His desperation, his regret, his sorrow shaped his soul as he was murdered. But the world is just; As the world he knows fades before his eyes, he finds himself reincarnated in the body of a newborn baby. He now has a second chance at life, to avoid his previous life’s tragic ending. But is the world really so kind?

    Now, the sisters of the Order of Saint Rita are on an interstellar mission of mercy aboard Our Lady of Impossible Constellations, a living, breathing ship which seems determined to develop a will of its own.When the order receives a distress call from a newly-formed colony, the sisters discover that the bodies and souls in their care—and that of the galactic diaspora—are in danger. And not from void beyond, but from the nascent Central Governance and the Church itself.

    Usually, it’s something mundane like a suicide gone wrong or someone revived that shouldn’ta been.” Carlos Delacruz is one of the New York Council of the Dead’s most unusual agents—an inbetweener, partially resurrected from a death he barely recalls suffering, after a life that’s missing from his memory. He thinks he is one of a kind—until he encounters other entities walking the fine line between life and death. One inbetweener is a sorcerer. He’s summoned a horde of implike ngks capable of eliminating spirits, and they’re spreading through the city like a plague. They’ve already taken out some of NYCOD’s finest, leaving Carlos desperate to stop their master before he opens up the entrada to the Underworld—which would destroy the balance between the living and the dead. But in uncovering this man’s identity, Carlos confronts the truth of his own life—and death…

    Everyone is ready to comment on the likely story behind the abandoned infant. The men have one opinion, the women another. As the story rapidly unfolds it becomes clear that seven different women played their part in the drama. All of them are caught in a web of superstition, ignorance, greed and corruption.

    When he is angry, clouds darken. When he cries, rivers burst their banks. And when he touches a basketball, deities want courtside seats. Half Nigerian mortal, half Grecian God: Demi is the Half-God of Rainfall.His mother, Modupe, looks on with a mixture of pride and worry. From close encounters, she knows that Gods are just like men: the same fragile egos, the same subsequent fury, the same sense of entitlement to the bodies of mortals. The Gods will one day tire of sports fans, their fickle allegiances and their prayers to Demi.And when that moment comes, it won’t matter how special he is. Only the women in Demi’s life, the mothers, the Goddesses, will stand between him and a lightning bolt.

    At sixteen-years-old, he knows only rudimentary spells, mostly for performing work, none of the power he seeks. He seeks more power and responsibility from his mentor and renowned magician Isidor. Follow along the beginning of Tartum’s incredible journey as he discovers his fate.

    But what looks like a case of police brutality soon reveals something much stranger. Monsters are real. And they want everyone to know it.As creatures from myth and legend come out of the shadows, seeking safety through visibility, their emergence sets off a chain of seemingly unrelated events. Members of a local werewolf pack are threatened into silence. A professor follows a missing friend’s trail of bread crumbs to a mysterious secret society. And a young boy with unique abilities seeks refuge in a pro-monster organization with secrets of its own. Meanwhile, more people start disappearing, suicides and hate crimes increase, and protests erupt globally, both for and against the monsters.At the center is a mystery no one thinks to ask: Why now? What has frightened the monsters out of the dark?The world will soon find out.

    Twenty-five chances to impress.When the test takes an unexpected and tragic turn, Idir is handed the power of life and death.How do you value a life when all you have is multiple choice?

    But at 5'10" and 180 pounds, she's theatrically challenged. Her family life is a tangle of mystery and deadly secrets, and nobody is telling Cinnamon the whole truth. Before her older brother died he gave Cinnamon "The Chronicles of the Great Wanderer," a tale of a Dahomean warrior woman and an alien from another dimension who perform in Paris and at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. The Chronicles may be magic or alien science, but the story is definitely connected to Cinnamon's family secrets. When an act of violence wounds her family, Cinnamon and her theater squad determine to solve the mysteries and bring her worlds together.

    Surprised by the sheer violence of the attack, they are no match for their foes and are killed one after the other. As Sepios’ body sinks into the depths of the ocean, mere seconds from breathing its last breath, he manages to transfer a shred of his divine essence into the pearl of a giant oyster. When he finally comes to, it is to find that ten thousand years have passed. The creator god is but a shadow of his former self. Weak, with no more worshipers to chant his name and fuel his power, he barely has enough strength to see past the shell of his oyster. Worse, the world he now inhabits has turned into hell on earth. Not only has the ecosystem been completely disrupted, with the ocean being ravaged by parasites and monsters, powerful storms and abnormally high temperatures are not making it any easier for gentler life forms to survive. And that’s just what’s happening below the surface. As he sets on a mission to restore the balance, Sepios will have to contend with a cruel sea witch, giant horrors from the depths, as well as Inquisitors—the representatives of the new gods on earth. He will have to find a way to expand his domain and create sea villages… but more importantly still, he will need to bring people to him and gain their devotion. And to do that, Sepios has a plan: to build field zones for adventurers, that he will fill with treasures, so as to test the mettle of these men and reward their bravery. In short, he first needs to become the master of the sea if he is to ever regain control over the land above. But Sepios must beware. Under no circumstance may the usurpers or their Inquisitors learn of his presence, or else he might not be so lucky as to escape death this time around… Tales of a Sea God is a kingdom building, 4x lit series with hints of dungeon core.

    At the birth of the universe, a new species, man, has been created by the Gods. What path will man take in this new world? Thanos has been home of elves, dwarves, and orc: the sentient races. Magic, fae, and mystical creatures live side by side as the Gods introduce man to see what path will be taken. When the palace of the Kingdom of Gratu is overrun by the three traitor brothers, the only thing that the sho-ka, protectors of royalty, can do is escape with the king and queen amidst the bloodbath. They must survive in the wild and lay low, keeping their anonymity and preparing for when they can return and take back their kingdom.

    Regardless of what the streets say, she trusts him. Plus, she ain’t nobody’s side piece and he would be crazy to mess up what they got going. Romello is so concerned with taking over the whole TL region, that he doesn’t realize just how much Mylah is onto his every move. Not only does she find a way to get revenge on him for cheating, but she hits him with another fatal surprise. Sleeping with the enemy has never been so sweet.

    It is also a wonderful escape from small-town life and small-town thinking. What she didn’t expect was a chance encounter with Professor Chance Walker. There is something about this man that draws Remington like a bee to precious honey. Yet, the demons of her past keep Remington from seeing Chance for the man he is and the man he wants to be in her life. Chance Walker doesn’t see their initial encounter as accidental or happenstance. It feels destined, fated, despite Remington’s reservations. Chance isn’t one to give up easily, not when its something he wants. And he wants Remington, unapologetically. This is a standalone story with a happily ever after.

    Her Name Is Knight is a propulsive character story and action thriller driven by retribution, passion, strength — and coming to terms with your own true self, regardless of what anyone calls you.

    Except the minor non-player character in the world Riley is building makes her own impossible decision—veering wildly off course and exploring the boundaries of the map. When the curious Riley extracts her code for closer examination, an emotional relationship develops between them. Soon Riley has all new plans for her spontaneous AI, including bringing Max into the real world. But what if Max has real-world plans of her own?Blake Crouch’s Summer Frost is part of Forward, a collection of six stories of the near and far future from out-of-this-world authors. Each piece can be read or listened to in a single thought-provoking sitting.