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William Fitzgerald Jenkins is an obscure name in literary circles, and it certainly doesn’t seem appropriate for an author who wrote thousands of short stories in science fiction, alternate fantasy, and other types of “weird” fiction genres. Perhaps that’s why Jenkins chose a more eccentric pen name, Murray Leinster, to publish over 1,500 short stories and articles, 14 movie scripts, and hundreds of radio scripts and television plays.Leinster is not as well known as the 20th century’s biggest names in the genre, like Lovecraft or Hitchcock, but he left a lasting mark on science-fiction. Leinster is still credited as the first to write stories about parallel universes, which had an influence on subsequent writers’ stories, including Isaac Asimov’s The End of Eternity. Incredibly, Leinster’s short story First Contact was even the subject of a lawsuit against Paramount Pictures’ Star Trek: First Contact movie, with Leinster’s heirs claiming copyright infringement. The courts threw out the heirs’ suit, noting that the phrase “first contact” had become so common in science-fiction circles that it could no longer be considered protected. Perhaps that’s the most fitting tribute of all to Leinster. Views: 404
A Trio of Terror...This story collection features 3 short tales and bonus material: a free excerpt from the author's horror novel "Let's Play in the Garden." Approximately 34 pages.A Trio of Terror...This story collection features 3 short tales and bonus material: a free excerpt from the author's horror novel "Let's Play in the Garden." Approximately 34 pages.In this book you will find:Motherhood- a mother must deal with her demanding, relentless children who push her to the brink of insanity.Expecting- Autumn Brookshire is the outcast of the village, living alone in a hovel in the forest she is visited by a special man all in black. He bestows a gift on her so that Autumn will never be alone again.Melissa's Wagon- An expectant mother dreams of passing on her favorite childhood toy to her child that is until she's visited by a lonely ghost who has other plans for it. Bonus Material: 3 Chapters of Let's Play in the Garden--a horror novel. Visit the author at www.shadowtales.com Views: 404
“The Lost Tales of Mercia” are ten short stories set in England near the end of the Viking Age. These swashbuckling tales, based heavily on true events, educate and entertain simultaneously. In the Sixth Tale, a royal retainer named Hastings fights for his country and the Golden Cross, but entertains unrealistic notions of how his mistress, Aetheling Aydith, might reward him.Martyn took a steadying breath and peered around the boulder. The dragon appeared in no hurry to devour them, taking its time stretching and folding its leathery wings. It wasn't as big as a longboat as the stories said, but it was still huge – four times the size of a horse, plus the tail, long neck, and a head the size of a coffin. It was beautiful in a chilling sort of way, its skin a scaly rainbow of glittering copper, amber, emerald and bronze, the colors changing in liquid ripples as the fading sunlight swept across its body while it crept toward their feeble hideout. Views: 404
So you've created the perfect weapon, you've trained it be the ultimate killing machine, and sharpened it until it is peerless in motion and flawless in action. However it's not yet yours to command, so you plot and you scheme to make it yours alone. On the eve of success when your long laid plans are about to be realized, your weapon does the unthinkable, it falls in love. What do you do now?What really makes one human, is it a fact of birth, the right of passage that is growing up, is it societies' influence on young impressionable minds, or is it something else? Is Humanity and all that goes with it in fact programmed into our DNA?These are questions that have plagued Shiva all her life. For most people, for Normal people, these are questions with easy answers, after all they were born human, raised human, and have always been 'Human'. But Shiva is not 'Normal', she might not in fact be 'Human'. She is or perhaps was a Weapon, she was created as a weapon, trained to be a weapon, and she sees the world as a weapon. But all that changes one day when she meets a girl and for the very first time, she feels something that defies all logic and all reason. Can a weapon fall in love, or this something reserved only for those who are humans?But there are those in her world who have never doubted these answers, to them she is a powerful tool created for a war not yet fought, and they cannot allow that tool to slip from their grasp. So from the shadows they strike at the very thing that threatens to take that weapon from their grasp, that person who might be the key to unlocking the heart within the weapon. Views: 404
Ken and Steve reluctantly give up their lawnmowing duties for a weekend of fishing, booze and male bonding. Unfortunately the fish aren't biting, supplies are running low and worst of all ... the beer just ran out.Then, without warning, an alien colony ship arrives in orbit, and that's when Ken's problems REALLY start.A 4000 word short story by the author of the Hal Spacejock series.'Potatoes to Gold' is a short story set in the late 1890s, during the West Australian gold rush, and offers an insight into the living conditions that outback pioneering families endured. The story is told from the perspective of a bright, young girl, Cathleen Sophia, who reveals her love of the outback and her devotion to her grandmother, Bridget. And her fear of having to leave them both. Throughout this piece of historical fiction, Bridget's story is also revealed which tells of an Irish girl who is sent to Australia at the age of twelve and spends the remainder of her life adapting to the loss and hardship her new home presents. Her joy and hope and reason for living lie in her granddaughter, Cathleen Sophia, but what happens when inevitable circumstances force yet another change.'Potatoes to Gold' is inspired by the author's great great-grandmother who was sent to Australia from Ireland at the age of twelve. She died in 1898 in Cue, Western Australia. Views: 404
The Castle Keeper vignettes provide a glimpse into the time between Shadows in the Stone and Scattered Stones. You’ll have already met many of the characters, but some you will meet in Scattered Stones.These vignettes are not complete stories, only 300 words of a moment. Volume 01 contains the first twelve in a series of vignettes to be written.Almost five years has passed since Isla of Maura was kidnapped and Bronwyn Darrow left Maskil in search of her. In many ways, not much has happened; the inhabitants of the Land of Ath-o’Lea have continued their daily routine. But if you look deeper into the individual lives you’ll see much has changed in little ways.The Castle Keeper vignettes provide a glimpse into the time between Shadows in the Stone and Scattered Stones. You’ll have already met many of the characters, but some you will meet in Scattered Stones.These vignettes are not complete stories, only 300 words of a moment. Volume 01 contains the first twelve in a series of vignettes to be written. Views: 404
She is different. Powerful. A soldier of centuries.For 450 years she was enslaved to one of the masters of the Kore sects. She was forced to fight in endless battles. War, destruction, desolation – all wrought by her.But then she escapes. Seeking revenge on her master, she turns to the only group powerful enough to help her – the Coalition.She is different. Powerful. A soldier of centuries.For 450 years she was enslaved to one of the masters of the Kore sects. She was forced to fight in endless battles. War, destruction, desolation – all wrought by her.But then she escapes. Seeking revenge on her master, she turns to the only group powerful enough to help her – the Coalition.She joins the Academy. It should be easy. It isn’t. She rapidly finds out that despite her raw power, she needs more to become an effective recruit.But now is not the time for failure. There is a spy on Academy grounds – a spy who is tearing the Coalition’s intelligence to shreds. She finds herself drawn into the hunt. A hunt she will not lose. For she is Axira, the most powerful spacer in the Milky Way ….Axira is a four-episode miniseries. It is complete, and all four episodes are currently available. A space opera with plenty of action and adventure, and just a dash of romance, it is the third instalment in the Galactic Coalition Academy series. Views: 403
Swot and Gemma - two unsuspecting schoolchildren - are chosen by enchantress Zophenas, to help her escape from the Underearth. They have to bring her three items that might do the trick; the soul of Waldo the warlock, the magic ointment that enables a witch to fly and a woman who has turned into a two-tailed cat. In return they will receive a starflash opal and six wishes.Zophenas is an enchantress but is trapped in the Underearth. How can she escape? She has heard of three possible ways; to find the soul of Waldo the warlock, to secure the magic ointment made by a witch, enabling her to fly and to capture a woman who has turned into a two-tailed cat.For these tasks she recruits two schoolchildren - Swot, with a gift for maths and his sister Gemma. They find Waldo, who recalls hiding his soul in a bird. But which one? They retrieve it but the ointment - guarded by giant toads - is still needed. Zophenas helps by turning the children briefly into black beetles. The ointment is secured and unbaptised babies, used to bind it - and now also black beetles - rescued from the home of Hagatha the witch. Swot and Gemma also capture the woman who turns into a two-tailed cat. But when Zophenas is freed and the children are offered the starflash opal and the wishes, they make a surprising and wise decision. Views: 403
Ten-year-old Mira must balance the loyalty she feels towards her family with the desire to be accepted by her new classmates in this powerful coming-of-age story about identity, community, and finding a place to call home.I'm not like most of my classmates. At least not yet. My family came to this country when I was five years old, but we're so close to becoming citizens now. This means we'll finally be able to use Amber like everyone else. Then I will be as special as the rest of my classmates, the ones who were born here with magic already in their veins. But most of all, no one will compare me to Daniel anymore. Daniel who doesn't even try to fit in, who actually seems proud of being an outsider. Once I take my first sip of Amber, I will be on the inside. I hope. Views: 403
Percy Bysshe Shelley endures today as the great Promethean bard of the High Romantic period who is best remembered for extolling the sublime and affirming the possibility of transcendence. Views: 403
When Tucker inherits a haunted house, he also has to find a way to work with the gender-bending, shape-shifting Angel, who guides spirits to the beyond—and whose heart is all too human. Views: 403
Once the legendary knights of the Gabala defended the nine duchies. Their hearts were beautiful; their armor was beyond compare. They were greater than princes, more than men.
But they were gone, disappeared through a demon-haunted gateway between worlds. Only one held back -- Manannan, whose every instinct told him to stay. Now he was the coward knight, and in torment.
Murder and black magic beset the land. Rumors circulated that the king was enchanted, changed, that his soul was dead . . . and that a reign of terror was about to begin.
Now Manannan realized he would have to face his darkest fears: he had no choice but to ride through that dreaded gate and seek out his vanished companions.
And the secret he would learn there would tear his soul apart . . . .
"A sharp, distinctive medieval fantasy. Dramatic, colorful, taut." -- Locus Views: 403
When Ellie and six of her friends return home from a camping trip deep in the bush, they find things hideously wrong — their families gone, houses empty and abandoned, pets and stock dead. Gradually they begin to comprehend that their country has been invaded and everyone in the town has been taken prisoner. As the horrible reality of the situation becomes evident they have to make a life-and-death decision: to run back into the bush and hide, to give themselves up to be with their families, or to stay and try to fight. This reveting, tautly-drawn novel seems at times to be only a step away from today's headlines. Views: 403
Beth has found herself in a whole world of trouble. The head of the Cruze Gang is hunting her down, and this time, she won't get away.
What could be worse than being kidnapped by a murderous ex-army warlock? Her destiny finally catching up with her....
There'll be nowhere to hide, and there'll only be one place to run - right into the arms of the city's only sorcerer. ** Views: 403
They say it's impossible to find a man in New York City. Secret McQueen needs to find two in one night. Of course, it ll mean pulling off the impossible find and kill a displaced rogue vampire without disrupting the first promising date she s had in ages. As a werewolf hybrid used to walking a fine line of survival in the vampire world, though, Secret eats impossible for breakfast. Somewhere between hello and the first round of drinks, Secret makes her move. Her target, Hollywood s biggest star, shouldn t be hard to spot. Just look for swarms of fans. Except every time her vampire liaison, Holden, helps keep her mission on track, her date runs further off the rails. Either Holden has a hidden agenda, or he knows more than he s letting on about her quarry. One way or another, Secret is determined to get her man, and meet Mr. Right. Or die trying. Warning: This book contains a sword-wielding assassin whose barbs are sharper than her blade, a vampire with serious brooding issues but a skilled tongue, and an A-lister with a bad habit of eating his fans. This novella takes place approximately one year prior to the events of "Something Secret This Way Comes. " Views: 403
