy short stories revolving around the same dark night in, and around, Krayburn Hollow. As these three tales reveal themselves, you will find yourself pulled into Krayburn Hollow by the series of events that unfold.The Pond tells of a young boy named Pate who is wandering through the forest when he stumbles upon a mysterious hole of water with a hidden agenda.In Barnabe's Wish, a naïve man comes face to face with a mysterious light during the dead of night. Be careful what you wish for, Barnabe.The Dagger is a tale of murder, deception, and unfaithfulness, with a most tragic ending. Views: 223
