Grey's mother dies giving birth to his sister Irene and he prays that she will be returned to him so he might protect her from the world as his father did not. This prayer, Grey believes is answered in his sister Irene. He becomes obsessed with protecting her purity and innocence while befriending the wild boys of the small town of Mary Smokes — horse-handlers and fox hunters and part-time timber workers — members of a small, vanishing tribe who find themselves caught between an old relationship with place and a new one that is exemplified by the highway that threatens their town.Holland's kinship with Per Petterson's Out Stealing Horses is palpable. The Mary Smokes Boys is heart-rending and unforgettable, a suspenseful story of horse thieves and broken promises, of love and tragedy, of the fragility and grace of small town life and how one fateful moment can forever alter the course of our lives. Views: 32
Borders haunt this debut fiction collection from prizewinning writer Jaki McCarrick: the Irish border where she lives, the boundaries of the natural world, and the darker edge of human nature, even the supernatural, here with an Ulster Gothic’ twist. From small-town Louth and Monaghan to London, Florida and New Orleans, and back in time to the dawn of humanity, these stories explore the spaces between certainty and doubt, dependency and freedom. We witness the psychological fall-out from catastrophe and constraint, the pain of dual and fractured identities, the experience of emigration. Above all, what it means to be alive in a fraught and ever-changing world. Jaki McCarrick is a playwright, poet and short-story writer living in Dundalk. She studied at Trinity College, Dublin, and Middlesex University, gaining distinction and first-class honours. She has won many awards for her work and her plays have been performed (and read) in London, Belfast, Galway, Philadelphia... Views: 32
Unemployed, blacklisted, and pregnant, Sophie Scaife’s life is totally upside down. Her relationship with publishing magnate Neil Elwood is on the rocks. Her best friend’s career is igniting. And Sophie is afraid she’ll make one of the toughest decisions of her life alone…
When a devastating diagnosis forces Neil to return to London, Sophie throws caution to the wind to follow her heart across the Atlantic. Keeping a scorching D/s affair as red-hot in sickness as it was in health is a challenge, even for two lovers as inventive as Sophie and Neil. But Sophie is more than willing to try anything her Sir commands, and their fantasies of control become a welcome refuge from the daily stress of illness.
While Neil’s wealth and privilege make adjusting to her new situation easier, Sophie finds herself rebuilding her life around an uncertain future. And while both of them face the changes between them head-on, they’re all too aware that their happiness may be fleeting—and Sophie could lose Neil forever. Views: 32
The Empire – a tyranny stretching over thousands of worlds. The grand dreams of the founders are a joke. The Thousand Families, the rulers of the Empire, care nothing for anything, save their own power. From the undercity of Earth to the new colonies at the Rim, discontent, anger and rebellion seethe, but there is no hope of breaking the power of the Empire and freeing the trillions of enslaved humans and aliens.
The Rebel – Commander Colin Walker believed in the Empire, until a treacherous superior officer betrayed him, forcing him to see the true nature of the force he served and his compliancy in terrible crimes. Now, Colin has a plan; he and his followers in the Imperial Navy will seize their ships and rebel against the Thousand Families, uniting the thousands of rebel factions under his leadership. Their war will set the galaxy on fire ...
[As a matter of principle, all of my self-published books are DRM-free. You may treat it as you may treat any normal paperback book. You can also download free samples in RTF format from my site – www.chrishanger.net]
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It seems there is a lot more to kidnapping than Mickey Rapowski ever imagined. Mickey is a financial whiz-kid with a chip on her shoulder. She believes her former boss, ruthless businesswoman Victoria Gresham, has stolen her brilliant idea and cheated her out of a small fortune. In revenge, Mickey kidnaps Ms. Gresham's girlfriend, Ginette Felstrom, and demands compensation. A straightforward abduction...or is it? Captive Ginette proves to be more than Mickey's match, manipulating and outwitting her at every turn. And to make matters worse, no one wants to pay any ransom for her! Confused, stressed, and exasperated by the never-ending demands of her small, but very bossy detainee, Mickey finds herself the victim of an inverted Stockholm Syndrome, and is falling for her charge. A no-holds-barred romp from backwoods USA to the exotic Caribbean, Green-Eyed Monster is a fast-paced, steamy, romantic comedy. Views: 31
It's not like I meant for Danley to get hurt. . . . Julian Twerski isn't a bully. He's just made a big mistake. So when he returns to school after a weeklong suspension, his English teacher offers him a deal: if he keeps a journal and writes about the incident that got him and his friends suspended, he can get out of writing a report on Shakespeare. Julian jumps at the chance. And so begins his account of life in sixth grade--blowing up homemade fireworks, writing a love letter for his best friend (with disastrous results), and worrying whether he's still the fastest kid in school. Lurking in the background, though, is the one story he can't bring himself to tell, the one story his teacher most wants to hear. Inspired by Mark Goldblatt's own childhood growing up in 1960s Queens, Twerp shines with powerful writing that will have readers laughing and crying right along with these flawed but unforgettable characters. Views: 31
Irina Syromyatnikova is one of Moscow’s finest writers of science fiction and fantasy. In Russia, “My Path to Magic” is a very popular series of three novels in the subgenre of technomagic. The first book of the same name is followed by “A Combat Alchemist” and “Benefits of the Dark Side.” Against a backdrop of numerous fantasy novels, this book stands out as a wolfhound among lapdogs. It features intrigue, eclectic ambience, easily relatable characters, a detailed and convincingly pictured world, and a balanced, well-developed plot. The number of characters is not so large as to get lost in them, but not so few as to lose interest. The series stands out as a surprisingly strong technofantasy. Views: 31
It was more than a break-in. More than a stalking. It was personal. When a stalker targets his wife and two daughters, journalist Jack Crittendon must uncover who the person is and what his motives are—if he is to protect the ones he loves. The investigation leads Crittendon into a world of behind-closed-door secrets and faith gone awry, as does his story on a missing pastor, whose apparent suicide is more than it appears.
Each move Crittendon makes weaves him tighter and tighter into a web of lies, greed, hypocrisy, sin, and danger. He believed he’d never give in to fear and the hate it leads to. But that was before. And holding on to his faith won’t be easy. Nor will keeping his family safe and ending the terror. Because that might require him to step over lines he said he would never cross. Views: 31
In a clearing of the great forest of the planet Bosk Veld, a strange, ape-like species of alien, the Asadi, act out their almost-incomprehensible rituals, rainbow eyes flashing, spinning like pinwheels.Egon Chaney, in his anthropological study, "Death and Designation Among the Asadi" has shown how their life-style has apparently degenerated from a level of complex technological sophistication and devolved to a primal simplicity. Long after his disappearance in the forest, his daughter, Elegy Cather, comes to Bosk Veld to carry on his studies of the Asadi where he left off. With her is an intelligent ape, Kretzoi, physically adapted to resemble the aliens.Together with Thomas Benedict, Chaney's old partner, Elegy begins to unravel the enigma of the Asadi. As Kretzoi insinuates himself into their rituals, so we are drawn into what is perhaps the most convincing portrayal of the alien yet. Views: 31
