A short story. Patrick's car breaks down on a deserted byway and he walks to a nearby gas station where he crosses paths with a very attractive twink who offers to help him, but things aren't always what they seem. PLEASE NOTE: this is NOT erotica.A Summer in Amber is set thirty-six years after the first of a series of powerful solar storms destroys the world's electrical grid – shorting out computers, and making radio, TV and mobile phones impossible. Within hours the world was thrust back into the 19th century. Those who survived the ensuing chaos gradually adopted to this new reality. This story takes place in an England and Scotland that have adopted to this new world using an eclectic mix of old and new technology. Steam engines pull carriages over lines once used by high speed trains. Electricity is generated locally using solar panels and windmills. The streets are filled with bicycles dodging horse drawn drays and pedestrians dressed like Victorians to protect their skin from the greatly increased ultraviolet light reaching the ground due to the solar storms' disruption of the earth's upper atmosphere. A Summer in Amber might be described as a "mirror image" steampunk novel. Instead of 21st century technology in a 19th century society, Edwardian technology had been adopted by a post-apocalyptic, late 21st century one, making for an out of the ordinary steampunk story. There are, for example, no zombies. Morlocks, yes, but no zombies, nor airships and air pirates. The story's steampunkness comes from a mix of Edwardian and 21st century technology and from its old-fashioned narrative style – a reflection of my fondness for the Scottish stories of John Buchan, and Compton Mackenzie. (And the 1959 movie remake of the 39 Steps starring Kenneth More.) Along with adventure, romance plays its part as well in A Summer in Amber. The story has been described in one review as a "Regency romance". I'm not sure what constitutes a Regency romance, but falling in love with a rather fey girl is certainly part of what makes this summer in the highlands so unforgettable for Sandy Say – a summer he hopes to keep forever preserved in the amber of memory.Current version 3.3 18 Sept 2016I have two other novels available wherever fine ebooks are sold. Some Day Days, a rather experimental romance novel set in this same never-never England, but before the storms. The Bright Black Sea, a long, sweeping, space opera of mystery and adventure set in the Nine Star Nebula.

Rose Smithson is ugly.Plain and simple.When somebody ugly wants somebody handsome, it doesn't tend to work,so Rose gets a wish and finally gets what she wants.To be pretty.But she didn't realize what being pretty means, she might have the man she always wanted and the popularity, but she can't have it all without paying the price.Being pretty just might be the hardest thing Rose ever does.When his ship is damaged after being caught in a crossfire, Billy is left to drift across the blackness of space. His calls for help are finally answered, but by the one thing he would rather not get help from.Disclaimer: Strong language.

In a New Mexico blizzard, four men cross a barbed-wire fence at Stallion Gate to select a test site for the first atomic weapon. They are Oppenheimer, the physicist; Groves, the general; Fuchs, the spy. The fourth man is Sergeant Joe Peña, a hero, informer, fighter, musician, Indian. These four men—and a cast of soldiers, roughnecks and scientists—will change history forever.

Some days are just like fairy tales. You wake up a normal teenager in NYC, but by dinner time you find out you’re a fairy princess.Some days are just like fairy tales. You wake up a normal teenager in NYC, but by dinner time you find out you’re a fairy princess. Meckenzie Desmond’s life took that turn as she and her triplet brother and sister find out that their mother, who disappeared when they were ten, is the fairy queen and they are meant to rule the world of Aquanis. Like every fairy tale, there is an evil lurking in the shadows to make sure there are no happy ever afters.

If finding out she'd been bitten by a werewolf wasn't enough to turn Phoebe's world upside down, learning that she had a past life as a vampire certainly did! Blasts from her past, vampire Marcus and werewolf Damen, rival for Phoebe's affection. She must learn to accept the monster that now claims part of her soul, and that her one true love would be the undoing of her mortality.If finding out she'd been bitten by a werewolf wasn't enough to turn Phoebe's world upside down, learning that she had a past life as a vampire certainly did! Marcus, a vampire and the former lover of Phoebe's past life, still hungers for her. While Damen, a werewolf once responsible for the "other" Phoebe's death is fiercely obsessed with her, and rivaling Marcus's passion.Phoebe comes to realize that the horrific dreams from her subconscious are truly glimpses from her past life. She must now learn to accept the monster that now claims part of her soul, and that her one true love would be the undoing of her mortality.Set in modern day Northern England, Immortal Wounds captures the essence of a time where chivalry and honor reign supreme. It is a romance about timeless love, forbidden passion, and the overwhelming desire to have what cannot be yours. It's a story of one woman's quest to recapture a love from a lifetime ago and to find the courage within her to defend it.

While investigating a jewelry store robbery the Aldens must also figure out who's stealing their favorite cereal.

Nostalgic for a lost America? Was Chester from Gunsmoke your first crush? Visit the desert Southwest circa 1960 as refugees from Indiana and Ohio cope with cacti and tamales, and a family of kids lie and bluster their way through a frightening adult world. A gentle novel full of wonder and beauty. This is the first novel in a two-part series.A herd of phantom cattle stampedes into the fertile imagination of a young writer. She corrals stray stories and stampeding images until she realizes a rustling folklorist has wrested control of the most important memory, the Phantom Herd. Join her for adventures in the desert Southwest, and witness the mysterious rustling of her fantastic livestock from Rancho Supremo. Mashers, and an attempt to give John Wayne LSD, are saved for the second part of her narrative, circa 1970.

A short story; a taster of the life of Amy Henderson. One typical, misunderstood teenager struggling to cope with, what seem to be, the biggest problems she will ever encounter. The boy she loves likes somebody else, her two bestfriends prefer eachother... In short, her life isn't great. She decided that her only escape was blogging.Prewarning: Happy endings not guarenteed.Historical mystery. In the icy winter of 1786, in the final years before the French Revolution, hunger, cold, and seething frustration with the iron grip of France’s absolute monarchy drive poor and rich alike to outright defiance. Slums, fashionable cafés, and even aristocratic mansions echo with discontent and the first warning signals of the approaching turmoil of 1789.Paris’s cemeteries are foul and disease-ridden, but no one, including penniless writer Aristide Ravel, expects to find a man with his throat cut lying dead in a churchyard, surrounded by strange Masonic symbols. Already suspected of subversive activities, Ravel must now clear his name of murder. His search for answers amid the city’s literary and intellectual demimonde—with the aid of friends who may not be all that they seem—leads him into a tangle of conspiracy, secret societies, royal scandal, and imminent revolution, which grows only more complex when the corpse disappears . . . "Reading The Cavalier of the Apocalypse is like being in France just before the Revolution. Ms. Alleyn has managed to capture the spirit of the time in the angry squalor of the poor against the backdrop of titled privilege. But the story is not a social commentary—it never stops being a splendid mystery, packed with historical detail, red herrings, surprising twists, and even a little romance. If this is your first Aristide Ravel mystery you will want to dive into the sequels as soon as you can—promise." [The Historical Novels Review]"After two mysteries set in the aftermath of the French Revolution, Alleyn recounts how her series sleuth, Aristide Ravel, became a detective in this superb prequel set in 1786. ... Alleyn expertly captures the politics and atmosphere of the period, seamlessly integrating them into a traditional whodunit plot." [Publishers Weekly (starred review)]

Coming July 2014 - the sequel - stay tuned...!Once upon a time, there was a girl. She was clever and brave, unafraid of danger, but she broke. Not her body, but her mind. And she couldn’t be put back together again…not the same, anyway.Once upon a time, there was a girl. She was clever and brave, unafraid of danger, but she broke. Not her body, but her mind. And she couldn’t be put back together again…not the same, anyway. From the shadows she was watched. They liked what they saw. Of all the things we understand about ourselves, of all the energy we put into research of the human condition…the brain…the mind…is what we desperately want and need to master. It is at the center of our existence. It controls us in every basic way. Breathing, eating, sleeping, loving…dreaming. It betrays us at odd moments. Saves us when the pressure is on. It is a formidable foe at times, an ally the rest. We exercise, learn, and pray to make it fully ours. We know how to use our minds well. But so do they. And they want hers.

Limited to only 500 specially bound, numbered copies signed by the author.

Parker Salisbury is dating a girl with the social graces of a cigar store Indian. So why is he giving Lilly an engagement ring later this evening?This Halloween, college girl, Erin Kowalkski, battles cancer once again. But this time, she has questions and she’s dying to know the answers. What will her dreams and aspirations, all she’s learned, felt and experienced, amount to when she’s gone? What will she become? Guided by a hot new patient and chased by a menacing wraith, Erin learns more about life and death than she’d ever imagined.Download this free New Adult Paranormal Romance by Jamie Leigh Hansen and see how you can benefit Childhood Cancer Awareness! “I once cross-stitched a quote for my mother that said, ‘Hope lights a candle in the darkest of despairing hearts.’ This story is yours to enjoy. You can easily gift it to others simply by telling them where to download. The more downloads, the more readers, all mean more opportunities for hope to children fighting a life-threatening illness.”- Jamie Leigh Hansen, mom to a miracle

Advancing to the semi-finals in the Hopscotch Tournament, Garrison pairs with an angelic titan when confronting a gladiator who controls demonic forces. A heavy sentence awaits the losing combatant. Is there hope of escape for a passing soul taken into the foreign underworld? We’ll learn of life after death, and the sprawling levels of Hell’s inglorious realms with: Forsaken Ties.When I was younger, I was afraid of dogs for a while. I would actually run from even the smallest of dogs. Then one morning, as I recall my mom and dad surprized me with this brand new little puppy named Susie. She was the cutest little thing I had ever seen. I wasn’t very old at the time. I may have been 5 or so.

Computer whizkid Edward’s adopted father taught him that his biological family rejected him at birth. After Edward’s biological brother, Andrew, reaches out to befriend him, the men forge a friendship based on a shared computer system dream. When Edward arrives at the ancestral home of the family he believes abandoned him, he learns the whole story he'd been told about his history is a lieComputer whizkid Edward’s adopted father taught him that his biological family rejected him at birth. After Edward’s own brother Andrew reaches out to befriend him, the two men forge a friendship based on a shared dream – a sentient computer system that promises to greatly improve the world. When Edward arrives at the ancestral home of the family he believes abandoned him, he soon discovers that reality is very different from his adopted father’s paranoid delusion. And his family learns that Edward is far more damaged than they could ever have known.

Lore of the Underlings continues. In this episode: As folk prepare for both feast and trial, the mighty John Cap is paraded out and put on display by his captors, the Guard. But despite being bound up awaiting his fate, the traveler makes a surprising ally -- a prophetic and seemingly holy man by the name of Minyon Myne. A thin ray of hope in the morning sun as his hour of judgment approaches...Welcome back to Lore of the Underlings, a trail of tales to the end of things, and maybe a bit beyond.The lore continues. In this episode: As folk prepare for both feast and trial, the mighty John Cap is paraded out and put on display by his captors, the Guard. But despite being bound up awaiting his fate, the traveler makes a surprising ally -- a prophetic and seemingly holy man by the name of Minyon Myne. A thin ray of hope in the morning sun as his hour of judgment approaches...Can this godsend save the young man's neck from the brother Treasuror's steely justice? Could he be the savior the strangers have sought?Lore of the Underlings is an epic poetry series from John Klobucher's lands of Lore. It's a bittersweet saga of gold and shadow told in classic style -- with old-world words but new-world wit. Fun for fans of puns and lyrical tongues!

Beth Harmon dreaded springtime. It was then that the warm winds came to whisper in her husband's ear, once more calling him to far-away lands.The wizard's tower is falling down, falling down, falling down! The Wizard's tower is falling down, my fair lady.This is the second short story in the Evenings with Rory series. It is only tied in with Harriet's Mystery in that the inspiration came from Rory's Story Cubes, which are fun and awesome.Should you like to appear as part of Evenings with Rory, please email the author.

Lucy James can't seem to finish college, but she's good at figuring at puzzles. A big one drops right in her lap. Something's wrong at the local art museum and with her best friend and trusty dog, she attempts to find out what. With help from her mentor, Sherlock Holmes, Lucy weaves her way though a complicated maze of danger and deceit. But will her meddling bring trouble to them all?Lucy James can't seem to finish college and seems stuck in her movie theater job. But she's always been good at figuring out puzzles and a big one drops right in her lap. Something's amiss at the local art museum and with her best friend, Cindy, and trusty dog, Baskerville, she attempts to find out what. With a little help from her mentor, Sherlock Holmes, Lucy weaves her way through a very complicated maze of danger and deceit. Nancy Drew has nothing on this girl, but will her meddling cause trouble to come crashing down on them all?

She is a Knight of Farthestshore, a woman of courage . . . and secrets. She has faced many perils in her time, but nothing has prepared her for the evil she is about to encounter in the treacherous Wood Between.Return to the world of Goldstone Wood in this short adventure featuring a fan-favorite character!She is a Knight of Farthestshore, a woman of courage . . . and secrets. She has faced many perils in her time, but nothing has prepared her for the evil she is about to encounter in the treacherous Wood Between.

"If you’ve received this, I hope you understand. We didn’t mean for it to become this way. I didn’t want it to turn out like this. We lost sight of everything. Even love. Even now, to keep ourselves safe, we weaponised it. This is the theory of love at first sight." - a flash fiction about love at first sight.Riley is a workaholic veterinarian. She's approaching her 30th birthday and her loneliness is becoming more apparent and painful. She wants to start dating, but doesn't have any free time or knowledge on how to start. The subjectGarrett is a 32 year old widower. Even though he's a pack oriented wolf shifter, he hasn't been involved with the pack since his mate died three years earlier. But when he meets Riley, he realizes they are meant to be together. The only thing standing in their way is the Wolf Shifter Elder Council. Garrett needs to receive their permission to break the first law and tell Riley, a human, about the existence of the supernatural. If not, it could mean both of their lives.Will the council grant his request?