In Two of a Kind, twelve-year-old Faith, who has grown up in a home for orphans in the distant future, unexpectedly finds herself on the run with a youth named Fisher. Together, they must escape the government forces that hunt them to find hope, family and a new life.‘Don’t let me lose myself.’Fifteen-year-old X thinks she is going to die. Shacked up in the cellar of an old farmhouse, she starts a journal to document her last few days. Much less than a few days if the uglies manage to get in.X is a post-apocalyptic short story from Jack Croxall, author of Tethers.Praise for XA luminous, captivating tale perfect for giving you one of those reading "moments".– Liz Loves BooksI was left with a genuine shiver down my spine.– D.M. Cain, author of The Phoenix Project Views: 676
On a rainy day which had canceled out a glider training flight, the time was spent investigating an odd rectangle in the desert vegetation off the edge of an old runway. What they found there brought memories of WWII-era tale that enlivened nights around the campfire at the ranch long ago.Any scientific expedition to the Arctic expects plenty of risk. However, Dr. Welham of Miskatonic University's survey uncovers far more than the usual geologic and ethnographic samples. In the severe, rock-scouring blizzards of the far north, the team comes across a hideous object from an elder age. A relic that brings earth shattering terror in its wake... This story is loosely inspired by H. P. Lovecraft's short story, Polaris, which was written in 1918. In that story, a modern man is troubled by recurring dreams, gaining in intensity. During these visions, he assumes the role of a sentry guarding the pass against the invading Inutos people from the west. However, under the malign influence of the pole star, the watcher falls asleep. This time, when he awakes, screaming, the sentry wakes as a modern man and realises that he has failed the marble city of Olathoe in the lost land of Lomar. Views: 676
This is a series of essays on life— as it is, as it was or as it might have been— as seen from a singular perspective.The view of any aspect in life depends almost entirely from one's perspective. These views reflect mine.A strong influence on my perspective is age. I'm an old man of 85 and likely have been lied to by more politicians, college professors, merchants, news media and other assorted groups than you. I have also been the recipient of many profound truths from similar groups — and even the same ones.I hope you'll enjoy reading these viewpoints whether or not you agree with them.At least it won't cost you anything to find out. Views: 676
An international literary phenomenon, The Elementary Particles is a frighteningly original novel–part Marguerite Duras and part Bret Easton Ellis-that leaps headlong into the malaise of contemporary existence.
Bruno and Michel are half-brothers abandoned by their mother, an unabashed devotee of the drugged-out free-love world of the sixties. Bruno, the older, has become a raucously promiscuous hedonist himself, while Michel is an emotionally dead molecular biologist wholly immersed in the solitude of his work. Each is ultimately offered a final chance at genuine love, and what unfolds is a brilliantly caustic and unpredictable tale.
Translated from the French by Frank Wynne.
From the Trade Paperback edition. Views: 675
BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Steven Pressfield's The Profession.
Brilliant at war, a master of politics, and a charismatic lover, Alcibiades was Athens’ favorite son and the city’s greatest general.
A prodigal follower of Socrates, he embodied both the best and the worst of the Golden Age of Greece. A commander on both land and sea, he led his armies to victory after victory.
But like the heroes in a great Greek tragedy, he was a victim of his own pride, arrogance, excess, and ambition. Accused of crimes against the state, he was banished from his beloved Athens, only to take up arms in the service of his former enemies.
For nearly three decades, Greece burned with war and Alcibiades helped bring victories to both sides — and ended up trusted by neither.
Narrated from death row by Alcibiades’ bodyguard and assassin, a man whose own love and loathing for his former commander mirrors the mixed emotions felt by all Athens, Tides of War tells an epic saga of an extraordinary century, a war that changed history, and a complex leader who seduced a nation. Views: 673
An adventure set in a world at a slight angle from ours. Modern day Cowboy Elgin Chalmer’s finds that man eating lizard girls, spider monsters, Were’s and Vamp’s are far harder to deal with than steers.This isn’t SteamPunk or UrbanFantasy it’s QuantPunk SciFi and first of many stories mixing ‘quantum’ scifi and fantasy.This is a ‘cleaned up’ edition of my NaNoWriMo Submission Nov ‘12Elgin’s old life was nothing much, Beauty Wyoming was as beautiful and remote as one could get, a town of cowboys and Indians, in a setting of rangeland, mountains and lakes. Elgin Chalmer’s was a cowboy and a part breed black-sheep slacker living with his huge Siamese cat Humph in a forty year old trailer. Life was OK for Elgin, he didn’t want much and didn’t get any more. Then one raw snowy day he made the mistake of heading into the mountains with a gut full of whisky and a head muddled by rotten drugs...death came easily considering.And that was when things started to get really messy. A world of alien dangers and powers were waking up after two thousand years in hibernation and humanity’s protector needed a new helper. Now Elgin found himself dealing with flesh eating lizard girls, ancient spider monsters, along with werewolves and vampires who didn’t always play by the rules. And on top of it all he had to get used to eating sharks, raw and still fighting. But now of course he had a chance to meet up with the cool girls; The Wiccan proprietor of the local New-Age gift shop, with an ancient Indian totem in her basement, the pistol packing deputy with a secret, and the beautiful Russian spy with a heart of gold and the killer instincts of a she wolf.Elgin’s new life was....complicated.Some words of explanation. First, the National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo, (www.nanowrimo.org) is run by a tiny nonprofit called he Office of Letters and Light, an organization that promotes writing in all its glorious permutations among the young, young at heart, and not so young (among whom I fall in the right hand distribution tail these days.) I wrote the first 60,000 words or so of Elgin in November 2011 and finished the remaining half by February 2012, since then, among many other things, my father and I have been editing so I can submit it for publication at Smashwords.Second, this book isn’t SteamPunk, UrbanFantasy, Fantasy, I like to think of it as a type of SciFi, what I call Quantum Punk. Using the possibilities our quantum universe opens up to the imagination as a basis for something that tries to be Science Fiction with a very strong tint of UrbanFantasy and SteamPunk, I hope you enjoy. Views: 672
A compilation of poems about life, death, and the in-between.The story The Green Eyed Monster is about a mother who is dealing with her horrible envious son and how conflicted she is with how trapped she feels but also how much she loves her son. Another good story is about a lunch break with the three popular but viscous cousins Gloria, James and Gregory or Lust, Gluttony and Greed. These stories are a unique twist on the sins with a fun narrative for each. Views: 672
In The Single's Girl Life Handbook I will tell you the benefits and perks of being “single and ready to mingle” and the best of all is so that you along the way learn to discovered that you are so much more than you could ever think possible. That love is loving yourself first just as you are.Being single is the best time a girl can have for if she can and the best is that there is a brighter side to the joyful life of a single life. Having to be this age and being single for this wonderful time of a girl life, is when I get how much it meant that I can do so many just all by myself and not feel guilty for being a single girl. When they say 30’s is the new 20’s they don't get it wrong, I learn that being single and as they say ready to mingle is one of the best experience I have come to discovered. Views: 672
A wounded hero must confront his own worst enemy: himself
Mick "Brew" Axbrewder was once a great P.I. That was before he accidentally shot and killed a cop-worse, a cop who happened to be his own brother. Now he only works off and on, as muscle for his old partner, Ginny Fistoulari. It's a living. And it provides an occasional opportunity for him to dry out.
But their latest case demands more than muscle. Brew's dead brother's daughter has disap-peared. His brother's widow wants him and Ginny to investigate. And both of them seem to expect him to sober up. Because the darkness they're find-ing under the surface of Sunbelt city Puerto del Sol goes beyond one missing teenager.
Axbrewder will need all his talents to con-front that darkness. Most of all, he'll need to con-front his own worst enemy-himself.
More than two decades ago, bestselling author Stephen R. Donaldson published three novels about Mick Axbrewder and Ginny Fistoulari as paperback originals under the pseudonym Reed Stephens. More recently, under his own name, Donaldson published a new novel in the se-quence, The Man Who Fought Alone. Now, for Donaldson's millions of readers worldwide, the first of the original books, The Man Who Killed His Brother, appears under Donaldson's own name, in revised and expanded form. Views: 672
Acerbus hates his job. While he is content to watch and study the mortal races, the other gods constantly look for reasons to destroy their newly-created world. When they finally find an excuse, they command Acerbus to become the Smiter, destroyer of all creation.Acerbus decides that there is only one way to ensure his own failure and save the world: by becoming an Evil Overlord.Acerbus hates his job. While he is content to watch and study the mortal races, the other gods constantly look for reasons to destroy their newly-created world. When they finally find an excuse, they command Acerbus to become the Smiter, destroyer of all creation.Armed with nothing but spite and goblins, Acerbus decides that there is only one way to ensure his own failure and save the world: by becoming an Evil Overlord.“Smite Me, Oh Dark One” is a comedic fantasy short story.Cover by John Comegno Views: 671
First Sergeant Jade Waters and her squad are deployed to investigate the remains of Furya years after the Necromonger Invasion that destroyed the planet. Drawn by dark rumors, Waters is determined to root out the truth; any and all knowledge is vital against the inevitable day the Necromongers reach Earth.The movies beg so many questions about Riddick's past. This is a work of fan fiction, a creative exploration of how Riddick became the sociopathic killer depicted in the films. Views: 670
Jodie is a perfectly happy average teenage vampire. Well she was perfectly happy until everything wemt wrongDumped on Homecoming night, Amanda Larson assumes that her life is over. That is until Jake Edwards, her next-door neighbor and long time crush, has come to the rescue. Although he is visiting from college, Amanda can't help but hope that their night will lead into something bigger. Jake, on the other hand, knows that despite his attraction to little Mandy, he can't commit, not while he's away at college. Still, Amanda will never forget the kiss she shares with the boy next door.This is a prequel short story for a contemporary romance novel, Time Changes Everything. Views: 669
Veterinarian Andrew Foreman hadn't wanted to go to Mars in the first place. But somebody had to look after Monkley the GenMoP, the genetically modified primate. Foreman had always regarded space travel as a dangerous business, but he had no idea just how dangerous.The invitation to join the secretive Guadel should have been the fulfillment of dreams Va'del didn't even realize he had. When his sponsors are killed in an ambush a short time later, he instead finds his probationary status revoked, and becomes a pawn between various factions inside the Guadel ruling body.Jain's never known any life but that of a Guadel in training. She'd thought herself reconciled to the idea of a loveless marriage for the good of her people, but meeting Va'del changes everything. Their growing attraction flies against hundreds of years of precedent, but as wide-spread attacks threaten their world, the Guadel have no choice but to use even Jain and Va'del in their fight for survival.Publisher's Note: Frozen Prospects is a YA Epic Fantasy book, and is the first novel in the Guadel Chronicles Series which is written so that it can be safely enjoyed by teens and adults alike. Frozen Prospects is followed by Thawed Fortunes.The Guadel Chronicles: All the scope of an epic fantasy combined with the action of a sword and sorcery book! Views: 668
