In this dystopian fantasy, certain people are stuck at binary ages due to an unknown cause. They cannot age, or change, or become sick or even injured. By turns experimented on, abused, tortured and scorned, they are eventually exiled into a strange prison, an infinite forest world from which there is no escape. There they seek a cure, an antidote, a solution to their problem. Book 1 of Epic FailIn this dystopian fantasy, certain people are stuck at binary ages (8, 16, 32 ...) due to an unknown cause. They cannot age, or change, or become sick or even injured. By turns experimented on, abused, tortured and scorned, they are eventually exiled into a strange prison, an infinite forest world from which there is no escape. There they seek a cure, an antidote, a solution to their problem.Four people are selected, seemingly at random, by an invisible being who communicates to them through wild animals. They are told they must go somewhere, find something, take it somewhere and do something with it. This is all they know. The thing, whatever it is, could be anything, and it could be anywhere. As for the chosen ones, they have other problems. Two are bitter rivals in an endless and seemingly pointless game, another is a novice, newly torn from her everyday life, while the fourth has been an old man for much too long, for all of them are immortal, exiled with nothing into an infinite forest by a world that cannot tolerate their existence. As they struggle to work together to achieve a goal that none can even imagine, failure might just be their only option. Book One of Epic Fail

Kate Appleton needs a job. Her husband has left her, she’s been fired as a magazine editor, and she only wants to go to her parents’ summer house, The Nutshell, in Keene’s Harbor, Michigan, and make a Bed and Breakfast inn. Matt Culhane needs a spy in his brewery for a saboteur, and Kate is new in town. But Kate despises beer and nobody trusts her.

The stunning North American Woman series concludes with this sexy tale of a revolutionary hero and the alluring Tory colonist who is forced to marry him. Red-hot desire burns in the two lovers who trust each other only as far as the bedroom.

(Novella)

Owen's family moves from the city to the countryside, and the adolescent Owen quickly develops friendships and rivalries. When he discovers a corpse in the river, it proves the catalyst for a spiralling descent into the darker reaches of the community, and a stark rites of passage for Owen.

Attorney Phillip Blakely's first encounter with Dani Hayward was one he would prefer to leave in his past. But another dead end case has dropped into his lap and, once again, he seeks the help of Dani Hayward, Private Investigator.THE THREE-PART SERIES IS COMPLETE!** Due to mature sexual content, recommended for readers aged 18+ **THE PALE SERIES - Sparks and pigs fly when a wise-cracking waitress meets a reclusive billionaire.Book #1 - Pale StrangerBook #2 - Pale CompanionBook #3 - Pale LoverTrixie is a wise-cracking waitress trying to work her way through college when a late-night storm blows in a stranger. He's not like the usual customers with his pale skin and dark clothes. Her kindness to him is rewarded with an invitation to his house in the country, and she finds herself in a sticky relationship when he returns her kindness with more than just a thank-you.

A collection of short sketches and one-act plays. The subjects vary - a son leaving home, a sense of menace in a rural scene, the mystery of a cruise passenger's identity, consequences of accidents, matrimonial complications, unscrupulous journalistic malpractice, a fatal jealousy - but the tone is mostly light-hearted and conflict usually ends in reconciliation.CONTENTSBRIEF SKETCHES (written for specific occasions).Independence Day (mini-drama; 2m, 1f; 10 minutes)A teenage son is at the stage of leaving home, but his parents too find advantages in independence.Perils of Travel (conversation piece; 2f; 10 minutes). Two young professional women, awaiting a flight to a meeting, discuss a missing passenger, security issues, and why not to travel in a business suit.Crash (mini-drama; 2f; 8 minutes). A teenage girl, who may or may not be dreaming, is visited by a friend who may or may not have stolen the first's boy-friend, and has been involved in a horrendous road accident.Inn Memory (mini-drama; 2f; 8 minutes). Why is the visitor alarmed by a completely peaceful rural scene?ONE-ACT (mostly of competition length)Good Intentions (comedy; 3m, 3f; 50 minutes). George means well but lacks won't-power, and events conspire against his good intentions. Fortunately he is shunted off the road so paved before reaching its proverbial destination. Danube Moon (comedy; 2m, 2f; 30 minutes)A disagreeable divorcee unexpectedly encounters her ex-husband on a river cruise, and quite against her intentions helps him out of a desperate situation.Whitefly (drama; 2m, 3f, 1 either; 40 minutes) An unscrupulous journalist causes disaster to a small community in her determination not to let the truth get in the way of a good story about a local project.Nemesis (dark-grey comedy; 1m, 2f; 30 minutes)"Hell is other people" said Sartre, but Alan, his wife and mistress find otherwise; and who has murdered whom, or doesn't it matter?Coincidence (comedy; 3m, 3f; 30 minutes)A series of outrageous coincidences reunites several old acquaintances.Green Eyes (drama; 3m, 2f; 45 minutes)Sally and Kevin are keen environmentalists. Kevin becomes unreasonably jealous of Sally's contacts with a specialist she has interviewed for the local newspaper and accidentally causes his death, with subsequent agonies of remorse. This drives them apart until his subsequent conduct enables him to forgive himself.Fish out of Water (comedy mystery; 8m, 17f, 1 m or f; 60 minutes. Written for a large group of mixed ability.)Among a mixed bunch of passengers on a river cruise, one is the object of particular interest for several others on covert business, but insists that he is not who they think; or is he? Waiting (drama; 10m, 10f; 45 minutes. Again written for a specific group.)A busload of passengers is left stranded and wondering why; the reason proves more drastic than they could have imagined, but to resolve some old problems.

The Reaper war has destroyed their worlds leaving entire star systems decimated and whole civilizations erased from history. The people of the galaxy look to one person - one human - for salvation. Can the efforts of one woman succeed where innumerable peoples before her kind have failed? Join Commander Karen Shepard in this re-imagined ending to the Bioware game "Mass Effect 3".The Reaper war has destroyed their worlds leaving entire star systems decimated and whole civilizations erased from history. The people of the galaxy look to one person - one human - for salvation. Can the efforts of one woman succeed where innumerable peoples before her kind have failed? Join Commander Karen Shepard in this re-imagined ending to the Bioware game "Mass Effect 3".The story of Bioware's Commander Shepard continues with this full-length work, "EndShard: A Mass Effect Fan Novel", by Karen E. Politte ("VakarianGirl"). Taking place after the ending of "Mass Effect 3", this novel re-imagines the end story of the franchise, its central protagonist Commander Shepard, and the pivotal and peripheral characters of the Mass Effect universe.What does love truly mean when worlds are aflame and death waits in the void? Who would truly follow you through fire and pain to death? How do you keep going when you can barely crawl? This is a story not only of Commander Karen Shepard's battle with the Reapers, but also of her deepest fears and most closely-held hops.---------------------------------------------This novel contains adult language, adult situations and scenes of conflict.---------------------------------------------Suggested reading device: Kindle (.mobi).---------------------------------------------

After having her heart broken by the man who promised to love her forever, Erin is certain it will never heal. But a chance meeting with a man who comes into her life like a blazing light in the dark night might be able to change her mind. It fact, he knows the terrible heartache she suffers and seems to know exactly how to help her forget all the pain.Wannabe actress Stevie Stone had to earn some fast money. Harriet Hollywood’s Repossession Company seemed like an easy gig, you grab the stuff and go. What could go wrong? Turns out, a lot. Now someone wants her dead. With the help of Hector her mothering partner with a donut obsession, she tries to outwit her assassins. To complicate matters, her over protective ex-boyfriend, Bryan, who just happens to be the assistant district attorney, goes to any length short of locking her up to protect her. The chaos continues when Stevie meets Manuel who becomes her reluctant mentor and sometimes life saver, who in all likelihood is a contract killer, or just a hot guy who is very handy with a gun. Stevie has to race against time as the hit man wants his payday and will stop at nothing to ensure she ends up dead.

Ruby Redfort is a genius code-cracker, a daring detective, and a gadget-laden special agent who just happens to be a 13-year-old girl. She and her slick side-kick butler, Hitch, foil crimes and get into loads of scrapes with evil villains, but they're always ice-cool in a crisis.

Brilliant swordsman and heroic in stature, young Jeremy has only one weakness as he faces his greatest challenge. He is a coward.Terrorists target an interplanetary freighter, aiming to create an atrocity large enough to reignite a bloody war between Mars and Earth. The only thing standing in their way: A token pilot pulled out of retirement simply to satisfy safety regulations. But old pilots didn't get that way by trusting machinery, particularly when they were trained during wartime. They have no idea how far this old pilot will go to prevent his children's lives from being shattered by the same war that consumed his own generation. (Short Story: 5000 Words)

Two teenagers are caught in a waterspout, flung across space to another world called Seome.Seome is suffering, wrecked by Umans, descendants of the teenagers’ own race.The Farpool depends on a Uman weapon.Shut down, the wormhole disappears.The teenagers must decide:stay with their Seomish friends, or go back before it closes forever. It will be the hardest decision Chase and Angie have ever made.Teen-agers Chase and Angie witness a waterspout off Scotland Beach, Florida. After it’s gone, they investigate a whirlpool nearby. They spot two marine animals, clad in suits. The creatures blind them with some kind of device, then disappear into the whirlpool. The teen-agers are trapped in the vortex and wind up catapulted six thousand light years, to an ocean world called Seome. The Seomish call it the Farpool. It’s a wormhole. Chase and Angie arrive in this world, riven by conflict, wracked by sound and vibration from a base on a small island, a base set up by Umans, star-faring descendants of the teenagers’ own human race. The Umans operate a Time Twister. The Umans are fighting off a malevolent enemy called the Coethi; one of the effects of the Twister is the Farpool. Now Chase and Angie find themselves in the midst of an existential crisis, a race against time and destiny. Chase wants to stay behind, to learn more about this amazing world and to help his new–found Seomish friends defend themselves. Angie wants to go home. But the challenge is this: Farpool depends on the Twister working. If it’s shut down, the wormhole will be gone. Chase and Angie now must decide: stay with their new found Seomish family, or attempt to go back through the Farpool before it’s closed forever.The decision may send them back through time and space to their home world. But the same decision may well doom their Seomish friends to complete annihilation at the hands of the Coethi. It will be the hardest decision Chase and Angie have ever made.

Eric has less than a year left before his fated battle when he meets her. She's a shade like him, but separated from the Dark – and with more power than she should have. And he can't stay away.Jessica is new to town and desperate to figure out who, or what, her birth parents were. But she can't find them without overcoming Eric, and she won't let him stop her.Two destines. One death."Her kiss could kill us, and my consent signed our death certificates."Eric Welborn isn't completely human, but he isn't the only shade in the small Midwest town of Hayworth. With one year left before his eighteenth birthday, Eric is destined to win a long-raging war for his kind. But then she happens. In the middle of the night, Eric meets a nameless shade, and she's powerful—too powerful—and his beliefs are altered. The Dark has lied to him, and he's determined to figure out exactly what lies were told, even if the secrets protect his survival.Jessica Taylor moves to Hayworth, and her only goal is to find more information on her deceased biological family. Her adoptive parents agree to help on one condition: perfect grades. And Jessica is distraught when she's assigned as Eric's class partner. He won't help, let alone talk to her, but she's determined to change him—even if it means revealing everything he's strived to hide.Minutes Before Sunset is the first book in The Timely Death Trilogy.

It's finally time for Jane to go outside! Remi soon realises that showing her the ropes is not as easy as he thought it would be when they find themselves in one hilarious scenario after another. Allison is back as well...and this time with an offer that can't be refused! And, a mysterious presence, yet to reveal themselves, seems to be tracking Jane.It's finally time for Jane to go outside! Remi soon realises that showing her the ropes is not as easy as he thought it would be when they find themselves in one hilarious scenario after another. Allison is back as well...and this time with an offer that can't be refused! And, a mysterious presence, yet to reveal themselves, seems to be tracking Jane. Will Jane choose the right outfits? Will Allison find out who Jane really is? Are they all going to go to dinner together? Find out in Jane 8086 Part Three!

egon yes stars as egon no in this cross-genre poem-story mashup.We asked some of Australia's top fantasy and science fiction authors to select two of their stories tied together by a single theme and to write an introduction on how they had explored that theme — to give some insight into their writing and how they see the big issues. We also paired the writers with Australia's top SF artists, so that each publication also showcases the illustrator. Then we released the publications in pairs. The result is the Aurealis Duos series.In "Terrorism", Jack Dann, an expat New Yorker and multi-award winning SF author who eats Vegemite with an American accent says, "I didn't feel patriotic the morning that the towers fell... I just felt that someone had burned down my house... the only way I could get my arms around the subject was to write about... us. No treatise on terrorism and suicide bombing here, just two stories that are set on the other side of the looking glass."

BUS STOP HAIKU features Brian Robertson's [popular urban haiku -- as well as an excerpt from his helpful workshop on writing haiku. Together, they form a look into Robertson's habit of "poem catching" in the streets of his native Houston as well as Austin, Dallas and other urban centers. As of April 27, 2015, the book is available at no cost.BUS STOP HAIKU features Brian Robertson's newest urban haiku -- as well as an excerpt from his helpful workshop on writing haiku. Together, they form a look into Robertson's habit of "poem catching" in the streets of his native Houston as well as Austin, Dallas and other urban centers. The author of Little Blues Book with illustrations by R. Crumb, Robertson approaches the haiku form much as he did with his Street Photography -- capturing moments with depth, sensitivity and humor. As he writes, "Haiku uses words to get beyond words to what is underneath the words."These 100+ haiku celebrate people, nature and moments in an interdependent world through the lens of haiku. His view records things such as “sparse yellow flowers/ in front of the liquor store/ frankly, do their best” to fractures in the city landscape, as in “flag of surrender/ white sheet across the windshield/ – driver shot himself”The haiku reflect Buddhist monasteries and temples as well as humor in the bars where he has played the blues for 30 years – “play loud as you want/ the beer is free/ – my drummer swoons”

Three hundred years after a global pandemic, Webster City, near the ruins of Chicago, is the last city on Earth. Surrounding enemies threaten to destroy it. However, when Major Carl Davidson investigates the suspicious death of a brilliant biochemist, he discovers the city's real enemies are within and a dark plot is afoot to slaughter the last of mankind. A post-apocalyptic dystopian thriller.Centuries ago, the human race was nearly crushed in its struggle to defeat the evil forces of Aboleth. Led by a powerful order known as the Valier, humankind prevailed, but at a terrible price. In their desperate attempt to achieve victory at any cost, the Valier fell and became a curse on civilization known as The Dread Lords.Time has passed. The world has moved on. The Lake Valleys of Sheridan has known peace for centuries. Only, for Niam Maldies, life has been anything but tranquil. He has been hounded by a gang of ruthless bullies all of his life; and to make matters worse, a year ago, his brother and sister died in a mysterious accident that left him reeling in pain.When Niam hears a mysterious Voice that leads him into a series of dangerous situations, he and his two best friends are set on a collision course with an evil sorcerer. As the three friends struggle to uncover the culprit behind a string of ghastly and supernatural murders, they discover a greater plot that may spell doom for their homeland. Now they must rely on the strength of their friendship if they are to survive, for they were born in fulfillment of a dire prophecy: The Dread Lords must rise once again if mankind is to survive its most ancient and implacable enemy.

Story #1: The Zombie Who Liked Fred Astaire - A zombie desires to dance like his hero, Fred Astaire, but first he must find a willing teacher. Story #2: The Goldfish Who Contemplated Life - A sad goldfish dreams of escaping his fish bowl so he can fight zombies, eliminate erectile dysfunction, and meet Justin Bieber.It is the year 2049. John Ennis, a writer and political analyst, finds himself in Medina Hurriya, capital city of Algharb. His goal is a new media series for Global Focus Report, but he quickly finds himself dangerously ensnarled in a struggle against Algharb’s oppressive regime.The story has its roots in the early part of the twenty first century. During that period Europe and more particularly France had entered a period of intense transformation. In addition to the wave of continued immigration from Muslim countries, the sons and daughters of previous generations of immigrants reached maturity. The Muslim population of France reached eleven million. Islam had replaced Protestantism to a very large extent as the second religion of the country.Successive governments had encouraged or condoned immigration, without looking further than their next election, without questioning the changes that were taking place in the world, without taking the decisions necessary to integrate the new arrivals into the mainstream population.The result was a gradual radicalisation of attitudes of both the recent arrivals and the existing population towards each other. Most immigrants felt excluded or discriminated against and many were easily converted to the attitudes of their co-religionists in their countries of origin, who in turn were conditioned by events in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world, where Islam was in conflict with the West. This novel was originally written in 1991 and I have altered relatively little in the story as it is told here. Many of the scenarios have come to be: a Middle Eastern Caliphate, the massive flight of refugees towards Europe, the rise of right wing political parties, encroaching Islam, the spread of communitarism, the retreat of the UK from the EU, and the threat of disintegration of both. The politicians of Europe and the USA are largely to blame for the situation that exists in the Middle East today and the paths that lay ahead for France the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe are fraught with danger.

Nikki Powergloves joins forces with the Power Council to take on the Power Outlaws in a showdown of super-cool superpowers that only the awesomest of kids can handle. Have your powergloves and powerboots ready as you read the stunning sequel to Nikki Powergloves- A Hero is Born.When John Daniels left for the library he expected it to be just another quiet day hunting through journals and periodicals. Then a mysterious package arrived with an impossible device inside, and John’s peaceful world vanished with the death screams of a murdered woman echoing through the library. Forced to confront the pain of his past, John had little choice but to accept an unusual mission.John lives a comfortable and quiet life. After fighting for years to reach a place where he could be in control of his own life, he has established himself as an independent researcher with the ability to pick which jobs he takes and the luxury of setting his own schedule so that he frequently finds himself at the library where his friend and high-school crush, Sarah Parrish, works as a librarian. However, that all changes the day a mysterious package from an unknown source arrives addressed to John at, of all places, the library. The device inside rips away John’s sense of control and forces him to confront the most painful parts of his past. Apart from Sarah, only his best friend, Lieutenant Kiel Samuels, knows the secrets and pain of John’s childhood. When circumstances took a seven-year-old John and his little sister, Mia, away from their mother and placed them in the foster system, they were separated. After two years apart, Mia disappeared from the schoolyard one afternoon. Having watched the strain of loss and a stalled investigation kill his mother when he was only eleven, a loss that sent him back into the foster system until he aged out at eighteen, John had finally reached a place where he could accept the likelihood that his sister was not only dead, but that he would never know what happened to her. He thought he had successfully put it behind him and moved on.But the questions, the uncertainty, and the drive for answers come roaring back to John the moment the device turns itself on and displays a video of the violent murder of an unknown young woman. With a horrified Sarah at his side, John temporarily sets aside the question of where and whom the impossible device came from and sets out to uncover the woman’s identity and find her. Trusting only Kiel and Sarah, John puts his research skills and analytical mind to the task of finding the murdered girl and bringing justice and closure to her family, two things his little sister never got. But when it turns out the murdered and missing girl is just the first of a long list of unsolved cases the device wants John to work on, he is less than pleased. John struggles to generate the same level of passion and commitment when working to free a man wrongfully imprisoned for years. Reluctant to turn his life over to what might be a never-ending mission forced on him by an apparently sentient machine and anonymous benefactor, John’s frustrations finally boil over when the prospect of discovering the truth of what happened to Mia is dangled like a carrot just out of his reach. Taking his frustrations out on the Gee device and its seemingly limitless power proves to have far-reaching consequences as John inadvertently broadcasts the device’s information in the form of an untraceable website that announces its existence to the world, dominating the news coverage for weeks, overwhelming the already strained criminal justice system, and generating a widespread search for the source of the site. John strives to keep his identity a secret with Kiel and Sarah promising to keep their mouths shut. But as events unfold and powerful, influential people endeavour to protect themselves from the fallout, John finds more than just himself in danger.