Fernando Alberto Ruiz, AKA El Rey del Mar, may have been the world's most famous (or infamous) drug lord. But even after a Hollywood film, not many know the true story of his wild life. The drugs. The violence. The mermaids. 2900 words.Fernando Alberto Ruiz, AKA El Rey Del Mar, may have been the world's most famous (or infamous) drug lord. But even after a Hollywood film, not many know the entire story of his wild life. The drugs. The violence. The mermaids.Now, with the news of the late drug lord's passing, what better time than to take a look back over the life of one of the world's most interesting men. A hero to some, a criminal to others. He was Fernando Alberto Ruiz, El Rey Del Mar. The King of the Sea.Approximately 2900 words in length.

Desperate, a group of residents try their hand at witchcraft to bring peace and justice back to their home. What could go wrong?he residents of Wilson Parrish are under attack. The once picturesque town is being held hostage by a crime spree unlike anything its residents have ever seen. Desperate, a group of residents try their hand at witchcraft to bring peace and justice back to their home. What could go wrong?

In 48 AD, a fire set by the troops of Julius Caesar destroyed much of the Great Library of Alexandria. It was the first of several disasters that resulted in the destruction of the accumulated knowledge of the ancient world. But what if the fire had been stopped? What would the Library have become? Fast forward: the Great Library is now a separate country, protected by its own standing army. It has grown into a vast power, with unquestioned and unrivalled supremacy. Jess Brightwell, seventeen and very smart, with a gift for mechanical engineering, has been sent into the Great Library as a spy for his criminal family.

1 New York Times bestselling author and Bram Stoker nominee Kami Garcia (Beautiful Creatures, Dangerous Creatures, Unbreakable & Unmarked) blends magic, dark fantasy, and the paranormal in a story with shades of The Night Circus. Magic isn’t always as harmless as it seems. Illana grew up travelling with the carnival—a dark word of freak shows, corruption, and paranormal hoaxes. Now at seventeen, she longs for a normal life with friends and high school, romance and boyfriends—a life far from crystal balls, con artists, and the misfits she encounters as a fortune-teller. Everything changes the night Illana realizes her predictions are coming true.

Tamora Pierce meets George R. R. Martin in this smart, political, medieval fantasy-thriller. There is a new king on the throne of Tildor. Currents of political unrest sweep the country as two warring crime families seek power, angling to exploit the young Crown's inexperience. At the Academy of Tildor, the training ground for elite soldiers, Cadet Renee de Winter struggles to keep up with her male peers. But when her mentor, a notorious commander recalled from active duty to teach at the Academy, is kidnapped to fight in illegal gladiator games, Renee and her best friend Alec find themselves thrust into a world rife with crime, sorting through a maze of political intrigue, and struggling to resolve what they want, what is legal, and what is right.

The journey home begins. . . . Toklo, Kallik, and Lusa survived the perilous mission that brought them together, and now it’s time for them to find their way home. Kallik and Lusa are ready to be among their own kinds again, but Toklo, devastated by the loss of their companion Ujurak, feels hopeless and afraid of what’s to come. When the group reaches a shadowy island covered in mountains and ice, Kallik is sure they’re almost back to the Frozen Sea. But a terrifying accident leads them into a maze of abandoned tunnels, unlike anything they’ve ever seen before—making them question their path once again. The bears grow desperate for a sign to guide them, and when they meet a cub who has lost his whole family, Toklo believes the cub has been sent by Ujurak. But the others are unsure. Can they trust their new companion? Or could he be hiding something that will endanger them all?

On the technological, decadent world of Proton, someone was trying to destroy Stile, serf and master Gamesman. His only escape lay in Phaze, a world totally ruled by magic. Soon he learned that his alternate self had already been murdered, and that he was next. On Proton, his fate depended on winning the great Games. On Phaze, he must master magic to survive. And if he used any magic at all, his friends were determined to kill him at once! THE APPRENTICE ADEPT Book OneSPLIT INFINITY BookTwoBLUE ADEPT Book ThreeJUXTAPOSITION From the Paperback edition.

The colony of New Geneva has risen from the ashes of her dying mother planet, Earth, by rebuilding a society based on a time before everything went horribly, horribly wrong...the Victorian Era... Violet Merriweather first sets eyes on Colonel Winston when he purchases her at auction from Witherspoon Academy, the orphanage where she’d been raised after her rescue from Earth. Dutifully, as she was taught, Violet pushes away her fear of the monstrous, forbidding Thornfield Abbey, and throws herself into her work as governess to the Colonel’s youngest son. But the Colonel's elder sons have other ideas. John and Gideon Winston are as different as night and day, and each wants to claim Violet for his own. John immediately charms her with his intelligence and cordial demeanor, while Gideon, the dark rogue, delights in flustering her at every opportunity, awakening a yearning she doesn't understand and most assuredly does not want. She tries to deny her pull to both men, but an uneasy midnight bargain with one forges a new alliance as she’s dazzled by an underground New Geneva she hadn't known existed. And temptations she cannot resist. But something is preying on the women of New Geneva, something that threatens to unleash the ghosts of Thornfield and drag them all into hell. And that something wants Violet most of all.

Maladict the Magnificent takes a cruel pleasure in tormenting his Vizier but the tables are turned with the help of a Genie.A Fantasy tale of vindictiveness thwarted. Maladict the Magnificent takes a cruel pleasure in tormenting his Vizier but the tables are turned with the help of a Genie and a clever woman.

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Terry Brooks's The Measure of the Magic. Since the death of Allanon, life in the Four Lands has drastially changed. Yet Par Ohmsford still has some power of the Wishsong. And when a message from the ancient Druid, Allanon, reaches them, Par is ordered to recover the long-lost Sword of Shinnara, and the glory that once was the Four Lands....

Steffie Costigyn, drug-addicted adventurer, ends up in the clutches of Kathulis the Scorpion, a strange, ancient woman with access to many secrets. Can she break free of Kathulis, the elixir of life and her terrible band of henchwomen of all nations, even with the help of the stalwart Joan Gordon?A Gender Switch Adventure.“I will take care of the body of my lord and you can carry the sword, story teller. For all good stories are about a sword.” The darkest years of the Dark Ages. Britain in AD 597: a land very different from today. Divided into dozens of warring kingdoms - these are the birth pangs of the nation we know today. Life can be short, violent and brutal. Cerdic, the nephew of a warrior, dreams of the glories of battle. When war comes for real, his sister is kidnapped, his family betrayed and his uncle's legendary sword stolen. Cerdic is thrown into the struggles that will determine the future of 6th century Britain.He must find courage to lead his people in one of the decisive battles of his time - a battle which could have seen the end of the English in the North of Britain.The Amber Treasure was awarded a B.R.A.G Medallion in 2012. It is the first novel in the Northern Crown series set in the darkest years of the Dark Ages.

Short Story. Not for children. The second in a collection called Vampire Morsels about different vampires from the Amaranthine universe. A child vampire in 1831. Not allowed to play with the slave children, Alexander, is in for a lonely evening that turns even lonelier as he struggles to come to terms with the concept of his own immortality.You can also find Alexander in Shades of GrayWhen Victor Frankenstein crafts his infamous creature in Mary Shelley’s masterpiece, he creates something that is a patchwork not only of men but of ideals, of emotions. Out of many, he is one. Indeed, this anthology you read now is something similar, though I do say quite a bit more pleasant to encounter than the fruit of Victor’s labors!What precisely does the word creature conjure in the imagination? Something frightening? Something unknown? The authors of the stories you are about to read had this question to consider and not one of them came up with exactly the same answer as another of their collaborators. The initial reaction to such a question might be to recoil, to think of something unsettling or scary. But then one must consider the creature itself. How does it react to its state of being? It’s surroundings? Does it enjoy killing men or does it loathe violence? Is it predator or prey? Do humans simply fear it or try to combat the creature themselves?It’s the reaction that makes the creature, not the state itself of being an outsider to mankind. You will read in these pages about various supposed monsters, and they all behave differently. The creatures in these stories are everything from horrifying killers to sympathetic lovers to misunderstood beings trying to fit into human society, each one with its creator’s personal stamp placed upon it. This anthology was born out of a desire to come together as authors, out of a sense of community, and the reader can certainly feel this as well. Despite the occasionally-gruesome or unsettling subject matter, this is a labor of love, we promise!The idea to create a compilation was posed by author B.C. Sirrom on the Paranormal and Horror Lovers group on Goodreads in May of 2012. The idea took off immediately, with eight writers contributing to the work and several others offering to help with editing and cover art. But what was to be the topic of such an anthology?After much deliberation, the topic of creatures was chosen, an emphasis placed on the unique and the cultural. The rules were simple: the story must be in the paranormal or horror genre and between five and ten thousand words. While mature content was allowed, it was not required, and contributors had to be willing to assist with editing. With the ground rules in place, the authors set out to craft their tales.This specific topic is one that not only fit the overall theme of the group itself, but also one that allowed the authors room to breathe, room to create and thus, room to craft a collection of well-fitted stories that will entertain, thrill and horrify.No matter what the word ‘creature’ initially brings to mind for you, the reader, that is only the beginning

Seventeen year old Brianna Miller hears voices and suffers from a strange itch. That itch leads to the world changing color, and when the world changes color people around her show up dead. Now the question is whether Brianna is simply a danger to those around her or if she plays a role in a larger supernatural order.When war comes after a century of peace, it is sudden and brutal. Taken by surprise Earth's far-flung colonies are in danger. The only son of an admiral, Second Lieutenant Michael Sheridan finds himself thrust into a desperate conflict that he and the untried soldiers under his command are ready for. Focusing on the people struggling to survive the onslaught, First Strike is a novel that propels the reader to the furthest limits of space. Fighting a ruthless and determined enemy, Sheridan soon learns the brutal lessons of war and that his enemy may not be what it appears to be.

Connor broke the seal and opened the psychic doorway in his mind. Now he needs to lock it again before something wanders through it looking for him.Connor True broke the seal on the psychic doorway in his mind. With this doorway Connor can see anywhere and any time he wishes. He can also see into the Afterlife, only it's not just the dead that walk the astral plane. There are other terrifying creatures lurking in the shadows, waiting for us and the last time Connor opened his doorway he found something looking back at him.

A retelling of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" through the eyes of a less bumbling Puck...A dark retelling from a character out of Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” "Playing Puck" is just that - playing with the character of Robin Goodfellow, known also as Puck, servant fairy to the fairy king Oberon.Originally written as a bumbling fairy, the Puck we meet in this retelling is intentional in his mistakes. For as Puck creates hostility between the characters of this story, nature itself is damaged or destroyed.Eventually, of course, Puck must be left to sweep up the pieces of his own existence as well, an existence mandated and controlled by something that is the very essence of evil itself.