One of the greatest medieval warriors Harald Sigurdsson, nicknamed Hardrada, fell in battle in an attempt to snatch the crown of England. This book reconstructs his military career spanning three and a half decades and involving encounters with a range of allies and enemies in sea-fights and land battles, sieges and raids.

Rarely reprinted, rarely staged, and often entirely unpublished, Flann O'Brien's works for the stage and television are speculative, inventive, and as wickedly funny as his novels.

Max Smith, a clockmaker's assistant, is far from Edwardian London, in a world destroyed by war - 100 years in his future! Held captive by the despicable Beau Riche, King of London, Max is caught up in the world-conquering machinations of Ben Landon, Envoy of the Protestant-Moslem Republic of Texas.Armed with the mysterious Eye of Time he must decide whether to save the world... or destroy it!Eight short stories covering the range from mythical through fantasy to inter-dimensional, and more! Thought-provoking commentary on altruism, greed and politics. Witty, pithy and pointed, these stories will please many different tastes. These previously unpublished stories include: Death and Taxes, Captive Audience, A Walk on the Wind, The Book of Fate, The Castle-O-Lantern, Catspaw, Hunting Licence, and Involunteer.

An alien shuttle vanishes from its landing spot outside the United Nations. Minutes later, communications satellites plummet from the sky all around earth. Nuclear warheads launch. No one expected the kind of firepower the alien Hrwang would harness. Within hours, Earth changes forever.Bernard Wilkerson's gripping opening to the Hrwang Incursion series.An alien shuttle vanishes from its landing spot outside the United Nations. Minutes later, communications satellites plummet from the sky all around earth. Nuclear warheads launch. The human weapons -- targeted at other humans -- bring on the expected devastation, but no one expected the kind of firepower the alien Hrwang would harness. Within hours, Earth changes forever.So, too, do the lives of survivors. Astronauts on a mission to Mars, aware of the Hrwang but unaware of the attack, try to figure out why they can't communicate with Earth. A German man leading American soldiers on a mountain hike witnesses the mushroom cloud that destroys the city where he lives. An Air Force Captain on the Pacific coast alerts her commanders of suspicious movements by the Hrwang, but her base's proximity to the ocean leaves her in a kind of danger she never imagined. Teen sisters on a mountain getaway with their father will have to deal with the alien threat, but first, they'll see some of the worst of humanity. Bernard Wilkerson's gripping opening to the Hrwang Incursion series opens with devastation and a host of questions. Who are the Hrwang? Why have they suddenly cut off diplomatic relations and launched an attack?More importantly, is there hope for Earth in the face of a technologically superior foe? 

“Finding Willow” is the prequel to “Unspeakable,” the touching romance between Brody and Willow that explores one girl’s quiet strength to survive the unbearable weight of a family secret alone, and the love and resolve of a boy determined to help her.“Finding Willow” is the prequel to “Unspeakable,” the touching romance between Brody and Willow that explores one girl’s quiet strength to survive the unbearable weight of a family secret alone, and the love and resolve of a boy determined to help her.Brody Victor lives life on the fringes. Moving from school to school with each transfer his mother’s job requires has taught Brody well: If there’s one thing harder than making friends, it’s saying goodbye to them. So he’s learned to close himself off. He’s a loner, and that’s how he likes it.When his mother accepts a permanent position in Wisconsin, Brody begins to slowly open up. But old habits die hard and, for Brody, making friends doesn’t come easily. That is, until he meets Annabelle. Brody loses himself in her. Their connection runs deep and, for the first time, Brody truly lets someone inside. But life can be cruel. An unexpected job transfer uproots Brody from his home in Wisconsin, and Annabelle.Vowing not to get involved with another girl after the heartbreak of losing Annabelle, Brody returns to life on the outside looking in. A loner by choice. Until the night he finds Willow. Friendly and beautiful, a guy can’t help but notice her, but Brody notices more than her beauty. When she flashes her full smile, a spark is missing from her hazel eyes and for reasons unknown to him, Brody needs to find the reason.Along the way, he stumbles across a secret bigger than both of them.

Russell Hoban's latest eccentric and charming tale of love and art

It’s Christmas Eve but Tanner doesn’t know it yet. Nor does her buddy, Scrim. That’s because they’re both zombies; with no memories. Of anything. At all. Not of their past lives. Not of who they are… or were. Not even of Christmas. But that all changes when Tanner hears Christmas music for the first time. And nothing will ever be the same…When Aleister Ward left the Wyldston police force to become a private investigator he hoped that the horrors that he had seen in his past would remain solely in his nightmares, however his newest case threatens to open up old wounds and create vicious new ones. As he is trying to be the father that his daughter deserves in the absence of his wife, he is pulled into a multiple murder investigation where he must try to clear his own name whilst simultaneously finding the root of the sinister killings.Shred is the first novella in a six part occult horror mystery series Cuts of Flesh from Jacob Prytherch, author of The Binary Man and Heal The Sick, Raise The Dead.

Fourteen-year-old Matt Archer thinks his life is pretty lame until he discovers something terrifying on a weekend camping trip at the local state park: monsters are real. After Matt is forced to kill a strange creature to save his uncle, he finds out that the weird knife he took from his uncle's bag has a secret. The knife was designed to hunt monsters--and it's chosen Matt as its wielder.Fourteen-year-old Matt Archer spends his days studying Algebra, hanging out with his best friend and crushing on the Goddess of Greenhill High School, Ella Mitchell. To be honest, he thinks his life is pretty lame until he discovers something terrifying on a weekend camping trip at the local state park. Monsters are real. And living in his backyard. But that's not the half of it. After Matt is forced to kill a strange creature to save his uncle, he finds out that the weird knife he took from his uncle's bag has a secret, one that will change Matt's life. The knife was designed with one purpose: to hunt monsters. And it's chosen Matt as its wielder. Now Matt's part of a world he didn't know existed, working with a covert military unit dedicated to eliminating walking nightmares. Faced with a prophecy about a looming dark war, Matt soon realizes his upcoming Algebra test is the least of his worries. His new double life leaves Matt wondering which is tougher: hunting monsters or asking Ella Mitchell for a date?

A serial killer's fate takes an unexpected turn.Starfire lives in a wold where dragons and dragonriders are everywhere. She ran away from home when she was little, due to bad living situations and she lost her dragon when she was nine. She was then cursed for eternity. And then a boy shows up, and he appears to be her dragonrider. She doesn't even know if that's possible, because of the fact that she used to be human. Ride along over the clouds with Starfire as she tries to reverse the curse, running through labyrinths to get to the cure.. . .

Former FBI agent, Joan McGowan, returns to Dominion, Oregon to become the sheriff. Her hopes for a new beginning for herself and her daughter, Shana, are threatened by secrets and suspicions the moment they arrive. This is the first book of the Proteus Group Series.Three violent events in her life have left former FBI Special Agent, Joan McGowan, with only her daughter, Shana, fourteen, her 6'1" overconfident, kleptizing goddess. Hoping for a new beginning for the both of them, Joan returns to her hometown of Dominion, Oregon to become the new sheriff. But the little town with the big future presents her with a gauntlet of converging suspicions and emotional turmoil that soon threatens to take Shana from her as well.

With her brother, her dearest friend, and the country she loves all hanging in the balance, Eartha must do the unthinkable to ensure her brother’s victory in the stag hunt. Sometimes true love needs a helping hand...or some blood to be spilled.In ancient Britannia, the warrior who brought down the king stag was named the defender of the land.Eartha’s brother Balen has been in love with Princess Galiene since they were children. Upon the death of the High King, the tribesmen of the realm vie for the throne, and with it, the hand of the fair princess.Balen is desperate to win his lady, but a rival tribesman is equally determined to keep them apart.With her brother, her dearest friend, and the country she loves all hanging in the balance, Eartha must do the unthinkable to ensure her brother’s victory in the stag hunt. Sometimes true love needs a helping hand...or some blood to be spilled.

Something is killing all living things on Cloudfyre.Will Gargaron the giant have enough time to uncover the mystery before his world is lost?Cloudfyre holds a secretOne that is killing millions.The warning signs have been there for centuries. In ancient cave paintings. On stone tablets.But they have gone unheeded.Now it’s too late—mysterious shockwaves sweep across the world killing everything in their path. Strange monsters tear up anything left alive.There is one survivor.Gargaron the giant.His village has been annihilated. Everyone he knows has perished.With little more than the sword on his back and a pack of provisions, he sets off on a mission to unravel the mystery behind Cloudfyre’s demise.What he doesn’t know is that time is already running out.And to get the answers he seeks, he must travel to the end of the world to find them.

It happened at 10:57 on a sun-drenched morning in March in the middle of the first reading (Exodus 17:3-7) just as the lector, Bill Potter, read aloud about Moses striking the Rock of Horeb and the water flowing forth for the people, and their children, and their livestock to drink.Heidi King is the new voice of horrorThe twists and turns of the maze were exasperating but I was determined to reach the source of the noise. Then all at once I turned into a small clearing and saw Maria, completely naked. Her skin was ghostly white in the green lights that lit the labyrinth. Even then she was beautiful. She kept digging a small hole, oblivious to my presence. I walked up to her and said,“Maria,” and gently touched her elbow. I startled her. She jerked forward, towards me and tripped backwards into the hole she had been digging. I felt a deep chill and dark sense that I broken something I wasn’t supposed to touch. She squinted at me. “Matt?” she murmured.“No,” I said slowly. She looked disappointed. “Why are you digging?” I asked.She hesitated and looked around. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “Where am I?”Suddenly she stood straight up in the shallow hole and began frantically wiping the palm of her hand as though she were looking for some kind of answer there. She stopped just as quickly and raised her hand slowly to allow the light to catch some kind of symbol drawn on the palm of her hand. I saw her eyes widen in abject terror as if she was watching her own shocking death on the palm of her hand. I think she stopped breathing. Her mouth was wide open like she wanted to scream. She looked down at her body. She began running her hands up her bare thighs to her vagina. I saw something odd there and Maria’s expression changed from horror to disgust, like she was about to vomit. I tried to grasp what could possibly be protruding from between her legs. It slowly started oozing out covered in blood. It dropped to the ground. It was a bulbous vial full of what must have only been blood.Her eyes looked like they would bulge out of the sockets. She collapsed in a hysterical fit and began to scream. I reached down to comfort her but she only screamed louder, transgressing into semi-coherent ranting in English and Spanish. “Rip the zipper, separate my flesh, she won’t be born… yellow, yellow, yellow teeth!” Over and over again convulsing wildly until all at once she passed out. I wrapped her in the red rain jacket I had come to The Lost and Found for. Suddenly Mike appeared out of the dark gloom and in a flurry of movement he scooped Maria up and whisked her into the passages of the labyrinth. A bizarre satyr carrying a limp maiden into the night best describes the unreal image etched into my eyes.“Did Dr. Stephen try to draw a symbol on your hand? Where was Matt? Was it a syringe?” Over and over I would be asked these same questions by my friends, the families, the Panamanian police, but most of all I questioned myself. Over and over again, while I tried to forget, while I literally washed the splattered blood to remove all signs of the sick horror at The Lost and Found. I want to put this to rest and move on with my life even if I can never return to a completely normal life. So once and for all I am going to plunge into the dark corners of the garden of my memories. In the following pages I use the words of those involved; the blogs, the emails and personal diaries and when I have to; my words. With these pages I take the shovel and I will bury this tragedy forever. This is what happened.

This is a metafictional preview of a metaphorical tale of a metrosexual angel trying to stop a metaphysical apocalypse.Gabriel is an iPod-totting archangel obsessed with crossword puzzles and human souls. God is the Creator of Everything who misquotes platitudes and who is set on destroying the world. You are a hot, large-breasted dear reader. Angels Don't Cry is a sacrilegiously satirical short story about divine disappointment and angelic hope.

It's Daylight Saving's Time, and the hour Two is mad as hell that her hour is being taken away.Daylight Saving's Time is a new policy in the corporation of Time, and the hour Two is not happy. She loses her hour to hour Three for nothing. So, she decides she will not take it and travels up the corporate ladder to do something about it. She goes to Summer, Winter, Spring, and even Annual to get someone to listen to her. She will not have her hour handed over to Three just in the name of progress.

This is the lyrical text of a musical that I am writing. I need to partner with a composer. Maybe the words will bring you joy.The Unfinished Musical is just that, an unfinished musical. It started off as a light comedy about a worker at an amusement park and somehow evolved into a blues-gospel hybrid. Basically its about one man's discovery of faith and that life isn't as bad as he thinks it is.Or not. I don't know, I leave it up to the reader to form your own opinion about what it all means.

A brief tome of poetry and essays written to remember a remarkable woman/mother/grandmother who endured much emotional and physical pain and suffering in her lifetime but nonetheless loved intensely and persevered until her last breath to rear a family that strives to carry on her legacy of kindness.The first in a series of stories about the darker side of the life of fairies.

When octogenarian sleuth Myrtle Clover discovers a body in her backyard, she vows to find the murderer...before she's pushing up daisies, herself.It’s just an ordinary day for octogenarian sleuth Myrtle Clover—until her yardman discovers a dead body planted in her backyard. This death isn’t cut and dried—the victim was bashed in the head with one of Myrtle’s garden gnomes. Myrtle’s friend Miles recognizes the body and identifies him as Charles Clayborne… reluctantly admitting he’s a cousin. Charles wasn’t the sort of relative you bragged about—he was a garden variety sleaze, which is very likely why he ended up murdered. As Myrtle starts digging up dirt to nip the killings in the bud, someone’s focused on scaring her off the case. Myrtle vows to find the murderer…before she’s pushing up daisies, herself.

On the eve of a major speech on “Morality in Banking”, a wealthy banker finds himself suddenly facing accusations of rape.With his reputation in tatters, he learns the hard way how easily a woman can bring any man, no matter how rich or powerful down.Hiring a shrewd lawyer to defend him, he faces the long arm of the law, with ruthless tabloid reporters in pursuit.Larco and Poo Poo have called a meeting of Snub Nubbins, and some attend. They soon realise there is a Wizard in their midst, the Wizard has great knowledge, and speaks of teaching and schools. Larco becomes a member of the new grand council. In the great move from the jungle back to the city of Snub Nubbin, Larco discovers an emotion, and he's confused, but he likes it.

Francis Mahkota had lost one box of sorcerers’ wands during he showed these off to his friends. The caretaker of these wands, Brady demanded him finding them back before one underground organization questioning these losses.The sorcerers’ wands were dead objects. Special charms had been stealthily casted on them by unknown sorcerer to grow out wings on those wands. To make them lively like birdies. It was believed that the wands had flown away into the Forbidden Forest where Francis needed to risk his life and intruded into the untrodden territory.