Eliah’s heart, broken and deeply scarred from wounds long ago, was as cold and as hard as the hillside on which he slept. And left to himself, he would have kept it that way—a heart of stone, after all, feels no pain. But on this night, he would not be left to himself.“...Joshua would not put away his talk. ‘And you, Eliah Ben Elam?’ he went on. ‘What would you offer Messiah should he come before the dawn?’ Eliah raised himself as if to scold the youth for his impudence, but stopped suddenly, just as the harsh words were coming. He glared beyond the boys, beyond the hills toward Bethlehem, and thought for a long moment, searching. Then he said heavily, “I have nothing left for Messiah. For he has already taken everything from me.’” Eliah’s heart, broken and scarred over long ago, was as cold and as hard as the frozen hillside on which he slept. And he would keep it that way—a heart of stone, after all, feels no pain. But on this night, his calloused heart would collide with something much harder, much stronger: a crying infant determined to remake the world.A Gift for Messiah points us to the heart of the Christmas message: that Christ came to give us life, to remake the world one new heart at a time.

"It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God - but to create him." Arthur C. ClarkeThe planet was going to hell. Then a threat from outer space changed everything.This is a story of how a response to that threat, that the creators of the planet's problems could accept, rewrote everything from the economy to human biology.Every age creates a god for its needs. In the past, those versions of god were abstract and required believers in order to have an effect on society. In the 21st century, to save the planet from becoming uninhabitable, man created a god that inhabited the world, was alive, all knowing, powerful, able to supply all human needs, and could deliver death or life as it saw fit. A cyborg is a creature that is part biological and part machine. But what if the machine part existed in every cell of your body? Are you human, or a cyborg, or are you something else altogether. Are you more than human or less?What exists in you exists everywhere but is invisible, knows everything but does not speak, and has great power even over life and death. Is it not god? How will you behave when judgement day is tonight?

For as long as he can remember, Alan Price has been fighting a losing battle against bullying and depression. When one final attempt at a normal life goes horribly wrong, Alan prepares himself for the ultimate surrender. But he'll soon discover that only by looking death in the face, will he ever begin to live.From NA meetings to Nellis Air Force Base and the war with ISIS. Just as James McGregor is settling down, into the surrender of the partying life of a man close to taking college seriously and ending his wild days and ways, he gets pulled into a drug test with global ramifications. The drug clears the fog of his pot smoking past, but opens him up to an unexpected future. His Marine Corps security clearance is reactivated and he finds himself battling ISIS piloted fighter jets over the deserts of Syria in a neck and neck chase to stop a barbaric act of aviation terrorism. James finds a new meaning to surrender, and a serenity prayer that saves more than a thousand lives. All that and a new way to pay for college.

The Anzu, a spaceship built for exploration of the galaxy, has been operational for about one year. Everything has been functioning optimally and the Zandu believe the humans, the most recently invited species, and the others, are ready to go ahead with their mission. It could be risky with such a diverse group.The mission of The Anzu was clear and simple, the exploration of space. The Zandu, the builders of the spaceship, were a highly advanced and logical race and they planned to include other species in their quest. Their intent was not only to learn from their travels, but also to learn from each other, they had not counted on how disparate intelligent beings could be. When Alec was born in Santa Cruz, California, he had no idea he would be part of a interplanetary crew. There are currently twenty-four humans on board and after a year in space, there is one thing Alec knows for sure, there is nowhere else he would rather be, even if the humans are not in the majority or in charge.

Its a story about Nimmu, a sixth grade student in India, who moves to a village and struggles to settle there. As the days progresses, he wins new friends and establishes equations among them, and starting to enjoy his school life. Gopu Joins school in the middle of the year and he becomes Nimmu's best friend. How he earned Gopu as his best friend and why he is missing the friend is the story.WARNING! This is a Zed Lab Experiment! "Cursed chocolate" description:Samir is eight years old and he has left India with his family and he must make the accounts with the grayness in the Milan winter. Difficulty to integrate... if it were for the chocolate, that his classmates have passed of hand in hand during the interval, but as all the sweetest temptations, difficult to withstand this new intoxicating world, so much to be forgotten his own earth and his own origins. Integration, multiculture and loss of identity. The migration told by a child that it moves him with the family to Italy and that a new world must face, rich of temptations, that, just as the chocolate, they can make to forget his own origin and his own cultural baggage.

The First story continues in The next instalment of INSIDEcrimeKobi and Derrick Reed are on their honeymoon in Australia and have hired a guide, Dane, to help them explore the Northern Territory. While hiking one afternoon, they find what appears to be an abandoned lab facility partially buried below ground. After investigating the facility, they discover that they are not alone. There is another person there rummaging through the rubble frantically searching for something. His name is Dr. Trevor Tomblin, and he tells them a story that is quite unbelievable. The “normal” scientists were working on a government funded medical research project and using dingoes as their test subjects. A disgruntled scientist was secretly developing and mutating a flesh-eating parasite which he was planning to release on the population of Australia. He secretly infects the dingoes, as well as, the lab employees with the parasite, hoping to witness its power. Trevor is the only person that doesn’t get infected. The dingoes escape into the Northern Territory and are now free to infect the country. This is a nasty parasite that consumes the flesh and continues to spread in search of its next victim. Follow Kobi, Derrick, and Dane as they agree to help the Center for Disease Control (CDC) track down and destroy the infected dingoes. The hunt is dangerous, exciting, and turns to tragedy as one of the CDC members becomes infected with the parasite. The hunt continues toward Perth where an infected body has been buried, and threatens to infect the surrounding countryside and underground water system. On the way back to Darwin, the CDC plane crashes in the Outback, where their survival skills are tested in a harsh and unforgiving environment.

Requiem For Eden: Season 1: Episode 1: No Good Deed… The Eden series continues!"A edge-of-your-seat Saturday matinee!" With Lucid’s invasion driven back to the Dark Continent and his attempt to take over The Other Place thwarted, Eden should be the tranquil haven it was meant to be. If only…Requiem For Eden: Season 1: Episode 1: No Good Deed… "A edge-of-your-seat Saturday matinee!" Now in the hugely successful Bitesize Read format! A 1 hour episode.With Lucid’s invasion driven back to the Dark Continent and his attempt to take over The Other Place thwarted, Eden should be the tranquil haven it was meant to be. If only…Like the flap of a butterfly’s wing, the storm that threatens to engulf Eden is started by a single, apparently insignificant decision. The icy blast is too much for the old stork delivering her bundles to their new homes. She changes the schedule and delivers them to a Guardian Knight in Trinity. Nobody will ever know.And now the dark clouds are gathering in the far north, and the Archangel Michael, the Guardian Supreme Commander, and the Leader of the Senate watch the Games that mark the graduation of Trinity’s Knight School in the desperate hope they will find a hero to lead their army against the coming hordes.They need a miracle, but since magic was outlawed by the Senate, miracles have been in short supply. They think they have found Woe and his sister, Anella—the cuckoos the stork left—to fill the hero vacancy. But they have no idea just what they have found.And the Norsemen are coming.The Eden Series was inspired by the Discworld novels. Requiem for Eden is an adventure in 10 1-hour episodes. Each one a complete story with a beginning, middle and end. And a cliff-hanger ending, it the true tradition of the Saturday Matinee genre.

Part 1 of The Lost Brother Novel SeriesEnjoy this Unofficial Minecraft novel series filled with twists and turns full of action, battles, and intrigue!Hunted by a mysterious disappearance of his brother, Michael takes on a quest to find the truth. Will he find his brother?Order your copy right now and find out get!Ps. Get 2 books as a bonus inside!HOT UNOFFICIAL MINECRAFT BOOK RELEASEPart 1 of The Lost Brother Novel SeriesEnjoy this Minecraft novel series filled with twists and turns full of action, battles, and intrigue!Hunted by a mysterious disappearance of his brother, Michael has been living a modest life, toiling on the family farm that was left to him by his parents.One thing haunts him to this day, and that is what happened to his older brother when he was six years old.The nightmares are a constant in his life, but he can’t seem to manage them. However, one night Michael has a “wake up call” after which he decides to go on a quest to find the truth.Taking only what he could carry, he begins a journey into a harsh and unforgiving MINECRAFT WORLD.Order your copy right now and get bonuses inside!

A collection of two stories in the hit thriller series: The Mercenary's Salvation. To begin is the story of a retired soldier, hired by the FBI to assassinate a drug dealer picking off cops in LA. The other is of a chess player in his dying months and his desire to learn the meaning in his life. For fans of The Mercenary's Salvation, read the side volume today and learn the tale of Jack and Seth!Not every protagonist will save the world. Not every soldier has to stop nuclear Armageddon. Not every mercenary wields a gun. There are heroes who never have to fight.There are heroes who are ordinary men living extraordinary lives.Times of Peace: Volume 1 is technically the fifth book in The Mercenary’s Salvation saga, though more of an experimental one than anything else. Whereas my other books are traditional stories and feature the marks that I am known for in my series, this volume contains two works that do not. The characters and names may be the same, as are the terms… but a different writing style, a different era, a different kind of world is painted by The Worth of a Man and En Passant.As such, I decided that I would release the two for free, as is. They are not edited like my other novels; they are full of errors and will make no sense to anyone who has never read a Mercenary’s Salvation book.They are full of Easter eggs though. You’ll understand some of the main characters of the Mercenary’s Salvation much better after this. If you’re a fan and are curious about the way my writing works or some of the detail/thought that goes into it, check out this volume. Otherwise, simply see some of my other books.In either case, thanks for checking this book out. Please see the rest of The Mercenary’s Salvation series for your fix of awkward romances, gratuitous violence, and comedic commentary of religion, war, American history, and meta humor… assuming the back of the book is true.

This is a collection of poesy, prosody, and prose divided into six chapters. The first two chapters are basically poems and short narratives of limerence, loss and longing, death and redemption, scandalous acts and the search for fulfillment. Chapters three through six are short stories. Love once again is a prevailing theme, the sixth chapter has elements of the occult.Ronny Knape's Libertine Love Songs is a collection of poetry and prose in which the writing acts as palimpsests that overlay the occult plots of morality plays, journeys, quests, and Jungian archetypes all framed within idiom and phrasing of a Texas tale. Knape's style is of a 17th century moralist like John Bunyan having spent a stint in Aleister Crowley's company and then being dumped into the brain of a working-class Texan obligated to try to explain his journey to his family and neighbors. In short, there's a huge dose of magical realism as the abstractions and the day-to-day experiences of characters in Texas, Mexico, and a Lone Star imagination jostle around. Worth a read for the many places where this combination works. Tar Heel Dem

Jack Jameson believes he has complete control over his life. But one day a random occurrence sends his world into a tail spin, delivering a warped destiny that has been patiently waiting for years. A short story centering around irony and fate, "The Lottery" examines the darkness of the human psyche and the power of anger.In the "Find The Lesson" series a parent or teacher can have a wonderful interactive experience with their young child. Every page of the books allow the child to search for and find Lenny the elf, while learning a different concept. The many books in this series teach children the life lessons of compassion, empathy, fair play, responsibility, and healthy living. This book teaches the important concepts of kindness and good manners.

Tales of the Arcane is a monthly collection of short stories by those with a love for the art of story craft. The Tales are mainly themed in the genre of the supernatural, though will cover a host of genres with changing short stories; or the continuation of longer stories as told in a serial chapter format.In this issue:- Silken Whispers: The Butterfly- The OrganizersTales of the Arcane is a monthly collection of short stories by those with a love for the art of story craft - both amateur and professional writers. The Tales will be mainly themed in the genre of the supernatural, though will cover a host of genres with changing short stories; or the continuation of longer stories as told in a serial chapter format.These works have been created by members of an online community, The Arcane Light, and endeavors to promote the written word and story-crafting by giving those wanting to develop their own writing style an outlet for their creativity.In this issue:Silken Whispers - Casefile: The ButterflyThe continuation of previous chapters, as the ladies of Silken Whispers Artefact Recovery Agency pursue their new job in the South Pacific. When a freak storm hits the uninhabited island, the two treasure hunters are forced into shelter lest they be drowned under the Autumnal deluge - and locate a site of great interest.The Organizers; A BeginningEvery story has a beginning, and this section of The Organizers looks back with hints of a origin tale.

In the aftermath of a disastrous court ball, Zariah's fairy godmother offers her 'everything a princess could ever want' and Zariah accepts only to find herself separated from her family and caught in a situation more nightmare than dream. Now Zariah must take her fate into her own hands to reverse the spell and reclaim her life with her family.That summer should have been filled with laughter, with slip n’ slides in the yard, lazy afternoons lying watching ice cream clouds swirling through the blue sky, melting in slow motion. I watched a plane rising high above our house. From the ground it looked completely still, as if it hung suspended in the air, a model on a string. I wished I was on it, I wished I could escape. I was seven and that was the summer death stalked our home.It began with the offerings...

Can one man’s prophetic visions help avert a major tragedy?Minister Ryan Guest awoke in a cold sweat one morning in 1897 with vivid memories of the vision he had seen the night before. In the minister’s dreams, a young man’s natural passions were manipulated, and the captain of the grandest ship ever built bore a burden that could destroy lives.Can one man’s prophetic visions help avert a major tragedy?This is not the Titanic you know. In this storytelling world created by Erik James, anything is possible. History can be re-written if warnings are heeded in time…Titanic Sinking is a serialized story told in three parts. Look for Episode Two soon.

"To those that see the sky and can not fly, I feel this wind for them."An otherworldly friendship is forged under stress and fear. Wyatt, a recently unemployed camper, is looking for an escape from responsibilities. Thunder Born is a wind esper looking to escape from those who want to murder him. Together they start something surpassing both of them.As heir to the daemon clan Lord, Halden Rendra is a rebel. He argues with his father constantly and is always looking for a fight. The day his father drags him to the Realm Leader's suburban home, his destiny changes. He meets Lucian Gallager, a young boy about his age that seems like a 'nerdy weakling'. However, as Halden soon discovers, everything is not as it seems, especially when it comes to the Realm Leader's only son.Account #1 of my Tales of Terrara Vikos story sagaCheck out the rest of the Tales of Terrara Vikos stories:Trees in the Storm (#2)Blood on a Broken Hand (#3)Warped Destinies (#4)The Protektor's Reality: A Trials of Terrara Vikos prequel novel - Now Available!A prequel to my Trials of Terrara Vikos series (coming soon)

Books, Movies, Rhythm, Blues is the companion volume to Fan Mail, Nick Hornby’s collection of writings on football. This second collection brings together the best of his other non-fiction pieces, on film and tv, writers and painters and music, and including one exceptional fragment of autobiography. With subject matter ranging from the Sundance Festival to Abbey Road Studios, from P.G. Wodehouse to The West Wing, these are pieces that ‘were written for fun, or because I felt I had things to say and time to say them, or because the commissions were unusual and imaginative, or because … I was being asked to go somewhere I had never been before.’

Years before Sophie and Josh Newman met Nicholas Flamel, two legendary warriors fought together for the first time. Billy the Kid and Scathach the Shadow. Now that lost story can be told . . . Billy the Kid is immortal. And being immortal means following unpredictable paths. With this exclusive eBook, Michael Scott offers readers a never-before-seen short story from the world of the bestselling series the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel: the tale of how Billy the Kid and Scathach meet for the first time and join forces against the unseen, deadly and eternally hungry vampyres who control the city of Las Vegas—where Scathach must face her greatest fear.

As they relax after dinner on Christmas Eve, the members of a family and their guests turn to telling ghost stories. These ghoulish accounts range from the melancholy to the macabre, and get increasingly bizarre as the ghosts leap out of the tales and make an appearance in the family's home. Fact and fiction, the real and unreal collide, until the reader is not sure who is haunting whom.A masterful work of comic horror, Jerome K. Jerome's After-Supper Ghost Stories is a witty look at why Christmas Eve is so perfect for ghost stories and why ghosts love the Yuletide season.

With generosity, humor, and pathos, Anne Lamott takes on the barrage of dislocating changes that shook the Sixties. Leading us through the wake of these changes is Nanny Goodman, a girl living in Marin County, California. A half-adult child among often childish adults, Nanny grows up with two spectacularly odd parents: a writer father and a mother who is a constant source of material. As she moves into her adolescence, so, it seems, does America. While grappling with her own coming-of-age, Nanny witnesses an entire culture's descent into drugs, the mass exodus of fathers from her town, and rapid real-estate and technological development that foreshadow a drastically different future. In All New People, Anne Lamott works a special magic, transforming failure into forgiveness and illuminating the power of love to redeem us.

Having just moved to a new town, Ryan is fascinated with Rhiannon, the girl he sees walking past his house each day. Finally brave enough to approach her in a rain storm, the two embark on a friendship that defies most standards and sustains them through times both good and bad. Before succumbing to an illness, Rhiannon promises Ryan that if she can, she will return to give him a sign that she is still with him. He spends years waiting in vain only to discover that these messages are rarely bold, but instead, are often just glimmers against the open sky.