Against a background of modern corporate culture and a tragic death, this bitter-sweet comedy weaves stories of love and relationships, ambition and folly.Rob Hamilton, a disaffected insurance lawyer, and Toni Haast, a quietly ambitious claims clerk, are sent to Exmouth, a small town on New Zealand's West Coast, to investigate the suspicious death of Artemis Washburn. On family holidays in Exmouth, Rob's father had filled his young son's mind with ideas of the fifth season - the time when things don't quite fit, like rain when it's sunny. As they delve into the truth behind Artemis's death and their relationship develops, Rob and Toni glimpse life in the fifth season. Meanwhile, back in Wellington, the gilded life of Andy Wu, the Dependable Insurance Company’s stellar CEO, starts to tarnish. Can his marriage to Samantha survive his jealousy of Owen Huntly, top salesman and Lothario? Against a background of modern corporate culture and a tragic death, this bitter-sweet comedy weaves stories of love and relationships, ambition and folly.

"The trouble with cat people is that they cater and spoil the little beasts.You have to be firm. Set limits." Or so Dylan, a deaf writer in Ohio, believes when he accepts an invitation to cat-sit for a friend in Brooklyn. But Milord is no ordinary cat, and what should be a blissful week in the city soon turns into interspecies war. A humorous story by Sandra McDonald, who is owned by many cats."The trouble with cat people is that they cater and spoil the little beasts. You have to be firm. Set limits." Or so Dylan, a deaf writer in Ohio, believes when he accepts an invitation to cat-sit for a friend in Brooklyn in return for a week's free lodging. Soon enough he realizes Milord's no ordinary cat. Not only does he need extraordinary catering to his every whim, but he's very adept at making his displeasure known if Dylan doesn't obey. Soon the two are at war--and only one can win. A humorous story by the award-winning author Sandra McDonald, who herself has many cats.

The Safety Dance ... to some a forgotten pop hit from the 1980s ... to Crispin it signifies more: a whole lot more. In his quest to uncover the hidden secret of The Safety Dance he will encounter ridicule, despair, dwarves, and the psychotic denizens of an obscure English town. Read on if you dare...Shakespeare called his play ‘Richard III’ a tragedy. Its centre is the disappearance of 12 year-old Prince Edward and 10 year-old Prince Richard, the sons of King Edward IV, from the care of their uncle, King Richard III. Shakespeare and history accuse Richard of murdering the Princes, within months of their father’s death, in April 1483, but in each century since, starting in the 1490s, there have been dissenting voices.By 2012 many millions of words have been written about what happened to the Princes, yet no-one has ever offered a satisfactory or complete explanation, at least not until now. The problem with the explanation is it has magic at its heart, the magic of the necromancer, and historians won’t allow themselves to believe in magic.Amongst all the fantasy of Horror and Sci-Fi on our bookshelves there is room for a little medieval High Magic; the more so since it may be true.The author and narrator does undertake psychic investigations, as mentioned in the book. The Arthur Findlay College at Stansted Hall, where the story opens, is a World centre for psychic studies and mediumship. Does it matter whether The Necromancer is a true story or fiction? If you accept there is no such thing as ‘single-pointed reality,’ there are many different realities, that miracles and other impossibilities are a good deal more common than people think, and that what people believe is what really matters; you may conclude simply The Necromancer is a good story.Because this is an interactive eBook you have free access to the full text of three important books of history, not to mention the Odyssey, two major books on magic and many other materials. In all there are 54 hyperlinks to relevant pages on the Internet.Leave historical authority and extended backgrounds to the hyperlinks. They allow you and the author to get on with the story in all its twists and turns. The strengths and weaknesses of historical figures are shown; the character of the little known Thomas Nandyke, the necromancer, is brought to light and brought to life.If you’re hooked, and you will be, Parts II & III go on to put right the world we live in, they deal with King Louis XI and bishop Morton; Part III restores Hastings and Rivers, not to mention the Princes, of whom there are three, including Richard III’s own son.As is usual with Mike Voyce, this story stands on the boundary between Truth and Fiction; it’s as true as you want it to be. If you take the insights into the nature of realities, the ‘After Word on Truth,’ right at the very end of the whole book, will clear the mists which still seem to cloud our own world.

What would you do if your novel came alive?When Your Novel Strikes Back is a silly story made up of nonsense, random thoughts, and character torture.Heather, Ally, and Ayesha were just three aspiring writers who wanted to write the next great novel. Little did they know that the computer they were using to write it on was no ordinary computer. This computer brought stories to life!Now their creations are roaming the streets, they're being dragged into the story they created, and the only way to stop what's happening is to complete the novel.With the help of the handsome Daniel Evans - a five novel veteran - and the characters they created; Heather, Ally, and Ayesha try to work through every obstacle the computer throws at them, while trying to finish what they started.When Your Novel Strikes Back is a silly story made up of nonsense, random thoughts, and character torture.

Life manifests as an ovegrown, petulant baby, whilst melancholy flirts dangerously with an identity crisis.Michael Tomatoes, artist, sculptor and manic-depressive, is a man at pains to discover the nature of self, even if that means being someone else. A tool of fate, he sticks his fingers in the electric socket of life and wonders about suffering and loss. Is his obsession with numbers the result of a robotic condition, metal under the skin, or a paranoic attempt to decipher the intricacies of a more mundane and human predicament? That is: breathing, sucking in and blowing out all those other selves that compose a reality at once familiar and strange.

They've taken on the grocery store, gone head-to-head with Santa and the Tooth Fairy. They've even challenged democracy itself. Now John, Chris and Erik of the best-selling Dumb White Husband short stories will join forces to battle the undead. Do these three men have what it takes to survive when the dead rise from their graves? They're kind of dumb. So probably not. It all begins on a Monday...They've taken on the grocery store. They've gone head-to-head with Santa and the Tooth Fairy. They've even challenged democracy itself. Now John, Chris and Erik of the best-selling Dumb White Husband short stories will join forces to battle the undead.Well, join forces is being pretty generous. Especially since they hate each other. That's why the HOA forced them to bowl together in the first place. So, let's say they're thrown together and forced to survive the zombie apocalypse. Do these three men have what it takes to survive when the dead rise from their graves? They're separated from their families. They're forced to work together. They're kind of dumb. So probably not. It all begins on a Monday--the first installment in the Dumb White Husbands vs. Zombies mini-series.Part 1 of Dumb White Husbands vs. Zombies.Also available in the collected edition Dumb White Husbands vs. Zombies: The Zomnibus including the 6 stories Dumb White Husbands vs. Zombies: Monday - The Weekend.

Die for love. How many poems, how many romantic fantasies these words have been able to elicit. But when a cruel fate makes them real, then languid yearnings become a grotesque, delirious reality. The protagonist is left the hard task of finding a meaning to what fate has reserved for him. To come out a winner, standing on his feet, or with his legs stretched forward.Blue Boy Crumpets lives with his family in the land of clouds. No one from the land below can see Blue Boy, but he can see them. He loves watching the children play, and longs to go there. One day, his cousin tells him a secret. "You can go to the land below. I will show you how if you dare to go." Blue Boy is afraid, but his desire to visit the land below is greater than his fear. So he jumps on a snowflake and tumbles downward. Down and down he goes, fearing for his life as one snowflake after the other melts, and then he lands on the perfect snowflake that carries him safely to his destination. What he encounters on the land below is not at all what he expects. Instead of children, there are tiny men with pointed ears and funny hats. And he has to work! Blue Boy is no stranger to work, so he does his best to do a good job. He even has a lot of fun. But he soon becomes homesick. Will he ever get home again?

Archibald is clouded and hungover on his start to the day. He misses vital clues around him about the dangers which are waiting for him outside of the house. They are dangers which have all been put in place by his wife Janet, who is looking forward to finally having the perfect life without him around. Thanks to her local crime consortium connections, all it will take is the push of a plunger.After another night of heavy drinking, Archibald fails to notice some important clues around him as he faces up to the daily grind again. They are clues which would have warned him of impending danger. His wife Janet however, is feeling on top of the world with everything in place to take care of some important household business. But her devious master-plan to make sure that Archibald never finds his way back home again fails dramatically because of extenuating events.

Her tall, dark, and deliciously dangerous boss . . .When the delightful, daffy Dog Lady of station WZZZ offered to take on the temporary job of traffic reporter, Steve Crow tried to think of reasons to turn Daisy Adams down. Perhaps he knew that sharing the close quarters of a car with her for hours would give the handsome program director no room to resist her quirky charms. He'd always favored low-slung sportscars and high-heeled women, but that was before he fell for a free spirit who caught crooks by accident, loved old people and pets, and had just too many jobs! Loving Daisy turned Steve's life upside down, especially once he adopted Bob, a huge dog masquerading as a couch potato. But was Daisy finally ready to play for keeps?

Recently divorced actor Stephen C. McQueen (no relation, unfortunately) seems to have a knack for bad luck. But a failed marriage, a stalled career, a judgmental ex-wife, a distant daughter, a horrid little studio apartment in the far reaches of the London suburbs–all these pathetic elements seem to pale in the chiseled face of his newest tormentor: the Twelfth Sexiest Man in the World, Josh Harper. Josh is the star of Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know, a biographical play about Lord Byron–and Stephen is his understudy. Not only is Josh fantastically, infuriatingly good-looking, internationally renowned, and remarkably talented, he’s also frustratingly healthy. No matter how many all-night booze-and-coke benders Josh goes on, he always shows up at the stage door for his call like clockwork. Stephen doubts he’ll ever get his chance to slip on the puffy shirt and tight breeches of Byron and tread the boards in the role that would certainly be the break he’s always waited for. And just when Stephen’s sure he couldn’t resent Josh more, he meets Josh’s witty, restless American wife, Nora . . . and discovers he likes her a little too much. Another man might curse his luck at finding that his potential dream woman is a rival’s wife, but at this point, Stephen would expect nothing else. Caught between his stirring feelings for Nora, the demands of an insistent and secretive Josh, and his lifelong desire for a real career in show business, Stephen must make a terrible decision: Will it be the girl or the fame? A hapless, bumbling bloke in love, an arrogant megastar with a potpourri of addictions, a sexy married woman out of her element in the fast lane–David Nicholls brings them all together in this knockout romantic comedy.

Apparently naive but subtly impertinent letters to Generals, Politicians, Journalists, Wingnuts and Chickenhawks.Disgracefully rude letters to Joe Biden, Hilary Clinton, Christopher Hitchens, Noam Chomsky, Rupert Murdoch, Donald Trump, General Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld and many more.

Norma L is a seventh grade student at Haywood Middle School. She sees herself as somewhere between a complete oddball and Wonder Woman. Join her as she navigates through a crazy world of teenage cliques, gossip, bullies, best friends, first loves, jealousy, pain, joy, and triumph. Her life is anything but ordinary--and her world is truly extraordinary.There were four Normas in Mr. Spinoza’s seventh grade English class. One was the POPULAR Norma–you know the type–chews gum constantly, can’t shut up, knows everyone. One was the ATHLETIC Norma–coordinated, graceful, great at everything. One was the absolutely flawless and BEAUTIFUL Norma–thirteen going on nineteen. And one was the ODDBALL Norma–thirteen going on twelve. Guess which Norma I was?

Former Denver homicide cop Michael Ferris hunts for the murderer of a car salesman. Sequel to Upside Down. The Michael Ferris mysteries feature fictional Colorado characters with liberal viewpoints, the conversations are food for thought, not necessarily the author's true beliefs. The story is set in 2013. The 1/1/2014 publish date commemorates Colorado's historic milestone.An assassin foiled, a wicked step-brother beaten at his own game, Growing pains of the young and old, a woman’s desperate attempt to escape an undesirable relationship, a man’s struggle with a relationship lost, a not so victorious battle with a big fish, a lineman’s war duty, and a poignant mermaid’s tale. In this collection of short stories there’s something for everyone, including romance, suspense, comedy, history, drama and fantasy, showcasing eleven of Bluewood Publishing’s established authors and offering a taste of their creative delights to tempt the reader’s appetite.

Mr. Whiskers is dead. All Laney had to do was feed the cat. Too bad she hadn't known there was a cat. But an obscure spell contains the power to grant life. Just because she botches the simplest of spells doesn't mean she can't control complicated magic, right? After struggling through the spell, they find that giving Mr. Whiskers a tenth life turns out to be more than they bargain for.Mr. Whiskers is dead—muerto—shuffled off his mortal coil. All Laney had to do was watch the store and feed the cat. Too bad she hadn't known there was a cat.She has a plan though. An obscure spell contains the power to grant life, only long enough to save her job, and her vacation in Paris. Just because she botches the simplest of spells doesn't mean she can't control complicated magic, right?The mysterious new guy at school, Kody, goes along for the ride; providing emotional support and, well, let's be honest, he's just hot.After struggling through the spell—when nothing seems to be going right—they find that giving Mr. Whiskers a tenth life turns out to be more than they bargained for.

When a local kid's TV show personality and his seven trained dachshunds get kicked to the curb in favor of generic PBS programming, the discovery of a hotdog-man suit in a fast food dumpster leads to a new career as a costumed crime fighter (hey, dogs have to eat). And will the lady in his life discover his secret? Okay, let's admit it - there is no lady in his life - just lots of mooched wifi.Danny Callaway knows who killed his sister. His testimony sends Kevin Green to prison, but did he really do it? Kevin enters prison innocent, but emerges a hardened criminal bent on revenge. Soon the people Danny loves start dying. Danny must finish the job he started years ago, even if it means sacrificing a second chance at love.Review"A tale of failed justice, vengeance, and love. A wrongful conviction spawns death down through the years. Both tragic and hopeful, Two Wrongs engages the reader's emotions. I very much enjoyed TWO WRONGS." -- Barbara D’Amato is a past president of Mystery Writers of America and of Sisters in Crime, author of the Cat Marsala mystery series, as well as several standalone novels."The author vividly describes the conflict between love and revenge that threatens to tear apart the main character in TWO WRONGS. She does an excellent job of swinging between the two main viewpoints and captures the changes in the characters as they progress from young men to mature adults. She never focuses too long on either character so the tension is not lost, bringing the reader along for the ride. The research is unobtrusive to the plot line and the detailing of Chicago settings give a veracity to the story." -- Martha Powers is a freelance editor, author of the thrillers, Sunflower & Bleeding Heart, as well as several romance novels.