He’s had a bad year. Sarah, his wife of nearly twenty five years, has walked out on him to move in with Colin. Perhaps they simply grew apart, perhaps the magic was no longer there, or perhaps, as his friend Jerry suggests, Rick has become boring. This nagging thought, together with too much beer on New Year’s Eve and shock at the sudden death of his college friend Alex, leads Rick to a New Year’s resolution… To make the most of the time he has left, and show himself and his old friend Jerry that he is not boring, he will undertake a peculiar challenge: for a whole year he will accept every invitation that comes his way. Any invitation. No excuses. No regrets.

    Will Williams' budding detective skills be equal to the task of catching any of the murderers? Will his current gin intake permit him to remember any of the details?Transcribed from the original interviews, the only changes made have been to names, places, dates and facts. Oh, and cutting out all the heavy swearing.

    At the age of eight her serene life was turned upside down. Her parents were brutally murdered and Sam barely escaped with her life. But she didn’t do it alone — a soft calm voice led her to safety, the voice of her spirit guide. Disguised by a black mask and the handle Black Smoke, with the help of her spirit guide Sam rescues those unfortunate people who find themselves in the hands of humanity’s worst. Life is good until Sam is called on to assist a small covert military team in recovering a kidnapped scientist in Afghanistan. Lt. Mark Lowe (Kong) is less than thrilled to be placing his team’s lives in the hands of a woman, much less one as beautiful and sexy as Sam. He quickly learns there is more to this woman than meets the eye. She not only infiltrates enemy bases — she’s infiltrated his heart. Kong retreats to safer ground, leaving Sam heartbroken. Distant and unwilling to listen to anyone, Sam delves headfirst into a hell that only Kong can pull her from.

    This is somewhat difficult because she has the ability to inflict pain on others with her mind, which is why she was sent to a special institute for kids with various gifts. It is here Kassia met her best friend Mira. Their lives will change forever after Mira is attacked and Kassia finds out her talent is much more powerful when she saves her. Little did she know that this act would attract the attention of demons. Suddenly she is on the run from them with her boyfriend, Mira, and a few of their close friends. Realizing she can't outrun the demons, she seeks the guidance of a shaman. The shaman tells her the heart breaking news that the only way to protect her friends and the institute is through her own death. Join Kassia on her journey of friendship, love, and the conflicts she must face to protect those around her.

    As a supernatural specialist, and far more intelligent than anyone her age, she has always been ignored by her peers. Because of the isolation she has always felt, she put her life and soul into her job. Being a supernatural specialist hasn't given her the divine intervention she always longed for, until one day a shipment arrives from Italy containing three dead bodies with an uncanny ability to regenerate. Gabriella is frightened and intrigued, but not as scared as she becomes when a dark creature attacks her.As the bodies come back to life, the plot takes an unexpected twist that you won't see coming. The supernatural world only begins to unfold before her as angels appear, her dreams start to haunt her, and the very past she has forgotten comes back with startling clarity. Romance blooms, escape plans are made, an assassin is out to kill her, and death is only around the corner. But what is more terrifying than all of it is the fact she is the chosen one, the Illuminator, the one who will save them all.

    You think about it, fantasize about it, live through it in your head. But what would you do if zombies became a reality? If you actually were to see the dead walk, attack and kill people you know - who then rise right in front of your eyes? What would you do when the undead don't follow the script you've played out - over and over - in your own mind?Find out what happens to a woman in central Illinois when her life is turned upside down. Zombies become real and so does the danger. Her family means the most to her, but can she keep them alive? Can she keep herself alive?In this short story that begins the full-length series, you are a big part of it. The main character "speaks" to you often and you're invited into her thoughts - which can be quite humorous at times. She's not perfect and she knows it.She strong and she's a fighter...but she doesn't know it.

    Two months dissolve without her knowledge and she finds herself in unfamiliar surroundings with strangers who not only profess to know her but insist she’s someone else entirely. Laken discovers her long dead boyfriend, Wesley, has been thrown into this alternate world as well. He is quick to inform her she suffered a horrible fall and that her memory hasn’t fully returned. According to Wesley the other life she had—her name, her family, they were simply a side effect of her brain trauma. In her quest for answers she meets Cooper Flanders, the son of her psychiatrist who readily believes every word she says. Laken Stewart knows she died on that hot July afternoon, but now she’s alive—or is she?

    She moved swiftly, creeping around stumps and logs of fallen trees from the most recent storm. Weaving through the trees, she sniffed the air constantly on the look out for the scent of pack on the cool night air. She didn’t have much time before the guards picked up the scent of cat on their lands. All she could smell was damp earth and small woodland creatures, and she picked up speed. Trees and ferns blurred as she sped through the forest toward the heart of the territory. Suddenly, the wind shifted direction, and she knew with a sinking heart, the wolves on sentry duty picked up her scent. A wolf howled in alarm. Others howled a wolf song in return, and joined the hunt. She was already tired, but she continued to run, adrenaline making her feet swift. They were fast approaching her, when she picked up the pungent odor of wolf a minute later. They hadn’t been as far away as she had hoped. Desperate, she picked up as much speed as she could. The break the in the tree line was up ahead. She had to reach the clearing before they caught her. She was tiring quickly, her short burst of speed nearly gone when she slid on some wet leaves and fell. Zara tumbled forward several times, cracking her side and then her head on an exposed rock. She laid flat on her back, stunned, breathing hard. Her ribs and her ankle ached. She could hear the heavy galloping of wolves bearing down on her position, growling and yipping. Zara rolled over and scrambled to her feet. In a flash, she was running again, slower. The wolves were quickly catching up. They could run just as fast, but for longer. The clearing was just ahead, and with a desperate leap over a fallen log, she soared through the air. When she landed, she was in the clearing. Wolves growled from behind her and she ran toward the center circle of large stones. She barely made it up the three steps before large jaws clamped down on her shoulder, and she yelped in pain as she was forced to the ground, skidding her the rest of the way into the center of the dais. The large wolf who stood on her back growled menacingly when she tried to push him off. He shook his head, teeth tearing at the bite mark on her shoulder. She screamed as the teeth bit deeper into the muscle. “That’s enough Matteo.” A voice boomed out above the sounds of the rest of the wolves, gathering around in the circle. “Release her and step back.” Zara held her breath, and closed her eyes against the searing pain in her shoulder as the wolf released her and withdrew his teeth from the muscle of her shoulder. Zara groaned and rolled so that she could face her savior. Flat on her back, she stared up at the large wolf who stood over her. He growled, narrowing his eyes at her as she shifted back to human form.

    This final volume candidly explores the pertinent societal question: how does an ill-equipped adult child of alcoholics navigate life after a childhood fraught with abuse, scarcity and neglect? Continuing her engrossing journey from the moment City of Angeles ends, Glynn Brown shares the vignettes of her life - replete with enlightening mistakes, edifying consequences, forgiveness and personal redemption. Big As All Hell And Half Of Texas is an honest and inspirational account of Glynn Brown's ultimately successful battles with depression, divorce, single parenting, and ill-fitting love affairs."This memoir is a journey in self-examination lived not as a victim but as a searcher always hoping that the universe will smile the next day. The author asks several questions of herself. Perhaps the most searing query is, "Why am I not enough?" The answer suggested is that finding someone who sees any one of us as enough is a challenge that may consume a lifetime. And, perhaps, even more critically, is that moment when we find that we are more adequate than we believed, that those who reject are more deeply wounded or lost than we imagined. Marlayna's tale is compelling, painful, joyous, and riveting." - R. Vincent

    Forced to live as a human under the name of Jeremy Clovenhoof, the dark lord not only has to contend with the fact that no one recognises him or gives him the credit he deserves but also has to put up with the bookish wargamer next door and the voracious man-eater upstairs.Heaven, Hell and the city of Birmingham collide in a story that features murder, heavy metal, cannibalism, armed robbers, devious old ladies, Satanists who live with their mums, gentlemen of limited stature, dead vicars, petty archangels, flamethrowers, sex dolls, a blood-soaked school assembly and way too much alcohol.Clovenhoof is outrageous and irreverent (and laugh out loud funny!) but it is also filled with huge warmth and humanity. Written by first-time collaborators Heide Goody and Iain Grant, Clovenhoof will have you rooting for the bad guy like never before.F Paul Wilson: Clovenhoof is a delight. A funny, often hilarious romp with a dethroned Satan as he tries to adjust to modern suburbia. The breezy, ironic prose sets a perfect tone. If you need some laughs, here's the remedy.

    And now he's got angels, demons, talking pets and a Japanese monster to contend with. Begin following the misadventures of Erik Ashendale in this first full length novel of the Legacy series.

    Steph thought they were soulmates. Until recently. Surely one’s soulmate shouldn’t put Chelsea FC before her? Or boycott caressing her to fondle the remote control? Fed up, Steph uses her Tesco staff discount to buy a laptop. Her friends all talk about Facebook. It’s time to get networking.Si is worried about middle-age spread and money. Being a self-employed plumber isn’t easy in recession. He’s also aware things aren’t right with Steph. But Si has forgotten the art of romance. Although these days Steph prefers cuddling her laptop to him. Then Si’s luck changes work wise. A mate invites Si to partner up on a pub refurbishment contract.Son Tom has finished Sixth Form. Tom knows where he’s going regarding a career. He’s not quite so sure where he’s going regarding women and lurches from one frantic love affair to the next.Widowed neighbour June adores the Garveys as if her own kin. And although 70, she’s still up for romance. June thinks she’s struck gold when she meets salsa squeeze Harry. He has a big house and bigger pension – key factors when you’ve survived a winter using your dog as a hot water bottle. June is vaguely aware that she’s attracted the attention of fellow dog walker Arnold, but her eyes are firmly on Harry as ‘the catch’.

But then Cupid’s arrow misfires causing madness and mayhem. Steph rekindles a childhood crush with Barry Hastings; Si unwittingly finds himself being seduced by barmaid Dawn; June discovers Harry is more than hot to trot; and Tom's latest strumpet impacts on all of them. Will Cupid's arrow strike again and, more importantly, strike correctly? There's only one way to find out....

    Secrets revealed are toо much to bear and her past life as a goddess, unimaginable. A visit from the goddess Aphrodite, Kallos is told her soul mate must be found or her life will be forfeit. Kallos desperate to find her one true match has discovered she may have two possibilities. Kallos has a choice to make and her decisions may have life ending consequences.

    Ember is one of them.Embers is an epic paranormal adventure/romance about a seventeen year old girl who discovers that she's immune to fire and any other injury when she’s in a horrific car crash that kills her parents. Following a violent episode with her aunt's boyfriend, Ember flees Ohio to live with an old relative in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. Ember's exuberance at escaping a bad home life soon turns to trepidation when she learns that she's a Watcher, a descendant of angels. While Ember is instructed about her heritage and the powers that go along with it, she strikes up friendships with two teenagers who live in a frightening walled compound in the forest. Inexplicitly drawn to one of the young men in particular, an impossible romance develops. But it's cut short when Ember discovers that her new friends are fighting on the opposite side of a war that's been raging between two factions of Watchers for thousands of years. When the compound’s inhabitants threaten the townspeople, Ember takes action, sealing her fate in the ancient battle of good versus evil, and the grayness in between. Ember is up to the challenge, until she realizes that she isn’t only fighting for the lives of the locals and the souls of her new friends. She may be one of the few champions willing to make a stand for all of mankind as the rapture approaches and the end of days begin.Embers is the first novel in the dark and gritty YA paranormal romance series, The Wings of War.“An impending apocalypse provides a compelling backdrop for romance in this page-turning first installment of a new YA series. Hopkins expertly weaves her plotlines together in this compulsively readable teen romance story…Hopkins delivers many successful elements of young-adult romance—appealing lead characters, high-voltage chemistry, repressed sexuality—which will win her ardent followers." Kirkus Reviews“Embers is the start of an action-packed paranormal YA series. Ms. Hopkins draws the reader immediately in with her richly drawn prologue that introduces the lurking evil in a breath-taking manner. A must read for YA, paranormal, fantasy and suspense fans. Make that a delight for any reader!" Morgan Stamm, Ind'Tale Magazine

    So when an enchanting elderly couple enters the bakery where she works and orders a cake for their 75th anniversary, she's not quite sure what to make of the "wishing dust" they leave her with. Soon enough she discovers it has more power--and surprises--than she ever imagined.A fresh, original romantic comedy in novelette form, The Wishing Cake is short enough to be devoured in one sitting, rich enough to be savored for years.