Chester the Coyote and his friend Hank the Hawk are in search of a new home called the oasis.Stories about Ignatius Loyola, John Bunyan, Telemachus, the twelve Martyrs of Scilla, and some frustrated fisherman. They do such things as start the Jesuit order, put an end to the gladiatorial games in Rome, and die for their faith. These are mostly biographies and are all written in creative nonfiction style, which is where you take real events and add details so that they read like a novel. The stories pop to life and will challenge you. Would you do what they did?

This is a true short story that will raise the hairs on your neck and put a tingle down your spine. One night when driving all alone in a borrowed van through a remote wooded landscape I felt the sting of breath on the back of my neck.This is a true short story that will raise the hairs on your neck and put a tingle down your spine. One night when driving all alone in a borrowed van through a remote wooded landscape I felt the sting of breath on the back of my neck. For the next twenty minutes I had to drive to the nearest habitation afraid of what would happen and terrified that I would not make it.Find out what happened in this true short story by horror author Caroline Gebbie.

On planet Tirano my mother leads an order of genetically engineered women. Clones of females who died valiantly in battle guard Tirano's monarch. The aristocracy are pureblooded descendants of the leaders of the mother ship that landed two millennia ago. Imagine the inbreeding that has resulted during those two millennia. Nonetheless, in this milieu, I'm the one stigmatized as a bizarre creature.Planet Tirano creates a unique milieu for the stories of the series The Encircling Belts of Tirano Saga. Planet Tirano’s aristocracy consists only of pureblooded descendants of the leaders of the mother ship that landed two millennia ago. An order of genetically engineered women, all of whom were conceived in vitro, control Tirano’s computer network and hyperspace portals. The Vhirko, clones of women who died valiantly in battle, guard Tirano’s monarch at all times. Tirano has been at war for decades with a savage alien species that becomes sentient only if mentally linked in groups of four or more.Tirano’s King Mhikhel unleashes fundamental, and uncontrollable, changes to this milieu when he acknowledges as his child an illegitimate son of a commoner and raises the child (Tarnlot) as a prince. Despite the aristocracy’s antagonism, Mhikhel grooms Tarnlot to serve as the Lord Chancellor (the highest governmental post, which is normally held by a member of the aristocracy) when Mhikhel’s heir (Prince Zhun’Mar) assumes the throne.In A Bastard’s Oath Tarnlot must rescue the throne for Zhun’Mar’s by foiling both an aristocrat’s coup d’etat and the aliens’ coup de main. In the series’ second installment, A Dream Is A Pinhole In Time, Tarnlot and Zhun’Mar escape an ambush in deep space by entering a hyperspace fissure that strands them on a planet in an unknown galaxy: present day Earth. The third installment, Outliers of Tirano, begins the stories of Siniastra, Zhun’Mar's daughter.Even though the installments occur in chronological order, each is an independent story. Accordingly, you can read the stories in any order.

A selection of five unrelated short stories. In Unrelated, read about a stranded soul in Expanse, while a busy Gargoyle who tells what he sees over time. Meeting Pope Gregory, a fictional Pontiff. A Rusty Chain brings memories for one man. And Top Floor is anything but! Read each one and discover your favorite. Read again and discover something new.A selection of five unrelated short stories. In Expanse, a poor soul alone on an island far too long. In Gargoyle, read a first hand account what one particular Gargoyle sees over time. In Meeting Pope Gregory, get a glimpse into another time and place, maybe Victorian Times. A Rusty Chain brings back childhood memories for one man and understand himself. Top Floor brings us to a mysterious boss in a penthouse office that has a high turnover rate in assistants. See which stories you can relate.

Out on the edge of civilization anything and everything can happen--especially when you're not ready for it.When Jenny, the chief mechanic for the Bonnie Belle hops off to work a deal with the local black market she ends up bargaining for more than just fresh fruit.This short story is an installment in the "Tales from the Edge" universe, joining two prior novels, IN THE BLACK and IN THE VOID.Mark's Mad Phonic Series is a set of graded readers helping children learn to read. The series starts from your child's first words and continues to reading fluency. This is Level 4 Book 2. This book is all about a very slow train!Practicing words with long a vowel sounds.

San Francisco 1976: While Israel Wren looks after his friend Harvey Milk's apartment he is astonished to find a movie star nervously smoking cigarettes in the front room. After hearing the man's story Israel becomes involved in tracking down a serial killer who sketches his victims before he murders them.San Francisco 1976: Harvey Milk leaves his friend Israel Wren to look after his apartment. On his first night Israel is dismayed to discover a movie star in the lounge room nervously smoking cigarettes. The celebrity has just escaped the clutches of a serial killer. 'The Doodler' haunts gay bars and sketches his victims before seducing and then knifing them. He has already killed fourteen gay men this way. The police don't seem too interested in protecting the gay community, so Israel takes on the task of tracking down the killer who sketches his victims before he kills them.

Everything changes for the Lightbearers and their mortal enemy, the shapeshifters, in 1512, five hundred years before book one in the Lightbearer Series, Into the Light, takes place. Find out what happens to propel into action a sequence of events that have set the stage for the rest of the series.The year is 1512. Shapeshifter Xander Wulf believes that to kill a Lightbearer is to inherit her magic. If only he can find one.And then he does, but he doesn’t kill Sabine Flemming, because for the first time he suspects killing her isn’t how he can gain her magic. He just needs to eliminate James Bennett, King of the Lightbearers—who wants to mate with Sabine—so he can prove his new theory.Shifters and Lightbearers don’t have to be enemies… Do they? Everything changes for the Lightbearers and their mortal enemy, the shapeshifters, in 1512, five hundred years before book one, Into the Light, takes place. Find out what happens to propel into action a sequence of events that have set the stage for the rest of the series. Other books in the series, in reading order:Broken Light (Claiming My Valentine Anthology)Into the LightDawning of LightLight Beyond the DarknessChange in the LightCupid's Light

Alex Abercrombe is an ordinary school boy from St. Mayleboune Orphanage. He had known lots of things, but he never knew what was about to happen. When he and his co-orphan John Tanner fight in the darkness of a forest during a mid-day tour, what he finds out is more than what he had read. When things get upside down, Alex wakes in the center of a very dangerous fate.The Shorecliff Horror and Other Stories.Three new weird tales by Rufus Woodward. Three tales of loneliness and lost love, of impossible people and the weird creatures that live in forgotten places.The Shorecliff HorrorI first moved into Shorecliff House on a bright, warm morning in early April. When I moved out again in the November of that same year, there were clouds gathering on the horizon and an icy wind threatening to rise from the North. In between those two days, I emerged from one nightmare only to fall right into another one.The Impossible CityAs it reaches out to pull him closer, Solomon recoils away a spark of dread flying through him. He feels a smile spread across the creature, a sickening, gleeful grin of delight that fades back into the darkness as it drifts slowly away.“Not now,” he hears a low voice whisper, “but soon. Soon.”Philippe and the Silver FluteSomewhere in his mind, wearied though it was by his long trek, a voice called to him. A gentle voice, small but persistent, that called repeatedly, telling him to give up his journey now, to turn around and return home. Philippe listened to the voice, sitting on that rock for a long time while a light rain began to fall and the dark shape of the castle hovered black and insistent ahead of him. He listened to the voice until its words died away and he was left alone once more on the silent moor. Then he packed his bag together again and continued his journey.‘The Shorecliff Horror and Other Stories’ is Chapbook number three from the Olgada Press.

First Sign of the Badger is a wildly inconsistent collection of writings from my youth. Award winning short stories are mixed with poems from grade school and memoirs of early adulthood. The topics vary greatly. From a narrative process essay about washing your car, to stories about greed and love, a poem about having dry hands, and more... There's likely something here for everyone.This is an evolving first effort at an ebook. The initial release of First Sign of the Badger included only ten short stories. This update includes much more, as stories thought to be long lost have been miraculously rediscovered. The original short story of Goddamn Finger Tube is one of those stories. Written, upside down, in 5.5 hours and enigmatically saved in a file marked "Z", it had been missing for 15 years. In that time a soon to be released novel of the same name was written. Also included are the award winning short stories Car Wash Safari, Father's Day to End All Father's Days, and Mirrors Don't Look Alike. Eyebrows and My Future Wife's Monologue, which each got the author laid on several occasions, are also now included. There are poems and other writings from grade school, which are included for the amusement of the author as the boy who wrote them. There are memoirs from early adulthood as the author deals with culture shock and other problems. If more completed short pieces are found from this period, they will likely be included in a future update.

Richard refuses to believe his socially awkward twin Chrissie has an unhealthy obsession with him, but when the two siblings are sent to St. Bart’s, the boarding school from Hell, Richard finds himself trapped in a real life psychological horror when he’s framed for stealing, and on a mission to clear his name, discovers he’s not the only actor in his family.Richard refuses to believe his socially awkward twin Chrissie has an unhealthy obsession with him. He’s too busy making films and having fun with his best friends, but when the twins are sent to St. Bart’s, the boarding school from Hell, Richard finds himself trapped in a real life psychological horror when he’s framed for stealing, and on a mission to clear his name, discovers he’s not the only actor in his family.

As the turbulent years following the Russian revolution of 1917 settle down into a new Soviet reality, the brilliant and eccentric zoologist Persikov discovers an amazing ray that drastically increases the size and reproductive rate of living organisms. At the same time, a mysterious plague wipes out all the chickens in the Soviet republics. The government expropriates Persikov's untested invention in order to rebuild the poultry industry, but a horrible mix-up quickly leads to a disaster that could threaten the entire world. This H. G. Wells-inspired novel by the legendary Mikhail Bulgakov is the only one of his larger works to have been published in its entirety during the author's lifetime. A poignant work of social science fiction and a brilliant satire on the Soviet revolution, it can now be enjoyed by English-speaking audiences through this accurate new translation. Includes annotations and afterword.

In the final electrifying novel in the HoN series, Neferet has finally made herself known to mortals.  A Dark Goddess is loose on Tulsa and the world.  No single vampyre is strong enough to vanquish her - unless that creature has the power to summon the elements as well as the ability to wield Old Magick. Only Zoey Redbird is heir to such power…but because of the consequences of using Old Magick, she is unable to help. Find out who will win and who will lose in this epic battle of Light versus Darkness.   The House of Night series is an international phenomenon, reaching #1 on U.S., German, and UK bestseller lists, and remaining a fixture on The New York Times Children’s Series bestseller list for nearly 160 weeks and counting. With more than 12 million copies in print, rights sold in thirty–eight countries to date, and relatable, addictive characters, this series is unstoppable. Now, in the final installment of the series, Zoey and her friends face the ultimate battle with evil which will determine the fate of the world, both human and vampyre.

Wilma Sturtz is invisible and miserable at school. So when an old lady on the subway offers her a wish, Wilma immediately asks for popularity -- in fact, she asks to be the most popular kid at school. Suddenly, Wilma has more friends than she can keep track of, forty dates to the Grad Night Dance, and a secret admirer writing her love poems. Everything is great, until she realizes there's a loophole in her wish, and her time in the spotlight has almost run out.

Shalimar the Clown is a masterpiece from one of our greatest writers, a dazzling novel that brings together the fiercest passions of the heart and the gravest conflicts of our time into an astonishingly powerful, all-encompassing story. Max Ophuls’ memorable life ends violently in Los Angeles in 1993 when he is murdered by his Muslim driver Noman Sher Noman, also known as Shalimar the Clown. At first the crime seems to be politically motivated – Ophuls was previously ambassador to India, and later US counterterrorism chief – but it is much more. Ophuls is a giant, an architect of the modern world: a Resistance hero and best-selling author, brilliant economist and clandestine US intelligence official. But it is as Ambassador to India that the seeds of his demise are planted, thanks to another of his great roles – irresistible lover. Visiting the Kashmiri village of Pachigam, Ophuls lures an impossibly beautiful dancer, the ambitious (and willing) Boonyi Kaul, away from her husband, and installs her as his mistress in Delhi. But their affair cannot be kept secret, and when Boonyi returns home, disgraced and obese, it seems that all she has waiting for her is the inevitable revenge of her husband: Noman Sher Noman, Shalimar the Clown. He was an acrobat and tightrope walker in their village’s traditional theatrical troupe; but soon Shalimar is trained as a militant in Kashmir’s increasingly brutal insurrection, and eventually becomes a terrorist with a global remit and a deeply personal mission of vengeance. With sweeping brilliance, Salman Rushdie portrays fanatical mullahs as fully as documentary filmmakers, rural headmen as completely as British spies; he describes villages that compete to make the most splendid feasts, the mentality behind martial law, and the celebrity of Los Angeles policemen, all with the same genius. But the main story is only part of the story. In this stunningly rich book everything is connected, and everyone is a part of everyone else. Shalimar the Clown is a true work of the era of globalization, intricately mingling lives and countries, and finding unexpected and sometimes tragic connections between the seemingly disparate. The violent fate of Kashmir recalls Strasbourg’s experience in World War Two; Resistance heroism against the Nazis counterpoints Al-Qaeda’s terror in Pakistan, North Africa and the Philippines. 1960s Pachigam is not so far from post-war London, or the Hollywood-driven present-day Los Angeles where Max’s daughter by Boonyi, India Ophuls, beautiful, strong-willed, modern, waits, as vengeance plays itself out. A powerful love story, intensely political and historically informed, Shalimar the Clown is also profoundly human, an involving story of people’s lives, desires and crises – India Ophuls’ desperate search for her real mother, for example; Max’s wife’s attempts to deal with his philandering – as well as, in typical Rushdie fashion, a magical tale where the dead speak and the future can be foreseen. Shalimar the Clown is steeped in both the Hindu epic Ramayana and the great European novelists, melding the storytelling traditions of east and west into a magnificently fruitful blend – and serves, itself, as a corrective to the destructive clashes of values it scorchingly depicts. Enthralling, comic and amazingly abundant, it will no doubt come to be seen as one of the key books of our time.

Presidential Mission is the eighth book in the epic World's End Lanny Budd series written by Upton Sinclair in 1947. This thrilling book covers the period of history between 1942 and 1943. The reader has read of the many adventures of Lanny Budd, world citizen extraordinary, who has used his art expertise and Fascist and Nazi sympathies as camouflage for his work as Presidential Agent 103 for President Roosevelt since 1938.The beginning of the end of Nazism and Fascism has begun with the weight of the United States military entering the World War at the end of 1941. Now as US troops, planes, ships and political will escalates, particularly in North Africa, Lanny is sent by FDR to Algiers in advance of the American and British African invasion with an ingenious plan to fool the German High Command as to where the United States will strike first. The Allies are preparing for the massive invasion of Germany across the English Channel Lanny is sent to Algiers to convince the French to stand together as the Allies prepare for the North African. This is no small task. France is half controlled by Nazi Germany and the rest under semi German control under the Vichy Government. The large industrialist and bankers want to make peace with Germany so that they can continue to control the economy and their way of life, while the underground, the liberals, socialists and workers in general want a free democratically run government, if not a socialist one.There is an interesting interview Lanny has with the devilish Juan March, the financier of Franco and his gangsters who have taken control of the previously democratically elected Spanish government. As a Nazi sympathizer he attempts to get Lanny to convince FRD and Churchill that a truce with Germany would be the best for Europe and the United States. All that Hitler wants is to end the "Red Menace" (Russia) and maintain the countries which he has already seized and the British Empire can remain as is. The United States can have Central and South America as well as Japan. This type of intrigue is prevalent throughout the entire book The ultra rich aristocrats who simply want to retain their money and power and keep the unions and workers down. (Does this sound eerily familiar?) Lanny is instructed by FDR to visit General Stalin to enlist the Russians as allies in the war against the Nazi's and Fascists. In one of the most spectacular of Lanny's adventures, he must parachute from a damaged airplane taking him to Moscow into the Sahara desert. For Lanny this is the most danger he has ever been in. He nearly dies of thirst until rescued by a caravan of Arab camel drivers. He is then forced back into Germany as the caravan approaches a German road block. In Germany Lanny plays his usual role with Hitler and the Nazi's. By now Hitler has made his fatal decision to make war on two fronts, against Britain and now his former ally, Stalin and the Russians. In an amusing scene, Lanny having visited Hess in his prison cell and having asked Hess for something to prove that he has met Hess, is given Hess's wedding band given to Hess by Hitler that is specifically engraved. This piece of jewelry is priceless to Lanny's work for FDR as he attempts to gather information as to how far along the Germans scientists are with atomic fission and heavy water and jet propulsion. All of this intrigue goes on as Berlin is incessantly bombed, If the reader wishes to fully appreciate this great historical narrative I strongly encourage the reader to begin with World's End and read the series in the order in which Upton painstakingly and meticulously wrote the eleven books. There are only three books left after Presidential Mission and you will hardly be able to wait to read them.Please visit our website coming soon at: www.uptonsinclair-lannybudd-completeh.... There you can order any or all of the Lanny Budd series books at 20%, 25% and 30% off with free shipping.

A random hook-up isn't enough for Trystan, not anymore. After everything Trystan went through to tell Mari that he loves her, there is no way that he's letting her walk away without knowing how he really feels. Every mask is stripped away making Trystan completely vulnerable. Mari's the one girl he wants, that he knew he'd never have. But, the look on Mari's face--the way she kissed him--makes Trystan think that confessing his feelings was worth the risk. Shocked, Mari stands there staring at Trystan. As if it weren't enough that Trystan is internet super star, Day Jones, but the song he wrote was about her. That was her name on the music. It was her name etched into his heart. Trystan Scott loves her. Everything Mari wants is within reach. She just has to have enough guts to reach out and take it. Book 3 in the Secret Life of Trystan Scott.

The world we knew is gone. What world will rise in its place? The Twelve have been destroyed and the terrifying hundred-year reign of darkness that descended upon the world has ended. The survivors are stepping outside their walls, determined to build society anew—and daring to dream of a hopeful future. But far from them, in a dead metropolis, he waits: Zero. The First. Father of the Twelve. The anguish that shattered his human life haunts him, and the hatred spawned by his transformation burns bright. His fury will be quenched only when he destroys Amy—humanity’s only hope, the Girl from Nowhere who grew up to rise against him. One last time light and dark will clash, and at last Amy and her friends will know their fate.

John le Carre's bestselling classic is a timeless spy thriller about the Iron Curtain and the tense relationship between Great Britain and Russia. John le Carré has earned worldwide acclaim with extraordinary spy novels, including The Russia House, an unequivocal classic. Navigating readers through the shadow worlds of international espionage with critical knowledge culled from his years in British Intelligence, le Carré tracks the dark and devastating trail of a document that could profoundly alter the course of world events. In Moscow, a sheaf of military secrets changes hands. If it arrives at its destination, and if its import is understood, the consequences could be cataclysmic. Along the way it has an explosive impact on the lives of three people: a Soviet physicist burdened with secrets; a beautiful young Russian woman to whom the papers are entrusted; and Barley Blair, a bewildered English publisher pressed into service by British Intelligence to ferret out the document's source. A magnificent story of love, betrayal, and courage, The Russia House catches history in the act. For as the Iron Curtain begins to rust and crumble, Blair is left to sound a battle cry that may fall on deaf ears.

Adventure, magic, and hilarity collide in New York Times bestselling author Carrie Ryan and John Parke Davis's first book in a fantastical series.* *To Master Thief Fin, an orphan from the murky pirate world of the Khaznot Quay, the Map is the key to finding his mother. To suburban schoolgirl Marrill, it's her only way home after getting stranded on the Pirate Stream, the magical waterway that connects every world in creation. With the help of a bumbling wizard and his crew, they must scour the many worlds of the Pirate Stream to gather the pieces of the Map to Everywhere--but they aren't the only ones looking. A sinister figure is hot on their tail, and if they can't beat his ghostly ship to find the Map, it could mean the destruction of everything they hold dear! Heart-pounding escapades and a colorful cast of characters will have readers setting sail through this wholly original and unforgettable tale.