Containing a handful of short stories and the novelette 'Frost', this holiday anthology brings together stories about the dark side of the season. This blackly humorous and chilling collection explores aspects of the holidays you won't read about in Chicken Soup for the Soul. Get your whiskey; it's going to be a long night.An unedifying episode from the unorthodox life of Captain Hesperus, star trader. Money is tight, the engines are failing, and there's soup on the ceiling ... still, there's nothing that can't be fixed with one sweet deal. A cargo of machinery destined for a low-tech Anarchy system: what could possibly go wrong?A novella set in the universe of the classic computer game "Elite", and its fan-made remake "Oolite".

From its establishment, the Realm has remained the only magical kingdom in existence. As a result, it has never known peace. King Maebus, the Realm’s newest King has only ruled for six days, and he must now lead his people through their most perilous conflict ever.From its establishment, The Realm has remained the only magical kingdom in existence. As a result, it has never known peace. For centuries, conquerors have sought the Realm’s power for themselves, while non-magical people known as Laymen have fought to eradicate magic from their lives. Although the kingdom has never fallen, it must now defend against the Warlord Damian – a brilliantly merciless conqueror who uses history as a weapon. Rallying those resentful of the Realm’s magic, Damian has amassed a Legion of Warriors – the largest military force ever assembled. The Kingdom’s defeat is eminent!Maebus, the Realm’s newest King, has only ruled for six days. Yet he must now lead the magical Realmsic Kingdom through its most perilous conflict ever.

Bobby Monster is a furry pink monster. He loves trying new things. In this story he tries to play baseball- even though he's never played before!A short chapter book for children aged 6-9 Approx 1,700 wordsBobby Monster is very pink. And very furry. He's very friendly too.Bobby loves trying new things.In this first book Bobby joins a queue for a baseball game. He gets so excited that he starts to dance - and he doesn't even know what baseball is!He gets himself accidentally involved in the game. Will he score a home run?

The first of twenty-one novels by William Manchee inspired by actual events while he was a student at UCLA in the 60's. A naive college student, working part-time as a bank messenger, is seduced by a sexy bank teller and set up to take the fall for a major bank robbery.UCLA student Fred Fuller is pleased with his new part-time job as a messenger for Bank USA. The job pays well, the hours are perfect, and many of the bank tellers he works with are young and pretty. When one of the tellers takes a special interest in Fred he struggles to remain faithful to his college girlfriend, Maria. But this temptation is nothing compared to the dilemma he faces when he discovers a bag full of the bank's money in his company vehicle and realizes he’s been set up to take the fall for a six-million-dollar bank heist. Fred has political ambitions and has worked as a congressional intern in the past. When he is charged with the murder of the bank’s cashier he uses his political connections to obtain legal counsel. His attorney is top notch, an ex-DA who's gone into private practice, but he's expensive and Fred must rely on Maria's fundraising efforts to fund his defense.The case against Fred looks pretty hopeless when Fred's fingerprints are found inside the vault and a witness claims he heard Fred planning to flee the country. Fred's only hope is if his two best friends, Steve and Randy, can track down the real killer and get him to confess to the crime. Unfortunately, nobody knows where Sam Stewart has disappeared and the FBI has given up trying to find him.

Madeleine and Roderick Usher escaped the mind of Edgar Allan Poe only to die by his pen before their true natures could be known. The memoir of their childhood friend Edmund Highgate at last spills their secrets and once spilt, they will seep into the darkest cavities of your brain, into the bloodiest ventricles of your heart.The Tell-Tale House of Usher takes Edgar Allan Poe's characters Roderick and Madeleine Usher and roots them firmly in a place, Boston and a time, the 1840's, when violence and radical social and religious movements were expanding the borders of the United States both physically and meta-physically. This was the age of the great American meta-physicists: Poe, Thoreau, Emerson, Melville – none of these could rival the Ushers with their insights into the deep unknown and their uncanny abilities that defied human understanding. Condemned by familial curse, they were preyed upon by every manifestation of evil; by otherworldly beings who regard human kind as nothing but open wounds that facilitate passage from one world to another.The Ushers were a triumvirate – brother, sister and Usher House itself, a sentient heap of construction whose fabric was the same as any other building but it was animate. It was made of brick but the brick was mortared with malevolence. It was framed with wood whose fibers had sipped poison from stagnant pools. Iron held its doors and windows but the strap-work clung to them like smothering vines that bore fruits of corrosion and the dead weight of the manor’s stones mingled with the rotted corpses of Usher ancestors forming the foundation and the crypt one in the other, running like roots deep into the brimstone of Hell.In these tales, through their adventures and tribulations, the Ushers come into contact with every character and situation that issued forth from the mind of Poe and they share byways with the man himself. The role of narrator is taken by their childhood friend, Edmund Highgate, a master of architectural memory and practice, of spaces without and within the mind. And when Roderick and Madeleine die, and die they must as preordained by their creator, are they truly dead? Or has Edmund unwittingly imprisoned them in his mind among the warehouses and palaces of his memories?This volume of the series contains an introduction to the Usher world and a recounting of the strange story of an Egyptian after-life that looks nothing like the hopeful scenes one might find on the walls of a tomb. Hatotep, a character as sensational as any to be found in a penny dreadful, was a gentleman of the Middle Kingdom who, after three thousand years, could still enjoy life's small, sensual pleasures. He had a taste for beer and a dry wit but tragedy had marked him; in his own words he provides a sounding of the depths of his soul when he relates a tale of brutal slaughter and the horrible revenge he wreaks on the murderers.

The world is in a mess and getting worse. A secret war is going on. This war as as old as the human desire for power. Two men are being hunted. Jake Granger and William Allison are struggling to understand what is happening and why they are targeted. Could it be as simple as to stop their efforts to make Earth a better world? They have to find out fast and stay alive. Their adventure begins.An adventure begins. Where it will end is anybody's guess. Jake Granger and William Allison are struggling to understand what is happening and why they are targeted. Others become involved as they escape attempted kidnapping, murder, and a destructive force that seems to be tracking them from place to place. There are lies, misinformation and efforts to manipulate everything these two men understand about reality.Jake and William are both gifted, They do not recognize or understand that they are gifted, or what their gifts may be. They only know the world they live in isn't the world they thought it was. The world is in a real, down and dirty mess and getting worse. Everyone on Earth knows that unless they've been hiding in caves or living in institutions. Even the children sense the wrongness. A secret war is going on. It will grow less secret and more violent if not stopped. Can it be stopped? This war as as old as the human desire for power. Jake Granger and William Allison are being hunted. What will they learn. Will they learn what they need to discover fast enough? They are looking for solutions just to survive. Will they survive?

When a hurricane-chasing plane is downed on a Caribbean island, TV meteorologist Perry Stuart barely escapes with his life. But he can't escape what he saw on the island—and if the people who've tracked him back to England have their way, Stuart will have a zero percent chance of survival.

It started like any other Monday morning. But this was not just any weekday. Soon College Students Carl and Betty, Pastor Jeremiah, and Computer Programmer Mary would find out how different this day was as the long anticipated Zombie Apocalypse began. Will they be able to survive? This is episode 1.It started like any other Monday morning. But this was not just any weekday. Soon College Students Carl and Betty, Pastor Jeremiah, and Computer Programmer Mary would find out how different this day was as the long anticipated Zombie Apocalypse began.One minute Carl and Betty are studying for a class, the next they are running from bloodthirsty zombies bent on devouring them. Will they be able to survive?Computer programmer Mary has to get out of the city when everyone else has the same idea. Will the living dead end their lives like they have ended the work day?Reverend Jeremiah Jones began the day wanting to sleep through boring ministry presentations, but now he is attempting to evacuate hundreds from the meeting that the Bishop left him in charge of.

Reading can be a gateway to adventure. No one knows this better than Teralina McBannon and Jackie.I can still remember the story my grandfather use to tell me on a stormy night at bedtime. When he tucked me in I would pull the covers over my head and close my eyes and shake like a leaf and pray for daylight to arrive soon. What a story he could tell, now that I'm all grown up now I feel I should share it with the rest of the scary story fans.This story dates back to the mid 1800's around the Gold Rush days when everyone had gold fever running through their veins. The town where it all happened was a little town called Clantondale and Tom Barkley had the gold fever like no one else. He didn't have many friends or even a pretty lady to keep him company. All Tom thought about was striking it rich and keeping it all to himself.Tom finally got his wish but with his bloody hands and when other prospector's found out about his little scheme the tables were turned. Tom was the one that would be killed for his gold and be sealed in the mine forever but his ghost still haunts the mine.

Rescued by Love: The Ryders, Love in Bloom Series

Walking home alone, what’s the big deal? So what if it’s the middle of the night? Anne has done it many times. It’s not like she lives in a big city, just a small, quiet college town. It’s only a few blocks, what could happen? But on this lonely summer night, Anne will discover that there are things waiting out in the night. Dangers beyond her imagination and good reasons to be afraid of the dark…Tim lives in a town, surrounded by mountains, that is destroyed by a huge earthquake. Tim sees a strange light coming from the mountains and heads there. Some bad men pursue, and then shoot him. Tim has a strange experience before he looses consciousness and dies. Tim reawakens in an abandoned alien base, still run by a computer, Mr. V.(voice). Mr. V heals Tim and brings him back to life. Mr.V. offers to help Tim’s quadriplegic brother Arty who was crippled when his fighter jet was shot down. Tim brings a group of people, including Jeremy, an autistic child, along with Arty into the base; they name the base Timtown. Arty replaces his crippled body with a mechanical one, then wants to take over. Tim starts referring to Arty as Clank. Clank is annoyed by Jeremy’s meaningless gibberish. Clank suckers the government into an altercation, but the President decides to be prudent, because they have no idea what they are dealing with. Tim proposes that the base be declared a sovereign state and offers to buy the government out, but the military wants the base and will stop at nothing to get it. Tim is surprised when Jeremy’s autism connects with the base computer. Clank sets a trap for Tim and feels sure that he has succeeded in illuminating him, but Clank finds out that Tim and Jeremy have tricked him. Tim and Jeremy confine Clank, then offer him a deal. There is a Deep Space Probe inside Timtown and Clank agrees to leave on it or be destroyed with the base.

Larco, a scientist on the planet Snub, continues his quest for knowledge and is determined to visit the planet Plop Plop.Larco, a scientist on the planet Snub, continues his quest for knowledge and is determined to visit the planet Plop Plop. The Snub grand council has gone, and Snub Nubbins turn to Larco for guidance. From the darkest depths of the dark side, comes a Wobbly, Larco is shocked. The Wobbly had been watching through the wall of light for thousands of palliums. Larco has problems believing his stories, but he likes them. The Wobbly is a Wizard, and Larco builds his first Bok Bok under the watchful eyes of experience.

This is a collection of poems that celebrates the moods and landscapes of mind and vision. It is a journey of physical and mental discovery. Sometimes serious, sometimes whimsical, but always sincere.When a self-conscious young woman discovers the boy in drama class is actually the immortal who painted the world into being, she becomes the target of another painter who hates humanity. The Earth Painter is a Young Adult Supernatural Romance set in the small mill town of Chesnee, SC. It revolves around Holly Scruggs, whose family has just moved back to Chesnee after her dad lost his job along with pretty much everything they owned. Her image conscious parents correct her to the point of brokenness until she meets Theo. He is the artist responsible for all the beauty of the land and he thinks Holly is beautiful too. Together they will fight against Fritz, the water painter who hates humans and is hiding a secret under the high school.“WARNING: Reading this book leads to compulsive reading. Melissa Turner Lee is a master storyteller. The book blends modern culture with Lee’s fantasy world… The Earth Painter is an intriguing tale of romance, heartache, and friendship. Lee hits the nail on the head with many issues young ladies face through school today. These are timeless issues that, I believe, will be relevant no matter what age.”___Contessa Wright, MommyReviews

Someone has destroyed Starlight, the mining asteroid Mervyn Bright calls home. He suspects scheming Lord De Monsero, but how can he prove it? Together with his friends from the Space Academy, he follows a trail of clues through the gritty underbelly of the galaxy to an explosive secret.At the center of our galaxy, right now, lives a most extraordinary species - Humans. Snatched from earth, generations ago, by alien slave traders, they are beginning to make their presence felt in the chaotic conflicts of the galaxy. This is the sequel to Helium3 Episode 1, second in the Helium3 trilogy. Someone has destroyed Starlight, the mining asteroid Mervyn Bright calls home. He suspects scheming Lord De Monsero, but how can he prove it? Together with his three close friends from the Space Academy, he follows a trail of clues through the gritty underbelly of the galaxy to an explosive secret. Thank you for your interest. Nick Travers

In this prequel to the fantasy novel The Punishment of the Gods, the ancient elf Pelas and his brother Agonas strive with as well as against one another for possession of the northern continent of Bel Albor.In this prequel to the fantasy novel The Punishment of the Gods, the ancient elf Pelas and his brother Agonas strive with as well as against one another for possession of the northern continent of Bel Albor.Just as their schemes come to dominate the lives of others, so also the lives of others become intimately connected to their own success - or failure.An epic adventure spanning five books and thousands of years, The Rise of the Gods will take the reader across swamplands, into the frozen north, into the perilous oceans and into the wildest regions of dark Kharku where few mortal men dare to tread.Secretly opposed to the efforts of Pelas and his ambitious brother, the Magic City of Lapulia works in the shadows to ensure its own perpetual existence.In all the conflict, however, powers are at work to bring peace to the people, if not to the land of Bel Albor.