A poor runaway during the Elizabethan period, Lucy does not have many options. Her luck finally turns when she is taken on as a maid in the household of Dr. Dee, a real-life figure who was court magician to Queen Elizabeth I. The household is strange and sinister, and Lucy has a nose for intrigue. So when she stumbled across a plot to assassinate the queen, Lucy must find means to warn her . . . before it's too late. Views: 30
Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction A harvest and not a winnowing, this volume collects 103 stories, almost all of the short fiction that John Updike wrote between 1953 and 1975. "How rarely it can be said of any of our great American writers that they have been equally gifted in both long and short forms," reads the citation composed for John Updike upon his winning the 2006 Rea Award for the Short Story. "Contemplating John Updike's monumental achievement in the short story, one is moved to think of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, and perhaps William Faulkner--writers whose reputations would be as considerable, or nearly, if short stories had been all that they had written. From [his] remarkable early short story collections . . . through his beautifully nuanced stories of family life [and] the bittersweet humors of middle age and beyond . . . John Updike has created a body of work in the notoriously difficult form of the short... Views: 30
Anna Jansson represents a new generation of Scandinavian crime writers. She has established herself as one of Europe's most popular crime writers with more than two million copies sold in over fifteen countries. Mixing hard-boiled crime scenes with a focus on relational drama, Jansson has been described as an updated, modern Agatha Christie."Cold shivers run down my spine after reading just a few pages." - Göteborgs Tidningen (Sweden)As the bird flu pandemic reaches Gotland Island, panic spreads among the inhabitants who are frantic for an elusive cure. In the desperation that rises, the hunt for scapegoats begins, and extremist and anti-immigrant groups gain ground. Meanwhile, nurse Sandra Hägg makes a gruesome discovery at the health clinic where she works - a discovery that will cost her life. Soon Detective Inspector Maria Wern is assigned to solve the murder. Strange Bird, the first novel in the Maria Wern series in English, showcases Anna Jansson's mastery of both hair-raising crimes and the inner lives of her beloved characters.Ruben Nilsson stepped outside into the dusk of a summer's evening, knocked his pipe against the veranda railing and looked around the garden. Had he known how short was the time he would be allowed to live, he might have been less leisurely.Anna Jansson has established herself as one of Sweden's most popular crime writers, selling over two million copies in more than ten countries. Her titles have been adapted into movies, which have been broadcasted in the United States in 2012. Jansson lives in Örebro, Sweden. Views: 30
Half brothers Jerzy and Mick Sawyer are summoned to the prison where their father is dying. On his deathbed, he tells his sons about a diamond heist that he was part of and how some of those diamonds are still out there. He sets the two on a path of cooperation and competition to recover the jewels, each playing to his own strengths and against the others weaknesses.Jerzy is the quintessential career criminal, fresh out of a short bit and looking to get back into the action right away. Mick is a failed cop and tainted hero struggling to get by with a clean life that doesn't seem to ever pay off. Both men see this score as their ticket out but they'll have to work together. Throw the sexy, mysterious Ania into the mix and you have all the ingredients of a classic story set in Chicago.Jim Wilsky is a short story author with a considerable number of published stories. Many of his stories are in the crime genre.This will be his first pubished novel. Frank Zafiro has written numerous novels and short stories, most in the crime genre. Together, they've joined to be hardboiled partners in crime, writing gritty, hardboiled crime novels in two distinct voices."Blood on Blood is [so] hard-boiled I’m still sweating from the steam! A hell of a good story told by a pair of aces, guaranteed to jump-start your heart from the very first word. Add this to your reading list for sure!” - Shane Gericke, best-selling author of Torn Apart,"[i]f you like it mean and menacing, down and dirty, Blood on Blood is right up your dark alley.” - Earl Staggs, Derringer Award winner“Blood On Blood is an intense and truly addictive thriller that captures you immediately and holds you bound until the last page. A fast paced, absorbing crime novel, with characters who still linger darkly on the edge of my thoughts,” - Julia Madeleine, author of The Truth About Scarlet RoseAbout the AuthorFrank Zafiro has served in the military and is currently a police officer in Washington State. His short stories have appeared in numerous online and print magazines as well as a dozen anthologies. He is a three time finalist for the Derringer Award. He has written numerous novels, most of them crime fiction, including the River City series. You can find out more about him at frankzafiro.com Jim Wilsky was born and raised in the Midwest. He is a central Illinois native, who's had a lifelong passion for writing and storytelling. His short story work has appeared in some of the most highly respected online magazines like Beat To A Pulp, Yellow Mama, Shotgun Honey, Rose & Thorn Journal, All Due Respect, Pulp Metal, Plots With Guns, Mystercial-E, Midwest Literary Magazine, A Twist of Noir and others. Blood on Blood is his first novel. Both Frank Zafiro and Jim Wilsky share events on their blog at hardboiledpartners.blogspot.com/. Views: 30
She lost it all in one agonizing moment
Princess Michal is used to getting everything she wants, and she has her heart set on the young hero David. But their passionate love affair is destroyed by her fathers murderous rage. Will David's departing promises be enough?
David the king is no longer the charming harpist she gave her heart to. The most powerful man in Israel, he falls into the arms of the beautiful Bathsheba. Michal vows to be the only woman in Davids heart, but does she know her own?
A novel of betrayal, forbidden love, and redemption, Michal's Window is an imaginative retelling of King David's story through the eyes of the woman who loved him first. Views: 30
Kat and Jon are tired of the rat race they live day to day and need some time to themselves away from the city. They decide to retreat to the mountains where they can have some time to themselves. They re-kindle their love lives as well and as they progress do some things they never thought they would do.Warning: This story is for ADULTS ONLY! May be too hot to handle! Erotika stories like this are designed for men and women. This Erotika short story is also perfect for those couples looking to re-spark the romance. Views: 30
"The snow is gone, the ice is gone - winter is long forgotten. When the
phone wakes Phil Broker at five a.m. on the morning of this forty-eighth
birthday - six months removed from his surviving a January cold snap
that (in Absolute Zero) nearly claimed his life - it's already
ninety-two degrees. It's July, and Stillwater, Minnesota, finds itself
in the middle of the worst heat wave in local memory." "The news on the
phone has nothing to do with birthday wishes, however. A year earlier,
an angry citizen served as jury and executioner by pumping twelve
bullets into a known pedophile - and in the process became a folk hero,
dubbed "the Saint" by locals. Despite protests to the contrary,
everybody in the community (including the police department) felt
justice had been served, and the investigation quickly went cold. Ever
since, strong rumors have circulated that the real reason the Saint
hasn't been apprehended is that he - or she - is a cop." "Now a priest
has been murdered, and a clue left at the scene suggests it to be the
work of a vigilante. Was the priest a sexual predator? Could the Saint
be back? For the members of the Stillwater law-enforcement community, it
means that a killer could be in their midst." The caller begs for
Broker's help: as an outsider, Broker can be counted on to follow the
investigation wherever it leads. But as the temperature mounts and new
victims begin surfacing, Broker wonders if he's been set up to catch a
bullet for a scandal that threatens to bring down the Stillwater Police
Department. Views: 30
When Pam accepts a holiday job playing Mrs. Claus at the mall, she falls in love with the sexy Santa, but a woman picks him up after work every night. Pam builds fantasies but fears Ed is married and off-limits. Can her Christmas wish possibly come true? Then one night the woman doesn’t show up at the mall, and “Santa” Ed invites her out to dinner and asks her to drive him home. Over dinner, Pam learns some surprising facts, including who the woman really is, why Ed doesn’t have a driver’s license, and how Pam fits into his plans. Might she get her Christmas wish after all?On December 24th, Pam awoke with a sense of foreboding, then remembered the reason: Today was her last day of working with Ed…and a shortened day at that. Toyland would be closing at five sharp, the gig over for the year. Well, she would make the best of it. She arrived even earlier than usual and was pleased to see that Ed was there early too. Reg himself let her in, instead of the assistant to whom he’d delegated the task after the first day. “It may be a mad last-minute rush,” he warned her. “Be prepared for anything.” She was prepared for anything but never seeing Ed again. She was having trouble handling that prospect.Ed himself seemed filled with a certain melancholy. “It’s over after today,” he said. “I’ve been peed on for the last time, gotten the last candy cane stuck in my whiskers…but, you know, I’m going to miss the little monsters.” He said it very fondly. “I’m going to miss you, too,” he added.“I’m going to miss you also!” Pam blurted out with more emotion than she’d meant to show. “Want to have dinner?” Ed asked. “We won’t get a dinner break today, but we get out at five. Would you allow me to take you to dinner? Dinner’s on me…but you have to do the driving.”“What about Misty?” Pam couldn’t help but ask.“Her sister is making a Christmas Eve afternoon party. I told Misty I’d find my own way home.”“You don’t have a car?”“I don’t have a license. I lost it last year.” A burning sadness sprang into his eyes and a shadow crossed his face. Pam wanted to ask how it had happened that he’d lost his license, but the sadness and the shadow persuaded her that the question would be inopportune. “If I spring for dinner, will you drive me home?”“I would drive you home even if you didn’t buy me dinner.”“But I want to buy you dinner! I don’t like the idea of never seeing you again.”“It’s bugging the hell out of me too.”There. She’d said it. In fact, they’d both said it…but where could things go from here? He was still a married man. Views: 30
