CORDYCEPS IS BACK.
Two hours outside Washington D.C., neighbors report a strange odor coming from the house next door. It smells like something dead. Police knock on the front door to no response, but an unmarked van is parked in the driveway. A van with Florida plates. Something has survived. Adapted. Learned.
From the author of CORDYCEPS comes the story of the second, even deadlier outbreak of the real-life fungus that turned humans into vicious, brainwashed zombies and devastated Florida—but the Resurgentis strain will not be so easily contained. This time, Cordyceps has an unstoppable strategy for spreading across America. And this time the government’s effort to stop it will prove more drastic—and more controversial—than ever before.
Mason Hartsock left the war behind him in Iraq—or so he thinks. He’s hiking the Appalachian Trail through the Shenandoah National Forest when he hears the sound of automatic gunfire coming from a town in the valley below. He could keep going, but he’s never run from a fight.
Khava Sultygov is studying at James Madison University on a student visa. So far, the quaint college town of Harrisonburg, Virginia has been nothing like the war-torn nation she escaped. But the America she knows is about to change forever, and her boyfriend will find out that the only thing sexier than a woman with a foreign accent is one that knows what to do with an AK-47.
The first outbreak was only the beginning. Cordyceps stalks are rising all over America. “Coughers” are massing into a horde. “Managers” are leading them straight for the last remaining knot of survivors, fighting wildly at each other’s backs. When the ammunition runs out, an empty rifle is still a weapon. A crowbar is a weapon. A baseball bat is a weapon.
Fight for your life. Views: 666
Bunny O'Sullivan is a friendly rabbit who gets along with everyone. When a hawk sees him and his family chomping on Farmer Stubbins's cabbages, will Bunny O'Sullivan be able to get everyone back to the safety of their burrow before the hawk decides it's time for lunch?"Bunny O'Sullivan and the Hawk" is a short tale (1,600 words) for toddlers and young children.Wuhn was a pristine world with lime skies and clear oceans, surrounded by a thin ring system that looked like crumbled glaciers sparkling in the sky. The grass and leaves were royal blue because of the abundance of blue protons seeping through the atmosphere. Its landscape was diverse and luxurious, with cliffs and architecture that reached the clouds.The Wuhn society was a Type 1 civilization of highly intelligent beings. They were over a billion strong and they had developed a moderate degree of telepathy and other advanced abilities. It took a long lineage of strife and struggle for them to make it to this level.In their early history, life was trial and error, and sometimes terror. For most, life “was toil and no one was spoiled. Them being weaker in strength than the other predatory species of the world, caused them to have to resort to using their intelligence and other physical attributes. This put them on a divine path to gaining advantage over everything on the planet; everything except for themselves. An achievement of that magnitude would take time and wisdom. Views: 666
Imagine if one day, without warning, the entire human race turns against you. Every single person you meet becomes a bloodthirsty, mindless savage, hell-bent on killing you - and only you. Friends, family, even your mum and dad, will turn on you. They will murder you. And when they have, they will go back to their lives as if nothing has happened. The world has the Fury. It will not rest until you are dead. Cal, Brick and Daisy are three ordinary teenagers whose lives suddenly take a terrifying turn for the worst. They begin to trigger a reaction in everybody they meet, that makes friends and strangers alike want to tear them to pieces. These victims of the Fury - the ones that survive - manage to locate each other. But just when they think they have found a place to hide from the world, some of them begin to change ...They must fight to uncover the truth about the Fury before it's too late. But it is a truth that will destroy everything they know about life and death. Views: 666
This short story collection is set in the Santeria habitat. The first three short stories are in the point-of-view of MeShack, Zulu, and Lanore, from the novel Fire Baptized, and serve as a prequel to that story. The last short story is from the point-of-view of Cameo, who lives in the Santeria habitat, and is from the upcoming YA novel Chameleon.Since the 1970s humans have forced supernaturals to live in caged cities known as habitats. Each habitat is themed and organized by a particular religion. All supernaturals are tagged at birth with silver brands embedded in their foreheads identifying them by species: a full moon for Vampires, a crescent moon for Shifters, a pair of wings for Fairies, an X for Mixbreeds, and the list goes on, for each supernatural species has been tagged and categorized by humans. This short story collection is set in the Santeria habitat. The first three short stories are in the point-of-view of MeShack, Zulu, and Lanore, from the novel Fire Baptized, and serve as a prequel to that story. The last short story is from the point-of-view of Cameo, who lives in the Santeria habitat, and is from the upcoming YA novel Chameleon. Love lost, Love found Point of View: MeShack MeShack's mother has been missing for several weeks. Lanore and MeShack search the Santeria habitat for her, only to find something that changes his life forever. The Heart Ripper’s Song Point of View: Zulu All in Santeria speak of Zulu the Heart Ripper. Drug dealers fear him. Women swoon at his feet. Too bad the one woman he wants is not impressed at all by his heart-ripping antics. He’ll have to dig deeper to get her attention. The Vicious Circle Point of View: Lanore Lanore stumbles from one self-destructive choice to another as she struggles to align her mind’s decisions with her body’s wants. An excerpt from Chameleon (YA Paranormal Romance novel set in the Santeria habitat) Cameo lives in a caged supernatural city where all species are tagged at birth with silver brands embedded in their foreheads. Her X brand identifies her as a Mixbreed, but she’s so much more. Like a chameleon, she can shift from one person’s image to another. It’s a great way to make money for a habitat street kid, or Cage Punk as most people call them. Wiz, her street partner-in-crime, finds her jobs to use her abilities. Some jobs entail changing into people to take academic tests. Others require more skill and involve higher risk. So when Wiz asks Cameo to stand in for a Were-wolf teenager who doesn’t want to go to her debutant ball, it seems like just another job, until a corpse is discovered and Wiz is singled out as the killer. Now Cameo has to prove her innocence or lose the only person who’s ever shown her any love and respect. Views: 666
When Beauty Box beautician Tammy Smith is discovered with a pair of hair shears in her back, there are suspects and secrets aplenty in her small Southern town.Octogenarian Myrtle Clover is intrigued by the crime...and her neighbors' secrets. But discovering, and blabbing, secrets got Tammy killed and Myrtle soon learns her sleuthing isn't just dangerous...it's deadly.Hera, member of the Gultur race governing the Seven Islands, thought she knew right from wrong and what her future held in store. A chance meeting with a lesser mortal, though, will turn her world upside down and force her to see her race and the laws with different eyes. For Hera, knowledge means action, so she sets out to put things right and change her world.Taking place in the World of the Seven Islands almost three years before the events in Rex Rising, this is the story of Hera’s first confrontation with the truth. Views: 665
When outlaws Amaranthe and Sicarius chance upon spies stealing military prototypes, they immediately give chase. Well, immediately after Amaranthe talks Sicarius, former assassin and all-around non-altruistic type, into the mission. She wants an imperial pardon, and what better way to attract the emperor’s favor than by looking after the empire’s interests?
What seems like a straightforward mission develops a hitch when the spies flee to Darkcrest Isle, a forbidding chunk of land reputed to be haunted. Amaranthe isn’t quick to believe in tales of malevolent spirits, so she’s startled when the ever-pragmatic and unflappable Sicarius shows reluctance at setting foot on the island. Only when it may be too late to escape does Amaranthe come to understand why.
The Assassin’s Curse is a 12,000-word short story. Views: 665
Destiny lures Colin Leyton to a HMV music store one fine Saturday morning in March where he stumbles across the young and flamboyant Sam Taylor. Sam has a knack for attracting trouble and a gift for rubbing people up the wrong way. Against his better judgement Colin finds himself playing white knight when Sam’s antics get out of hand and he lands in bother with two store security guards. Views: 665
A border town in Ancient China is a perilous place—especially for a desolate girl with no father. So, when Cricket bumps into an administrator’s wife with a bag full of copper coins, she eagerly agrees to deliver her firewood. But why does the woman need firewood in the summer? And why do soldiers stop and question them? Does it have anything to do with the raid at Xitang last Spring?A border town in Ancient China is a perilous place—especially for a desolate girl with no father. So, when Cricket bumps into an administrator’s wife with a bag full of copper coins, she eagerly agrees to deliver her firewood. But why does the woman need firewood in the summer? And why do soldiers stop and question them? Does it have anything to do with the raid at Xitang last Spring? The woman is strange, Cricket decides. She’s smart and arrogant, like a man. Too arrogant. Too much like a man. Dangerous like a man. It’s only when they reach the abandoned alley by the docks that Cricket learns how dangerous. There, she must decide whether to join the woman’s cause or risk her own life to defy her. Views: 665
After twelve years of secret training, Atticus O’Sullivan is finally ready to bind his apprentice, Granuaile, to the earth and double the number of Druids in the world. But on the eve of the ritual, the world that thought he was dead abruptly discovers that he’s still alive, and they would much rather he return to the grave.
Having no other choice, Atticus, his trusted Irish wolfhound, Oberon, and Granuaile travel to the base of Mount Olympus, where the Roman god Bacchus is anxious to take his sworn revenge—but he’ll have to get in line behind an ancient vampire, a band of dark elves, and an old god of mischief, who all seem to have KILL THE DRUID at the top of their to-do lists. Views: 665
“Other names besides [Herman] Melville’s will surely come to mind as you read this thrilling tale—there’s Dune’s Frank Herbert. . . . But in this, as in all of his works, Miéville has that special knack for evoking other writers even while making the story wholly his own.”—Los Angeles Times
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On board the moletrain Medes,* Sham Yes ap Soorap watches in awe as he witnesses his first moldywarpe hunt: the giant mole bursting from the earth, the harpoonists targeting their prey, the battle resulting in one’s death & the other’s glory. Spectacular as it is, Sham can’t shake the sense that there is more to life than the endless rails of the railsea—even if his captain thinks only of hunting the ivory-colored mole that took her arm years ago. But when they come across a wrecked train, Sham finds something—a series of pictures hinting at something, somewhere, that should be impossible—that leads to considerably more than he’d bargained for. Soon he’s hunted on all sides, by pirates, trainsfolk, monsters & salvage-scrabblers. & it might not be just Sham’s life that’s about to change. It could be the whole of the railsea.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“[Miéville] gives all readers a lot to dig into here, be it emotional drama, Godzilla-esque monster carnage, or the high adventure that comes only with riding the rails.”—USA Today
“Superb . . . massively imaginative.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Riveting . . . a great adventure.”—NPR
“Wildly inventive . . . Every sentence is packed with wit.”—The Guardian (London) Views: 665
Rowan is desperate for a horse of her own - so when her father narrowly misses colliding with a dark, beautiful stray, she feels he was always supposed to be hers.Exciting, passionate and adventurous, these stories from bestselling author K M Peyton are the perfect read for any girl who loves horses. Views: 665
An epic space opera, adventure…This thrilling twelve part series combines aspects of mythology with new technology, as the human race evolves into its true Galactic Human form.An epic space opera, adventure…This thrilling twelve part series combines aspects of mythology with new technology, as the human race evolves into its true Galactic Human form.Reggie, a typical schoolboy, has nothing on his mind apart from the television and a packet of chocolate digestives. When the telephone rings, he suddenly becomes involved in his uncle’s bizarre behaviour, which quickly leads him into an adventure far more exciting than the film he has just been watching…No one believes his uncles’ abduction story, until they are propelled into another dimension. Somehow, they have to get home but, before they can do that, they have to escape from the clutches of a terrifying alien…Revised edition. Views: 664
Peeps takes movie reviewing to new heights of viciousness. On this prime-time TV show, two caustic critics look at the hits and misses among the new movies, trading wits, insults - even punches. But even a series with high riatings like Peeps can stare at cancellation - not by the networks, but by murder. Because Dunpyhy has just been found with a knife in his back in the dressing room of Tobin, his co-host and sparring partner. The copis' script says Tobin-who'd secretly shared the affections of Dunphy's wife and brawled on air with Dunphy the night before - has the motivation for the part of star suspect. But for Tobin, the accusation is hardly entertaining, and he sets out to find the real killer in the cast. "If Ed Gorman's name doesn't eventulaly become as famous as that of Lawrence Sanders, it's an unjust world. His work is fresh, polished, excitingly paced, thoroughly entertaining - and has something to say about the way we live, the way we are, and what we wish we were." -- Dean Koontz ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ed Gorman is an award winning American author best known for his crime and mystery fiction. He wrote The Poker Club which is now a film of the same name directed by Tim McCann. He has written under many pseudonyms including "E. J. Gorman" and "Daniel Ransom." He won a Spur Award for Best Short Fiction for his short story "The Face" in 1992. His fiction collection Cages was nominated for the 1995 Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection. His collection The Dark Fantastic was nominated for the same award in 2001. FIND MORE BOOKS FROM ED GORMAN AND CROSSROAD PRESS FOR YOUR KINDLE - including the popular Jack Dwyer Mysteries, The Robert Payne Mysteries, Cast on Dark Waters written with Award-Winning Author Tom Piccirrilli, and much much more. Crossroad Press is proud to deliver quality mysteries from such authors as Bill Crider, John Lutz, Bill Pronzini, Tom Piccirilli, and others - as well as Horror, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Romance, Biographies, Young Adult fiction and much more. Just search the Kindle Store for Crossroad Press. Views: 664
Six strangers awaken in an empty room with metal walls, no door, and what appears to be a two way mirror. Then one by one, they start to die. From Brett J. Talley, author of the Bram Stoker Award nominee, That Which Should Not Be."Claire's life revolves around Starbucks, stilettos and her career as an Advertising Account Director for AJC. That is until her boss Carl decides to send her on a mission to visit every one of the 200 YHA hostel in England and Wales as part of a marketing campaign. More used to five-star spa resorts than 'flea-infested hostels' Claire only takes the assignment to save face. It becomes clear to her the 'mission' is a ruse to make her resign.Together with her hated 1980s Skoda Estelle - another part of the assignment - Claire sets off for Berwick-Upon-Tweed and a new way of life. Will Claire get used to sharing a room, going without skinny lattes and travelling in an Eastern European rust bucket. More importantly, will travelling the length and breadth of her home country enable Claire to forget her lost love Michael?"Volume 1 of 'Two-Hundred Steps Home' contains the first 31 instalments of Amanda Martin's daily challenge on her WriterMummy blog. February's instalments will be published as Volume 2 in March 2013. Views: 664
