An Egyptian holy man for the religion of Islam is assassinated, and the killer leaves a gold cross as his calling card. The same Christian assassin kills on US soil, and it is now up to the FBI and Interpol to bring him to justice. FBI Agents John Knox and Beth White team up with Interpol Inspector Malik Sharif in this thriller that will make you not quite know who to pull for in the end.An assassin bent on vengeance begins carrying out his own personal crusade against Islamic imams, leaving a gold crucifix as his calling card. The assassin begins his killing spree overseas in Egypt, demanding the attention of Inspector Malik Sharif of Interpol. It doesn't take long for the Christian assassin to kill on US soil, and FBI Agents John Knox and Beth White are assigned the case. Can a worldly Muslim inspector cooperate with a downhome southern Christian FBI agent to capture the assassin? Can investigators pursue the killer while competing with the media and the moniker they assign to the killer in question...the Jesus Assassin? Once the assassin begins posing more problems for investigators, he also draws the attention of the people for which he unofficially works. Despite numerous resources at his disposal, the clandestine group sends someone else after the assassin, and the story turns into a race to see who catches the assassin first, if anyone.Before it's all said and done, what lies in store for the assassin? The investigators? Others who want to stop the elusive killer? Find out in this action packed story that although doesn't condone the behavior of the main killer, it very well may have you pulling for him before the book ends. But there's a lot more to this story than just violence and vengeance. Despite the dark circumstances that seem to surround almost everyone in the book, there is hope to be found. What exactly is the source of that hope?

Rafe Lincozzi’s metal band has just played their best show ever. Now they need a place to crash or it’s another night in the van. Fortunately, they’ve found an ad that offers free lodging to struggling musicians. Their benefactor turns out to be a man well-connected in the music industry, but could his plans for them be more sinister than they appear?This book of short verse and haiku was inspired by nature. Many of the poems reference the river and were written after visits to the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. The book is dedicated to Columbia Bottoms Conservation Area in Spanish Lake, Missouri. Read, relax, enjoy!

Meet Charlie, an older man who is set in his way. Daily walks to the grocery store, followed by an afternoon glass of wine with his neighbor, Vera, is how he enjoys spending his days. However, Charlie's reclusive lifestyle suddenly changes when a video of him goes viral. Wine With Charlie reminds us that love can be found at any age.Meet Charlie, an older man who is set in his way. Daily walks to the grocery store, followed by an afternoon glass of wine with his neighbor, Vera, is how he enjoys spending his days. However, Charlie's reclusive lifestyle suddenly changes when a video of him goes viral. It starts when a teenage boy recognizes him at the grocery store, and something tells that him his granddaughter, Maddie, might be behind his sudden fame. Wine With Charlie is a quick read story, that reminds us that love can be found at any age.

2012 Anderbo Self-Published Book Award Entry of Note Honorable Mention at the 2012 Paris Book FestivalYou'll be entranced by these twenty-four stories as Nath Jones finds her way into this fun and biting life. She does not shy away from mortality but conducts you from the kaleidoscopic moment when a toddler loses her innocence to the last breath an old man takes in a rowboat at sunrise.About the On Impulse eBook Series:If you read the tag on a shirt and think, "Man. That's pretty manipulative," these books are for you. The On Impulse series plays with the storytelling impulse: how we create our worlds, mold our minds, set our sights, and shape our legacies. In such a fast-paced culture each of us must be conscious of how words can operate for and against us. The series invites the reader to contemplate how we use language now: online, in full-length books, and with each other.

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.

A clandestine agent will do anything to get a promotion . . . even hunt a young boy.G.R. Agent 102498 loves his job. "Collecting lives" is what he was made to do. He has worked hard to climb up from the bottom, but lately he feels stuck.He has been a Level 2 Agent for long time now, and he feels he is ready to be promoted to Level 3: Random Works.When he happens across a couple, whose son is just days from turning three, he knows he has finally found the Collection that will convince his superiors to promote him.His boss agrees to the collection, but adds some treacherous conditions of his own. And to make matters worse, a beautiful Agent shows up in his hunting grounds looking for a promotion of her own.This story is approximately 11,000 words long.

Menagerie is the newest pet craze from the Acme Corporation. The robotic animals genetically bind to their owners. Only three easy steps to link: 1) Put a drop of fluid (saliva or blood) in its mouth 2) Wait for 24 hours 3) Tell your dreams and fears to your forever friend. By the way, genetic binding is an imperfect science. 15,000 words, give or take a character or two.“The tricky part isn’t making you see things; it’s making you believe what you see.”Menagerie is the newest pet craze from the Acme Corporation. The robotic animals genetically bind to their owners. Only three easy steps to link:1) Put a drop of fluid (saliva or blood) in its mouth2) Wait for 24 hours3) Tell your dreams and fears to your forever friendBy the way, genetic binding is an imperfect science.Timothy Hollow believes the measure of a man is how much he gains. He is a successful analyst, climbing Corinth’s societal ladder. In Corinth, the societal ladder also means living in the upper levels of the colossal buildings that stretch hundreds of floors upward. The higher the better. However, his universe is turned upside down when his mother brings him an unexpected gift, a Menagerie.-----Longer than a short story, shorter than a novella. This novelette is 15,000 words, give or take a character or two. If you read, please post a review.

Levin Ruck was once a great warrior mage, but in peacetime he serves as Deputy Chief of Dervine Village. When orchard keeper Desma brings news of trouble in the mountains, Lev knows the time for action has come again, but with the Chief refusing to act, Lev and Desma must defy orders to investigate. What they discover is a deadly threat – and they are Dervine's first and only line of defence.Levin Ruck was once a great warrior mage: the battle-scarred wartime hero of the alpine village of Dervine and defender of the Kingdom of Flaran. But with peacetime stretching into its seventh year, opportunities for action have been scarce – even in his role as Deputy Chief of the village. So when Desma the orchard keeper rides in late one night with news of ominous noises in the mountains, Lev knows the time for action has come. But when Chief Magnus refuses to act, Lev takes matters into his own hands. Defying orders, he and Desma ride to the mountains to investigate the source of the disturbance. What they discover is beyond their worst fears: a deadly threat has arrived on the village’s doorstep – and Lev and Desma are Dervine’s first and only line of defence.

A homeless man named Ted wakes up in the luxury car of a missing woman. When the police question him, he babbles about a man he claims will lead them to the woman, though Ted also says he has never met this man. When Detective Lyons follows the leads, he stumbles into the secret life of a powerful investor and his unexpected connection with the poorest of the poor.A homeless man named Ted wakes up in the luxury car of a missing woman. When the police question him, he babbles about a man he claims will lead them to the woman, though Ted also says he has never met this man. Detective Lyons believes there is a secret meaning in Ted's incoherent monologues, though his superiors believe they are nonsense. When Lyons follows the case in his own time, he stumbles into the secret life of a powerful investor and his unexpected connection with the poorest of poor.

A cryptic message on her answering machine prompts Phyl to leave her idyllic home on Lake Saint Catherine in Vermont and travel to an exotic island. But she soon discovers that her good intentions have led to a chain of events that will test her endurance and threaten her life. A Pale Paradise is the sequel to An Obscure Haven.Young Tommy, thanks to his extraordinary powers, travels the country as member of an elite government team empowered to hunt and destroy the strange insectoid humans plaguing humanity. But Tommy has his secret doubts, as well as fears. Is he perhaps closer to the monsters than he dreams?

A gentle mist curled in from Vancouver Harbour enveloping the harbour front and rail yard. Building, it drifted mystically over Crab Park, across West Waterfront Rd. and finally enveloping the quiet by-ways, alley-ways and streets of Gastown.On this evening Reverend Riddell had gone but a short distance from the door of his apartment building on Powell Street. He was about to step into a café when he felt a tug on the right sleeve of his blue pea jacket. When he looked he was met with a pair of wet, rummy eyes filled with such an anguish he could barely contain the rasp of horror threatening to burst past his lips. Instead he simply breathed out, “Thadeus!”“Come with me now. I’ll buy you a meal and you can tell me…..” The Reverend was offering.“No…No.No You must come with me now. I have discovered something terrible.” Thadeus argued and tugged insistently on the Reverends coat sleeve.Reverend Riddell was reluctant. With Thadeus, something terrible could mean something he perceived in his mind. But as he searched the old drunkards eyes there was something in their depths that warned him that Thadeus had seen something far more viable that a twist of his imagination.“Very well. Where must we go.” He asked.“Follow me Rev. Its this way.” Thadeus urged with an almost sober tone.With only slight staggers and shuffling the Gastown Beggar lead the Reverend back to the green dumpster in Trounce Alley. ““Ugh. Blood Alley.” Riddell groaned.

In association with The Edge Books.theedgebooks.blogspot.com/Small town science teacher Keith Bradley climbs into a red Tesla with English teacher Talia Ramin for the field trip of a lifetime. At stake is a missing copy of the Scriptures on gold tablets. At risk is the trust of an ancient order sworn to keep the tablets safe.In association with The Edge Books.theedgebooks.blogspot.com/Small town science teacher Keith Bradley climbs into a red Tesla with English teacher Talia Ramin for the field trip of a lifetime. At stake is a missing copy of the Scriptures on gold tablets. At risk is the trust of an ancient order sworn to keep the tablets safe. Talia's archaeologist aunt and uncle may have lost their last clue to artifact thieves. A government ultimatum might undo every lesson they have taught their students about keeping the Word safe.from Chapter Eighteen – “Are You So Selfish?”“What?” Keith jumped up. “What are you saying? We’re supposed to take the kids’ Bibles away from them? Their prayer journals? Their memory cards?”“There’s no need to be defensive.” Doctor Williams glared up at him. “Please be seated. You will only be borrowing them, to get them scanned. And we want materials from everyone in the community. Parents, grandparents, ministers – Anyone who studies the Bible. Don’t you see? This will become a resource people all over the world can use, for all time. Mr. Bradley, your prayers, your thoughts, your study of the Bible could teach someone in Thailand, Mali, Alaska – someone in a spaceship traveling to Mars – these insights will become eternal.”“But it’s voluntary, right?” Talia asked. “People don’t have to give us their Bibles, do they?”“This program fails if it doesn’t accomplish the critical goal of gathering all the possible data,” Doctor Williams insisted.“What exactly do you mean by ‘this program fails’?” Keith’s dad demanded.“It doesn’t fulfill the requirements,” Doctor Williams said. “It doesn’t qualify for the grants.”“You mean we lose everything we’ve gotten from implementing the Bible as Literature program?” Principal Bradley choked.“Really, there’s nothing scary or unreasonable being asked for here. Are your Bible studies secret? Why does the idea of sharing them with the world disturb you? Are you that selfish?”

The life and times of one of America's most successful nightclubs - Blinstrub's Village. Follow the story of the venue and its glittering stars from the beginning right through to the tragic and needless end. Bill Russo draws the tale from his memories as a student in Boston's Kenmore Square in the 1960s as well as from a personal relationship to one of the key players in the club's orchestra.From the eyes of a college student living nearby in the 1960s, here's an in depth look at the life and times of Boston's biggest nightclub, Blinstrub's Village. You'll learn about the venue and meet its most illustrious performers. It's also the story of how a young man's vision transformed a shuttered, beaten down, corner saloon into one of the premier entertainment centers of the mid 1900s. In the end, the empire fails for a reason that most people will find hard to believe. .

Guy Crouchback, determined to get into the war, takes a commission in the Royal Corps of Halberdiers. His spirits high, he sees all the trimmings but none of the action. And his first campaign, an abortive affair on the West African coastline, ends with an escapade which seriously blots his Halberdier copybook. Men at Arms is the first book in Waugh’s brilliant trilogy, Sword of Honour, which chronicles the fortunes of Guy Crouchback. The second and third volumes, Officers and Gentlemen and Unconditional Surrender, are also published in Penguin. Sword of Honour has recently been made into a television drama series, with screenplay by William Boyd.

Four decades ago, Richard Forthrast, the black sheep of an Iowa family, fled to a wild and lonely mountainous corner of British Columbia to avoid the draft. Smuggling backpack loads of high-grade marijuana across the border into Northern Idaho, he quickly amassed an enormous and illegal fortune. With plenty of time and money to burn, he became addicted to an online fantasy game in which opposing factions battle for power and treasure in a vast cyber realm. Like many serious gamers, he began routinely purchasing virtual gold pieces and other desirables from Chinese gold farmers—young professional players in Asia who accumulated virtual weapons and armor to sell to busy American and European buyers. For Richard, the game was the perfect opportunity to launder his aging hundred dollar bills and begin his own high-tech start up—a venture that has morphed into a Fortune 500 computer gaming group, Corporation 9592, with its own super successful online role-playing game, T’Rain. But the line between fantasy and reality becomes dangerously blurred when a young gold farmer accidently triggers a virtual war for dominance—and Richard is caught at the center. In this edgy, 21st century tale, Neal Stephenson, one of the most ambitious and prophetic writers of our time, returns to the terrain of his cyberpunk masterpieces Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon, leading readers through the looking glass and into the dark heart of imagination.

Charles Strickland, a conventional stockbroker, abandons his wife and children for Paris and Tahiti, to live his life as a painter. Whilst his betrayal of family, duty and honour gives him the freedom to achieve greatness, his decision leads to an obsession which carries severe implications. Inspired by the life of Paul Gauguin, The Moon and Sixpence is at once a satiric caricature of Edwardian conventions and a vivid portrayal of the mentality of a genius.

A forgotten childhood. A discovered life. *What if you only had one day to find out who you really were?* When Sabrina Boggs stumbles upon a mysterious collection of her father’s possessions, she discovers a truth where she never knew there was a lie. The familiar man she grew up with is suddenly a stranger to her. An unexpected break in her monotonous daily routine leaves her just one day to unlock the secrets of the man she thought she knew. A day that unearths memories, stories and people she never knew existed. A day that changes her and those around her forever. The Marble Collector is a thought-provoking novel about how the most ordinary decisions we make can have the most extraordinary consequences for how we live our lives. And how sometimes it’s only by shining on a light on someone else, that you can truly understand yourself.

Time seems to slow as the clock ticks down. . . . Pan-Con Airlines captain Rayford Steele prepares for a flight to London with beautiful flight attendant Hattie Durham. Because of his wifes newfound faith, Rayford looks forward to timeand the possibilitieswith Hattie. Journalist Cameron Buck Williams is in Israel when the Russians attack and experiences for himself the miraculous deliverance of the Holy Land. Buck cannot deny Chicago bureau chief Lucinda Washingtons insistence that the event was prophesied in Scripture, though he dares not consider the personal ramifications. Meanwhile, Nicolae Carpathia eliminates any obstacles in his path to power. As the newly appointed president of Romania, Nicolae is invited to speak before the U.N. Without warning, millions disappear and are welcomed into the unspeakable presence of God. On earth some realize what has happened . . . what theyve lost . . . what theyve missed. And the darkest days lie ahead for those left behind.

Sixteen-year-old Seph McCauley has spent the past three years getting kicked out of one exclusive private school after another. And it's not his attitude that's the problem: it's the trail of magical accidents - lately, disasters - that follow in his wake. Seph is a wizard, orphaned and untrained, and his powers are escalating out of control. After causing a tragic fire at an after-hours party, Seph is sent to the Havens, a secluded boys' school on the coast of Maine. Gregory Leicester, the headmaster, promises to train Seph in magic and initiate him into his mysterious order of wizards. But Seph's enthusiasm dampens when he learns that training comes at a steep cost, and that Leicester plans to use his students' powers to serve his own mysterious agenda.

Since childhood, Rosie's life has been the stage—passing herself off as a boy playing women's roles in the somewhat disreputable theatrical troupe of actor Danny Plympton, Rosie's adoptive father. But when unanticipated danger confronts them, they must flee London, taking refuge at the estate of Sir Anthony Rycliffe. A handsome, devil-may-care rakehell, Tony quickly sees through Rosie's disguise. But a lush, womanly form and eminently kissable lips are not the ravishing young beauty's only secrets—and the burning attraction Tony feels for her does not lessen the peril she has brought to his doorstep. The dashing rogue is determined to strip the irresistible lady of her mysteries—and her masculine garb—using all of his fabled seductive powers. After all, Tony has a reputation to uphold, as . . .

It is 4034. Humanity has made it to the stars. Fassin Taak, a Slow Seer at the Court of the Nasqueron Dwellers, will be fortunate if he makes it to the end of the year. The Nasqueron Dwellers inhabit a gas giant on the outskirts of the galaxy, in a system awaiting its wormhole connection to the rest of civilization. In the meantime, they are dismissed as decadents living in a state of highly developed barbarism, hoarding data without order, hunting their own young & fighting pointless formal wars. Seconded to a military-religious order he's barely heard of—part of the baroque hierarchy of the Mercatoria, the latest galactic hegemony— Taak has to travel again amongst the Dwellers. He is in search of a secret hidden for half a billion years. But with each day that passes a war draws closer—a war threatening to overwhelm everything & everyone he's ever known.