Grave Ties

      James Bailey
     Grave Ties

Lost, thirsty and sunburnt, Frank sees a petrol station in the distance, gleaming like an oasis. All Frank wishes to do is resupply and head back where he came from so he can find his brother and give him the proper death he deserves rather than leaving him a mindless creature roaming the countryside for new victims.What really makes one human, is it a fact of birth, the right of passage that is growing up, is it societies' influence on young impressionable minds, or is it something else? Is Humanity and all that goes with it in fact programmed into our DNA?These are questions that have plagued Shiva all her life. For most people, for Normal people, these are questions with easy answers, after all they were born human, raised human, and have always been 'Human'. But Shiva is not 'Normal', she might not in fact be 'Human'. She is or perhaps was a Weapon, she was created as a weapon, trained to be a weapon, and she sees the world as a weapon. But all that changes one day when she meets a girl and for the very first time, she feels something that defies all logic and all reason. Can a weapon fall in love, or this something reserved only for those who are humans?But there are those in her world who have never doubted these answers, to them she is a powerful tool created for a war not yet fought, and they cannot allow that tool to slip from their grasp. So from the shadows they strike at the very thing that threatens to take that weapon from their grasp, that person who might be the key to unlocking the heart within the weapon.

Read online

  • 929

    Bayne's Climb: Book I of The Sword of Bayne

      Ty Johnston
     Bayne's Climb: Book I of The Sword of Bayne

Bayne kul Kanon pursues a dark wizard across a decade and eventually up a mountain path, and when the path runs out, up the side of the mountain itself.Why does Bayne seek this wizard? Because Bayne is a warrior without a past. Ten years earlier he woke amid battle with no memories, his only ally the wizard. His enemies, numberless.Bayne kul Kanon pursues a dark wizard across a decade and eventually up a mountain path, and when the path runs out, up the side of the mountain itself.Why does Bayne seek this wizard? Because Bayne is a warrior without a past. Ten years earlier he woke amid battle with no memories, his only ally the wizard. His enemies, numberless.Once the wizard fled, Bayne set out on foot after him. Now they have come to the mountain, and Bayne isdetermined to climb and to find the truth.Along the way up the mountain, the warrior finds many new enemies, dangers and oddities. All hamper his quest to find the wizard, and all must be overcome.Yet in the end, will Bayne truly want to know the truth? Is he able to handle the truth? And is there even a truth to be discovered?

Read online

  • 929

    Sphereshifters: Aleph (Story Arcs 1, 2)

      Joshua Lemay
     Sphereshifters: Aleph (Story Arcs 1, 2)

Story Arc - 1His sister's kidnapper should've been easy to deal with. A sphereshift there, another one here, and Rei would be as good as saved.Except Lancer's never been able to perform a sphereshift correctly, regardless of the instruction he's received in his village's school. How is he supposed to deal with a man who's spent years perfecting his own special type of sphereshifting?[And more]Story Arc - 1His sister's kidnapper should've been easy to deal with. A sphereshift there, another one here, and Rei would be as good as saved.Except Lancer's never been able to perform a sphereshift correctly, regardless of the instruction he's received in his village's school. How is he supposed to deal with a man who's spent years perfecting his own special type of sphereshifting?Story Arc - 2Jaylee just wanted to kiss him. Lancer just wanted to--not. When a seductress and an egotistical gentleman ruin both plans, Lancer is forced to dive down into the depths of a natural reservoir to retrieve a supposedly magical pearl.Can he find the pearl in time? Even if he does, will the man who can control the ground he walks on and the woman who can alter his thoughts with barely a look let them off the hook so easily?*Bonus Content*This eBook also contains two special bonus content chapters that you won't find anywhere else.

Read online

  • 929

    Written In Stone

      Aviva Bel'Harold
     Written In Stone

FREE short story about a woman stuck in a dead end marriage until she meets a talking tree.So what does a radio DJ's salad and Schrodinger's cat have in common? Absolutely nothing, unless you consider if one of them decides to go on vacation, the salad that is, then all you have is a cat all alone with nothing to do except ponder its existence. So what about the salad? Legend of the Salad Traveler is a lighthearted story of a salad that weighed 5.5 ounces, and it decides to go on vacation; a man unexpectedly ends up in your shower and tells you he knows how to find it. Just make sure you keep enough rocks in your pocket. That's explained later, and it has something to do with moving from universe to universe as this is a story of epic proportions - well not epic, maybe whimsical proportions and fun nonetheless.

Read online

  • 929

    Back Track: A Meeting of Spies (To Walk the Path 12)

      Paul Smith
     Back Track: A Meeting of Spies (To Walk the Path 12)

Newly initiated Daiku Timo Coertez had not initially put the pieces together. The Myson spy Mikael had been aboard for a full day before he realised that this was the man he himself had spied on for the Wind Chasers, up at the Emperor's Summer Residence in the Vale.The question was, what should he do about it?A Meeting of Spies is the twelfth installment of 'To Walk the Path'. The revolution moves one step closer.

Read online

  • 929

    Meow Right Now

      S. A. Barton
     Meow Right Now

"Meow Right Now" is a short story, about 5100 words.Archaeologists often find strange and even dangerous things during their explorations. When Clay and Sandy uncover an ancient frozen cat on the Siberian plains, they have done just that, for Kwirrrf is not accustomed to being a pet. In fact, he's more accustomed to being a pet owner...Being-*The People Whisper*, Founder of Falcon Blanco-A Place for friends since 1975. Inspired Writer & Poet. I am trying to be creative by doing things that make sense to me. I am relating to whatever shows up in my daily life, being convinced that this is exactly what I need to learn, to grow and to heal myself. I see difficult situations and conditions as a challenge to which I am responding the best I am capable, taking self responsibility and being aware of my reactions that are caused.I like to express myself sharing my experiences with others who might be open for it. I have found ways to deal creatively with problems that are part of our life, so that we don’t need to suffer more than necessary to be motivated to doubt our established existence and ask questions, – to find answers that can turn our life into a joyful adventure.I am always ready to help others. I never do anything out of money interests. I do what feels right and is necessary. There is abundance if one is open to receive…I have created a space on the middle of the island Ibiza, in midst of unspoiled nature with many animals and plants. There is food and living space for more than twenty people, who could live together as a group of friends, being creative, expressing themselves in artistic ways and working on themselves and also doing practical things for others and the environment. BeiYinFalconBlanco, Ibiza, Spain

Read online

  • 929

    The Kingdom of Gods

      N. K. Jemisin
     The Kingdom of Gods

The concluding volume in this spectacular and highly original fantasy epic, where the lives of gods and mortals intertwine. For two thousand years the Arameri family has ruled the world by enslaving the very gods that created mortalkind. Now the gods are free, and the Arameri's ruthless grip is slipping. Yet they are all that stands between peace and world-spanning, unending war. Shahar, last scion of the family, must choose her loyalties. She yearns to trust Sieh, the godling she loves. Yet her duty as Arameri heir is to uphold the family's interests, even if that means using and destroying everyone she cares for. As long-suppressed rage and terrible new magics consume the world, the Maelstrom - which even gods fear - is summoned forth. Shahar and Sieh: mortal and god, lovers and enemies. Can they stand together against the chaos that threatens the kingdom of gods?

Read online

  • 929

    Spirit Wolf

      Kathryn Lasky
     Spirit Wolf

Faolan, a wolf once doomed to die, struggles to fufill his destiny as the leader of the wolves of Beyond. No one ever saw Faolan as a leader. Banished as a pup, he survived and returned as a gnaw wolf-the lowest member of the wolf pack. But Faolan wasn't meant to be a gnaw wolf. It's not just his strange, splayed paw, or his uncanny connection with the bears. There's something about Faolan that inspires certain wolves . . . and leaves others deeply suspicious. Now, with a dangerous threat on the horizon, the pack must make a choice. Will they trust the silver outsider with the task of leading? If Faolan can't fulfill his destiny, it could be the end of the wolves of the Beyond.

Read online

  • 929

    Lizard Music

      Daniel Pinkwater
     Lizard Music

BY THE AUTHOR OF The Big Orange Splot, The Neddiad, and  Adventures of a Cat-Whiskered Girl Things Victor loves: pizza with anchovies, grape soda, B movies aired at midnight, the evening news. And with his parents off at a resort and his older sister shirking her babysitting duties, Victor has plenty of time to indulge himself and to try a few things he’s been curious about. Exploring the nearby city of Hogboro, he runs into a curious character known as the Chicken Man (a reference to his companion, an intelligent hen named Claudia who lives under his hat). The Chicken Man speaks brilliant nonsense, but he seems to be hip to the lizard musicians (real lizards, not men in lizard suits) who’ve begun appearing on Victor’s television after the broadcast of the late-late movie. Are the lizards from outer space? From “other space”? Together Victor and the Chicken Man, guided by the able Claudia, journey to the lizards’ floating island, a strange and fantastic place that operates with an inspired logic of its own.

Read online

  • 929

    Cast in Shadow

      Michelle Sagara
     Cast in Shadow

Seven years ago Kaylin fled the crime-riddled streets of Nightshade, knowing that something was after her. Children were being murdered — and all had the same odd markings that mysteriously appeared on her own skin... Since then, she's learned to read, she's learned to fight and she's become one of the vaunted Hawks who patrol and police the City of Elantra. Alongside the winged Aerians and immortal Barrani, she's made a place for herself, far from the mean streets of her birth. But children are once again dying, and a dark and familiar pattern is emerging, Kaylin is ordered back into Nightshade with a partner she knows she can't trust, a Dragon lord for a companion and a device to contain her powers — powers that no other human has. Her task is simple — find the killer, stop the murders... and survive the attentions of those who claim to be her allies!

Read online

  • 929

    Philippa Fisher's Fairy Godsister

      Liz Kessler
     Philippa Fisher's Fairy Godsister

Philippa Fisher would like nothing more than to summon a fairy. Still, she is taken aback when Daisy, the new girl at school, announces that she is Philippa's fairy godmother - or godsister, since they're both the same age. Though the fairy is none too pleased with her mission, she is obliged to see it through and grant her human charge the customary three wishes. Now, if only Philippa would wish for something that makes her life better, not worse! With warmth and whimsy, the creator of Emily Windsnap whisks a traditional theme into a contemporary setting to tell a story of friendship, luck, and how we decide what we really want.

Read online

  • 929

    The Sacrifice

      Evangeline Anderson
     The Sacrifice

Emma Krist is a dud a person from a powerful line of witches with no magic of her own. Not only that but she’s full figured instead of thin, like her gorgeous, talented cousins, and has dishwater brown hair and muddy hazel eyes to match. So she figures there’s no way she’ll be chosen as the Bloodlust Sacrifice for the new vampire Sovereign. Not that she would want to be what girl in her right mind would volunteer to be a sex slave for a year, giving up the rights to her own body and sexuality to a dominating male who likes to bite? Not Emma, that’s for sure. So when Aiden James calls her out of the crowd, picking her over every other single female in the supernatural community, Emma doesn’t know what to think. Now she must begin a whole new life of submission to her new master, giving herself body and soul without reservation…or suffer the punishment for her disobedience. Kept naked at his strange, mirrored mansion, Emma is teased and tortured nightly, her master denying her release and whipping her at his leisure. As he pushes her body to the limit, she begins to wonder how much more she can take. But Aiden has reasons for the erotic punishments he inflicts he knows something Emma does not. Buried deep in her past, is the key which will unlock her hidden potential. Finding it, however, may ruin everything and cost Emma the only chance at happiness she has ever known as…The Sacrifice.

Read online

  • 929

    Running Shoes (The Shades of Northwood)

      Wendy Maddocks
     Running Shoes (The Shades of Northwood)

Katie used to run to win. Leaving home to go to college is never easy. Everything's so shiny and new and very, very scary. At least it is for Katie. Caught somewhere between the girl people expect her to be and the future she can see for herself, Katie learns the town she ran to isnt all that great. in fact, it's pretty dead.Katie used to run to win. Now she runs to live.Max Byron is the proxy of a living God, and his God hates him. Or so it would seem. Given the power to bend men to his will, Max scours the world and does his master's bidding. He does this because of His words, words Max heard in his mind the day his family was murdered. "I can bring them back."Max's wish, however, to see his family again, sends his mind racing to find the psychic who had promised to return his family to him. But how does one find a man with a thousand faces? One who is seemingly everywhere and nowhere? How does one find a God?To do this, Max must enter a different sphere of existence, one that transforms his mind, the world around him, and brings him face to face with truths he couldn't even dream of.

Read online

  • 928

    Kaybree Versus the Angels

      Harrison Paul
     Kaybree Versus the Angels

The Angels once acted as divine messengers who protected and guided the people of Nordgard. But fifteen years ago, they turned against mankind, leaving a fiery swath of destruction. When Kaybree stumbles into the latest Angel attack, she learns that she has the power to fight them—and must investigate why they started attacking in the first place.Kaybree has grown up hearing stories of the Angels, mythical beings who used to defend Nordgard from the creatures of the forest. After leaving mankind without guidance for centuries, they returned fifteen years ago, leaving a fiery swath of destruction. When Kaybree is called to the outpost by the forest, home to her mother's mysterious Vormund Order, she stumbles into the latest Angel attack. Soon she learns that she has the unique power to fight them: the ability to transform into a radiant being of fire and lightning. As she delves deeper into her mother's organization, though, she starts to wonder: why would Angels, holy messengers of God, attack people? Every answer she finds only sparks more questions. Because Vormund holds a deadly secret--one that could change Nordgard and the human race forever.

Read online

  • 928