Truly alone in the world, Brett agrees to help colonize the newly discovered planet, Verita. Now Brett's on a strange new world. She quickly makes friends and starts her assigned job. Verita begins to feel like home, but it's far from perfect. Brett has an overwhelming attraction to Brody, despite the fact that he's entirely not her type. Her colleague, Ryan, utterly hates her for reasons out of her control. And there are creatures in the forest that would like nothing more than to devour everyone for dinner.Brett's heart and mind are at odds each other. She's constantly fighting with Ryan. So, concentrating on her job is becoming more and more difficult. Plus it's hard to ignore some of the strange things that have been happening around her. But, when Brett finds herself stranded in the wilderness, the only thing that matters is survival.

    Bob Dylan sings about a journey ‘all the way from New Orleans to Jerusalem…’ as way of apotheizing, scrutinizing, and recognizing the world we live in. Laura Scott is on the way.”—Alan Cheuse“A story as hot, sticky, and dangerous as Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, seen through an imagination as kaleidoscopic as Kelly Link's.”—Steve Himmer, The Bee-Loud Glade“Something hazy is happening in Fat City. Laura Ellen Scott dials up loads of laughs amid the local color and NOLA cuisine in this madcap romp of a novel where last wishes come true, Elvis is back under newly orange clouds, coffee cups are bottomless, and street punks wear capes.”—Richard Peabody, editor Gargoyle MagazineWhat if your most fervent wish could come true, and all you had to do was…die first. Recovering from a bitter divorce, middle-aged Victor Swaim wants nothing more than to live a carefree, drunken existence in New Orleans, making capes and corsets, and lusting for Pebbles, the girl who lives across the street.But, after a series of deathbed wishes come true—including the curing of cancer, the elimination of cats, the return of Elvis (1967 vintage), the clouds turning orange, mothers growing third eyes and cups of coffee becoming bottomless—the hysteria that grows around “Death Wishing” forces Victor into action. Along with his entrepreneurial son Val and his libertine friend Martine, Victor must battle the apocalyptics who have seduced Pebbles away from her true vocation of singing the blues (very badly) while at the same time confronting his mortal identity: just what would he wish for the world without him in it?

    But it's not the other team she has to worry about stopping her - it's the two soldiers in ancient battle armor who attack during the game! Nia has always been a little quicker, a little stronger, a little more agile than everyone else. She quickly learns that hand-to-hand combat is another skill she possesses...The attack makes headlines and causes her parents to uproot the family business and move cross-country during her senior year. It's not an easy adjustment and before long she finds herself in the middle of another physical altercation, this time with the entire boy's lacrosse team. But a mysterious stranger named John Leon shows up to help and starts Nia's life on an uncontrollable spiral she never imagined...On the night of her eighteenth birthday, she begins to dream about being another person in another life. The dreams grow increasingly frequent - and increasingly clear - and she begins to question everything about her life, from who she really is, to who she really was, to whether her parents are who they claim to be...Nia unexpectedly finds herself falling for John but has fierce competition for his affection. Cassie is her neighbor and the daughter of her parents' business partner. She's selfish and ruthless and shallow and John seems like he can't stand her. But he also can't say no to her...John knows something about Nia's past and the dreams she's been having but getting the information from him might turn deadly...CHAPTER ONEI’m the first person to see the attackers though I have plenty of reason to be focused elsewhere. I don’t know how but it’s like I sensed the danger coming and looked up just in time to see a pair of behemoths charging out of the nearby woods. In the split second I first lay eyes on them, my mind registers every minor detail: two men well above six feet tall, biceps rippling like steroid-laced professional wrestlers. One has long greasy blond hair and wields a sword almost as long as his body; the other has brown hair just as long and greasy and wields a massive axe. Their teeth are equally brown and rotted, evil sneers of blood lust plastered across their lips. There’s no doubt in my mind that they’re both ugly but I can’t see their faces behind metal helmets that cover their heads and most of their faces. Only a single slit in the helmets allows them to see, their eyes focused in my direction.Had I not spotted the attackers right away, I surely would have heard them soon after appearing from the trees. They wear matching suits of armor that cover their chest and legs, clattering and clanging with every step they run. I can’t imagine how a normal human could walk in such bulky suits let alone run but they don’t seem slowed by them at all. For the second time in a matter of seconds, my mind surprises me with something else I can’t quite explain: somehow I know that these soldiers are from the Spanish Armada. Logically, I think this should be some sort of ill-advised joke. This type of soldier hasn’t been seen in centuries. Others around me must have the same thought because it takes several seconds for the first scream to cry out from the large crowd. I stop staring at the soldiers once I feel a heavy smash against the back of my leg; I’d almost forgotten that I was in the middle of the most important game of my life.Did I forget to mention that I’m in the middle of a field hockey game?CHECK OUT THE AUTHOR'S OTHER NOVELSKEEPER OF THE WATER TRILOGYBOOK ONE - Drinking LifeBOOK TWO - Recruits BOOK THREE - The Water Queens

    But when she transfers from her one-stoplight Oregon town to Cardiff University in Wales, she falls in love with Ull Myhr. Her new boyfriend isn’t exactly what she was expecting. His cashmere sweaters and old world charm mask a warrior who's spent an eternity fighting for his very existence. Ull is an honest-to-goodness Norse god — an immortal assassin fated to die at Ragnarok, the battle destined to destroy Asgard and Earth. On top of being marked for death, Asgardian law prohibits Ull from tying his fate to a mortal. No matter what she feels for Ull, Kristia knows she's the one thing he can never have.With Ragnarok on the horizon and a lunatic haunting her dreams, Kristia has to find a way to convince Ull that breaking the rules is the only way to survive; that defying the order he's sworn to uphold is their only chance to be together. And when someone starts asking the wrong questions, Kristia realizes the crazy visions she's had all her life might be the key to saving their realms... even if they end up costing her her life.

    That choice doomed the family she left behind to a life of disgrace.Yanko White Fox doesn’t remember his mother, but as the only gifted child in the family, he is expected to erase the mark she left on them all. With an affinity for earth magic and communicating with animals, he’s not the most natural candidate to become a warrior mage, but it’s the only sure route back into the Great Chief’s good graces. He has resigned himself to training for that destiny, whether it matches his passions or not.Long before he’s ready for his first battle, insurrection comes to his distant corner of the empire. Rebels take over the salt mine his family manages and slay the only relative who ever supported Yanko. On the heels of the tragedy, a courier brings a message from the Great Chief’s son. Whether he is prepared or not, Yanko must undertake a quest, one that could save millions of lives… or fail utterly, leaving him dead, his family forgotten, and his people the victims of starvation and endless war.

    She doesn’t expect to fall in love with the handsome Gavin Devereaux and plummet into the world of Amaranth, a place of exile for reformed vampires.Wrestling to escape a deadly ex-boyfriend while giving Gavin a chance, Camille is confronted with decisions that threaten not only her life, but the lives of her inhuman friends she has come to love. Entangled in her friends’ quest for freedom, she dives into their realm and faces the threats of Amaranth’s ruler—the mother of all vampires—and her own inner demons.Now Camille must decide whether she will derail her life and make the ultimate sacrifice for the monsters that interrupted her bumpy path back to sanity—what she still wants so desperately—or escape with Gavin before it’s too late for both of them.

    At the age of seventeen, these warriors, magicians, chemists, and psychics are allowed the opportunity to train at the Academy, increasing their opportunity for a well-paying career. But there’s a catch. They must fight beside the Army if requested by their king. Most aren’t concerned by this, as the current treaty has prevented battle for nearly seventy years…but that’s about to change.Of four roommates with interwoven stories, Cleve Polken takes focus as a hostile warrior who feels more comfortable in a duel than a conversation. Never getting past his parents’ death, Cleve has developed a crippling fear of psychics, for some may have the power to resurface the torment he buried within himself upon his parents’ passing. Cleve’s forced to face this fear head-on when he discovers that not only is one of his roommates a psychic, but that he has an overwhelming attraction to her, which he quickly attributes to a psychic spell, nothing more.By the time an army of savage, reptilian men called Krepps become involved in the war, all hope of resolution without battle is shattered. In this powerful army, one born with the inability to smell doesn’t have the same feeding urges as his fellow Krepps and is outcast because of it. He finds himself with an unlikely ally in the middle of a crossroad, trying to find a way to reunite with his sister. Little does he know how much his choices will twist the fate of the war and alter the lives of the four human roommates forever.

    What could be worse than getting stuck with a destiny like that? Tanner Sutherland is about to show her.When a death in the Sanders Family leaves their power and secrets up for grabs, centuries old rumors begin surfacing. Far more sinister reasons for her family's involvement with the Akori than Addy ever could've imagined come to light. She learns the hard way that placing her trust in anyone could lead to disaster.Betrayed by old friends and leery of new ones--she's left to cut through the lies and deception to get to the truth.Find out why sometimes its better not knowing, and how much misery really does love company in Dissever - Book One of the Unbinding Fate Series. Now Available in the Kindle Store - Bonds are broken and new connections are forged in Sanctify (Unbinding Fate, #2) & Chasing Darkness (Unbinding Fate, #3)

    Riza Diantus is a young woman with dreams too wide to fit inside her village fence. Their unexpected friendship is risky in Leland Province, where drought has stripped the land and superstition has cowed its people. And the danger only grows. Fordon Blackclaw, Dragon Council Leader, resents Leland's time-worn venur system. He has inflamed tensions between dragons and humans to the brink of war. He wants to trample humans into utter submission, or wipe them off the face of the land. Anger erupts, scorching innocent lives in its path. When Riza is threatened, Kallon is the only one with the power to save her. But first, he must confront his past and the future he stopped believing in. He must claim his destiny.

    Her mother is dead. Her father has lost his job. And thanks to an experimental procedure, Liz is now able to ‘download’ the contents of every brain around her with a simple touch. Forced to hide from both the federal government and a darkling group of morally deficient scientists known as the Coalition determined to exploit her abilities, she moves with her father to the bucolic coal town of Pound, West Virginia.But the hunt for Liz and her abilities hasn’t ended, and her hopes for peace are shattered when she inadvertently downloads the enigmatic Carey Drake, whose unusual good looks and charm conceal a secret as shocking as her own. Stunned by the knowledge that she has found someone else who has extraordinary abilities, Liz finds herself drawn to Carey, discovering a deep attraction, and dares to hope for the first time she might find love.But when an agent of the Coalition begins stalking her, Liz must find a way to work with the government agency she most mistrusts as she strives to build a longed-for normal life and take down the agent who has tracked her down. Caught up in a struggle to save herself and those she loves, the girl who sees all is blind to true danger until it is too late.

    At least she thought so until the two most intriguing guys in her new school take an interest in her.Both boys are gorgeous and blessed with obscene amounts of money. They should have the emotional depth of note cards, but instead display undercurrents she doesn't fully understand. Rumors the pair destroys peoples' livelihoods seem ludicrous until she gets caught in the crossfire and her family almost loses their home. She's increasingly unsure either boy is really human, and their rivalry is rapidly turning deadly.

    This gift must remain hidden, or her entire species will perceive her as a threat. Upon her move to Williams, Arizona the woods on the mountainside become a refuge, the place where she can let her power flow free. Skin Walker, Larkin Taylor has dreamt of the same girl since his twelfth birthday. While on a run in his wolf form, he catches the scent of something overwhelmingly powerful. When Larkin comes face-to-face with his dream girl, he is astounded to find that she is real. Desperate to be close to her, he joins her as the wolf where he witnesses first-hand the true depths of her gifts. Though he should destroy her for what she is, he finds himself struggling with a fierce need to protect her and the secrets she harbors. His own secrets are threatened when his former best friend bumps into Taryn at the local café. Keiryn Falcon is instantly smitten with the new girl in town when sparks, quite literally, fly between the two as she brushes past him. The moment she is out of sight he takes to the skies in hawk form to follow. When he spies Larkin jumping down from her bedroom window, Keiryn sees nothing but red, knowing what kind of a monster lurks within the black dog. Bearing the physical scars that Larkin inflicted on him five years ago, Keiryn pledges to keep Taryn from falling victim to the same fate.While her heart wages a constant war between the boy that is bound to protect her and the one she shares a deep, inexplicable connection with; who will she choose, and will that choice destroy them all?

    Only sorcerers can use the power of vaetra to affect the physical world. Even now, more than 300 years after the Sorcery Accords that ended the terrible Wizard Wars and prohibited sorcerers from ever again holding positions of authority, most of the populace distrusts sorcerers and everything related to sorcery.Against a serene backdrop of forested mountains, lakes, and mythical creatures, adventure and danger awaits two people who discover they have a lot more in common than either could have imagined.JAYLAN FORESTER is trying to get his life back together after a series of setbacks. His promising career in the Imperial Guard comes to an abrupt end when he is thrown out for a crime he did not commit. In an effort to reassemble the shreds of his career and dignity, Jaylan takes mercenary contracts with Raven Company, but the work isn’t steady enough. When his partner in the Snow Creek Inn dies, he is thrust into the role of innkeeper—a job he doesn’t want. And now he’s worried that his partner’s daughter Dela is sizing him up for a wedding suit.SULANA DELANO is a Sword Sorceress from the Archives, a mysterious enclave of sorcerers that most people talk about only in hushed tones. Sulana leads a team of Archives agents on a mission to recover a stolen artifact. She is determined to succeed at her first experience as team leader and to protect the Archives from a devious adversary.When Jaylan’s destiny collides with Sulana’s, agendas clash and old prejudices are tested. They discover that, in spite of their differences, they will need to work together to combat those who would use vaetra for nefarious purposes.

    As the wife of a magistrate, mother to a good family, and an important member of the community, she's never had any reason to defy authority. But when the death of her infant daughter leaves her questioning her people’s beliefs about the origins and evils of magic, Lucilla is forced to defy the laws of God and man in order to save her next child from an unthinkable fate. (A Bound world short story)

    The leech inside me came out to find prey, but found none in this enigmatic girl. The close proximity of her essence didn’t entice the monster within, so what did that make her? I had more questions than answers, but one thing was unmistakable; although she released me from her embrace, her hold on me remained."Cruel circumstances turned Curry Brennan into the wretched monster he hates and refuses to accept, but when an expected turn of events releases him from the bond of his obsessive maker, he returns to the home he knew 161 years earlier and finds the return of happiness and joy in something he didn’t know existed. Puzzled by his growing attraction to Chansey Leclaire, a human, he is unable to resist the captivating relationship that threatens to reveal his existence as a vampire. He eventually discovers the reason he was destined to find what he didn’t know he searched for and is faced with the cruel realization that the living and the immortal undead will always be separated by one thing. Eternity.Be sure to check out the book trailer for Blood of Anteros on my Goodreads profile page or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LbJpi...BRIEF EXCERPT-Although somewhat involuntary, I was part of this now. My confrontation fanned the flames of Julian’s obsession, making him more determined than ever to have Chansey. Consequences battled within me and my heart spoke against my mind’s better judgement. “Maybe I should drive you back and forth to work for a while, just until he backs off.”She looked appreciative, but didn’t intend on taking my offer. “I can’t ask you to do that, it’s too much for you to take on.”I didn’t intend for her to not take my offer. “You didn’t ask. I offered and I insist.”Relief flooded her face. Then, she surprised me by stepping forward and put her arms around me. She placed her head against my chest, leaving me without an option and I returned the embrace by placing my arms around her. I lowered my face to her hair and inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of lavender and vanilla. I dropped my face closer to her shoulder and smelled the lingering fragrance of jasmine, cherry blossom and peach, mixed with a slight release of salty perspiration due to the combination of heat and anxiety.The monster, deep within me, unexpectedly resurfaced. He no longer laid dormant as he screamed in agony, begging to be set upon this innocent creature. He pleaded with me for one taste. Didn’t he deserve it? It has been so long.One scent of her blood essence would surely send me over the edge, giving the awakened one the upper hand as he urged me to side with him. I braced myself for the battle against the leech within me and begged him to leave me in peace.I held my breath and didn’t move a muscle, for fear the beast might interpret any sudden movement as permission to strike. When I could no longer hold my breath, I exhaled, then inhaled slowly and shallowly. I waited for her fragrance to signal my defeat, giving the leech the permission to strike.I readied myself to charge against this inner beast when her aromatic essence penetrated my line of defense. When her aroma registered in my brain, I waited to see what my level of temptation would be. The beast received the verdict first and my battle was won as he retreated.I was intrigued by Chansey’s unexpected essence. It wasn’t unappealing, yet not enticing either. It was neutral and I was spellbound.She lifted her head from my chest and leaned back to see my face. “I don’t know what to say or how to thank you.”She raised up onto her tiptoes and planted a kiss on my cheek before she released her hold of me. I reluctantly released my hold, as well, but I wasn’t finished exploring this. I wanted more, I needed more.We both knew we had just shared a significant moment, although neither of us voiced it.“I’m sure you’re exhausted. You should get a good night’s rest,” I said, verbally encouraging her to go to bed, but inside begging her stay.I regretfully watched her walk up the steps to the backdoor. Before entering, she turned and said, “Thank you again, Curry. You’re a real life saver.”The paradox of her words brought a smile to my face. She saw a life saver in a skilled killer and I was tantalized by the mystery of her. The leech inside me came out to find prey, but found none in this enigmatic girl. The proximity of her essence didn’t entice him, so what did that make her? I had more questions than answers, but one thing was unmistakable; although she released me from her embrace, her hold on me remained.I was uncertain what this meant for me, but more importantly, I didn’t know what it meant for Chansey. Of all the puzzling things in my head, there remained one clear circumstance; she needed my protection because, for once, I wasn’t the dangerous one.I lifted my eyes to Chansey’s bedroom window and watched darkness replace the light. She remained standing at her window, believing she was hidden in the darkness, and briefly watched me before she crawled into bed.She was lying in her bed, unaware of the strange emotions flooding me. Beings like me didn’t desire romantic relationships with humans, so it was unnatural for me to desire anything other than her blood while all I wanted was to be near her. I remembered the way she leaned forward to kiss me and it left room for no doubt in my mind; I wanted her with all of my heart, body and soul, if there still was one within me.