Nina Balatka

Anthony Trollope was an established novelist of great renown when Nina Balatka was published in 1866, twenty years after his first novel. Nina Balatka is, on the surface, a love story--not an unusual theme for Trollope. But Nina Balatka is different from Trollope's previous novels in a few respects. For example, the story is set in Prague instead of the British isles. Another one is that the hero and heroine are already in love and engaged to one another at the opening.
Views: 385

The Mask of Melpomene

A short story about Brian, an actor who moves from Chicago to New York City with his girlfriend, Diana. The adjustment to life in New York City takes Brian a while, but he keeps trying out new opportunities.Camp Deerfield offers delights innumerable for the young camper: nightly dances, grade-school turf wars, and a three-story robot that doubles as a toilet.A short memoir about children misbehaving.
Views: 381

The Ghost of Clothes

A young man, already down on his luck, experiences a series of strange and mysterious events which escalate into a telling trauma.A short story. A "branch" off of The Roots of Evil.A short story. A "branch" off of The Roots of Evil. A young man, already down on his luck, experiences a series of strange and mysterious events which escalate into a telling trauma.
Views: 380

Many Boats on the Night Ocean

A cruise ship, then a fishing boat, then pirates, then a submarine, then a viking ship, then a submarine, then a fishing boat, then pirates, then a cruise ship, then a written page.A nested story comprised of insanely horrifying, weird, morbid sea stories all wrapped in a literary burrito of magical realism. A true nightmare.
Views: 380

The Mykonos Mob

"A perfect setting and first-rate storytelling." —Ragnar Jónasson, bestselling author of The Dark Iceland seriesWhen corruption lies deep beneath the surface, how can the truth come to light?The case begins for Athens' Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis with a literal bang when a corrupt former police colonel who runs a protection racket on Mykonos is gunned down. Suddenly, Athens' Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis is face-to-face with Greece's top crime bosses on an island whose natural beauty and reputation as an international playground belies the corruption lurking just beneath the surface.While Andreas and his Special Crimes unit wrestle for answers, Andreas's wife, Lila, meets an American expat named Toni, a finder of stolen goods and a piano player in a gender-bending bar who has a zest for life and no apparent regard for rules. As Lila and Toni bond over a common desire to mentor young island girls trapped in an exploitative and...
Views: 377

The Color Of Things

Little Lenny Helzerman doesn’t expect anything more from one day than he does any other day and he doesn’t give anything more to one day than he does any other day. It is all the same. And this suits him just fine.Most days start off as normal days. At least that’s what little Lenny Helzerman thinks. He thinks that there aren’t any good or bad days—it’s just the stuff that happens during the day that makes it good or bad or memorable or forgettable. Little Lenny Helzerman doesn’t expect anything more from one day than he does any other day and he doesn’t give anything more to one day than he does any other day. It is all the same. And this suits him just fine.
Views: 377

The Dex-Files

The truth is out there. . . The Dex-Files is a compilation novel that accompanies the Experiment in Terror Series and is not to be-read as a stand-alone. In the Dex-Files we find a variety of scenes and chapters from the enigmatic Dex Foray's POV from books #1-6 in the series. Some of these scenes have been previously published, albeit from Perry's POV, while other scenes are completely new. In addition to it not being a stand-alone, the novel also contains some major spoilers and should be read only by those who have read all the published books in the series.
Views: 376

Under the Wave at Waimea

From legendary writer Paul Theroux comes an atmospheric novel following a big-wave surfer as he confronts aging, privilege, mortality, and whose lives we choose to remember.
Views: 374

Stories from the War: Military Dystopian Thriller

Begin the military dystopian series Friends of my Enemy. Arinna and Michael Prescot are just two of the many former soldiers sent to embassies in the hopes of strengthening faltering US alliances in 2055. But as the US becomes embroiled with new internal terrorism, its agents in Europe are offered intimidation, lies, and deceit rather than explanations. And the price of seeking answers is steep.A dark future awaits...After a decade of storms, disease, drought, and riots, the US conquers its troubles by militarizing its government. Old democratic allies in Europe respond uneasily to the change.in 2055 Arinna and Michael Prescot are just two of the many former soldiers sent to foreign embassies in the hopes of strengthening faltering US alliances. But as the US becomes embroiled in new internal terrorism, its agents in Europe are offered intimidation and lies rather than explanations. And the price of seeking the truth to events back home is steep.As the growing conflict in the US threatens the peace of Europe and tips the world toward World War III, choices of loyalty need to be made - if Michael and Arinna can determine who to trust and if the price of their help is worth the cost. Global events hinge on a few individuals as an apocalyptic war threatens Europe, and no one is more unprepared than its potential saviors.Stories from the War consists of eleven interlinked short stories that are a prelude to the military dystopian thriller trilogy Friends of my Enemy.Set in Europe, this near future fiction series of novels unfolds through the intersecting lives of a small handful of people and explores adult themes, both dark and hopeful, of friendship, romance, and family, including how these influences direct everyday choices which ripple outwards to impact governments on the verge of an apocalypse. Because not all influence is good, and not all decisions can be made in time.What readers are saying:“Part one of what appears to be an interesting tale of tangled relationships and covert happenings in a future earth torn asunder with riots and natural disasters. Strong characterization and believable scenarios coupled with a setting that is thought provoking and entertaining. I want to read the next one. Check this story out!” - J.Williams 4 stars“Autumn has done it again. This book will grab you and carry you from beginning to end without a moment of boredom. Think of the quotation "The Enemy of my enemy is my friend" and you gain some insight into the substance of the story. I normally like Fantasy Adventure, but this novel was a great walk through something a little different. Can't recommend it enough.” - Victor 5 stars
Views: 374

The Benson

This short story/novella sees amateur Youtube ghost-hunters, Perry Palomino and Dex Foray, investigating the real-life hauntings of Portland's infamous Benson Hotel. It occurs between books #2 (Red Fox) and #3 (Dead Sky Morning) and is the perfect primer for anyone interested in the EIT series.
Views: 374

The Middle Passage

In 1960 the government of Trinidad invited V. S. Naipaul to revisit his native country and record his impressions. In this classic of modern travel writing he has created a deft and remarkably prescient portrait of Trinidad and four adjacent Caribbean societies–countries haunted by the legacies of slavery and colonialism and so thoroughly defined by the norms of Empire that they can scarcely believe that the Empire is ending. In The Middle Passage, Naipaul watches a Trinidadian movie audience greeting Humphrey Bogart’s appearance with cries of “That is man!” He ventures into a Trinidad slum so insalubrious that the locals call it the Gaza Strip. He follows a racially charged election campaign in British Guiana (now Guyana) and marvels at the Gallic pretension of Martinique society, which maintains the fiction that its roads are extensions of France’s routes nationales. And throughout he relates the ghastly episodes of the region’s colonial past and shows how they continue to inform its language, politics, and values. The result is a work of novelistic vividness and dazzling perspicacity that displays Naipaul at the peak of his powers.
Views: 373

The Offer

She thinks he's an arrogant playboy. He thinks she's an uptight prude. But he's about to make her an offer she can't refuse. Nicola Price used to have it all – a great career, the perfect boyfriend, an excessive shoe collection and an apartment in one of San Francisco’s best neighborhoods. But when she gets knocked up and her asshat boyfriend leaves her high and dry, Nicola’s perfectly crafted world comes tumbling down. And stays that way. Now, Nicola is the proud single mom to a five-year old daughter and living a giant lie. She can barely afford their ghetto apartment and all the men she dates run when they hear she comes with a child. She’s struggling and scared – and nowhere near where she thought she’d be at age thirty-one. Her saving grace comes in the form of a tall, handsome and wealthy Scotsman Bram McGregor, the older brother of her friend Linden. Bram understands a thing or two about pride, so when tragic circumstances place Nicola at rock bottom, he offers them a place to live in the apartment complex he owns. It’s pretty much the perfect deal, so as long as she doesn’t mind living beside Bram, a man that, despite his generosity, seems to antagonize her at every turn. But nothing in life is free and as Nicola gets her feet back on the ground, she discovers that the enigmatic playboy may end up costing her more than she thought. She might just lose her heart. Those McGregor brothers are nothing but trouble...
Views: 371