What happens when we die? Do we go up, do we go down or do we just fade away. One man is about to find out. A short ghost story. Thank you for reading.What happens when we die? Do we go up, do we go down or do we just fade away. One man is about to find out. A short ghost story. Thank you for reading

Every story is exactly 416 words long. They are all horror. They are all fantastic. Trust but verify. There has never been an anthology like this. A special Halloween treat. Inspired by Authonomy's contest and my genius, "416" is a unique collection of horror short shorts. You could do a lot worse than spend a few hours reading these beauties.Four Hundred Sixteen. That’s all it takes to tell a story. A scary story. At least here. Every tale of horror and suspense in this book is exactly 416 words long (you can spend your time counting or reading, that’s up to you). Every story was written by a member of Authonomy.com.Stephen King takes 1,200 pages to tell a story. We do it in half a page. Sometimes we do it better. From Arachnoids to Zombies, “416” has it all. The first fifty four stories were submitted as part of my weekly Flash Fiction Friday contest. Always a treat for the readers, this particular contest was an outstanding success. We got a lot of “new” writers as well as the old standbys. Many wrote outside their comfort zone and they did it well.So, now we have a collection of horror worthy to be on the shelves of whatever bookstores are still in business (another horror story in itself). Unfortunately, timing is everything and my Ouja board tells me that there is not enough time to get “416” on the shelves. That shouldn’t stop you from putting it on yours, however. 416 words is less than two pages. But you won’t believe what we can fit into those two pages. I know I didn’t, and I still believe in Obama. When I first asked myself to edit this book, I thought “who wants to read a bunch of stories that aren’t even written by me. But after reading the submissions, I can almost see the logic of it. Besides, there are two stories that are by me, so everyone wins.Now, here we sit. You, me, and fifty-something tales, tailor made to be read on a cold October night. Short, intense and eerie. You can take them in small doses or plow through with one eye shut and one open. It’s up to you. Don’t be shy with feedback and comments. After all, a zombie can live on brains but a writer needs attention if he or she wants to thrive and survive.Finally, if you think it’s easy, feel free to give it a try. Send me a 416 word horror story before October 30, 2011, and I may add it to this lovely tome. Thank you to Authonomy and Rachel Authonomy for inspiring all of us to rise to this challenge. Mr. King and Koontz have set the bar. You tell us if we cleared it. And yes, this introduction is exactly 416 words.

Little Gail London and her friend Joel Quarrel are out on a cold and lonely morning at the end of summer, when they make the find of the century: a dead plesiosaur, the size of a two-ton truck, washed up on the sand. With the fog swirling about them, they make their plans, fight to defend their discovery, and face for the first time the enormity of mortality itself… all unaware of what else might be out there in the silver water of Lake Champlain.

In the haunted depths of 1990's New Orleans, three people wage their personal battles against eternity.Three people adrift in a sea of personal desolation. Each trying to make sense of their dysfunctional existence. Amid a series of horror tales and personal tragedy, the attempt to right the wrongs of the past and steer toward some unknown future plays out.

Hell comes home to Jersey.Seven ancient demons known as the Fallen have awakened in New Jersey. Fortunately for Mike and Ann, so has the one man who can stop them, Joseph Miller. Trapped in a hospital filled with mythical monsters, only together can they unravel the mystery of the Cursed and escape with not only their lives but their very humanity.Hell comes home to Jersey.Seven ancient demons known as the Fallen have awakened in New Jersey after a hundred years. Fortunately for Mike and Ann, so has the one man who can stop them, Joseph Miller. Trapped in a hospital filled with mythical monsters, only together can they unravel the mystery of the Cursed and escape with not only their lives but their very humanity.Ancient Awakening is a Horror/Action novel with just the right touch of comedy. It is the first book in the series "The Ancient" which follows the adventures of eccentric demon hunter Joseph Miller. His job is to defend the human race against seven mythical demons and their offspring. Unfortunately for us, he has been dead for the last hundred years. Ancient Awakening will be followed by Ancient Enemies in 2010 and Ancient Revelations in 2011 and is written by Matthew Bryan Laube.The second edition of Ancient Awakening is re-edited and re-cut for maximum monster hunter action. It includes a free preview chapter of Ancient Enemies.

It's the zombie apocalypse and the living have been separated from the undead. However, life still goes on as normal. Normal means there're some who prefer to be on the spotlight more than others. But, to what length can people go to to make themselves known.A short story.The Spark That Ignites The Flame.Seventeen years ago an entire generation of aliens were sent to Earth in order to save their home planet and integrate into the human population. Now, those aliens are being hunted.Amery Jones is finally allowed to go to camp for the summer. With her best friend Lola by her side, she is expecting awesome times ahead.Unfortunately, Lochie, her charming mortal enemy and the only guy who can get under her skin, seems to have made it his mission to annoy her for the entire summer.When one of the campers goes missing, Amery finds herself teamed up with Lochie in the search mission. Now, more than ever, her alien status has to remain a secret.Also in the Project Integrate Series:Ignite (Short Prequel)UniteDivideConquerSoarRiseBroken

When Ava wakes to her grandmother’s screams, she discovers her worst nightmare has become reality.Ten-year-old Ava wakes in the night to the screams of her grandmother. Fearing for her life, she rushes to the window to escape the terror that waits outside her door.Full panic sets in when the doorknob jiggles, then the familiar voice of her aunt rings out. Confusion clouds Ava’s sleep-filled mind as she realizes no one is there to harm them. However, the message she’s given is much worse than anything she could have imagined.There was an accident.With nowhere to go, no way out, and no one to save her, Ava alone must confront the nightmare that is now reality.

The circus has come to Dyson Springs. The line is long, but Jason hatches a plan to sneak in. It's a strange night to be playing with clowns.Dyson Springs, a small quaint town, seldom has anything new. But today, the circus has come. Jason wants to go but can't stand the line. He comes up with a plan to avoid the line, but the night turns out nothing like he expected. One thing's for sure... he'll never look at a clown the same way again.

Warning: experimental translation (hybrid)Who doesn't know the secret that conceals him behind a sinuous dead body of woman, he can never understand Saint Black when it lies with that bodies. Don't call him necrofilo, rather ferryman. Someone knows, but who really sees the trasumanazione of the soul from the body of to dead person?...Warning: experimental translation (hybrid)Who doesn't know the secret that conceals him behind a sinuous dead body of woman, he can never understand Saint Black when it lies with that bodies. Don't call him necrofilo, rather ferryman. Someone knows, but who really sees the trasumanazione of the soul from the body of to dead person? Who is able of hover in Spirit to venture himself in the sacred tides of the Unio Mystica? In a fourth solo of now the most frightening existential trip can be lived together with unlikely characters. Dante explained eight centuries ago almost everything yet there is someone that doesn't see today still beyond his/her own nose. Saint Spirit treats of the earth to horse between the life and the death, but not waited you void of what it seems obvious to wait him. The atmosphere is really palpable, rich of illuminating reflections, of I turned on internal torments, of action, of intense sacredness broken to the sudden one by images of complex visionary eroticism. The author has revealed every aspect of the really Itself, touches now to the reader to risk and to incite his own senses.

The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED. Now, twenty years after the Rising, bloggers Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives—the dark conspiracy behind the infected. The truth will get out, even if it kills them.

Heidi King takes you to particular kind of demented horror. Sex, magick and crime that becomes a mental labyrinth, a psychological game of horror that won’t let you put the book down even after you’ve read it. And that’s ok because a link at the end takes you to real life places and interactive games that put you in the terrifying place of the damned.Heidi King is the new voice of horrorThe twists and turns of the maze were exasperating but I was determined to reach the source of the noise. Then all at once I turned into a small clearing and saw Maria, completely naked. Her skin was ghostly white in the green lights that lit the labyrinth. Even then she was beautiful. She kept digging a small hole, oblivious to my presence. I walked up to her and said,“Maria,” and gently touched her elbow. I startled her. She jerked forward, towards me and tripped backwards into the hole she had been digging. I felt a deep chill and dark sense that I broken something I wasn’t supposed to touch. She squinted at me. “Matt?” she murmured.“No,” I said slowly. She looked disappointed. “Why are you digging?” I asked.She hesitated and looked around. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “Where am I?”Suddenly she stood straight up in the shallow hole and began frantically wiping the palm of her hand as though she were looking for some kind of answer there. She stopped just as quickly and raised her hand slowly to allow the light to catch some kind of symbol drawn on the palm of her hand. I saw her eyes widen in abject terror as if she was watching her own shocking death on the palm of her hand. I think she stopped breathing. Her mouth was wide open like she wanted to scream. She looked down at her body. She began running her hands up her bare thighs to her vagina. I saw something odd there and Maria’s expression changed from horror to disgust, like she was about to vomit. I tried to grasp what could possibly be protruding from between her legs. It slowly started oozing out covered in blood. It dropped to the ground. It was a bulbous vial full of what must have only been blood.Her eyes looked like they would bulge out of the sockets. She collapsed in a hysterical fit and began to scream. I reached down to comfort her but she only screamed louder, transgressing into semi-coherent ranting in English and Spanish. “Rip the zipper, separate my flesh, she won’t be born… yellow, yellow, yellow teeth!” Over and over again convulsing wildly until all at once she passed out. I wrapped her in the red rain jacket I had come to The Lost and Found for. Suddenly Mike appeared out of the dark gloom and in a flurry of movement he scooped Maria up and whisked her into the passages of the labyrinth. A bizarre satyr carrying a limp maiden into the night best describes the unreal image etched into my eyes.“Did Dr. Stephen try to draw a symbol on your hand? Where was Matt? Was it a syringe?” Over and over I would be asked these same questions by my friends, the families, the Panamanian police, but most of all I questioned myself. Over and over again, while I tried to forget, while I literally washed the splattered blood to remove all signs of the sick horror at The Lost and Found. I want to put this to rest and move on with my life even if I can never return to a completely normal life. So once and for all I am going to plunge into the dark corners of the garden of my memories. In the following pages I use the words of those involved; the blogs, the emails and personal diaries and when I have to; my words. With these pages I take the shovel and I will bury this tragedy forever. This is what happened.

Kid goes on a road trip and is chased by demons along the way.Jacko decides to leave his father whom he blames for ruining their once close-knit family. It's exciting for Jacko to go on a road trip as well as have some alone time to think. When he is violently attacked by a psychotic at a diner outside of Reno, Jacko accidentally flips into another world where those who influenced humanity millenniums ago are now retired. Too bad Jacko also attracts the attention of a black skinned demon; otherwise known as a hunter from the red lands. Once a demon gets a scent, it's for life. Brockwell reviews gave it 4 1/2 rings! Called it adventurous and a riot for the kids, but with just enough drama and historical reference for the slightly older crowd. Genre: Young Adult (or Teen) Epic Fantasy Ages recommendations: 12 - 25Publisher: Passionate Prose Ind.

Caleb faces possible jail time for using Clyde as a undeadly weapon. When he's exonerated with probation lasting a year, Caleb has to watch his every action. Tensions run high when after the death of Jade's only relatives, she must live with an undesirable foster family who are anything but what they seem. . . . Life gets complicated for everyone when the scientists responsible for the paranormal manifestation threaten a parellel world to Caleb's own. In a bid to stop the destruction of their world, while saving his own, Caleb must defend two peoples against the long arm of the Graysheets. Time begins to run against him when he discovers through an unlikely source that his friends have been given a drug that causes progressive insanity. Can he find the antidote in time to save them? To save Jade?

So often we don't realize what we have until we've lost it.During a weekend trip to save his failing marriage Donald discovers this truth after he and his wife are involved in an accident.A passionate love story about a young couple struggling to overcome the difficulties in their courtship and keep the faith.Caught in the aftermath of the Civil War and laboring to earn a living from the land, Ralph Wade’s life is in turmoil. Ralph finds solace in the company of a saloon girl after asking for Leann Clark’s hand in marriage only to be refused by her father. Leann doubts Ralph’s love when his involvement with the disreputable lady leads to a failed promise to court Leann and win her affection from a man with a job and regular income. Ralph Wade is caught in the struggle of rebuilding a productive life during reconstruction in rural Missouri. He works hard to farm several acres of land with limited funds and resources. Ralph desires to marry Leann Clark, the girl he has loved since boyhood, but Leann’s father will not consent to the marriage. John Clark says Leann is too young to wed at sixteen years old, and Ralph cannot support her. Ralph’s faith is tested when he ventures inside a saloon for solace in the bottle and meets a woman, Pearl, who finds him attractive. Pearl’s self-proclaimed boyfriend dislikes her attentions to Ralph and starts a brawl. His sheriff friend stops the fight and rescues him from the man’s anger. Conflict arises when Ralph breaks a promise to court Leann because of his relationship with the saloon girl and a problem she causes. Leann Clark is caught between her love for Ralph Wade and her father’s wishes. Leann desires to marry the love of her life, but her father refuses to give his consent. She doesn’t understand her father’s objections since he and her mother married at a young age. John Clark desires Leann to favor the attentions of a man with more means, but she cannot give her heart to anyone but Ralph. Her faith in Ralph’s love is tested when she learns of his involvement with a distributable woman, and he breaks a promise to her. She decides to find out for herself the reason behind Ralph’s broken promise and discovers the goodness of his heart. Leann’s best friend tries to separate her from Ralph, but she clings to her faith and belief in his love. Leann’s determination to discover the truth behind his broken promise leads to a stronger bond in their relationship. The novella introduces the characters and setting of the Wades of Crawford County series.