A youth is lying dead in Gray Square, Bloomsbury. Constable Wiseman is at the scene, as is the handsome Frank Merril, nephew of rich John Martin. Also there is May Nuttall, whose father was the best friend Martin ever had. A small, shabby man in an ill-fitting frock coat and large gold rimmed spectacles pulls a newspaper advertisement from the deceased's waistcoat pocket. 'At the Yard,' whispers the constable to Frank, 'we call him The Man who Knows.'

Suddenly - the end of all life throughout the entire Galaxy! It was only weeks away, or days - or even hours. It all depended on the survival of the last of the entities known as Calebians. But the Caleban was dying - subjected to systematic torture by the richest, most wicked woman in the Galaxy. Unless she could be stopped, the end was only a few days away, or hours - or even minutes!

Liam Green is a sixteen-year-old boy who has just moved to Fairmont with his family. On his first day in his new high school, he falls for Alex, a handsome jock on the swim team. Alex doesn’t seem to be gay, but that does not end Liam’s obsession with him. Fate pushes the boys together, and they become friends—until Liam’s secret is revealed.Liam Green is a sixteen-year-old boy who has just moved to Fairmont with his family. On his first day in his new high school, he falls for Alex, a handsome jock on the swim team. Alex doesn’t seem to be gay, but that does not end Liam’s obsession with him. Fate pushes the boys together, and they become friends—until Liam’s secret is revealed. Swimmer Boy is the first book in Jay Argent’s best-selling Fairmont Boys series. It begins a coming-of-age story about friendship and the kind of love that is found in the most unlikely places.

Chloe Dennis always felt awkward in her own skin. Being teased at school has always left her feeling alone.... Until, she dreamed of another world.... Until, she dreamed of a handsome stranger. Chloe is about to discover who she really is and what is worth fighting for. (YA Two-Part Novelette)Being teased at school, Chloe was awkward socially, finding it hard to relate to her peers. As an only child of a single mother, she had her share of loneliness. But when her mother buys a fixer upper on a large lot just outside of town, Chloe feels the she is on the cusp of change. Dreaming of another world and a handsome but alien stranger has her questioning who she really is, and what is real....Reviews:"It was easy to get into the storyline and the characters. A recommended short read!" - Nightly Reading Blog"I felt like I discovered a hidden treasure through my Nook. I absolutely loved Weeping Willow." Josie Epping, Josie's Haven Blog

You're the new girl in school. You're just trying to fit in - and it's not working. Then someone accuses you of theft, and you think things can't get any worse. Until you get caught in a freak storm . . . The next thing you know, you're in the future. Being shot at for being out after curfew. You don't even recognise your hometown. And you're heading for a confrontation from your worst nightmare. What if you could change the past to save the future?

Playwright Kevin F. Darley struggles with both poor reviews and writer’s block. He begins a dalliance with the spirit absinthe and meets – and falls immediately in love with – an enigmatic young woman from his homeland. She inspires and enlivens him, but the man who knows Kevin better than any other cannot help but be wary of the profound and disturbing change that he sees in his friend.In late Victorian London, playwright Kevin Francis Darley struggles with both poor reviews and writer’s block. He begins a dalliance with the mystical spirit absinthe and meets – and falls immediately in love with – an enigmatic young woman from his homeland. She inspires and enlivens him, but the man who knows Kevin better than any other cannot help but be wary of the profound and disturbing change that he sees in his friend.A Gothic short story; 5,400 words.

When Abby signs the BSC up to help reopen a country club that's been closed for twenty years, the girls find a mystery to clear away as well as cobwebs.

Monster on the loose!Karen's big stepbrother is building a monster for the Halloween parade. Karen thinks the monster is very scary. Then the monster disappears! Karen thinks he has come to life. Can Karen help Charlie find the monster in time for the parade?

This story is based on the premise that a blood test mandated for U.S. citizens at age 40 will predict the time frame and cause of their eventual deaths. The author is an Edgar short story winner published in speculative and mystery genres among others.The greatest tragedy the world has ever known turned out to be the ultimate catalyst for change. In the wake of World War III, which decimated most of the world’s population, the remaining survivors vowed to not continue to repeat the same mistakes of the past. Fortunately, they had something previous generations did not have – advanced technology.The year is 2117 and this once shattered civilization has become prosperous again. Innovative forms of technology have enabled them to abandon the old model and re-engineer a better way of living for all. Brain implants and genetic modifications have made an entire population educated, healthy, and kind.Despite the benefits of this technology, it has created some unforeseen side effects that threaten humankind’s existence. When technology proves to be inept at solving the world’s problem, a new hope emerges in the unlikeliest form – a young orphan girl.

A secret organization of men has been working for two hundred years to achieve women's equality. Now they must consider the results of their efforts. Perhaps they should call the whole thing off? It might be too dangerous for men themselves. A certain sense of humor may be needed to appreciate this short piece.The controversial and somewhat eagerly anticipated Ender's Game was not the first and only story about a kid being recruited to save the Earth through a video game simulation. That privilege goes to the original and totally un-derivative film, The Last Starfighter. Since then, the premise has become somewhat tired due to overexposure, namely by the use of actual video game addicts to pilot drone fighters in recent times. A tired premise, indeed, until now, where the additional plot element of hamburgers makes the entire production much more appetizing. Can you wait to find out what hamburgers have to do with child recruitment into video game wars that turn out to be real? You can't.

When Jimmy Flanagan returns from war with one arm missing, he's one of the lucky ones. First, because he returned alive. Second, because an experimental program allows him to be fitted with an advanced, high–tech artificial arm. Now he's free of the Army, he has a new arm that's better than the one he lost on the battlefield, and his girl has been waiting for him. He should be a happy man....Kayla Covington is a Private Eye for all occasions on the alien world of Pheros. She is the one you hire to find what you have lost, to glean information on a rival to use against them, or to discreetly remove something that could cause embarrassment. She thought she had seen and heard it all, that was until she was hired to infiltrate a secret society to uncover their secrets and steal their prized artifact. Now the only question that she cares about is, will she make it out of this alive?

Sutton, Massachusetts. 1675Many reverends are preaching from the pulpit that the natives must be driven out. That the fertile lands of the new world are intended by God Himself for the newcomers who swarm in ever-increasing numbers from England.Prudence isn't so sure about that. She and her father have been traveling the quiet pathways of central Massachusetts for years now, spreading the goodSutton, Massachusetts. 1675Many reverends are preaching from the pulpit that the natives must be driven out. That the fertile lands of the new world are intended by God Himself for the newcomers who swarm in ever-increasing numbers from England.Prudence isn't so sure about that. She and her father have been traveling the quiet pathways of central Massachusetts for years now, spreading the good word, and their message is of peace and friendship. One of the converted "praying villages" they work with is named Manchaug, and the locals there have a special place in her heart. Especially Askuwheteau - "He keeps watch". In another world they might have fallen in love. They might even have married and raised a loving family.But this is 1675, and Christian girls simply could not do such a thing. Her father would absolutely refuse to allow it, despite all his care in saving the souls of the heathens. And so her only hope is to spend a few precious days talking with Askuwheteau during her seasonal visit. She will treasure each hour they can spend together.Her small wagon crests the hill -Manchaug is in ashes.* * *Manchaug is the first of new short story series exploring the tumultuous world of Massachusetts in the late 1600s. It examines how the tens of thousands of incoming colonists tumbled up against the existing natives with increasing chaos. These books can be read singly or as a boxed set, once I write ten of them. Some people enjoy reading as I write while others prefer to wait and binge-read in a set. The stories contain no explicit violence nor intimacy. As such, they are suitable for teens and up.Half of all proceeds from the Manchaug series benefit battered women's shelters.

Margaret Atwood puts the human heart to the ultimate test in an utterly brilliant new novel that is as visionary as The Handmaid's Tale and as richly imagined as The Blind Assassin. Stan and Charmaine are a married couple trying to stay afloat in the midst of an economic and social collapse. Job loss has forced them to live in their car, leaving them vulnerable to roving gangs. They desperately need to turn their situation around - and fast. The Positron Project in the town of Consilience seems to be the answer to their prayers. No one is unemployed and everyone gets a comfortable, clean house to live in... for six months out of the year. On alternating months, residents of Consilience must leave their homes and function as inmates in the Positron prison system. Once their month of service in the prison is completed, they can return to their "civilian" homes. At first, this doesn't seem like too much of a sacrifice to make in order to have a roof over one's head and food to eat. But when Charmaine becomes romantically involved with the man who lives in their house during the months when she and Stan are in the prison, a series of troubling events unfolds, putting Stan's life in danger. With each passing day, Positron looks less like a prayer answered and more like a chilling prophecy fulfilled.

From Barbara Kingsolver, the acclaimed author of *Flight Behavior,* *The Lacuna*, *The Bean Trees,* and other modern classics, *Animal Dreams* is a passionate and complex novel about love, forgiveness, and one woman’s struggle to find her place in the world. At the end of her rope, Codi Noline returns to her Arizona home to face her ailing father, with whom she has a difficult, distant relationship. There she meets handsome Apache trainman Loyd Peregrina, who tells her, “If you want sweet dreams, you’ve got to live a sweet life.” Filled with lyrical writing, Native American legends, a tender love story, and Codi’s quest for identity, *Animal Dreams* is literary fiction at it’s very best. This edition includes a P.S. section with additional insights from Barbara Kingsolver, background material, suggestions for further reading, and more.

Bestselling master of suspense Jeffery Deaver is back with a brand-new Lincoln Rhyme thriller.Lincoln Rhyme and partner/paramour Amelia Sachs return to face a criminal whose ingenious staging of crimes is enabled by a terrifying access to information.... When Lincoln's estranged cousin Arthur Rhyme is arrested on murder charges, the case is perfect -- too perfect. Forensic evidence from Arthur's home is found all over the scene of the crime, and it looks like the fate of Lincoln's relative is sealed. At the behest of Arthur's wife, Judy, Lincoln grudgingly agrees to investigate the case. Soon Lincoln and Amelia uncover a string of similar murders and rapes with perpetrators claiming innocence and ignorance -- despite ironclad evidence at the scenes of the crime. Rhyme's team realizes this "perfect" evidence may actually be the result of masterful identity theft and manipulation. An information service company -- the huge data miner Strategic Systems Datacorp -- seems to have all the answers but is reluctant to help the police. Still, Rhyme and Sachs and their assembled team begin uncovering a chilling pattern of vicious crimes and coverups, and their investigation points to one master criminal, whom they dub "522." When "522" learns the identities of the crime-fighting team, the hunters become the hunted. Full of Deaver's trademark plot twists, "The Broken Window" will put the partnership of Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs to the ultimate test.

Perfect for current fans and new readers alike, Mississippi Roll is an all-new, adventurous jaunt along one of America's greatest rivers, featuring many beloved characters from the Wild Cards universe Edited by #1 New York Times bestselling author George R. R. Martin, Mississippi Roll features the writing talents of Stephen Leigh, David D. Levine, John Jos. Miller, Kevin Andrew Murphy, Cherie Priest, and Carrie Vaughn. Now in development for TV: Rights to develop Wild Cards for TV have been acquired by Universal Cable Productions, the team behind The Magicians and Mr. Robot, with the co-editor of Wild Cards, Melinda Snodgrass, as executive producer.

New York Times bestselling author Alexandra Ivy quenches your thirst for illicit desire with this seductive tale of the Sentinels—outcast humans with the ability to tread the line between life and death—and pleasure and pain… Ph.D student Angela Locke has a crush on her sexy professor, Dr. Nikolo Bartrev. When she learns he’s actually a Sentinel with extraordinary powers, she joins forces with him to catch a psychopath. But soon, their hottest pursuit is of each other…

Books 13 & 14 of the USA Today Bestselling Series! ANGEL Dr. Angel Savary is dedicated to his skills as a Healer. After the death of his mother, he’s determined never to fail another Pantera. But when he’s kidnapped by a human female, he discovers that her brutal past offers the answers he’s been seeking. Even more astonishing, she stirs his cat with a ruthless need to claim her. Suddenly, he realizes there’s more to life than duty. Indy’s life has been one of grim survival. The last thing she wants is the distraction of a lover. Until she captures Angel. The Pantera is stunningly gorgeous and sexy as hell. Unfortunately, she hasn’t captured him to fulfill her fantasies. As much as she might ache with the need to give in to their mutual passion, he’s the only hope she has of saving the child she’s rescued from a ruthless enemy who threatens to destroy them all. HISS Caged like the beast he is, Hiss—former Hunter and traitor to the Pantera—has accepted his fate as a tortured prisoner in the hideous experimentation lab known as the Sub. In fact, he wishes death would come more quickly. Until he connects with the female in the cage beside him, that is. As he helps his fellow captive through her pain and her nightmares, she forces him to envision the possibility of forgiveness after the hell he’s wrought on his kind. But when their captors plan to use her in their brutal breeding program, Hiss has no choice but to attempt a risky escape. Stunning and fierce, Gia used to be a water Hunter in her shifter sect before she was abducted and tossed in the lab for blood drains, and worse. Threatened with a hopeless future as a lab brood mare, escape seems like her only possibility for survival. After refusing to give herself to the breeding program, she escapes with Hiss to his Wildlands. Giving Hiss her heart and her loyalty in the face of the Pantera’s overwhelming guilt, all she expects in return is his honesty. But when she wakes up one morning to find him gone, will she too deem him a traitor to their love?

Swan is a nine-year-old Idaho girl following her struggling mother from one trailer park to the next when she receives visions of doom—something far wider than the narrow scope of her own beleaguered life. In a blinding flash, nuclear bombs annihilate civilization, leaving only a few buried survivors to crawl onto a scorched landscape that was once America. In Manhattan, a homeless woman stumbles from the sewers, guided by the prophecies of a mysterious amulet, and pursued by something wicked; on Idaho’s Blue Dome Mountain, an orphaned boy falls under the influence of depraved survivalists and discovers the value of a killer instinct; and amid the devastating dust storms on the Great Plains of Nebraska, Swan forms a heart-and-soul bond with an unlikely new companion. Soon they will cross paths. But only Swan knows that they must endure more than just a trek across an irradiated country of mutated animals, starvation, madmen, and wasteland warriors. Swan’s visions tell of a coming malevolent force. It’s a shape-shifting embodiment of the apocalypse, and of all that is evil and despairing. And it’s hell-bent on destroying the last hope of goodness and purity in the world. Swan is that hope. Now, she must fight not only for her own survival, but for that of all mankind. A winner of the Bram Stoker Award and a finalist for the World Fantasy Award, Swan Song has become a modern classic, called “a chilling vision that keeps you turning pages to the shocking end” by John Saul and “a long, satisfying look at hell and salvation” by Publishers Weekly.

After accidentally unleashing the gods from their captivity on Olympus, Helen must find a way to re-imprison them without starting a devastating war. But the gods are angry, and their thirst for blood already has a body count. To make matters worse, the Oracle reveals that a diabolical Tyrant is lurking among them, which drives a wedge between the once-solid group of friends. As the gods use the Scions against one another, Lucas’s life hangs in the balance. Still unsure whether she loves him or Orion, Helen is forced to make a terrifying decision, for war is coming to her shores. In Josephine Angelini’s compelling conclusion to the masterfully woven Starcrossed trilogy, a goddess must rise above it all to change a destiny that’s been written in the stars. With worlds built just as fast as they crumble, love and war collide in an all-out battle that will leave no question unanswered and no heart untouched.