Morton's first two unforgettable novels in one volume: The House at Riverton plus The Forgotten Garden.

    But Tanus will have to defy the same gods to attain the reward they have forbidden him, an object more prized than battle's glory: possession of the Lady Lostris, a rare beauty with skin the color of oiled ceder--destined for the adoration of a nation, and the love of one extraordinary man.Gold MineNorth of Johannesburg, five companies share the Kitchenerville fields, furiously blasting and digging deep into the earth. For some men, gold mining is a way of life--and death. For some it's just a business. For one man, it's the most dangerous game of all...Rod Ironsides makes love to his boss's wife and drives his miners faster and harder than anyone has ever dared. A few weeks ago, Ironsides had a passion for golf and one-night stands. Now, he has been handed a prize and a curse: to blast through rock and reap a fortune--or be destroyed.From a split-second, oxygen-sucking explosion to a looming underground wall of water, there are a dozen ways Rod can fail. But his passion and fury won't let him back down from a conspiracy he cannot see: men who want to turn his mine into a death trap--for the bloodiest pay-day of all...

    It can be read in ten minutes. Please don't purchase this expecting a novel for your dollar.This story was written in a small cafe on the corner of Bleeker and Grove in New York City on Tuesday, May 27th. The idea came to me yesterday while walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. I saw the locks on several of the small cables on the bridge. I remembered my time in both London and Paris, taking pictures of all the love locks on bridges there. And I thought about all the couples those locks represent. I wondered how many are still together.Maybe this story isn't worth your dollar. If I could price a work on Amazon for less, I would. It is what it is. I hope this will be the first of many short pieces that I write and publish in a single day while recording what I'm thinking and where I am when I write them. For those who take the plunge, I hope you get your money's worth. Thank you for all of your support.-Hugh

    Humanity has seized the stars - using reverse-engineered alien technology to explore the far reaches of space. For 100 years the Predators, sadistic extraterrestrial hunters, have been a dim memory. For 100 years, we've been safe. That ends now.

    For Ky, it's no contest: Even running the prestigious Vatta Transport Ltd. shipping concern can't hold a candle to shipping out as an officer aboard an interstellar cruiser. It's adventure, not commerce, that stirs her soul. And despite her family's misgivings, there can be no doubt that a Vatta in the service will prove a valuable asset. But with a single error in judgment, it all comes crumbling down. Expelled from the Academy in disgrace--and returning home to her humiliated family, a storm of high-profile media coverage, and the gaping void of her own future--Ky is ready to face the inevitable onslaught of anger, disappointment, even pity. But soon after opportunity's door slams shut, Ky finds herself with a ticket to ride--and a shot at redemption--as captain of a Vatta Transport ship. It's a simple assignment: escorting one of the Vatta fleet's oldest ships on its final voyage ... to the scrapyard. But keeping it simple has never been Ky's style. And even though her father has provided a crew of seasoned veterans to baby-sit the fledgling captain on her maiden milk run, they can't stop Ky from turning the routine mission into a risky venture--in the name of turning a profit for Vatta Transport, of course. By snapping up a lucrative delivery contract defaulted on by a rival company, and using part of the proceeds to upgrade her condemned vehicle, Ky aims to prove she's got more going for her than just her family's famous name. But business will soon have to take a backseat to bravery, when Ky's change of plans sails her and the crew straight into the middle of a colonial war. For all her commercial savvy, it's her military training and born-soldier's instincts that Ky will need to call on in the face of deadly combat, dangerous mercenaries, and violent mutiny....

    David D. Levine's "Discards" introduces Tiago Gonçalves, a teenager who scrapes collecting recyclables from the landfills of Rio de Janeiro. But after the Wild Card virus infects him, he learns to build something more.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

     On the small island of Kalou, Fiji, a rash of disappearances has the local police stumped. Men, women and children seem to disappear without a trace. Mark Whittaker is the island's sole private investigator. A former LAPD detective who moved to the island to get away from the violence of the city, he's now thrust into the middle of the disappearances when he's hired to find the brother of a mysterious client. As Mark digs into the disappearances, he discovers that something sinister and ancient has been awakened on the island. Something that kills without pity or remorse. And he fears his once island dream is about to be turned into a nightmare.

    Indeed, I fancy that you will be surprised by how much I have collected. My needs have been small and my earnings always very good.Except when it rains.Originally published in Four Letter Word: Original Love Letters, edited by Joshua Knelman & Rosalind Porter.

    

    They're wrong. Get all three books in this urban fantasy romance. A Step Into the Dark (Ollie Wit Book One) Ollie Wit is the strongest Shadow Walker born in decades but it’s a gift with a steep price. Walking in the Shadowlands can bring untold powers and spells, and even greater risks. Every step into that other world brings her closer to the monsters that have haunted her since a child, destroyed her family and wreaked havoc all around her. Kane knows Ollie is the key to getting the spell he needs and he’s the answer to ending her torment. But it’s a bargain that brings her closer to her own destruction. Even if she succeeds, will she be able to walk away from the newfound power that comes with walking in the Shadowlands? Walking in the Dark (Ollie Wit Book Two) Some people find power in the light. Others are meant to walk in the dark. Ollie Wit left it all behind: a new home, friends who saw her as something more than a fragile shadow walker and a budding relationship with Kane. She did it all in an effort to shield Asher, who should’ve never been able to escape the Shadowlands. Now her money is gone, her hopes of saving other shadow walkers has slipped through her fingers, and Kane won’t speak to her. She’s been abducted by leprechauns, who think she has committed an unspeakable crime. The vampires want her dead and there’s a crawler blowing up End of the Rainbows. Kane might not want to work with her, but he’s going to have to because all hell is breaking loose in Boston. Kissed by the Dark (Ollie Wit Book Three) Life with Kane is wonderful, right up until it’s not. People like me, Shadow Walkers, who know that monsters are real and nightmares don’t only happen when you’re sleeping, are always waiting for the worst. But no one believes me when I tell them disaster is looming, not even Kane, the man who has seen more than I can imagine. When the worst does happen, I’m not prepared. Months of my life are wiped from my memory, strangers call me friend, and it looks like I’m conspiring with the enemy. I need a back-up plan. Only problem is, if I have one I don’t remember it. I don’t remember anything, like who to trust and who to hate. Someone screwed with my life and they’re going to pay. But do I trust Kane to help me when all I can remember is that I hate him?

    . .One touch and a person begins aging rapidly. Years in a single day. Before anyone can react or stop it, entire cities are crippled.As survivors flee to their homes, Elizabeth and her children watch with an increasing sense of dread as the death toll climbs. Then, when a terrifying way to slow the aging is witnessed online, the enormity of the event becomes clear. Now, waiting it out is no longer an option, finding safety is. But venturing outside is deadly. Come in contact with the wrong person and their days are numbered. Ignore the warnings and it’s over.Three weeks later as the event escalates, Elizabeth must trust the survival of her children to the one person who others trust the least. As they embark on a frightening journey through a hostile country with more questions than answers, they’ll soon discover that reaching safety will be more difficult than imagined. In a desperate world where age isn’t a number but a death sentence, can anyone be trusted?With tension and suspense, unlike any other, The Aging is a high-octane, post-apocalyptic thriller, that weaves the chaotic world of the past and present together to keep you on the edge-of-your-seat until the last page.

    

    There they will confront madness, murder, and the ultimate evil so that their billionaire host might find the key to life beyond the grave. But as they learn, dead souls dwell in The Pines. And death is just the beginning...

    He infiltrates the most hostile countries in the world, defeats our enemies' advanced security measures, and eliminates threats before they ever reach our shores. But now, his skills have left him. Sent overseas on a critical assignment, he fails, unable to pull the trigger. Absent his talents, Robie is a man without a mission, and without a purpose.To recover what he has lost, Robie must confront what he has tried to forget for over twenty years: his own past.THE GUILTYWill Robie escaped his small Gulf Coast hometown of Cantrell, Mississippi after high school, severing all personal ties, and never looked back. Not once. Not until the unimaginable occurs. His father, Dan Robie, has been arrested and charged with murder.Father and son haven't spoken or seen each other since the day Robie left town. In that time, Dan Robie-a local attorney and pillar of the community-has been elected town judge. Despite this, most of Cantrell is aligned against Dan. His guilt is assumed.To make matters worse, Dan has refused to do anything to defend himself. When Robie tries to help, his father responds only with anger and defiance. Could Dan really be guilty? With the equally formidable Jessica Reel at his side, Robie ignores his father's wishes and begins his own desperate investigation into the case. But Robie is now a stranger to his hometown, an outsider, a man who has forsaken his past and his family. His attempts to save his father are met with distrust and skepticism . . . and violence.Unlike the missions Robie undertook in the service of his country, where his target was clearly defined, digging into his father's case only reveals more questions. Robie is drawn into the hidden underside of Cantrell, where he must face the unexpected and possibly deadly consequences of the long-ago choices made by father and son. And this time, there may be no escape for either of them.

    FYODOR MIKHAILOVICH DOSTOYEVSKY [1821-1881] was a Russian writer of novels and short stories .In 1841, he graduated from Saint Petersburg Academy of Military Engineering. In 1845, he published his first novel Poor Folk in the magazine Sovremennik. The poet Nikolai Nekrasov, editor of the magazine, said of Dostoyevsky, "a new Gogol has arisen!" In 1846, he published The Double. It was received with dissaponting reaction. In 1849, he was arrested and sentenced to death for being a member of the Petrashevsky Circle. The sentence was reduced to four years hard labor at a prison camp in Omsk, Siberia. Of the experience he wrote, "In summer, intolerable closeness; in winter, unendurable cold. All the floors were rotten. Filth on the floors an inch thick; one could slip and fall... We were packed like herrings in a barrel...There was no room to turn around. From dusk to dawn it was impossible not to behave like pigs... Fleas, lice, and black beetles by the bushel..." In 1854, and was required to serve five years in the Russian army at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan. In 1866, he published Crime and Punishment which made him one of Russia's most popular authors. In 1867, he published The Gambler. He had become a frequent visitor to casinos and wrote the book to pay debts. From 1873 to 1881, he published the Writer's Diary, a magazine of short stories and articles on current events.Many leading authors have been influenced by him including Proust, Faulkner, Camus, Kafka, Kerouac, and Salinger. Hemingway cited his influence in A Moveable Feast. James Joyce said of him, "...he is the man more than any other who has created modern prose ..."