Word Count: 50000
Summary: Their goal is to make the world a better place. One billionaires’s obsession may turn their altruism into destruction. Jay Ecklund is desperate to belong somewhere. Rejected by his family and former employer, he really needs this job as a receptionist at an up-and-coming tech corporation. He’s astonished when he discovers the all-woman staff is secretly developing a portal capable of instantaneous transport to anywhere on Earth. Thrilled to be part of a company designing innovations to help others, Jay is excited when the machine is at last operational. But he worries about it falling into the wrong hands when an ambitious billionaire hell-bent on accumulating power makes a bid to get it…at any cost. Will the portal be used as a rescue device as intended, or will a relentless manipulator warp it to a more sinister purpose? The Arachne Portal is an electrifying standalone science fiction novel. If you like fast-paced adventures, phenomenal science, and thought-provoking themes, then you’ll love Joan Marie Verba’s compelling story. Buy The Arachne Portal to open a gateway to the future today!
Word Count: 80000
Summary: The kingdom of Somerlie has been in the grip of the evil overlord Tashtalon for over 500 years. No one has ever seen Tashtalon, but he puts the kingdom to sleep every night, and during the night, people disappear, never to be seen again. Gill has spent her life thinking these things could not possibly by changed, until strange events point her to the only thing that can defeat Tashtalon…a magical weapon called the Sword of Queens. To prevent its use, Tashtalon made a law saying that any woman wielding a sword will be put to death…and he enforces that law savagely. Can Gill summon the courage to find the sword and use it before Tashtalon kills her?
Word Count: Information not available
Summary: Everyone in Galactic Central watches The Movies. These wondrous stories come from a planet called Earth, where strange beings called humans do nothing but create them. One brave framadort converter risks all to go to Earth and become a Movie Star. He will face hunger and homelessness. He will confuse a fast food restaurant with a religion. He will be hunted by an Army General who thinks he is a communist. Nothing will stop Xanthan Gumm from achieving his ultimate goal; meeting the King of Earth - Steven Spielberg!
Word Count: 35000
Summary: Rollo is the overworked, stressed-out Head Elf at the North Pole. As he prepares for Christmas Eve, he has to deal with toys that look like they're having sex, terrorist reindeer, and worst of all, the sudden death of Santa Claus. Rollo has to save Christmas after he finds out that Santa is not just dead -- he is undead. 'Twas the Night is a novella of approximately 35,000 words. It is a satire and contains adult language and themes.
Word Count: 7500
Summary: Ousting this demon has nothing to do with holy water—it’s all about a steady hand on the dagger. Mary Evans’ blood pooling in the cobbled streets beneath her corpse symbolizes everything DuHarren hates about his contract with the demon Tamuel. After two and a half centuries of a lucrative, but usually boring and occasionally horrifying partnership, he wants to get out of the deal, and he doesn’t mind dying to do it. He fears only the prospect of Hell’s fiery brimstone. When Father Michael—a beautiful but angry green-eyed priest—performs the latest in a long line of failed exorcisms, the demon is intrigued, but so is DuHarren. Would the priest make a lover? Or better, dare he hope he might at last sever his ties to the demon and escape to a cool, quiet death? Note: By Lou Sylvre writing as Loretta Sylvestre. Lou Sylvre is known for romance and happy endings. Same writer, but beware: this isn't that.
Word Count: 38000
Summary: An Imperial prince can only hide for so long—but his solution of a hastily invented engagement could backfire spectacularly. Marsh Kensinger's work as the utility mechanic for Bremen Station keeps his life interesting - but never quite as interesting as finding a pilot still hidden inside a hibernation drawer in what should have been a salvage craft. He knows he shouldn't get involved, but the Altairian Imperial crest on the private craft and the semi-conscious pilot's odd questions pique his always-whirling curiosity. Still unattached at a concerning age for an imperial son, Prince Shiro Shinohara hadn't been running from the endless, mind-numbing rounds of omiai his mother, the Empress, had mandated. Not exactly. He'd just wanted a break from persistent suitors at the family retreat on Ceti Tau. The short respite becomes a panicked flight for his life when one of the suitors stalking him attacks the family compound. Worried for the soldiers he was forced to leave behind, afraid there's a conspiracy to kidnap him, Shiro confides in the handsome mechanic who found him and in a moment of panic, concocts the fiction of a serious relationship with Marsh. It's only until Shiro's people can reach him and he can press charges back home. Marsh is willing to play along and Shiro's just going to have to keep himself together and not, under any circumstances, fall for the wonderful, generous man who refuses to stop helping him.
Word Count: 52900
Summary: Havesskadi has won the Rainbow Award for Best Asexual Debut Book (2018-2019), and second place in the Best Asexual Book (Asexual – Contemporary, Fantasy and Paranormal Romance & Romantic Comedy | 2018-2019) category. The red dragon is hunting her own. Up in the icy peaks of the northern mountains, Orsie Havesskadi spends his days hiding from her, but eventually he is found and his dragon magic stolen. Cursed to wander the lands as a mortal unless he recovers his magic before twenty-four rising crescents have passed, Orsie embarks on an arduous journey. Spurred by the whispers in his mind, his quest takes him to a castle hidden deep in a forest. Arkeva Flitz, a skilled garrison archer, discovers an abandoned castle in the woods. Trapped there, he spends his days with his two companions, one cruel, the other soothing. One day, a young man arrives at his gates, and soon they are confined by heavy snowfalls and in danger from what slumbers in the shadows of the castle.
Word Count: 20000
Summary: Zeke is a hermit in his late forties who lives a quiet life in a small cabin in the Western Montana mountains, a few miles outside of Thompson Falls. He’s gotten used to being alone since the end of the world, and has everything he needs. Everything but someone to talk to. Nathan is a younger man on a cross-country trek, searching the country for someone... anyone still alive. Saddled with a ghost from his old life and a case of OCD, he stumbles upon Thompson Falls and a pack of rabid dogs. Rescued by Zeke, he has to figure out how to be human again. And with Christmas just a week away, both men have to figure out if there’s something left to be hopeful for, and if they might have a future together.
Word Count: 69504
Summary: The Prince of Shadows, the Jack of Shades or just plain Jack is a naughty boy, a good boy really but naughty all the same. There's nothing he likes better than a wrong to right. Hmm . . . let's start again . . . there's nothing he likes better than a willing man or woman for that matter, willing to get down and dirty with Jack. If he can right a wrong and get laid on the side then Jack is a very happy man. I say man but then do we really know who or what Jack is? Never mind he is still one of the good guys. Jack is a man with many shadows, many inhabitants as it were, and not all of them originating from this world. He has a problem. Part of him or is it one of him needs to go home and sort out things. It's going to be dangerous, it could be a one way trip but, what the heck, there could be a chance of getting it on with . . . . well that's to be seen. Available on Smashwords - free
Word Count: 77000
Summary: There are worlds out there with a past. A past that is only poorly understood. The Song worlds are in that category. What are they? Why are they? What do they tell us about the rest of us? Should we investigate them or should we avoid them? What if our world was visited by the Song? Maybe that is not strong enough. What if ours is the result of a visitation by the Song. More to the point, what if they achieved what they wanted with us? What if it all went wrong? What category does the world of Forest come under? The inhabitants there only number a few thousand and they face numerous perils. Were they ever visited by the Song? Shanlee the story teller has been given the world to investigate. What is she in for? She has other things on her mind. She left the love of her life behind when she took this investigation on. Will she be waiting for her when Shanlee returns home? If she returns home? The people of Forest, the Kekimelu, have been deserted by their spirits but have not lost their beliefs. A young song writer decides he is going to ask the Song's representative on Forest some hard questions. The answers he gets may not be what he hopes for.
Word Count: 36000
Summary:
“Wanna know what sucks most about an apocalypse? You don’t get to pick which kind you get!”
Surviving a worldwide plague can lead to unlikely alliances, especially in Hanning County.
It's hard enough for Ashley Korrs keep the tribe of young survivors alive and together, but the pressure is on to learn all she can from their unlikely sage, Toby Cracken, the handyman, before he succumbs to his mental decline. When Toby is snatched by a violent gang, Ashley must consider cozying up with old adversaries to rescue him. Adversaries like the notorious MacKenzie Tanner—a girl as manageable as a wolverine stuck in a water bucket with the lid on—and her twin outlaw boyfriends who may be the chaos needed to free Toby... if Ashley can keep the whole thing from going off the rails.
Dirty secrets are exposed as the truth comes to light in this story of small town reputations, rivalries, and survival.
“Rich with pulpy apocalyptic dysfunction, ‘gritty’ is not a raw enough description—put on your grown-up pants before taking this journey.”
Reader Advisory: This novella contains violence, explicit language, graphic sexual content, and gritty, adult situations; kinda like life.
Word Count: Information not available
Summary:
“Is blood thicker than water?”
The answer seems obvious until a half-millennium-old blood feud ignited between twin brothers of a 16th century Scottish Reiver clan revisits violence generation to generation, pursuing their descendants from island to island and finally onto a new continent ,where the familiar proverb is ultimately pitted against this fluid tale of guilt, blood, water, and time.
Rich with magical realism, Is Blood Thicker taps millennia-old folklore to spin a modern fable of love, pain, and family wisdom consumed by a lived code:
‘Drink, Pray, Fight, Feck’ … and a fox.
Word Count: Information not available
Summary: My kid, Romy, says I'm old and she's worried about me. What's to worry about... aside from Jordan, my ex? Really, she didn't have to come all the way home to check on me. It's all good—especially Nova, the girl at the drive-up coffee shop. I keep to my work and surfing the local breaks to keep her out of my head... But it doesn't work. Her perfect skin and brilliant hair crash through my mind and draw me to her—like a super-moon tide. There's something about her... Bodie Catalan knows second chances don't just happen after a hard life, wracked by mistakes. Every now and again, however, the universe throws down a wildcard. Drive-Up is a fabulist, sentimental, 21st century tale. It rides the beach breaks along the shores of several genres and connects the wildcard thrown to entangled, beach-bound lives and the inexorable tidal change that moves all that cross it. Dive into this tale and see what's been served at the Drive-Up.
Word Count: 37,000
Summary: Fate and a dragon unite two men in a battle for love, magic, the march of time, and holiday joy. ___________ In a time of tall-masted ships and hand-made lives, a Guardian and a sailor find true love and their fates in each other. But romance, and a future together must wait, for duty calls. In a battle against dragons, can they seize victory in time to rescue the magic of Darknight and deliver holiday joy to a world that can no longer find its own way? ____________ All Reo Faramund plans for the evening is to take his son Pariso to the Festival of Lights in Sailor’s Cove, their home when they’re not out to sea on the tall-masted merchant ship, Mighty Hawk. Then, in less than a blink, the festival, the town, and the life he knows all vanish. When they find themselves high on a wintry mountain, Reo fears for their lives until an extraordinary stranger comes out of the night to offer help. First Guardian Jael Kohlinor patrols high up on Mount Lucia’s flank, his sole purpose to make sure no Flatlanders find out about Lucia, a tiny country hidden in a fold of time where a dragon named Nicholas presides over a bloom of dragon eggs that yields gems and riches every Darknight solstice. Without the Darknight cache, Nicholas can’t deliver holiday wonders across time, and time itself will suffer the consequences. When Jael finds Reo and Pariso shocked and shivering in the winter cold on the night before Darknight, he contemplates wiping their memories and getting them off the mountain, which is what the need for secrecy dictates. But invisible bonds pull Jael toward Reo like fate, and defying all rules he takes the strangers in out of the cold. Unknown to anyone on Mount Lucia, strange and greedy dragons are already winging toward Lucia with plans to steal Nicholas’s wealth. Jael and Reo might have a future, a family, a fated love, but only if they can first save Darknight.
Word Count: 13000
Summary: Poems written by Cyborgs in the future, melding sci-fi and poetry, human and machine. The Cyborg Anthology takes place in a future where there was a thriving world of Robots and Cyborgs living peacefully beside Humans, but a disaster destroyed all Robot and most Cyborg life. The book is organized like a typical anthology of literature, split into sections that include a biography of each poet and a sample of their poetry. It covers early Cyborg poetry, political, celebrity, and pop culture poets, and ends with the next generation of Cyborg poets. The narrative takes place in the time after a cataclysmic event, and the collection wrestles with this loss. Through the lives of the poets, the book chronicles the history of personhood for technological beings, their struggle for liberation, and demonstrates different ways a person can be Cyborg. The poems and biographies together tell the story of a complex and enthralling world-to-come, exploring topics that are important in the future, and also urgent right now. “With mordant wit and a playful satiric touch, these Cyborg poems showcase a dazzling range of poetic forms and ideas: imaginative and charmingly subversive. Move over Norton Anthology of Poetry, there’s a new force in town, and they are a delight.” —Renée Sarojini Saklikar, author of Listening to the Bees and Children of Air India “The premise of this collection alone is fabulous. The poems are potent and powerful. With echoes of Le Guin, Brunner and Monáe, Lindsay B-e’s debut is layered and smart, provocative, and deeply satisfying. I was moved and fascinated. Speculative poetry at its best.” —Hiromi Goto, author of Chorus of Mushrooms and Darkest Light
Word Count: 65000
Summary: “Whenever someone asks me if I believe in heaven and hell, I tell them I don’t know about heaven, but on hell... I’m an expert.” On the eve of World War I, the Martians from the original H.G. Wells classic have returned to finish what they started, but this time humanity is ready. Armed with steam-powered battle machines created from reverse-engineered alien technology, the global defense force A.R.E.S. prepares for the coming conflict as tensions rise in Europe. Captain Eric Wells, an orphan of the first War of the Worlds, commands Earth's newest, most formidable weapon... the colossal battle tripod GOLIATH. Includes new and deleted scenes not included in the film. Based on the award-winning animated film from director Joe Pearson and Tripod Entertainment, starring Adrian Paul, Peter Wingfield, Elizabeth Gracen, Jim Byrnes, Beau Billingslea, Mark Sheppard, and Adam Baldwin. Adapted from the screenplay by David Abramowitz. 2015 Scribe Award Finalist (Best Adapted Novel Category)
Word Count: Information not available
Summary: "Everything I knew about the Were was wrong" A Were of no fixed form, a Random, able to Turn into any warm-blooded creature it sees... A young Random whose failure to Turn forces him into taking his destiny into his own hands and becoming full Lycan in the name of pride and fury, learning things he never thought were possible... A true Shifter, the wild card, Turning into anything he chooses at will... First Jazz Marsh Turns into something unprecedented, throwing her family and the Were authorities into a spin. Then her brother Mal, frustrated beyond reason by his own delayed Turn, takes matters into his own hands and chooses his own destiny, inflitrating the shadowy Lycan clan in order to help expiate his perceived guilt in his older sister's death. He's helped by his friend, Chalky, a true Shifter who is capable of Turning into anything he pleases unconstrained by the rules of Were kind. Together, they work to turn back a shattering tragedy, solve a conspiracy-shrouded mystery rooted in their own kind, and work to preserve their own existence against a rising tide of superstition and hatred. All they wanted to do, in the end, was save a life. Instead... they started a war.
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Summary: The Parada had been lost for almost two hundred years before they recovered the ship, drifting in stygian interstellar darkness, and brought her home again. But that was not the miracle. The miracle was that the crew was still alive. That was also the problem. Six crew members went out on the Parada, Earth’s first starship. All contact was lost, and the ship vanished for almost two centuries. When the Parada’s successor found the drifting ship and somehow managed to bring it home, the six crew members were not only still alive but barely older, due to the time dilation effects of near-FTL travel. Their return was a miracle – but it could not be revealed to the waiting world. The problem was, six individuals went out to the stars. More than seventy fractured personalities came back. Psychologist Stella Froud and Jesuit Father Philip Carter were recruited as part of the team assembled to investigate the mystery, and to try and help the Parada’s crew understand their condition and possibly reverse it. What they discovered was a deepening mystery, and very soon they found themselves forced to take sides in a conflict that nobody could have possibly predicted. Their world would never be the same again.
Word Count: 185000
Summary: Two families and their friends are sentenced to spend seven years of torture in the Tribulation. Their crime is not believing. Some of their members will choose to believe and accept salvation and some will try to fight God. The Remnant follows them through the Tribulation and into the perfect world that follows, a world that might not be perfect for everyone. The Remnant uses the timeline and cast of characters advocated by many Evangelicals, but populates the world that would result with real people who must try to survive the disasters.
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Summary: Emeline’s quiet village has three important rules: Don’t look at the shadows. Don’t cross the river. And don’t enter the forest. An illustrated fantasy filled with beauty and power, Between the Water and the Woods sweeps you into a world where forests are hungry; knights fight with whips; the king is dying; and a peasant girl’s magic will decide the future of the realm . . . When Emeline’s little brother breaks all three of their village’s rules, she is forced to use her family’s forbidden magic to rescue him from the dark things he awakens, the Ithin. Now that the Ithin are afoot in the land, she must, by law, travel to the royal court and warn the king. But the only way she and her family can make the journey to the capital is with the protection of a sour magister and a handsome, whip-wielding Lash Knight. Will Emeline survive in a city where conspiracies swirl like smoke and her magic is all but outlawed? Seven full-page black-and-white illustrations accompany Between the Water and the Woods, a lush, fairy-tale-style fantasy perfect for readers of Karen Cushman and Shannon Hale.
