Introducing The Shaman Of The Earth Maker and the return of The Pearl. “Every sentient species has a secret joy in thinking they are the most creative harbingers of death but each and every one cowers in corners to what the natural order of things can do.”Mayenta has returned once again to the land with no recollection of where she had gone. All she knew was, every time she returned to the vale, she returned lying in the same spot underneath a dogwood tree growing high upon Honor Mountain--and, as usual, she returned naked. What did it mean that she left Paigorya without warning? Where did she go? WHY did she go? And, most importantly, who was she?The Dogwood Tree eBook short story includes a free excerpt from Laurie Y. Elrod's novel, Blackridge-Book One of the So'ladiun. Views: 423
It is the summer of 1978. Prosper is travelling alone through the remote Nullarbor Plain. As a young, female cadet-reporter for a small newspaper, The Perth Observer, she dreams of bigger things. She is searching for the 'elusive exclusive' that will help her career take off. Her dream is about to come true - an armoured alien creature, hell bent on sticking probes into her eyes...(AU English)It is the summer of 1976. Prosper is travelling alone through the remote Nullarbor Plain. As a young, female cadet-reporter for a small newspaper, The Perth Observer, she dreams of bigger things. She is searching for the 'elusive exclusive' that will help her career take off. Her dream is about to come true - an armoured alien creature, hell bent on sticking probes into her eyes, has attacked her in the desert. With her car in a ditch by the side of the road, a stranger lurking on the distance horizon and no way to contact the outside world, Prosper must battle the creature on her own. But will her ambition be enough to take it captive so she can make her 'exclusive' report?A short Australian Horror story by Australian author Wendy Beach. First published in the Dark Eclipse e-zine, Issue 35.'Incredible and hair-raisingly frightening... Even if I had not been familiar with the scenery, the illustrative paragraphs were absorbingly excellent… This was a succinct and beautiful description of outback Australia.' Lilian Gilmour, Australian Author.'This is an entertaining, rollicking yarn. It reminded me of those wonderful 'schlock horror' movies of the 1950s…it is very visual. Descriptive language is rich, but never overwhelming, and the twists are beautifully delivered.' Jo Taylor, Western Australian Author.'Terrifying…I won't be going to sleep tonight!' Sam Bernard, retired US newspaper editor. Views: 423
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, B Smith has decided to live-- and to fight for good as long as possible. However, London is overridden with brain-eating undead and swarming with human mercenaries whose sense of right and wrong dissolved when society did. When they lay a trap, B is captured. And it'll take dozens of battles--and the fight of a lifetime-- to escape.
Filled with gripping, bloody action sequences, the sixth book in Darren Shan's horrifying Zom-B series promises the fright-- and the fight-- of your life. Views: 423
The story of The First Formic War continues in *Earth Awakens*.
Nearly 100 years before the events of Orson Scott Card's bestselling novel *Ender's Game*, humans were just beginning to step off Earth and out into the Solar System. A thin web of ships in both asteroid belts; a few stations; a corporate settlement on Luna. No one had seen any sign of other space-faring races; everyone expected that First Contact, if it came, would happen in the future, in the empty reaches between the stars. Then a young navigator on a distant mining ship saw something moving too fast, heading directly for our sun.
When the alien ship screamed through the solar system, it disrupted communications between the far-flung human mining ships and supply stations, and between them and Earth. So Earth and Luna were unaware that they had been invaded until the ship pulled into Earth orbit, and began landing terra-forming crews in China. Politics and pride slowed the response on Earth, and on Luna, corporate power struggles seemed more urgent than distant deaths. But there are a few men and women who see that if Earth doesn't wake up and pull together, the planet could be lost.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied. Views: 423
Members of the Assassins' Guild can be as honorable as anyone. They might be trained to kill, but they're just people with loved ones to protect and avenge.This short story is also included in "Saif&Kilig" and in the free anthology with various authors "Wyrd Worlds 2"‘The Scribe’ is a collection of twelve letters included in ‘The Archivist’ and is part of 'The Lost Spells of Egypt' series.Sepedet, a would be scribe, has kept secrets from her son, Ahmose. Now that he has been summoned to the temple of Amun in Thebes to begin his studies, she decides to tell him about the tragic events of the past, including the demise of her father, an archivist. She writes Ahmose a letter, one for every month of his absence. Sepedet believes that her letters will help her son find his rightful place in Thebes, but what she does not know, is that she is sending him into danger. Views: 423
When a trip to the Big Apple ends in murder, the sewing circle searches for a killer who’s rotten to the core. . . Winning an appearance on a top-rated, New York based morning show means the trip of a lifetime for librarian Tori Sinclair and the Sweet Briar Ladies Society Sewing Circle. Anxious to experience Manhattan with her friends, Tori is less than excited when fellow member Dixie Dunn opts to use the vacation as an opportunity to rendezvous with a man she met online. Still, Tori never imagined her friend would be taken in by a con man specializing in scamming vulnerable older women—or that Dixie would be arrested for his murder. Now, as the sewing circle goes up against Gotham’s elite to prove Dixie’s innocence, they will have to unravel tangled secrets and alibis, patch together a mess of clues, and put a clever killer in the city’s hottest spotlight . . . Views: 423
While wandering the continent of Pangea a prehistoric man falls in love with a blind girl."With subtle humor and a charming regional voice, James Rhodes cleverly crafts a story of vengeance, mystery and witchcraft. Deftly weaving the ordinary and supernatural Rhodes leads readers along a path strewn with dreary workaday details offset by exciting glimpses of an otherworld that threatens to destroy the safety of the mundane."- Kirsten Imani Kasai, Author: Ice Song, Tattoo, Del Rey BooksThings are going well for the Hettford Witch Hunt. Milton and Carrie are still in love, Dan has plenty to get angry about and nobody has had to lie on an insurance form in months.Meanwhile, it has been a bleak and austere winter for Gary who inhabits his house like the ghost of his relationship with Alison. Will a new arrival in Hettford help to pull him out of his slump? Will his old friends at the Hettford Witch Hunt rally around him? Will he ever be able to love again? Or, will the vengeful spirits of witches that haunt his village continue to hold back his career.Note: This book is best enjoyed as a continuation of Hettford Witch Hunt: Series One and Hettford Witch Hunt: Easter Special . Both of these titles are available at no cost from Smashwords and Amazon. Views: 423
What's a bisexual teen to do when his fantasy world of elves and wizards keeps intruding on his first time with his boyfriend?In the real world, Adrian Ocampo is a high school junior with a Mohawk, an eyebrow ring, and a crew of nerdy friends. But when he and his buddies get together to play their favorite role-playing game, he is transported to the world of Kazala, a world of elves, wizards, and monsters, a world in which Adrian is a mighty elf warrior fighting for the good of the land.To add to the fun, Adrian recently started dating the handsome Jesse, one of the guys in his gaming circle. In the past, every attempt they’d made to be alone had been thwarted by overly present parents. But one day, after wrapping up the game, Jesse invites Adrian to his house and explains his mother will be away all night. Excited by the possibility of finally having sex with Jesse, Adrian’s mind catapults back and forth between the real world of Jesse’s kisses and the imagined world of Kazala, where he and Jesse must battle a terrible enemy.Conjuring the Shroud is presented as part of Brent Hartinger’s Real Story Safe Sex Project, whose mission is to encourage safe sex among gay and bi teens and twenty-somethings while also providing some entertaining reads. Views: 423
New York Times bestselling author Deanna Raybourn delivers the story of one woman who embarks upon a journey to see the world—and ends up finding intrigue, danger and a love beyond all reason. Famed aviatrix Evangeline Starke never expected to see her husband, adventurer Gabriel Starke, ever again. They had been a golden couple, enjoying a whirlwind courtship amid the backdrop of a glittering social set in prewar London until his sudden death with the sinking of the Lusitania. Five years later, beginning to embrace life again, Evie embarks upon a flight around the world. In the midst of her triumphant tour, she is shocked to receive a mysterious—and recent—photograph of Gabriel, which brings her ambitious stunt to a screeching halt.With her eccentric aunt Dove in tow, Evie tracks the source of the photo to the ancient City of Jasmine, Damascus. There she discovers that danger lurks at every turn, and at stake is a priceless relic, an... Views: 423
Decades after an alien virus changed the course of history, the surviving population of Manhattan still struggles to understand the new world left in its wake. Natural humans share the rough city with those given extraordinary—and sometimes terrifying—traits. While most manage to coexist in an uneasy peace, not everyone is willing to adapt. Down in the seedy underbelly of Jokertown, residents are going missing. The authorities are unwilling to investigate, except for a fresh lieutenant looking to prove himself and a collection of unlikely jokers forced to take matters into their own hands—or tentacles. The deeper into the kidnapping case these misfits and miscreants get, the higher the stakes are raised.
Edited by #1 New York Times bestselling author George R. R. Martin and acclaimed author Melinda M. Snodgrass, Lowball is the latest mosaic novel in the acclaimed Wild Cards universe, featuring original fiction by Carrie Vaughn, Ian Tregillis, David Anthony Durham, Melinda M. Snodgrass, Mary Anne Mohanraj, David D. Levine, Michael Cassutt, and Walter John Williams.
Perfect for old fans and new readers alike, Lowball delves deeper into the world of aces, jokers, and the hard-boiled men and women of the Fort Freak police precinct in a pulpy, page-turning novel of superheroics and mystery.
At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied. Views: 423
From the author of The Passionate and the Proud, a saga of love and rebellion sweeping from the green hills of Scotland to the shores of colonial America. In eighteenth-century Scotland, Selena MacPherson is the proud princess of Coldstream Castle. She's never met a man who doesn't desire her, but she has yet to meet the man she desires in return. Royce Cambell is the fabled son of a ruthless Highland clan. He has fleets and warriors ready to do his bidding and his frightening legends glitter about him like a cloak. Royce is promised to Veronica Blakemore, a woman of fire and ice, but when he meets Selena at an Edinburgh ball, there is no denying the burning promise of ecstasy between them. But only in the new world, across raging seas, does that promise have the chance to be fulfilled. Set in the exhilarating time of the American Revolution, Flames of Desire is a rousing tale of pride, passion, and a love triangle that... Views: 423
