Jayce and Beverly detour to visit the memorial commemorating a community’s victory over an alien invasion. Guided by the cemetery’s caretaker, they consider the stories told by the holograms installed within each grave, neither suspecting that following the caretaker too far might reveal a buried truth far unlike the history preached by figures of light.Twenty-five years ago, the aliens arrived in the star-filled sky and attempted to conquer the world. The carnage of that battle poisoned the environment, but it also united humanity in defiance of the extraterrestrial invaders. Guided by the Starwatch, humankind vows to be prepared should the aliens ever return to battle for Earth. Starwatch gives those surviving on a sick world hope to push onward until the world can recover from the poisons the alien menace delivered to the planet.Jayce Gorman and Beverly Wilcox visit the memorial dedicated to the community of New Bethany, which fought off the alien invasion before those attackers could establish a foothold on Earth. There, they listen and watch as holograms of the deceased sparkle in the night air to share their stories of defiance with the living. They are guided by a sad caretaker, who seems powerless to combat the cemetery weeds.But the caretaker knows more than Jayce or Beverly first assume, and he slowly pulls secrets out from his sleeves, until he contradicts the fables told by holograms with a history he witnessed first-hand, so that Jayce and Beverly must decide how deep they dare dig to know the truth of what appeared in the night sky. Views: 756
17-year-old Tull has loved horses ever since he can remember but as the son of a single mum with more pressing things to pay for than riding lessons he’s never got closer than stroking them over the fence. Until one day a chance encounter with the most unlikely of girls opens the door to his dream. The question is, is it still the same dream? And is he tough enough to prove he’s worth living it?Most of the poems in Aerial Muse were written in the sky -- on commercial airline flights. A few other poems are populated with birds, real or imagined. But these poems are less about transportation than they are about transformation and transcendence. Often the poems themselves take flight -- imagination lifting from the ground of everyday details into wild, blue wonder. Acclaimed poet Naomi Shihab Nye summarized this poetry collection with a single word: "glorious." Views: 756
James returns to Addieville to finish what Mr. Turner started years ago when the old boneshaker burned his books and set half the town aflame. James returns to recover Mr. Turner's runes and so link his bloodline to that of a cursed family whose study of an ancient and lost alphabet doomed them to suffering and pain. But to James, such a curse is a small cost to pay to bury a dead town’s bones.Addieville offers no friendship to James Frost’s family. James’ father refuses to remove that vile book of Mr. Turner’s poetry from the town library, and so the residents of Addieville view the Frosts as a family undeserving of their trust. Mr. Turner doesn’t allow the kindness the Frosts show him go unreturned, and as Addieville begins to torment the Frosts to drive them out of town, that old poet unravels captivating magic to their son James. Mr. Turner and James learn they share much more in common than their ugliness, and the young boy and old man begin a last ritual for Addieville when they burn books upon a great pyre and spread a cleansing blaze through town. Views: 752
Mankind can only guess how long the alien water baskets have stood upon the planet of Sutherland. No clues have been found of the alien race who constructed such delicate mechanisms so long ago to harvest water from the arid planet's atmosphere. Those of the United Systems simply recognize the water's value, and so they refuse to allow the settlers of Zeb to jeopardize such ancient artifacts.The actions of those settlers who call Zeb Griffin their teacher, mentor and prophet once again mortify Operative Sheridan, sent to the barren and rocky planet named Sutherland in order to protect the ancient water baskets that harvest moisture from a dry sky. Some settler of Zeb has broken an ancient water basket. Some settler of Zeb has failed to appreciate the water baskets' value and splendor. The baskets represent the first traces of another intelligence other than mankind's amid the stars. The water baskets harvest water, mankind's most precious resource in the colonization of the stars. Yet those who claim to follow the long-dead philosopher named Zeb Griffin still damage the mechanisms their clumsy hands cannot work, whose design their closed minds cannot understand. Operative Sheridan holds the pieces of a water basket destroyed by a careless settler of Zeb, and his crafty mind hatches a plan to secure those incredible devices from the settlers' folly. He will fire no shot, nor request a single soldier. Yet in the end, those who call Zeb their mentor will serve as puppets to Operative Sheridan's designs. Views: 750
A reunion with his life’s only true love, Maxine, relieves Gerald Hollenkamp from his years of regret. Time, however, cannot be paused for the sake of memory; and Gerald fears he has lost his true love for good when Maxine’s weakening mind places her in a retirement home. Yet a magic remains, and with a glamour masking his gray beard, Gerald has a chance to remain next to Maxine.Fate separated Gerald Hollenkamp from his life's only true love Maxine so many lost years ago. Though Maxine moved forward in her life and raised a family of her own, in a home shared with a loving husband, Gerald drifted from one job to the next, with a small key kept in his pocket to always remind him of Maxine, with a key's charm in his pocket protecting him from the dangers his drifting years encountered. And just when Gerald thinks he will no longer have to taste the bitter regret that has plagued his days, Maxine's weakening memory once again separates Gerald from his love. Only, that small key holds a last hope, a power to veil Gerald's face in shimmering magic, a power that gives Gerald a chance to in the end remain next to Maxine's side. Views: 750
Until the arrival of a pair of brothers, Buck would have whispered to anyone who could hear him that loneliness was the most painful aspect of his haunting. With the arrival of brothers, Buck's old home is filled with games that remind Buck how to laugh. But when an uninvited spirit intrudes, Buck's ghost will transform into any shape needed to defend the new brothers he comes to call family.Their family's new move into the large home in the country makes brothers Trent and Trevor very happy. They enjoy the space now provided in the home for their toys and games. They enjoy the open air of the woods behind their home. And most of all, Trent and Trevor enjoy the company of the ghost residing in the home who joins them in contests of video game hockey. Trent and Trevor's mother, however, does not share her sons' excitement for a trespassing ghost. When she returns from a business trip with a voodoo mask she believes will exorcise the young ghost from her home, she instead brings a far more terrible, and vengeful, spirit into the brothers' room. That terrifying new spirit shrieks and chokes, and the war Carol and her sons will wage with that wraith reminds them that blood is not the only defining marker of family. Views: 745
Alone and on the trail,what can you do but howl for those you miss ?To visit humans, there are rules. Many rules. But Rex and Auden have learned them all. There is nothing they like better than going to town. As soon as the sun sets, they leave to play hide-and-go seek, pull pranks, and sing their favorite songs. Find out what else they do during their Monster Nights.(For ages 3-6) Views: 744
The Khy'Meir tribes posses few weapons with which to combat the Alhambran Empire. The tribes cannot match the empire's swords, nor do they have the stones with which to build walls. The tribes' only weapon is fear, wielded by their shadows infiltrating the enemy's homeland. But the tribes underestimate how deeply the fear cuts, realizing too late the doom shadows help to summon.The Alhambran Empire has captured a shadow agent of the Khy'Meir tribes. Though they would be happy to murder an agent responsible for casting so much fear through their empire of glowing temples and paved roadways, the captors must stay their hand, for the warlock has told them the shadow agent must be kept alive and lucid. The warlock and his king have forged from the legends of the Khy'Mier tribes a weapon of unparalleled power, a weapon with which to finally scatter the enemy tribes to ash. But the warlock and the king find they cannot put that weapon back in its cage, and so the fate of two enemies hinge on whatever answers a shadow is able to voice. Views: 737
Brandon Tuggle slumbers and toils upon the world's sharpest acres. During the day, he mans the salvage crane and stacks refuse into teetering piles. During the night, he traces maps in his dreams. His skin is scarred by the salvage yard's sharp piles, and lonely Brandon wonders where all his uncles have gone. It takes a surprise visit from Mercy before Brandon can see a color other than rust.Loneliness irritates Brandon Tuggle's scarred skin. He never knew his mother, and his father has left him behind in the Tuggle salvage yard to be raised by a crowd of uncles. Each day, Brandon operates the yard's giant crane as a fleet of trucks dumps the world's refuse at his doorstep. He is helpless as his uncles vanish amid the maze of junk piles looming throughout the yard, and Brandon can't help but worry that he too will soon find himself lost in that jungle of sharp steel and rusting ore. But a day comes when a truck delivers him Mercy, opening the door to color and splendor that Brandon never thought he would see floating between his family's junk piles. Views: 728
Slow Fall is a mystery in The Wekiwa County series. An ex-Miami cop returns to rural Florida to bury his father, an apparent suicide. Troubled by the circumstances of his father's death, he is drawn into a maelstrom of intrigue involving sleazy televangelists, drug runners, and corruption. A secret past connects the threads in a startling climax of greed, ambition, incest and death.Slow Fall is a mystery in The Wekiwa County series. Set in the pre-Disney torpor of rural central Florida, it tells the story of an ex-Miami-cop who returns to his small-town Florida home to bury his father, an apparent suicide. Troubled by the circumstances of his father's death, he is drawn into a maelstrom of intrigue involving televangelists, drug runners, and corruption. A secret past connects the threads in a startling climax of greed, unbridled ambition, incest and death. Views: 701
The followers of Griffin have built their thirteenth colony in record time. The United Systems rewards the effort by placing the governance of Griffin XIII into the hands of the colonists. For the thirteenth time, the followers of Zeb may live in true freedom. Only none of the twelve previous colonies named Griffin remain, and the ultimate danger resides in the colonists themselvesKassie Mayhap strives to live her life true to the tenants of Zeb Griffin. While the lethal, lavender and gold skies of Griffin XIII sway beyond her colony's glass dome, Kassie vows to live a life of self-reliance. She will answer to no government. Nor will she seek to establish any rule over her neighbors. Kassie will seek no charity, and she will pay no tax. The United Systems has retreated back into the stars with a promise to leave the colonists of Griffin XIII to themselves. Only, the United Systems delivers a final tool to each patriot of Griffin XIII as a last payment for his or her labor. Though the tool feels so soothing in each hand that grips it, the tool empowers each colonist with the power to both preserve and destroy. Though all twelve of the previous colonies of Griffin XIII have perished, Kassie remains faithful that the thirteenth effort of her people will survive in the merciless worlds beyond the supervision of the United Systems. Views: 700
A curse of the moon....A curse of the moon forces Irezlie to kill and survive. The question is; can she stop herself from doing this every month the moon is full? With these dark poems Irezlie slowly finds out the truth of herself and the curse. Views: 697
All she wants is to spend the day with her beloved husband. Instead she's going to spend it at the office, another day sacrificed to the toxic reign of The Bastard.A tongue-in-cheek short story examining the ruinous effects of work-life imbalance.Includes an excerpt from my novel Nothing Ventured.Listening to his grandfather's exciting travel tales, young Ralph dreams of becoming an adventurer himself some day... Bravely pushing the bounds of exploration. Venturing into uncharted territory. And going where no Westerner has gone before. However, as an adult, Ralph's imagination can sometimes get him into hot water. Get this light-hearted tale and delve into Ralph's heady world of adventure! Views: 696
the inner thoughts of a teen struggling with depression and anger.'What if Satan is lonely?"'Christina's Inferno' tells the story of Christina, a young linguistics student who once every one year and fourty-three weeks (Or one year, fourty two weeks and six days if there is a leap year) along with a near death experience Christina is able the make the journey to Hell. There she finds people suffering cruel and everlasting torments based on the sins committed during their time on Earth. She makes the journey down the circles to the darkest depths to find her friends Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed Jesus Christ, and the Prince of Darkness himself Satan.Along the way she encounters the harshness of everyday life for the damned and those who watch over them.Follow Christina as she looks at an old depiction of hell inspired by 'The Divine Comedy' and looks upon it with modern eyes and a contemporary perspective. Views: 689
The Dog Who Watched TV is the fourth in the 'Creature Teachers' series of educational children's books. Jasper the Westie likes to watch TV and barks when he sees other dogs. He has a puzzle, though, which he can't solve. Where do the dogs go when they walk off of the side of the TV screen? 'Creature Teachers' books are aimed at young readers, giving them a fun and informative experience.The Dog Who Watched TV is the fourth in the 'Creature Teachers' series of educational children's books. Jasper the Westie likes to watch TV and barks when he sees other dogs. He has a puzzle, though, which he can't solve. Where do the dogs go when they walk off of the side of the TV screen? ‘Creature Teachers’ is a range of children’s books aimed at educating and amusing the young reader. Each book tells a short story, with illustrations. Each story is based around a particular creature and is told in a humorous yet educational manner and introduces words and phrases that the young reader wouldn't be expected to know.On one level the stories are simple stories with happy endings. At a higher level, the parent can expand on key words and phrases, increasing the child’s vocabulary and basic understanding of simple grammar. Views: 688
