After her employer goes out of business, Tessa Greer is so desperate for work she leaves Michigan and travels to Houston where jobs seem more available. She’s thrilled to land the “Receptionist Plus” position at Maddox Brothers Inc. Now she can continue to pay the bills for her mentally ill mother’s care facility. But Tessa is shocked by the punishments her handsome new bosses dole out for her very minor mistakes. She’s even more shocked at how aroused she becomes when they discipline her. The stakes seem to get higher with each round of punishments. How far will this one-upmanship between the brothers go? And with one of them, Tessa finds herself wanting him to take her farther than she’s ever gone before. Content Warning: Not for readers offended by fantasy inappropriate office behavior. Like many Lyla Sinclair stories, this novella contains various BDSM elements, including domination, restraint, corporal punishment, anal sex as well as unconventional use of office supplies. (This is not a ménage story.) Views: 36
Have you ever been tempted to look into the future? To challenge predictions? To question fate? It's human nature to wonder about life's twists and turns. But is the future already written--or do you have the power to alter it? From fantastical prophecies to predictions of how the future will transpire, Foretold is a collection of stories about our universal fascination with life's unknowns and of what is yet to come as interpreted by 15 of young adult fiction's brightest stars. Views: 36
Six elite Confederate soldiers band together after the War Between the States, hiring out their guns to protect lawless towns. Violence is all they know, until they make their way to Rock Creek, Texas.Rico is known as "the Kid" to the other members of the Rock Creek Six. Though he can't hit much with a gun, he is deadly with a knife--and with women. But like all of them, Rico has secrets in his past, which come back to haunt him.Lily Fortier has secrets of her own. She arrives in Rock Creek after winning the local saloon in a poker game and sets about making for herself the life she's always dreamed of having. Once known as the "ebony-eyed nightingale of New Orleans" Lily's beautiful voice has lifted her out of a shack in the swamps. Though she's always worked for others, she has her own place now, her own plans, her own life. She doesn't need a man in it--especially one like Rico.However, over time he proves himself to be more than a decorative, aimless knife for hire. Together they build a business and make a home for both themselves and the two orphaned children who love them.When a Pinkerton agent arrives in Rock Creek and drags Lily back to New Orleans to stand trial for murder, even the Rock Creek Six can't save her. This time, only Rico can. Views: 36
An indecent indiscretion!Emma Hayes has gone from making hotel magnate Cesare Falconeri's bed to running his household, including handing out expensive parting gifts to his numerous conquests! But each time, it's chipped away at her heart. Until one night, inhibitions lowered, she reaches for what she's always wanted.With one disastrous marriage behind him Cesare vows never to go there again. But when his indiscretion with Emma has consequences, Cesare must break his own vowand say I do for the sake of his heir. Now he'll expect his new bride to share his bed, instead of making it! Views: 36
Winter 2010, Subterranean Online Views: 36
When J.J. stumbles upon his conservative client in the throes of a self-induced climax, his desire to have Kat’s curvy body beneath his reaches the breaking point. At that moment, J.J. knows she needs someone to tend to more than just her yard. Now to convince Kat that he’s the right man for the job.Judging by her pristine yard, Kat already knows J.J. is good with his hands—and she’s more than willing to put those hands to better use. The man fulfills her every lusty dream, and Kat never thought a sex-filled fling would change her life for the good. Too bad it can’t last… Views: 36
Johannes Cabal and his rather inexact powers of necromancy are back once more. This time, his talents are purchased by The Fear Institute as they hunt for the Phobic Animus - the embodiment of fear. The three Institute members, led by Cabal and his Silver Key, enter the Dreamlands and find themselves pursued by walking trees plagued with giant ticks, stone men that patrol the ruins of their castles, cats that feed on human flesh and phobias which torment and devastate. The intrepid explorers are killed off one by one as they traipse through this obfuscating and frustrating world, where history itself appears to alter. Cabal, annoyed that the quest is becoming increasingly heroic, finds himself alone with the Institute's only remaining survivor, and after a shockingly violent experiment, begins to suspect that not everything is quite as it seems... Views: 36
The rocking motion of the train as it speeds along, the sound of its wheels on the rails . . . There’s something special about this form of travel that makes for easy conversation, which is just what happens to the four strangers who meet in Trains and Lovers. As they journey by rail from Edinburgh to London, the four travelers pass the time by sharing tales of trains that have changed their lives. A young, keen-eyed Scotsman recounts how he turned a friendship with a female coworker into a romance by spotting an anachronistic train in an eighteenth-century painting. An Australian woman shares how her parents fell in love and spent their life together running a railroad siding in the remote Australian Outback. A middle-aged American patron of the arts sees two young men saying goodbye in a train station and recalls his own youthful crush on another man. And a young Englishman describes how exiting his train at the wrong station allowed him to meet an intriguing woman whom he impulsively invited to dinner—and into his life. Here is Alexander McCall Smith at his most enchanting, exploring the nature of love—and trains—in a collection of romantic, intertwined stories. Views: 36
An experimental collection of flash fiction. These pieces exist at story's amorphous limit of spoken word and deconstruction. This near destruction of narrative makes a mosaic with cathartic, inflammatory language. Views: 36
Billions of years ago, humans abandoned their cradle and are now scattered across the galaxies. But the legends speak of a time when the sun threatened to burn away the inner worlds of the solar system when it became a red giant, and a remnant of mankind returned to Earth from the farthest stars to install a machine to move humanity’s cradle out of danger.Since then, the remnant communities built settlements in the cracked and broken slopes of the old continental plates, exposed to the elements when the Earth was moved. Now nestled in the outer reaches of the solar system, Earth faces a new challenge—the sun has begun to collapse into a white dwarf. As the sun grows smaller and the world gets colder, the quest for the mythical machine that can move the planet closer to the fading sun becomes a race to save the planet from final extinction."Blending steampunk, fantasy, and science fiction concepts, 'Of Machines & Magics' is a riveting read that is hard to put down." —The Midwest Book Review"An engrossing Steampunk quest to save our dying future planet. Fresh off selection as a finalist in the Anywhere But Here, Anywhen But Now contest, Adele Abbot is a writer to watch!"—David B. Coles, Author, The Tourist and The Last Free Men"Adele Abbot has a new take on past and future history alike. A fascinating and refreshing view which has a great filmic quality to it. Echoes of Terry Pratchett, perhaps?"— Jack Everett, Author, 1/1: Jihad-Britain and The Faces of ImmortalityAbout the AuthorADELE ABBOT graduated from Manchester University, where she majored in law. Her interest in Fantasy was first fired when she came across the Lyonesse series by Jack Vance. Working backwards from there, Adele discovered Vance’s earlier works, including the Dying Earth series, and was immediately fascinated by the way violence and evil could be hidden behind beautiful prose or absurd situations.After several false starts and plenty of encouragement from friends and family, she began writing her first book, Of Machines & Magics. While shopping for a publisher, Adele began work on another fantasy, Postponing Armageddon, which she entered in the “Anywhere But Here, Anywhen But Now” contest for aspiring debut novelists, sponsored by Sir Terry Pratchett and Transworld Publishers. Out of more than five hundred entries, Postponing Armageddon reached the prize shortlist of just six novels.In addition to pursuing a writing career, Ms. Abbot is a full-time law partner by day. She currently resides in Yorkshire in the United Kingdom with her son. Find out more at her website, www.adeleabbot.info. Views: 36
