A Jack Scarlet adventure! Jack decides to "find himself" with a solo trek through the jungle. Unfortunately, a team of murderous mercenaries wants to find him too. Think your day got off to a bad start? It is nothing compared to Jack's! The coffee is hot and the action is hotter! Get your bullets for breakfast starting: Now!Sixfold is an all-writer-voted journal. All writers who upload their manuscripts vote to select the highest-voted $1000 prize-winning manuscripts and all the short stories and poetry published in each issue.In Sixfold Poetry Summer 2014: Anne Rankin-Kotchek | Letter to the World from a Dying Woman & other poemsSara Graybeal | Ghetto City & other poemsTee Iseminger | Construction & other poemsLisa Beth Fulgham | After They Sold the Cows... & other poemsMary Mills | The Practical Knowledge of Women & other poemsMonika Cassel | Waldschatten, Muttersprache & other poemsMichael Fleming | To a Fighter & other poemsDaniel Stewart | January & other poemsJohn Glowney | Cigarettes & other poemsHannah Callahan | The Ptarmigan Suite & other poemsLee Kisling | How the Music Came to My Father & other poemsJose A. Alcantara | Finding the God Particle & other poemsDavid A. Bart | Veteran’s Park & other poemsGreg Grummer | War Reportage & other poemsRande Mack | rat & other poemsJ. K. Kitchen | Anger Kills Himself & other poemsJim Pascual Agustin | The Man Who Wished He Was Lego & other poemsJessica M. Lockhart | Scylla of the Alabama & other poemsJames P. Leveque | Three Films of Jean Painlevé & other poemsKelsey Charles | Autobiography & other poemsTherese L. Broderick | Polly & other poemsLane Falcon | Touch & other poemsRicky Ray | The Bird & other poemsPhoebe Reeves | Every Petal & other poemsDavid Livingstone Fore | Eternity is a very long time... & other poemsTim Hawkins | Northern Idyll & other poemsAbigail F. Taylor | On the Pillow Where You Lie & other poemsJoey DeSantis | Baby Names & other poemsCameron Price | Every Morning & other poemsDavid Walker | Sestina for Housesitting & other poemsHelen R. Peterson | Ablaut & other poems

Sent to Serbia to investigate the murder of a colleague, a British secret agent is caught in a life-and-death struggle between the Communists and a band of underground Royalists called the White Eagles. A 1950s spy novel from the author of The Alexandria Quartet.

A beautiful forensic engineer hiding a tragic past reluctantly teams up with a troubled cop to stop a serial arsonist targeting churches.A beautiful forensic engineer hiding a tragic past reluctantly teams up with a troubled cop to stop a serial arsonist targeting churches. Dr. Anja Toussaint believes that her own dreadful youth foretells who the arsonist is and the shocking motive behind the fires. But Detective Gil Dolan stubbornly sets his sights on a white supremacist previously convicted of arson and just released from prison. Unfortunately, when Anja blocks his efforts the arrogant cop sets his own plan into motion that leads them both into a fiery trap.* Please note: Fire Sign is a novella and about one quarter the length of regular novel.For more info on upcoming books in this series check out https://www.mapetterson.com

A Wall Street Journal and Booklist Best Mystery of 2012 From the acclaimed author of The Gone-Away World, blistering gangster noir meets howling absurdist comedy as the forces of good square off against the forces of evil, and only an unassuming clockwork repairman and an octogenarian former superspy can save the world from total destruction. Joe Spork spends his days fixing antique clocks. The son of infamous London criminal Mathew “Tommy Gun” Spork, he has turned his back on his family’s mobster history and aims to live a quiet life. That orderly existence is suddenly upended when Joe activates a particularly unusual clockwork mechanism. His client, Edie Banister, is more than the kindly old lady she appears to be—she’s a retired international secret agent. And the device? It’s a 1950s doomsday machine. Having triggered it, Joe now faces the wrath of both the British government and a diabolical South Asian dictator who is also Edie’s old arch-nemesis. On the upside, Joe’s got a girl: a bold receptionist named Polly whose smarts, savvy and sex appeal may be just what he needs. With Joe’s once-quiet world suddenly overrun by mad monks, psychopathic serial killers, scientific geniuses and threats to the future of conscious life in the universe, he realizes that the only way to survive is to muster the courage to fight, help Edie complete a mission she abandoned years ago and pick up his father’s old gun . . .

No one could understand why Colin and Roy were best friends. Colin was so shy; Roy was so popular. Colin was nervous around girls; Roy was a ladies’ man. Colin was fascinated by Roy — and Roy was fascinated with death. Then one day Roy asked his timid friend, “You ever killed anything?” And from that moment on, the two were bound together in a game too terrifying to imagine… and too irresistible to stop. Includes an afterword by the author.

A dark tale in every sense of the word. Some actions we take take little to no thought, and then there are those things we do which take more planning than anyone suspected.www.banocanut.comThis is free sample of a collection of legends and short stories from the world of The Serpent and the Unicorn. Strange, funny, sad, touching, varied are the tales found within.

Mississippi, 1951: The last place any sane man wants to visit is Thebes State Penal Farm. Of the few who make the journey there, even fewer return. But when an old friend disappears inside Thebes, ex-Marine and Arkansas State Police Sgt. Earl Swagger takes a personal interest in the case. As he infiltrates the prison, what he experiences defies his wildest nightmares -- a savage world where death is the only salvation. As tough as he is, Swagger barely escapes with his life -- and his mind -- intact. But he's not going to stay away for long. Recruiting six of the hardest, deadliest gunmen ever known, bloody vengeance is soon at hand. Because Earl Swagger is going back to Thebes.

When Keaton—a champion of the swordsman's circuit—falls in love with a promising up-and-comer in the female "Fox" division, he begins training her in hopes she will survive her upcoming fights. Keaton's own training falls by the wayside, and with a title defense against a murderous new contender hanging over his head, he must make the choice between his crown, his love, or his life.Then the Order doctors were worrying after Rosetta, and Keaton stepped back to let them tend to her wounds. Representatives for the various Parchments and Speakers asked him questions and he answered. Yes, he and Rosetta were in a relationship. Yes, he was very impressed with her performance. Yes, he was very prepared for his fight with Mantis.It worried him that this last felt like a lie.“What do you think about the announcement,” one of the writers asked, “that Rosetta is set to fight the Queen of Foxes in just over a month?”Keaton was confused. “Doesn’t the Queen have at least one more fight between now and then?” he asked. “Rosetta should have at least 12 weeks preparation time.”"Shinen was next in line, but she was injured in training,” the writer said. “Rosetta is stepping in to replace her. What do you think of the match up?”Keaton felt cold. “I think Rosetta is ready for anything,” he said.This also felt like a lie.Keaton looked through the mob of people and stared at Rosetta. She was sitting on a stool, eyes closed as the Order doctor stitched up her arm. She looked so small sitting there.He had to train her, and he had to beat Mantis. So he would do both.If that was even possible.

Olympia is a high-powered New York advertising executive with perhaps the chance of a lifetime when she lands the biggest account of her life - the new Cognix synthetic reality promotion. The stress, however, is killing her, and she desperately needs relief from the distraction of everything and everyone around her...First novella in the #1 best-selling Atopia Chronicles series! Olympia is a high-powered New York advertising executive with perhaps the chance of a lifetime when she lands the biggest account of her life - the new Cognix synthetic reality promotion. The stress, however, is killing her, and she desperately needs relief from the distraction of everything and everyone around her. All of the Atopia stories are 'sidequels' that begin at the same moment, running side by side in time, so that you can start by reading any of them and then read the others in any order you choose to slowly reveal the mystery and terrifying danger that connects them all.

CIA paramilitary operations officer Harry Nichols had brought his team to Ciudad del Este for a single purpose: eliminating Jean-Claude Manet, aka Ramzi bin Abdullah, the former head of al-Qaeda operations in Europe.It was supposed to be simple. But there's nothing simple about killing a man.From best-selling author Stephen England comes NIGHTSHADE, a new stand-alone short story in the Shadow Warriors series, predating the events of Pandora's Grave by several years."He wasn't supposed to be here. None of them were. That wasn't unusual--he'd spent well over ten years of his life going places he wasn't supposed to go, doing things he wasn't supposed to do. "CIA paramilitary operations officer Harry Nichols had brought his team to Ciudad del Este for a single purpose: eliminating Jean-Claude Manet, aka Ramzi bin Abdullah, the former head of al-Qaeda operations in Europe.It was supposed to be simple. But there's nothing simple about killing a man.

Determined to halt China’s increasing dominance, forces within Russia and the U.S. push the three countries to the edge of war, with Michael Anderson once more drawn into a conspiracy of deceit. The U.S. President’s grip on events rapidly spirals out of control, Philippine protests over China's militarisation of the South China Sea turning the Midterm elections into a chaotic scramble for power.Determined to halt China’s increasing dominance to the east and south, forces within Russia and the United States push the three countries to the edge of war...Warned of a terrorist attack, the target unknown, Michael Anderson is once more drawn into a conspiracy of deceit, struggling to understand the complex games played out across three continents. His focus moves from London to Washington, the U.S. Midterm elections turning into a chaotic scramble for power as the American President’s grip on events at home and abroad rapidly spirals out of control.In the South China Sea, Philippine protests over China’s creeping militarisation of the Spratly Islands escalate into a series of clashes, the United States’ apparent unwillingness to protect her old ally provoking an angry reaction on the streets of Washington. With Beijing and Moscow both seeking to take advantage of the internal battles within the White House, the fight for supremacy over the disputed islands threatens the President’s own survival.Set seventeen months after the events of The Will of the People, the story brings together many of the characters from the first novel and forms the second part of the Conspiracy Trilogy.

Rosie gets involved in a police investigation that alters her plans for life considerably.A young girl grows up in an environment that leads her to become a part of a large company while still in her youth. This company does it's best to help anyone out there who is suffering and has no one to turn to. Rosie and her partner are stationed in Austin, Texas, trying to do their job, while Rosie learns a something surprising about herself.

Stop. Look. Listen.But don’t you dare inquire any further.You don’t want to see what I’ve seen.You don’t want to know what I know.Xavier Prince, Louis/Hugh Keaton and Serena Tennyson are dead but their legacy of belligerence, unpredictability and ruthlessness cast a large, dark shadow of uncertainty over the lives of those that were left behind.Atlanta has paid a heavy price and now lies in ruins. And the country that all three loved so much teeters ever closer to the edge of an abyss from which it may never fully recover.And yet, the worse is still to come.Dr. Angel Hicks Dupree and Thomas Pepper have learned the Whirlwind’s secrets—all of her secrets.The two of them have discovered a plot far more calculating, harrowing and audacious than anyone of them would have possibly imagined.And they already be too late to stop it.Exposing the truth about the Whirlwind may be the one thing that sets it free.

Christmas 1951, Los Angeles: a city where the police are as corrupt as the criminals. Six prisoners are beaten senseless in their cells by cops crazed on alcohol. For the three LAPD detectives involved, it will expose the guilty secrets on which they have built their corrupt and violent careers. The novel takes these cops on a sprawling epic of brutal violence and the murderous seedy side of Hollywood. One of the best crime novels ever written, it is the heart of Ellroy's four-novel masterpiece, the LA Quartet, and an example of crime writing at its most powerful.