The Elevator Trilogy is 62 great short-short stories, about you and me, everyone of them like a little movie – for busy people who can really use a break now and then and don't have a lot of time to read.The Elevator Trilogy is 62 great short-short stories, about you and me, everyone of them like a little movie – for busy people who can really use a break now and then and don't have a lot of time to read.Hi. Are you tired of eating alone at the local diner and pretending you're doing something important with your phone – or at home, after a hard day at work, watching the news or some show you couldn't care less about just to hear the sound of people talking? And how many times can you read the same catalog while you're going to the bathroom? Really. Bored out of your mind with the mind-numbing drivel you're doing at the office? Well, Doctor's orders, read one or two of these and call me in the morning.How do I know they're perfect for times like these? Because silly, that's when I wrote them.-Les

When a tenth-century Viking's ship blows off course, he finds himself in the twenty-first century and in the arms of a successful and beautiful American psychologist.

Indulge in a lyrical, sensual feast. Karin Cox's eloquent poems will linger with you for days, reminding you of the beauty of language and the nostalgia of days gone by. Ranging in topic from whimsy to love poems to erotica, to an examination of nationality and what it means to be human, this collection features something for every lover of the written word.If the poet's job is to provide a reflection of an entire world in a single teardrop, Karin Cox's haunting anthology, "Growth", does so admirably. This collection of her finest poems—some previously published in anthologies around the world, others new; some rhyming, some free form—delivers beautiful sentiments, melancholy moments and some delightfully lyrical figurative language, all the while charting the poet's personal growth over several years.While introspective, Karin's work avoids self-obsession by interspersing political and broader global themes with the personal. What results is a whimsical anthology that brings to mind the challenges of just being human and fitting into a world that sometimes feels like a tight squeeze. A must-read for lovers of the English language and a wonderful gift for poetry aficionados, "Growth" will continue to bloom in the reader's mind long after the last page has been turned.

How did Riot escape from the Night Church? How did she survive the Rot & Ruin—and the horrors of her own past? There’s only one way to find out.... Jonathan Maberry explores the origins of a fascinating new character in an exclusive e-short story set in the land of the Rot & Ruin.

A middle-aged man's repressed childhood memories suddenly return.The world's #1 Big-Data Detective returns in yet another extremely unlikely, if not impossible adventure. This time the wrong things are happening at the wrong times in the wrong places while pasts and futures hang in the balance. Part Freakonomics, part Sherlock Holmes, part Doctor Who, part somewhere on the spectrum and 100% completely absurd, The Outlier series continues with "The Outlier #3, Lost Souls, another Dillon Sharif Tall Tale.

Felix Renn is a private detective in a supernatural world. When a vampire tears up a posh Toronto restaurant, Felix is thrust into a world of monsters, movies, and mayhem. In a world where paranormal is the norm, each new case may be his last.Felix Renn is a private investigator in a supernatural world, an alternate reality where a dark dimension called The Black Lands co-exists alongside our own. Travelling to and from The Black Lands is dangerous - and illegal - but that doesn't stop some of the creatures that reside there from crossing over into our world from time to time. After a man goes berserk in a posh Toronto restaurant, Felix suddenly finds himself torn between both worlds as he is drawn into a deadly game of movies, murder, and monsters.

I have a question for you ladies. What would you do to marry the man of your dreams? Would you be willing to risk everything for love? I did, the day I met my fiance I knew he was my soul mate. And I was willing to do whatever it took to get him no matter what the cost. My name is Pebbles and this is my story.It's been a difficult year for Abilene Collins. Since her father's death, her whirlwind life of adventure and travel has come to an end.Now, she's living with her mysterious uncle. He's a man with secrets, living almost alone in a ridiculously large mansion that he doesn't own. He doesn't like questions, and when Lena starts asking after the enigma of his job, it isn't hard to tell that he's hiding some family secrets.Family portraits have been removed from the walls, and areas of the house are off limits. Some rooms even seem to have been walled off completely. No one will talk to her.The young and ambitious groundskeeper has become her only friend, and one day he tells her that she was stolen from her mother years before. Lena's family are all telepathic, and that isn't all. They're a religious pillar of the Silenti society. Her grandfather has used his religious standing to gain political power, decimating his rivals along with anyone who gets in his way. Suddenly thrust into a life of political plots and religious fanatics, Lena finds herself struggling to navigate her own life. Some people aren't fond of the Darays, and the family has nearly died out through assassination.It appears Lena is the latest target.

After escaping to planet Lehon from the Empire, Deacon 90 revealed to the Kaird family that he was once a Jedi! The Burned Cloak crew encountered Jedi survivors of Order 66 in the Rakata ruins. Encouraged by the Jedi Colony's embrace of him and the Kaird family, he reclaimed his name and identity. But the arrival of a Black Sun agent and his proposition may offer DeaconLightspeed is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine. In its pages, you will find science fiction: from near-future, sociological soft SF, to far-future, star-spanning hard SF—and fantasy: from epic fantasy, sword-and-sorcery, and contemporary urban tales, to magical realism, science-fantasy, and folktales.In our August 2012 issue, we have original fantasy by Kat Howard (“Breaking the Frame”) and Linda Nagata (“A Moment Before It Struck”), along with fantasy reprints by Wil McCarthy (“The Necromancer in Love”) and Delia Sherman (“Cotillion”).Plus, we’ll have original science fiction by 2012 Nebula Award-winner Ken Liu (“The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species”) and a collaboration between Caroline M. Yoachim and Tina Connolly (“Flash Bang Remember”), and SF reprints by io9’s Charlie Jane Anders (“Love Might Be Too Strong a Word”) and award-winning author Michael Swanwick (“Slow Life”).For our ebook readers, our ebook-exclusive novella is “A Separate War” by Joe Haldeman, and we have an excerpt of Kitty Steals the Show, the new Kitty Norville novel by bestselling author Carrie Vaughn.All that, plus our usual assortment of author and artist spotlights, and feature interviews with bestselling authors Kim Stanley Robinson and Seanan McGuire (a/k/a Mira Grant).

Three short pieces dealing with unusual circumstances and misbehaving body parts. "The Oddly Even Couple", a first date that will never be forgotten- or ever fully remembered. "One Hand Clapping", but the wearer insists it doesn't belong to him. "Social Dynamics for the Teflon Mind", an anti-lullaby for the dispossessed.Three short pieces of people dealing with unusual circumstances and misbehaving body parts. "The Oddly Even Couple" go on a first date that will never be forgotten. Or ever fully remembered. "One Hand Clapping", but the wearer of the hand insists that it doesn't belong to him. "Social Dynamics for the Teflon Mind", an anti-lullaby for the dispossessed.

Welcome to Antioch College is a humorous Young Adult short story revolving around the new collegiate life of Evan Morgan as he entered an eccentric start-up liberal arts college in Ohio. Welcome to Antioch College is the first book in The Antioch Adventures.Book two can be found here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/440408After many years of vacancy, Antioch College is coming back to life. Through renovation and restructuring done by it's new president, this small liberal arts school calls in its first class in several years. But this isn't good news some. Evan Morgan, an antisocial and anxious young man, arrives for his first day of orientation. Drawn in by several unheard of perks as well as the school's size, Evan is quickly taken off guard by the eccentricity of both the new student body and the staff members. As his first day goes by, Evan can't help but wonder what exactly he'd gotten himself into.Welcome to Antioch College is the first book in The Antioch Adventures

Garth Mackenzie is a street fighting, demon tiger shifter who owns a candy shop named Helltastic Confectionary. With his sugary treats he hopes to lure a very special human known as a Judge that can redeem his sins. When eccentric veterinarian Sasha Robinovitch enters his life he’s more concerned with tracking down his Archenemy the Red Priest and settling an old score than falling in love.A Hellcat demon shifter with no interest in love…Centuries ago, Garth awoke in the center of a mystical stone henge in the Scottish Highlands with no memories. A dragon shifter, Lachlan, and wolf shifter, Leslie, rescue Garth and take him to Castle MacWulver. The castle is the home of Clan MacWulver - a group of demon shifters blending in with human society while trying to find their fated Judge, a very special human with a pure heart and soul whose love has the power to redeem a demon of their sins. A mad scientist and veterinarian who is afraid to love…Sasha Robinovitch doesn’t like humans, but loves her genetically engineered monster pets. One day, after pulling an all-nighter, Sasha has a candy craving, and decides to go to a candy shop named Helltastic Confectionary. There she meets the owner Garth Mackenzie. He’s a giant of a man at six-eight with bulging muscles and an intense golden stare. Terrified of his thuggish appearance, Sasha tries to flee but when she unexpectedly hears his thoughts in her mind she discovers he’s not so scary after all. Will an unlikely friendship blossom into true love? Garth sells candy during the day as he reluctantly tries to find his fated Judge. At night he participates in matches hosted by illegal, underground fight clubs while trying to discover the whereabouts of his Archenemy the Red Priest. Centuries ago, the priest defeated Clan MacWulver and trapped the shifters in their animal forms using powerful Druidic magic. Ever since Garth’s people have been forced to fight sword-wielding Battle Priests and Battle Nuns in matches where rich, masked humans bet on the outcome of those fights. Author's Note: Swearwords and graphic sexual content have been removed from this version in order to make it more appropriate for my Teen readers. Enjoy!

This is the story of Riley, an American Bulldog. Follow along as she tries to keep her pack safe from a zombie apocalypse. Traveling with her are Ben-Ben the high strung Yorkie, her favorite two-legger Jessie, Jessie's baby brother Zachary and Riley's arch-enemy Patches the cat. They are a rag-tag group of survivors who when pushed to the limit realize that they are all each other has.Book 1This is the story of Riley, an American Bulldog. Follow along as she tries to keep her pack safe from a zombie apocalypse. Traveling with her are Ben-Ben the high strung Yorkie, her favorite two-legger Jessie, Jessie's baby brother Zachary and Riley's arch-enemy Patches the cat. They are a rag-tag group of survivors who when pushed to the limit realize that they are all each other has.Book 1 of 4

Caroline Ward and her family moves to Australia because of Caroline's promotion. Her oldest daughter got sick and they move outside the city. Caroline and her husband has some troubles in marriage and the question is will they overcome it or will something else happen.Caroline Ward got a promotion and must leave England for Australia - Sydney. After one month of staying in Australia her oldest daugher get sick and the only way she can cure is moving to a hospital somewhere outside the Sydney where there is fresh air, no cars and no big cities. The daughter stays in the hospital but the family is staying at Alice's and Josh's place for a year. Caroline and her husband has some troubles in marriages. The questions is will they overcome their differences or will something else happen.

The archivist Un'Yhe has honored the strangers throughout his long lifetime. The strangers have smiled at every relic of the broods' homeworld Un'Yhe has brought before them. Un'Yhe's care continues to expand the museum built upon the strangers' crashed ark, until one day the strangers unfold the homeworld's bright sky to reveal a sparkling treasure more glorious than even Un'Yhe's museum houses.The strangers have spent eons floating through the chasms separating the stars. After so many millenniums, the strangers reach their loftiest goal and arrive upon an alien world filled with intelligence, life and splendor. But the strangers have evolved since the day so long ago when their ancestors first stepped into the stars. Only, the strangers' eyes remain transfixed upon the stars. The strangers still pine, despite all the alien treasure that surrounds them, for a return to those dark chasms that expand between the night's twinkling starlight.

A tycoon, an heiress and a reporter hunt the most exotic creatures found in the cosmos. But a stranger from the stars has arrived first on the safari, and that alien will stop at nothing to collect every human's face as a trophy.The obliterators execute the Law of Extermination, cleansing alien planets of native life and reshaping extra-terrestrial landscapes to prepare the new worlds found in the stars for human settlement. Yet a creature of shadow and fear prevents the obliterators from completing their duty on the planet of Tybalt, a world that promises humankind a New Eden, if only the obliterators can exterminate that glowing jungle in which the monster hides. Teddy Jackson accepts the obliterators’ challenge to claim that monster as a trophy. But an intelligence unlike any Mr. Jackson has ever tracked threatens to turn the table on that great hunter who has mounted so many alien heads upon his walls.

Each year, sixth graders at Kinard dive into the world of Mythology. After studying great works of Homer, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome, students write their own myths. This is the compilation of their hard work.Vynasha has spent the last four years tending her mother's roses and looking after her nephew. The fire that killed their family has left her scarred and put Wyll on the brink of death. Soon the first frost will come down from the mountains and she knows this winter will be his last. Until a strange beggar appears on the road, telling her of the majikal Source that can heal her Wyll. With nothing left to lose, Vynasha braves the forbidden Wylder Mountains to seek out a cure and her fate. A lost kingdom is uncovered by an equally lost girl, but the castle is not abandoned as she believes. Shadows cloaking unseen eyes watch. Tapestries whisper from the hidden corners, wondering if the one to break their curse has come. And a hungry beast waits, ready to devour her soul.The classic fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast is retold in a Gothic setting where nothing is exactly as it seems and the heroine must be her own hero.

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed) Franz Kafka’s imagination so far outstripped the forms and conventions of the literary tradition he inherited that he was forced to turn that tradition inside out in order to tell his splendid, mysterious tales. Scrupulously naturalistic on the surface, uncanny in their depths, these stories represent the achieved art of a modern master who had the gift of making our problematic spiritual life palpable and real.This edition of his stories includes all his available shorter fiction in a collection edited, arranged, and introduced by Gabriel Josipovici in ways that bring out the writer’s extraordinary range and intensity of vision. --randomhouse.com Children on a country road -- Unmasking a confidence trickster -- The sudden walk -- Resolutions -- Excursion into the mountains -- Bachelor's ill luck -- The tradesman -- Absent-minded window-gazing -- The way home -- Passers-by -- On the tram -- Clothes -- Rejection -- Reflections for gentlemen-jockeys -- The street window -- The wish to be a red Indian -- The trees -- Unhappiness -- The judgment -- The stoker -- The metamorphosis -- In the penal colony -- A country doctor: The new advocate -- A country doctor -- Up in the gallery -- An old manuscript -- Before the law -- Jackals and Arabs -- A visit to a mine -- The next village -- An imperial message -- The cares of a family man -- Eleven sons -- A fratricide -- A dream -- A report to an academy -- The bucket rider -- A hunger artist: First sorrow -- A little woman -- A hunger artist -- Josephine the singer, or the mouse folk -- Descriptions of a struggle -- Wedding preparations in the country -- The student -- The angel -- The village schoolmaster (The giant mole) -- Blumfeld, an elderly bachelor -- The hunter Gracchus -- The proclamation -- The bridge -- The Great Wall of China -- The knock at the manor gate -- An ancient sword -- New lamps -- My neighbor -- A crossbreed (A sport) -- A splendid beast -- The watchman -- A common confusion -- The truth about Sancho Panza -- The silence of the siren -- Prometheus -- The city coat of arms -- Poseidon -- Fellowship -- At night -- The problem of our laws -- The conscription of troops -- The test -- The vulture -- The helmsman -- The top -- Hands -- A little fable -- Isabella -- Home-coming -- A Chinese puzzle -- The departure -- Advocates -- Investigations of a dog -- The married couple -- Give it up! -- On parables -- The burrow.

"Sinfully sexy and darkly beautiful, The Pawn will play games with your heart and leave you craving more!" - Laura Kaye, New York Times bestselling author The price of survival... Gabriel Miller swept into my life like a storm. He tore down my father with cold retribution, leaving him penniless in a hospital bed. I quit my private all-girl's college to take care of the only family I have left. There's one way to save our house, one thing I have left of value. My virginity. A forbidden auction... Gabriel appears at every turn. He seems to take pleasure in watching me fall. Other times he's the only kindness in a brutal underworld. Except he's playing a deeper game than I know. Every move brings us together, every secret rips us apart. And when the final piece is played, only one of us can be left standing. THE PAWN is a full-length contemporary novel from New York Times bestselling author Skye Warren about revenge and seduction in the game of love. It's the first book in the brand new ENDGAME series. "The Pawn is an emotionally charged roller coaster ride that will leave you breathless. From the start, the edgy and intense story will bring you to the edge of your seat and hold you there." - RT Book Reviews

Smoke is still rising from the brutal and unnecessary destruction of the five vampire Families ... and Bo is in hiding. She won't be able to keep herself away for long, however. An old case and old rivalries rise to the surface and force her to face not just the new realities which London presents but the darkness that continues to dwell inside her. And then there's the small matter of bitter revenge to consider too. This is the sixth and final book in the Bo Blackman series.

There are all kinds of surprises under the mistletoe! As a protector of all jaguar-kind, Guardian agent Demetria MacFarlane isn’t surprised to get a call near Christmas—but when she’s sent to protect a cub whose species she didn’t even know existed, her holiday season gets complicated. And it doesn’t help that her partner is a distraction of the hottest kind. Hotshot JAG agent Everett Anderson can handle dangerous poachers and wildlife traffickers, no problem…but kids? Everett fears he’ll be stuck cub-sitting under the Christmas tree, but working with one sexy Guardian she-cat may be the best present he’s ever gotten.

Ruby Oliver is 15 and has a shrink. She knows it’s unusual, but give her a break—she’s had a rough 10 days. In the past 10 days she:* lost her boyfriend (#13 on the list), lost her best friend (Kim), lost all her other friends (Nora, Cricket), did something suspicious with a boy (#10), did something advanced with a boy (#15), had an argument with a boy (#14), drank her first beer (someone handed it to her), got caught by her mom (ag!), had a panic attack (scary), lost a lacrosse game (she’s the goalie), failed a math test (she’ll make it up), hurt Meghan’s feelings (even though they aren’t really friends), became a social outcast (no one to sit with at lunch) and had graffiti written about her in the girls’ bathroom (who knows what was in the boys’!?!). * But don’t worry—Ruby lives to tell the tale. And make more lists.