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"My guiltiest pleasure is Harry Stephen Keeler. He may been the greatest bad writer America has ever produced. Or perhaps the worst great writer. I do not know. There are few faults you can accuse him of that he is not guilty of. But I love him." — Neil GaimanWhen the Cedarville bank is robbed of a gold shipment, Sheriff Bucyrus Duckhouse of Willis Creek was just where he wants to be — waiting at the end of the Smoky Ridge Tunnel where any minute the robbers have just got to emerge. But meanwhile, carny Jim Craney has a truckful of trouble as he scrambles to catch up with the rest of his circus. A truck full of lioness and five newborn kittens! The only way he can make it in time to marry the circus woman he loves is if the Sheriff will let him take the Straightaway through the tunnel. Otherwise he'll have to take Old Twistibus, the road so crooked they gave it a name. Views: 694
A monoplane falling out of the sky on a hot afternoon can shatter the leisurely peace of a croquet game below. And an injured aviator like Geoffrey Trafford can quite disrupt the calm of a girl like Marjorie Pope. All obstacles - her modern views, her socialism, her cool engagement to the worldly Mr Magnet - are swept away; and, as in every misguided fairy tale, 'the poor dears haven't the shadow of a doubt they will live happily ever after'.
Written when Wells himself was caught in the entanglements of home and sex, this funny, utterly engrossing novel, shows him grappling with a perennial question; how can a marriage survive, when conventions stifle, when men and women want different things, when passions fade? Ironically, the answer he came to led to his meeting with an enraged young reviewer, Rebecca West - a collision as devastating as the plane crash in the rectory garden. Views: 694
You are cordially invited to the wedding of Princess Leia Organa and Han Solo.The Death Star is destroyed. Darth Vader is dead. The Empire is desolate. But on the forest moon of Endor, among the chaos of a changing galaxy, time stands still for a princess and her scoundrel.After being frozen in carbonite, then risking everything for the Rebellion, Han is eager to stop living his life for other people. He and Leia have earned their future together, a thousand times over. And when he proposes to Leia, it’s the first time in a long time he’s had a good feeling about this. For Leia, a lifetime of fighting doesn’t seem truly over. There is work still to do, penance to pay for the dark secret that she now knows runs through her veins. Her brother, Luke, is offering her that chance—one that comes with family and the promise of the Force. But when Han asks her to marry him, Leia finds her answer immediately on her lips . . . Yes.Yet... Views: 694
Welcome to Charlotte, hometown of the Coach's Boys romance series. Settle back, put your feet up, and enjoy your visit. Who knows? You may want to stay for a while. Or forever because nothing is sweeter than small town romance. In the fourth installment of the Coach's Boys series, Detective Ed Winslow's stalker steps up the game - and everyone is a target now. Her secret could change lives forever... When Hannah Fletcher discovered that her whole life was a lie, she ran as far and as fast as she could - to a place she'd long forgotten about. And now that she's found a way to get close to the right people, can she keep her real identity a secret as she works to accomplish one very important goal? He's spent his entire life on the outside looking in... Jon Rambo lived by three simple rules, work hard, don't get involved in other people's problems, and never get too close to anyone. His job, and a small circle of... Views: 694
This is a special short story from the N'Loron Universe. What is that you ask? It's the veil that my Daughter of Ares Chronicles character, Athine, protects. This is the second in a series of free short story e-books. The #2 issue ties in with some of the plots in my current WIP (Cursed Bloods slated for 2014), but anyone should be able to enjoy the short story as stand alone tale.Disaffected Russian oligarchs conspire to overthrow the current government of Russia and a lone sniper travels to the United States. An Army Special Forces officer assigned to the CIA and a Russian intelligence officer begin to find clues that an attempt will be be made on President Putin's life. A raid on an arms and drug smuggling operation in Kyrgyzstan results in the recovery of a small boy that had been abducted from his school in Geneva. As the evidence of the plot begins to mount, the Special Forces officer and the Russian intelligence operative become targets of Russian gang assassins. Views: 694
Jack is back.
Wilson never said he was through with Repairman Jack. He said he was through turning in a new novel every year. He also said when a story came along that was right for Jack, he’d write it.
The Last Christmas is that story.
It’s late December between Ground Zero and Fatal Error, a winter of discontent for Jack who’s perhaps spending too much time hanging at Julio’s. An old contact, Edward Burkes, convinces him to take on a missing-person fix. As usual, nothing is as it seems and the missing person isn’t exactly a person. In fact, it’s like nothing anyone has ever seen.
And in the middle of all this, the mysterious Madame de Medici hires him to safeguard a valuable object. Simple, right?
Not even close.
Yep, Jack is back and, as usual, weird trouble is on his heels. Views: 694
In a world where collective hives are enslaving the population and individuals have been hunted to the verge of extinction, Maggie Harper, and independent 21st Century woman, must find the strength to preserve the freedom of the future, but without the aid of her memories.... Maggie must make a choice: stand out or fade away...In a world where collective hives are enslaving the population and individuals have been hunted to the verge of extinction, Maggie Harper, and independent 21st Century woman, must find the strength to preserve the freedom of the future, but without the aid of her memories.After experiencing a traumatic time loss, Maggie is plagued by a barrage of images she can't explain. When she's attacked by a creep with a spider's web tattoo, she is saved by Marcus, a man she's never met, but somehow remembers. He tells her that both he and her creepy attacker are from a future in which individuals are being murdered by collectives, and Marcus is part of the rebellion. The collectives have acquired time travel and they plan to enslave the human race throughout all of history. The flashes Maggie has been seeing are echoes of lost memories, and the information buried deep within them is instrumental in defeating the collective hives.In order to preserve the individuality of mankind, Maggie must try to re-discover stolen memories, re-kindle friendships she has no recollection of, and wade through her feelings for the mysterious Marcus, all while dodging the tattooed assassins the collectives keep sending her way.If Maggie can't fill the holes in her memory and find the answers to stop the collectives, the world both in her time and in all ages past and future will be doomed to enslavement in the grey, mediocre collectives. As the danger swirls around her and the collectives close in, Maggie realizes she must make a choice: stand out or fade away... Views: 693
Two choirs, run by former friends now bitter rivals, are compelled to co-operate, leading to involvement with the murder of a Russian businessman and discovery of a mistake as the original cause of the leaders' quarrel.The church choirs of St. Cyril's and St. Cyprian's are run by former friends, now bitter rivals since their school days. Forced by a threatened clash of performance dates to co-ordinate arrangements, they are induced to co-operate more closely by an offer of sponsorship from a local business. Their first joint engagement at the home of an émigré Russian oligarch gains not entirely unwelcome publicity from the murder of their host during the evening. A later joint performance, with an orchestra supported by their own sponsor's American counterpart, leads to a discovery ending the quarrel between the two choir leaders. Views: 693
In a society where morals are determined by a public opinion system, and social rating is the currency, truth can be a dangerous notion.In a society where morals are determined by a public opinion system, and social rating is the currency, truth can be a dangerous notion.Sixteen-year-old Rena has few memories of her childhood before adoption. A forest teeming with wildlife. Mountains reaching up to a blue sky. The voice of the man who raised her. The problem—they’re not real. Such things don’t exist in Esh, a self-governed metropolis shielded from the harsh environment by a transparent canopy. And beyond the city is only the Barrens, an endless wasteland of fog and freezing rain.When Rena’s violent instincts save the lives of her friends, her delusional past begins disrupting her prospects for the future. To find the source of her impulses, she’ll have to sort through the fragments in her mind. What awaits is a connection between her true identity, the city’s forgotten history, and the secret war being waged beneath the surface of her polite society. Views: 693
