(Serialized Fiction) Jazz is a deferred species bonds collector, which means she collects monsters, and she’s all too happy to do it. But today she’s running an errand so trivial it hardy justifies her attention. But when a squadron of Cranks start trying to blow her and her sentient flycraft, Ship, out of the air, it will take all of her expertise to survive.Jazz, Season One, Episode One"97 AWM, the abbreviation stood for, After Worlds Merge, merge—ha! But that’s what they called it, they meaning just about every human but me. I called it as I saw it, an inter-dimensional hostile takeover, but then few were left that remembered the ID war. Most of my race’s survivors had willingly succumbed to a mass memory manipulation—the jerks. I remembered and I’m no jerk. I was called Jazz then, and worked as a ‘deferred species bond collector,’ that meant I collected monsters and I was all too happy to do it. Merth, as the dimensionally linked planets had been renamed, had become a Zion filled with idol, lazy, and easily manipulated masses, the masses were mindless because they wanted to believe the utopian lie they’d swallowed. But they were going to spit it out, it was going to hurt, and I was the one who was going to make them do it. This is how it started."Jazz is a deferred species bond collector living on a world merged magically with its inter-dimensional cousin. On the conjoined planets now called Mirth, people live side by side with goblins, trolls, orcs, and fairies. Most of the time life goes smoothly, but every now and then someone gets out of line and the enforcer corps step in. Whenever one of the non-human prisoners bolts and goes on a rampage the enforcer corps call Jazz. Aided by her over-eager assistant KC, her sentient flycraft, Ship, her secretary, Parry, a love-struck flower fairy, Moxie, and an arsenal of custom weapons, the monsters don’t stand a chance. But Jazz’s greatest enemy is the invisible power behind the hostile takeover that destroyed the Earth that she remembers. And that’s one enemy Jazz probably won’t live to face. Jazz, Monster Collector, A Serialized action/adventure Story.

Rookie medic E. Hidalgo takes reader on a terrifying journey. Two months after the events of "Reapers of the Damned" the dreaded mega corporation, Gemcore deploys RRT-99; to investigate the aftermath of the worst industrial incident in the company's history. Amongst the rubble the team comes across a startling discovery. The repercussions of which will be felt in the higest chambers of power.The author's mother has always been present in her daughter's consciousness, manifesting in front of her eyes at times. In this second story in the series mom tells her own story, luring her daughter into a world created to the daughter's liking, made of childhood fairytales, memories, and dreams. Mom tries to encourage her daughter, disheartened by the harsh realities of her surrounding life, to adapt a different point of view towards life, one in which the future is more bright and colorful. Will the mother succeed?

A zombie murder mystery.When Vivia Brisk's colleague Malcolm zombifies and his teenage son Ben goes missing, Vivia is roped in to help find them. At first what happened seems simple, but then the police find decades-old corpses hidden near Malcolm’s house, and Vivia begins to realise Malcolm’s missing son is in a lot more danger than from just a single zombie on the loose…Vivia Brisk knows about the dead. She should. She’s died enough times. Vivia is a hag – or death witch – one of the last of her race, and can die, visit the underworld and return at will. As a consultant with charity The Lipscombe Trust, she has a job she loves – helping London’s most vulnerable supernaturals, even if her colleague Malcolm drives her round the bend on a daily basis. Vivia thinks she’s got Malcolm’s measure – sexist, not too bright and generally a pain in the ass, but then Malcolm zombifies and, along with his fourteen year old son Ben, flees the police. With a zombie on the loose, London goes into lock down and Vivia is roped in into find them. After all, Malcolm can only keep control so long without fresh flesh, and the risk of the zompocalypse increases the longer he’s on the lam. At first what happened seems simple, but then the police find decades-old corpses hidden near Malcolm’s house, and Vivia begins to realise Malcolm’s missing son is in a lot more danger than from just a single zombie on the loose…

Bedtime stories always show good winning out over evil. The hero makes all the right choices, and always wins. But what happens when good loses?Once there were heroes and villains. Good vanquished evil. Except once. And once was all it took. The Golden Guardian has retired. The bad guys won, and there was no room for heroes. The Emperor has tightened his grip on the world, ruling from what was once the United States of America. His power runs unchecked. But ten years after hanging up his golden boots, someone has started fighting injustice, dressed as the Golden Guardian. And in order to protect his young son, Kent Allard must find the new hero, and betray justice for a second time in his life.This is the Prologue for the serialized novel: The Golden Age

These twelve short stories, eight of them previously published in magazines or anthologies, contain magic, monsters, ghosts, history, beer, Scotland, scifi, fantasy, horror, singing, more beer and fun.If you're looking for a longer taster of my work, this is more of who I am.These twelve short stories, eight of them previously published in magazines or anthologies, contain magic, monsters, ghosts, history, beer, Scotland, scifi, fantasy, horror, singing, more beer and fun. This is also who I am.

What starts out as a pleasant little summer vacation for Maggie and her friends, Molly and Tim, becomes an extraordinary adventure that will forever transform their lives. These three best buddies unexpectedly find themselves thrust into the magical world of a brilliant sorceress, a mysterious bridge, and talking animals.When a severely injured Cooper Hawk begs a group of vacationing school kids for help, they find themselves drawn into a fierce battle being waged among the forest inhabitants for control of the ancient and powerful If Bridge, which has the power to undo the past.What starts out as a pleasant little summer vacation for Maggie and her friends, Molly and Tim, becomes an extraordinary adventure that will forever transform their lives. These three best buddies unexpectedly find themselves thrust into the magical world of a brilliant sorceress, a mysterious bridge, and talking animals. Manny, an old farmhand, Molly’s two spinster aunts, and her parents fight side-by-side with the three young friends in their struggle against the Wolf, the Vulture, and the Snake, who want to destroy the If Bridge. The three human friends join the Deer, the Bear, and the Hawk in their battle to prevent its destruction. Ultimately, they all find themselves fighting the age-old battle of good versus evil, defending a world of friendship and noble sacrifice against one of greed and treachery.

In his critically acclaimed novel Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay told a vivid and powerful story inspired by China’s Tang Dynasty. Now, the international bestselling and multiple award-winning author revisits that invented setting four centuries later with an epic of prideful emperors, battling courtiers, bandits and soldiers, nomadic invasions, and a woman battling in her own way, to find a new place for women in the world – a world inspired this time by the glittering, decadent Song Dynasty. Ren Daiyan was still just a boy when he took the lives of seven men while guarding an imperial magistrate of Kitai. That moment on a lonely road changed his life—in entirely unexpected ways, sending him into the forests of Kitai among the outlaws. From there he emerges years later—and his life changes again, dramatically, as he circles towards the court and emperor, while war approaches Kitai from the north. Lin Shan is the daughter of a scholar, his beloved only child. Educated by him in ways young women never are, gifted as a songwriter and calligrapher, she finds herself living a life suspended between two worlds. Her intelligence captivates an emperor—and alienates women at the court. But when her father’s life is endangered by the savage politics of the day, Shan must act in ways no woman ever has. In an empire divided by bitter factions circling an exquisitely cultured emperor who loves his gardens and his art far more than the burdens of governing, dramatic events on the northern steppe alter the balance of power in the world, leading to events no one could have foretold, under the river of stars.

SOMEWHITHER is the first part of A TALE OF THE UNWITHERING REALM, a new science fantasy series from the science fiction author John C. Wright. It is an adventure, it is a romance, and it is a coming of age story of a young man who is not a man, in a world that is only one among many. It is a tale of a greater and darker evil with longer reach than anything he could imagine, of despair without bounds, of pain beyond measure, and of the faith required to surmount all three. It is a story of inexorable destiny written in the stars and the stubborn courage that is required to defy it. Ilya Muromets is a big, ugly, motherless boy who does not look like anyone else in his Oregon town. His father is often absent on Church missionary work that strangely seems to involve silver bullets, sacred lances, and black helicopters. Ilya works as a janitor for Professor Achitophel Dreadful of the Cryptozoological Museum of Scientific Curiosities, and he has a hopeless crush on the Professor’s daughter, Penelope, who seems to think his name is Marmoset. One night, when Professor Dreadful escapes from the asylum in which he is presently residing, he sends a warning to Ilya that not only is the professor’s Many Worlds theory correct, but those many worlds are dominated by an unthinkably powerful enemy determined to destroy anyone who opens the Moebius Ring between the worlds. And, as it happens, prior to his involuntary absence, the Professor left his transdimensional equipment in the basement of the Museum plugged-in and running…. So it is that Ilya, as he has long dreamed in secret, is called upon to save the mad scientist’s beautiful daughter. With his squirrel gun, his grandfather’s sword, and his father’s crucifix, Ilya races to save the girl, and, incidentally, the world.

Note: Despite chronology, it is recommended that The Emperor's Edge (book 1) be read first. This short story contains a spoiler for book 1. Sicarius, the emperor’s personal assassin, returns from a successful mission only to discover that the enemy is retaliating by sending an assassin of their own. The target? Five-year-old Prince Sespian. Shadows over Innocence is a 4,500-word short story set fourteen years before the first Emperor’s Edge novel. It is available for free on the author’s website: http://www.lindsayburoker.com/Shadows...

Stephanie is on the search for the source of her newly discovered power. She is helped by a talking cat.Stephanie takes another train journey with a white cat who guides her to the source of all her power.

"Something told me that after my weeks trapped in The Oasis, I hadn't even scratched the surface of what really went on there..." What is so different about Ben Novak? Secrets will be unravelled and shocking discoveries will be made in A Trail of Echoes.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

A red-eyed assassin, an unready princess, a sadistic politician, and an adulterous queen all desire the secret behind a magical dust known as safra. Safra is said to bring happiness, but these characters’ quest to obtain it will bring three great nations to the brink of warfare.A red-eyed assassin, an unready princess, a sadistic politician, and an adulterous queen all desire the secret behind a magical dust known as safra. Safra is said to bring happiness, but these characters’ desperate attempts to obtain it will cost them all dearly. Their salacious and violent deeds bring three great nations to the brink of warfare. And little do they know, their scrambling efforts are being carefully watched by a much greater power: the gods behind the beguiling drug that ensnares them all.

Alice is a witch at the esteemed Aero Magic Academy and spends her days of solitude up high in the clouds. Inept and lacking confidence; Alice must be strong to endure constant teasing and bullying from her classmates and apathetic teachers. When will these sad days come to an end?Alice is a witch at the esteemed Aero Magic Academy and spends her days of solitude up high in the clouds. Inept and lacking confidence; Alice must be strong to endure constant teasing and bullying from her classmates and apathetic teachers. When will these sad days come to an end?Another Tiring Day of Magic is set on Earth Alpha, a world with magic ley-lines surging through the elements, and evolved creatures that resemble native humans called humanoids. Alice's story acts as a prologue in a larger novel soon to grace the world, keep an eye out!

* Attention: this is not a story about werewolves, lycans, or whatever else you want to call them * Set in a distant land, a boy grows into a man as he learns about the gifts of his ancestral blood from a mysterious mentor. And then, on one fateful day, he learns that some knowledge comes with a price.Darcy and Brigit always wanted a new start for themselves. Hearing that things in the Niobrara Valley of northeast Nebraska offered them opportunities denied them in County Mayo, they eagerly board the train bound for the new town of Randolph Nebraska with hopes and dreams in their hearts.