Big Mouth No I did not. I did not, I did not. I did not say those things, and I did not plan those things. Won't It anyone believe me? Ugly Girl All right, Ugly Girl made a mistake. I'd told my mom what I'd heard in the cafeteria, and she'd told Dad. Evidently. I'd thought for sure they would want me to speak up for the truth.

Six months ago, Nathan's sister was brutally murdered.Now the former playboy desires only one thing: revenge. Late at night, Nathan trudges down the beach where his sister's body was found. He's searching for answers, but all he finds is a new nightmare: another girl's tortured body.Only this one isn't dead . . . yet.Can find out who's responsible before it's too late?Six months ago, Nathan's sister was brutally murdered.Now the former playboy desires only one thing: revenge.Late at night, Nathan trudges down the beach where his sister's body was found. He's searching for answers, but all he finds is a new nightmare: another girl's tortured body.Only this one isn't dead . . . yet.The unlikely hero becomes the prime suspect. Saving Caitlin's life was just the start. Nathan must win her trust and unlock the memories hidden in her nightmares to find out who's really responsible . . .before it's too late.Nightmares TrilogyThe recommended reading order for the Nightmares Trilogy is:Nightmares of Caitlin Lockyer (#1)Necessary Evil of Nathan Miller (#2)Afterlife of Alanna Miller (#3)

A groom promises to be at the church on time, even if he has to come back from the grave to do it.A man inherits a property where he discovers a portrait of a woman that will change his life forever.Two newlyweds find their dream country cottage, unaware of an ancient curse from the previous owners. A gripping, unsettling and utterly chilling collection of short stories from one of Britain's best loved storytellers.

One of America's foremost short story writers has made available 3 of his most intriguing stories for a new introductory ebook. These 3 stories (first published in the 1980s) were chosen because they are accessible, intricately written and provocative on many levels. Also included is a long interview with the author about the craft of storytelling. Total: 23,000 words.One of America's foremost short story writers has made available 3 of his most intriguing stories for a new promotional ebook. These 3 stories (first published in the 1980s) were chosen because they are accessible, intricately written and provocative on many levels. Also included is a long interview with the author about the craft of storytelling. Total: 23,000 words.87 year old Jack Matthews has published hundreds of short stories, 7 novels and 8 volumes of literary essays. This ebook republishes three of Jack Matthews' best stories. "Amos Smith, the Gunsmith" reaches into the folk tale tradition to produce a nice allegory about human labor. "A Woman of Properties" is a satirical suburban tale (reminiscent of Flannery O'Connor or Cheever) about a real estate agent with a grudge. "The Girl at the Window" is an unsettling and mysterious tale about our relationship to the past. This short promotional ebook is intended to introduce new readers to the fiction of Jack Matthews. Personville Press is dedicated to publishing and republishing several low-cost editions of Jack Matthews novels and short stories in ebook format. During his career as a writer, Mr. Matthews was distinguished professor of Fiction Writing at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio for over 4 decades. Winner of Guggenheim and several arts grants, Matthews has been anthologized widely, translated into several languages and nominated for a National Book Award. His own books have been praised by Eudora Welty, Anthony Burgess, Shirley Ann Grau, Tim O’Brien, Doris Grumbach, Walker Percy and a host of other famous and highly accomplished authors."Mr. Matthews is a master of prose conversation and deadpan charm. He is ironic, cool, and shrewd, and he writes a lucid prose." (Tim O'Brien, New York Times)"Matthews' always graceful prose finds that precise telling detail. It's easy to fall in love with such writing." (Perry Glasser, North American Review)"Engaging wit and irony have been characteristic of Matthews's writing from the start, and both are strongly present in his latest gatherings of stories. His irony is increasingly darker, however, and his characters' obsession with memory and its distortions plays a more dominant role in this later work, much of which deals with death. For the most part, these are stories with deceptively simple and ordinary surfaces, but they are driven by powerful and ominous undercurrents, which often fuse the local and regional with the archetypal. Few can do it better. Without question, Matthews has established himself as one of America's finest storytellers." (Stanley Lindberg, editor, Georgia Review)

Blood Shadow: Book of Manuel is the seventh, and final, book of the Blood Shadow vampire series. Manuel takes Hartwell on a journey of discovery and enlightenment and even learns something about where he is headed. The two men help shape the future direction of the family and forge a stronger bond than the one that was initially formed by blood.Jason and Valerie wanted a nice, leisurely vacation, visiting Jason’s brother in Virginia, but Mother Nature intervened, delivering a hellacious snowstorm to the region. With their transportation plans thwarted, the travelers find themselves on a deserted road in the middle of the night, a blizzard raging all around them, and a suspicious stranger has joined their midst. To Jason, the newcomer seems a little off. He might just be a run-of-the-mill drunk, but Jason senses something else—a streak of sadism seems to emanate from him. Little does Jason know, the stranger is the least of their worries. There’s something else out here in the woods, a creature that purrs as it feasts on human flesh, an abomination lurking in the snow, hidden in the darkness. But even if Jason and Valerie manage to survive, there’s one more surprise waiting for them, with a revelation that will test their very humanity.

This is based on the original book, we had to make up a chapter for an English assignment.The Description is, Travis married Jane, and began being abusive to her, and in this short story Travis has tied Jane to the stove with his belt for trying to escape. Jane manages to get free and Travis wants to get her back at any cost.Little Jinny Blistov is a second tier gangster who arrives in the US in the unheated hold of an Aeroflot cargo plane. He meets, make enemies of, then friends with, the aristocratic Gwenny and Roger June of Charleston, South Carolina, America's most beautiful town. It isn't long before he convinces them to steal artifacts from warehouses of the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia. They get huge shipping containers of the stuff back home, at which point Stirg, a Russian billionaire and old adversary of theirs, objects. The two parties meet one evening out on the waters of Charleston harbor, and it isn't pretty.

Original Cover: Shades of Gray series follows the adventures of Kat and Kim. Start by reading the first book of this serial series and be introduced to this world of danger and mystery. When you are done also TRY the next story. Noir was a mega-city plagued by a sun blocking mass called Dry Clouds that had mysteriously appeared three decades earlier. The Dry Clouds covered half the planet...**Original Cover**The Shades of Gray series follows the adventures of Kat and Kim. Start by reading the first book of this serial series and be introduced to this world of danger and mystery. When you are done also TRY the next story.Noir was a mega-city plagued by a sun blocking mass called Dry Clouds that had mysteriously appeared three decades earlier. The Dry Clouds covered half the planet and forced those living under them to exist in endless night. On this world, corporations were in charge and breaking your contract with them could mean the termination of your life.Kimberly Griffin, a Life Closer (legal assassin) existed in a world of death. She Closed people for a living. It was a lonely demeaning existence, though she wouldn't admit it. There was nothing to drive her in the bleak reality until one day she ran into Kat.Kat, also known as the Pandora Project, was hunted by bio-mechas called Un-Men. She was an experiment of the Sphinx Corporation, and they were testing her to see if she could be the ultimate weapon. Kat refused to be a killer and tried to discover the truth behind her existence. Could she be a new form of bio-mecha?Kim discovered someone close to her had been murdered. Is Kat the key to finding out who did it? Or will her association with Kat only cause her more grief?Pandora of ancient times opened a box and let all good escape. Would Pandora be the hope the planet needed? Or would she destroy the world?**Shades of Gray Series**1. Noir, City Shrouded By Darkness2. From Moscow, With Love3. Cerberus Versus Pandora4. Sisters

"Vacant Houses" is a dystopian, science fiction satire set in the future about the housing market, the working class and aliens. Plenty of aliens too.What are the consequences when an angel falls in love with a demon? Phaedra knows her place as an angel messenger in training. But when passion develops between Phaedra and Erebus - a demon prisoner under her watch - the angelic Council must decide their fate.Awarded 3rd Place in the 2008 Gimme Credit Short Screenplay Competition for the script version of this story, 'Forbidden' is a tale taken from the 'From Elsewhere' collection - six short stories of unearthly visitors.Other titles in the From Elsewhere collection:The FoundlingGrey Eyes In SilverThe HearingThemThe Long View

In The Return, two orphaned sisters return to their childhood home, thirty years after their parents murder hoping to find out what really happened. The perpetrator is dead, but will those who were with them talk? Lydia, a yoga teacher, feels her mother's spirit asking "Why?" Margie, a recent divorcee, abhors such notions, but as they both get involved in the community, surprising things happen.Upper Fandria is a land of scattered kingdoms, strange beasts and timeless magic.The unearthing of an ancient rattle in the deserts of Zanthia creates a stir amongst the nomadic peoples. A treasure-hunter and his band must fight their way to freedom amidst perils of long dead brooding wizards, ghoulmen, murderous isks and stone giants while they struggle to comprehend the mystical significance of the rattle.

Lady Abigail Moran and her partner Simon Thorne are, not to put too fine a point upon it, thieves. Well-born, well-mannered, well-dressed, well at home in 1880s London, but thieves all the same. How else can they keep Simon in waistcoats? Their latest caper involves pearls, a squealing beauty, and the most amazing magician of all time. Really. One has but to ask him.[Co-authored with Amy, Kevin, and Dana Rushton]You know how there are a zillion Christmas movies, books, and TV specials with titles like “The Christmas” plus something else? It occurred to the authors that the formulas used in these stories could probably be applied – or shattered – using just about any noun in a title like that. So we came up with a new tradition.The rules are simple:1. Open a Christmas book and point to a random spot on a random page.2. Scan along the text until you come to a noun. 3. Write that story.Check back each year to get the latest stories!

Dan Sherman goes from a History Teacher to a Space Guardian in one day. He is transformed into one of the most powerful beings in the Multiverse.Dan Sherman had to take early retirement through bereavement. He started to have lucid dreams about a tall man who was beckoning him go to a certain place. He soon realized that this wasn't an everyday event. It was to be the start of a once in a lifetime chance to be a Space Guardian. How will he cope with powerful entities who will try to destroy him at turn?

Luke, and his friend the Moon, take a journey to a strange and troubling land to compete against the 'Princess' in a terrifying game of chess. A journey of discovery.abel orion has spent his entire life defining the difference between madness and genius, the fine line between inspiration and hallucination.from an early age he showed an unparalleled aptitude for mechanical engineering, computer sciences and other trades. he learned by doing, spending his childhood in junkyards, pulling things apart and putting them back together. he learned their functions as he went, familiarized himself with several languages by reading labels and searching through abandoned computer data. he overcame hunger, thirst, and the harsh environments of his home using only his intelligence, and the teamwork offered him by his family. under his leadership, the orions accomplished extraordinary feats, but abel wasn't without his shortcomings.he would wake up in the dead of night screaming, driven to terror by some vivid dream. as the years passed, the nightmares began spilling into abel's waking world. emotions, thoughts and memories sometimes overcame him, so much so they would manifest themselves into powerful hallucinations. sometimes abel saw objects or figures he knew didn't exist. sometimes he saw monsters, and sometimes he saw people he use to know.abel's condition helps and hinders him as he struggles to overcome unimaginable odds, to save his family, himself, and reach a promised land so far beyond his grasp. through his many trials, abel is confronted by inexplicable things, and for the first time in his life, he's forced to take his hallucinations seriously. some of them, he realized, could be his only hope.abel is a story about a young man struggling with his own playful mind, as well as the impossible situations he finds himself in. it's a story about confronting the past, and facing one's demons as if they were standing fully formed in front of you. it's also about the triumph of family, and embracing the extraordinary. it's a mystery novel with environmental themes and science fiction undertones.

Many say that we are living in the last days. What if I told you that today was that day?What if you learned that you are living here, now, in your final hour.Welcome to the Zero Hour.Thomas Pepper finally reveals what he knows to an anxious country teetering on the edge of the abyss. Yet, he learns the hard way that he is not the lone truth teller in this game. Other realities and other truths can have just as far reaching implications. The Prince Brothers and Dr. Angel Hicks Dupree are going to pay a high price when they witness this costly lesson firsthand.In fact, for one of the three, the Zero Hour will be their final hour.One of them creeps ever closer to paying the highest price of them all.

After waking beneath bleak skies, Alyson searches for a way to clear her name. Her tools were destroyed in her escape from the Broadway Walk hotel, and the police are hot on her trail. Martin and Rich are searching for Tomas Dekare’s killer following a trail of clues that lead them to believe that there is more to their investigation than they previously thought.Identity thief Alyson Reid barely escaped the police raid on the Broadway Walk hotel with her life. With her accounts empty, her tools destroyed, and the Houston police hunting her as a murderer she sets out across the city with a single objective: To clear her name. Meanwhile, HPD detective Martin Clark continues the search for Tomas Dekare's killer. Following a trail of a scattered trail of contradictory clues, Martin and Chief Detective Richard Parks edge closer to the truth and come to realize that there is more to their investigation than they had thought. Day Two continues the story of A Ballad of Wayward Spectres; a serialized cyberpunk thriller in four parts.

Dr. Blair Vaughn’s alcoholic binges have gone too far this time. His indiscretions have landed him in the middle of a blood-soaked double homicide, and he can’t remember how he got there, what part he had in the murders, or why the murders occurred in the first place. And as he stumbles along trying to make sense of it all, the body count continues to rise.Blair Vaughn is a homeless dentist who witnesses the murder of a friend, Dr. Cynthia Maxwell, during an alcoholic blackout. The details of that night are sketchy for him, and he can only remember the events which had transpired in random bits. It seems that everywhere he goes, the body count rises, so it becomes imperative that he piece together the facts quickly before he ends up dead, too.Eventually Blair recognizes the man who killed Cynthia. His name is Quentin Latrice, a gem cutter, who not only has a passion for derby hats, but also for priceless gems and bloodshed. What terrifies Blair even more than remembering what Latrice had done, is discovering that this lapidary is a good friend of Detective Mikel Smith, the man in charge of Cynthia’s murder investigation.Through a series of flashbacks, Blair taxes his brain to remember vital details about Cynthia’s murder. Blair’s only hope of staying alive is to recall everything and then try and figure out who is behind it all. A vital clue is a note that he stumbles on which reads, “Lab Case #21: Pigeon Blood.” Lab cases are how dental offices label the bins of patients who require laboratory work to complete their treatments. So there must be something in bin number twenty-one at the dental office where Cynthia had been working. And being a rock and mineral enthusiast, Blair knows that the term ‘pigeon blood’ describes the color of the most valuable rubies in the world.Join Blair as he dodges killers, thugs, and police officers through the rough and unforgiving streets of Detroit, all while toting millions of dollars worth of gemstones in his frayed and fuzz-lined pockets. God and Detective Rein Connery, the one police officer in the city who can be trusted, are the only individuals who can help him now.

The second year of Fiction Vortex is coming to a close, and we're happier than a leprechaun on a rainbow slide. It has been a fantastic year, and we're capping it off with a strong lineup of stories.We've got alien spies, paper weapons of mass destruction, tired old superheroes, some conspicuous birds, and a twist on Greek mythology. It's one of our best issues ever.The second year of Fiction Vortex is coming to a close, and we're happier than a leprechaun on a rainbow slide. It has been a fantastic year, and we're capping it off with a strong lineup of stories.We've got alien spies, paper weapons of mass destruction, tired old superheroes, some conspicuous birds, and a twist on Greek mythology. It's one of our best issues ever. As we close out 2014 and head into our third year of publication, we want to thank the amazing authors and readers who have made this possible. We absolutely love stories that make us think and take us to new places. So you can imagine why we're exceedingly proud of Fiction Vortex.

So distant ancestors of Simone and Clay Gareth were royal? And the family reigned in a hidden continent not found on any map? Heirs to an empire, this teenage brother and sister are about to leave Indiana and enter the lost realm called the Fold, a land inhabited partly by humans and partly by intelligent but non-human species; a land of mysteries, dangers, and wars.A mother awaits her son's visit in the nineteenth century before his life - and her life - will change forever. A short story of a mother's love and belief in her son's future greatness, you will walk away smiling, learning about a little known woman in American history that enabled a nation's greatest change with her belief in literacy and love of a son... who wasn't even her real child.

This is a political satire about what happens when America elects a President with little knowledge of foreign affairs but is a very successful businessman who constructs infrastructure and has made billions over his career. He runs on a whim, and upsets the front runner in the election. Now he has to be the President, and deals with the economy, Congress, foreigners, and nukes.This is a political satire that is a short story and a work of fiction about what happens when America elects a President in 2032 with little knowledge of foreign affairs but is a very successful businessman who constructs infrastructure and has made billions over his career. He runs on a whim, and upsets the front runner in the election. Now he has to be the President, and deals with the economy, Congress, foreigners, and nukes.Thayer Andrew Powers is the unexpected winner of the 2032 presidential election. He relies on his close advisors to help him lead the country. William (Billy) Mitchell is his Vice President, a veteran Congressman, and leads the Cabinet. Steve Edward is the smartest man in the room, and Powers makes him the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, and Secretary of Homeland Security. Stephen Schmidt is Powers' closest confident, but he has a deep secret, long-term roots to the Alt-Right and white nationalists. Powers also brings his two children and their spouses into the Cabinet - he has trained each to think like businessmen and women.Powers approaches every situation like he was contracting to build a factory, road, or airport. Will his approach work with foreign countries like China, Russia, Israel, Pakistan, Iran, Korea, and how does he deal with ISIS successor terrorist organization, the SJMC which rules a large portion of the Middle East and portions of 30 countries. And what will Powers do if he has to open the nuclear football?

She wrote to me again last night. It was a simple post onto my wall. She, who I have never touched, is more real to me than any of my other friends. A story of obsession. It may unravel you.Reviewing his professional life, a career wrapped in theories seeking to explain greater purpose in human good, frustrated at depth Professor Chris Shuman plays out his lecture halls role in the counselor’s office. Sticking to scientific integrity, what cannot be proven must be discarded, what has yet to be proven must be investigated, Chris repeals all theories of compassion. In spite of the eu-social, he argues final conclusions that humanity has evolved for no other purpose than animal survival. And with no proof of love, realizing he cannot truly care for even his own children, the professor falls back on a favourite medieval fairy tale allowing his meaningful escape from it all.