At least, that’s what the doctors have claimed since her childhood. Now nineteen, and one step away from a psych ward, Fern struggles to survive in bustling Los Angeles. Desperate to appear “normal,” she represses the young man flickering at the edge of her awareness—a blond warrior only she can see. Tristan was Fern’s childhood imaginary hero, saving her from monsters under her bed and outside her walls. As she grew up and his secret world continued to bleed into hers, however, it only caused catastrophe. But, when the city is rocked by the unexplainable, Fern is forced to consider the possibility that this young man isn’t a hallucination after all—and that the creature who decimated his world may be coming for hers.

    A gladiator.Now he has found a home with the only three people who have ever treated him with kindness.After his first visit to town goes just as disastrously as expected, he seeks solace in the woods, where he discovers a wounded wolf pup. The merciful thing would be to put her out of her misery. However, his desire to help her is stronger. Could he possibly save her in her condition? Would Elôm even care to help if Jace were to ask Him?(6,500 words. Available for free to subscribers of Jaye L. Knight's emailing list. Will be available in paperback as well.)

    Things are never what they seem and people are seldom what you THINK them to be if all you base it on is what your eyes see and not what your soul knows. There’s a fine line between destiny and duty, but when both are blended with love, who knows what miracles can occur at Christmas.

    But it will cost you.” Jake and Stephen grew up together. Down on his luck and needing a place to crash, Jake knows there's plenty of room in Stephen's gated mansion. Stephen gladly welcomes Jake into his home, but the young billionaire's generosity comes with strings attached—something he's wanted for a very long time. Jake is a straight man and always has been. But when Stephen hands him the blindfold, Jake has no choice but to cover his eyes and take whatever comes. No matter how forbidden, or taboo. 7,600 words. First of two books.

    His teenage friend Claire is an ace with numbers, and is always eager to help him with his homework. Max adores her, and loves when she visits him in the old house on Hollow Street. Claire can also weave a ghost story like no one else. But her favorite tale always sends chills down his spine, and hits a little too close to home...

    Twenty-one year old Fenfang Wang has traveled one thousand eight hundred miles to seek her fortune in contemporary urban Beijing, and has no desire to return to the drudgery of the sweet potato fields back home. However, Fenfang is ill-prepared for what greets her: a Communist regime that has outworn its welcome, a city under rampant destruction and slap-dash development, and a sexist attitude seemingly more in keeping with her peasant upbringing than the country’s progressive capital. Yet Fenfang is determined to live a modern life. With courage and purpose, she forges ahead, and soon lands a job as a film extra. While playing roles like woman-walking-over-the bridge and waitress-wiping-a-table help her eke out a meager living, Fenfang comes under the spell of two unsuitable young men, keeps her cupboard stocked with UFO noodles, and after mastering the fever and tumult of the city, ultimately finds her true independence in the one place she never expected.At once wry and moving, Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth gives us a clear-eyed glimpse into the precarious and fragile state of China’s new identity and asserts Xiaolu Guo as her generation’s voice of modern China.

    Henry-prize winner Swamy's debut collection of stories, dreams collide with reality, modernity collides with antiquity, myth with true identity, and women grapple with desire, with ego, with motherhood and mortality. In "Earthly Pleasures," Radika, a young painter living alone in San Francisco, begins a secret romance with one of India's biggest celebrities. In "A Simple Composition," a husband's moment of crisis leads to his wife's discovery of a dark, ecstatic joy and the sense of a new beginning. In the title story, an exhausted mother watches, distracted and paralyzed, as a California wildfire approaches her home. With a knife blade's edge and precision, the stories of A House Is a Body travel from India to America and back again to reveal the small moments of beauty, pain, and power that contain the world.

    My reputation is in tatters from my stint in the big city. I have an urgent care to build in this small town and I won’t let anything stop me from building a new life. Not even that awful saw going in the middle of the night next door. Not even my gorgeous neighbor covered in sawdust. Nope. I’m a goddamn professional.CharlieI’m doing just fine on my own. Got my wood working, my dog, and a steady supply of moonshine. The last thing I need is a hot neighbor with her panties in a twist wreaking havoc on my bachelor life. But she barrels in anyway, making me cut my hand wide open, stitching me up, and living with me until I heal. It would have been torture if teasing her hadn’t become so much fun. Can opposites get along when forced to live together in a small town named Hell?

    ANGEL’S SONG: A companion short story to the novel “The Thorn”, book one of “The Chronicles of Gan” (speculative fiction). WATER: Based on the account found in the Gospel of John, chapter 5, verses 1-16, and the painting by Carl Bloch, “Healing at the Pool of Bethesda” (historical fiction).

    And it was the worst mistake of my life.So when she shows up to play Santa for my daughter’s preschool Christmas party, you’re damn right I’m going to try to get her back.Except Kaitlyn Holly’s lost all of her Christmas cheer. Which means it’s my job to help her get it back. No matter what it takes.Exes and Ho Ho Hos is a short, sexy, standalone Christmas romance told in alternating first person, complete with reindeer, a Santa brawl, and a little mishap on the most iconic skating rink in New York City. It stands alone and has a merrily ever after.

    In these labors, there is one friend that they can count on, day in and day out . . . he’s a constant companion in their headsets with the Smack and Crack, Sno Bro, and other music they love, as well offering a seemingly endless stream of friendship and encouragement: the morning DJ on Company Radio Channel D, Robin Whitlake. But, Robin is more than a warm human voice in the endless night, he is a man with a heroic, yet deadly and dangerous secret past that could condemn him to death at any time. Disfigured and aging rapidly, he must work harder and harder to project the youth and vitality that he brings to his broadcasts, all the while wondering when and if his past will catch up with him. On 14 January 2314, it did. A disaster in the mining colony brings the heroic and deadly elements of Robin’s past into sudden collision. Not only must he decide whether to subject himself to possible execution, Robin has to call upon all his professionalism as a broadcaster, the skills he spent decades honing in his former life, and the Morse code abilities of a red-headed, pig-tailed Space Scout named Elaine, in a desperate “Hail Mary” improvisation with thousands of innocent lives hanging in the balance. Good Morning Vendemiatrix is an 8800 word stand-alone novelette set in the “Man of War” universe. Fans of Honsinger’s other work will recognize the setting and be treated to a cameo appearance by a familiar character, while new readers will not find themselves “lost in space.” It is a humorous and exciting piece of shorter fiction written to be enjoyed by all Science Fiction readers.

    A titan in his industry, he wants for nothing, but it’s not long before he realizes money can’t buy happiness.The evening he comes face to face with Marisol Torres, everything changes.Marisol is the blast from his past he didn’t know he needed, and one night together turns both their lives upside down.Gabe knows he’ll never be the same without her, but Marisol has a secret that could end things before they even get a real chance to start.

    The Corn Maiden is the gut-wrenching story of Marissa, a beautiful and sweet eleven-year-old girl with hair the color of corn silk. Taken by an older girl from her school who has told two friends in her thrall of the Indian legend of the Corn Maiden, in which a girl is sacrificed to ensure a good crop, Marissa is kept in a secluded basement and convinced that the world has ended. Marissa s seemingly inevitable fate becomes ever more terrifying as the older girl relishes her power, giving the tale unbearable tension with a shocking conclusion. In Helping Hands, published here for the first time, a lonely woman meets a man in the unlikely clutter of a dingy charity shop and extends friendship. She has no idea what kinds of doors she may be opening. The powerful stories in this extraordinary collection further enhance Joyce Carol Oates s standing as one of the world s greatest writers of suspense."

    She returns to her hometown of Charles Town, West Virginia, to help her mother save the family antique business, content to stay focused on her work. However, when a chance encounter with an adorable five-year-old leads her to befriend an attractive single dad, Melody begins to realize she's been putting her life on hold, something her father would've never wished for her. Will she learn to hear the song in the falling snow again? Reid has recently moved to Charles Town to start over after his wife walked out, leaving him alone to raise their son, Michael. When Michael decides he needs Melody Murphy in his life, Reid needs to find out what it is that has his son drawn to the young woman like a magnet. The closer he gets to Melody, the more he begins to believe he might get a second chance at love after all. This is a sweet contemporary romance with Christian themes, perfect for holiday reading.

    And nothing would stop her. Not the fact that she’d be the youngest one in the history of the company. Or the fact that she’d be the first female Director. And especially not a man.Then she met Tyler, and everything changed. It was like they were destined to be together. The attraction was immediate, and the follow-through was more passionate and amazing than she could have ever hoped for.But Tyler was gone now. She could barely bring herself to think about their brief time together. As she stared at her wedding dress, she reflected on the fact that almost everything would be in place: a perfect gown, a perfect venue, a perfect ceremony. But not her perfect groom.15% of profits donated to Tuesdayschildren.org to help kids affected by 9/11 and other acts of terrorism.