A short story from the charity anthology Christmas Lites.Greta lives with her grandfather in a cabin in the mountains. The winter is harsh and in the snow and cold they are running short of wood. Their handsome neighbour Matthias would help - but he is still trying to get back from the town. Who can help them? And what is the significance of the sprig of holly?A short story from the charity anthology Christmas Lites.Greta lives with her grandfather in a cabin in the mountains. The winter is harsh and they are running short of wood. Their handsome neighbour Matthias would help - but he is still trying to get back from the town. Greta and her grandfather must venture out into the snow to cut more wood or freeze to death, but when disaster strikes, who can help them? Will she ever see Matthias again?And what is the significance of the little sprig of holly? Views: 546
After surviving ancient booby traps, deadly puzzles, and torture-happy imperial marines, cryptanalyst Tikaya Komitopis can’t wait to return home, even if that means explaining to her family how she came to love Fleet Admiral Rias Starcrest, the empire’s most notorious commander and the man responsible for the decimation of her people during the war.
Tikaya and Rias believe they’ll have several calm weeks at sea to mull over the problem of irate citizens and horrified parents, but the ship they board is on the run. The captain has acquired a mysterious stolen artifact… and the owners want it back. When he learns of Tikaya’s background, he urges her to decode its secrets, implying her life—and everyone else’s—might be forfeit if she fails.
Engima is a 15,000-word short story set after the events in Encrypted. Views: 546
The derelict house holds a secret that has been waiting countless years to be discovered, and one unsuspecting boy holds the key which will unleash the fear.Cammie Evans was a girl with a plan from the moment God called her to be a foreign missionary. After several years spent all over the world, though, she finds herself with a new assignment that leaves her questioning all that she once thought to be true about life, love, and calling.David Connor was always the weird kid in the youth group, never destined to live up to his father's expectations. After several years of working to find his own significance in Christ and his calling as a foreign missionary, he finds himself asking hard questions about who he is and what God wants from him.As their lives change and the past becomes part of the present, can Cammie and David help one another find their own happily ever after? Views: 546
In his celebrated bestsellers Agent Zigzag and Operation Mincemeat, Ben Macintyre told the dazzling true stories of a remarkable WWII double agent and of how the Allies employed a corpse to fool the Nazis and assure a decisive victory. In Double Cross, Macintyre returns with the untold story of the grand final deception of the war and of the extraordinary spies who achieved it. On June 6, 1944, 150,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy and suffered an astonishingly low rate of casualties. D-Day was a stunning military accomplishment, but it was also a masterpiece of trickery. Operation Fortitude, which protected and enabled the invasion, and the Double Cross system, which specialized in turning German spies into double agents, deceived the Nazis into believing that the Allies would attack at Calais and Norway rather than Normandy. It was the most sophisticated and successful deception operation ever carried out, ensuring that Hitler kept an entire army awaiting a fake invasion, saving thousands of lives, and securing an Allied victory at the most critical juncture in the war.The story of D-Day has been told from the point of view of the soldiers who fought in it, the tacticians who planned it, and the generals who led it. But this epic event in world history has never before been told from the perspectives of the key individuals in the Double Cross System. These include its director (a brilliant, urbane intelligence officer), a colorful assortment of MI5 handlers (as well as their counterparts in Nazi intelligence), and the five spies who formed Double Cross’s nucleus: a dashing Serbian playboy, a Polish fighter-pilot, a bisexual Peruvian party girl, a deeply eccentric Spaniard with a diploma in chicken farming and a volatile Frenchwoman, whose obsessive love for her pet dog very nearly wrecked the entire plan. The D-Day spies were, without question, one of the oddest military units ever assembled, and their success depended on the delicate, dubious relationship between spy and spymaster, both German and British. Their enterprise was saved from catastrophe by a shadowy sixth spy whose heroic sacrifice is revealed here for the first time.With the same depth of research, eye for the absurd and masterful storytelling that have made Ben Macintyre an international bestseller, Double Cross is a captivating narrative of the spies who wove a web so intricate it ensnared Hitler’s army and carried thousands of D-Day troops across the Channel in safety.Amazon.com ReviewAmazon Best Books of the Month, August 2012: What do a Polish pilot, a Peruvian party girl, and a Spanish chicken maven have in common? They were all central to the success of Operation Fortitude, the audacious ruse that kept Hitler guessing over the location of the D-Day invasions, saving the lives of countless Allied soldiers and turning the war in their favor. In the same enthralling and entertaining fashion of his previous World War II spy stories (Agent Zigzag, Operation Mincemeat), Ben Macintyre's Double Cross goes behind the standard narratives of armies, generals, and tactics to chronicle the unlikely--and occasionally outlandish--stories of the spooks, spymasters, and double agents that changed the course of the war. --Jon ForoReview“Gripping stories from the perspective of a remarkable ragtag group of spies who tricked the Nazis in an astounding D-Day deception. Puts other spy tales to shame.” – People“It should be said loud and clear that Macintyre is a supremely gifted storyteller. He spins quite a yarn. His books are absurdly entertaining. I would kill for his keen wit. He takes us into a world of bounders, spivs, roués, and men (and women) on the make….Double Cross is a blast.” – *Boston Globe“Forget fiction when you are buying beach reading this summer. Ben Macintyre’s factual account is more gripping than what you will find anywhere else. It is a story unsurpassed in the long history of intelligence.” – Washington Times“Macintyre at once exalts and subverts the myths of spycraft, and has a keen eye for absurdity” – New Yorker“[A] complex, absorbing final installment in his trilogy about World War II espionage….Macintyre is a master storyteller. Employing a wry wit and a keen eye for detail, he delivers an ultimately winning tale fraught with European intrigue and subtle wartime heroics.” – San Francisco Chronicle *“Superb….the story comes alive again in all its stupendous, unimaginable duplicity.…intensely readable” – Washington Post*“A wonderfully entertaining story of deception and trickery that is told with verve and wit….Macintyre’s early books about espionage in World War II have been bestsellers, and this will be no exception.” – Christian Science Monitor“Macintyre revels in the surreal aspects of his story, writing with a breezy, almost tongue-in-cheek style. But the author is also adept at communicating the seriousness and the stakes of the underlying game….Nail-biting and chuckle-inducing reading.” – Columbus Dispatch“Another captivating, improbably fresh story of World War II….Double Cross* is ennobling, invigorating and, above all, entertaining. Macintyre's research is impressive, as is his ability to shape disparate facts into a breathless page-turner….Throw in nail-biting suspense and the occasional decadent Nazi (fickle mistress optional) and, with Macintyre in charge, you're virtually guaranteed a history book that reads like a spy novel.” – Richmond Times-Dispatch“It is the riveting tales of these agents on which Ben Macintyre focuses, to full advantage, in Double Cross….Macintyre makes good use of the material. He knows how to let the high drama unfold on its own.” – Wall Street Journal“London Times writer Macintyre (Agent Zigzag, Operation Mincemeat*) concludes his WWII espionage trilogy with the tantalizing tale of an oddball, ‘Dirty Dozen’-like group of double agents who fool the Nazis into believing the Allied D-Day attack would come at Calais, not Normandy.” – New York Post*, Required reading“A tale of smarts, personal courage and — even knowing what happened on June 6, 1944 — suspense. Where would we be if these troubled, eccentric and hang-it-all characters hadn't known how to lie, and lie well?” – Seattle Times“As in his earlier best-sellers about WWII-era spycraft, Agent Zigzag and Operation Mincemeat*, Macintyre writes with novelistic flair.” – Entertainment Weekly*“The story of D-Day – when 150,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy – as it’s never been told before….this amazing story shows how double agents and spies tricked the German army and saved thousands of Allied lives.”– New York Post“Only with author Ben Macintyre’s scintillating account has this complex human drama, with all its tortuous twists and turns, finally received the cinematic treatment it deserves….This is edge-of-the seat stuff.” – *WWII Magazine“Macintyre does a fine job depicting this extraordinary cast and exposing the ambiguous world of espionage....compelling.” – MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History“With the same skill and suspense he displayed in Operation Mincemeat and Agent Zigzag….Macintyre effortlessly weaves the agents’ deliciously eccentric personalities with larger wartime events to shape a tale that reads like a top-notch spy thriller.” – Publishers Weekly (starred)*“Macintyre has written a tense, exciting real-life spy story that illuminates a largely obscure aspect of WWII.” – Booklist*“With his latest book, Double Cross, Ben Macintyre tells the astonishing true story of a bizarre group of misfit spies who played a critical role in the success of D-Day. The stories in this book, many of which have never before been told, are nothing short of incredible. Skillfully woven together, they form one of the most gripping narratives I have ever read.” – Candice Millard, author of The River of Doubt and Destiny of the Republic “Ben Macintyre and I work in the same period, and I should be reading him because he is such a scrupulous and insightful writer – a master historian. But, with Double Cross and his other excellent works, I always wind up reading him for pleasure. Double Cross may be his best yet, falling somewhere between top-class entertainment and pure addiction.” – Alan Furst, author of A Mission to Paris"Ben Macintyre’s spellbinding account features an improbable cast of characters who pulled off a counter-intelligence feat that was breathtaking in its audacity. Their deceptions within deceptions—known as the Double Cross—were critical to the success of the D-Day invasion, and continued to mislead the Germans long after Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy. A truly bravura performance, as is Macintyre’s fast-paced tale." -- Andrew Nagorski, author of Hitlerland: American Eyewitnesses to the Nazi Rise to Power"How on earth, in 1944, did we dupe Berlin that we would attack the coast of France in completely the wrong place? It was a deception that saved tens of thousands of Allied lives. In Double Cross*, Ben Macintyre ingeniously explains exactly how it was done." – Frederick Forsyth "Never before revealed facts about the workings of the Intelligence Service in the build up to D-Day in the Second World War. Ben Macintyre's remarkable book is a gripping revelation." – Jack Higgins“[Macintyre] has excelled himself with a cast of extraordinary characters and in his storytelling abilities....Double Cross is an utterly gripping story.” – Antony Beevor, The Telegraph“Enthralling....Macintyre is a master at leading the reader down some very tortuous paths while ensuring they never lose their bearings. He’s terrific, too, at animating his characters with the most succinct of touches....gripping.” -- *London Evening Standard Views: 546
Four outstanding novels set in the Old West, featuring the "smart and resourceful" gun-slinging duo Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch—from the New York Times bestselling author of the Spenser, Jesse Stone, and Sunny Randall novels. (Publishers Weekly)Includes:AppaloosaResolutionBrimstoneBlue-Eyed Devil Views: 546
A brand new series from the author of TIMERIDERS!Ellie Quin has escaped the tedium of life on her father's farm to the domed main city of her home world – New Haven. A noisy, colourful, over-crowded city filled with ditto-heads and limp-chiks, the dregs of society watching day-time sopa-drams on the toob. A place where crime is rife and a naive young woman can too easily become a victim and a statistic. But with the help of her new found friend and fellow cube-chik, Jez – street-smart, head strong and incredibly fregging foul-mouthed – there's a hope of a chance the pair can find a way off world.But will they find a way off world before a ruthless killer – hired by 'the Administration' to track down Ellie - finally zeroes in on her? Views: 546
When Argus Kirkham disappears, his older brother Alex returns to the city of his youth to join in the search, but finds himself instead at the edge of a baffling mystery he can neither see nor begin to understand, in this fourth and final re-mix of the Dragon City series.Welcome to the Stone Age! Flint Dog is the story of a ten-year-old boy, Youngest. He has just two dreams — the first is to be a Hunter like his big brother and his father, and his second is to have a new dog of his own, after his beloved White Tail dies. Both dreams are fulfilled in the form of misshapen lump of flint — the flint dog of the story’s title. On the way Youngest has several adventures concerning baskets, caves, a mammoth and a menhir.Flint Dog, set in France, has been very carefully researched. It brings to life a period in our history that is often neglected. Suitable for 7-13 year olds - young readers who are ready to be stretched. Views: 546
J.-H. Rosny Aîné is the second most important figure in modern French science fiction after Jules Verne. Rosny, who was a member of the distinguished Goncourt literary academy, was also the first writer to straddle the line between mainstream literature and science fiction. Until now, Rosny has best been known to the English-speaking public for his prehistoric thriller, Quest for Fire. Rosny leant nobility to the prehistoric novel with classic works such as Vamireh (1892), Eyrimah (1893) and Nomai (1897), in which he combined the notions of modern drama with the ability to depict Man's early days in a colorful, yet believable fashion, straddling the line between mainstream literature and fantasy. Views: 546
The New York Times bestselling author of Bared to You, Sylvia Day, draws us into the shadows of a seductive underworld where lycans, vampires and angels vie for supremacy…
Elijah Reynolds is the most dominant of lycans, a rare Alpha whose skill on the hunt is surpassed only by his primal sexuality. When the lycans revolt due to the iron fist of angelic rule, he steps into command, becoming both enemy and coveted ally in the conflict between vampires and angels.
Vashti is the second most powerful vampire in the world, a lethal beauty with a path of devastation in her wake. Tasked with proposing an alliance between vampires and the lycans who killed her mate, Vash approaches Elijah, whose need to avenge a friend demands Vash’s death even as his passion demands her surrender.
Soon, their enmity erodes beneath an all-consuming desire. Elijah has never encountered a woman whose warrior spirit and fierce sexual appetite rivals his own, while Vash is faced with the one man strong enough to be her equal. But as war looms, each must decide where their loyalty lies—with their own kind or with the enemy lover they can no longer live without. Views: 546
For too long the habitants of Istanbul have been proud of their city having one leg in Europe and another in Asia. Now trouble brews in the cosmopolitan city as strange creatures rush through the portals opening up all over the city. John Maser -employed by the UN Taskforce, soon finds that he has to do things outside of his job description in order to survive.For too long the habitants of Istanbul have been proud of their city having one leg in Europe and another in Asia. Now trouble brews in the cosmopolitan city. John Maser's last assignment takes him to Istanbul where the rules of physics are unraveling around the habitants of Istanbul.The UN Taskforce is locked in a desperate battle as the strange creatures rush through the portals opening up all over the city. He soon finds that he has to do things outside of his job description in order to survive. Views: 546
"Traditional publishing ruined my life!"Many writers tell tales of the horrors of writing for a traditional book publisher. None are quite like Under Contract.It’s a tale that never needed to be told, probably shouldn’t have been told, yet against all legal advice, common sense, and wisdom, has now been told.So, did Craig Hansen survive a secret past as a contract writer? You decide."Traditional publishing ruined my life!"Many writers tell tales of the horrors of writing for a traditional book publisher. None are quite like Under Contract.Under Contract reveals the long-buried tale of Craig Hansen’s secret past as a contract writer working for a traditional print publisher, and everything that led to his long, twenty-year silence before emerging last year as an independent author.It’s a tale that never needed to be told, probably shouldn’t have been told, yet against all legal advice, common sense, and wisdom, has now been told.So, did Craig Hansen survive a secret past as a contract writer for a traditional publisher, or is he full of cherry smoothie? Decide for yourself.Featuring heavy doses of horror and satire with a metafiction boost, Under Contract is a standalone short story and is intended for older readers.Craig Hansen is the author of the young adult novel, Most Likely, and the young adult novella, Shada. He lives in Oregon where he is currently working on his next books, a horror novel for older readers, EyeCU; and the young adult novel, Ember, the follow-up to Shada. Views: 545
Mrs Philpots owns the corner fruit and vegetable shop. One day she discovers that a bad bunch of grapes are ruining her window display. She throws the bad bunch into the rubbish bin in the rear yard. By the magic of the moon light the grapes come to life. Tosh, Harry Bob and Pip set about returning to their home land. The Land of Grapes.Breaking into peoples houses they becomeTHE GRAPE ROBBERSMrs Philpots owns the corner fruit and vegetable shop. One day she discovers that a bad bunch of grapes are ruining her window display. She throws the bad bunch into the rubbish bin in the rear yard. By the magic of the moon light the grapes come to life. Tosh, Harry, Bob and Pip set about returning to their home land. The Land of Grapes. Breaking into peoples houses they become,THE GRAPE ROBBERS to survive.The King of the Grapes is displeased by their actions and orders his troops to search for them and return them, home to him. But will Ned and his troops find them as the bad bunch are washed into the sewer and almost eaten by a rat.This the first story Views: 545
Everything in Ari’s life until this point has been borrowed. Her human life with a man who wasn't her real father. A love for a boy who needed more than her to be strong. Kisses with a Jinn who refused to do anything but lend them out in moments of weakness. And even her resolve, which seemed to fail her whenever she needed it most. But Ari is done borrowing. She finally feels strong enough to make hunting Jinn not just a hobby to get her through her dismal situation, but to make hunting a permanent and necessary career. Her friendship with Charlie might finally make it onto real and steady ground if only she can save him from the trial on Mount Qaf. And her love for Jai could be eternal, if only she could gain control over the darkness of the Seal within her. Ari believes all of this is doable. That finally she will truly own the relationships in her life and to a certain extent have ownership over her future. But none of that matters when it isn't up to her… …For high in the emerald mountains of Mount Qaf, the Sultan Azazil has been keeping secrets. Even from the Jinn Kings. Secrets that will change everything… and bring Ari to the crashing realization that once again… … she’s borrowed something that will never truly belong to her. Something that is desperate to be unleashed. Something that could destroy them all. *** For more action, drama, twisted wishes, passionate romance and dark kings… pick up a copy of Borrowed Ember, the third installment in the Fire Spirits series. Views: 545
The world didn’t end with a bang, it didn’t go out in a ball of fire and fury, nor did it end in ice. But in some strange way, ice was the end; or maybe it was the beginning of something more.
Bethany is stunned and horrified when she finds herself suddenly alone in a world that was alive only moments before. Terrified, she flees into the streets of her town, looking for answers, and desperate to reach her family. Panicked, she is nearly captured by the monsters hunting her until Cade steps in to rescue her. Dark and distant, most people in school are wary of Cade, yet oddly fascinated by him. They had once been close as children, but it has been years since Bethany has had any real contact with Cade. As their situation becomes even more perilous, Bethany struggles to come to terms with her past, her terrifying new reality, and her growing love for a boy that is powerful, mysterious, and perhaps even more frightening than the aliens hunting them. Aliens that want more than their lives, they also want their blood. Views: 545
