BUSINESS AND PLEASURE Clint Adams is just as skilled at crafting a gun as he is with handling one, and that's why he's come to Austin. The lieutenant governor would like him to construct a gun for Governor John Ireland and is willing to pay handsomely for it. But there's something odd in how he conducts business with the Gunsmith...While riding the train into town, Clint befriends the lovely Adrienne, who's come to Austin to visit her sister, Eve. But when Eve doesn't show at the station, Clint does his best to comfort the beauty—and decides to help her find her sister. Now the Gunsmith is going to have his hands full while he's in Austin—especially when both jobs turn deadly... Views: 13
Futuristic reimagined Grimm's fairy tale Meilin has never believed in fairy tales. Happy ever afters might have happened in the old days – before zombies. But this is 2089. When zombies kidnap her family, Meilin must rescue them. But can she and Will save them from the worst fate of all? Views: 13
It's 1850 and Nellie's best friend, Mary, is gravely ill. To provide Mary with the care she needs, Nellie must break a promise and go on a quest to find the Thompson family. But will they be able to help? And who will Nellie turn to when her own life is in danger?Follow Nellie on her adventure in the third of four exciting stories about an Irish girl with a big heart, in search of the freedom to be herself. Views: 13
A storm the size of Texas brews when Gloria Powell and Kai Chang meet in a Dallas hotel. They have come to discuss the future of Lily, the daughter Gloria adopted from China and the sister Kai hopes to reclaim. Kai is a doctor who had to give up her little sister during the Cultural Revolution and has since discovered that an inherited genetic defect may be waiting to fatally strike Lily.Gloria's relationship with her daughter is tattered and strained, and the arrival of Kai, despite the woman's apparent good intentions, makes Gloria fearful. Gloria longs to restore her relationship with Lily, but in the wake of this potentially devastating diagnosis, is Kai an answer to prayer...or will her arrival force Gloria to sacrifice more than she ever imagined? Views: 13
World renowned neurosurgeon Jon Ritter is on the verge of a medical breakthrough that will change the world. His groundbreaking surgical treatment, using transplanted non-human stem cells, is set to eradicate the scourge of Alzheimer’s disease and give hope to millions. But when the procedure is slated for testing, it all comes to an abrupt and terrifying halt. Ritter’s colleague is gunned down and Ritter himself is threatened by a radical anti-abortion group that not only claims responsibility, but promises more of the same. Faced with a dangerous reality but determined to succeed, Ritter turns to his long-time colleague, corporate biotech CEO Richard Stillman, for help. Together, they conspire to conduct a clandestine clinical trial in Seoul, Korea. But the danger is more determined, and more lethal, than Ritter could have imagined. After successful surgical trials, Ritter and his allies are thrown into a horrifying nightmare scenario: The trial patients have been murdered and Ritter is the number one suspect. Aided by his beautiful lab assistant, Yeonhee, Ritter flees the country, now the target of an international manhunt involving Interpol, the FBI, zealous fanatics and a coldly efficient assassin. Dead End Deal is a fast paced, heart-pounding, and sophisticated thriller. Penned by master neurosurgeon, Allen Wyler—who often draws from experience and actual events when writing—Dead End Deal is unmatched as a technical procedural. Its medical and scientific details can impress even the most seasoned medical practitioners. And yet, the fascinating expertise is seamlessly woven into a riveting plot, with enough action and surprises to engross even the most well-read thriller enthusiast. A smart, unique, page-turner, Dead End Deal delivers.Review"The gritty, graphic details of cutting-edge surgical procedures, capped with an exciting conclusion, should keep fans of the genre riveted." - Publisher's Weekly Views: 13
In a future so distant that time is almost without meaning, death is defeated and immortality has been made reality through instantaneous cloning and synaptic transfer. Mankind, frustrated by the futility of timeless existence, chooses extinction. All but one man. Far removed from the known universe with only one companion, an AI named Qod, Salem Ben watches the cosmos from afar and relives the digitally reproduced lives of countless souls archived in the Soul Consortium by means of a neuroimmersive device. He hopes to discover the answer to the ultimate question: What lies beyond? But at the birth of the next universe, billions of years before the pattern of life repeats its design, Salem’s quest takes a disturbing turn. Unexplained aberrations appear among the digital souls. To hunt down their source and to continue his search for evidence of life after death, Salem endures four very different lives: Orson Roth, a serial killer in 20th-century Britain; Dominique Mancini, a spiritual medium from 16th-century Lombardy; Plantagenet Soome, a monk sent to the distant Castor’s World; and Queen Oluvia Wade, the creator of the Soul Consortium. As the mystery unfolds, Salem is confronted by a malevolent entity which threatens the future of humanity before it can begin again—and only Salem stands in the way of it breaking free.Review"This story is pure science fiction with enough plot twists and turns to keep the reader busy." —www.SingleTitles.com"This heartbreaking, mind-bending tale challenges our assumptions about life, death, and the fragility of our eternal spirit." —Richard Thomas, author, TransubstantiateAbout the AuthorSimon West-Bulford is a writer of theological essays, tutorials for PC game level design, and short stories. His short story "Crimson Lakes" was Dark Fire's New Year 2010 feature story, "Amiko" was included in Eternal Night: A Vampire Anthology, and "Star God" appeared in This Mutant Life magazine. Views: 13
Egypt, 1940 and young university professor Azi Ibrahim is brutally murdered in the Sinai desert, leaving behind his new bride, 20-year-old Egyptian-born teacher Aimee Ibrahim. The motive for the popular and much-loved professor's murder appear incomprehensible to Aimee until she is given a mysterious package containing a diary, written in Arabic, twenty-two years previously. The diary belonged to Aimee's mother, the Egyptian Sultan's scandalous daughter Hezba, a radical revolutionary, who documented a year in the life of the 1919 Egyptian Nationalist revolution. As the narrative moves dramatically forward, Aimee discovers why the scandal of her mother Hezba's life was always kept hidden from her. Hezba Al Shezira lived by just one rule; to be true to her own desires, even if it meant shaming her father, her culture and everything it stood for, but her ultimate aim was to unshackle her country from the tyranny of British rule. In 1919, 17-year-old Hezba writes that she has taken a lover and has joined a secret terrorist organization - the Rebel Corp - who are working to oust the British from her beloved Egypt. Hezba also documents the violence she's subjected to in the harem. As the Second World War closes in around her, Aimee is plunged into an evil world of terrorism, rebel factions and the unspoken horrors, secrets and repressions of her mother's life in 1919. In her attempt to find her husband's killers and bring them to justice, Aimee experiences not only the love, desire and passion she has always craved, but the darker forces of a disintegrating political situation, and realizes to her horror that there are disturbing and terrifying parallels between her own life and that of her mother's. The Hidden is a fast-paced story of a two worlds colliding and the devastating fall-out that ensues. Views: 13
All her life, Annie Prideaux has suffered through her brother’s constant practical jokes only he thinks are funny. But Jake’s last joke is one too many, she decides when he sets her up on a blind date with his friend Drew Corbin—neglecting to tell his straight sister one tiny detail: her date is not a man, but a lesbian. Annie and Drew decide it’s time to turn the tables on Jake by pretending to fall in love with each other. At first glance, they have nothing in common. Disillusioned with love, Annie focuses on books, her cat, and her work as an accountant while Drew, more confident and outgoing, owns a dog and spends most of her time working in her beloved vineyard. Only their common goal to take revenge on Jake unites them. But what starts as a table-turning game soon turns Annie’s and Drew’s lives upside down as the lines between pretending and reality begin to blur. Something in the Wine is a story about love, friendship, and coming to terms with what it means to be yourself. Views: 13
The Civil War took Sonja Brooks' husband and left her alone. Unprotected and scared, she runs headlong into a life changing event when she's attacked by a pack of wolves. Her fate as a werewolf is sealed. When she stumbles upon Ty Loflin, a Rebel solider dying of his wounds, she nurses him back to health. He's the perfect mate, but will he want her once he knows the truth? In Book 1 of this new series by Award-winning author Catherine Wolffe, the Western Werewolf Legend weaves a new blend of western romance with paranormal elements involving werewolves and vampires. Views: 13
This book offers the first systematic analysis of Putin's two wars, placing the Second Chechen War and the War with Georgia of 2008 in their broader historical contexts. Drawing on extensive original Russian sources, Marcel H. Van Herpen analyzes in detail how Putin's wars were prepared and conducted and why they led to allegations of war crimes and genocide. He shows how the conflicts functioned to consolidate and legitimate Putin's regime and explores how they were connected to a third, hidden, "internal war" waged by the Kremlin against the opposition. The author convincingly argues that the Kremlin—relying on the secret services, the Orthodox Church, the Kremlin youth "Nashi," and the rehabilitated Cossacks—is preparing for an imperial revival, most recently in the form of a "Eurasian Union."An essential book for understanding the dynamics of Putin's regime, this study digs deep into the Kremlin's secret long-term strategies. Readable and clearly argued, it... Views: 13
