Jason Raynor is back on the Gilead throne and the downward spiral of the nation that began under his uncle's rule has been stopped. But as the pirate raids against interstellar shipping continue the king is forced to turn to the one person he trusts who has experience moving in that world: Cordass Pell. Can even the infamous smuggler captain learn the truth before interstellar war erupts?Jason Raynor has been back on the Gilead throne for six months and the downward spiral of the kingdom that began under the oppressive rule of his uncle has been stopped. People no longer live in fear of their government and a true sense of peace has settled over the nation. But as the pirate raids against interstellar shipping continue, the king is forced into making a desperate decision. The impact of the increasing pirate activity is causing Gilead to slip closer and closer toward a devastating economic depression. Every undercover operative that has been sent to investigate the pirate network has either met with failure or mysteriously disappeared, and Jason finds himself forced to turn to the one person he trusts who has experience moving in that world to infiltrate the pirate network: Cordass Pell.With rumors of a pirate fleet massing on the outskirts of inhabited space, Pell and his crew must use every trick at their disposal to pierce the inner workings of the pirate network and discover who or what is behind this growing menace. But can even the infamous smuggler captain discover the truth behind the pirate threat before interstellar war erupts?

"Three bears . . . one destiny" From the author of the nationally bestselling Warriors books comes a brand-new animal fantasy series. Three young bears from different species--black, polar, and grizzly--are separated from their families when they are just young cubs. They find themselves brought together on a perilous journey. Fate is about to change all these bears lives forever, setting their paws on a path toward a future they cannot yet imagine . . .

Lacy Kit Carson breaks the law, and learns about justice, while trying to save her best buddy Creed from a fate worse than death.I couldn't seem to contain the inferno burning inside me, being that close to him. Even knowing the danger he posed and the gruesome scenes that must have been caused by him, I still felt a burning inside me every time I heard his voice or felt his hot gaze on me. But I was the Warden. He was one of the damned. We were destined to be at odds. Enemies. Sarah Wood, having just lost her father to cancer, is stunned to discover that the mother she thought was dead is actually still alive. She also finds out that the legacy her father left her is a lot more than just an Inn on the outskirts of Nashville, Indiana. She has a frightening new responsibility.This is part one of a series. It is 30,420 words long.

The grim defender Soloymn Kane encounters the rogue swordswoman La Loup while saving a boy. Then again in darkest Africa, where witchcraft, giant women and monstrous apes await.How hard do you have to shake the family tree to find the truth about the past?Fifteen year-old Rae Kerrigan never really knew her family's history. Her mother and father died when she was young and it is only when she accepts a scholarship to the prestigious Guilder Boarding School in England that a mysterious family secret is revealed.Will the sins of the father be the sins of the daughter?As Rae struggles with new friends, a new school and a star-struck forbidden love, she must also face the ultimate challenge: receive a tattoo on her sixteenth birthday with specific powers that may bind her to an unspeakable darkness. It's up to Rae to undo the dark evil in her family's past and have a ray of hope for her future.

When I was a boy I imagined I was James Bond. When I grew up my adventures were not quite so spectacular. But when I became a writer, I decided my earlier imaginings had value. Hence, in this collection of Flash Fiction meet heroes, spies and villains aplenty, topped off with a series delving deep into the nature of conspiracy theory. But don't worry. Everything is under control.The Melbourne Writers’ Social Group began as a social outlet for those in a craft where most of their work is done in isolation. Our membership is a melting pot of novelists, short story writers, poets, playwrights, screenwriters, songwriters, and those who have an idea they want to write about, but don’t know where to begin. The events we organize have become the proverbial water cooler for those who use the written word as their creative outlet.This anthology is a representation of the spirit of what the Melbourne Writers’ Social Group is all about--cultivating an atmosphere where writers are encouraged to explore their passion, improve their craft, learn about their trade, and to do so in a social environment that is supportive and fun.The stories you will read are a snapshot of writers at various points in the development of their craft, each with different strengths and weaknesses, each with unique voices, and all of whom have done what each of us as writers believe we should always do more of--commit to a project, write it, submit it for feedback, revise and then finally submit it for publication and release into the world.The topic for this inaugural anthology is Valentine’s Day. We chose this topic because it’s a day that has the power to evoke warm, fuzzy, and romantic feelings or equally cold, harsh, and bitter ones. These writers have taken on the task of addressing this topic from their own original perspectives.So, as we say in the Group, we invite you to sit back with a cuppa or a drink, relax, and enjoy the following stories. May these pages charm and delight you, or run a chill up your spine, if you prefer.

An aspiring young journalist seeks a job as a reporter and finally lands a position as a copy boy. His wannabe spirit to become a writer is not damped as he finally is given the opportunity to report on the story of a lifetime. His dreams are unfolding and will they finally be revealed or dashed to ashes?"Midterms" was my entry in NPR’s Round Nine of their occasional feature, “Three Minute Fiction,” in which they invite listeners to submit an original, unpublished story of 600 or fewer words which fulfills a condition set by that Round’s author-judge. In this case, each story had to “reference a U.S. President, real or fictional.” Inasmuch as the day before the September 23 submission deadline was the 150th anniversary of one of our history’s most momentous—and politically shrewd—decisions, I felt dutybound to indulge that reality. My conceit: What if that “game-changer” presented itself in an electoral environment like today’s?

Incurable prion disease eating your nervous system?Abandon everyone you love. Go to a clinic in a universe where prions can't replicate.When aliens attack, prion disease patient Sherry Rogers finds herself behind enemy lines.Nobody can save Sherry. Except herself.And nobody at all can keep the aliens from massacring everyone... except -- maybe -- Sherry.Incurable prion disease eating your nervous system?Abandon everyone you love. Go to a clinic in a universe where prions can't replicate.Sherry Rogers fills her days as best she can with her rattletrap nervous system. When aliens attack the clinic, however, she finds herself behind enemy lines.Nobody can save Sherry. Except herself.And nobody at all can keep the aliens from massacring everyone... except -- maybe -- Sherry.

In different corners of the world four high-profile figures are assassinated in less than a week. Nobody links the deaths but one thing is certain: each of them has been stalked, sought out and killed with care and preparation. Then a sinister connection is established: a single, blood-tipped rose is sent to each funeral and an unremarkable female agent is murdered in Switzerland. When MI5 come to MI6 to ask for help M brings in his best. At first, a weekend abroad seems tempting to James Bond: especially when he's paired with Flicka von Grusse, a gorgeous Swiss intelligence officer. But this is a perilous assignment that starts with the mysterious actor David Dragonpol and leads them to Athens, Milan and on to EuroDisney ... and an explosive climax.

3 Hours and 3 Minutes Lily Gefelty is just an average twelve-year-old girl. But her dad–a normal-enough seeming guy–just so happens to work for an evil genius who plans to unleash an army of extremely cranky, stilt-walking, laser-beam-eyed whales upon the world. Lucky for Lily, her two best friends are anything but average. Both of them are famous for their adventures. Jasper Dash, Boy Technonaut, invents gadgets; Katie Mulligan spends her spare time fighting off zombies and were-goats. Surely they'll know what to do. And if they don't? then it will be up to Lily–average, everyday Lily–to come up with a plan. With this crazy comic ride of a novel, M. T. Anderson launches a riotous and wonderfully weird new series for listeners who like their thrilling tales with tongue firmly in cheek.

Death is following Nicholas as he climbs into the snowline where he finds relics from before the last great war, and has to make a choice what part he will play in the coming one.Manuel is a soccer phenom on the field and off the field a magician’s apprentice—an apprentice to a real magician, not a pull-the-rabbit-out-of-the-hat kind. This magician can knock things off the table from across the room using his mind. You see, the magician isn’t an ordinary human, and neither is Manuel.Lizzie has long since figured out where the presents under the Christmas tree come from, and she knows that tiny, winged ladies with wands don't really pay cash for baby teeth. Only little kids believe in fairies and elves. But Lizzie's world is about to be turned upside down. She is about to learn that the legends of old are not all make-believe. She is about to discover the ancient and powerful artifact that is her family legacy. And she is about to join the family business--a never-ending mission to remove from Earth all fugitive spirits.Manuel and Lizzie and live worlds apart, but a sorcerer with plans to rule the world needs something they each have, and he is hellbent upon getting what he wants.

In the year 2180 in post global collapse New Jersey, two unique people meet at a fall festival and fall in love at first sight. She joins him on a research vessel as they head into the Atlantic to come to the rescue of a whale.What at first appears to be an online hoax launches retired PI Alan Swansea into an investigation exposing a gang of sex traffickers. After receiving a mysterious email message from a woman making a desperate plea to save her younger sister, Swansea finds himself entrenched in the horrific world of human trafficking. Once it becomes clear that Polina and several other young Eastern European girls have been abducted and forced to take part in a deranged artist’s bizarre project, Swansea is engaged in a harrowing race to find the girls before they are thrust into a situation even more unthinkable than their present one.Will Polina become yet another victim of modern day sex slavery like the others?Throughout his investigation, Swansea becomes increasingly aware of the devastating effects sex trafficking has had on the lives of the victims and what little is being done by law enforcement to stop it. As the toll of victims rises, so does his resolve to bring the villains to justice. But as time runs out, Swansea discovers that the trail of his investigation may very well have gone cold. Will he be able to save Polina before it’s too late?

Space Refugees is book 3 of the Star Warriors Sci-Fi adventure book series. Mars Magellan finds himself and his companions at the end of rough tactics that are designed to eliminate any evidence of his existence on the space-station Maverick. As a result of this unwanted attention, they leave behind their past careers in space exploration and find themselves looking for a new world to call home.Space Refugees is book 3 of the Star Warriors Sci-Fi adventure book series. Mars Magellan finds himself and his companions at the end of rough tactics that are designed to eliminate any evidence of his existence on the space-station Maverick. As a result of this unwanted attention, they leave behind their past careers in space exploration and find themselves looking for a new world to call home.Read the full instalment of the novel in these gripping ebooks: Book 1 - Spaceboy Mars, Book 2 - Space Recall, Book 3 - Space Refugees, Book 4 - New World, Book 5 - The Uprising

One of the premier novelists of the twentieth century, James A. Michener captures a frenzied time when sane men and women risked their very lives in a forbidding Arctic land to win a dazzling and elusive prize: Yukon gold. In 1897, gold fever sweeps the world. The promise of untold riches lures thousands of dreamers from all walks of life on a perilous trek toward fortune, failure—or death. Journey is an immersive account of the adventures of four English aristocrats and their Irish servant as they haul across cruel Canadian terrain toward the Klondike gold fields. Vivid and sweeping, featuring Michener’s probing insights into the follies and grandeur of the human spirit, this is the kind of novel only he could write. BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from James A. Michener's Hawaii. Praise for *Journey  * “Stunning . . . Michener at his best.”—Houston Chronicle  * “Michener brings sharply into focus the hardships encountered by those who dreamed of striking it rich.”—Associated Press   “Michener has amassed a peerless reputation as the heralded dean of the historical tome. . . . Journey is a book that envelops the reader in an atmosphere of hazardous escapades.”—Richmond Times-Dispatch “Remarkable . . . superb literature.”—The Pittsburgh Press*

Between the pages of this book lies the secret to the best-tasting chocolate in all the world. I promise, your taste buds will tingle. Your palette will sing! Oh no, have I accidentally tempted you to read this book? I will warn you, however, the most delicious things are never good for you...and this story is particularly scrumptious! In this tooth-rotting adventure, Cass's mom has been kidnapped by the evil dessert chef and chocolatier, Señor Hugo! The ransom...the legendary tuning fork. Can Cass and Max-Ernest find the magical instrument before it's too late? Will they discover the evil secret ingredient to Señor Hugo's chocolate success? If you're tempted, take a taste, but just remember...this book is not good for you.

Smuggler. Smoker. Aviatrix. Thief. The dynamic Roxy Loewen is all these things and more, in this riveting and gorgeous historical fiction novel for readers of Paula McLain, Roberta Rich, Kate Morton and Jacqueline Winspear. You should never fall in love with a flyer. You should only fall in love with flight. That's what Roxy Loewen always thought, until she falls for fellow pilot Jocco Zomack as they run guns into Ethiopia. Jocco may be a godless commie, but his father is a leading art dealer and he's found the original of Bruegel's famous painting, the Fall of Icarus. The trouble is, it's in Spain, a country slipping fast into civil war. The money's better than good--if Roxy can just get the painting to Berlin and back out again before Reichsmarshall Hermann Goring and his Nazi pals get their hands on it . . . But this is 1936, and Hitler's Olympics are in full swing. Not only that, but Goring has teamed up with Roxy's greatest enemy: Sydney Munroe, an American billionaire responsible for the death of her beloved dad seven years before. When the Nazis steal the painting, Roxy and Jocco decide that they are just going to have to steal it back. What happens when Icarus flies too close to the sun? Roxy is going to find out. From African skies to a cellar in Madrid, from the shadow cast by the swastika to the world above the clouds on the Hindenburg's last voyage, in the end Roxy will have just two choices left--but only one bullet.