From the classified files of Echo come the stories of those metahumans who survived the Thulian invasion. Gravity looks at a sadly typical post-Invasion day where Echo Ops must face the cruel reality that Atlanta has become. Originally released through the Secret World Chronicle podcast.Rape Day Wednesday is an action – adventure love story. General Madid is about to receive a visit from his worst nightmare – Jimmy West. Dear Air Rescue I am Jackie Cots, a nurse for an International Medical Rescue in Somalia. I am writing this letter on behalf of Aisha Hulow, a Somalia woman who lives in the Village of Coato. The lady wants me to tell you about the death of Mary Johnson, who was attacked by soldiers in her medical clinic, repeatedly raped, then shot and left for dead. When the soldiers left, Aisha dragged Mary into her hut where she died several hours later in her arms. Her dying words were to tell Jimmy West, that she still loved him and had never forgotten him. Please find attached a one dollar bill. The lady insists on me sending you the only thing of wealth, she owns. She hopes that you can help her hire someone who can save her little village from these soldiers. It appears that every Wednesday morning, a Renegade General Madid allows his soldiers to come into the village and rape all the women and girls as a treat for loyalty.Please pass on this letter to Jimmy West. Yours truly,Jackie Cots for Aisha Hulow

Very short stories. Bite sized fiction to entertain, thrill, amuse, or perhaps scare you in a small package. Stories that attempt to really go places in only a few sentences.This is the second in the series of five novelette eBooks providing stories relating directly to the New Voyages: Phase II series of fan-films, True To His Oath is a short story based on a concept developed by Charles Root (who played Scotty in the series) and used with permission. The events take place after the live-action episode “Enemy: Starfleet” and before the live-action episode “The Child.”Captain’s log, stardate 7254.3: With repairs to the Enterprise having been completed ahead of schedule—fortunately, the Peshan lasers were barely powerful enough to scratch our hull, and although the Eagle was once as formidable as the Enterprise, neither Alersa herself nor any of her crew knew where to hit us to inflict maximum damage—we were barely two hours out of Starbase Four when we were diverted to the Federation planetoid Memory Alpha. Our mission is to deploy a team of computer specialists to troubleshoot and then repair a major malfunction that has crippled much of the equipment we delivered here last year, rendering the facility all but useless. Commander Spock has completed a preliminary examination of the system and has identified the root cause of the problem. He informs me that repairs and reprogramming should take about three days, so I’ve authorized rotating shore leave for all personnel. On a personal note, Chief Engineer Scott has, not surprisingly, decided to take leave and spend all three days down there in hopes of reacquainting himself with a friend.

A time in which death and torture was a regular. The period of Cambodia known as the infamous reign of the Khmer Rouge, the Communist Party of Kampuchea. The horrors started in the 1970s, specifically 1975, and continued for four more years, until the ends of the Khmer Rouge. This is a story of a child named Kosal and his family, in their survival from the beginning to the end of the Khmer Rouge.Short story. 2,300 words, 10 pages approximately. When Charles Lawson, the notorious heroin dealer known as 'God' is released from jail, he lives quietly with his cats until old age forces him into a home for the elderly. There, he reflects on his life and, as he dies peacefully, imagines he is reunited with his wife Angela, who passed over some years before him. Short story, ten 2,300 words, 10 pages approximately.

What sets a man down the path to becoming an evil warlock? For Igon, it starts with an injustice, and making the acquaintance of a pagan shaman called Zaharo. Set in Moorish occupied medieval Spain, this tale shows revenge need not be a dish served cold. Properly cooked, it might even smell like bacon!Though they'll try to mimic what we are, in the core of our souls, writing our very memories for us, they will never be able to replace the truth and the reality as it existed before they've tampered with it. They cannot write our histories for us, our very thoughts, feelings, emotions, and actions. There will be no questions. We'll always know the difference between the real and the imagined.Attributed to a skeptic (In reaction to the initial press release issued by Synchro Systems about their Synchronicity Drive treatment tests)What if the greatest love of your life never existed?What if they did, but someone was trying to erase them from your memory?[Corentine] follows the narrator, a man who wants to forget his past, as he searches for his missing girlfriend, a woman who is unable to recall her own. All signs point to the involvement of a company named Synchro Systems, where doctors have been working with volunteers using experimental, cutting edge treatments for memory disorders.

It was Billy McTavish's first sea voyage.He had signed on to the serve as convoy escort on the THISTLE a Royal Canadian Navy corvette.Through U-Boat attack and Luftwaffe bombing runs, Billy had thought he had seen all of the horror that the Atlantic could offer a young Canadian sailor.But Big Jimmy Noonan had other ideas...It was Billy McTavish's first sea voyage.He had signed on to the serve as convoy escort on the THISTLE a Royal Canadian Navy corvette.Through U-Boat attack and Luftwaffe bombing runs, Billy had thought he had seen all of the horror that the Atlantic could offer a young Canadian sailor.But Big Jimmy Noonan had other ideas...]***WHAT FOLKS ARE SAYING ABOUT STEVE VERNON'S WRITING! "If Harlan Ellison, Richard Matheson and Robert Bloch had a three-way sex romp in a hot tub, and then a team of scientists came in and filtered out the water and mixed the leftover DNA into a test tube, the resulting genetic experiment would most likely grow up into Steve Vernon." – Bookgasm "Steve Vernon is something of an anomaly in the world of horror literature. He's one of the freshest new voices in the genre although his career has spanned twenty years. Writing with a rare swagger and confidence, Steve Vernon can lead his readers through an entire gamut of emotions from outright fear and repulsion to pity and laughter." - Cemetery Dance "Armed with a bizarre sense of humor, a huge amount of originality, a flair for taking risks and a strong grasp of characterization - Steve's got the chops for sure." - Dark Discoveries “Steve Vernon is a hard writer to pin down. And that’s a good thing.” – Dark Scribe Magazine "This genre needs new blood and Steve Vernon is quite a transfusion." –Edward Lee, author of FLESH GOTHIC and CITY INFERNAL “Steve Vernon is one of the finest new talents of horror and dark fiction" - Owl Goingback, author of CROTA "Steve Vernon was born to write. He's the real deal and we're lucky to have him." - Richard Chizmar

There's a new game in town, and they're calling it 'tag.' The boys at Triton are getting physical with surreal gaming, and the game is getting physical back at them.When everyone was telling about their own heroic stories, however, what does it mean? I have got nothing to say, this world exists as it is supposed to be, my story won’t end so far.I used to dream about such a world, totally free, no limitation, excited and exhilarated. Now look at it, I have lost everything...

“The one story that could destroy all the gods!”When Hercules saves Sparta from the human devouring one hundred foot tall four faced fire breathing monster-Haderus, the jealous gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus become infuriated with Greece's favorite praise stealing demigod. King Zeus retaliates by blessing all Greece with four deadly curses.“The one story that could destroy all the gods!”When Hercules saves Sparta from the human devouring one hundred foot tall four faced fire breathing monster-Haderus, the jealous gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus become infuriated with Greece's favorite praise stealing demigod. King Zeus retaliates by blessing all Greece with four deadly curses that will surely turn the desperate citizens back to worshiping the true gods. Heartbroken Hercules races to find the cures that will save his people, but finds a deep hidden secret along his journey that could doom all the deity of Mount Olympus. Humble Hercules only desires to win his father's affection, but the quest to save his people turns in to his most dangerous rescue mission; to steal and heal his father's ailing heart.

This Book which has 50 differently titled Poems , is actually part 3 of the Book titled – Hide and Seek – Rhyming & Non Rhyming Poems ( 702 pages ) .Parekh's earliest collection of verse. Written in unparallelled fervor, this collection is a delectable blend of topics from love to death, probing into countless infinitesimal aspects of existence which make a significant impact to it. The beauty of this compendium lies in its magical brevity at places and in the most mundane things of life around us brought to the fore like a magicians wand, in brilliant poetic flair by Parekh. Contains poems on topics impossible for one to envisage that a poem could be written about such an inconspicuous little thing-but Parekh evolves bountiful rhyme from the word go and coalesces vivacious color in the little tid-bits of the chapter called life to optimum effect. A must read for all those who find color, charm and significance in even the smallest things of life and are enthused by even the most mercurial bit of stray paper loitering around. A poetic tribute to the ordinary, projecting its colorful extraordinary bit to the planet with raw panache. This book tingles every living being's imagination to fantasize beyond the ordinary. Look at all those meaningful tid-bits around us which have a complete book written in each one of them. All those joyous and unfortunate anecdotes around us which make us blossom into the true spirit of existence; into the amazing celebration of omnipotent life.

Short Story in the Psy-Changeling Series. Free from Nalini's newsletter dated 5th August 2014. **Author's Note** This small vignette slots in during the peaceful lull after Kiss of Snow, soon after Naya’s birth, and while Lucas and Sascha are still living in the cabin below their aerie. It's a fun and sweet glimpse into the lives of the characters in a quiet moment in the midst of the often chaotic and staggering changes currently shaking their world. It's one of those moments we never see in a book, but that is part of the everyday fabric of the characters lives. I love writing these, and I hope you enjoy reading them. If you’re new to the Psy-Changeling series, this story features Lucas (alpha of the DarkRiver leopards and a man who shifts into a black panther in his animal form), and Sascha (Lucas’s mate and a cardinal empath - she has the power to heal wounds of the heart, to take the most painful of emotions and neutralize them). And of course, it includes the recently born Naya.

In his triumphant new novel, Ian McEwan, the bestselling author of Atonement, follows an ordinary man through a Saturday whose high promise gradually turns nightmarish. Henry Perowne–a neurosurgeon, urbane, privileged, deeply in love with his wife and grown-up children–plans to play a game of squash, visit his elderly mother, and cook dinner for his family. But after a minor traffic accident leads to an unsettling confrontation, Perowne must set aside his plans and summon a strength greater than he knew he had in order to preserve the life that is dear to him. From the Trade Paperback edition.

William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863) was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair (1847), a panoramic portrait of English society. Thackeray began as a satirist and parodist, with a sneaking fondness for roguish upstarts like Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair, Barry Lyndon in Barry Lyndon (1844) and Catherine in Catherine (1839). In his earliest works, writing under such pseudonyms as Charles James Yellowplush, Michael Angelo Titmarsh and George Savage Fitz-Boodle, he tended towards the savage in his attacks on high society, military prowess, the institution of marriage and hypocrisy. His writing career really began with a series of satirical sketches now usually known as The Yellowplush Papers, which appeared in Fraser's Magazine beginning in 1837. Between May 1839 and February 1840, Fraser's published the work sometimes considered Thackeray's first novel, Catherine also notable among the later novels are The Fitz-Boodle Papers (1842), Men's Wives (1842), The History of Pendennis (1848), The History of Henry Esmond, Esq., (1852), The Newcomes (1853) and The Rose and the Ring (1855) .

A woman holds vigil over her wealthy, dying step-mother. Tensions -- already high with greedy relatives appearing to claim their inheritances -- are further strained by the appearance of the dying woman's long-lost son, who ran away 18 years ago. His mother greets him with joy, the relatives with resentment, but the woman alone knows he is hiding something...that he is not who he says he is. As she uncovers secrets and deceptions of the past and present, she knows only one thing in her heart -- that the irresistible appeal and seductive power of this mysterious stranger may be more dangerous than she thinks!

At the Manhattan School for Art and Music, where everyone is “different” and everyone is “special,” Gretchen Yee feels ordinary. She’s the kind of girl who sits alone at lunch, drawing pictures of Spider-Man, so she won’t have to talk to anyone; who has a crush on Titus but won’t do anything about it; who has no one to hang out with when her best (and only real) friend Katya is busy. One day, Gretchen wishes that she could be a fly on the wall in the boys’ locker room–just to learn more about guys. What are they really like? What do they really talk about? Are they really cretins most of the time? Fly on the Wall is the story of how that wish comes true. From the Hardcover edition.

“The events in these stories are real. Some names have been changes so I don’t get yelled at.” —Ned Vizzini Ned Vizzini writes about the weird, funny, and sometimes mortifying moments that made up his teen years. With wit, irony, and honesty, Teen Angst? Naaah . . .  invites you into Ned’s world of school, parents, cool (and almost cool), street people, rock bands, friends, fame, camp, sex (sort of), Cancún (almost), prom, beer, video games, and more. From the Trade Paperback edition.

One of Tom Clancy's most storied characters, Dominic Caruso, is the only one who can stop America's secrets from falling into enemy hands in this blockbuster new novel written by Clancy's longtime coauthor. Over the course of three decades, Tom Clancy created a world alive with prescient action and remarkable individuals. In "Tom Clancy ""Support and Defend," Dominic Caruso is presented with the deadliest challenge of his career. Dominic Caruso. Nephew of President Jack Ryan. FBI agent and operator for The Campus, a top secret intelligence agency that works off the books for the U.S. government. Already scarred by the death of his brother, Caruso is devastated when he can't save a friend and his family from a terrorist attack. Ethan Ross was a mid-level staffer for the National Security Council. Now he's a wanted fugitive on the run with a microdrive that contains enough information to wreck American intelligence efforts around the world. The CIA is desperate to get the drive back, but so are the Russians and various terrorist groups all of whom are closer to catching the fugitive. Only Caruso stands in their way, but can he succeed without the aid of his Campus colleagues?

The 'outward urge' was a factor in the Troon inheritance. Successive generations of Troons, looking up at the stars, heard the siren voices that called them out into Space. And, as the frontiers of Space receded, there was usually one Troon, if not more, out there, helping to push them back. The four exciting episodes related here deal with the parts they played in the building of the Space Station, the occupation of the Moon, the first landing on Mars, and the trouble about Venus. John Wyndham, author of The Day of the Triffids and The Kraken Wakes, stays strictly on the tram-lines of future possibility in this book, which he has written in collaboration with Lucas Parkes as technical adviser. In an age in which what goes up need not necessarily come down, the likely adventures of the Conquistadors of Space are every bit as exciting as any world menaced by triffids. 'The story is, given its fiction status, quite credible and is most readable' - World Science Review. N.B. Penguin number is 1544.

I have spent thousands of years in this earthly world, it would appear, and the spiritualistic component of my own being must have been successively transmitted in the continuity of human creatures, before it became my privilege to be one of the denizens of the planet of Mars, my present dwelling. "How happy he will be," will exclaim those unfortunate mortals who still weep on earth, "for has he not left our vale of tears?" No such thing! You are entirely mistaken, for I feel very dull here, in spite of the evident superiority, as a place of residence, of the planet I am now exploring. Indeed, I frequently suffer from fits of depression, and often glance back longingly on a past which was not unmixed with bliss. That is why you behold me now with pen in hand, calling up the most pleasurable recollections of my earthly life and trying to retrace them to the reader

The triumphant return of the New York Times-bestselling, critically acclaimed fantasy series that has become a modern classic. Since their publication more than two decades ago, the initial six books in The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant series have sold more than 6 million copies and have been published in ten countries around the world. Now, starting with The Runes of the Earth, Stephen R. Donaldson returns with a quartet of new Covenant novels that are certain to satisfy his millions of fans, and attract countless new followers. In the original series, a man-living in our world and in our time-is mysteriously struck down with a disease long since believed to have been eradicated. He becomes a pariah in his small town and is abandoned by his wife who departs with their infant son. Alone and despairing, Thomas Covenant falls and, while unconscious, is transported to a fantastic world in which a battle for the soul of the land is being waged. Christened "The Unbeliever"-for he is convinced the world is only an illusion, a dream-he finds himself slowly forced to accept the role that seems to be his destiny: savior of the Land. At the end of the sixth book, Covenant is killed, both in the real world and in the Land, as his companion, Linden Avery, looks on in horror. His death is both the ultimate sacrifice-and his redemption. At the opening of The Runes of Earth, ten years have passed. Linden Avery comes home one day to find her child building images of the Land with blocks, and senses a terrible foreboding. She had thought that she would never again be summoned to the Land-nor ever again see her beloved Thomas Covenant. But in the Land, evil is unmaking the very laws of nature. . . .

Alternate cover edition can be found here In the far, far future the bloodthirsty Solarians, in their rage to find the mysterious Ancient Site, are determined to wipe out the Bands, a strange and beautiful species whose society is an anarchy of peace. Only Rondi, the whirling green Band, can save his race, for he has a singular and awesome knowledge. But suddenly Rondi makes a shocking discovery about his identity - a discovery that may cost him his honor, his beautiful lover Cirl, even his very life...The Galactic annihilation is beginning!

In this fresh, poignant novel, Mike is struggling to come to terms with her father's suicide and her mother's detachment from the family. Mike (real name: Mary Elizabeth) is gay and likes to pump iron, play softball, and fix plumbing. When a glamorous new girl, Xanadu, arrives in Mike's small Kansas town, Mike falls in love at first sight. Xanadu is everything Mike is not -- cool, confident, feminine, sexy.... straight. Julie Anne Peters has written a heartbreaking yet ultimately hopeful novel that will speak to anyone who has ever fallen in love with someone who can't love them back.

A lay community of thoroughly mixed-up people is encamped outside Imber Abbey, home of an enclosed order of nuns. A new bell, legendary symbol of religion and magic, is rediscovered. Dora Greenfield, erring wife, returns to her husband. Michael Mead, leader of the community, is confronted by Nick Fawley, with whom he had disastrous homosexual relations, while the wise old Abbess watches and prays and exercises discreet authority. And everyone, or almost everyone, hopes to be saved, whatever that may mean...Iris Murdoch's funny and sad novel is about religion, the fight between good and evil, and the terrible accidents of human frailty.