Every day the cynical, cigar-chomping, hard-drinking monkey climbs into his Spitfire to do battle with the waves of German ninjas parachuting over the gentle fields of Kent. But life is not all the joyous rattle of machine guns and the roar of the engine, as Ack-Ack is about to find out… Because it is not 1944. It is the 21st century, in a world where France and Germany merged in the late 1950s, where nuclear-powered Zeppelins circle the globe, where technology is rapidly changing humanity, and Ack-Ack has lived his whole life in a videogame. Ex-journalist Victoria Valois finds herself drawn into a deadly game of cat and mouse with the man who butchered her husband and stole his electronic soul. The heir to the British throne is on the run after an illegal break-in at a research laboratory, and Ack-Ack has been rudely awakened from his game world to find the doomsday clock ticking towards Armageddon… Two unlikely heroes and one mightily pissed-off monkey come together in a sci-fi trilogy full of action, adventure, bananas and bottles of rum. Includes the original Ack-Ack Macaque short story and a brand new epilogue, The Last Macaque.

    Each story is accompanied by a ghastly illustration from the mind of Andy Sciazko... the kind of illustrations that will disturb you in the best way possible.

    This new world revolves around defeating monsters and profiting on whatever they drop—food, money, items, etc. Unfortunately for Ryota, he has no skills to speak of...until he learns he has the ability to get rare drops! Suddenly his luck turns around...or does it?

    Ranging from tiny sketches and prose poems to longer, more conventional narratives, the stories included here are:A Country Doctor - In the Gods - An Old Folio - Before the Law - Jackals and Arabs - A Visit to the Mine - The Next Village - An Imperial Message - A Paterfamilias Perplexed - Eleven Sons - A Fratricide - A Dream - Bucket Rider - Of Metaphors - The Silence of the Sirens - Gracchus the Hunter - The Knock on the Courtyard Door - Advocates - The Vulture - At Night - A Little Fable.This e-book has a total length of around 16,000 words.

    In this creepy tale, the twist comes with the very last word…

    Robin Ellacott's long-term boyfriend, Matthew, proposes on her first day to work for Strike as temp secretary.

    Furious, she jumps in her leased Land Rover and takes off, hoping to put as much distance between them as she can. A heavy fog rolls in, she pulls over to the wrong side of the road and is hit head-on. When she regains consciousness, she’s convalescing in a stone mansion; her clothing’s been burned, her hair cut, and the owner of the manor accuses her of being a sorcerous. Time has rolled back to the year 1648 and this young, 21st century paramedic from Arizona has no idea how she’s going to get home. Nicholas Warren fears the young woman he finds injured and unconscious on his land could be a danger to them all. Her clothing is strange, the tips of her hair are blue, and she has the image of an angel tattooed on her skin. With England at civil war, his shipping empire at risk from Parliament, and his son, Christopher, imprisoned in Newgate for butchering three prostitutes, life is treacherous enough without this time-traveling houseguest.

    The furthest thing from Yatta’s mind is love and relationships. He’s focused on providing for his family, hitting licks with his day one niggas, Alaric and Zamir, and staying out of the way of the law. But, as fate has it, he meets the alluring Erin Hughes and his perception of love shifts in a new direction. Erin is a born and raised Detroit city girl with dreams as big as her heart. Her love for drawing and painting made her a bit of an out cast. But with the support of her cousin Dreka, her best friend Cassidy and her father, she has never known the feeling of not being loved, despite the lack of it it she received from her distant mother. Erin doesn’t let anything discourage her from living life and being happy. Lately, the one thing that would truly make her happy is being with Yatta. But its easier said than done as many things get on the way of them being together. One of them being Yatta’s baby mama, Cleo. Things slowly unravel and before you know it love, secrets, and deadly decisions causes great turmoil in their lives. Will Erin regret the day she gave her heart to a bad boy? Or will Yatta sweep her off her feet, showing her that bad boys fall in love, too?

    But when she discovers the sweet side of her childhood friend, Anthony, she finds herself trapped in a dilemma. Anthony has found pleasure in teasing his best friend’s little sister. But, when one day he takes it too far and she walks off leaving him standing in front of the crowd, embarrassed and furious as he is, Anthony starts plotting his revenge, until the moment he realizes his heart beats only for her. Will he manage to make up for the chaos he has created? Will they follow their instincts and find their path to true love?Bride for the Sake of DutyEleanor has wished for true love ever since she was a little girl, but she has no other choice but to marry a man she knows nothing about, due to her father’s definite will. To make matters worse, her new husband leaves right after their nuptials for a trip overseas. When he returns after two years, he’s even more handsome than she remembers, but he still remains a complete stranger to her. Now that he is finally back home, Eleanor’s husband, Miles will find himself longing for something more than the sea. Will he finally find a place to call home in Eleanor’s eyes? Could Eleanor and Miles make up for the lost time and eventually fall in love?A Beauty for the Scarred DukeWhen the Earl of Upperton sells off his daughter Isabella as a bride for the disfigured Elliot Covington, Isabella feels terrified. Due to marry a man she has never met and whom she has believed to be a monster, she truly believes her life is over. What she has yet to discover, though, is that beneath the scars, there is a caring and kind gentleman. Isabella starts seeing Elliot’s inner beauty, but the moment they both realise they are meant to be together, outside powers will try to tear them apart. Will the Duke be able to let go of the pain and guilt that has swallowed him whole? Will two heartbroken souls find love when least expected?Her Duke in the MakingAnne believes to have found her other half until she finds herself obliged to prepare the new Duke of Somerset for his first Season. The handsome Duke, who has recently returned from America, has to adjust to a new lifestyle and be taught proper British manners. Luckily for him, Anne agrees to be his mentor, but with a condition; he will need to help Anne convince her family that Lord Rawley is the perfect match for her. Their plans will take an unexpected turn, though, when the Duke falls hopelessly in love with the enchanting woman and realises that it might be destiny that brought them together. Could Anne’s unusual agreement with the dashing Duke lead to more than she ever dreamt of?Kind Ella and the Charming DukeAfter her father’s death, Ella is devastated when her mother marries the Earl of Dandridge.The Earl is the cold hearted father of two spoiled young ladies in search of a suitor. When Rufus, Duke of Hillington, is reported to be searching for a suitable bride, the Earl will plot the most appalling schemes to hide Ella away. Ella’s rebellious heart makes her defy the orders to abstain from the Duke’s masquerade ball. After encountering the mysterious lady, Rufus cannot take his mind off of her. Will Ella and Rufus escape the Earl’s evil plans? Will they eventually have the happily-ever-after they both deserve?If you love clean Regency romances that feature dynamic and inspiring women of the era and determined, yet charming, male protagonists, then you are going to love this collection!

    And certainly what Melville did for whaling Austen does for marriage--tracing the intricacies (not to mention the economics) of 19th-century British mating rituals with a sure hand and an unblinking eye. As usual, Austen trains her sights on a country village and a few families--in this case, the Bennets, the Philips, and the Lucases. Into their midst comes Mr. Bingley, a single man of good fortune, and his friend, Mr. Darcy, who is even richer. Mrs. Bennet, who married above her station, sees their arrival as an opportunity to marry off at least one of her five daughters. Bingley is complaisant and easily charmed by the eldest Bennet girl, Jane; Darcy, however, is harder to please. Put off by Mrs. Bennet's vulgarity and the untoward behavior of the three younger daughters, he is unable to see the true worth of the older girls, Jane and Elizabeth. His excessive pride offends Lizzy, who is more than willing to believe the worst that other people have to say of him; when George Wickham, a soldier stationed in the village, does indeed have a discreditable tale to tell, his words fall on fertile ground. Having set up the central misunderstanding of the novel, Austen then brings in her cast of fascinating secondary characters: Mr. Collins, the sycophantic clergyman who aspires to Lizzy's hand but settles for her best friend, Charlotte, instead; Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Mr. Darcy's insufferably snobbish aunt; and the Gardiners, Jane and Elizabeth's low-born but noble-hearted aunt and uncle. Some of Austen's best comedy comes from mixing and matching these representatives of different classes and economic strata, demonstrating the hypocrisy at the heart of so many social interactions. And though the novel is rife with romantic misunderstandings, rejected proposals, disastrous elopements, and a requisite happy ending for those who deserve one, Austen never gets so carried away with the romance that she loses sight of the hard economic realities of 19th-century matrimonial maneuvering. Good marriages for penniless girls such as the Bennets are hard to come by, and even Lizzy, who comes to sincerely value Mr. Darcy, remarks when asked when she first began to love him: "It has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began. But I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley." She may be joking, but there's more than a little truth to her sentiment, as well. Jane Austen considered Elizabeth Bennet "as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print". Readers of Pride and Prejudice would be hard-pressed to disagree. --Alix Wilber

    Her fiancé taken from her. Esther Weiss sees only one way to fight back.Life is good for Esther and her Jewish family until Hitler annexes their home country Austria. Her wedding to fiancé Carl Bernstein is postponed, and her family's entire life is uprooted.Thinking they’ll be safe in Oslo, the Weiss’s hope is short-lived when Norway is invaded in 1940 and the fascist Quisling Regime is put into place. Esther returns home one day to discover her entire family has been deported. Gone. Without a trace.Something snaps inside Esther. The soft-hearted, gentle girl is no longer. Her desire to fight the enemy becomes her only drive. She joins the Norwegian resistance movement and with her blond hair and light eyes, all it takes is a false passport to give Esther the freedom she needs. The freedom to kill. No German or Norwegian fascist is safe when she’s nearby.Destruction of those who took her family gives Esther a license to live, but it has also hardened her heart. Not even Tore Ringdal, her rock and protector in the Resistance movement, is able to break through the walls she’s placed around her heart.When all she loves is gone, and only hate remains, can the Norwegian Assassin reopen her heart and find love again?

    

    Not being able to do much leaves him frustrated, and he is growing angry. Hunt is not able to ride his horse and can barely walk more than a few hundred feet without suffering tremendous pain. Days turn to weeks, and weeks turn to months. Hunt has a lot of time with the family and he begins setting plans in his mind for future financial growth. Dodd and the men are called upon to help solve crimes of murder, robbery, and theft of livestock. A man from Virginia comes to Denver looking for the man that had killed his two brothers. After questioning some people, he finds out that Hunt is the man responsible for his brother’s deaths. With the men on missions, the only man to stand between the angry man and Hunt is Dodd. Dodd sends the men to confront a gunslinger that has killed two men, and when they arrive, they find that he had just killed the town’s constable. After his arrest, they return to Denver and Hunt steps in for a shocking change.

    Contains Protecting the Billionaire, Picked by the Billionaire, Saved by the BillionaireProtecting the BillionaireI hadn't seen her since the day I broke her brother's nose.We came from different worlds. She was trouble wrapped in temptation, and it would be smart to keep my distance.The last time I'd dared to touch Katie, her brother foolishly took a swing at me. Her family taught me a painful lesson that day about money and power. I gave him a bloody nose. They destroyed my life.Today she desperately needed a ride back to LA. Six hours of her warm body wrapped around mine on the back of my bike was the price she'd have to pay.With her life in flames, the danger was more real than she knew. When she ran from her brother and into my arms, the kiss was meant to scare her off. It didn't work. She's sexual napalm, and I'm the match. Now we're both toast.I'm not giving her up until I have to. Even if it destroys me.Katie:I hadn't seen Nick since high school, the day he broke my brother's nose.I bumped into him while trapped in Las Vegas with no way to get home. Maybe this was my second chance.I didn't accept the ride to LA on the back of his bike just because he'd been the hottest and baddest boy in school. I swear I didn't.My life was all planned out. I left my sensible house every day in my sensible clothes and went to my sensible job.Until, some crazy targeted me, and it all went up in smoke.Now, I'm done being sensible. I know what I want, and he's pure trouble. Nick's all wrong for me, but only he can keep me safe.I'm falling for him. It can't work. It doesn't make sense. I'm walking straight into a broken heart, and I can't stop.Picked by the BillionaireA night I wouldn't forget. An offer I couldn't refuse.Liam:I had dared to love once and lost. The memory haunted me every day.Now, I have rules, three simple rules:I don't do dinner, they never come to my place, and I never stay the night.Until I met the tantalizing Amy and she turned everything upside down.It was just one night. Tomorrow I could get back to normal I told myself.When she turned up at my next meeting, normal was no longer on the horizon.Now, she is essential to defeating my nemesis.One way or another she may be my undoing.Amy:I couldn't get past my failed marriage - I couldn't take the terrifying leap.When the question became his place or mine, I ran back to my computer to pick another.My sister convinced me to try shock therapy - a one-night stand to get over my phobia.One night without inhibitions and never see him again, that was the plan. Simple enough, right?The next day, he walked into my meeting. Suddenly things weren't simple anymore.He held the key to my company's survival; there was just one catch.I had to pretend to be his girlfriend.How hard could that be?Saved by the BillionaireThe FBI and the cartel are after her for the same thing: information she doesn’t have.Natalie had gone from the Belle of Boston to Witch of the West End. Everybody in town hated her for her ex-husband’s crimes. Then the FBI showed up to seize everything she owned. Without a penny to her name, she only survived by taking a job working for the most disagreeable man in town.Billionaire inventor Ryan Westerly had never allowed thoughts of any woman to intrude upon his work.

    When he reveals the truth of his identity, he is thrown out of Hollybrook—just as he feared. Back in Indianapolis, he finds his father in prison. Collin needs to tie up loose ends there before he can ever hope to return to Hollybrook, before he can ever hope to right all his wrongs. Willa struggles to come to grips with the fact that she has fallen in love with someone who would lie and deceive both her and those she loves most. Collin’s confession has caused much pain, and Willa sees no way it can be righted. But Collin has promised her that he will fix it … that he will return and court her properly. But as the days stretch on with no sign of Collin, she can’t help but wonder whether he’s gone back to his fancy life. Most Englisch can’t make the leap to become Amish, and maybe Collin is just the same. Read this exciting, love-filled conclusion to Willa’s story… “In the tradition of the works of Beverly Lewis, Cindy Woodsmall, and Wanda Brunstetter, Brenda Maxfield continues to bring you gripping Amish tales of love, hope, and God’s miracles.” Enjoy this inspirational Christian romance today!