Love and evil know no bounds! Turn the page and enter a world of shadow, as Michael West brings together his most disturbing short stories--twisted tales of forbidden desires and ghoulish deeds, where nightmares manifest in the most mundane and unlikely of places... The basement of a Japanese restaurant, where a seductive creature promises comfort to a lonely hitman, if only he will set her free... A ruined city, where survivors of a natural disaster have become prey to something unnatural... An Indiana farmhouse, where a frightened child attempts to fool the Angel of Death... And the darkest regions of space, where a man fights to protect the woman he loves from invaders only he can see... Ten reasons to lock your doors. Ten reasons to keep the lights on. Ten reasons why you may never sleep again. Praise for Skull Full of Kisses "(Michael West) gave me nightmares!" Anne Boedeker, E! -Entertainment Television "This is damned serious stuff, and it's scary, suspenseful, and sweat-inducing; but more importantly - perhaps most importantly - it's all disturbing as hell, and cannot be easily forgotten." Gary A. Braunbeck, author of Coffin Countyand Mr. Hands (on Dark Harvest) "Michael West proves himself to be a masterful storyteller, flawless in building momentum, and his skills in characterization match or even often surpass some of the most successful writers in the business." Nicholas Grabowsky, author of Halloween 4: the Return of Michael Myers, and The Everborn (on The Wide Game)

Melanie’s first love is the boy of her dreams—can she make the relationship last after summer is gone? Fourteen-year-old Melanie is spending the summer on Fire Island with her family when she meets Justin Hart. Handsome and mysterious, he seems as interested in her as she is in him, but insists that their relationship can only be a summer romance. After summer ends, Melanie tries to let go and starts dating another guy back home. But Justin isn’t easy to forget—especially when Melanie sees him on the cover of a magazine! The star of a new show, he has clearly forgotten all about her. Or has he? Melanie is determined to get in touch with him and find out just what she meant to him last summer. This ebook features an illustrated personal history of Ann M. Martin, including rare images from the author’s collection.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Stolen Child comes a hypnotic literary horror novel about a young boy trapped inside his own world, whose drawings blur the lines between fantasy and reality. Ever since he nearly drowned in the ocean three years earlier, ten-year-old Jack Peter Keenan has been deathly afraid to venture outdoors. Refusing to leave his home in a small coastal town in Maine, Jack Peter spends his time drawing monsters. When those drawings take on a life of their own, no one is safe from the terror they inspire. His mother, Holly, begins to hear strange sounds in the night coming from the ocean, and she seeks answers from the local Catholic priest and his Japanese housekeeper, who fill her head with stories of shipwrecks and ghosts. His father, Tim, wanders the beach, frantically searching for a strange apparition running wild in the dunes. And the boy’s only friend, Nick, becomes helplessly entangled in the eerie power of the drawings. While those around Jack Peter are haunted by what they think they see, only he knows the truth behind the frightful occurrences as the outside world encroaches upon them all. In the tradition of The Turn of the Screw, Keith Donohue’s The Boy Who Drew Monsters is a mesmerizing tale of psychological terror and imagination run wild, a perfectly creepy read for a dark night.

Coming home again isn't always easy. Colonel Michael Cedars and reporter Hope Shane fell in love in a warzone, but then the world blew up and splintered their lives in two. Sometimes heroes fall and take the ones they love down with them. A Marine accustomed to giving orders, Michael struggles to find his role in civilian life. Wounded, he faces new battles as he learns to walk again, struggles with wartime ghosts, and questions his abilities as a husband. But theirs is a love worth fighting for—and Hope Shane doesn't surrender. An investigative reporter, she's hot on the trail of a human trafficking ring. Danger intensifies as she gets closer to the truth, but the human traffickers know her weakness. Will Michael become her Achilles Heel? Will her reckless disregard for rules shatter the fragile bonds of their marriage once and for all? Is he still the hero she married or has he become a liability that could get them both killed?

**A teenage history buff finds himself trapped in the Civil War Jake Branford has always felt that he was born 150 years too late. A fourteen-year-old Civil War nut, he’s happiest when he’s reading soldiers’ letters, exploring old battlegrounds, or trying on an ancestor’s tattered Union Army cap. Lucky for him, a mysterious film director is in town, working on a Civil War epic, and Jake stumbles onto the secret set. The film set is like nothing he has ever seen. The musket-fire, explosions, and uniforms are all perfectly accurate. Jake is in heaven—until it all gets a little too real. He’s always wanted to fight for the Union—and today he’s going to get his chance.  War was selected by the International Reading Association and the Children’s Book Council as a 2000 Children’s Choice. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Peter Lerangis including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author’s personal collection. 

** The Lost Order continues renowned New York Times top 5 bestseller Steve Berry’s Cotton Malone series with another riveting, history-based thriller. **The Knights of the Golden Circle, founded on July 4, 1854, was the largest, most dangerous clandestine organization in American history. It formulated grand plans—to expand the United States, change the constitutional landscape, and forge a Southern empire, enslaving a ‘golden circle’ spanning two continents. To finance its goals, the Order amassed an amazing trove of stolen gold and silver, which they buried in hidden caches across the United States. Treasure hunters have searched for decades, but have never found any of the Order’s major hoards. Now, 160 years later, the knights still exist. Two factions within the Order want the treasure—one to spend it, the other to preserve it. Thrust into that civil war is former Justice Department agent Cotton Malone. Starting with a hunt for clues inside the Smithsonian Institution, Malone discovers that an ancestor within his own family may hold the key to everything: a Confederate spy named Owen “Cotton” Payne. Complicating matters further are the political ambitions of a ruthless Speaker of the House and the widow of a United States Senator, who have plans of their own—plans that conflict in every way with the Order. From the quiet back rooms of the Smithsonian, to the dangers of rural Arkansas, and finally into the rugged mountains of northern New Mexico, The Lost Order is a perilous adventure into our country’s dark past, and a potentially darker future.

Annie Dunne and her cousin Sarah live and work on a small farm in a remote and beautiful part of Wicklow in late 1950s Ireland. All about them the old green roads are being tarred, cars are being purchased, a way of life is about to disappear. Like two old rooks, they hold to their hill in Kelsha, cherishing everything. When Annie's nephew and his wife are set to go to London to find work, their two small children, a little boy and his older sister, are brought down to spend the summer with their grand-aunt. It is a strange chance of happiness for Annie. Against that happiness moves the figure of Billy Kerr, with his ambiguous attentions to Sarah, threatening to drive Annie from her last niche of safety in the world. The world of childish innocence also proves sometimes darkened and puzzling to her, and she struggles to find clear ground, clear light - to preserve her sense of love and place against these subtle forces of disquiet. A summer of adventure, pain, delight and ultimately epiphany unfolds for both the children and their elderly caretakers in this poignant and exquisitely told story of innocence, loss and reconciliation.

Crown Agent Jev Dharrow’s good dwarf friend Cutter is missing, as is the city’s master gem cutter. Jev doesn’t know who would want them, but he’s determined to find out. He hopes his fellow agent, Zenia, can help him locate the missing dwarves. Even though she rejected his offer of a romantic relationship because of their status differences, they have become good friends, and she has years of experience finding criminals. But this kidnapping is anything but simple. Jev and Zenia find themselves entangled in a snarled plot that threatens the entire kingdom while making them realize their true feelings for each other. If they can’t rescue the dwarves, deter an invasion, and stop an explosive plot to destroy half the city, they may lose everything they love. Including each other.

Cormac, the Kitty Norville series' most popular supporting character, stars in his first solo adventure. Carrie Vaughn's Low Midnight spins out of the series on the wave of popularity surrounding Kitty's most popular supporting character, Cormac Bennett, a two-minded assassin of the paranormal who specializes in killing lycanthropes. In his first solo adventure, Cormac, struggling with a foreign consciousness trapped inside him, investigates a century-old crime in a Colorado mining town which could be the key to translating a mysterious coded diary…a tome with secrets that could shatter Kitty's world and all who inhabit it. With a framing sequence that features Kitty Norville herself, Low Midnight not only pushes the Kitty saga forward, but also illuminates Cormac's past and lays the groundwork for Kitty's future. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

When Jonathan and his family go camping on Magpie Island, they look forward to a fun, relaxing weekend. But their fun quickly vanishes when Jonathan, his sister, Abby, and their dog, Moose, find themselves in the middle of a natural disaster. A devastating earthquake has hit, destroying their camper, knocking out the only bridge to the mainland, and leaving Jonathan, Abby, and their dog with no food, water, or shelter. Alone in the woods, can Jonathan manage to keep calm and save Abby and Moose—and stay alive himself?

In Dark Angel, Gilian is saved from drowning by her guardian angel. Only visible to Gilian, Angel will fulfill her heart's every desire. But when Angel starts making strange and sinister requests, Gilian must question who he truly is and where he came from.

The land of Terre d'Ange is a place of unsurpassed beauty and grace. It's inhabited by the race that rose from the seed of angels, and they live by one simple rule: Love as thou wilt. Phèdre nó Delaunay was sold into indentured servitude as a child. Her bond was purchased by a nobleman who recognized that she was pricked by Kushiel's dart, chosen to forever experience pain and pleasure as one. Phèdre's path has been strange and dangerous. She has lain with princes and pirate kings, battled a wicked temptress, and saved two nations. Through it all, the devoted swordsman Joscelin has been at her side, following the central precept of the angel Cassiel: Protect and serve. But Phèdre's plans will put his pledge to the test, for she has never forgotten her childhood friend Hyacinthe. She has spent ten long years searching for the key to free him from his eternal indenture to the Master of Straights, a bargain with the gods to save Phèdre and a nation. The search will take Phèdre and Joscelin across the world and down a fabled river to a forgotten land. . . and to a power so intense and mysterious, none dare speak its name.

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

"So tell me. Have you ever nogged a nag?"Although it seems a simple enough question, it makes no sense! So what does it mean? And what would anyone make of such a question if asked when in training to become a government spy?Very short story about a man standing his ground while on vacation with his wife in Spain.

A collection of the essential works by William Faulkner, the American novelist and short story writer. “I’m a failed poet. Maybe every novelist wants to write poetry first, finds he can’t and then tries the short story which is the most demanding form after poetry. And failing that, only then does he take up novel writing.” —William Faulkner

What if the school bully stole your lunch everyday? How would you feel and what would you do about it? How far would you go to get rid of him for good? Zach and Sam face this dilemma everyday. Zach reads his sisters diary and discovers her secret, the reason why her life seems so perfect. A magical tree stump that grants wishes can fix all their problems. But be careful what you wish for.“These days, we do not lack information about other societies and countries” writes Eva Hoffman, in her introduction to this illuminating collection of essays. But why, we must ask, does this unprececedented level of knowledge not translate into greater understanding?Spurning the sound byte, glossy guide or shallow schematic, an international group of thinkers and writers set out on a much more vital journey leading us through the Innner Lives of Cultures. In these 10 revealing essays about Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Mexico, Romania, Russia and Uzbekistan, we enter, through empathy and imagination ‘into the subjective life of another culture – its symbolic codes, its overt beliefs and implicit assumptions’. Often, they suggest, it is the experience of emmigration or displacment which is the key: it reveals most sharply to us not only how culture shapes our human enviroment but also the inner landscapes of the self which perceives it. In an opening essay, ‘Barbarism, Civilisation, Cultures’, Tzvetan Todorov, argues forcefully that without this much-prized knowledge of what ‘culture’ is, we may increasingly fail to become what he calls “a civilised person: one who is able, at all times and in all places, to recognise the humanity of others fully”. This is an urgent and indispensible book for our world now.

When worlds collide the price can be fatal ... The eighties and Nick is a London-based widower with a two-year-old daughter. He begins a relationship with Eamon, a gay teacher from Paris and the odds are already against them. But they are about to be tested in ways they could never have imagined. Soon they’re entangled in the dangerous world of drugs, porn and even murder. How can they survive?When worlds collide the price can be fatal ... It’s the eighties and Nick is a young London-based widower with a respectable banking job and a demanding two-year-old daughter whom he adores. Still reeling from the death of his beloved wife, Nick wants nothing more than to honour her memory by bringing up his daughter in a safe and loving home. When he begins an unlikely relationship with Eamon, a gay teacher visiting from Paris, the odds are already against them. But Eamon has a rather chequered past and the couple are about to be tested in ways they could never have imagined. Soon they are thrown into the unwelcome and often cruel world of drug dealing, pornography, turf wars, international money laundering and murder, and it will take all their strength and courage to protect themselves and those they love. From suburbia, to London’s east end and the seedy Parisian underground, Chasing Rainbows charts the journey of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances..

The lost pulp crime novel by great American novelist Gore Vidal! Hired to smuggle an ancient artefact out of Egypt, Pete Wells finds himself the target of killers and femme fatales - and just one step away from triggering a revolution that will set Cairo aflame!

The Boxcar Children have been chosen to be on an exciting new show! A camera crew is following the Aldens around the city of Philadelphia as they compete with another team in a search for clues. But the search isn’t easy, and someone is trying to give them the wrong directions! Who is trying to ruin the game?

An unexpected move, an unexpected love, an unexpected world... Essie has been chosen "for such a time as this".An unexpected move, an unexpected love, an unexpected world... Essie has been chosen "for such a time as this".An aspiring journalist, Essie Jacobs is your average high school senior─a good girl─who loves superheroes, Joan Jett, Whoppers and classic rock. When her mom tells her that they will be moving from Bradford, Massachusetts to the tiny town of Eden, Georgia in two weeks, the normally logical teen freaks out. Her life is mapped out, after all, and it doesn't include a move to some hick town in the South. When the inevitable happens, however, her expectations of a boring summer are pleasantly dashed when she meets Ty Gregory, an irresistibly charming boy from a wealthy family. He immediately takes a liking to her and they become inseparable.Bored with her routine once school begins, though, the independent Essie decides to get a job at the local nursery where she meets Michael Powers, the boy she had seen in a dream before moving to Eden. She learns that Michael's family and Ty's family do not associate, but neither boy will tell her why. Essie's curious nature takes her to the internet where she stumbles upon information about the Grigori. She's always had a feeling that there was something different about Ty and, when he finally admits that he's a fallen angel, she's anything but scared.