As a postgraduate she moved to London and worked as a researcher at Amnesty International among other jobs. She started writing the Harry Potter series during a delayed Manchester to London King’s Cross train journey, and during the next five years, outlined the plots for each book and began writing the first novel.Jo then moved to northern Portugal, where she taught English as a foreign language. She married in October 1992 and gave birth to a daughter in 1993. When the marriage ended, she and Jessica returned to the UK to live in Edinburgh, where Harry Potter & the Philosopher’s Stone was eventually completed. The book was first published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books in June 1997, under the name J K Rowling. The “K”, for Kathleen, her paternal grandmother’s name was added at her publisher’s request who thought that a woman’s name would not appeal to the target audience of young boys.The second title in the series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was published in July 1998 and was No. 1 in the adult hardback bestseller charts for a month after publication. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was published on 8th July 1999 to worldwide acclaim and spent four weeks at No.1 in the UK adult hardback bestseller charts. The fourth book in the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was published on 8th July 2000 with a record first print run of 1 million copies for the UK. It quickly broke all records for the greatest number of books sold on the first day of publication in the UK. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, was published in Britain, the USA, Canada and Australia on 21st June 2003 and broke the records set by Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire as the fastest selling book in history. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was published in the UK, US and other English-speaking countries on 16th July 2005 and also achieved record sales.The seventh and final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was published in the UK, US and other English speaking countries in 2007. J K Rowling has also written two small volumes, which appear as the titles of Harry’s school books within the novels. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through The Ages were published in March 2001 in aid of Comic Relief. In December 2008, The Tales of Beedle the Bard was published in aid of the Children’s High Level Group (now Lumos).As well as an OBE for services to children’s literature, J.K. Rowling is the recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees including the Prince of Asturias Award for Concord, France’s Légion d’Honneur, and the Hans Christian Andersen Award, and she has been a Commencement Speaker at Harvard University USA. She supports a wide number of charitable causes through her charitable trust Volant, and is the founder of Lumos, a charity working to transform the lives of disadvantaged children.J.K. Rowling lives in Edinburgh with her husband and three children.

    Ben Merrick and his fiancé, Rachel Gardner, can’t get her divorced parents to stay in the same room, much less attend their wedding together. He is already looking over his shoulder expecting more trouble from a very senior surgeon who has shown he is still smarting from a previous dust-up, but Ben doesn’t know if a series of mishaps and accidents are caused by a disgruntled patient’s relatives or represent more from the older surgeon. Complicating it all is the question of whether Rachel’s father is back doing drugs. Then, when people start dying, Ben and Rachel wonder if they can escape unscathed…and alive.

    It wasn't an alien spacefleet firing from above. It was a bomb planted in the center of the planet before humanity even existed. In an instant, the human population dropped from 11 billion to 1,066. I'm Loris Roderick, set to take command of the Magellan space station. I didn't know I was to become the de facto leader of our species when its survival hung by a thread. We should run, hide in some corner of the galaxy to eke out what existence we can. But I'd rather we get our revenge. Earthless is the first book in the Survivors series and is 60,000 words long. Sightless: The Survivors Series #2 is now available for Pre-Order!

    Powers Unlocked. An Alliance is Born.Ten thousand years ago, the Furies nearly exterminated all life in the universe before being defeated by a coalition of worlds led by the Olympians.Or so everyone thought.Now they're back, and a new reign of terror has begun.

     If he carries through with the plan, his sister will die first. His ex will die next, and he will die last. In between, he’ll take out as many people as he can. Students. Security guards. Teachers. First responders. They are all fair game. Who will live, and who will die? How will those who live go on when their world is shattered by unthinkable tragedy? *** Contains scenes of graphic violence. Reader discretion advised.

    Hoyle is about to learn that his photographs were not without consequences, and whether he survives the night will depend on what exactly he witnessed through his camera's unflinching eye. This short story was first published in Robert Randisi's "Greatest Hits" anthology in November, 2005. It subsequently appeared in "Best British Mysteries" and was short-listed for the CWA Short Story Dagger.

    This second book tells of the first two years that she owned her own barge, the Vereeniging, and how she converts it from an empty hull into a home. Told with with Valerie's usual tongue-in-cheek humour, Harbour Ways can be read as a stand alone memoir or as the follow on to Watery Ways.

    After watching it, one of them vanishes...A heart transplant recipient gets much more than he bargained for when he digs into his donor's sinister past...Mourning the death of their son, a young couple is plunged into madness after encountering something otherworldly in the wilderness...DREAMS IN BLACK STATIC is a collection of eight terrifying stories by Ambrose Ibsen, author of The Haunting of Beacon Hill and Asylum. The tales included are:"Me and Mr. Ray" **"Decatur Road" **"Dreams in Black Static" **"Distortional Addict" **"Trim" **"Subterrane Dream" **"Orchard""The Uncanny" **** = Appearing in print for the first time

    In modern life, she rebels against the curfews and restrictions of her day, seeing them as unfair hardships. But now in this alien world with its buffalo stampedes, wild Indians, and deadly pestilence, she is about to find out what real hardships are. To get home, she must set aside her Rude Girl persona and learn how to survive.On the trek, Paula meets young Daniel Langdon, hunter and part-time scout, and an infatuation quickly becomes a great passion. She realizes this is the love of her life and to get home she will have to leave him behind. In the tradition of Outlander, The Far Journey is a grand epic of love and tragedy, loyalty and betrayal, peril and survival. Throughout, Paula Masters is tested in body and soul and must discover the strength and toughness inside her. "It has all the elements that make a good book hard to put down." Foster Cline, M. D., author of Parenting with Love and Logic."What a grand, mind-bending tale Tom Reppert has spun!" Jim Payne, author of One Inch above the Water."An Intriguing story that captures you from the first page." Sara Vinduska, author of Reflections.

     Former Navy Seal. Former Peace Corps worker. Current blacks ops assasin. To those with the highest security clearance, it’s a line item known only as Project X. But to the half dozen agents and personnel working for it, it’s known as Firestorm, a black ops group so dark that the U.S. President doesn’t even know about them yet. And no agent is as skilled as Brady Hawk. FIRST STRIKE, Book 1 :: Amid the smoldering ashes of another terrorist attack on U.S. interests in Iraq, Hawk searches for Nasim Ghazi, the chief bomb maker for the terrorist group Al Hasib. However, Hawk’s mission is almost cut short when he’s nearly killed by an assassin. Haunted by his harrowing escape, Hawk must quietly navigate through Iraq and Afghanistan to hunt down Ghazi before he strikes again. As he and his Washington-based handler Alex Duncan try to solve the mystery of his assassin, Hawk struggles with the revelation that his father, the world’s most renowned weapons manufacturer, may not be who he thinks he is. In a world where nothing is as it seems, Hawk must stay focused in order to put down another threat before it's too late ... both himself as his country. DEEP COVER, Book 2 :: Deep in the jungles of Sierra Leone, Sefadu Holdings is making a mint by funneling diamonds to Al Hasib in order to fund its terrorist operation. However, when the secret black ops group Firestorm learns about it, Hawk is dispatched to squash the illegal dealings. While Hawk is battling nefarious forces abroad, his handler Alex Duncan is dealing with her own issues, including making sure that Firestorm director J.D. Blunt is safe from an attack on his life. As Hawk goes deep under cover, he must figure out a way to stop Al Hasib from getting the diamonds while Duncan fights for her life and the black ops program she believes in. But when everything starts to unravel, Hawk must find a way to keep it together on both continents or risk losing everything. POINT OF IMPACT, Book 3 :: When Brady Hawk learns about a sinister plot that Al Hasib has constructed to infiltrate the U.S., it’s only a matter of time before the sleeper cell they’ve planted springs to live and brings death and destruction to U.S. soil. But Hawk, who’s still reeling from the loss of a person important to him, must forge ahead and put the past behind him. However, Hawk’s plans to neutralize the threat goes awry amidst a turf struggle between the FBI and the CIA—and he must figure out a way to bring peace while apprehending the threat before millions of innocent lives are lost. Can he emerge victorious in keeping Americans save from the threat of ruthless terrorists who care nothing about the sanctity of life? Grab this box set of the first three books in the Brady Hawk series. You won’t be disappointed. Fans of Vince Flynn, David Baldacci, and Brad Taylor are loving this new action thriller series!

    

     But when a casual fling turns serious, will they both be down for the ride? Riley Pratt is content living her quiet, less-than-thrilling life in the city minding her own business. Due to her hectic work schedule and self-made career as one of Savannah's up-and-coming interior designers, she's learned to keep her thoughts to herself and her eyes on the prize-- a fruitful, shining career in design. Until Cameron Alden waltzes into town.Always thinking up his next cocky comeback, Cameron is arrogant and annoyingly charming in all the wrong ways. Heir to the largest whiskey distillery in the South, he prides himself on being well-endowed but also claims he's prudish as hell. Official word around town? He's Savannah's hottest bachelor. And he takes complete advantage of it.Which... isn’t Riley’s glass of rosé. Though she can feel sparks flying rampant when they’re together, will Riley give him a chance? Or is she too sure that Cameron's old habits will die hard, making her just another one-night stand?

    You MUST read Tattooed Memories prior, as this short does contain spoilers.

    Perfect for fans of Tom Clancy, Vince Flynn and Andy McNab. The Chinese Dragon has awoken - and is narrowing its sights on the South China Sea.America - and it's president Morgan Taylor - cannot permit such territorial expansion to go unchecked. But America also cannot afford to go to war. To square the circle the President decides to employ the services of David Santos, a retired air force general and intelligence officer, and his "Bravo" team, a company of trained specialists.As the unit is deployed into South East Asia they know that America will deny all knowledge of their existence. Capture will mean torture - and death. Santos and Bravo team must try to prevent a war, working in the shadows. But they will not be alone. China has deployed its own unit, to counter the Americans and foment conflict and conquest. The fate of Bravo team in the South China Sea could shape - or shatter - the peace between two global superpowers.The clock is ticking. The race is on. Praise for The China Sea "The China Sea goes from zero to sixty and never slows down. Great story, great characters, and the real chance this is the blueprint of things to come. Must read." - William P. Wood, author of Broken Trust starring Tom Selleck"Cleverly crafted and masterfully written, with characters rooted in the dark realism of special ops,The China Sea by Richard Herman delivers a riveting, edge-of-the-seat novel of global intrigue as real as this morning’s headlines. Herman, an experienced story-teller and former U.S. air warrior captures both the subtle nuisance and stark dangers of a world teetering on the edge of mass destruction." Steve Martini“A skilled storyteller… Richard Herman knows how to describe the pressure and unpredictability of battle… He has a sure command of what it takes to hold the reader.” - Sacramento Bee“Herman is a master.” - Florida Times-Union“One of the best adventure writers around.” - Clive Cussler“Too many of today’s geopolitical thrillers ring false, but not Herman’s.” - San Francisco Examiner“Herman shines when he describes combat tactics… But it’s his characters that carry the story.” - Air & SpaceRichard Herman is a retired Air Force officer who flew C-130s and F-4s. While on active duty, he logged over 240 combat missions. He also taught at the Air Force Academy and served as an operations plans officer. After retiring, he turned to writing about the aircraft he loves, and is the author of fourteen novels – including critically acclaimed The Warbirds and Force of Eagles.

    Now, he’s being pursued by a homicidal interstellar tourist board, and calculating insurance dividends is as outdated as making stone axes. Sci-fi-hating technophobe Colin embarks on a desperate struggle to find a cure for his illness, as well as a place for himself in this strange new galaxy where toilets talk back, and door handles are a long-forgotten relic. Only by teaming up with his rescuer, hard-boiled, space-traveling archaeologist Tyresa Jak (that’s Doctor Jak to you), can Colin hope to succeed before time runs out. Along the way, this galactic odd-couple must evade the Erd Tourist Board - a powerful mega-corporation which will do anything to ensure the mythical Earth stays mythical - and deal with a crackpot religious cult who not only possess a cure for Colin’s illness, but who also believe there is more to this caveman from Earth than meets the eye.... Don't miss the start of this side-splitting intergalactic adventure that will keep you laughing into the night. It's perfect for fans of Guardians of the Galaxy, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Space Team. Also available on Audible, narrated by Steve West.