YOLO. You Only Live Once. Or do you? Maybe there's another you living your own life somewhere else, right now.YOLO. You Only Live Once. Or do you? Maybe there's another you living your own life somewhere else, right now.When my friend received a postcard in the mail depicting his childhood home he had no idea who had sent it or why. Even stranger was the unknown address scrawled on the back in his own inimitable handwriting. Only one thing was clear. We had to go and find out for ourselves what this was all about. Our innocent little road trip down memory lane soon turned into something quite different, as one mystifying turn after another led us into a tangled knot of confused identities, alternate histories, unfathomable intrigues and sheer bewilderment in this short novel of the truth, the partial truth, and anything but the truth. Views: 428
Beatrice Lockwood, one of the intrepid ladies of Lantern Street, is in the middle of a case when her past comes back to haunt her. Joshua North, a former spy for the Crown, has come out of a self-imposed retirement after a disastrous case that left him scarred and forced to use a cane. He is hunting the villain who is blackmailing his sister.
The trail leads him to Beatrice who is his chief suspect. But when he realizes that she is not the blackmailer they set out to find the real extortionist. Passion flares between them as they dodge a professional assassin. Meanwhile a mysterious scientist intent on resurrecting his dead lover using an ancient Egyptian formula for preserving the bodies of the dead is also hunting Beatrice. He is keeping his dead love perfectly preserved in a special, crystal-topped sarcophagus filled with the special fluid. But he needs Beatrice's paranormal talent to activate the reviving properties of the preservative in the coffin. Time is running out for everyone involved.
The two cases collide at a mysterious country-house filled with artifacts from ancient Egyptian tombs. The drama concludes in the mad scientist's laboratory where Joshua discovers that the past he thought was dead is still very much alive -- sort of. Views: 428
A chaplain sex-chats with an Iraqi girl who tells her eerie tale.To overcome the grief of losing her twin brother, the director-husband of a talented but naïve and head-strong young actress persuades her to appear in a one-person show he has written for her, at an old, disused theatre in a small East-coast town. The show bombs on the first night, after she fails to take heed of the advice offered by an unseen, enigmatic member of her audience. As she opts to stick with the direction of her writer-director husband, she puts her sanity and their lives in jeopardy. After her husband suffers a tragic accident, she has only two nights to turn her show into an overnight sensation and avoid further tragedy.As the, now imprisoned, actress recalls her story to a visiting psychologist, the dark and far-reaching consequences of her final night's performance are revealed. Views: 428
When Differel Van Helsing married Victor Plunkett in the Dreamlands, it was between crises, so they never had a proper honeymoon. As such, when the opportunity arose for them to spend a week all alone on a deserted island, they jumped at it. Unfortunately, an old enemy has decided to crash the party. This is a short story.Differel Van Helsing had been married to Victor Plunkett in the Waking World for four years before he was killed by an assassin seeking to kill her. The loss devastated her, and she very nearly resigned as Director of the Caerleon Order as a result.Years later, when she learned how to sojourn to the Dreamlands each night, she discovered that he had been a Dreamer himself, and that after his death he had retired there to live out the rest of his Dream-life. By the time they were reunited, he had become a diplomatic troubleshooter for the Island Nation of Punica, and had been made the Marquis of Elissa. They discovered that their love for each other was just as strong as ever, and he proposed to her. At first she was not certain if she should remarry him because of the time they would be separated when she awakens each morning, but finally she yielded to her heart and said yes.They wed between crises, so they never had a proper honeymoon, but then an opportunity presented itself that allowed them to spend a week alone on a tiny deserted island. They jumped at it, and spent six days in connubial bliss, doing little beyond eating, sleeping, the occasional swim in the ocean, and making love.On the seventh and last day, however, an old enemy, bent on revenge, crashes their party. Taking them prisoner, he intends to sell them as toys for others' amusement: Victor to a wealthy matron, Differel to the Moonbeasts. In both cases, they are unlikely to survive for long with either their lives or sanity intact.Differel and Victor have no weapons or retainers to help them, but they are far from helpless. Views: 428
This Investment Newsletter provides you with an in-depth analysis of the current state of the market, updated goal prices on recommended stocks, model portfolios, as well as what Editor and Chief Investment Officer, and regular CNBC guest, John Buckingham, is holding in his own personal portfolio. Each monthly issue includes our Portfolio Builder, detailing our current 10 favorite stocks.New Girl (Anti-Heroes Book I) by Louise Bohmer & K.H. KoehlerGet Ready to Root for the Villain...Serena is the new girl in a school that caters to not just "Norms," but the sons and daughters of the world's greatest Superheroes. The problem? She's the daughter of the Night Witch, a cardinal member of the League of Extreme Evil. She'd love to join the other super teens and prove she isn't the villain that her mother was, but it isn't long before she falls in with a group of Supervillains that the school calls the Geek Squad, which includes a biochemically created vampire named Nikki, a genetically altered jock named Isaac, and Jinx, the son of Satan himself!She's immediately attracted to Jinx, but Serena has vowed to do what's right. But there are secrets buried deep within Serena's past that threaten to kill her, and even rock the foundation of Earth itself! An evil decay is reaching out from a distant star, and the Supers and Geeks will need to work together in order to defeat it--if they can keep from killing each other. The Supers thought the greatest battle for control of Earth had been fought and won, but a cosmic war is coming, and it isn't long before it's difficult to tell the difference between hero and villain.Book I in a new online serial! Views: 427
Who is sovereign in the United States? Is it the people themselves, or is it an elite determined to rule citizens who are seen as incapable of making choices about their own lives? This is the central question in the American gun-control debate.In this Broadside, David Kopel explains why the right to keep and bear arms has always been central to the American identity and why Americans have always resisted gun control. The American Revolution was sparked by British attempts to confiscate guns. After the Civil War, the U.S. changed the Constitution to defeat the nation’s first gun-control organization, the Ku Klux Klan. When Hitler and Stalin demonstrated how gun registration paves the way for gun confiscation, which paves the way for genocide, Americans resolved to make sure it never happens here.Gun control is not an issue of left vs. right or urban vs. rural. The right to bear arms is crucial to prevent large-scale tyranny by criminal governments and... Views: 427
“The benevolent God of Light will forgive your sins.” I must have said that line at least a million times in my time as the Sun Knight. However, the greatest wish in my life is to be able to stand before the entire continent and roar, “Damn your ‘the whole continent knows’! This Sun Knight just doesn’t feel like smiling! I just don’t want to forgive these human trashes! I just want to pepper my sentences with ‘f***’!” Unfortunately, even to this day, I continue to wear a smile as I say, “The benevolent God of Light will forgive your sins.” Views: 427
Six short stories that give us glimpses into the lives of Luke, Nora, and the other characters from 'Backwards to Oregon'.● The Blue Hour: When her mother dies, twelve-year-old Lucinda Hamilton decides to start a new life—as a boy.● Grasping at Straws: No one knows that Tess Swenson, madam of a brothel, also owns a livery stable and a number of other businesses. On one of her secret inspections, she makes a surprising discovery.● A Rooster's Job: The Hamiltons hoped to build a home in the idyllic Willamette Valley with mild winters, but now they're snowed in and their rooster isn't doing such a great job either.● The Art of Pretending: Tess finds out that someone is stealing her money. She suspects Frankie, a woman who reminds her of Luke. But nothing is as it seems.● The Christmas Oak: Luke sets out to bring home a Christmas tree—but she finds something else.● Swept Away: The greatest flood in the history of Oregon sweeps away houses, barns, and animals in the Willamette Valley.... Views: 427
Melvin didn’t believe in fortune-tellers and those kinds of things but he was desperate. Ever since he fell out of a tree his back had not been the same and it was getting worse no matter what the doctors ordered. Bad back and Destiny? Is there a link? Ask Madame Nuage.In this novelette, an anonymous author failing in his struggle with OCD begins the dark task of composing a suicide note to justify his exit from the world.In a story that reads part stream of conscious, part introspection, and part catharsis, the author's journey in writing the note encapsulates that long look in the mirror so many of us are afraid to take. Views: 427
Why doesn’t eight-year-old Brett’s mother understand? All she wants is a pet. Since the family first moved to Texas a few months earlier, the girl has seen nary an alligator...either from her perch, high in the SUV motoring around the Urbs or the sub-urbs, or out the back or front doors at home. Why can’t her mother just get over what happened in coastal Florida to her three precious pups?If Brett has to believe in magic to get a pet companion - or two - she will. Of course she’d rather do it the normal way: by asking. Which of course she’s tried. Over and over again. And continually failed. But she always comes back to try again. Like today. Already scanned the area for alligators, too, and is relieved to report none. Now, if only Mom will cooperate.So far the woman’s first brunch martini has slid down without resistance, so Brett knows after one or two more, her mother may very well be in a cheery enough mood to agree. To something, even if it’s just another ant farm.The house keeper is always talking about ants made of fire, but she told Brett they don’t seem to have any in their yard. She’s also told the girl about Texas scorpions, and best thing about both of those pets? They’d be free. Views: 427
Perth, Australia, 1974. Young marrieds, Ross and June, attend a Joan Baez concert. Absent from the Old Men's Home, Baxter Moncur is in the audience. Despite their age difference, Ross and Baxter have much in common. Personal insecurities. Confronting love stories. Testing family dynamics. And an unceasing struggle to reconcile past circumstances with present realities. Enter Simone Passeri, a social worker undertaking a research project. Above and beyond the scope of her work, Simone embarks on a search. A self-confessed failure at Relationships 101, she casts off the conventional social worker image and takes us on an unconventional ride. In her own words: 'Very seventies, actually.' Parallel or intersecting lives? Eternal estrangement or potential reunion? In the background, the music plays, and the new Labor government surges and splutters - an Australian Reformation with the Emperor at its helm. Views: 426
The Units is a fictional story about a psychology graduate student from Chicago who moves to small town Wainwright to take an internship at Wainwright Mental Institution (WMI). During her time in Wainwright she works at the hospital and, while she falls in love with her romantic interest, she uncovers wrongdoings within the institution.Although all of the events, characters, and places in this book are entirely fictional, the ideas came from more than only the author's imagination. Weyburn Mental Hospital, later called Souris Valley Care Facility, opened in 1921. At the time of its opening, it was considered one of the largest buildings in the British Commonwealth. Sources say that, at its peak, it housed somewhere between 2500 and 3000 patients and was considered to provide the "cutting-edge" of mental health treatment. Historical accounts talk about treatments and experimentation that would be the bane of any current research ethics board. Stories include drug experimentation, "work and water", insulin, LSD, electro-shock, and lobotomy. Other accounts talk of patients who were committed, not because they were mentally ill, but because they simply didn't "fit-in" with the outside world. The most horrifying of stories include incidences of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. After the deinstitutionalization movement in the 1980's, the building was altered to become a long-term care facility and then was eventually demolished in 2009. Before it was demolished, stories of haunting by tortured and abused patients were common. My summers in Weyburn often involved visits to the large, red-bricked, remarkable facility. Although only a child, I was fascinated by the scope and history of the infamous institution and its stately, well-groomed grounds. I would often feel as if I were part of a movie set as I walked down the long lane that led to the extraordinary structure whose circumference was said to be more than a mile. In comparison to its small farm town surroundings, the estate-like property seemed eerie and out of place. As I would walk, I would think about stories told by family members who had been employed in the institution in the days no one likes to talk about. That place and those true stories were only the beginnings of the tales I would one day weave. Views: 426
At the end of World War II, Jack Baker, a landlocked Kansas boy, is suddenly uprooted after his mother’s death and placed in a boy’s boarding school in Maine. There, Jack encounters Early Auden, the strangest of boys, who reads the number pi as a story and collects clippings about the sightings of a great black bear in the nearby mountains.
Newcomer Jack feels lost yet can’t help being drawn to Early, who won’t believe what everyone accepts to be the truth about the Great Appalachian Bear, Timber Rattlesnakes, and the legendary school hero known as The Fish, who never returned from the war. When the boys find themselves unexpectedly alone at school, they embark on a quest on the Appalachian Trail in search of the great black bear.
But what they are searching for is sometimes different from what they find. They will meet truly strange characters, each of whom figures into the pi story Early weaves as they travel, while discovering things they never realized about themselves and others in their lives. Views: 426
