The worst problems in the world could be solved ... if all the scientists weren't busy. This super-short story is a tale of science gone mad (with flavor)!If you could view humanity through the eyes of another intelligent species, would you like what you see?Cassandra’s fate is sealed when she accidentally discovers a village of fairies in the bush behind her boatshed. To prevent her from divulging the secret of their existence, the fairies – or fae, as they prefer to be called – shrink her and hold her captive. Although she is adopted into a fae family with a mother who wants only to make her happy, Cassandra refuses to accept her new life. Her one source of joy is the blossoming relationship with her adopted brother, but what hope does a human-fae relationship have when humans are hated by the fae as destructive idiots whose extinction would be a relief to every other species on the planet?Attempting to escape only serves to teach Cassandra that she has insufficient knowledge and skills for surviving in the natural environment, especially when she is less than ten centimetres tall. Acceptance of her situation and taking responsibility for her own happiness seems to be the only way forward, but it is difficult to do when she feels like an ungainly misfit amongst the beautiful and talented fae.As time passes, Cassandra finds happiness and a sense of purpose that causes her to question her place in the world.Will Cassandra be able to prove herself worthy to be returned to the human world, and if that time comes, will she even want to?The Fae of Gillwillan is set in Australia, on the idyllic Mornington Peninsula. It is the story of the search for purpose and belonging. Views: 450
The questions begin when Seagren first notices her difference. "Are these overpowering hulks really my parents?" Later when she flees those who would surgically alter her, to destroy her craving for the sea, she wonders, "Why do they call me dangerous?"“Stay away from the water, the killing water that will shiver your bones and suck your breath.” At first adolescent Seagren wants to obey, but she is caught between the tug of the sea and the pull of the land. She is That Other Kind, different. And illegal. Why? She doesn't know. Seagren rebells against those who would alter her, and she flees those who would imprison her. Other than the sea, the only safety she finds is with a young village lord who secretly knows why That Other Kind is different and what mission Seagren must fulfill for the good of all. Views: 450
When Prince Jen volunteers to search for the legendary court of T'ien-kuo, a mysterious old man chooses six gifts for him to bear in homage: a saddle, a sword, a paint box, a bowl, a kite, and a flute. Puzzled by the gifts but full of high spirits and pride, Jen sets off, but stumbles almost immediately into a series of misfortunes. Only with the help of his faithful servant, Mafoo, and valiant flute-girl, Voyaging Moon, and only after a breathtakingly exciting string of adventures can Jen discover the real meaning of the gifts and face his true destiny. Views: 450
A writer, distraught by the death of his wife, begins to fall into a sea of depression where the dark water is filled with malevolent fish, and the line between truth and fiction becomes untraceable.A Tale of the Posh, the Privileged and the Paranormal...The Cavaliers are the most elite society at Oxford University - rich, powerful, and beautiful. No one realises that they are no ordinary students, but a group of aristocratic vampires from the English Civil War. For four hundred years they have groomed the most promising students to run the government, police, and finance in the way the vampires wish, granting them eternal life in return for absolute obedience.When Harriet French arrives at Oxford University from her working class northern state school, she’s prepared for a culture shock, but not to become embroiled in the Cavaliers’ scheming and bloodlust. Harriet thought she'd be busy enough juggling her demanding tutor, new friends, and the murky world of student politics. But now, she must find the rebel vampire who is killing off the members, stop the Cavaliers from orchestrating a massacre of the year’s most beautiful and successful students, and defy the Society to be with the man of her dreams.Oxford Blood is a British, adult, paranormal romance. It's a tale with vampires that aren't afraid to kill and a heroine who's not afraid of sex or her own ambition.ABOUT THE AUTHORGeorgiana Derwent read History at Oxford University. Aside from the vampires, The Cavaliers Series is an exaggerated but fairly accurate portrayal of her time there. She now works in London and lives with her fiancé. He’s been very supportive throughout the writing of her books, mainly because he likes to claim that all the most attractive characters are based on him.Georgiana fell in love with vampire novels after reading The Vampire Diaries back in 2000. At the time it was a struggle to find any similar paranormal romances, a situation that it’s fair to say seems to have been rectified in the last few years. She now loves paranormal series such as True Blood, fantasy novels, and modern literary works in roughly equal measure.Ever since her teens, she wanted to write a vampire series. Ever since going to Oxford she wanted to write a book about her experiences there. During a dull few months between finishing university and starting her graduate job, she had the idea of combining the two and The Cavaliers Series was born. Views: 450
One year ago, Jack warded the small fishing village of Anyok, Alaska against an ancient creature that feeds on anything it can find in the frozen tundra. He returns only to find that the men he entrusted with maintaining the wards have ignored his warnings and put the whole village in danger. Now, with no means of fighting back, they must band together to defeat the creature and survive the night.Watched by a ceiling camera inside the Florentia Moenia casino in Macau, teleoperator Clarity Nice joins the woman watching her, videographer Plum Bailey, in a live dealer gambling room broadcasting over the internet. Plum leads Clarity with her on board Heir Force One, the plane of Sheik Haroun Al-Najib, known colloquially as Hari, after offering to him the luxurious ring made by the firm Mauboussin, brought by Clarity to Macau, which points to an ancient sorority identified by a symbol known as the 'incomplete triangle'. Rejected by his family, known as the dumbest human loss-making machine of the Emirates, Hari likes to wear shabby clothes, which include a sweater with growths patched with puffs of woolfiller, ripped jeans, worn out brown leather shoes with one of the soles open, and housing several white pebbles.A golden bachelor with a solid reputation of lacking qualification and being indecisive whatever he does, Hari has not decided to marry, and is confused by all the women around him, who want to be near him in order to enjoy the affluent lifestyle of 'HDH', His Dumb Highness, as everyone else but himself thinks of him. Hari does not care about failure, and sees it as something inherent in business and in general.Seen as a nuisance by his family for their business, because of his loss making business blunders and repeated incompetence, his list of achievements including only failures and money losing ventures or trades, Hari heads for the Caribbean to sort out his love life and make his first dollar on his own. His plane lands in the British Virgin Islands and he gets a job as waiter in a terrace of Tortola. After an unfortunate tip to a tourist on a penny stock which fails, Hari is fired from his job, and becomes jobless again.Sheik Hari is a sociable guy, who trusts himself when someone else tells him he is rich. He is rich, but someone else always ends up managing his money, either his family or his retainer Hakeem, a man who resents all the fortune around him, and seeks a chunk of all the money thrown away by Hari's disastrous forays into business, trade, or investing.After an email sent by error by Hari results in the landing of a consortium of journalists investigating the Sheik and the holdings of his company, Clarity helps Hari sort out some of the problems arising out of the unwanted notoriety. The mess created by Hari includes a scandal called Scrub Leaks, involving the Sheik's family assets and other powerful members of the elite, and a money laundering charge by the BVI financial services commission, which leads Hari's girlfriend to leave him. As a result of the mess, Hari, and Clarity, are arrested and are led to jail in Tortola.Stuck with Hari in jail, awaiting a trial which the authorities want as example of their compliance with laundering legislation, Clarity will have to find an ingenious way to leave jail and the island, to elude the charges against them by bringing to the police commissioner those who tampered with the Sheik's account in Tortola. Lacking any local allies, the only way for Clarity out of Hari's mess, is to strike a deal exchanging favors with Plum, who is seeking a valuable list of connections owned by the Sheik, in order to reach the sorority headed by an older woman, Lady Mulham, which brings to their members an explanation of 'completion', in particular the completion of its symbol, the incomplete triangle. (This is the regular banana humor version of the Shabby Sheik) Views: 450
A clever architect designs a house in the shape of the shadow of a tesseract, but it collapses (through the 4th dimension) when an earthquake shakes it into a more stable form (which takes up very little room in our 3-dimensional space.) Views: 450
-US Coast Guard story #2- US Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer Harvey Whitman lives to save lives. The unit's motto, "That Others May Live", defines his life's goal perfectly. Helicopter Crew Chief Vivian Schroder, newly assigned to Astoria, Oregon, cares only for her career—and flying clear of her family. When a storm-tossed nighttime rescue goes desperately wrong fifty miles offshore from the hazardous Columbia River Bar, they must rely on each other's instincts in ways they never imagined. Views: 449
Jadde – The Fragile Sanctuary is a smash through post-apocalyptic Sci-fi. Read this book to see how a genetic mutation goes horribly wrong.Millennia have passed since the twenty-first century demon wars when mankind so nearly succumbed to the Quarter-men. Now only isolated pockets of humanity survive. One insular tribe The Seconchane, are developing psychic powers but sometimes the gift fails...Jadde – The Fragile Sanctuary is a full on smash and crash through post-apocalyptic Sci-fi. If you want to see how a genetic mutation can go horribly wrong then read this book. Millennia have passed since the twenty-first century demon wars when mankind so nearly succumbed to genetically altered mutants - The Quarter-men. Now only isolated pockets of struggling humanity survive. One insular tribe The Seconchane, are developing psychic powers. Sometimes the gift fails and the unfortunates are banished from the Seconchane’s mountain valleys. Into this harsh reality comes Malkrin Owlear one of the Seconchane’s most gifted. But his incredible talent falters once too often . . .He discovers the deadlands are not as barren as the priesthood say. The quarter-men, from mans technological past have returned, intent on completing their destruction of mankind. Malkrin and his paranormally talented friends must rediscover from a time forgotten how the ancients led by the goddess Jadde prevailed over the quarter-men swarms.It was mans last chance – and Malkrin cannot fail. Views: 449
A short story based on Cornish mining legend, and including in my compilation of the same name. There are things in the darkness that you cannot see, unless they want to be seen. A miner's descent into the earth begins a descent into madness, history and legend. When will it end?A nostalgic short about the true meaning of Christmas. Through the voice of a young narrator we find out about Ralph, the eighty-year-old man who never learned to read or write. Ralph has a burning need to send a Christmas card to his estranged sister, and with the children's help, learns much more than the ABC's. Views: 449
