Reaper (#1, Duster and a Gun)

Angels fight for Heaven, demons fight for Hell and no one fights for the humans caught in the middle—except the reapers. The greatest of humanity’s offerings, they’re chosen at a young age and cultivated into instruments of vengeance. This order alone fights to keep the balance in our world, steeped in controversy, rejected by those in Heaven and condemned by the monsters in Hell.Duster and a Gun:In 1447, history was rewritten when the Vatican was swallowed whole by the fiery pits of Hell. Demons, ghouls and other unspeakable horrors descended upon the land, preying on humanity; caught in the middle of a battle they knew nothing about. And so began a perpetual dark age, where one’s worth was valued on how well they handle themselves in a fight. Pursuits such as peace and equal rights were put on hold, for larger firearms and the tightening of dictatorships. It was truly Hell on Earth, and Heaven didn’t seem to care in the least.By the year 2015, it was a perverse world of science, where the hydrogen bomb and steam-powered locomotive exist in unison, corrupted by the will of the supernatural. The Industrial revolution is in full swing, and the only thing faster than the rise of the USA is the inner turmoil that threatens to bring it all apart from the shadows.Reaper:Angels fight for Heaven, demons fight for Hell and no one fights for the humans caught in the middle—except the reapers. The greatest of humanity’s offerings, they’re chosen at a young age and cultivated into instruments of vengeance. This order alone fights to keep the balance in our world, steeped in controversy, rejected by those in Heaven and condemned by the monsters in Hell. This is the story of one such reaper, Horace McKidrict, and his fight to restore what was lost from him. Neither Heaven nor Hell will be able to stop the reaper on his quest to take back what he once had, and may God have mercy on any man that dares to block his path.In the first installment of Duster and a Gun, our hero tries to piece together the life that was stolen from him. He finds himself in the Copper State, Arizona, where death and decay plague the countryside, and humans live between uncaring angels and evil monsters. Horace’s needs to let go of the past and embrace the future if he wants any hope to cast back the demons and unveil the mystery residing deep within the unsuspecting population.Warning: This eBook contains graphic imagery and coarse language.
Views: 650

Outliers: The Story of Success

In this stunning new book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of "outliers"--the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different? His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing. Along the way he explains the secrets of software billionaires, what it takes to be a great soccer player, why Asians are good at math, and what made the Beatles the greatest rock band. Brilliant and entertaining, OUTLIERS is a landmark work that will simultaneously delight and illuminate.
Views: 650

The History of the Future

The dramatic, larger-than-life true story behind the founding of Oculus and its quest for virtual reality, by the bestselling author of Console Wars. From iconic books like Neuromancer to blockbuster films like The Matrix, virtual reality has long been hailed as the ultimate technology. But outside of a few research labs and military training facilities, this tantalizing vision of the future was nothing but science fiction. Until 2012, when Oculus founder Palmer Luckey—then just a rebellious teenage dreamer living alone in a camper trailer—invents a device that has the potential to change everything. With the help of a videogame legend, a serial entrepreneur and many other colorful characters, Luckey's scrappy startup kickstarts a revolution and sets out to bring VR to the masses. As with most underdog stories, things don't quite go according to plan. But what happens next turns out to be the ultimate entrepreneurial journey: a tale of...
Views: 641

A Tattered Yellow Ribbon

She doesn’t know, no one does, what he has seen, experienced in the war. He has returned physically whole but a darkness, a distance has crept into him. She does her best to cope, care, live, because, she loves him. But, will this darkness become the only thing he understands and clings to or, can she reach him?This is a story about Seglaman the Snow God, and how other God’s use his sorry tale as a reminder to younger less experienced God's as a warning to never become too comfortable when ruling over mortals who worship them.If you read this story then I would much appreciate it if you would review the story (whether the review be good or bad) as any feedback would be most helpful.If you do like this story then be sure to check out some of my other stuff, such as "Of Muscle And Magic, it’s a little different from the norm, but then again, so am I!J.A.Strickland
Views: 641

Nssm 200 - The Milieu Derivative

A Kindle best seller. A body plucked from the sea, a call for help, a friend in danger. Three linked events. It can only mean one thing to Matt Durham. He must return to the past, to the duplicity and machinations of others, for they are not done with him. And now he isn't done with them. This is where it will end. For him or his enemies.The Red Dragon stirs. Is it a threat to global stability, or just to the West? The world holds its breath, watches, and waits.Such grand matters of State don’t concern Matt Durham. He has moved into a new house by the coast on Vancouver Island with his partner Grace. Life is comfortable. Life is good. It doesn’t get any better than this.That is until he plucked a woman’s body from the sea. Now it would begin. The discovery prompts a desperate call for help. Not just any call but one from an old foe, now wishing to befriend him for mutually beneficial reasons. Grace told him to ignore the caller. The same person had not so long ago tried to have Matt killed; except there is a life at stake, the life of someone important to him. Compelled to accept the invitation and believing the task at hand to be relatively uncomplicated he all too soon grasps the gravity of the situation and realises he should have known better. Nothing about this past adversary is ever straightforward.Matt is unwittingly plunged into a dark world he doesn’t understand, one of political intrigue and manipulation, bringing him into contact with the widow of a man he killed, a woman he must now deceive. The further he delves, the muddier the waters become and he begins to understand his adversary has involved him in a plot far bigger than he could have imagined, a conspiracy which leads to the heart of the US Administration.Now he must find a way out. But to succeed he must compromise both himself and his ideals by making alliances with people he cannot trust, by deceiving the innocent, and by testing the loyalties of those closest. Matt must call upon all his reserves of strength and courage relying on nothing other than his wit and cunning.He must risk everything to get to the truth; to reach the end game.
Views: 639

The Book of RAM

He is Eka-vachani, a king who always keeps his word; Eka-bani, an archer who strikes his target with the first arrow; and Eka-patni, a husband who is eternally and absolutely devoted to a single wife. He is maryada purushottam Ram, the supreme upholder of social values, the scion of the Raghu clan, jewel of the solar dynasty, the seventh avatar of Vishnu, God who establishes order in worldly life. Hindus believe that in stressful and tumultuous times chanting Ram's name and hearing his tale, the Ramayan, brings stability, hope, peace and prosperity. Reviled by feminists, appropriated by politicians, Ram remains serene in his majesty, the only Hindu deity to be worshipped as a king.
Views: 639

Butt-washing Funny

A collection of Midwest and Southern short stories and jokes by the author.A collection of Midwest and Southern short stories and jokes by the author. Includes chapters from the novel Thibodaux's Trial.
Views: 638

H+ (Plus) a New Religion

H+ (Plus) A New Religion? provides a framework for achievement through daily acts of help or contribution. Whether this is offering other people something to laugh at or helping an elderly person cross the road, through these altruistic acts comes a sense of achievement, and from achievement comes self-esteem and a belief in oneself. Edward de Bono's new groundbreaking book offers an entirely positive way of life: with the emphasis not on sins that are to be avoided, but on things that are to be done. 'H' stands for: - Happiness - Help - Hope - Health - and, most importantly, Humour.
Views: 637

What is wrong with America?

An essay on the current economy and what we need to do to change the direction of where we are heading.An essay that highlights on the current state of affairs and how our economy is being hurt. The culprits for this state of affairs are the Current Administration, Political plays, Corporate Greed and other things but a deeper look in to these and other factors reveal that a lot of blame is on the working population and how we can turn things around.
Views: 636

The Caller

A sedate academic recieves a distraut call in the middle of the night that sends him tubling into the world of clandestine affairs.INSIDE —PART TWO: KATHERINE KELLY LANG EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW ON LOSING RIDGE AND STEPHANIE FORRESTER! PLUS: HER THOUGHTS ON BROOKE’S NEW LOVE INTEREST! ALSO: WILL RONN MOSS RETURN FOR STEPHANIE’S DEATH? — Exclusive Interview: Tristan Rogers On His GH Comeback — and His Future on Y&R! (It’s Not Over Yet!) — WHICH SUPERSTAR IS THISCLOSE TO BEING FIRED? HINTS INSIDE — Victoria Rowell Loses Her Shit on Twitter Again! — FEARLESS NOVEMBER SWEEPS PREDICTIONS — Is Lynn Herring Back on GH? Who’s Next? (Hint: A Major Heroine) — IS PHICK OVER FOR GOOD ON Y&R? Find Out! — B&B’s HEATHER TOM FINALLY GIVES BIRTH! — Is Sheila Carter Back On Y&R? — NEW: PRIME SUDS — THE ARROW’S STEPHEN AMELL HITS THE BULLS EYE IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW — Major Story Previews — CARTINI’S BIG GH WIN —Can Nancy Lee Grahn’s Boobs Save The World? — LAST WEEK REVIEWS! — Casting Coach! SOAP PORN! UNCENSORED Quotes Of The Week!
Views: 634

Cousin (A selection from the My Kin collection)

The South probably won't rise again. We're too busy trying to keep up with each other. Down here, family ties are strong but often as tangled as the kudzu that grows wild along the highways. These stories are told with a helping of humor, a pinch of forgiveness and a dash of dismay.This selection features Cousin, a short story from the upcoming collection My Kin, soon available as an ebook.No one knows who started using the word 'f-zombie', though the term seemed to fit. There's not one officially recognized source for the 'f' in f-zombie, but each explanation for it is pretty much true. One thing that they are is fastidious. What that means is that they tidy up after themselves, which means they look like everyone else. No blood drippings from their chins, skin hanging loose off their face, no white eyeballs or the stench of rotted flesh. If your best friend was a well fed f-zombie and was sitting in that chair on the other side of the room, yeah that chair with your stuffed teddy bear, you wouldn't have any idea at all. They tied their shoes, buttoned their shirts and combed their hair. Fooled us real good. That's another 'f', 'fooled'. Because they looked so much like everyone else, we liked to say they'd pull a 'fast one' on you. That's where they fool you and it's also how so many people got bit.There was also the name 'festies', cause they'd show up at parties. 'Feisties' because they'd get real agitated if you found out they were an f-zombie and didn't treat them exactly like you had before they were infected. There was the name 'Falsies', cause they're just false. Last one I can remember was 'feasties', cause they were coming to eat you.
Views: 632

Project: AKRA

Raist was genetically engineered to be smarter, faster, stronger, and a leader of the most elite Solarian military team that has never lost. His group is contacted with a mission worth the risk of such a valuable asset: recovering the enigmatic secret known only as AKRA. With a horrifying discovery that threatens to affect the very framework of reality, everything he has may not be enough.Raist was genetically engineered to be smarter, faster, stronger, and a leader of the most elite Solarian military team that has never lost. His group is contacted with a mission worth the risk of such a valuable asset: recovering the enigmatic secret known only as AKRA. Given unlimited resources, his team must assault a hostile planet that has staved off all attacks. With a horrifying discovery that threatens to affect the very framework of reality, everything he has may not be enough.***This story is part of the VayneLine series that explores humanity’s near future of living across the stars and under foreign occupation. After Earth was environmentally devastated amidst a nuclear war, the Aelisha step and save us at a high cost. In return for being uplifted and given their advanced technology, humanity becomes a subservient race for their empire. The stories blend fast-paced action with deep philosophical questions regarding time, fate, and individual will. The stories do not need to be read in order but each story ties together in a larger narrative.Visit www.Vayneline.com for more information on this story and all of the other stories in the VL universe. It contains information on technology, characters, concepts, and much more regarding the expansive canon. There you can read more in-depth information about every story, as well as see the connections between them along with additional facts beyond the books.
Views: 632

Macabre Dairies

A collection of stories written by characters living unknown horrors that will change them and their families forever.How can simple days in one's life can turn into a supernatural event so bizarre? How can one deal with the unknown right under their noses? How can one survive events with the interference of the darkest side of reality?When American Indians from the future of an alternate Earth move their entire island nation to our Earth, Ell Harmon makes the first alien contact. The take-charge Seattle biologist has always yearned to find intelligent aliens, and her dream comes true when she meets Prince Tro Eaglesbrood.Ell and Tro are quarantined together, while the fearful world awaits news of the aliens. She yearns to help the newcomers settle peacefully, so she and Tro broadcast a show daily, on which she interviews Tro and tries to humanize Kwadrans. Although Ell shrinks from the limelight, she forces herself, for peace’s sake…and for Tro’s. The show is wildly popular. More importantly, the romance developing on-screen reassures the world. If a smart woman like Ell can fall for a Kwadran, they must not be monsters.But Tro’s duty lies with his people, and soon that duty threatens not only the show but Ell’s heart—as well as the peace and survival of our world.
Views: 632