The hot-as-Hel series with the “Sookie Stackhouse type of vibe” (Paranormal Horizon) is back—but this time the paranormal Midwestern town of Pemkowet is feeling a frost in the air and the residents are frozen in fear...
The Pemkowet Visitors Bureau has always promoted paranormal tourism—even if it has downplayed the risks (hobgoblins are unpredictable). It helps that the town is presided over by Daisy Johanssen, who as Hel’s liaison is authorized by the Norse goddess of the dead to keep Pemkowet under control. Normally, that’s easier to do in the winter, when bracing temperatures keep folks indoors.
But a new predator is on the prowl, and this one thrives on nightmares. Daisy is on her trail and working intimately with her partner and sometime lover from the Pemkowet PD, sexy yet unavailable werewolf Cody Fairfax. But even as the creature is racking up innocent victims, a greater danger looms on Pewkowet’s horizon.
As a result of a recent ghost uprising, an unknown adversary—represented by a hell-spawn lawyer with fiery powers of persuasion—has instigated a lawsuit against the town. If Pemkowet loses, Hel’s sovereignty will be jeopardized, and the fate of the eldritch community will be at stake. The only one who can prevent it is Daisy—but she’s going to have to confront her own worst nightmare to do it. Views: 577
One Christmas Eve night, Stephen Swift prepares to end his life. In the process, he not only finds a reason to live but also learns that love is the greatest power of all. A hauntingly-beautiful Christmas short story.Arnold Cheek is a big city P.I. and his world is just like ours… except for one thing. In Arnold’s world, the fungus is a little more aggressive – mushrooms grow through bedrock and cement, and vinegar washes are the only things that keep mold from springing up on human skin. While investigating the disappearance of a girl, Cheek finds himself caught in a web of confusion and deceit, where his own actions and thoughts can’t even be trusted, and the everyday horrors of his life and his world are nothing compared to the horrors he’ll find in the Nursery.A detective/horror short story. Approximately 7,000 words. Views: 577
No matter how far or fast I run, some things are inescapable. My past is one of them. After everything that happened, I thought I was done. Then Nick called, and all hell broke loose.
Alexis Parker has been a lot of things, from a federal agent to a corporate security analyst. After finally admitting that working with law enforcement would lead to an untimely death, she hung up her holster, but corporate work is tedious and mind-numbingly boring. The federal agent instinct is just too deeply ingrained, and now it's her only possible saving grace.
While away at a business conference, Alex receives word that Detective Nick O'Connell was shot and his niece was kidnapped. Racing back to the life she thought she escaped, Alex finds herself tossed into a sea of vigilante justice. Since the police department is unaware of the current circumstances and time is running out, the rules of the game have dramatically changed. The kidnappers demand two million dollars and expect payment in forty-eight hours. Clearly, that's not an option, and Alex is forced to creatively color outside the lines.
As she investigates, she discovers that three seven year olds were abducted, but only one of the girls has been returned safely. Forced to work with a questionable ex-SAS operative whose business card now reads K&R specialist, Alex must fight off her own demons and come to terms with who she is and exactly what she's capable of doing. There are no holds barred when it comes to rescuing innocent children, but after some lines are crossed, the damage can never be undone.
It's a race against time to locate the girls, identify their captors, and stop the people responsible. Sometimes having a few inner demons isn't a bad thing. Views: 577
A KIDNAPPING WITH TIME RUNNING OUT... For Honolulu P.D. homicide detective Jon Stanton, the body of a young boy discovered in the bushes of an upscale neighborhood is more than just another homicide. This one is personal.The boy was eleven years old and a witness to the kidnapping of a wealthy housewife and her daughter. Stanton believes them to still be alive, but held by a host of desperate, unstable men. Men willing to kill children to achieve their ends.Stanton and his new partner, the seductive and alluring niece of his boss, search from the seedy bars in Honolulu's Chinatown, to the homes of those that buy and sell flesh like cattle, and Stanton's wits will once again be tested to their limits.Ultimately, Stanton will have to make the choice between justice and the law as he tracks down a perpetrator whose identity will shock him.ABOUT THE AUTHORVictor Methos is a former prosecutor specializing in violent crime and is currently a criminal defense attorney in the Midwest. His more than thirty books have sold nearly half a million copies worldwide. Views: 577
Shaking the Tree is the comical, yet dramatic coming-of-age tale of a young boy, Nicholas Havens, who makes a life-long friend in a straight-talking African American laborer named Sooter, while growing up in the hard life of a rural farming community.Nicholas Havens grew up quickly in rural 1960's Mississippi. By the age of twelve, he could drive a pickup and a cotton picker. Such was life as the son of a second generation cotton farmer. He was charged with doing much hard work but with little direction and parental guidance. That is until he meets Sooter, the straight-talking African-American laborer who worked for the Havens family all his life. Sooter's passion was the small pecan orchard that he maintained and harvested each fall. It is the orchard where Sooter and Nicholas form a lasting friendship in which the old man teaches Nicholas the ways of the orchard, as well as lessons in life. Shaking the Tree is the comical, yet dramatic coming-of-age tale of a young boy who makes a life-long friend while growing up in the hard life of a rural farming community. Views: 577
They told 20-year-old Charlie O’Malley they had a cure for the condition that would kill her. All they wanted in return was for her to join their elite military team and train to kill the Undead. She took the deal, not to extend her life, but because it would make her strong–strong enough to kill the vampire who’d pretended to love her, taken her blood, used her body, and murdered her mother."My inspiration has always been Maggie Shayne's Wings in the Night." #1 New York Times Bestselling Author, Christine Feehan They told 20-year-old Charlie O’Malley that they had a cure for the rare blood condition that would eventually kill her–an untested, experimental cure. All they wanted in return was for her to join their elite military team and train to kill the Undead. She took the deal, not because she cared so much about extending her life, but because it would make her strong–stronger than ordinary humans. Strong enough to kill the vampire who’d pretended to love her, taken her blood, used her body, and murdered her mother. Killion was the last of his kind, or so he thought. When he found Charlie, he felt the pull. She had the rare Belladonna Antigen all vampires had as humans. Vampires were compelled to protect those rare mortals they called The Chosen. But with Charlie, the bond was different, more powerful than anything he’s felt before, and impossible to resist, even though surrendering to it will probably get him killed. Ancient vampire elders Rhiannon and Roland come out of exile, risking their lives to help their mortal friend Roxy reclaim her granddaughter. But before the tale ends, their lives will be forever changed. Join Maggie Shayne as she returns to her most beloved series of all time with this new beginning…. Wings in the Night: Reborn Views: 577
Here in #17 you get eight stories including short stories, vignettes, and even a TV pilot script written and released in 2012 and collected as SUSHI WRITING WITH CROWD EDITING 2012. 30,000 words normally for $1.00usd but here you get it for free.Here in #17 you get eight stories including short stories, vignettes, and even a TV pilot script written and released in 2012 and collected as SUSHI WRITING WITH CROWD EDITING 2012. 30,000 words in one collection that’s normally on sale for $1.00usd but here you get it for free. A trip across other realities connected to the Tin Universe as a begging sorry for missing the deadline with the story I meant for this month. Views: 576
**NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg, bestselling authors of The Heist, return in this action-packed, exciting adventure featuring master con artist Nicolas Fox and die-hard FBI agent Kate O’Hare. And this time around, things go from hot to nuclear when government secrets are on the line.
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Internationally renowned thief and con artist Nicolas Fox is famous for running elaborate and daring scams. His greatest con of all: convincing the FBI to team him up with the only person who has ever caught him, and the only woman to ever capture his attention, Special Agent Kate O’Hare. Together they’ll go undercover to swindle and catch the world’s most wanted—and untouchable—criminals.
Their newest target is Carter Grove, a former White House chief of staff and the ruthless leader of a private security agency. Grove has stolen a rare Chinese artifact from the Smithsonian, a crime that will torpedo U.S. relations with China if it ever becomes public. Nick and Kate must work under the radar—and against the clock—to devise a plan to steal the piece back. Confronting Grove’s elite assassins, Nick and Kate rely on the skills of their ragtag crew, including a flamboyant actor, a Geek Squad techie, and a band of AARP-card-carrying mercenaries led by none other than Kate’s dad.
A daring heist and a deadly chase lead Nick and Kate from Washington, D.C., to Shanghai, from the highlands of Scotland to the underbelly of Montreal. But it’ll take more than death threats, trained henchmen, sleepless nights, and the fate of a dynasty’s priceless heirloom to outsmart Fox and O’Hare.
BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg's The Job.
Praise for *The Chase
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“Fast and entertaining . . . new thrills and adventure on every page.”—Examiner.com
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“The action never stops . . . and a humorous tone keeps everything moving at a fun clip.”—Associated Press
“Great fun, with plenty of twists.”—*The Sacramento Bee Views: 576
Why run from death when you can make a deal? A short story about a woman who's looking to make an exit on her own terms.Riley is a workaholic veterinarian. She's approaching her 30th birthday and her loneliness is becoming more apparent and painful. She wants to start dating, but doesn't have any free time or knowledge on how to start. The subjectGarrett is a 32 year old widower. Even though he's a pack oriented wolf shifter, he hasn't been involved with the pack since his mate died three years earlier. But when he meets Riley, he realizes they are meant to be together. The only thing standing in their way is the Wolf Shifter Elder Council. Garrett needs to receive their permission to break the first law and tell Riley, a human, about the existence of the supernatural. If not, it could mean both of their lives.Will the council grant his request? Views: 576
Written by Jay Bonansinga, based on the series created by Robert Kirkman, The Walking Dead: Descent follows the events of The Fall of the Governor, and Lily Caul’s struggles to rebuild Woodbury after the Governor’s shocking demise.
Out of the ashes of its dark past, Woodbury, Georgia, becomes an oasis of safety amidst the plague of the walking dead – a town reborn in the wake of its former tyrannical leader, Philip Blake, aka The Governor.
Blake’s legacy of madness haunts every nook and cranny of this little walled community, but Lilly Caul and a small ragtag band of survivors are determined to overcome their traumatic past… despite the fact that a super-herd is closing in on them.
This vast stampede of walkers, driven by inexorable hunger and aimed directly at Woodbury, becomes their first true test. But Lilly and company refuse to succumb, and in a stunning counteroffensive, the beleaguered townspeople save themselves by joining forces with a mysterious religious sect fresh from the wilderness.
Led by an enigmatic preacher named Jeremiah, this rogue church group seems tailor made for Woodbury and Lilly’s dream of a democratic, family-friendly future. The two factions meld into one, the town prospers, and everything seems hopeful for the first time since the plague broke out.
But things – especially in the world of the walking dead – are often not what they seem. Jeremiah and his followers harbor a dark secret, the evidence of which very gradually begins to unravel.
In a stunning and horrifying finale, the world for Lilly and her close friends is turned upside down, and it is solely up to Lilly Caul to cleanse the town once and for all of its poisonous fate. Views: 576
The Dark Between the Stars is space opera on a grand scale. Twenty years after the elemental conflict that nearly tore apart the cosmos in The Saga of Seven Suns, a new threat emerges from the darkness, and the human race must set aside its own inner conflicts to rebuild their alliance with the Ildiran Empire for the survival of the galaxy. Praise for THE SAGA OF THE SEVEN SUNS:'Sure-footed, suspenseful and tragic ... an exhilarating experience' Locus'Space opera at its most entertaining' Starlog'THE SAGA OF THE SEVEN SUNS is worthy of mention in the same breath as Asimov's Foundation series and Hamilton's Nightdawn trilogy. This is science fiction on the grandest of scales, a modern classic' The Alien Online 'A realm of wondrous possibilities ... A fascinating series' Brian Herbert'A space opera to rival the best the field has ever seen' SF ChronicleAbout the AuthorKevin J. Anderson has been nominated for the Nebula Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the SFX Reader's Choice Award. He set the Guiness-certified world record for the largest single-author book signing. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.CHAPTER1GARRISON REEVESHe had to run, and he fled with the boy out into the dark spaces between the stars.Garrison Reeves stole a ship from the Iswander Industries lava-processing operations on Sheol. Though he’d planned his escape for days, he gathered only a few supplies and keepsakes before departing, careful not to give his wife any hint of what he intended to do. None of his possessions mattered more than getting safely away with his son.He knew the disaster could come soon—any day now. Lee Iswander, the Roamer industrialist, dismissed Garrison’s concerns about third-order tidal shifts in the broken planet; Garrison’s own wife, Elisa, didn’t believe him. The lava miners paid little attention to his warnings, not because they disputed his geological calculations, but because they didn’t want to believe. Their priorities were clear. Adding “unnecessary” and expensive levels of redundant shielding and “paranoid” safety measures was irresponsible, both to Iswander Industries and to the employees, who participated in profit-sharing.Lee Iswander had commissioned follow-up reports, biased reports, that painted a far rosier picture. Garrison didn’t accept them.So he made his choice, the only possible choice. He stole one of the company ships, and when she found out about it, Elisa would claim that he stole their son.He flew out of the Sheol system, running far from any Roamer settlement or Confederation outpost. Elisa was not only an ambitious woman, she was abusive, tenacious, and dangerous—and she would come after them. He needed a head start if he had any hope of getting away.The ship was a standard Iswander cargo transport, a workhorse, fully fueled with ekti, run by an efficient Ildiran stardrive. Garrison could fly the vessel without special training, as he could fly most standard spacecraft.Ten-year-old Seth rode in the cockpit next to him. Garrison made a game of familiarizing the boy with cockpit systems and engine diagnostics, giving him simple navigation problems to solve—as any good Roamer father would, even though Garrison had chafed under how his stern father had raised him. He would not make the same mistakes with Seth.Roamers were free spirits, sometimes deprecatingly called space gypsies, whose clans filled niches too rugged and dangerous for more pampered people—places such as the Sheol lava-processing operations. He had followed Elisa there because of her promotion in Iswander Industries.“You should stay away from That Woman,” Olaf Reeves had warned him, not once but dozens of times. “If you defy me, if you marry her, you will regret it. You are spitting on your heritage.”Now, Garrison hated to admit that his father had been right.He closed his eyes, took a breath, and opened them. He studied the markers on the ship’s copilot control panels, then turned to his son. “Go ahead and set the next course, Seth.”“But where are we going?”“You pick, so long as we’re heading away from Sheol.” He tapped the starscreen, which showed infinite possibilities. “On this trip, we’re truly roaming. I just need some time away from everybody so I can rethink things.”Though anxious, the boy was glad to be with his father. Seth respected his mother, even feared her, but he loved his father. Elisa never let down her walls—not with any business associate, not with Garrison, not even with her own son.“Will I be able to go to Academ now?” Seth asked. The Roamer school inside a hollowed-out comet had always fascinated the boy. He wanted to be with the children of other clans, to have friends. Garrison knew his son would be happier at Academ, but Elisa had refused to consider sending their son there.“Maybe we’ll arrange that before long. For now, you can learn from me.”Unlike other Roamer children, Seth hadn’t grown up in a pleasant domed greenhouse asteroid or on the open gas-giant skies of an ekti-harvesting skymine. Rather, his daily view was a blaze of scarlet magma erupting in a smoke-filled sky. All the personnel of the lava-mining facility lived in reinforced habitat towers mounted on pilings sunk down to solid rock. More than two thousand employees, specialists of various ranks—engineers like Garrison himself, metallurgists, geologists, shipping personnel, and just plain grunt workers—filled shifts aboard the smelter barges or control towers, surrounded by fires that could have inspired Hell itself.No other parents kept their children here. Sheol was no place for a family, no home for a boy, regardless of the career advancement opportunities for Elisa.As the two closely orbiting halves of the binary planet adjusted their dance of celestial mechanics, Garrison had analyzed the orbital pirouette, uncovering fourth-order resonances that he suspected would make the fragments dip fractionally closer to each other, increasing stresses. He studied the melting points, annealing strengths, and ceramic-lattice structure of the habitat and factory towers.And he realized the danger to the Iswander operations.Alarmed, he had presented his results to Lee Iswander, only to be rebuffed when neither the industrialist nor his deputy—Garrison’s own wife—took his warnings seriously. Iswander impatiently told Garrison to go back to work and reassured him that the lava-processing outpost was perfectly safe. The material strength of the structural elements was rated to withstand the environment of Sheol, although with little margin for error.When Garrison insisted, Iswander grudgingly brought in a team of contract geologists and engineers who found a way to rerun the calculations, to reaffirm that nothing could go wrong. The specialists had departed with surprising haste—worried about their own safety?Garrison still trusted his own calculations, though. Next, he felt it was his responsibility to warn the Sheol employees, which infuriated Elisa, who was sure that his whistle-blowing would cost her a promotion.Honestly, Garrison hoped he was wrong. He knew he wasn’t. Convinced he had no alternative, he decided to take Seth away from Sheol before disaster struck.…After scanning the star catalog, the boy chose coordinates that qualified as little other than “the middle of nowhere.” The stardrive engines hummed and changed tone as they adjusted course, and the vessel streaked off again.Seth looked up at him with a sparkle in his eyes. “If we had our own compy, Dad, he could fly the ship, and you and I could play games.”Garrison smiled. “We’re on autopilot. We can still play games.”Because there were no other children on Sheol, Seth had longed for a competent computerized companion, probably a Friendly model who could keep him company and amuse him. At the lava-mining facility, Lee Iswander used only a handful of Worker compies, none of which were the more sociable types, not even a Teacher compy.“Your mother didn’t see the point in owning a compy,” Garrison said. “But maybe we can revisit that.” After we see what happens.In his head, Garrison heard his father’s gruff voice again. “You never should have married That Woman. You’re a Roamer, and you belong with other Roamers!”“Elisa’s not a Roamer, but Lee Iswander comes from a good clan,” he had responded, though the words sounded flat in his own ears.“That man has more of the Hansa about him than the clans. He’s forgotten who he is.” The bearded clan patriarch had waved a finger in front of his son’s face. “And if you stay with him, you will forget who you are. Too many Roamer clans have forgotten. A knife loses its edge unless it is sharpened.”But Garrison had refused to listen and married Elisa Enturi anyway. He’d given up so much for her … or had he done it just to act out against his father? He had wanted a family, a fulfilled life, and Elisa wanted something else.“If we find a place and settle down, will Mother come to live with us again?” Seth asked.Garrison didn’t want to lie. He stared out at the forest of stars ahead and the great emptiness in which they had lost themselves. “She wants to take her chances at Sheol for now.”The boy looked sad but stoic. “Maybe someday.”Garrison could not envision any other answer but Maybe someday.Still running, they crossed the expansive emptiness for days, and then they encountered an amazing anomaly: a cluster of gas bags far outside of any star system. Each bloated globule was twice the size of their ship.Garrison ran a quick diagnostic. “Never seen anything like these.”The membranous bubbles drifted along in a loose gathering with nothing but light-years all around them. In the dim light of faraway stars, the spherical structures appeared greenish brown, and each filmy membrane enclosed a blurry nucleus. Hundreds of thousands of them formed an island in a sea of stars.Seth studied both the sensor screens and the unfiltered view through the windowport. “Are they alive?”Garrison shut down the engines so their ship could drift toward them. “No idea.” The strange objects seemed majestic—silent, yet powerful. Organic? They filled him with a sense of wonder. “They remind me of … space plankton.”“They’re bloated and floating,” Seth said. “We should call them bloaters.”A random glimmer of light brightened one of the nodules, an internal flash that faded. Then another bloater flickered and quickly faded.Close together at one of th... Views: 576
Synthesis is a fast-paced romance with a sci fi twist. What if you created something that wished to be real? What if that same something was the product of many months of slaving over a keyboard typing lines of code? What if that same something just happened to be your dream guy, only trapped in a virtual world? What lengths would you go to in order to free him? Kelley will find out!What would you do if you could create the perfect man? Kelley has done just that... only he lives inside a set of expensive and powerful computers. During her years of working as a high level software engineer, she developed the ideal Artificial Intelligence interface. What was once just a project that went by the name C.A.L.E.B, has soon spun out of her control. "Caleb", has in fact turned into a virtual human being, and is intent on finding a way to be able to walk amongst the living. Threatened by the loss of her project funding, Kelley finds an unlikely ally in a dashing man from Costa Rica who heads a state of the art genetics lab.What follows is a whirl wind of action and suspense. Kelley finds out that Caleb has a few tricks up his sleeve, and holds abilities that no one could have ever imagined! Views: 576
A TASTE OF SIN
Holly Sullivan has always been the good girl. She follows the rules and does her best to please her father. But what has it gotten her? Her father sells the company she assumed she would inherit to gambler Liam Conner, and her fiancé jilts her at the altar. Why not spend her non-wedding night at The Playhouse, the most notorious sex club in Nevada, indulging her deepest desires?
A DESPERATE GAMBLE
Liam fell in love with Holly at first glance. Unfortunately, she hates him for buying her father’s business. Even worse, she refuses to admit their mutual desire. Then he’s given a second chance to claim her for his own when her worthless fiancé dumps her. Following her to The Playhouse, he devotes the night to fulfilling her fantasies. But will she forgive him when his secret is revealed? Views: 576
