The Spot and Smudge series explores the love of a unique family, the loyalty of their very special dogs, and the perils of underestimating them. These smart, imaginative stories weave together elements of horror, thriller, mystery, espionage, crime, medical drama, and genetic engineering. Note: This series contains some colorful language and mature themes. "Shove over brother, let me show you the proper bloody way to strangle someone." The Hogans weren’t looking to start a war. They just wanted to leave their troubles behind, move closer to grandma, and let their kids adopt some damn puppies. But their quaint new town is harboring some gruesome secrets… …and their strange new pups are not what they appear to be. There’s a dark connection between these mysterious orphaned canines and the town’s twisted criminals…and that connection is dragging the Hogans into a ruthless fight they aren’t prepared to win. But the grit of a devoted family, like the loyalty of a faithful pair of dogs, shouldn't be underestimated… …Especially when those cunning dogs are the most significant leap forward in the forty million years of canine evolution.

    Everyone except Jake and Tom. It doesn’t take long for the world to crumble into ruin, leaving Jake and Tom wandering through leveled cities occupied by New Reality dreamers. In order to find one gamer among many, they must risk everything—going up against Rixon, the corporation behind New Reality. Facing starvation, the New Reality headsets offer sustenance from a synthesized sludge pumped directly into the gamer’s body. With a headset, they’ll get fed and their only limitations are their own imaginations. They can have paradise, comfort, and peace. They have the power to realize their deepest desires. But for Tom, it’ll mean sacrificing his son to the false reality masterminded by Rixon. For Jake, it’ll mean sacrificing his dream of living a true existence, no matter how stark. Wrestling with the decision, they soon find out they aren’t the only ones living in the ruins. Someone… something else, has taken an interest in the pair. Turning from scavengers to prey, they have to make a decision. Family or self? Faith or fear? Truth or New Reality?#1 Bestseller in British Horror A post apocalyptic / dystopian thriller.

    Throughout history the long lost Cube has been sought after by emperors, popes, and caliphs alike. It is believed to be a container of knowledge; a holy vessel capable of emancipating humanity from the confines of earthly mortality. Now that it has been found, demonic forces are surfacing to destroy it. Their presence marks the return of a potent nefarious entity that once reigned supreme in Earth’s distant reptilian past. Under the apocalyptic shadow of global unrest and rampant natural disasters, Gabriel and Natasha battle to prevent this sinister blight from being unleashed. With nothing but a tattered journal to guide them, they race from Italy to Morocco, and finally to the mountains of Northern Spain where they must locate a Lost Labyrinth spoken of by the ancients. There, deep in a Sacred Chamber, they will find salvation for mankind, but not without a price. A cosmic clock is ticking. It marks the world’s entry into the oblivion of the Dark Rift, and the final days that remain. Categories: satire, post apocalyptic trilogy, metaphysical supernatural fiction, metaphysical mystery fiction, satire sci-fi, zombie apocalypse novels, supernatural thriller trilogy, supernatural series book set,

    But is the paranormal investigator prepared to duel a full-fledged demon on a Hell-bent mission to create chaos and catastrophe throughout the earth, a fiend determined to wreak more death and destruction than his even more ominous Master?This is the first volume of a series of Gothic horror adventures where Jason Dark, a fearless and resourceful ghost hunter, sets out to solve a supernatural mystery. Doing so he follows in the mold of a Sherlock Holmes combined with elements of the occult and paranormal detective genre.Written by Guido Henkel, the designer who brought Germany's famed "Das Schwarze Auge" series to computer screens, this supernatural series is filled with enough mystery, drama, suspenseful action and Gothic dread to transport you to the sinister, fog-shrouded streets of Victorian England.Your encounter with the extraordinary awaits.

    Written in a staccato style that will leave readers breathless and flipping pages long into the night, Hatchett's...novel, SEVEN UNHOLY DAYS, is a thriller not to be missed!" NYT & international bestselling author James RollinsMatt Decker is a celebrity geek, designer of the nation’s futuristic new power grid and a hero for lowering electric bills across the land. He’s a talk show favorite, rich, and living the American dream. Until the power fails, everywhere, throwing the techno-dependent United States into chaos.Decker’s “impenetrable” systems have been breached in the worst way, and it’s just the beginning. The country is under attack from Abraham Hart, an eccentric and unstable man with nearly unlimited resources, a man who believes himself to be a bizarre hybrid of Christ and Antichrist. Hart delivers a new attack each day as he works his way through his own personal version of Revelation’s famed seven seals, and he makes it personal between him and Decker.

    They are joined by two other survivors, Gus and Emilie. Infected, Zoe must also face the realization that she has developed a telepathic link to the living dead that fills her mind with darkness and evil. Facing unimaginable horrors and unthinkable tragedies, the group must fight both the living and the dead. Zoe and Boggs manage to fall in love while surrounded by death and despair. Before long, it becomes clear that the living dead do not play by usual zombie rules.

    The struggles span all possibilities: face-offs with knives and clubs, skirmishes as Roman legionaries, pitched WW1 trench warfare, duels with ultra-modern hypersonic weapons, and everything in between. The combatants who live are rewarded with another battle until they reach the unreachable score of ten sigmas. Those who die are expunged from the system, gone forever. The methods, so harsh they go beyond anything possible in the real world, are necessary for the end goal: violent evolution to produce the greatest warriors in all of human history.Who would choose such a fate?Those with no hope.On a wintry night, a government representative presents Mary, who is dying of incurable cancer, with the offer: a second chance at life and for those completing the requirements, a return to the real world in a fresh, healthy body. To save her family from bankrupting medical bills, she accepts.After her consciousness is transferred into the virtual universe of the program, her essence is ripped apart and her memories shattered. She’s reassembled as the perfect killer.As the life-and-death contests begin, she discovers the true nature of what lies ahead. But, she won’t surrender to the impossible and grimly embarks on the journey to return to her family while trying to save her soul.Mature readers only: intense combat, graphic violence, horror elements, some sex, some language.

    The age of the vampire has begun.Few survived the fall of man. Those who remain to witness the darkening of the world live by the gun or live in fear. There is no middle ground.The cities lay in ruin after the last war and vampires have inherited the blasted remnants. And yet some will not cower in the night. They fight because there is nothing left to them. They fight without hope of peace or victory. In a war with no end, in a land without succour, what chance do the survivors have? The war was lost as soon as it was begun. But there is still the past...and perhaps, a future.And through it all, one man stands vigil.***contains bonus material***Sneak previews of Richard Rhys Jones' Division of the Damned and A Stranger's Grave, from Craig Saunders.About the Author:Craig Saunders lives in Norfolk, England, with his wife and three children, who he pretends to listen to while making up stories in his head.He has published more than two dozen short stories, and is the author of many novels including Rain (Twisted Library Press), Spiggot (Grand Mal Press), and forthcoming, The Love of the Dead (Evil Jester Press) and A Stranger's Grave (Grand Mal Press).

     Day Two: Higher brain function erodes in those exposed to the gas. Their bodies begin to distort, faces distending, skin sallowing, teeth elongating. Day Three: The infected disappear into the shadows, fleeing the harsh daylight which has begun to sear their flesh. Day Four: The world is DEVOURED. Life isn’t kind to Lance York. A full-time job has eluded him for years, his wife loathes the sight of him, his bank accounts are empty, and his wealthy father-in-law revels in his failures. After he lunges in front of a car to save a sick and disoriented woman, Lance awakens in a quarantined hospital. A devastating plague is spreading worldwide, driving those infected with it insane. Their bodies begin to mutate into horrors that have haunted mankind’s nightmares for centuries. The world descends into chaos as the infected flee to the shadows, emerging at night to devour the remnants of civilization. With the help of an unlikely ally, Lance must navigate through the collapsing city of Pittsburgh, striving to escape the madness of the apocalypse that unfolds around them.

     Sixteen-year-old Jaxon Andersen doesn’t know anything about her origins and has been shuffled around different foster homes ever since she can remember. Trouble follows her, but bullies underestimate her small stature; she has an inexplicable strength, and she can kick some serious butt. She tries for a fresh start at the Forever Welcome Group Home for Juveniles. Dr. Hollis, her psychiatrist, is fascinated by her intelligence and astounded by her strange powers. However, Jaxon is still an easy target for bullies. She seeks refuge in the company of Otto Heike, an eighteen-year-old athlete and boys’ resident assistant. Will Otto think Jaxon’s a freak when he discovers her secrets? Meanwhile, the US military, which is performing terrifying genetic experiments, is closing in on Jaxon… The Atlantis Girl is the first book in the thrilling Atlantis Saga. This is a planned 7-book series about the girl with the Atlantis gene.

    It destroys us.The Feed is everywhere. It can be accessed by anyone, at any time. Every interaction, every emotion, every image can be shared through it.Tom and Kate use The Feed, but they have resisted addiction to it. And this will serve them well when The Feed collapses.Until their six-year-old daughter, Bea, goes missing.Because how do you find someone in a world devoid of technology? And what happens when you can no longer trust that your loved ones are really who they claim to be?

    Crowded in Zach's kitchen, Ruby and the rest of the partygoers laugh at Zach's parents' frenzied push to get them all inside as it starts to drizzle. But then the radio comes on with the warning, "It's in the rain! It's fatal, it's contagious, and there's no cure."Two weeks later, Ruby is alone. Anyone who's been touched by rain or washed their hands with tap water is dead. The only drinkable water is quickly running out. Ruby's only chance for survival is a treacherous hike across the country to find her father-if he's even still alive.

    But when a terrified woman falls through his bathroom ceiling, he's forced back into a life of gunfights, double agents and paranormal research. The secret he's been keeping for nearly four decades might reunite him with his lost love, or kill millions.This new short story by John August falls into the genre of paranoid "spy-fi" popularized by writers like Jorge Luis Borges and shows like The Prisoner and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.== What Others Say =="I really dug the story. Gave it a glance just to see, got totally hooked, and blazed on through to the end."-- Michael Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, The Yiddish Policemen's Union) "The Variant" is both a good, fun, smart story and an interesting experiment in indie self-publishing for fiction."-- John Gruber, daringfireball.net== About the Author ==An excerpt of The Variant is available at johnaugust.com/variant About the AuthorJohn August is the screenwriter of eight feature films, including Go, Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Corpse Bride. He wrote and directed the 2007 movie The Nines.He can be found on Twitter, @johnaugust

    She was wrong.A single bite changed her life forever.She’d spent years pushing people away, but to survive as the world spiraled into an apocalypse would be impossible alone. So, when her estranged brother offered to help get her to safety she accepted.Now she just had to make it to the pickup location. The clock was ticking. The sick are hunting. And the infection was spreading.Can she survive long enough to reach the safety of the bunker?The outbreak is just the beginning…You’ll love this remarkable twist on the zombie/dystopian adventure. This novella is a prequel to the novel After the Outbreak.

    The fear spread even faster. Within weeks, everything people counted on began to fail them. The electrical grid sputtered; law and government collapsed--and more than half of the world's population was decimated.Where there had been order, there was now chaos. And as the power of science and technology receded, magic rose up in its place. Some of it is good, like the witchcraft worked by Lana Bingham, practicing in the loft apartment she shares with her lover, Max. Some of it is unimaginably evil, and it can lurk anywhere, around a corner, in fetid tunnels beneath the river--or in the ones you know and love the most.As word spreads that neither the immune nor the gifted are safe from the authorities who patrol the ravaged streets, and with nothing left to count on but each other, Lana and Max make their way out of a wrecked New York City. At the same time, other travelers are heading west too, into a new frontier. Chuck, a tech genius trying to hack his way through a world gone offline. Arlys, a journalist who has lost her audience but uses pen and paper to record the truth. Fred, her young colleague, possessed of burgeoning abilities and an optimism that seems out of place in this bleak landscape. And Rachel and Jonah, a resourceful doctor and a paramedic who fend off despair with their determination to keep a young mother and three infants in their care alive.In a world of survivors where every stranger encountered could be either a savage or a savior, none of them knows exactly where they are heading, or why. But a purpose awaits them that will shape their lives and the lives of all those who remain.The end has come. The beginning comes next.