"The hilt that stuck out of the crevice in the cave wall looked a lot smaller than what I would have expected for such a legendary sword." Mark Allen had been preparing his whole life for this, but when the mystic sword chooses the last person anyone would ever expect instead of him, Mark must swallow his pride, and become the most maligned of all superhero clichés: the sidekick.“The Cave of the Sleeping Sword” is the first part of the twelve-part “Obsidian Fire” serial, a superhero style adventure that is heavily inspired (admittedly on the verge of plagiarism at times) by the Arthurian legend of the Sword in the Stone. The saga is told almost entirely from the point of view of a reluctant sidekick, who must watch as somebody else gets thrust into the role of the hero. Together, the two join forces with the members of an ancient Brotherhood to battle a threat the likes of which the world hasn’t seen since medieval times.This first episode introduces us to a world where the mystical Flaming Sword, having last chosen a worthy Knight to wield it in the 1930s, has inspired generations of regular folk to stand up against injustice, leading to the modern day legalization of vigilantes like Mark Allen.When a long-forgotten prophecy comes to light foretelling that the Flaming Sword is finally about to select another Knight, Mark decides to travel to Scotland to fulfill what he believes to be his lifelong destiny. Although Mark is clearly the most qualified for this awesome responsibility, the Sword has other ideas, and chooses instead the last person anyone would ever expect to play the hero.As Mark struggles to come to grips with the consequences of the Sword’s choice, he quickly learns that nothing in his new life is ever as it seems.

When John Mackinac stumbles upon a means to stop the enemy entering his universe involving the reversal of the Earth’s magnetic poles, an ancient and secretive society, the Family, comes to the NGA’s aid in this seemingly impossible feat. The Family, citing an archaic legend, enlists John to their cause claiming he is the key to ending the Universal War. (ver 2.0)Fractime’s story tells of key times surrounding the Universal War, a conflict pitting humanity against machine and itself throughout time.When John Mackinac stumbles upon a means to stop the enemy entering his universe involving the reversal of the Earth’s magnetic poles, an ancient and secretive society, the Family, comes to the NGA’s aid in this seemingly impossible feat. The Family, citing an archaic legend, enlists John to their cause claiming he is the key to ending the Universal War. (ver 2.0)

Maeve is a proud thief hired to cause trouble in the affairs of a nobleman. Things go badly when her employer learns this thief plays by her own rules. Maeve then has to run for her life or pay the consequences for living outside of the law.Finalist in the 2016 RONE Awards. 260+ Reviews on Amazon Get 3 free books at https://veredehsani.co.za/free-books/. Where African myth meets Victorian manners: Armed with Victorian etiquette, a fully loaded walking stick and a dead husband, Beatrice Knight arrives in colonial Kenya desperate for a pot of tea and a pinch of cinnamon. But she’ll need more than that if she’s to unravel the mystery of the Ghosts of Tsavo without being eaten in the process. She must endure all manner of inconveniences while surviving the machinations of her best friend’s dashing godfather and the efforts of her safari guide to feed her to any lion willing to drag her away. What is a ghost-chasing widow to do?“Unique & refreshingly funny” “I found this book truly entertaining”Ghosts of Tsavo is the first case in “Society for Paranormals”, in which a paranormal detective refuses to let danger, death and unwanted suitors inconvenience her in colonial Kenya. Welcome to a series concerning dead husbands, African mythology and the search for a perfect spot of tea. If you adore “Pride & Prejudice”, appreciate British humor, enjoy paranormal mysteries, or would love to experience adventure in colonial Africa, download Ghosts of Tsavo to start your supernatural safari today. Don’t miss the rest of the series: The Automaton’s Wife; Revenge of the Mantis; The Fourth Mandate; Curse of the Nandi; and more to come! Scroll up and Add to Cart!"A surprisingly funny, witty, and good read." "The mix of the African Savannah and the paranormal in the 1890s, not to mention the British twist... I found this book truly entertaining. It kept my interest from cover to cover. I even caught myself laughing out loud at certain points.""I was very surprised when at 4 AM I couldn't stop reading! I really enjoyed Mrs. Knight and the way she reacts in the situations she faces.""Bee, the main character is hilarious. Her wit, her dry humor, her observations are not only refreshing but addictive. Vered Ehsani's writing is just excellent."

Giltek, a reptilian robotics engineer on the technical planet Ban Zaadan, receives an unwelcome visit from a man carrying a troublesome item.The book is a mixed bag of satire, mordant and/or playful wit as well as other forms of non-realistic fiction. One has an upper class man obsessed with propriety and decorum who gets his comeuppance; one, exploring a major problem with democracy, is in the form of a gothic chiller; another takes the form of a medieval tale; two are bird fables roughly in the tradition of Aesop; another a satiric take-off on literary interviews. The title piece satirizes American ethnic identity and its unawareness of history. Most are humorous in spirit, though of course they have an underlying seriousness. There’s even one about an alcoholic, mentally ill street person and a man who had a near-death experience that is structured as a dialectic with a thesis, antithesis and synthesis. And so on. The poet and editor Sonja Skarstedt said in a review of the book when published in 2000 that the collection is “a witty, humorous and enthralling blend of tales” and that the “stories have a distinctive, even sharp-edged narrative tone, with undercurrents of the recognizable, rich tradition.” Arnold Skemer in a review in ZYX #24 (2001) observed that “I've been accustomed to Burnham's essays in THE LONG STORY but hadn't realized that he turns out fables and satires, and has a nasty little wit.”

Marissa and the traders arrive on the planet Ninovan to trade for crystals. A simple trade but nothing is simple on Ninovan. They find there is no trading at the spaceport. Instead, the crew must travel to a native Trade Center. The natives hate offworlders. Xeres want something from the natives. Marissa finds herself caught between the natives, the military, Xeres, and the rest of the traders.The big corporations have a monopoly on the lucrative planetary trade along the densely traveled trade routes. The Celeste travels on the fringes with the lucky exception of a trade permit recently acquired by the captain. He refuses to tell how he managed to obtain the permit just as he refuses to tell his sources for the cargoes. Thus, it is no surprise that traders consider the Scheralt system as dangerous and a morass for ships. The captain outlines the trade to be a simple short stop. The Celeste is to trade ore for crystals. Problems arise before the crew even lands on the planet. With magnetic storms capable of destroying the ship, Captain Jerupt must drop the crew then break orbit moving to the star system’s perimeter to avoid the magnetic stormsAfter landing, the crew finds they must travel to the native's trade centers to trade for the crystals. The transportation is primitive riding on animals unpleasant normally but exhausting for the crew caused by the planet’s gravity being nearly double the ship's gravity. The trade will just take longer to complete but more than just trade is being plotted and everyone has a separate agenda.The starport commander under the guise of improving port and native relations plants a spy with the traders. Xeres Corporation manipulates and bribes the traders into spying for them. Xeres Corporation wants to learn the shielding manufacturing secretes and to takeover the natives processing plants. The natives, Klarn, will not trade with the Xeres Corporation or cooperate on any level. The other faction is the Kirch. The Kirch came into existence from the Klarn that Xeres forced to work in their plant. They avoid offworlders and hate all offworders wanting them eliminated from the planet.Celeste's crew finds themselves caught in the middle of a power struggle. Xeres Corporation is more than willing to kill to achieve their goals. The natives are defending their sovereignty. The commander wants promoted off the planet and is willing to sacrifice anyone to achieve her goals. The Celeste's crew wants to live long enough to get off the planet. Who will win? The power struggle divides the crew and tests their loyalties. One thing is for certain, trade is not anyone's primary goal.

A grandfather takes his six grandchildren on a hiking trip in Big Bend.A grandmother who knows her time is short plans a hiking adventure for her six grandchildren in Big Bend. After she dies the teenagers must complete six hikes to receive their inheritance.

Another strange and rather peculiar story, in the style of Roald Dahl, by the Crazymad Writer, Gerrard Wilson.Are you searching for the path of true enlightenment? If so, read on - but beware of unforeseen the consequences.I can imagine you thinking, ‘What’s so scary about ‘Fizzy, Cherry Cola?’ To be truthful there is nothing scary about it, but having said that, please look carefully into the bottle before making your final assumptions…Well, did you see anything? Did you see the troubled souls trapped inside the bottle? Did you see the expressions on their poor, pitiful faces, knowing they have no hope of ever escaping it, that the only release they might hope for is that someone happens upon the bottle, and then drinks the cola, this finishing them off?

Emma, P and Zack find a magic book that takes them on an adventure back in time. They encounter many famous people and make some new friends as they try to get back home. On their journey into the past, they face many challenges, even danger, and learn more about themselves through it all.It’s hard enough to just be a teenager these days, but when Emma’s parents move her and her younger brother, P, out of the city and into an old run down house in the country, her world is turned upside down. Not only does she have to leave her friends behind and start at a new school, but her parents are making her help them restore the old house. Things start to look up, however, when she finds a journal belonging to a girl that once lived in the house. Emma learns of a magic book, hidden somewhere in the house, that has the power to transport her and her friends back in time. With the help of her brother, P, and Zack, the cute boy who lives next door, they find the book and the adventure begins. They travel together from one time period to another, meeting famous people, seeing history up close and trying to get themselves out of some sticky situations. At first, the journey is exciting as they face new challenges and even make new friends, but as the kids begin to get homesick, they realize that they are stuck in a perpetual time warp. Will they ever get home?

An assassin with a longbow is picking off men. Veterans. Men who served their country side by side. And now, one of them, a successful actor, finds himself in the crosshairs of the killer. Trying to stay alive becomes something more when his wife is taken. Now, a man used to playing roles for millions must take on a madman one-on-one, posing as any character necessary.PJ Lozito, the creator of The Silver Manticore brings another character from his fevered, fantastic imagination to life. A man in a top hat who is definitely more than he seems in the author's Pro Se Single Shot Signature series. PJ Lozito's The Revenant Detective sets out to solve the unsolvable and to face death face to mask!An assassin with a longbow is picking off men. Veterans. Men who served their country side by side. And now, one of them, a successful actor, finds himself in the crosshairs of the killer. Trying to stay alive becomes something more when his wife is taken. Now, a man used to playing roles for millions must take on a madman one-on-one, posing as any character necessary. But in the end, he finds he must surrender all identities and from behind a mask, he must play his most Deadly Role!The Revenant Detective, PJ Lozito's SIngle Shot Signature Series. From Pro Se Productions.

When Brian and Gregory receive an invitation to stay at a distant relative's strange manse . . . well, they should know better than to go, since this is a middle-grade adventure novel. But they go anyway. Why not? Once there, they stumble upon The Game of Sunken Places, a board game that mirrors a greater game in which they have suddenly become players. Soon the boys are dealing with attitudinal trolls, warring kingdoms, and some very starchy britches. Luckily, they have wit, deadpan observation, and a keen sense of adventure on their side.

Typee, a Romance of the South Sea is the first book by American writer Herman Melville, a classic in the literature of travel and adventure partly based on his actual experiences as a captive on the island Nuku Hiva, which Melville spelled as Nukuheva, in the South Pacific Marquesas Islands, in 1842. The title comes from the name of a valley there called Tai Pi Vai. It was Melville's most popular work during his lifetime, but made him notorious as the "man who lived among the cannibals." Typee may have provided the writers Robert Louis Stevenson, Louis Becke and Jack London with the themes and images of the Pacific experience: cannibalism, cultural absorption, colonialism, exoticism, eroticism, natural plenty and beauty, and a perceived simplicity of native lifestyle, desires and motives. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Guy Newell Boothby was a prolific Australian novelist and writer, noted for sensational fiction in variety magazines around the end of the nineteenth century.

Sahra was on the opposite side of the station to Ore Processing when it blew up. She already had enough troubles with an overcrowded home, never enough food, the constant threat of death… and the whole being a slave thing. The humans need a saviour, rebels keep exploding the wrong places, and she needs a better source of income to feed her family.She's humanity's best hope.Hevun help them all.Sahra was on the opposite side of the station to Ore Processing when it blew up. For a tunnel rat and a slave, this means nothing but trouble. But for Sahra, that's just the beginning.Her people need a Saviour to lead them to freedom, but no such person dare volunteer with the Masters' guns ready to fire at all times. What harm could there be in doing a few things to help the Saviour finally turn up?As it happens… quite a lot.Between lockdowns, angry masters, the mistaken actions of the Rebels, angry sibs, and more rules in home and at work, Sahra has enough to deal with.But when she returns to an area that should have killed her the first time, Sahra discovers… something… special.Can she get the Rebels to listen to her when she can barely speak?Can she help the Saviour arrive at last?Can she find enough food for her family (Nineteen members and counting) every day?And, more importantly, can she trust her brother to keep his big mouth shut?She's humanity's best hope.Hevun help them all.

In this companion short-story to Matt Archer: Monster Hunter, fifteen-year-old Matt Archer finds himself in the Australian Outback on the trail of his latest targets...and hunting hyper-intelligent, mutated Dingoes is not his idea of a great summer vacation.In this companion short-story to Matt Archer: Monster Hunter, fifteen-year-old Matt Archer finds himself in the Australian Outback on the trail of his latest targets...and hunting hyper-intelligent, mutated Dingoes is not his idea of a great summer vacation.Making things more complicated, Matt's Uncle Mike--aka Major Tannen--is his C.O. for this mission. To Matt's consternation, the major's new fiancée, Captain Julie Hunter, is also along for the trip.When Captain Hunter disappears during a routine scouting trip, it's up to Matt to help his uncle find her before it's too late.