John Spencer comments on this in a provocative manner and ponders possible solutions. Many world leaders would be extremely displeased by his observations and opinions. China’s ruthless expansionism, evidenced by the suppression of democracy in Hong Kong and its bullying threats to Taiwan, is one of many issues discussed. John has closely followed events and trends in our world for many years. The issues that bother many people have intensely concerned him and he wishes to promote further discussion in the search for available solutions. The trend to elect populist leaders without due regard to the consequences is one of his lines of inquiry. Others include the ever-increasing disappearance of freedom, the increasing human overpopulation, along with its aging, and the looming environmental disaster.

    His pregnant wife is missing, but his only living relative, his brother, is incapable of substantiating his claim. Lost in a world of confusion that is spiralling out of his control, Stuart finds temporary salvation in a psychiatrist assigned to his case. Meanwhile, peculiar events across the world lead a team of Oxford scientists to develop top secret technology that will change the future of humanity. Betrayed by double agents, the race to control this technology endangers the lives of all involved, which unwittingly includes Stuart and his psychiatrist. This enthralling journey takes Stuart to the edge of sanity, culminating in an unparalleled climax of kidnapping, betrayal and murder.

    Most teenagers feel unnoticed and unseen, but for Zylia, it's something much worse. She's disappearing from this world and doesn't know how to stop it. At times, she's not sure she wants to. Until she stumbles across a family mystery surrounding the disappearance of her great-aunt Angelica years earlier. During her quest to unravel the mystery, Zylia discovers she's able to cross the boundary and enter the "in between" world. Now, it's up to Zylia to save herself before she's trapped "in between" forever.

    Maternal instinct knows no boundaries, including the nano-neural-net intravenously installed in Dannia Weston's mind to repress her identity, allowing her to perform a mission 300 years before her time. Transported to the year 1954, Dannia becomes a woman with a mid-twentieth century persona, college educated with an aptitude for mechanical invention. Due to her work during the war, she is employed by the U.S. government on a secret project. But what no one knows-including Dannia or those who sent her back to tinker with the mechanical past to reduce future pollution-is what might happen should she become emotionally involved in 1954. The 2254 science team programmed the nano-net to prevent the possibility of pregnancy, but each person reacts to strong emotional stimuli differently, and using birth control not available in 1954 is out of the question. When Dannia falls in love with Peter Hersh and becomes pregnant, her hormones erode a small section of the nano-chained network that stabilizes her new identity, triggering a mild memory rebirth...and threatening her mission and the fate of the world.

    His discovery brings Annabel and her family to the turn of nineteenth-century England hoping to rescue Michele from the Black Witch’s cage. What they discover is that the Black Witch has been forced into an insidious pact with the devil and the devil, with malicious intent, is luring them all into a web of death. Can they escape his grasp?

    Always fascinated with anything supernatural, Elizabeth determined this year’s theme would center around a particular superstition. This year, she was to host a dinner party of just thirteen guests. She wanted to test the adage that if one broke the circle of thirteen at the table, then misery would befall all in attendance.Ms. Headstrom intentionally invited only those who have been most notable in certain circles, some not exactly for the best reasons, to attend this year’s event. All the infamous guests accept her invite, unaware of the theme, as well as unaware of just how far the evening’s events would go.

    Neither dead nor alive--and rotting from the inside--she is on the edge of her curse. Once a Phantom Wolf has been created, they hunt their blood pack and slaughter all their loved ones. Except for Sia, who woke years after her death to find herself rampaging through the land on a lonely path. She continues to run from the rival pack that hunts her because she is a Phantom Wolf. Attracted to a scent, Sia finds her old best friend, who is now a grown woman. Having once saved Keeley, Sia takes the role of protector yet again, despite Keeley's involvement with the mysterious Alpha, Kiba, and his kin brother, Saith. An ambush separates the pack and the four of them blindly fight the new warriors that attack them: desperately needing to find out where the attacks are coming from, as Sia has vowed to protect Keeley. But at what cost?Now being chased, Sia finds herself conflicted by the mortal and spirit world while trying to protect her kin. Sia must confront her fears, as well as the human lover who killed her many years before. It is not only survival Sia contends with, but her own façade that must be broken so that she may find peace within herself once more.

    Niko Salazar, a carpenter from Malta, is frustrated with his life. He makes an impetuous and life-changing decision-travel to America to find the love of his life, Ms. Parker, an American psychologist who recently visited his village. But Niko's wanderlust and heart-lust take him on a serendipitous and hilarious journey. This Mediterranean dreamer finds Saratoga, New York, Ms. Parker's hometown, a snow-ridden wonderland. Not to mention the fact that Ms. Parker is not returning any of his phone calls. Niko will go through some extraordinary experiences and meet a collection of charismatic characters while searching for his love-a Iroquois woman, a retired Vietnam vet, and an idealistic filmmaker-all dreamers searching for their own destiny. Will Niko find his Ms. Parker or will his dream of love and America be transformed into an unimaginable possibility? Ingham's novel is a delicious and mischievous romp with characters that come to life. Her sharp, observant voice makes a subtle, social and amusing commentary on the complexities of life, love, and the never-ending pursuit of happiness.

    But a blunt nurse explains the truth: Emily is giving birth. The seventeen-year-old has tricked her mind and body into believing she isn’t pregnant, when the baby is full term and already being born.A life-affirming, feel-good story of love, family and the special way new babies can inspire, Making Hearts introduces a character readers will strongly care about and root for. Noelle wins the hearts of all with her loving enthusiasm for life, her wit, and by personally defeating the villain’s lowdown scheme in an astonishing climax readers will never forget.

    Although she's had her ups and downs, life is good now: she lives with her twin brother, Onyx, and another friend in an artsy community in Cincinnati and is pursuing a master's degree in psychology. An avid reader, Ophelia likes everything to be orderly, including her job at a nearby bookstore. But when a good-looking stranger ends up in her apartment-invited to crash on their couch by her brother-her life begins to change forever.Brax Smith arrives to Cincinnati with nothing other than his van, having left Florida to start a new life, escaping the memories of losing his mother to cancer and dealing with his drunk father. A recovering alcoholic himself, Brax meets two guys at a group session in an eclectic area of Cincinnati when he gets to town. He feels grateful to have a place to stay but also comes face-to-face with the sister of one of his new friends, who is less than excited to have an additional roommate. Can he win her over, despite the fact that she has no interest in being his friend?In this novel, the lives of two struggling people collide and take them on a roller-coaster journey of good times and bad, ultimately leading to true love, devotion, and tragedy.

    Michael’s Catholic school outside Boston in the 60s and 70s, takes refuge in her wacky misunderstandings of Bible Stories and Catholic beliefs to avoid the problems of her Irish/Italian family life. Her musings on sadistic nuns, domestic violence, emerging sexuality, and God the Father’s romantic life will delight readers. Bridget creates glorious supernatural worlds—with exorcisms, bird relics, Virgin Martyrs, time travel, Biblical plagues, even the ‘holy’ in holy water—to cope with a family where leather handbags and even garlic can cause explosions. An avid Bible reader who innocently believes everything the nuns tell her, Bridget’s saints, martyrs, and boney Christs become alive and audible within her. While the nuns chide her sinful ‘mathematical pride’ and slow eating habits, God answers her prayers instantly by day, but the devil visits nightly in the dark. Scenes run the gamut from laugh-out-loud Catholic brainwashing of children, to heart-wrenching abuse, to riveting teenage excursions toward sex. Young Bridget tries to make sense of a world of raging men and domestically subjugated women and carve a future for herself, wrestling with how God and men treat women. Her Italian female relatives—glamorous Santa Anna, black-and-blue Aunt Maria, sophisticated Eleanor with a New York ‘Fellini pageboy’—offer sensual alternatives to the repression of her immediate family. She prays fervently that “despite God’s bizarre treatment of married women... some [girls] might still discover ways to have a great time without being a nun.” Dodging Satan is the flip-side of l'Histoire d'une Âme by Saint Thérèse of Lisieux authored by a twentieth century American girl chomping on a blue-gum cigar while she talks to a confidant about God and sex.

    After losing her job when the Garmin factory shuts down, Nonie is left with major money issues—as in, she has none. Desperate, she has to turn to the one place she’s avoided working since dropping out of college--her family’s funeral home.It wasn’t that Nonie feared the dead. In fact the opposite was true. She sees them—literally, and had been seeing the dead ever since she can remember. She tried telling her parents about it when she was a child, but they’d vehemently dismissed it to imaginary friends, so she’d stopped talking about it. There were only two people who actually knew Nonie’s secret and knew she was the real deal. One was Buggy Mouton, her best friend since kindergarten, and the other was Guy Skinard, whom Nonie considered her one true love since the day she’d laid eyes on him in high school. Buggy now worked at MeeMaw’s Café off of Main in Clay Point, and Guy, as usual, remained ever at her side—the only difference being he’d died in a freak boating accident nine years ago. Still the prankster even in death, Guy loved causing chaos, especially with men Nonie occasionally dated. She could only imagine what mayhem he might stir up while mirroring her at the funeral home and mingling with the newly departed.Only hours into the first day of her new job, pandemonium engulfs the funeral home, and much to Nonie’s surprise, it has nothing to do with Guy. It’s brought on by the family they’re serving. Seventy-two–year-old Dover Fontenot, the Major of Clay Point, dies in a car accident after indulging in a little extra-curricular activity—only the activity wasn’t with his wife , Hazel. And when Dover’s mistress, Anna Mae Turner, shows up at the funeral home for the visitation hell’s gates rip open and Broussard’s Funeral Home suddenly turns into a geriatric war zone.Amidst the flying hairpieces, canes and curses, Nonie’s best friend, Buggy, decides to drop by the funeral home with news she can’t wait to share. A cable network in New Orleans wants to put together a paranormal investigation team and have them check out purported haunted locations in Louisiana. For every location with solid filming potential, each member of the team gets a five hundred dollar pay check. And Buggy knows without question that if anyone can sniff out the ‘restless’ dead, it’s Nonie.Knowing nothing about paranormal investigation, but lured by the sound of the adventure and the dollar signs circling through her head, Nonie agrees to become part of the Boo Krewe, the name Buggy has formally given the makeshift team.The lure of money may be one thing, but what Nonie doesn’t realize is that occasionally the dead, so excited that someone can actually see and hear them, decide to follow her home, into her bed—the bathroom—the shower. And adding to this new-found frustration, Nonie barely finishes her first investigation when she gets a visit from Anna Mae Turner—the mayor’s former mistress—now dead, as well, and harassingly insistent that Nonie bring her killer to light.Nonie quickly learns that the ‘gift’ she’s carried since birth is really a giant wart on the butt of life—and no amount of Compound W is going to make it go away!

    While combining modern day narrative and medieval times, there is magic, witchcraft, talking animals and English history to take a reader on a thrilling adventure that they will never forget.

    Others are only too real in this modern-day thriller set amid the chaos of a global epidemic and a cultural uprising that set the world ablaze. She's Lucky one day-Jackie the next. Actress or con artist? Avenging angel or gold-digger? Hunter or prey? Straight or lesbian? Black Lives Matter activist? Only she knows the truth. Or does she? Controversial? No doubt. And all the while-the pandemic kills.

    Lachlan Peace’s true passion in life is music and surfing. He also can’t take his eyes off his new admin assistant, Miranda Flowers.Miranda can’t believe her luck she’s finally landed a well-paying job working for Peace at his sprawling Malibu estate. Dazzled by the opulence of her new workplace, which boasts a private beach amongst other fine trappings, Miranda thinks she’s won a celestial lottery. One of her more pleasant tasks, missing from the job description, involves accompanying her handsome boss to lavish balls as his pretend date. Miranda soon discovers that her unfriendly and very demanding manager has her sights on Lachlan Peace, with whom the CFO shares a complicated history. When this scheming manager notices that Miranda has caught the eye of the man that she’s determined to marry she hatches a plan to force his hand.Although the obstacles come thick and fast, there’s only one thing Lachlan Peace is certain about: he’s crazy about Miranda. But can Miranda compete with her sly and crafty manager, who has something over Lachlan? And will Miranda and Lachlan’s off-the-charts chemistry survive the SEC, the mob, and the sharp claws of a dangerously ambitious woman?