My name is Ratichon - Hector Ratichon, at your service, and I make so bold as to say that not even my worst enemy would think of minimizing the value of my services to the State. For twenty years now have I placed my powers at the disposal of my country: I have served the Republic, and was confidential agent to Citizen Robespierre; I have served the Empire, and was secret factotum to our great Napoleon; I have served King Louis - with a brief interval of one hundred days - for the past two years, and I can only repeat that no one, in the whole of France, has been so useful or so zealous in tracking criminals, nosing out conspiracies, or denouncing traitors as I have been. And yet you see me a poor man to this day: there has been a persistently malignant Fate which has worked against me all these years, and would - but for a happy circumstance of which I hope anon to tell you - have left me just as I was, in the matter of fortune, when I first came to Paris and set up in business as a volunteer police agent at No, 96 Rue Daunou.

Simon was a successful student with a promising career ahead of him. However, a new immersive video game has been released where he is able to create his own world and shape and destroy it however he wishes. Simon grows addicted to this game and as his addiction grows worse he begins to lose touch between what is real and what is just part of the game until tragedy results.Simon was a successful student with a promising career ahead of him. However, a new immersive video game has been released where he is able to create his own world and shape and destroy it however he wishes. Simon gradually grows addicted to this game until slowly but surely his addiction ruins his college life and he becomes a recluse back at home with his parents. As his addiction grows worse Simon begins to lose touch between what is real and what is just part of the game until tragedy results.

A few years ahead of present time the story offers a view into the future. It starts with a gradual breakdown in society’s values brought on by years of corruption and greed in politics and business.Riots on the streets of London invite an extreme response from a government that is obsessed with power and is deeply corrupt. Democracy is dismantled, a police state emerges. Enter John Judge.Michael G Franks takes the reader on a journey from just a few years ahead of present time, using events that we are all familiar with and offers a possible view into the future. It starts with a gradual breakdown in society’s values brought on by years of corruption and greed in politics and business.Riots on the streets of London and other major cities invite harsh and ruthless action from a new government that is obsessed with power and is deeply corrupt. The basic structure of democracy is dismantled and a Police State emerges encouraging a fight back led by the central figure, John Judge, and his friends. This is the story of one man’s attempt to regain a fair and just society against overwhelming odds. A fictional story... of course.

Deep in the bowel's of Zeaburg's infamous prison the young druid Slade is plagued by a bizarre and troubling dream. In the dream his father, High King Erich of Vestland, appeals for his son's help.Somehow Slade must do the impossible and escape to save not only his father but all the Kingdoms of Kaynos from the threat of the most brutal war Kaynos has ever seen from a new, deadly form of magic.Prequel to Book One of The Gifted Series Lily East is different from other people and has been since her birth. The government has been trying to recruit her, wanting to use her uncontrollable gift to their advantage. After years of evading, Lily finally gives into her "civic duty" and helps the government solve cases gone cold. Her life outside of being a special agent is far from normal. And as if that isn't enough, she finds herself falling in love with the man who almost killed her. This is life, as she sees it. Coming soon, in Book One of The Gifted Series, you will learn the whole story, and how Lily's powers came to be. I hope you'll enjoy this novella until then.

“Whoa!” says a voice, nearly scaring me to death. “What are you doing here?”Heart pounding, I whip around to see a boy about my age emerging from the trees that form one side of the wooded trail. He has curly light brown hair, a healthy olive glow to his skin that I would kill for, and a few random freckles dotted lightly across his nose. His mouth is drawn up in a cocky grin.....The first in a five-part series, “Never Lost” opens just as sixteen-year-old Harper Johnston is trying to adjust to moving from the suburbs of Chicago to the remote Wisconsin farm town where her mother grew up. Harper is convinced that there is nothing for her in this town, which she sarcastically dubs “Hick Town USA.” All she wants is to go back home to her old house and her old school and her old friends. Then Harper meets Danny, who is unlike any other boy she’s ever met before. There is something different—maybe even magical—about him that Harper can’t quite put her finger on. Then Harper earns Danny’s secret…and decides that moving to Oak Leaf was maybe not such a bad idea, after all….

Think you know space? Journey with our hero as he navigates the infinite enigma that is man's most misunderstood frontier.Join Captain Charlie Crumble and his elite squadron of soldiers as they battle their way through the Alpha-Omega missions. As the Second World War rages all around them, the men separate themselves as they pursue their classified assignment. Their target? A madman of incredible intelligence, with an appetite for the strange and unusual, and pure hatred for the human race. His twisted projects thwart the team as they endeavour to track him down, and right now a pack of savage, mutated Nazi-werewolves are hot on their heels. Blood is everywhere, the death toll is high, and things couldn’t get much worse. That is until the sky rips open and Billy Random appears…

In this riveting prequel to the bestselling Awakened series, Jason Tesar sets in motion a sweeping fantasy epic birthed at the very foundations of mankind, when our prehistoric world collided with supernatural forces, spawning an age of mythological creatures and heroes.Since the ages before time was measured, the angelic races have existed. Unseen by our eyes, they move through creation, shaping our world, sustaining our existence, and battling demonic hordes. But the war is changing; the battle lines are expanding into new frontiers and the next epoch is emerging.Centuries after the first humans were exiled from their home, their descendants have pushed eastward into a prehistoric wilderness. In a land shrouded by mist and superstition, primitive tribes struggle to establish new civilizations, unaware that their world is about to change forever.Weary from unceasing conflict, Sariel—legendary warrior of the Eternal Realm—crosses into the Temporal in search of the only one who can bring him peace. But he is not the first; others have already begun their inhabitation. As the dominance of their kingdom spreads, threatening to engulf all of humanity, Sariel finds himself standing between his own kind and the one he loves and must embrace the life he abandoned in order to secure her freedom.

"Showdown at the Cactus's Prick" is a short story written by David Reynolds. It was originally published in Late Night Dungeons. Sabaku has already left the oppressive land that was once his home. Now, he must resist capture at the Cactus's Prick, a tiny hovel beyond the borders of his homeland.The pain I've felt so longCould never have beenWithout reasonEvery bit of it could never be wrongBecause it's taught me whatTo really say and how to mean itYou're so good I can't believe my eyesI can't understand how you came to beYou've made me thankful for all the liesI ever had to believeAnd made me thank God you came to meEvery untruth I was toldHas given me strength to see what is goodAnd to know how to hold Onto what I should

Abe Jennings is a mutant and all he wants to do is fight.Abe's parents finally got him out of the zone and into the Keystone. A decent town where everyone looks normal and the streets are filled with sludge. The best part is the lack of giant monsters destroying the place. That's all fine and dandy for his parents, but Abe has no interest in staying there.Abe Jennings’ parents finally got him out of the zone and into Keystone. A decent town where everyone looks normal and the streets aren’t filled with sludge. The best part is the lack of giant monsters destroying the place. That’s all fine and dandy for his parents, but Abe has no interest in staying there.The kids treat him like a second class citizen. And thanks to the radiation back home, he was born with a face only a mother could love. But Abe tries his best to make it through school everyday. Which isn’t easy until he finds his true calling: fighting. Now that’s all he can think about which doesn’t make his straight-laced parents too happy.

If you're made an offer that seems too good to be true; it usually is. And if you're Roanne Harper, the too-good-to-be-true offer could just end with demons, gods and psychopaths.Roanne Harper is having a bad week. Falsely accused of shoplifting and suspended from school, her whole life has taken a distinct nose-dive. So when her solicitor tells her that there is another option open to her, that by helping to rescue a kidnapped child the charges against her could be dropped, she ignores the nagging voice of doubt in the back of her mind and agrees to help. What she doesn’t realise is that her journey will take her through a parallel dimension, where she will meet gods, demons, psychopaths and a boy who may hold the answer to who she really is.

After 13-year-old Charlie Hall’s mother dies and his father retreats into the silence of grief, Charlie finds himself drifting lost and alone through the brutal halls of junior high school. But Charlie Hall is not entirely friendless.  In the woods behind his house, Charlie is saved from a mountain lion by a grizzly bear, thought to be extinct in northern Idaho.  And this very unusual bear will change Charlie’s life forever. Deeply moving, and interwoven with hope and joy, Emory’s Gift is not only heartwarming and charming coming of age story, but also a page-turning insightful look at how faith, trust, and unconditional love can heal a broken family and bridge the gaps that divide us.**

The Secret Series continues in this dangerous and daring fourth adventure. Cass finds herself alone and disoriented, a stranger in a dream-like, medieval world. Where is she? Who is she? With the help of a long-lost relative, she begins to uncover clues and secrets--piecing together her family's history as she fights her way back to the present world. Meanwhile, back home, Cass is at the hospital in a deep coma. Max-Ernest knows she ate Time Travel Chocolate--and he's determined to find a cure. Can our expert hypochondriac diagnose Cass's condition before it's too late? And will he have what it takes to save the survivalist?