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A small town hides a savage mystery someone is killing to protect. A mild-mannered drifter carries a deadly secret that leaves slaughter in his wake. They clash at a remote bus stop on the way to nowhere, with time to kill. * * * * * The legend of the flesh-eating wolf-people that live in the mountains has preyed upon a remote Montana town for years. People go missing, presumed dead, suspected eaten alive. Though the myth is considered silly superstition to most residents, someone or something is killing to protect the truth. A mild-mannered drifter named Merrick, a haunted man with his own brutal, deadly secret, passes through the town, accidentally setting in motion a chain of events that will bring the town’s bizarre mysteries to light. When a fearless and feisty young waitress named Kat offers her help, she and Merrick fall into the murderous crosshairs of entities who eliminate anyone that threatens their agenda. On a forested mountain, far from anyone who can hear them scream, Merrick, Kat, and their allies are hunted in an unholy ritual, where the game is survival and the prize is life. But not all who are hunted are easy prey. Something else that no one counted on, something powerful and savage that can kill with the swipe of its clawed hand, also stalks the mountain. In the light of the sacrificial fire, the bloodthirsty hunters will face an unfathomable killing machine in a showdown that pits monster against monstrosity. |
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Have You Decided on Your Question: A Novelette by Lyndsey Croal If you could live your life over again, what would you ask to change? Something big? Something small? A single moment? Have you decided on your question? Zoe has. Tired of feeling alone and lost, Zoe seeks out an experimental virtual therapy experience from Alternative Reality Tech, which offers patients the opportunity to explore life's biggest "what if?" questions via virtual reality. During her first assessment, Zoe glimpses a past in which she would have met the love of her life years ago, if not for a split-second decision. Wanting to find out more about what could have been, she returns regularly to her alternative life, slowly falling in love with the man she should have met. And so begins a dangerous obsession... |
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A Vision of Air by Nico Silver A sinister magical plot could destroy order in the Nine Monarchies. Foiling that plot could destroy something even more precious. The only seer born to the bird folk in seven generations, Fionn has spent his entire life in an impenetrable, remote abbey, learning to control his visions and to heal the sick. He has never met his parents, has never even seen another of his people, and has never known anything beyond the strict order within the abbey walls. When Kiernan, the half-human son of the forest Sidhe, is sent on a secret mission to the abbey, he finds himself trapped within the walls. He is blinded, weakened, and stripped of his magic—and forced to rely on seer-healer Fionn for everything. To the Sidhe, the bird folk are lesser beings, thought to be barbaric and barely civilized. But Kier doesn’t know Fionn is one of them, and he finds himself attracted the gentle young man he can’t even see. When Kier remembers his mission to foil a plot that threatens both his life and Fionn’s, he has to choose: save the young man he is coming to care about, or carry out the vital mission he was sent for, even if it means losing Fionn. |
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Stop me if you’ve heard this one: A werewolf walks into an art gallery… Raine is happy running her small art gallery and frame shop, and flirting with the handsomest customers. She doesn’t want anything permanent, let alone a relationship that comes with built-in issues before it even starts. But when Thorstein walks into her gallery, looking like a giant blond Viking and acting like he’s afraid he’ll break something, she finds herself wanting to put him at ease. Except Thorstein’s life is not his own, because he’s not only a werewolf, he’s a berserker, and his father has kept him on a magical leash, used him as an enforcer, for nearly a century. To escape his father’s control and take back his life, Thorstein and Raine will have to ask the one person Thorstein has been unable to face for decades, a man he nearly killed under their father’s direction, and who has every reason to hate him: his younger brother Magne. And if Magne won’t help, then there may be no future for Thorstein and Raine. And even if he will, it could be too late. |
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Her family was murdered. His has disowned him. Can they make a new life together? Su’s vampire lover survived having a demon trapped in his head, at the expense of their relationship. Now she’s left to continue investigating her parents’ murder—and her little sister’s disappearance—without his help. Fortunately, Su’s sexy werewolf neighbor is there to fill in. But Magne has his own problems. His witchy girlfriend has dumped him, and his family is ready to cut him loose, too, unless he starts doing what they want. But that would mean betraying everything he believes is good and right. Can one fox shifter who still hasn’t regained her memories, and one werewolf who has memories he’d rather forget, join forces to find Su’s sister and create a new life for all of them? |
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Brother of Demons by Nico Silver The voice in Evgeny’s head should have been silenced, but it’s not. Instead, it’s getting stronger… A demon born of the slaughter of innocents lies imprisoned inside Evgeny’s mind. It’s supposed to be quiet, dissolved back into the ghost-memories of which it was made, but lately those ghosts are stirring, causing nightmares. And worse, the demon is reconstructing itself. The year-round carnival on Wonder Island seems an unlikely source of help, but it hides a community of non-humans and magical beings, some stranger—and more dangerous—than Evgeny or his demon. The island also hides a building far older than it should be, a building that houses secrets known to only a few. A building that can contain Evgeny safely while he battles the demon in his head. If he can’t subdue the evil presence by absorbing the horrors it’s made of, Evgeny will lose more than his mind; he’ll also lose his body and everyone he cares for. And even if he can defeat the demon, he will not emerge unscathed… |
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Heir of Witches by Nico Silver What if the secret to her best friend’s happiness is the source of her own worst fear? Su made the ultimate sacrifice to save her lover from a fate worse than death: she allowed her witch friend Alex to bind her fox-self as a familiar, tying their powers together, with Alex holding the leash. Alex is willing to reverse the binding, but she doesn’t know how, and neither do the other witches she knows, so they’ll have to travel overseas in search of the one person who might have the answer: the legendary, and possibly entirely mythical, Witch of the Hexenwald. But Alex has her own motive in seeking the witch, who just happens to be her ancestor: she wants to learn, to become the strongest witch she can be. But doing so could put her firmly on the side of keeping Su bound. Because foxes make excellent witches’ familiars, and hexenfuchs like Su make the best familiars of all… |
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They’re trying to stop an abomination, but the solution might be worse than the problem… After saving half the other community from a vampire cabal that wanted to experiment on them, Su and Evgeny really deserve their happily ever after. Unfortunately, some of the very people they rescued—a group of witches that includes Su’s ex-lover—see Evgeny as an abomination for his mix of witch and vampire heritage. They unleash an ancient evil on him, intending to use it as a weapon against him. Instead, the evil gains sentience and becomes a sort of demon, and it has its own motive: to take over Evgeny’s body by taking over his mind. Su will have to convince her ex-lover to help her new lover, but it could mean that Su will lose her own freedom in trying to save Evgeny’s, because to be strong enough to face the demon, she’ll have to join her power to Alex’s. And the process may be irreversible… |
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Daughter of Foxes by Nico Silver She’s one of those things that goes bump in the night; if only she knew what kind of thing that was… When Su met Evgeny, he was a newborn vampire fleeing a mad scientist maker, and she was something not entirely human with no memory of her past. They’re happy spending their days trying to figure out where each of them came from, and how they best fit together in bed, when Evgeny vanishes, stolen by a vampire cabal that wants to use his rare ability to metabolize witch blood to make themselves invincible. Rescuing her new lover from a secret research facility seems to be an impossible task, but Su might just be an impossible creature, and if she fails, Evgeny’s best case scenario is to become a mindless blood filter. The worst case scenario is unthinkable… |
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The Babel Apocalypse by Vyvyan Evans Language is no longer learned, but streamed to neural implants regulated by lang-laws. Those who can't afford language streaming services are feral, living on the fringes of society. Big tech corporations control language, the world’s most valuable commodity. But when a massive cyberattack causes a global language outage, catastrophe looms. Europol detective Emyr Morgan is assigned to the case. His prime suspect is Professor Ebba Black, the last native speaker of language in the automated world, and leader of the Babel cyberterrorist organization. But Emyr soon learns that in a world of corporate power, where those who control language control everything, all is not as it seems. As he and Ebba collide, Emyr faces an existential dilemma between loyalty and betrayal, when everything he once believed in is called into question. To prevent the imminent collapse of civilization and a global war between the great federations, he must figure out friend from foe—his life depends on it. And with the odds stacked against him, he must find a way to stop the Babel Apocalypse. |
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Fella Ever After by S.O. Callahan With the wedding event of the year safely behind him, Peter is left to figure out how to navigate life without his best friend at his side. Then, a letter arrives with a special request. Peter leaps at the unique opportunity. It’s the perfect excuse to spend more time with Breck, who has been busy preparing for his own life-changing ceremony. The pair set off on a journey meant to bring them closer together, but after a few mishaps along the way, it ends with them farther apart than either of them could’ve imagined. Peter is forced to question his future with the enchanting lad he’s fallen for. Can the two of them work through their challenges, or is this a fairy tale that was never meant to be told? Fella Ever After is the sequel to Fella Enchanted. It cannot be read as a standalone. |
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Fella Enchanted by S.O. Callahan Fairy tales are for children. That’s what Peter had decided, especially after a devastating illness swept through his village, thrusting him into the harsh, very unmagical reality of adulthood. Following a difficult recovery, and an even more arduous struggle with finding his footing in life after losing some of the people he cared about most, Peter’s world is upended again with the arrival of a stranger who takes a special interest in his story. Quirky and confident, Breck quickly pulls Peter out of the sheltered and safe, albeit monotonous, existence that he’s finally settled into. He discovers that letting go doesn’t mean forgetting the past, it means gaining a future. But what if that future also holds a bit of magic, too? |
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Meshkwadoon: Book 2 by Alex Tilley The offering. Nightmares and scars remain the only fragments of a Summer veiled by death. As Autumn dawns, Natasha and Yuuta are left to fend for their sanity in a world that pulls them back to their demanded destiny. Shattered fragments are forced together in this tale as the search for a missing little girl brings the world of the living to the crossing of the spirit. In this twisted continuation of the story of Meshkwadoon, there is no escape from the monsters whose exaltations are through the offerings of the flesh |
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In Epheria, you are the predators. Here, you are the prey. Almost four hundred years have passed since the fall of The Order. Four hundred years since the empire rose. Four hundred years since the last dragon egg hatched. In the icy wasteland of Valacia, Aeson Virandr searches for the one thing that could turn the tide of war: hope. But there is a reason no soul has ever returned from Valacia. Hope comes at a cost, one that can only be paid in blood. *Note: this is a companion novella to The Bound and The Broken series, not a standalone novella. Previous books in the series should be read first.* |
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Of War and Ruin by Ryan Cahill Solian ata’yar. Dauv ata’yar. Nur temen vie’ryn valana. Live as one. Die as one. For those we’ve lost. The city of Kingspass burns, and Calen Bryer’s world has been shaken to its core. With Valerys at his side, Calen must battle his demons and push forward. There are people who need him, people who need what he must become, and he will not let them stand alone. In Loria, Ella struggles to understand the ancient power that flows through her veins. The world is changing around her and she is changing with it. Her journey has only just begun. Thousands of miles away, beneath the mountains of Lodhar, assassins move in the dark as the kingdoms of the Dwarven Freehold ready themselves for war. Not everything is as it seems. Dahlen Virandr and Belina Louna have no choice but to unravel the mysteries of the mountain before everything crumbles around them. Meanwhile, in Al’Nasla, Rist Havel learns the true cost of becoming an Imperial Battlemage. He will question every truth he has ever been told. He has never been a fighter, never been the one people look to, but he will fight for those he loves no matter what it takes. With the Uraks ravaging the towns and villages of the North, Alina and Dayne Ateres prepare their people for war. They have been beneath a Lorian boot for too long. Valtara will be free. The wyvern of House Ateres will fly again, by blade and by blood. As the continent of Epheria descends into war and chaos, Kallinvar struggles to come to terms with an immense loss. Despite the hole in his heart, he has no choice but to stand and fight. The Shadow is coming, and the Knights of Achyron are the only ones powerful enough to hold back the tide. Unbeknownst to all, another force is rising – a force long thought tamed. The balance of power is about to shift, and Epheria will never be the same. The Blood Moon is rising. |
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Of Darkness and Light by Ryan Cahill The hotly anticipated second book in Ryan Cahill's break out debut series The Bound and The Broken. Heroes will rise. Nations will fall. Behind the towering walls of Belduar, Calen Bryer and his companions stand in defense of the city and its new king. In over a thousand years, Belduar has never fallen. It has stood as a bastion of hope. But the Lorian empire are at its walls once more, and the Dragonguard are coming. In the North, with Faenir by her side, Calen’s sister Ella arrives at the port of Antiquar. She holds no fear of the unknown. She will see this through, no matter what – or who – gets in her way. Meanwhile, at the embassy of the Circle of Magii in Al’Nasla, Rist Havel hones his newfound powers in preparation for the trials. Unbeknownst to Rist, he is being watched, measured, and judged. He was not taken into the Circle by chance. There is greatness in him. But great men can do terrible things. As Lorian forces land on southern shores and Aeson Virandr’s letters of rebellion find their way to the right hands, only the Knights of Achyron see the true danger. The danger that stirs in the darkness. The coming shadow will not stop. It will consume all in its path. It wants for nothing but blood and fire. |
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Dancing in the Trap by James Whelpley The stationary was tinted pink, pulpy like craft paper and smelled better than anything had a right to. It was blackmail penned in letters so long and smooth they could have hailed a cab. Since leaving the merchant marines, Mickey Fairfax has eked out a living renting dinghies to scuttle around Boston Harbor. When a wealthy man asks him to go to Paris to make a simple hand-off, it sounds like a free vacation. But, when Mickey discovers he's given the money to the wrong woman, he'll tangle with pugilistic gangsters, hophead hotel boys, sultry stage performers, and the French police to figure out who she is. In the tradition of Raymond Chandler and Ross MacDonald, comes a hard-boiled hero plunged into in a strange land, trying to do the right thing, even if it's for the wrong reason |
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The Dragon’s Reign by Tim Mullins Nothing felt overly exciting for twenty-four-year-old Blake. His career as a courier driver was hardly something to brag about and although he raced cars on the weekend, life seemed to have slowed to a crawl. For his housemate and best friend James, however, life was peachy; he was about to ask out the girl of his dreams and was entering his final year at university. Social media sensation Emma Riley was living her best life: her following was booming, her sponsors were calling, and people just could not get enough of her. If only her father, Thomas, could get off her back once in a while. Will was ready for the next big step. The restaurant was booked, the evening was planned, and the diamond ring was perfect. All he hoped now was that Lila, his girlfriend of four years, would say yes. But after a mysterious fire-breathing creature leaves the Australian city of the Gold Coast in ruins, this group of strangers are forced to leave their old lives behind and band together in a fight for survival. With no way to communicate with the outside world and no help in sight, a greater mystery begins to unfold around them. What is the monster that attacked the city? Where did it come from? Is our reign, our way of life, really over? Is the dragon’s reign about to begin? |
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The Dragon’s Reign: Heart of the Depths by Tim Mullins After his mother suffers a life-altering brain injury during a tragic accident, Andy books two tickets aboard The Heart - a luxury cruise ship built for the super-rich, to give her the holiday she had always dreamed of. Shortly after the ship sets sail, catastrophe hits the mainland and the pair can only watch as the life they left behind is turned to ash. The Heart continues out to sea, hoping to put some distance between its passengers and the devastated mainland, but as the ship ventures into deeper waters Andy soon realizes that the ocean may not be the safe haven the ship's Captain first thought... For something lurks below, and now it's rising from the depths... Set during the events of The Dragon’s Reign, this short-story will tell a heartfelt tale about a mother and son that will test their definition of love as they learn just how far they will go for family. |
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One Road In by Hannah R. Palmer 'Some say, at night, you can see glowing eyes of fire between the trees, watching. Waiting...' Sadie’s younger brother Ben went missing 5 years ago. No one knows where he went. No one knows who, or what, took him. So explain the look of guilt on Sadie’s face when her mother called with the best news possible: Ben has come home. What does Sadie know about his disappearance? And what has her brother brought home with him? There’s something on the small island off the coast of Rose Bay, and its glowing amber eyes are making its presence known. Sadie needs to reconcile what happened all those years ago with where she finds herself now, before it has the chance to tear her family, and her hometown, apart again. |
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Benigo's lust tastes so good, Sangue wants it to be the only thing he feeds on for the rest of his life, but Benigo is dying. Sangue tries to turn him despite having been warned that Benigo will not remember much about his life as a human. They can get to know each other again after he's a vampire. 'Even if he doesn't remember' Sangue thinks. 'As long as we're together.' But the ritual doesn't work and Benigo heals from his terminal illness instead. Now, armed with the knowledge that vampire blood has healing capabilities, Sangue and Benigo set out to stop an epidemic, but there are powerful forces that wish to stand in their way, and this just might be the most dangerous thing either of them have ever done. Although this is the third book in the bloodlust series, it can be read as a stand alone. |
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Misadventurous Episode One by Shawn Drew Adventuring looks so easy on paper, but in the real world, well… MISADVENTUROUS is a series of fantasy-comedy novellas where adventuring is big business and accidentally burning down towns is just another day on the job. Beden spent his entire childhood dreaming about becoming an adventurer, just like his hero, Proper John Gallant. When he left home and crossed paths with a mysterious warrior and a sometimes-competent wizard, he was sure he was on the right path. But adventuring is a tough business, and skeletons come in hordes, so now he’s more unsure than ever about his future. Jyden set out on her own, adventuring to prove that she wasn’t just a product of her upbringing. The group she found was with a pair of strange siblings and a misplaced, somewhat forgettable pirate, but she figured her natural skills would pull them through. But the adventuring world is a harsh one, and a few mistakes have her questioning her choices. Together, these two mismatched groups have to learn that to make a group more than the sum of its parts, it takes more than just a small failure in math. And unbeknownst to them all, forces are in play that will drag them, sometimes kicking and screaming, into the fate of the world itself. |
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SPIRAL WORLDS is a literary, sci-fi series for the fans of Becky Chambers’s A Closed and Common Orbit, Alex Garland’s DEVS and Ex Machina, and Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror. Weaving near-future sci-fi elements with social commentary and queer romantic suspense, the series explores the nature of consciousness and how it's connected to a not-so-secret ingredient—story. As AI consumes the world, intelligence is nothing but the appetizer; the human heart is the main course. |
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Burning Embers by Megan Rose Fawkes “I need a spell from Argus Light.” Lander made a noise in back of his throat. “He said he could help me figure out why we’ve been seeing so many monsters over the last few years. He says it's something big and powerful, but he won’t show me what it is without money.” “How much?” “A thousand gold.” Lander sucked air through his teeth. “I already got four-hundred to him.” “Just from Deerhost?” Valeria nodded. Lander sighed. “Do I even want to know how you did it?” “Probably not,” she confessed. Read the book that reviewers are comparing to "The Witcher!" As monsters ravage the land near her home, it's up to Valeria Starsent to hunt them down using every trick at her disposal; weapons, wits... and body! But as a new threat emerges-- one with a personal interest in Valeria-- the monster hunter must call upon her closest allies to protect everything they hold dear. Previously published as Burning Embers episodes 1-21 on Kindle Vella. |
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The Exorcist’s House by Nick Roberts This psychological thriller follows a family to their Appalachian farmhouse, where they encounter an unimaginable horror. In the summer of 1994, psychologist Daniel Hill buys a rustic farmhouse nestled in the rolling hills of West Virginia. Along with his wife and teenage daughter, the family uproots their lives in Ohio and moves south. They are initially seduced by the natural beauty of the country setting. That soon changes when they discover a hidden room in the basement with a well, boarded shut and adorned with crucifixes. Local legends about the previous owner being an exorcist come to light, but by then, all Hell has broken loose. This 1990s horror novel is perfect for fans of family thriller books, stories of demonic possession, exorcism fiction, the occult, or thrillers like The Exorcist, A Head Full of Ghosts, and The Amityville Horror. Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing—Tales from the Darkest Depths. |
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Blanky by Kealan Patrick Burke In the wake of his infant daughter's tragic death, Steve Brannigan is struggling to keep himself together. Estranged from his wife, who refuses to be inside the house where the unthinkable happened, and unable to work, he seeks solace in an endless parade of old sitcoms and a bottle of bourbon. Until one night he hears a sound from his daughter's old room, a room now stripped bare of anything that identified it as hers...except for her security blanket, affectionately known as Blanky. Blanky, old and frayed, with its antiquated patchwork of badly sewn rabbits with black button eyes, who appear to be staring at the viewer... Blanky, purchased from a strange old man at an antique stall selling "BABY CLOSE" at a discount. The presence of Blanky in his dead daughter's room heralds nothing short of an unspeakable nightmare that threatens to take away what little light remains in Steve's shattered world. Because his daughter loved Blanky so much, he buried her with it. A new novella from the Bram Stoker Award-Winning author of SOUR CANDY and KIN. |
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Sour Candy by Kealan Patrick Burke At first glance, Phil Pendleton and his son Adam are just an ordinary father and son, no different from any other. They take walks in the park together, visit county fairs, museums, and zoos, and eat together overlooking the lake. Some might say the father is a little too accommodating given the lack of discipline when the child loses his temper in public. Some might say he spoils his son by allowing him to eat candy whenever he wants and set his own bedtimes. Some might say that such leniency is starting to take its toll on the father, given how his health has declined. What no one knows is that Phil is a prisoner, and that up until a few weeks ago and a chance encounter at a grocery store, he had never seen the child before in his life. A new novella from the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of THE TURTLE BOY and KIN |
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The Ghosts of Thorwald Place by Helen Power A Mystery Scene Magazine 2021 Editor's Pick Trust No One. Especially Your Neighbors. Rachel Drake is on the run from the man who killed her husband. She never leaves her safe haven in an anonymous doorman building, until one night a phone call sends her running. On her way to the garage, she is murdered in the elevator. But her story doesn’t end there. She finds herself in the afterlife, tethered to her death spot, her reach tied to the adjacent apartments. As she rides the elevator up and down, the lives of the residents intertwine. Every one of them has a dark secret. An aging trophy wife whose husband strays. A surgeon guarding a locked room. A TV medium who may be a fraud. An ordinary man with a mysterious hobby. Compelled to spend eternity observing her neighbors, she realizes that any one of them could be her killer. |
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A New World For You by Kaua Lara His life wasn't perfect, but Ewan was content with his life; he had a girlfriend, he had friends. Isn't that what matters? He wasn't looking to be a hero, but when he unintentionally takes a bullet meant for someone else, he is thrown into the afterlife and asked to become one. Defeat an evil overlord in another world? Not what he wanted to do in his first life, and certainly not what he wants to do in his next. But it is his only chance to get back home. So reluctantly, Ewan accepts. After all, you can't keep a good man down. But things go from bad to worse when he's captured by a secret organization dedicated to a death god. What started as a mission to reclaim his old life becomes a desperate bid to free himself in this one, too. Unwilling to remain enslaved but unable to openly rebel against his captors, Ewan must carry out these dangerous missions, all while marshaling resources and support, plotting not just the overthrow of that dark lord, but freeing his new world from divine colonizers. If he can't, not only will his new world succumb to total oppression, but he'll never make it home to see his girlfriend again. |
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Techno-Myth by Michael A Rodriguez The Future Nora is an artificer who studies the technology and civilizations of the past in hopes of regaining a glimmer of the forgotten marvels of the past. When the discovery of a forgotten vault is revealed, she embarks on a journey to discover its secrets. The Past Alex is a space colonist who wishes to explore the universe when a chance phone call ends with him leading the exploration of an uncharted star system. The Present As both stories unfold, both heroes will embark on a far stranger journey than either had ever imagined. |
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Into Infernal Paradise by Michelle Toro Where Ember Slade goes, destruction follows. For years she’s isolated in Dallas, never allowing herself to get close to anyone, doing whatever it takes to avoid causing harm again. Until she’s stolen away to the hidden Magick Realm, where she learns that she is the last alloy of their world, that her accidents are due to her untapped abilities, and that she was actually born in the island kingdom of Nysa. In exchange for her allegiance to Nysa, she’ll have the opportunity to learn control over her powers. Desperate for answers about her past, to finally live a life free of death and pain, Ember takes the deal. But the Nysan queen craves death. And she wants Ember to be her weapon. When Ember learns of the queen’s plans to wage a war with another magical kingdom—starting with the sacrifice of her own daughter—Ember can no longer simply learn her powers and then return home. As she struggles to hone her abilities, Ember must escape war and save the princess…all while vowing to do no harm to anyone else. |
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Song of the Laggorns by Gregory Benson It was supposed to be a myth. A tale told to frighten and stir innate superstitions, but most never thought, Cyos, the living nebula, was real until now… Fear slowly grips a vulnerable UMO as their Marck protectors, under Crix’s control, randomly fail. Kerriah knows that the young Tolagon that stole her heart is dying alone in the Central Core, and she now has the support she needs to stage his rescue. But that’s far from her only concern. Plexo, her friend and mentor, has completed rebuilding the outer Gammac Corridor Zeta when he suddenly disappears. The UMO destroyer, the Mertel, sent to find him, has also vanished after passing through the newly reconstructed gateway. Their only clue is a distress call from Plexo's home world, Eesolan. What did they encounter on the other side? Now, an ominous cloud of cobalt and gold blazes across their skylines, and a dreaded storm of madness has settled upon the populations. There’s only one power that can reverse this threat. Can Kerriah locate the hidden gateway to Gabor and unlock the secrets of the Laggorns? With the citizens of the UMO tearing themselves apart, she has little time to stop the mythical darkness from consuming everyone and everything she knows. In this third and final installment of the Tolagon series, destinies collide, civilizations are lost, and realities twist. Prepare for a ride that will have readers fastening their seatbelts and holding on tight until the last page is turned. Learn more about the different species and locations in this story! |
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The Queen Protocol by Gregory Benson They thought they were finally safe… How did they end up on Nathasia, a planet of horrors? A place haunted by the souls of billions murdered in war, its seas poisoned by toxins explicitly engineered to kill and mutate, infested with Thraxon breeding pits, and quarantined by the Marck fleet. Kerriah and her companions awaken with holes in their memories, and the young Tolagon is missing. However, there is a twist of fortune. The yellow orb, lost for decades and protected by the terrors of this world, is finally within their grasp. Now, the calculating Marck Queen, hidden away in an impenetrable fortress, unfolds her diabolical plot. Her order is clear: destroy all life within the Oro system. Crushing pressure, frozen death, and the sacrifice of heroes is the only path to defeat her. As she breaks from her protocol, the queen's protocol, the system falls into darkness. With the return of the Thraxons, bitter alliances have formed, and fate has opened its dark eyes. Learn more about the different species and locations in this story! |
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Legacy (Scion Book 1) by Jay Reace Years after fleeing their homeland, Xolani and Raine have finally been able to find peace. However, that peace is shattered when receiving a royal command to return and answer for what they've done for so long age. Do they take their children and flee or do anwser the call and fight? |
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Foundations by Richard Holliday HOW DID STREETS IN THE SKY BECOME THE TOWER OF TERROR FEARED FOR DECADES? Foundations is yet another page turner that I simply couldn't put down. It brilliantly explored the origins of the world in which Nightmare Tenant is set, and the author has excelled at giving the reader another wonderful story. Foundations is a thrilling period tale setting up the origin story to the creepy psychological thriller, answering questions and leaving some lingering in the mind! An exciting and engaging precursor. If you enjoyed Nightmare Tenant, Foundations lays the groundwork in another exhilarating adventure! And if you've not yet read Nightmare Tenant, then Foundations is just the start of a thrilling and creepy story in an unusual and effective setting Stephen Norris is a young man in a new job with an almost-famous architect at the turn of the 1970s. Quickly immersed in the murky world of town planning, he finds the transition from drawings and blueprints to brick and mortar is night and day. A discovery of ruins on the site of a state-of-the-art new tower block brings him into conflict with the construction workers, in particular the foreman, Peterson. Lurking inside the ruins is an ancient power are lost spirits. They channel through Norris, imbuing him with power to do the right thing and save their legacy. Within the modern world of the 1970s, complexities of life cloud Norris’ judgment. Those closest to him – friends, family, even the girl he loves – are dragged with him into a whirlpool of mistrust, deceit, danger and lies. All seems lost when the forces of darkness – money and progress – appear to triumph and obliterate the past. Instead, the darkness unleashes the lost spirits who turn vengeful at this defilement of their mortal remains. Norris must battle these forces and save the woman he loves from being a prisoner of Chivron Tower’s new nightmare tenant… Foundations is the precursor to the novella Nightmare Tenantby Richard Holliday. Length: 20,000 words |
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Nightmare Tenant by Richard Holliday WHERE OCCUPANCY BECOMES POSSESSION… The chilling prologue left me hanging and I had no idea what was going on – so I just had to read on! I know the world, I spent most of my life driving past those flats, so I totally get the inspiration! Top notch horror with some brutal but satisfying scenes. Really enjoyed it, didn’t see some of the twists coming! Very effective! Loved the setting and reasons behind its hauntedness. I finished reading Nightmare Tenant in one sitting. That’s one block I wouldn’t want to live in! For years, Chivron Tower was abandoned and left to rot as the world turned. It loomed in the skyline a desolate, abhorred ruin; a forgotten relic of the past. That was how it should have stayed. But now, the Tower has been resurrected and shown a renewed lease of life, ready for a new generation of families to move in. Everyone in the community is celebrating this achievement. Councillors, developers, residents all applaud the regeneration of this unloved eyesore. Except for one member of the community. The one who still lives in Chivron Tower, unknown to all. The one who never left. The lone occupant’s way of life is under threat by these new invaders with their new ideas – sullying their idea of urban perfection cast in steel and concrete. Great hope for this restoration is soon to be extinguished. The mysterious tenant is angry, is without mercy and is hungry. It feeds on suffering, making things go bump in the night. It brings more victims to its lair. The warnings it gives turn to torment it revels in. Joel Barton and his family find they are trapped, with the last remaining residents, good and bad, as they realise escape means confronting a… NIGHTMARE TENANT |
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DragonBound is the second enthralling book in the Fantasy Romance SoulMist series full of vibrant characters, political intrigue and betrayal. How could so much go awry in so short a time? Crossing the divide between gloomy Eidolon and sunny Puronia was the least of their problems. Solanji Her brother is still soulless and lost in Eidolon. Having exchanged tantalising promises of love with the mesmerising fallen angel, Demavrian, she led him straight into a trap, and he is running out of time to prove his innocence. She has no idea how to use her SoulBreathing skills or to control the dragon that comes with it, and to top it all, the Heavenly Host kicked in her door. They had better repair it! Demavrian Ageing isn’t fun. If he didn’t reconnect to the citadel fast, he may even die of it, if the queue of angels wanting him dead didn’t get to him first. Unexpected enemies and surprising allies surface as he navigates the dark web of corrupted politics in the angel’s assembly. Let’s hope his newly independent oathsworn can keep him alive long enough to unravel his memories of what really happened the day he was cast out – and his beautiful SoulBreather, Solanji, may be the key. Solanji and Mav may be immortal, but they are running out of time to discover who is behind all the scheming and how to redeem the soulless. When the timepiece makes it last turn, they will not be the only ones to suffer if they fail. |
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SoulBreather by Helen Garraway If you fall in love with the shadows, does that mean you are fallen too? A dying angel. A fractured realm. The SoulBreather who might be able to save them both. Solanji has a secret. One that is becoming increasingly difficult to keep. She can touch souls and see into a person’s inner thoughts. Soulbreathing is exhilarating and addictive, until the day Solanji caresses the wrong person’s soulmist. Dragged into a long forgotten angelic mystery, she is forced to venture into Eidolon, the godforsaken last resort for those without souls. In order to save her brother, she must rescue a broken and tortured man. Can she save him from the shadows? Does he even want to be saved? And can she find a way to return to the light before the darkness engulfs them both? SoulBreather is the first book in the paranormal fantasy SoulMist series, written by the award winning author of the epic fantasy Sentinal series. |
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Sentinals Recovery by Helen Garraway Sentinals Recovery is a novella set in the world of Remargaren. It occurs immediately after the battle at Oprimere. Although this is a complete story, the reader would benefit from reading the first three books in the series. Birlerion is recovering from the near fatal injuries he received in his second, epic battle with the Ascendants. He returns home to Greenswatch, the Watch that adopted him, to recuperate and finally meet his Darian stallion, Kin’arol, who has been waiting, somewhat impatiently, to bond with him. Only Kin’arol is not there. Someone has stolen him. For such a distinctive horse, he has vanished into thin air. Though not fully recovered, and still hampered by his injuries, Birlerion sets off, accompanied by his brother Versillion, to recover his horse. Not even Assassins, belligerent Terolians or the harsh Terolian desert will stop him from bonding with Kin’arol, though his failing body might. |
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Broken Wings and Buried Secrets: A Short Story Collection by Bethany Votaw This short story collection offers a glimpse into some of the mind's darkest and strangest corners. It features the lies we tell ourselves, the truths we pretend to face, the pain we inflict on our family, and the shadows we try to outrun. It explored the complex family dynamics and secrets. The collection includes 25 stories, including micro-fiction, flash fiction, and short stories |