Please be advised that this is a short story (4,000 words).When his father loses his job, a young painter offers to take him fishing for muskellunge, a barracuda-like freshwater fish, at Big Eagle Lake, in Ontario, Canada.From the award-winning author of Gospel Truths; The God Machine; The Wave; The Wall Street Murder Club; Kiss Me, I'm Dead; and Confessions of a Teenage Body Snatcher.Please be advised that this is a short story (4,000 words).When his father loses his job, a young painter offers to take him fishing for muskellunge, a barracuda-like freshwater fish, at Big Eagle Lake, in Ontario, Canada."Haunting and beautiful."Cornucopia PressJ.G. Sandom is the author of six thrillers and mysteries, including The God Machine, Gospel Truths and The Wall Street Murder Club, plus the eco-thriller The Wave – A John Decker Thriller. Booklist called Gospel Truths "a splendid, tautly woven thriller . . . (and) an intelligent mystery of tremendous spiritual and literary depth." And Library Journal termed it, "A masterful first novel, based on a true incident, which spins a complicated web of corruption, greed and deception." Kirkus Reviews called The Wall Street Murder Club "A Big Apple Deliverance, endowing New York culture with all the corrosively dehumanizing power of Dickey's wild nature." And Booklist said, "(Sandom) writes with stunning elegance . . . A sure hit with any suspense reader." Caroline Thompson (author of Edward Scissorhands) said, "Move over, Dan Brown . . . All hail J.G. Sandom . . . (The God Machine) is a thrilling and breathless, rapturously-written and mind-blowing read. It'll keep you up all night, turning pages as fast as your little fingers can manage." And Historical Novels Review said, "History galore, violence, and intrigue fill the pages of this tightly plotted, twisting and turning adventure story . . . The God Machine is a very impressive historical thriller!" Kirkus said, "Sandom's strength lies in the verve of his story, with writing that has both muscle . . . (and) brains . . . (The Wave) races from improbable to crazywild, all in good fun, with Sandom always one step ahead . . . A story with enough manic energy to be worthy of a nuclear explosion." While known mostly as a writer of thrillers and mysteries, Sandom is also the author of several Young Adult (YA) novels, including the award-winning Kiss Me, I’m Dead and Confessions of a Teenage Body Snatcher. The Washington Post said, "(Sandom) writes with a precision and delicacy unusual for YA fiction," and called Kiss me, I’m Dead "a subtle gem."

Since the Great Calamity of February 14th, 2016, population rates have been dwindling. The cause: Mother Nature. A brilliant scientist juggles her relationships with her grouchy mentor and her new team leader as she strives to create artificial life. Will humanity get in its own way in its quest to save itself from extinction?Chris is nervous, yet excited about his job interview. He has no idea that he's about to be introduced to a company where magic and technology blend together seamlessly. When he experiences the power stored in the company's mysterious cubes, he wants the job at Rune Corp more than ever. But first he must prove that he's the best applicant for the position and be willing to fight for it in ways he's never dreamed before possible.

This amazing piece of children stories is written by children for children. This is the first in the Majestic Multimedia Academy (MMA) Children Projects Publications, this one being a compendium of picture stories by the pioneer students.This amazing piece of children stories is written by children for children. This is the first in the Majestic Multimedia Academy (MMA) Children Projects Publications, this one being a compendium of picture stories by the pioneer students.In January and February 2014, MMA organized a 7- week, 2 hours a day training for Children between ages 4 and 11. The children were trained on Basic Digital Graphics 1. Within a cumulative period of 14 hours, they learnt how to use the Microsoft Windows 7 & 8, Ms Paint application, Notepad, and Microsoft Word.It is so amazing to see children learn at such a quick rate and come up with their own stories and drawings within just fourteen hours. This concept is borne out of a passion to empower children and teenagers.by MMA President, Moses Olanrewaju Bolarin. One of the global strategies of MMA is to make children published authors on a global landscape, after empowering them with various multimedia skills.

Nurple the Purple Imp is made to help the Yellow Wizard. But Smug the Naughty Little Golden Dragon does not like Nurple and tries to spoil things!A short story for 6 year old children.Nurple the Purple Imp is made to help the Yellow Wizard.“Smile of Lizard and dust of Diamond Black,Make me a helper to save my back.Magic water and Cheeky Chimp,Make me a magic Purple Imp!”But Smug the Naughty Little Golden Dragon does not like Nurple and tries to spoil things!A short story for 6 year old children.

Two teenage boys dare their friend to break into the basement of the Bailey House, where it's rumored that a monster is being kept. Scotty decides to do so, but what he finds is not what he expected. Not at all. --This story is not horror, as it sounds. It's a heart-warming, coming of age drama intended for all audiences.Satina is a goodmother who uses her magic to grant wishes. Marten is a Skinner, a magical trickster who challenges everything she thinks she knows about their kind.When a magic-hungry gang moves into town, Satina and Marten must become unlikely allies.It will take all the power they can summon to keep Westwood's secrets from falling into the wrong hands, to keep one wide-eyed girl from following the wrong man, and to keep Satina herself from falling in love with the only person in the world who knows how much of a fraud she really is.

Seven science fiction and horror tales populate this collection of stories, in addition to a true tale from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and other extras. In the novelette, "The Net", the trust of a young boy in his father is tested to the limit when both become the target of an alien hacker.Seven science fiction and horror tales populate this collection of stories, in addition to a true tale from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and other extras. In the novelette, "The Net", the trust of a young boy in his father is tested to the limit when both become the target of an alien hacker. A young couple enjoying an evening stroll on a back country road in Pennsylvania discover that love can be all consuming in "The Porch." Scientist, Jason Reed, wants to save the planet from an over-population of insects, but that becomes secondary to saving a homeless woman who has been infected with a deadly infestation by the very people who are supposed to be helping her in "Dominant Species."

A short story from The DPA Declassified Files. David is just your average man until a chance encounter with a young lady changes him forever.A short story from The DPA Declassified Files. David is just your average man until a chance encounter with a young lady changes him forever.Written by Pat Griffith, who brought you Trespassing and Linchpin. Set in the same world where Elbie. As entities made of pure energy, the Elbie must have human hosts to survive on Earth. For some people, being a host is a great benefit. For others, it is a nightmare.

Aiden and Marlaina Wilson had no idea how the first zombie was born in the Amish city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It had happened in a matter of hours. They went from clean cut kids to their hands dripping with blood. They smashed the zombie's heads using clubs and baseball bats as they ran wildly through their city's streets, seeking refuge from the blood splatter and those dead hungry faces.Aiden and Marlaina Wilson had no idea how the first zombie was born in the Amish city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It had happened in a matter of hours. Thousands of their school friends were killed. Their blood flew against the walls. They became the walking dead. They stumbled about tearing out throats. They tossed their friends' intestines against the walls. Then, they stuffed their mouths with their innards. As they did so, they attacked Aiden and Marlaina again and again. Could their lives and love survive the terrifying seconds that barely separated the living from the stumbling zombie dead in this new nightmare world? Their hands dripping with blood, they bashed in zombie heads using clubs and baseball bats as they ran wildly through their city's streets, seeking refuge from the approaching blood splatter. Hiding in the woods, searching desperately for safer places, they fought their way through the emerging hordes of blood hungry zombies.

Immortality is at hand, but elves don’t want to share their blessings. What happens when human soldiers find the Sacred Garden and its magical apples?Find out in this short story, which narrates the bleakest memory of Elvish history.The event is mentioned in the novel “Trusting Darkness”, where you’ll meet again Harold Svarthar, the Sorrowful Prince.This e-book also contains the first chapterImmortality is at hand, but elves don’t want to share their blessings. What happens when human soldiers find the Sacred Garden and its magical apples?Find out in this short story, which narrates the bleakest memory of Elvish history.The event is mentioned in the novel “Trusting Darkness”, where you’ll meet again Harold Svarthar, the Sorrowful Prince.This e-book also contains the first chapter of the dystopian/sci-fi novel “Trusting Darkness”.

The first installment in a re-telling of the classic story of Peter Pan. Seventeen year-old Gwen Darling lost her best friend ten years ago. Suddenly captured by pirates from her home in the suburbs, she finds herself in a land where dreams never grow old.Based on the Resident Evil video game series by Capcom. Jill Valentine and the rest of the surviving S.T.A.R.S. team members return to Raccoon City after their harrowing ordeal at the Arklay mansion, only to find that they cannot reveal the truth about what happened. No one would ever believe them, but the death of so many of their coworkers draws them into a scandal that rocks the entire city. Umbrella has finally come to investigate the Arklay lab, and they discover the outbreak. They begin damage control, bringing in BCF soldiers to prepare for the inevitable outbreak in Raccoon City itself. A black ops commando code-named Hunk is sent to evacuate the Raccoon City lab, where he meets William Birkin and sets in motion a devastating chain of events. Meanwhile, a mysterious secret agent named Ada Wong arrives in Raccoon City as well. And Albert Wesker, still alive and manipulating things behind the scenes, remains in Raccoon City to clean up some loose ends before the T-virus infection reaches the city. Using a new variant of the Progenitor, he creates a new creature called the Nemesis ...

Mila was about to learn the hard way that easy money has a price that comes with it. When put in danger, she had to make the choice to give up her lucrative practice or put her friends and family in further danger."Leave by the back door. Weave your way home. Be careful and don't be followed. They are out there but it appears they do not know who you are or where you are at this moment. I got their license plate number. I'll make some calls. I know someone on the force who owes me a favor. Keep in mind that they could find out who you are at any time. It only takes one student to spill the info."Before they left, they each called home and tried to act as if nothing was wrong and to advise their parents that they were downtown and would be home shortly.The trip home took them almost an hour before they felt they it was safe. "Mila, call me if you hear anything, anything at all. This is a nightmare."

In an alternate universe, on a distant planet a new history unfolds. Humanity and its new emperor have decided to eliminate all greenskins. Daring to defy the humans an Orc prince and a no good Goblin rogue gamble everything they have on a single plan, assassinate the emperor stopping the invasion and extermination plans. Can the enslaved Orcs be helped? What is this power of the Orc prince?Rai Jones, a 25-year-old virgin, has never really seen the ocean, shot a gun, or made love to three Elven maidens at the same time…but he lives in a world where technology and drugs make all things possible. Powered by computers, his life is one big virtual fantasy in which Rai can do whatever he wants to do and be whoever he wants to be. Yet in reality, heʼs merely average, trapped in a mundane job with no prospects for finding real satisfaction, and caught in the tension between his fantasy life and real life. Enter Winry: practically perfect, stunningly beautiful, intelligent, and witty. It’s love at first sight with the aid of Love™ Pills —drugs that replicate the feeling of being in love—and as Rai begins to capture her imagination, the real Winry remains shrouded in mystery, hidden behind the curtain of cyberspace, and scared to have a real relationship. Swept up in a whirlwind of Love™, fake violence, and virtual fantasies, Rai and Winry set out to find the secret to modern life and romance. I. Virtual boy meets virtual girl. II. Boy and girl fall in Love™. III. Complications, adventure, and existential questions ensue...

Forty Winks for Jonah.The crowd, Twenty-Eight-Stories below, clamors for his death as he pens the story no one believes. It is showdown time for Jonah and the monster that has pursued him for the past eighteen years. From his fifth birthday on, things only got worse.Jonah is not the prophet of the bible but is reluctant and nonetheless at odds with God. His tale, a true tale of horror (that few believe), is told as he sits atop a twenty-eight-story building in Jacksonville, Florida. The crowd below clamors for his death, but he's not worried, for Jonah has bigger FISH to fry. It is showdown time for him and the monster that has pursued him for the past eighteen years.His tale began just days before his fifth birthday, chased by the monster from Ms. Wilkin's Kindergarten Sunday School class. That day’s Bible Story: Jonah's namesake being swallowed by a whale. From there it only got worse.

In the perfect society, a Leaders role is never questioned.His guidance is everywhere, his love all encompassing.But if you betray your beloved country? His imagination is unparalleled.Welcome to the magical town of Cottontail Pines, where animals talk, and there is always a friend around the corner. In this new story called “Blacky’s Birthday,” Blacky the skunk wakes up on his special day expecting to be lavished with attention… and cake. Unfortunately, nobody seems to want to talk to him at all, and worst of all… no cake! Have all of Blacky’s friends decided not to like him anymore? And most importantly, will he never, ever get to eat any cake?! Find out what happens in this cute new story by T.K. Wade.

Bob is a Process Server, a functionary. Worse, he's a "Smith," lowest on society's rung in 2253. Well, almost: the poor bastards on Earth have it worse than anyone, addicted to the immersive MultiNet and doomed to pointless lives working for the Big Six Corps. Now Bob's been given a job, to deliver a summons to a bureaucrat halfway across the Galaxy - but death, deception and adventure await...Bob is a Process Server, a functionary. Worse, he's a "Smith," lowest on society's rung in 2253. Well, almost: the poor bastards on Earth have it worse than anyone, addicted to the immersive MultiNet and doomed to pointless lives working for the Big Six Corps. Now Bob's been given a job, to deliver a summons to a bureaucrat halfway across the Galaxy - but death, deception and adventure await...The Process Server is a dystopian sci-fi adventure that deals with themes of belief, loyalty and social conflict as Process Server Bob Smith crosses three galaxies to solve a murder mystery. From epic space battles to the cyberpunk world that exists on Old Earth, it's the adventure of three lifetimes.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER "[A]n extraordinary book, a work of staggering virtuosity. With its publication, a giant world of literature has just grown twice as tall."--Newsday From Ralph Ellison--author of the classic novel of African-American experience, Invisible Man--the long-awaited second novel. Here is the master of American vernacular--the rhythms of jazz and gospel and ordinary speech--at the height of his powers, telling a powerful, evocative tale of a prodigal of the twentieth century. "Tell me what happened while there's still time," demands the dying Senator Adam Sunraider to the itinerate Negro preacher whom he calls Daddy Hickman. As a young man, Sunraider was Bliss, an orphan taken in by Hickman and raised to be a preacher like himself. Bliss's history encompasses the joys of young southern boyhood; bucolic days as a filmmaker, lovemaking in a field in the Oklahoma sun. And behind it all lies a mystery: how did this chosen child become the man who would deny everything to achieve his goals? Brilliantly crafted, moving, wise, Juneteenth is the work of an American master. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Savage Chaucer is bored. Bored with being the Alpha of the San Francisco werewolf pack. Bored with politics. And even bored with the females in heat who frequent his dark and dirty sex club. Savage craves change and lusts for excitement. When the innocent, naive-looking Sydney Dyke wanders into his club, Savage's cravings are answered. Sydney is the protected daughter of lone wolves, wolves who know nothing of how Savage runs his pack. Sneaking off to experience cravings of her own, Sydney finds herself intrigued by the mysterious Alpha. Knowing she only has a small amount of time before she is fated to die at the hands of an ancient werewolf, who's rumored to no longer exist, Sydney vows to seek some excitement of her own.

Mona was miserable. You would be too if your family consisted of: Sister Figg Newton (Tap Dancer, Baton Twirler, and also your mother); Truman, the human pretzel (your uncle); Aunt Gracie Jo, the dog catcher, and her son, Fido the Second. To name a few. The only person Mona really gets along with is Uncle Florence, the book dealer. And he keeps hinting that he may have to leave Mona soon to go to Figg family heaven, a place referred to as "Capri." But where is Capri, and why do all the Figgs go there? To find her uncle, Mona knows she must find out.

Summertime is an inventive and inspired work of fiction that allows J.M. Coetzee to imagine his own life with a critical and unsparing eye, revealing painful moral struggles and attempts to come to grips with what it means to care for another human being. A young English biographer is researching a book about the late South African writer John Coetzee, focusing on Coetzee in his thirties, at a time when he was living in a rundown cottage in the Cape Town suburbs with his widowed father - a time, the biographer is convinced, when Coetzee was finding himself as a writer. Never having met the man himself, the biographer interviews five people who knew Coetzee well, including a married woman with whom he had an affair, his cousin Margot, and a Brazilian dancer whose daughter took English lessons with him. These accounts add up to an image of an awkward, reserved, and bookish young man who finds it hard to make meaningful connections with the people around him. Summertime is an inventive and inspired work of fiction that allows J.M. Coetzee to imagine his own life with a critical and unsparing eye, revealing painful moral struggles and attempts to come to grips with what it means to care for another human being. Incisive, elegant, and often surprisingly funny, Summertime is a compelling work by one of today's most esteemed writers.

One dark and stormy night in 1956, a stranger named Fludd mysteriously turns up in the dismal village of Fetherhoughton. He is the curate sent by the bishop to assist Father Angwin-or is he? In the most unlikely of places, a superstitious town that understands little of romance or sentimentality, where bad blood between neighbors is ancient and impenetrable, miracles begin to bloom. No matter how copiously Father Angwin drinks while he confesses his broken faith, the level of the bottle does not drop. Although Fludd does not appear to be eating, the food on his plate disappears. Fludd becomes lover, gravedigger, and savior, transforming his dull office into a golden regency of decision, unashamed sensation, and unprecedented action. Knitting together the miraculous and the mundane, the dreadful and the ludicrous, Fludd is a tale of alchemy and transformation told with astonishing art, insight, humor, and wit.

A MONUMENTAL COLLECTION OF SHORT FICTION FROM ACCLAIMED MASTER OF HORROR AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR PETER STRAUB “Peter Straub brilliantly defies and blurs literary genres.” —LORRIE MOORE An American icon renowned for his bestselling novels, Peter Straub displays his full and stunning range in this crowning collection. He has consistently subverted the boundaries of genre for years, transcending horror and suspense to unlock the dark, unsettling, and troubling dissonances that exist on the edges of our perception. Straub’s fiction cracks the foundation of reality and opens our eyes to an unblinking experience of true horror, told in his inimitable and lush style with skill, wit, and impeccable craft.      With uncanny precision, Straub writes of the city and of the Midwest, of the depraved and of the righteous, of the working class and of the wealthy—nothing and no one is safe from the ever-present darkness that he understands so well. “Blue Rose” follows the cycles of violence and power through the most innocent among us, leading to a conclusion that is audacious and devastating. In the darkly satirical masterpiece “Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff,” a stern estate lawyer known as the Deacon hires a pair of “Private Detectives Extraordinaire” to investigate and seek revenge on his unfaithful wife. “The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine” follows a man and his much younger lover as they explore their decadent and increasingly sinister fantasies aboard a luxurious yacht on the remotest stretch of the Amazon River.       Interior Darkness brings together sixteen stories from twenty-five years of dazzling excellence. It is a thrilling, highly entertaining, and terrifying testament to the prodigious talent of Peter Straub. From the Hardcover edition.