Secrets dug up from the grave. The truth about vampires has been unearthed. These are the journals of an ageless woman, a hybrid half human, half "Pet Mer," (Sky Gods in ancient Egypt). A blood drinker from the ancients. Their story is scarce told, but Kesi's is all too clear... She appears a delusive goddess, wanting more than anything a family. Unable to bear children, and after the death of her husband, she travels the world searching for a way to share her bloodline ("creating" children, later known as "Vampyre"). She offers aid to those who need her. But her deep desire to have kin of her own blood is not met, until she comes across a Chinese alchemist named Yin - another of her race. Hope for a life with him is banished, however, by his dark desires to destroy all the world's hybrid offspring, to find a "cure" for the "blood drinking aberrations" created by those of his and Kesi's kind. Taking what she needs and leaving behind chaos, Kesi runs, always searching. Her everlasting quest takes her through history, from one continent to the next; from her home in Egypt, to China, Rome, Scotland, and finally France. But she is never able to outrun Yin, and eventually she must face her enemy and the darkness within herself in order to have that which she truly desires. Read her story, learn the truth behind the "myth" of what humans call the vampire, read about Kesi’s unique take on her species and those they create, and discover the mayhem and bloodshed caused by a man determined to put an end to vampires forever.

    Not when they are deep within the heart like Angela Conrad's. Ten years ago, Clancy Morgan broke her heart and even though she's made a successful life for herself, she's never gotten over that pain. Angel didn't intend to ever go back home, but when the Alumni Association asked her to return to her hometown to play for the dance at their alumni gathering, she agreed.Clancy wasn't planning to attend, but he does, and he recognizes Angela immediately. He never expected to see her again, and definitely didn't expect to see her standing up there looking like a movie star and singing like a seasoned famous country artist. She's the Angel he walked away from and has been kicking himself ever since.He made a big mistake, but maybe he can mend it, if only she'll let him. She's not so easily inclined, but he gets to know her posse of protective girlfriends, and they cook up a scheme to help her get over him once and for all. Or, maybe she'll let him win her back.

    She may have been writing the book about her late husband, aeronautical daredevil Demon Rumm, but she didn’t see the need to play host to the arrogant bad-boy actor starring in the film version’s title role. Still, for the good of the project, Kirsten agreed to share her beachfront home with the impossibly sexy screen idol. Any other woman would do anything to be in her sandals, but Kirsten wasn’t falling for Rylan North, even if he did play his role of male lead to perfection. His down-home charm, his gentleness and virile charisma, might be seducing her in every sense of the word, but he was an actor, after all. Seducing an audience was his job. Rylan could have any woman he wanted. So why was he so desperately pretending to want her?From the moment he saw her, Rylan North knew that Kirsten Rumm was the woman he’d been waiting all his life to cast as the star in his real-life love story. What did it matter if he was every woman’s fantasy if he couldn’t get Kirsten to so much as glance his way? He’d caught the look of past hurt behind her sky-blue eyes–a dark secret that shadowed the sparkle. Rylan was determined to find out what tragedy held this passionate woman back from a second chance at love even if it cost him his reputation, his career, and his life. But first he’d have to get Kirsten to act on her instincts . . . and to trust the flesh-and-blood man behind the fantasy.

    Each day he uses those stones to remind him to follow the Golden Rule, moving a stone from one pocket to the other with each act of kindness. So it's not unusual that Nathan stops to help a stranger on the side of the highway while on his way to his son's football game one Friday evening. But that one act will change all of their lives forever, when a car hydroplanes off the road, killing Nathan instantly.As Halley and her children Ty and Alice struggle with their grief, Nathan's spiritual legacy lives on. A Facebook page appears, where countless stories about Nathan's selfless acts are shared. But among them is one that stands out, from a woman who says that Nathan saved her life. Neither Halley nor her children have ever heard of Madeline Zuckerman. But soon Halley discovers years of e-mails from this woman to her husband on his computer that refer to "our little girl." How could her husband have kept the secret of this other child for their entire marriage? Why had he lied to her? Was he not the man she thought he was?Only thirteen-year-old Alice maintains unwavering faith in her father. She knows there's an explanation. When she sets out to find Madeline and learn the truth, she will start to unravel the complex story of The One Good Thing Nathan Steen did that had the greatest impact of all.

     Monsters do not lie under your bed. Monster do not live in closets. They go to church. They go to school. Some teach in schools. Some are mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. My monster was the married mother who lived two doors down. She moved in as the housekeeper and later became my father’s wife. I was starved, beaten and held captive on our property, but after eight years of torture, I survived the monster. When a story, like mine, hits the news, most of us ask the same questions: Why? How? Why would a child, attending school, endure eight years of cruel torture and starvation, yet not run for help? Why did my twenty-one year old brother not move out earlier or call the police? Why didn’t the six of us gang up on her? To understand the answer to these and many other questions, you have to live the abusive lives we lived. You may ask what fuels a monster. Greed, jealousy and control are three big factors. According to recent NCANDS data the majority of the perpetrators, half a century later, are still women. So how could my father, not mutually engaged in the systematic sadistic torture of his children, allow it to happen on a regular basis? That answer is simple. Somewhere back in time, my father lost his spine.

    What if you didn't know your own? One young man with latent supernatural abilities plus one street gang hell-bent on recruiting him equals... IA: Initiate. The most important thing in the world to thirteen-year-old orphan, "Naz" Andersen is keeping his little sister safe from the streets of a Chicago/Detroit-like urban ghetto known as the Exclave. Naz tries to stay out of the way at his foster parent's home, but he walks in his sleep. He is unable to keep the fact that he hears voices from his therapist. He attempts to go unnoticed at school and in the streets of the Exclave but attracts the attention of friends and bullies alike. Naz is ordinary, or so he thinks. He harbors a secret of which he is unaware. A seemingly random act of gang violence propels Naz on a path that leads to discoveries about his supernatural abilities, abilities that will ultimately decide whether he lives or dies. Now he must navigate his turbulent surroundings and face the full force of the world around him. The only way he can survive is to discover the supernatural world within. Pure science fiction, IA: Initiate is the first book in a YA supernatural thriller trilogy, an origin story, and a coming of age hero's journey set in the mean streets of America. It's like Anakin Skywalker growing up in a bad urban environment instead of a desert planet. Award-winning author, John Darryl Winston has penned a story about, and for, those living the real story. Pick it up. Pick it up! PICK IT UP ... today!