The poison meant to kill her father leaves him in a degenerative state. When her eldest brother discovers she has survived, he orders her to stay in hiding. She must wait, concealed in the human world, until the danger of their father’s uncontrolled rages is contained.Grown and adapted to the human world, Katrina encounters one of her kind. The promise of home and first love leads her into a situation capable of starting war among the Veilede. Will a human upbringing, mistakes, and the loss of her abilities bar her from reclaiming her heritage? Will unraveling the mystery of her mother’s betrayal lead her family into even greater danger?

    When Hope joins FearToShred, a Silicon Valley extreme gaming startup, Hope's mission is to groom the scrappy company for prime time. Enter Doug Wiser, her very married ex. While the two work in tandem, nefarious forces are at work behind the scenes. Adding to the excitement of this thriller are the stars and heroes of surfing and skateboarding. With a keen eye on women in tech, business ethics and dangerous stunts, "Extreme" will leave you breathless.Winner of the Cervena Barva and Chaffin Fiction Awards, Joan's work has appeared in The Huffington Post, Vanity Fair, Rattle, Pank! The Meridien Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Chicken Soup for the Soul and over 200 literary journals, blogs and magazines.A member of the National Book Critics Circle, Joan has worked for California Poets in the Schools, Poetry Out Loud, Chiat/Day Advertising and other Bay Area companies. She currently coaches writers and teaches in the San Francisco Bay Area.

    But Tsula Walker, Special Agent with the National Park Service’s Investigative Services Branch, isn’t so sure.Tsula’s investigation will lead her deep into the park and face-to-face with a group of lethal men on a mission to reclaim a historic homestead. The encounter will irretrievably alter the lives of all involved and leave Tsula fighting for survival – not only from those who would do her harm, but from a looming winter storm that could prove just as deadly.A finely crafted literary thriller, Twentymile delivers a propulsive story of long-held grievances, new hopes, and the contentious history of the land at its heart.PRAISE FOR TWENTYMILE:"[A] taut, page-turning thriller . . ." --Atlanta Journal-Constitution"In C. Matthew Smith’s engrossing novel Twentymile, a park service biologist turns up dead in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and discord regarding annexed land fuels a treacherous chase....a disturbing, potent thriller about ownership and trespassing, as well as unrealized dreams and aggression." --Foreword Reviews"Twentymile is packed with everything I love: A strong, female character; a wilderness setting; gripping storytelling; masterful writing. . . I loved every word. A beautiful and brutal and extraordinary debut." --Diane Les Becquets, bestselling author of Breaking Wild and The Last Woman in the Forest"Original, intelligent. . . Twentymile is an accomplished first novel from a talented and fully-formed writer." --James McLaughlin, Edgar Award winning author of Bearskin“Twentymile is a moody, atmospheric tale of family, vengeance, and anger too-long held, all set in the heart of the Great Smoky Mountains. Ultimately, it is the story of reaching for- discovering and recovering- home, and how such a complicated yearning can play out on both sides of the law." --Steph Post, author of Miraculum, Lightwood, and A Tree Born Crooked​"Smith’s spellbinding debut takes readers on a murderous journey through the backwoods of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. . . A thrilling and evocative tale." --Scott Graham, National Outdoor Book Award-winning author of Canyonlands Carnage"A highly enjoyable read suited best to those who like their thrillers to simmer for awhile before erupting in a blizzard of action and unpredictability with a future promise of grander adventures." --Kashif Hussain, Best Thriller Books"C. Matthew Smith's gripping tale centers around the history of our public lands and the people who use and protect them. Twentymile is a tremendously entertaining first novel from a writer who knows how to spin a good yarn." --Rob Phillips, bestselling author of The Cascade Killer, Cascade Vengeance, and Cascade Predator

    It is a Pandoras box of emotions, situations, opportunities, and failures, all wrapped into a package we call life. Nobody is immune, but everyone has the opportunity to grow tall or wither like a flower in harsh light. Its completely up to us how we choose to respond. Finding Hope in the Darkness of Grief is a gleaning of insights from artist Diamante Lavender. For her, life has been a long, difficult road, but it has taught many poignant lessons. Her poetry collection is an exploration of the human soul, a traversing of situations that life throws at us. Diamante has always been intrigued by the ability to overcome and move on to bigger and better things. She writes to encourage hope and possibility in those who read her stories. If she can help others heal, as she has, then Diamantes work as an author and artist will have been well spent. She believes that everyone should try to leave a positive mark on the world, to make it a better place for all. Writing is the way that she is attempting to leave her markone story at a time.

    The story relates the adventures of a thirteen-year-old English boy whose missionary parents came to convert the wild heathens to the way of Christ.Comanches slaughter Reverend John Blackthorn and his family before he preaches one word. Nigel survives by following his mother’s instructions to hide in a hollow tree. Pascal LeBrun, a roaming muleteer, rides to the smoke of the burning wagons to find Nigel, the lone survivor.Plump, lazy, and spoiled, Nigel enters an unwelcome new world–work or starve. He finds survival is the way of life on the prairie. Worse yet, English is a little used third language. Two hundred miles later, when the mule train reaches the first white settlement, Pascal gives Nigel a choice: enter an orphanage, or enter an apprenticeship on the mule train for a piddling wage.Years later, Nigel wonders if the orphanage would have been easier.

    Disturbed by these crimes, logistics manager, Jackson Warner, finds his way into an illicit chatroom ‘happydayz,’ dedicated to glorifying the killers. Jackson fixates on the young men’s disregard for life and suspects the copycat is among them. In his frenzy, will he mistake a troubled youth for one of possibly many shooters? “Great plot…really well done…” Thomas Jones, British author of GAME THEORY

    February 8, 1944 ... Shot Down and Alive For the first time, the full and complete story of the B-17 Flying Fortress Susan Ruth is shared in unbelievable detail. Author Steve Snyder’s story of his father, Lieutenant Howard Snyder, and the Susan Ruth crew, provides in-depth details about many aspects of World War II few understand or know about including the:• separation for young families as men went off to war;• training before heading to foreign soil;• military combat operations;• underground and resistance and what Lt. Snyder did when he joined it;• German atrocities toward captured crew and civilians;• behind-the-scenes stories of the Belgium civilians who risked all to save American flyers who were in the air one moment, spiraling down in flames the next;• creation and dedication of the monument to the Susan Ruth and its crew located in Macquenoise, Belgium in 1989.Shot Down was created from the vast number of letters and journals of Howard Snyder; diaries of men and women on the ground who rescued, sheltered and hid the crew; and interviews conducted by historians. Centered around the 306th Bomb Group in Thurleigh, England, it is informative, insightful and captivating.For most, 70 years is a long time ago. World War II fades in importance as each year goes by. Shot Down moves history out of the footnotes into reality, keeping the stories of real people alive as they experience being shot down. You are there, almost holding your breath as Lt. Snyder gets his crew out of his B-17 when bailing out over Nazi occupied Europe.

    The one thing missing was what she desired the most—a male counterpart equal to her in every way. Unfortunately for Gem, the world she was born into had a shortage of the alpha male she was dreaming of. Gemma lived in a time of restricted freedom and self-determination, which sadly for her also included an almost total lack of privacy and sexual liberty. The type of man she was looking for was completely out of fashion and possibly extinct. For a woman with a seemingly unquenchable libido, the laws and moral attitudes that repressed the natural interaction between men and women made her miserable. If she couldn’t find the man she wanted the old fashioned way, then perhaps the technology of the day would provide a suitable alternative. So began Gem’s quest for personal gratification. On the invitation of her platonic best friend, Gemma went underground to an exclusive sex club. Avoiding the eyes of the law, this was a place where virtual reality sex, and even artificial humans, were designed to provide almost any pleasure imaginable. Even still, Gemma's’ basic needs were not met. She hatched a new plan: if the man she really wanted didn’t exist then she would just have to make one.

    He's tired of being made fun of by all the other flying birds, so he sets off on a journey to find out who he really is. Along the way, he meets Maudry, a smart and sassy female bird, and Wainwright, a grumpy worm with a short temper. Together, the unusual trio goes through thick and thin to discover what it really means to be yourself.

     The buses pull out of the holding station every hour. They are headed for Travis Air force base just north of the city, filled with a seemingly endless supply of young men who are themselves filled with doubts and fears. Of course, the doubt and fear is not allowed out in the open. It is instead tucked neatly away in a very private place. A place it can hide and grow, like a virus, as the journey continues.

    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.

    A brilliant but troubled Bangladeshi physics student searches for balance, acceptance, and his own extraordinary destiny after his father disappears. When a Halloween blizzard immobilizes Minneapolis, a young woman is forced to confront the snow-bound nature of her own relationships and emotions. During an excursion to an idyllic swimming hole hidden in the Black Hills, two old friends unexpectedly compete for the affections of an irresistible, though married, Lakota woman. Like a mythical expedition to reach the horizon or the quest to distill truth from the beauty around us, the revelation confirmed by these imaginative stories - elegant, sometimes jarring, always wonderfully absurd - is that the very act of reaching is itself a form of touch.“The quiet plains of the North Country serve as a perfect backdrop for Parsons’ moving debut, a collection of short stories whose characters often live deeply solitary, if not always lonely, lives.”-- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)“Eloquently written and replete with a continual stream of un-hackneyed twists and turns, Parsons’ collection is superbly crafted. Engaging, riveting, and at times, mind-boggling, The Sense of Touch is earmarked to become a literary classic.”-- San Francisco Book Review (five-star review)"Parsons has made himself a man to watch in the literary world. Each of these stories is as thrilling as the next." -- Portland Book Review (five-star review)"Each story is honed with purpose and infused with subtle energies. He creates delicate lines between the frigid cosmos and the warmth that can be generated among people. Parsons' writing has a strong pulse. This debut assortment heralds his promising career." -- The US Review of Books (Top-Rated Recommended Review)

    An adventure that illuminates a path toward understanding the meaning of life and our place in the universe.-Humanity faces an unprecedented crisis that threatens all life on Earth. Desert Storm fighter pilot and NASA astronaut Ron Garan addresses this head-on in Floatingin Darkness: A Journey of Evolution, the follow-up to his critically acclaimed first book, The Orbital Perspective: Lessons in Seeing the Big Picture from a Journey of 71 Million Miles.-Ron takes us on an extraordinary journey through outer space and inner space. He explores the dancing, intersecting orbits of religion, spirituality, and science while grappling with his own role in the violence of combat and the effects of war on all aspects of human life. We witness Ron struggling with mortality while also basking in the sheer wonder and beauty of our world and beyond. From this perspective, Ron maps out a viable path forward—to solve our crisis, we need a giant leap in humanity’s evolutionary process. We must transcend individual and collective ego and embrace the true nature of our interdependence with this fragile planet and all life within its biosphere. -Ron shows us how to discover our purpose, detoxify our divisive culture, and become a “white blood cell” in a growing immune response to heal our world.-Floating in Darkness is a blueprint to build a restorative and positive future for all.

    Scott is a dejected 24 year old struggling to make ends meet working for his brother and supplementing his income with a small-scale drug dealing operation. Angela is an attractive 23 year old, raised by her father, a career criminal and small time drug dealer who supplies Scott with cannabis. This is a chilling tale spanning a few months in the lives of Scott and Angela, where realizations about the present combine with shocking revelations from the past leading to an apocalyptic climax where they no longer know whom they can trust.

    The Kovid family, who live somewhere in the Eastern US make the best of it through planned shopping maneuvers, family togetherness at dinner time and the TV set. Mom and Dad Kovid have three sons aged 17, 16 and 13. The middle son has a sweetheart named 'Amber', who at the beginning of the quarantine is a patient on a hospital ship, and is dying from COVID-19, when a miracle takes place.