Book picks similar to
Dark Discoveries - Issue #24 by James R. Beach
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The Damnation Game
David Brian - 2015
Kate Stringer is a woman in mourning, her murdered husband the latest victim of the notorious Catholic Jack slayer. A nationwide manhunt remains underway, but the serial killer continues to remain elusive. Now, unknown to her, Kate too has been targeted by the maniac. However, other forces are in play. Things moving in the shadows, with an agenda of their own...From those broken places, where trauma and distress cloister, they watch with accusing eyes. And if they judge us, they may look to share their pain.
A Hundred Thousand Worlds
Bob Proehl - 2016
Now Val must reunite nine-year-old Alex with his estranged father, so they set out on a road trip from New York, Val making appearances at comic book conventions along the way. As they travel west, encountering superheroes, monsters, time travelers, and robots, Val and Alex are drawn into the orbit of the comic-con regulars, from a hapless twentysomething illustrator to a lesbian comics writer to a group of cosplay women who provide a chorus of knowing commentary. For Alex, this world is a magical place where fiction becomes reality, but as they get closer to their destination, he begins to realize that the story his mother is telling him about their journey might have a very different ending than he imagined. A literary-meets-genre pleasure from an exciting new writer, A Hundred Thousand Worlds is a tribute to the fierce and complicated love between a mother and son—and to the way the stories we create come to shape us.
The Dark of Light
Audrey Sharpe - 2017
Captain Aurora Hawke loves a challenge. But her first mission comes with an unexpected catch. She has to accept the help of Cade Ellis, a man she’s spent years trying to forget. She doesn’t want his help. She wants to blow him out an airlock. Or let Jonarel Clarek, her overprotective engineer, tear him to pieces with his bare hands. Instead, she must convince the two hot-headed males to work together without killing each other. She’ll do whatever it takes. The survival of a planet depends on it. But what starts out as an investigation into a potential biological attack quickly reveals a much more insidious threat, thrusting Aurora into a face-to-face confrontation with a mysterious enemy of incredible destructive power. And triggering an unearthly ability she’s kept secret for twenty years…
The Anthrax Protocol
James M. Thompson - 2016
One by one, the team falls violently ill, bleeding from their eyes and ears before succumbing to a slow, painful death. Whatever was buried with the Aztec chief is still active, infectious--and now airborne…It Spreads Quickly…In Austin, a young archeologist listens to the dying words of her mentor in Mexico--a warning to quarantine the site before all hell breaks loose. In Atlanta, the CDC's Dr. Mason Williams leads an emergency squad on a life-or-death mission--into the hot zone. At Fort Detrick, an army officer sends a trained team to secure the anthrax--as a biological weapon. But time is running out. The disease is spreading rapidly across the border, into the airports, and across the globe, killing thousands. With no cure, no vaccine, and no way to contain it, there will be no hope for humanity--to survive…
The Wanderer
David Anderson - 2013
It has been five long years since his life was turned on its head, but against all odds he continues to cling to life.Every day since the plague has been a battle for survival. With no family and no companion he wanders the empty streets of his desolate home town as a way to pass the lonely days, his familiar surroundings his only reminder of a more normal time. By sticking with little deviation to a daily routine he attempts to retard the erosion of his sanity. Growing used to his new existence, and never expecting change, how would he react if he knew that, just around the corner, another life-shattering change awaits him?
Rise
Brian Guthrie - 2016
These fragments are the Shells: fragile wastelands of desert and rock, protected from the cold of space by a water shield. In the struggle for survival, its people have depended on ancient technology, controlled by the omnipresent Network, to sustain the entire population. But the Network is breaking down, water is sparse, and a complete societal collapse is imminent. As the stakes become clear, the inhabitants of the Shells begin to turn on each other, and appear headed for all-out civil war. Now the paths of several strangers will converge at the opportune moment. From a woman who seeks to protect her family as it's ripped apart to a prison warden hiding from his past, this unlikely group has little in common--but together, they may hold the key to saving humanity from its worst enemy: itself.
Panther
Chhimi Tenduf-La - 2015
Legs like toothpicks, body and face all ribs and cheekbones. And that hair. Come on, what is it? Like friggin' barbed wire. I see you with a hand-me-down cracked bat creaming a leather ball, in a sock, hanging from the branch of a mango tree.' Being accepted into an elite international school on a cricket scholarship doesn't mean your life is going to change. Except it does, because hunky Indika - I for Indika, I for Incredible - takes you under his wing, drags you to posh restaurants and shows you pictures from glossy magazines of women who ... well, never mind, that's not the point. The point is: if your best friend snogs your girlfriend, can he still be Incredible? Was he ever? But don't sweat the small stuff. There are cricket matches to win, examinations to pass, a horrifying past to forget, a sinister schoolmaster to avoid ... and, of course, a first kiss to finally experience. Prabu's life is never going to be the same again. Funny, diamond-sharp and unapologetic, Panther is a novel about that familiar, fractured passage to adulthood that can make us magnificent if it does not kill us.
Max and the Gatekeeper
James Todd Cochrane - 2007
This conflict will affect life everywhere, but not everyone is aware it exists. When twelve-year old Max Rigdon is sent to stay with his grandfather for the summer, he unwillingly enters the fight. The day Max steps off the bus he is marked with an evil curse and immediately becomes the target of evil men and creatures with designs on ruling the universe. Not only does this curse cause Max physical pain but it allows his enemies to track and find him. He soon learns that the reason for this unwanted attention is because his grandfather is the keeper of a gateway; a powerful machine that makes travel to hundreds of strange unknown worlds possible. The enemy will do anything to gain possession of this power in their quest to control all worlds. With the help of his friend Cindy and others, Max must quickly learn the necessary skills to survive if he is to avoid the deadly trap that has been planned for him and his grandfather. A trap that has been decades in the making with Max as the missing piece. If successful it will change life as we know it.
Monitor
Leigh Alexander - 2016
After they recover an NBN executive’s PAD at a protest in Broadcast Square, it seems Lana Rael and her friends, Johnny and Tim, might finally have their chance to discover the truth behind NBN’s saccharine and explosively popular franchise, Sunshine Junction.But when the aspiring activists stumble into the corporation’s all seeing eye, they find themselves in the limelight—and not in the way they hoped.As camdrones begin to follow them through the megacity and broadcast their every move on live threedee, Lana and her friends will have to ask themselves just how much they’re willing to sacrifice to fight the corps. Is making a difference worth risking their privacy, their lifestyle, or their lives?Fans of media giant NBN, its colorful programs, and its high-profile characters gain unparalleled access to the megacorp's HQ in Leigh Alexander's Monitor. As the media-focused megacorp responds to the threat posed by a trio of wannabe activists, we learn more about such popular characters as Jackson Howard, Victoria Jenkins, and Dinosaurus.Meanwhile, as the protagonists have their privacy stripped away, they lose control of their lives. Their actions become increasingly desperate and surprising. As they look for ways to retaliate, will their lives spiral into total anarchy? Will they regain control of the context that defines them? And who is responsible for their suffering? In Monitor, the truth is malleable, and learning how to shape it is paramount.In addition to its 96 pages of fiction, the hardcover edition of Monitor comes with a sixteen-page full color insert with setting information on activism in the Android future, NBN's Global Adaptive Entertainment, MegaBuy, and the future of marketing.
Forbidden Room
Joanne Lewis - 2013
Murder? Suicide? Was that Uncle Charlie running from the scene? The children refuse to speak to the police and the crime is never solved.Flash forward to the present and Sara – now an adult and the heiress to a very large fortune - is accused of killing Uncle Charlie. Soldier Boy has disappeared.New attorney Michael Tucker has few clients, yearns to be like his famous grandmother and cannot afford to move out of his parents’ home. When Sara hires Michael, he gets the chance to defend an innocent person, a beautiful lover and notoriety like his grandmother. But is it more than he bargained for? Is Sara innocent or is she really a murderer?Forbidden Room, a murder mystery, begins in the courtroom on the last day of Sara’s murder trial. The foreperson reads from the verdict form. “In The People of New York vs. Sara Goldstein, the defendant is found….”Sara awakens in a hospital room where she was taken after fainting. Michael is by her side. Court is in recess until the following day. The verdict has not yet been announced. Told from the points of view of both Sara and Michael, Forbidden Room unfolds in complicated layers until the verdict is pronounced and Uncle Charlie’s murderer is revealed.
Salvage-5
Brian K. Larson - 2014
...but what the salvage crew finds on their mission will change their lives forever.
Colonel Tucker Petersen, retired five years from the military, is suddenly recalled to active duty and is put in charge of the Salvage-5 mining/recovery mission.Four previous civilian salvage missions have gone missing from the Kirkwood Gap. Tucker is sent, with his crew of eight, to discover what went wrong with the Self-contained mining dredge, the Euna-1, at Asteroid 15 Eunomia... Find out what discoveries are waiting for the crew of Salvage-5. ˃˃˃ Join Colonel Tucker Petersen, and the crew of Salvage-5, for this new Techno Thriller ˃˃˃ This will be sure to keep you biting your nails and on the edge of your seat.
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Dead Soil
Alex Apostol - 2015
Northwest Indiana will become ground zero for the zombie plague. Within twenty-four hours, Chicago will be nothing more than a breeding ground for the undead. Some people will choose to fortify their homes while others flee to the woods when it becomes apparent that there's no end in sight to their hell on Earth. How will you survive the apocalypse?
The Sheikh's Marriage Bargain
Leslie North - 2020
Marriage was never in the picture. But when her grandfather is tricked into signing a binding marriage contract to a man she finds repugnant, she has one choice: Run away. Her flight ends with a fortuitous meeting with Zayid Hasan, Crown Prince of Raihan, who offers the perfect solution to Laila’s predicament: marry him and solve both their problems. Zayid’s younger brother must marry his pregnant fiancé, and ancient laws dictate the oldest brother is required to marry first. Desperate for a way to protect both her grandfather and herself, Laila agrees. After all, their marriage will last only until Zayid’s brother can marry—and her marriage to the brooding, handsome prince isn’t much of a sacrifice. It’s not like she’s going to be foolish enough to fall in love…Zayid doesn’t know what to think about his new half-American wife. He doesn’t really want to think about her at all, but for some reason, he can’t stop himself. Strangely enough, all the royal functions that used to bore him silly are now entertaining with Laila by his side—even though he knows she’d much rather be alone creating her art. Though the marriage of convenience was his idea, he can’t help but start to wish it was the real deal. No way can he ignore the simmering chemistry that’s driving them both a bit crazy. He’s much better at ignoring what’s in his heart—until he realizes it just might break if he can’t convince Laila to stay with him forever…