Book picks similar to
Child of Fate by Jason Halstead
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The Wand-Maker's Debate
Jack D. Albrecht Jr. - 2011
Osric; a young, untested leader, is thrust into the chaos and must journey far with his unlikely companions to stop the inevitable world war. Circumstance brought them together, but prophecy has entwined their fates. Now, the young Vigile Contege, the world’s greatest Wand-Maker, and a beautiful Maiden of the Unicorn must put aside their differences and work together, or watch as their homes are destroyed. Their understanding of magic will be challenged as they discover new methods and uses for their powers, and each day will only uncover more unanswerable questions to torment Osric’s mind. Why was the signing attacked? What do the unicorns want with him? How do you read a book with no words? What is so special about his wand?
Fall of the Citizens
Eric Thomas - 2012
Eric Thomas' debut thriller is an exciting, violent and thought provoking story that asks the question, "What happens after you've won the revolution?" The story centers around Josh, a member of the hacktivist group Anonymous, who is living in safe seclusion until he's recruited by a bloodthirsty group of revolutionaries called "The Citizens." They've launched a war on the wealthy; stealing vaccinations from rich pharmaceutical companies and handing them out for free to the poor. Josh is reluctant to join until he meets Betty, a sarcastic, pink haired revolutionary motivated by her recent misfortune. Josh and Betty ride the wave of the uprising that will put them on the front line in the battle between the "haves" and the "have-nots," a classic class warfare struggle where the rights of the many finally outweigh the rights of the few.
Shadowland
C.M. Gray - 2008
but where did he come from? Who was Merlin? What part did the Druids play in bringing Arthur to his round table? This is the story that came before, when Britain was just a Shadowland. On the night of Midwinter's Eve, a storyteller takes his listeners back to the Dark Ages and a tale from his youth. `I have lived more years than I can remember, probably more than the sum of all your years combined. Kings have called me friend and brigands have sworn to burn the flesh from my bones, even if they have to search all seven halls of the shadowland to find me.' Deserted by its Roman masters, Britain has been invaded by the Saxons at the invitation of Vortigern, traitorous leader of the Britons. Now, as the tribes unite to reclaim their land, one man must rise to lead them and become their only true king. Shadowland is a young adult story of historical fantasy set in the Dark Ages of Britain; however, it is gathering fans of all ages. .................. Magical and moving, I couldn't put it down - Jacqueline Rodriguez "Shadowland" is a tensely written story about the dark days before the rise of King Arthur. Flawlessly weaving history, legend and imagination - Vered E for Readers' Favorite. Gray has a real gem starting with his subject and carries it through with an excellent delivery - Tom Clementson, Kindle Book Review
The Cathedral of Cliffdale
Melissa Delport - 2015
Within the city of Summerfeld the last mythical creatures live out their days in peace, fiercely protected by twelve immortals: brave defenders known as the Guardians.A Guardian is dead. For the first time in one thousand years, no replacement has come forward. Following the murder of her twin sister, Quinn Harden abandons the Guardianship in order to take care of her sister’s children in the modern realm of man. Shortly after their second birthday, the children are taken, against her will, in an attempt by the Guardians to bring her back into the fold. Quinn will stop at nothing to find her niece and nephew, but as she is drawn deeper into the world of Summerfeld, she finds herself torn between her loyalty to her family and the wards she has sworn to protect. As their enemies close in the Guardians must unite or Summerfeld will fall.The Cathedral of Cliffdale is the first book in the highly anticipated "Guardians of Summerfeld Series"
Home Is Where The Start Is
Eric Ugland - 2015
Without a disapproving mom to rebel against, what was the point?But things aren’t what they seem once Ginger gets to the City of Roses. For one, nothing about her mother’s suicide adds up, but no one else even wants to entertain the idea that it could’ve been murder. No one that is, except the ghost of Ginger’s mother, who keeps scaring the crap out of her. It’s probably just a psychotic break because of the grief, right? Sure. In any case, it’s during one of these visits from Ghost Mom that Ginger decides to solve the murder on her own. She really only ever wanted to be a cop, so maybe she should start a private detective business and see where it takes her. And look, that hippie kid running down the street after a muscle car right now probably needs help. Another case!
Hell's Bells
Vincent Bivona - 2013
Andrew and James are looking forward to meeting their favorite author, but when a homeless woman, who claims to be the author’s “biggest fan,” begins to stalk the two friends, they have to wonder if this creepy old woman is who she appears to be, and why the sound of bells follows her wherever she goes.
Ure Infectus
Caleb Wachter - 2014
A network of wormholes connects the far-flung segments of humanity, allowing virtually instantaneous travel between Star Systems connected by this vast, invaluable network. But what happens when one of those wormholes collapses and an entire Sector of relatively poor worlds is left to fend for itself without support, without guidance, and without the vast infrastructure of the Imperium available to its citizens? What might such a society look like after two centuries of independence, having been left to devise their own culture, values, and government? Welcome to the Chimera Sector. The citizens of this seemingly-forgotten splinter of the Imperium hold one belief above all others: Only when the leaders fear the voters as much as the voters fear the leaders can harmony be achieved. To achieve this harmony, a special type of guild was created called the Timent Electorum. The operatives of this guild -- called 'Adjusters' -- work at the behest of the voting public, and exclusively punish political corruption, tyranny, and treason with the ultimate sanction: assassination. This is the story of one such Adjuster, Jericho, who forges an unlikely alliance with an urban detective, Masozi, whose steadfast adherence to the Sector's core principles have placed her in harm's way. Acting together in a tenuous alliance, they will follow a trail of corruption across the Virgin Star System and witness the birth of a conflict which will forever change them -- along with the entire Chimera Sector.
Armageddon Heights
D.M. Mitchell - 2014
Two men, two stories, one breathtaking conclusion. The first man is Samuel Wade, an ex-soldier, on the run and blamed for the murder of his beloved wife and daughter. But he’s on the trail of the real murderer and is seeking revenge. He boards a coach bound for Edinburgh, hot on the heels of his one-time friend and army colleague John Travers – a man who was kidnapped and brutally tortured by insurgents. A man who blamed Wade for allowing it to happen. The man who killed his family. What happens next is totally unexpected and bizarre. Trying to sleep during a storm, Wade wakes to discover that the coach and its ten remaining passengers is no longer headed to Edinburgh. Impossibly, it’s in the middle of a vast, unknown and hostile desert, abandoned by its driver. Are they asleep, is it a dream? Are they all dead? So their nightmare begins. The second man is Robert Napier, second-in-command at Lindegaard Software, a company run by the powerfully wealthy Dale Lindegaard. Dale took over the business when his brother Jeremy and niece Melissa were brutally gunned down by an activist group known as CSL. Jeremy died, and Melissa was reduced to a vegetative state, and all because of Lindegaard’s complete control of a controversial new drug called tremethelene, used by millions worldwide. CSL was duly crushed, their leaders now in jail. But CSL has come back from the dead with a new leader called Charlie Sharland, threatening Dale Lindegaard’s tremethelene monopoly all over again. Lindegaard is determined to stamp them out for good and urges Robert Napier to do whatever it takes to rid him of them. Even murder. As Samuel Wade’s living nightmare in the desert grows ever more bizarre and terrifying, Robert Napier is forced to work with Dean Villiers, a cold, calculating and violently ambitious man. He is drawn ever deeper into the dark underbelly of a multi-billion dollar corporation, where violence and greed are the norm and nothing is as it first appears. Who is the mole known as Cobalt? Who and where is Charlie Sharland? Does he even exist? And what exactly is motivating the scheming Dean Villiers? Both men are out for revenge. Wade because of his family’s murder, Napier because of what happened to the vegetative Melissa Lindegaard, his wife-to-be. Both men’s lives are irrevocably intertwined. Both their stories will come crashing together in the terrifying, surprising, jaw-dropping climax of D. M. Mitchell’s undeniably original and most imaginative thriller to date. Dare you take a journey into nightmare?
Regan O'Reilly, Private Investigator
Margaret Lake - 2011
She would have followed her father and brother into the Force but women officers are rare and usually relegated to the status of social workers. Now she's a private investigator with her own agency and the freedom to live her life the way she wants. That is until she meets widower Mark Harris and his delightful son, Patrick, who have plans of their own for Regan. Print Length: 50 pages Book Two: Regan O'Reilly, PI, Goes Undercover
Dark Matter & Dragons
Tom Bielawski - 2014
Lee, D.P. Prior, Nicholas Taylor, and Alison Reger Cook. Dig in to cutting edge science fiction thrillers complete with wormholes, time travel, global mysteries, and cybernetic assassins. Those who love the style of JRR Tolkien, will enjoy epic high fantasy stories inspired by the Lord of The Rings, and the lord who made them... Take up your wands and lock the Wardrobe, for dragons and fanciful adventures inspired by Narnia and Potter await! Looking for fantasy with powerful female heroes, or villains? Beware of both in this great tome... Whether you enjoy the grit of George RR Martin's Game of Thrones, or the whimsy of CS Lewis, you will find your fancy in The Dragon Writers Collection! Tom Bielawski A Tide of Shadows, Volume One of The Chronicles of Llars The Centaurus Legacy, A Heck Thomas Thriller Brian Rathbone Wayward Spirits, a prelude to A Dawning of Power (A novella Prelude to the Dawning of Power) Call of the Herald, Book One of A Dawning of Power Inherited Danger, Book Two of A Dawning of Power Morgen Rich Entrapments, Staves of Warrant Book One Seeking, Staves of Warrant Book Two Scott Baughman Rule of Thumb, Balance of Power Book One L.R.W. Lee Blast of the Dragon's Fury (Andy Smithson Book 1) D.P. Prior Book One of The Nameless Dwarf: A Dwarf With No Name Alison Reger Cook Secrets of the Moonstone Heir Book 1 Nicholas Taylor Legon Awakening, Book 1 in the Legon Series We hope you enjoy this collection!
The Long Escape
Jeff Noonan - 2012
It tells of how a boy and his family lived a life of hellish abuse, fought back, and learned to live with the memories. It is also an adventure tale, following the boy through the military buildup to the Viet Nam War, Pacific Island love affairs, and his personal battles in the Montana mountains.As a boy, Jeff was raised in the mountains of Montana where he idolized his father, a former professional boxer. But in the early 1950s, his idol became an alcoholic and an abuser, repeatedly beating Jeff, his mother, and his younger siblings. In desperation, Jeff resorted to digging hidden bunkers where the family could hide when they were attacked. Life became a daily struggle, both physically and financially.He left school and worked wherever he could find a job, using the money to help feed his family. He labored in lumber mills, railroads, and ranches until he joined the military at age seventeen.This story follows the boy from the hell of his childhood through Pacific Island love affairs, killer typhoons, and Hong Kong bar battles as he fights his way to acceptance in the rough and tumble world of a destroyer sailor. In his first Navy assignment, he finds that his poor education has resulted in a job he despises; working as a permanent head cleaner on an old destroyer. But through perseverance, hard work, and an iron will, he becomes a leader, supervising teams working on experimental shipboard missile guidance systems.But you can’t run from yourself. Jeff’s family problems haunt him, frequently bringing him back to Montana; to increasingly violent confrontations with his father. Tensions build until the inevitable happens and Jeff is drawn into a final, epic, battle with the abuser.A sobering, visceral, and shockingly real portrait of domestic violence, the boy’s relentless drive for survival is nothing short of extraordinary. An uplifting journey to redemption and self-acceptance, The Long Escape sends an unforgettable message to the abused that there really can be hope and love in their future. It also brilliantly captures the sometimes hollow feeling of victory and the scars of abuse that are carried for a lifetime.This is a true story. Some names have been changed to accomodate participants, but the story is absolutely true. The author sincerely hopes that, by publishing this memoir, he can provide a bit of a roadmap for others struggling to escape a life of abuse.
Angus MacBain and The Island of Sleeping Kings
Angela J. Townsend - 2013
When his dying grandfather gives him a dragon pendant, thirteen-year-old Angus learns of a legacy that will take him across an ocean to the island of Iona and thrust him into a heritage he did not know he had. He soon discovers that his mother, whom he had believed dead, is really a seal fairy, in hiding from a dangerous enemy. To save her, Angus must undergo a perilous journey of destiny and power to battle an evil Dacian knight and those who serve him. With only his family shield and the advice of a wizened vampire hunter to protect him, Angus must navigate dangerous terrain and dark enemies, in a land where the past and the present mingle, and sleeping kings wake.
Chihuahua Karma
Debby Rice - 2011
Cherry Paget's is a Chihuahua.Cherry was young, beautiful and rich-just golden enough to imagine that she had the world by the balls. Death was the furthest thing from her mind. But even a morbid obsession with the afterlife could not have prepared her for what happened.Chihuahua Karma chronicles the horrendous consequences of Cherry's bad choices. She trades love for a Black American Express card. She dumps veterinarian, Richard Preston, to marry gangster, Larry Finkelstein. And, when a smudge of magenta lipstick confirms that Larry is cheating she washes down a fist-full of Vicoden with a bottle of wine for breakfast. That mistake is the beginning of her problems.In an inebriated attempt at tanning, Cherry plunges from the terrace of her penthouse to the street below. She escapes extinction only to encounter a more complicated fate. Cherry regains consciousness trapped inside the body of a very tiny dog.Cherry's diminutive prison is a mini Chi named Sugar. The Lucky Dream Dry Cleaners is her dismal new home. With the unwitting assistance of her former housekeeper, Cherry escapes the dirty clothes and cotton dust. Once again ensconced in Larry's luxurious penthouse, she becomes his girlfriend's prized purse-buddy.In her diminished state, Cherry finds new perspective. She yearns for Richard. And she forms an unlikely alliance with Don Paco Fernandez, a temperamental ghost with a taste for tequila and pretty ladies. Through Don Paco, Cherry discovers that only she can save an orphaned child from her impending adoption by a sinister couple. The cast of off-beat characters collides, and Cherry meets her destiny at a casino night Christmas party.Chihuahua Karma could easily share a shelf with humorous fiction like the Devil Wears Prada and the Nanny Diaries. Sugars fans include women who love fashion, passion and small dogs and any reader who enjoys unraveling a quirky plot to its surprising conclusion.Debby Rice is a writer from Chicago. She has spent time in Mexico City, San Miguel Allende, New Orleans and San Francisco, and her experiences in those cities color her work. Rice blurs the distinctions between fantasy and reality and immerses her readers in a vividly imagined new world.
Operator
David Vinjamuri - 2012
Michael hasn't stepped foot in his Catskills hometown for more than a dozen years since he left it and a college football scholarship behind to join the Army. Michael quickly learns that his hometown has changed as he is pulled into the web of mystery and corruption surrounding Melissa's death. He will soon confront the abusive ex-boyfriend, a town sheriff with mixed motives and the ruthless Russian gang at the heart of it all.Michael will be forced to choose between two paths - that of the desk-working, college-educated intelligence analyst he has become or the Tier I Army Operator he once was. Only one of these identities will survive as Michael is relentlessly hunted by a series of ruthless men.This meticulously researched, seamlessly plotted thriller is the first in a new series by David Vinjamuri.
The Other Pilot
Ed Baldwin - 2012
General Trusten Polk dies in an exploding F-16 in Denver, and within hours he's exposed as an impostor; a war hero politician controlled by others. Boyd finds another pilot from Polk's past is releasing secrets to the press.Congressman Roscoe Kelly is implicated in bank fraud and other politicians with ties to Polk duck and weave. The press smells blood and political corruption dominates the news cycle. Is The Other Pilot a patriot or a criminal? Where did all that money come from?Boyd races to find The Other Pilot, as signs point to a criminal mastermind with a lust for revenge.The spark to start civil war in America is on a ranch in west Texas. Boyd, his English teacher lover, flight surgeon pal, a vintage aircraft enthusiast with a P-51 Mustang, and a small town sheriff are the nation's last line of defense.