On a dismal evening in the previous century, an unnamed writer in Venice, California, answers a furious pounding at his beachfront bungalow door and again admits Constance Rattigan into his life. An aging, once-glamorous Hollywood star, Constance is running in fear from something she dares not acknowledge -- and vanishes as suddenly as she appeared, leaving the narrator two macabre books: twin listings of the Tinseltown dead and soon to be dead, with Constance's name included among them. And so begins an odyssey as dark as it is wondrous, as the writer sets off in a broken-down jalopy with his irascible sidekick Crumley to sift through the ashes of a bygone Hollywood -- a graveyard of ghosts and secrets where each twisted road leads to grim shrines and shattered dreams ... and, all too often, to death. Views: 739
It’s the most important day of Farouk Ba’asher Bin Abdulraheem’s life, and he’s about to learn some valuable lessons.It’s the most important day of Farouk Ba’asher Bin Abdulraheem’s life, and he’s about to learn some valuable lessons.Suicide bombing isn’t as easy as it looks.God has a twisted sense of humor.Martyrdom ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.Always read the fine print. Views: 739
A young girl has survived the concentration camps of the horrible Vacont, and now she has to find some way to adapt to what most people consider normal life. A story about getting over the pain that life gives us, friendship and most importantly, hope.Written by 16 year old Aura Redwood for an English project that ended up being a lot longer than it needed to be.Four decades had passed since the last Relic war ravished the oppositional lands of Windpass Isles and Gaedia – a war that ceased in a bloodied truce.Drewth is a Light Elemental and Commander knight under Western Gaedia’s lordship, Syndirin - a high wizard and the king’s Arbiter. Syndirin, with questionable and unclear motive, promotes Drewth as his apprentice, and commences the personal training of Drewth in the ways of magic. Drewth then becomes the unwitting subject of Syndirin’s experimental meddle with the mythical powers of Darkened Light, despite the danger, and despite what sacrifice.Torius, a castle knight in Southern Windpass Isles kingdom and Mundane-born, is taken captive by a conspiratorial clique under Lord Syndirin, where he discovers from these captors their insidious campaign to rekindle the long dead Relic war, in pursuit of Relic’s power.Enflamed by an unforgivable betrayal of Syndirin, vengeance transforms Drewth forever within – his Element undergoes a rare alteration, he turns renegade to Gaedia, and allies with Torius, the escaped prisoner of Syndirin’s clique. Together they battle for their lives out from the now enemy territory of Gaedia.They find themselves fatefully party to a band of peasant prisoners with rare abilities invoked from the trials they face in their likewise escape from the treasonous Arbiter, Syndirin.And if odds turn to favor in their fight for survival, there is still threat to hand of a devastating magic war, a campaign in itself to acquire both kingdom’s all-powerful Relics in the wake of their mutual destruction. Views: 739
Antoine Maercx is ranked 73rd in the Time Benelux edition list of 'Most important contemporary thinkers’. He arrives in Wellington to make the keynote address at the biennial Australasian Nietzsche Society conference. But from the moment he is picked up at the airport, things do not go to plan for the eminent professor.Tom Fletcher is a worried man. Middle aged and balding, he hasn't sold a house in weeks and his job is on the line. His wife is cheating on him and he is falling in love with his secretary.He is bewildered by the world. Animate and inanimate objects take on personalities and behaviours in his fertile imagination which make even the commonplace events of daily life into battlegrounds where misunderstanding and confusion reign.All he asks is to be loved, -- but not by the intimidating Carole who contrives and schemes to get him into her bed.In his mind there is a simple solution. Kill his wife and marry his secretary. But where to get the gun?Pausing only to reflect on topology and the meaning of life, Tom pursues a single minded route through a minefield populated by topless dancers and hippopotami, only slightly phased by a tendency to see people as donuts, and use Exchange and Mart as his guide.Frogs, Pizzas, Water Beds, Pygmies, Licorice Flavoured Condoms and an Ostrich all have key parts to play in this drama of everyday folk.This is a love story, or perhaps a murder story, or maybe it's just a tale about a man who doesn't own a decent jacket..... and in the background lurks the mysterious Geoffrey, without whom the story would be incomplete. Views: 739
A sweet little girl.A bullying big brother.A creepy old well.Beware of what you wish for.Get ready for engaging, and oddly humorous content in this month’s edition. Alessandro Cusimano and Jerry Williams will kick off this issue with speculative poetry that may disturb the deeper you wish to analyze. Then we present Richard Lee Landridge’s The Missing Limb, an excellent story of a horrific haunting that doesn’t rely on ghost and spirits, but rather the mind and body split in relation to a known medical phenomenon known as phantom limbs. After surviving a horrific night a slave to your own body’s sinister unconscious intentions, take a break from the bloodletting with Every Twenty-two Days. It’s a slightly dark tale with a hint of erotica with a man cursed to live in torment, denied of freedom and bliss until he can find that certain lay. Views: 738
A psychopathic female fugitive provokes a mother’s vengeance in this terrifying thriller by the New York Times–bestselling author of Gone South and Boy’s Life.
Back in the 1960s, Mary Terrell shot and killed a man. A former member of the fanatical Storm Front Brigade—a splinter group of the notorious Weathermen—Terrell has stayed one step ahead of the FBI for decades. Living with numerous identities and menial jobs, Terrell’s only constants in life have been LSD, psychotic delusions of motherhood, and murderous rage.
The sixties are long gone, but Mary is still out there. Now, provoked by a message she reads in Rolling Stone, she’s convinced that the surviving leader of her old band of radicals wants to build a life with her. So one night, Mary sneaks into the maternity ward of an Atlanta hospital.
Laura Clayborne has a successful career and now, a newborn baby. She’s the type of person who is sensitive to suffering and injustice. But the kidnapping of her infant son has brought out a white-hot fury. She’s not going to sit and wait while the FBI investigates. She’s going after Mary herself—headlong and relentless—on a twisting and violent cross-country pursuit to get her child back. But to track a madwoman, Laura will have to think like one . . .
A Bram Stoker Award winner, this “expertly constructed novel of suspense and horror” (Publishers Weekly) from the author of Swan Song, Speaks the Nightbird, and other acclaimed works is “feverishly exciting . . . a page-whipping thriller” (Kirkus Reviews). Views: 738
Over a hundred years in the future, Ted Anderson, a 42-year-old information specialist from the American States, gets drawn into a dangerous interstellar conflict to liberate Earth from a hostile alien invasion.Over a hundred years in the future, Earth has fallen under the invasion of a hostile alien race—the Drevi. Half the population has been captured as specimens, while the rest are fighting for their lives in a resistance movement that has achieved more defeats than victories.Ted Anderson, a 42-year-old information specialist from the American States, thought nothing could save him from his new life. In spite of being an aide to a leading Drevi scientist who treats him well, he is reminded every day what he truly is. A specimen. An Inferior with no future.Then two strange new aliens arrive as representatives of their government, wanting to free humanity from the invading force. And all of Ted’s dreams come true. He’s on a starship, shooting through space at speeds he had never before imagined. And most of all, he is free again.Now Ted is drawn into a dangerous conflict to save all he knows and loves. But the fate of more than just humanity might rest on his shoulders.In this stunning new science fiction epic, author Karen Lofgren weaves a tale of the human condition, and how even in the darkest of times, it can shine through into the future.Cover image courtesy of NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI AURA)-ESA Hubble Collaboration. This publication is in no way endorsed by NASA. Views: 738
When Samantha took the wheel that night, she had no idea her life was about to change forever. Cradling her dying husband in her arms, salvation appears to her in the form of a little girl. Reaching the end of the rope, she has no choice but to accept the girl's offer, a bargain that on the surface, seems to be everything she wanted. But looks can be deceiving.Samantha and Morgan have had their difficulties, as have most married couples. But when a nasty accident forces Samantha to reevaluate that life, she realizes that she would do anything to have that back again. A little girl offers Samantha a deal, a bargain that seems too good to be true. But can Samantha deal with the consequences of her actions? Or will she learn the hard way that when you go to little girls in dark corners with your problems, you don't often get what you pay for. Views: 738
Just the short tale of a girl whose life was changed overnight. A girl who got to see life from a new view but in the end could not wander far enough to find her original path...Not all killers started out bad, don't you think? Most killers have a motive, a reason for being what they are. And although it sucks you in eventually and makes you keep killing, they weren't always the sadistic, dark type...As the quote goes.. "...Darkness does not always equate to evil as light does not always bring good." -P.C. Cast Views: 738
Living a normal life, three friends have that life taken from them when the Red Horde invades their empire and its cities. Burning people as offerings to their Gods, the three run, trying to seek shelter in the north only to discover they were not born to run. Meeting a stranger on the road north seeking shelter is only the first step in learning their true identities and how to save their world.This book contains a selection of Haiku and other poems organised broadly by topic. Some are based on direct observation of the natural world, others are more philosophic in nature, some may be described as social commentary and some may even be described as humorous. The author was recently published in the Spring edition of the World Haiku Review. Views: 738
When Allie Carter starts her new school, curiosity leads to the discovery of vampires and a new job.Intrigue and danger lurk around every corner. Which will propel her to new unimaginable discoveries? Which will seal her fate?Cavers: A Vampire Tale (Cavers#1)Looking forward to her fifteenth birthday and a new school, Allie Carter finds that all is not as it seems. Curiosity leads to the discovery of vampires at her school, in her classrooms, and in her town. More curious is the fact that her new best friend, Sara Johnson, is in league with them or a vampire herself. As she seeks to prove her friends role, Allie is drawn into an unforgiving world of power and death. Instead of running for her life, she joins a secret society dedicated to helping the vampires remain hidden. Allie becomes a caretaker to the adorable five-year-old Lila and must teach her to blend into human society, but if she fails, the young child will be killed.To navigate the vampire world and educate the children, Allie (and girls like her) receives injections: she runs faster, leaps higher, hears and sees better with increased strength and agility. These girls are one-step away from becoming vampires themselves, influencing their children, fighting in their wars, and becoming the hallmark for integrity and dedication as they help to shape the future of the vampire world. Will Allie have so much fun that she forgets the danger or to educate and protect young Lila or will she rise to the challenge before her? And what of the parents she loves? Will turning her back on them be worth risking all when the vampire princess wants to kill her for pure pleasure? Only time will tell. Views: 737
A Jack Scarlet adventure! A respected Russian ecologist is murdered. His beautiful young widow ask Jack to investigate. The trail leads to a Russian black ops unit, a power-mad general, and an illegal biological weapons program. No time for a 300 page thriller? Jack Scarlet concentrates all the thrills into a few short pages! Skip the setup! Join Jack for a showdown in Siberia starting: Now!Logan Tanner shook the red dust of West Texas off his boots at the age of eighteen and hasn't looked back. When his father has a stroke, Logan is temporarily forced to return home and take over the family ranch. He still feels responsible for his mother's death when he was twelve, and has never gotten over the guilt. Now he's faced with having to protect his twelve year old daughter Katie and his sister and her friend Megan Flynn. It's nearly more than one man can handle. He can't wait to get back to Dallas.Megan Flynn immediately falls in love with Morris Springs, Texas, population 976, when she delivers Logan's runaway daughter to his doorstep. Raised as a city girl, Megan has a dream of a few acres, a few champion Blue Heelers, and a small-town veterinary practice. The only thing standing between her and her dream is one stubborn, reluctant cowboy with an overprotective streak as wide as the West Texas prairie. But her stubborn streak is a match for his any day. And she's determined to prove it.Blame it on Texas is a story of the power of love to overcome any adversity, the strength of family and friendship, and the joy that comes with being part of something bigger than yourself. Views: 736
Jack Wharton witnessed something beautiful, and yet impossible. In pursuit of an explanation, he explores a terrain just outside his front door that he’s never quite noticed before… and discovers quite a bit about himself as well. Set in elegant Marblehead, Massachusetts, A Dance with Tilly follows 14-year-old Jack as he moves briskly through the bewitching worlds of ghosts, grief and girls.Jack Wharton witnessed something beautiful, and yet impossible. In pursuit of an explanation, he explores a terrain just outside his front door that he’s never quite noticed before… and discovers quite a bit about himself as well. A 5,000-word story set in elegant Marblehead, Massachusetts, A Dance with Tilly follows 14-year-old Jack as he moves briskly through the bewitching worlds of ghosts, grief, and that perennial hair-raiser, girls.The story then continues in Jack & Tilly, a 51,000-word novel written after numerous requests to the author for a sequel. Set 18 months after A Dance with Tilly, Jack finally shares the secrets he learned when he was 14. What ensues is an exhilarating race for answers. Jack strives to balance his home life, his world at school, and his relationship with Tilly as the alluring pull of the past threatens to topple everything he values in the present. Views: 736
No one can escape their destiny in a world controlled by the Fates. Ancient prophecies are the means by which the gods maintain order. Whether pauper or king, each life becomes a pawn in a dangerous game of control, where moving pieces determines the course of all living beings.No one can escape their destiny in a world controlled by the Fates. Ancient prophecies are the means by which the gods maintain order. Whether pauper or king, each life becomes a pawn in a dangerous game of control, where moving pieces determines the course of all living beings. The Blood King’s sudden death in the night triggers a foreboding prophecy of dark times, as it is foretold that his unknown Heir would awaken to the dark magic of his blood and enslave the Eleven Kingdoms. Soldiers bring destruction to the countryside seeking the Heir Of The Blood King. Adam escapes the fires of the peaceful village of Riverside in the night when the soldiers laid waste to his adopted home. With his fate uncertain, the unskilled orphan must fight for his freedom against dangerous enemies who give pursuit as he searches for the answers to his past. Adam is also faced with the challenges of survival against the untamed wilderness and its dark denizens as he tries to avoid a destiny he does not want. “The Heir Of The Blood King will rise, this has been divined.” - Ancient prophecy of the Seering Council. “Heir Of The Blood King” is the first installment of the ongoing, action-packed, Young Adult fantasy, survival series, Adventures of Adam. Views: 736
When she danced, she could dream...
Beautiful and talented, Rose was the apple of her father's eye. But
when he is tragically taken from her, his carefully hidden secrets
destroy the only life Rose has ever known -- and lead her into a world
of luxury unlike any she has imagined. Rose is whisked off to a
prestigious private school, while her mother falls into a hateful
whirlwind of wealth and greed. But a most unlikely person will show Rose
the true meaning of family -- and give her the courage to follow her
dream.... Views: 735
