The bet pays off, resulting in a story that will be popular with book clubs and fun to discuss.” —Associated Press New York City, New Year’s weekend, 2001. Jillian Guthrie, a troubled young journalist, stumbles onto a tantalizing mystery: the same man, unaged, stands alongside Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, and Gandhi in three different photographs spanning eighty-five years of history.In another part of town, Will—an enigmatic thirty-three-year-old of immense charm, wit, and intelligence—looks forward to the new year with hope and trepidation. Haunted by his secret past and shadowed by a dangerous stranger, he finds himself the object of an intense manhunt spearheaded by an ambitious Vatican emissary and an elderly former UN envoy named Hanna.During the next forty-eight hours, a catastrophic event unites Will, Jillian, and Hanna—and puts them in the crosshairs of a centuries-old international conspiracy. Together, the three must unravel an ancient curse that stretches back two millennia and beyond, and face a primal evil that threatens their lives and thousands more.Award-winning science-fiction mastermind Kenneth Johnson blends epic adventure, romance, and evocative drama into an intense supernatural thriller rooted in one of the great untold legends of human history.

     While acquiring vital information to infiltrate Hellstar, the maximum security prison her son is being held in, she makes an unlikely alliance that raises shadows from her past. It quickly becomes clear that the reasons behind the bounty on her head run deeper than she could ever have imagined. The shocking implications will turn Ryonna's entire life upside down. While attempting to break Ronan out of Hellstar remains her top priority, she embarks on a series of highly dangerous trials in order to uncover the truth behind it all, putting her life, mission and even her sanity on the line at every turn. --- The events of this Novella take place between book one (Earth – Last Sanctuary) and book two (Fury to the Stars) of the Universe in Flames saga. They focus around Ryonna's character. While it is not necessary to have read these books to enjoy this Novella, you’ll understand each reference to other characters and mention of races as well as some other world building details better if you did. If this is the first book you read from me, worry not, you can still go ahead and read it.

    A strange lab. A mysterious button.He shouldn’t have pushed the button. But Alfred Favero, senior analyst with the IRS, pushed the button. And now he’s 67 million years in the past, stranded out of time with a coworker who hates him and a bunch of tax cheats.Oh, and then there’s the other inhabitants of his prehistoric home: the dinosaurs that want to make a meal of him. Things couldn’t get worse. Until a mysterious visitor from an uncertain future shows up with murder on his mind…

    He knew what she was. And like him, she was born this way.Now if finding out that people like her shouldn’t exist was bad enough, Jades best friend is kidnapped by the psycho who’s terrorised her dreams. With the help of Aiden, she has to figure out how to saver her, before it’s too late.But what Jade doesn’t know, is not everything is what it seems. She is merely a puppet in a sadistic game to find out what she is truly capable of – and the game has only just begun.

    But for the men on the ground below they were a puzzlement. And no wonder: the year was 1863 and the men were Confederate soldiers marching toward the most significant battle of the American Civil War.Thousands of miles away and 105 years later, Navy pilot Nathaniel Booth and his navigator complete their air mission over Laos and are headed back to the deck of the USS Enterprise when their aircraft mysteriously vanishes. Our hero Booth is declared Missing In Action. Years later when Rose Booth, the family matriarch, learns that her son may not have been a casualty of the war as previously believed, she enlists a prominent history professor and his protégé to uncover the truth.In this carefully researched historical novel with a cosmic twist, the author traces the convoluted struggle to weave together the threads of a lost airman's life and bring solace to a grief-stricken mother. 352 pages, 88,000 words, 73 Chapters.

     Ensign Clio Evans is separated from her crew in the wreckage. She must re-join them if she stands any hope of surviving, but an alien army stands in her way. With the invaders hot on their heels, Grimshaw and Evans must find a way off the battle-scarred planet in time to warn the Galactic Council before the mysterious new race tears the Alliance asunder. Meanwhile, on the other side of the galaxy, Randis Kahn fights for survival on the lower levels of Sentinel Station. Caught between warring gangs and a political conspiracy, he must look to a past he would rather forget or lose everything he holds dear. Put three fresh characters in a glass. Fill it with action, and mix in some intrigue. Give it a good shake, and you have a cocktail called The North Star. If you enjoyed Star Wars, Mass Effect, and similar science fiction stories, you’ll love The North Star. Perfect for those who like books about alien invasion, first contact, colonisation, military science fiction, space opera, space fleet adventures, or anything related to the above.

    Infinite lifetimes. One impossible choice.Thora and Santi are strangers in a foreign city when a chance encounter intertwines their fates. At once, they recognize in each other a kindred spirit—someone who shares their insatiable curiosity, who is longing for more in life than the cards they’ve been dealt. Only days later, though, a tragic accident cuts their story short.But this is only one of the many connections they share. Like satellites trapped in orbit around each other, Thora and Santi are destined to meet again: as a teacher and prodigy student; a caretaker and dying patient; a cynic and a believer. In numerous lives they become friends, colleagues, lovers, and enemies. But as blurred memories and strange patterns compound, Thora and Santi come to a shocking revelation—they must discover the truth of their mysterious attachment before their many lives come to one, final end.

    The infamous bounty hunter, Logan Coldhand, chases close behind her and intends to drag Maeve back to the planet of Axis to collect the high price on her head. When he finally corners her, the long chase seems to be over… until a frightened alien girl stumbles into their fight and begs for their protection. Maeve and Logan call a reluctant end to their battle and promise to help the girl, but they have agreed to far more than they know.Can the fragile peace between hunter and mark hold long enough to save the lives that depend on them?Crucible of Stars is the first book of the Reforged Trilogy. It was previously published as Anvil of Tears.

    2120. American has been decimated, wiped out from the second Civil War. In this post-apocalyptic world, survivors are far and few between. And most of those who do survive are members of the violent gangs, predators who live in the big cities. They patrol the countryside looking for slaves, for fresh victims to bring back into the city for their favorite death sport: Arena One. The death stadium where opponents are made to fight to the death, in the most barbaric of ways. There is only one rule to the arena: no one survives. Ever. Deep in the wilderness, high up in the Catskill Mountains, 17 year old Brooke Moore manages to survive, hiding out with her younger sister, Bree. They are careful to avoid the gangs of slaverunners who patrol the countryside. But one day, Brooke is not as careful as she can be, and Bree is captured. The slaverunners take her away, heading to the city, and to what will be a certain death. Brooke, a Marine’s daughter, was raised to be tough, to never back down from a fight. When her sister is taken, Brooke mobilizes, uses everything at her disposal to chase down the slaverunners and get her sister back. Along the way she runs into Ben, 17, another survivor like her, whose brother was taken. Together, they team up on their rescue mission. What follows is a post-apocalyptic, action-packed thriller, as the two of them pursue the slaverunners on the most dangerous ride of their lives, following them deep into the heart of New York. Along the way, if they are to survive, they will have to make some of the hardest choices and sacrifices of their lives, encountering obstacles neither of them had expected—including their unexpected feelings for each other. Will they rescue their siblings? Will they make it back? And will they, themselves, have to fight in the arena?

    Medical science and governments around the world scramble in an effort to solve the problem, but twenty-five years later there is no cure, and an entire generation grows up with a population of fewer than a thousand women.Zoey and some of the surviving young women are housed in a scientific research compound dedicated to determining the cause. For two decades, she’s been isolated from her family, treated as a test subject, and locked away—told only that the virus has wiped out the rest of the world’s population.Captivity is the only life Zoey has ever known, and escaping her heavily armed captors is no easy task, but she’s determined to leave before she is subjected to the next round of tests…a program that no other woman has ever returned from. Even if she’s successful, Zoey has no idea what she’ll encounter in the strange new world beyond the facility’s walls. Winning her freedom will take brutality she never imagined she possessed, as well as all her strength and cunning—but Zoey is ready for war.

    In a span of mere hours, the entire adult population is decimated, leaving their children behind to fend for themselves and deal with the horrific aftermath of the freak occurrence. As one of the newly made elders in his small town, Shane finds himself taking on the role of caretaker for a large group of juvenile survivors. One who just happens to be Kelly Douglas—an out-of-his-league classmate—who, on any other day, would have never given Shane a second glance. Together, they begin their quest to find out why all of the adults were slaughtered. What they find is even more horrifying than anything they could have expected—the annihilation of the adults was only the beginning. Shane and his friends are not the unlucky survivors left to inherit this new, messed-up planet. No, they are its next victims. There is an unknown power out there, and it won’t stop until every person in the world is dead. A spine-tingling adventure that will have you gasping for breath all the way until the last page, The Last Orphans is the first book in an all-new apocalyptic series.

    Then the shocking death of Jim - their creative genius and Beatrice's boyfriend - changed everything.One year after graduation, Beatrice is returning to Wincroft - the seaside estate where they spent so many nights sharing secrets, crushes, plans to change the world - hoping she'll get to the bottom of the dark questions gnawing at her about Jim's death.But as the night plays out in a haze of stilted jokes and unfathomable silence, Beatrice senses she's never going to know what really happened. Then a mysterious man knocks on the door. Blithely, he announces the impossible: time for them has become stuck, snagged on a splinter that can only be removed if the former friends make the harshest of decisions. Now Beatrice has one last shot at answers... and at life.And so begins the Neverworld Wake.

    A wing shears off the one closest to the shore just before it splashes down in the sea. Why was she telling him this outlandish story? What sort of Tourist Agency would offer people a front row seat to the end of the world? More importantly, why would anyone book such a vacation if there wasn’t any way home afterward? “Why would anyone buy a ticket on the Titanic if they knew it was doomed?” “Relax Dylan,” she assures him. “If you know it’s going to sink, you could bring a raft.” As she paces in the sand watching the sky, he realizes that however wild her story may be, he loves her. Maybe Izzy is a time travel tour guide after all. In truth, he is more likely to be harmed by her boyfriend than the imminent apocalypse. What’s he going to about that sticky situation? “Come on,” she orders, pulling on his arm. “We need to see a man about a raft.” DISCLAIMER: This novel contains no profanity, some violence, an office princess in bondage, cowboy coffee, classic cars, love triangles, domestic violence, birthday cake, Lion Country Safari mishaps, beach volleyball, road rage, a prosthetic shotgun, text messages on gum wrappers and the strong belief that people are a product of their experiences and not just genetically predisposed to mayhem. Any resemblance to actual historical events or persons alive or dead is purely coincidental.

    Unbeknownst to him, there’s a reason why he’s always the odd boy out: he is an Oddfit, a rare type of human with access to the More Known World, a land invisible to most people. Yet unfortunate circumstances keep Murgatroyd stranded in the Known World, bumbling through life with the feeling that an extraordinary something is waiting for him just beyond reach.Seventeen years later, that something finally arrives when a secret organization dedicated to exploring the More Known World invites Murgatroyd on a mission. But as the consummate loser begins to grow into the Oddfit he was meant to be, the Known World becomes bent on exterminating him. For once in his underachieving life, will Murgatroyd Floyd exceed expectations and outsmart those trying to thwart his stupendous destiny?

    Nigel Sheldon, one of the founders of the Commonwealth, receives a visit from the Raiel—self-appointed guardians of the Void, the enigmatic construct at the core of the galaxy that threatens the existence of all that lives. The Raiel convince Nigel to participate in a desperate scheme to infiltrate the Void.Once inside, Nigel discovers that humans are not the only life-forms to have been sucked into the Void, where the laws of physics are subtly different and mental powers indistinguishable from magic are commonplace. The humans trapped there are afflicted by an alien species of biological mimics—the Fallers—that are intelligent but merciless killers.Yet these same aliens may hold the key to destroying the threat of the Void forever—if Nigel can uncover their secrets. As the Fallers’ relentless attacks continue, and the fragile human society splinters into civil war, Nigel must uncover the secrets of the Fallers—before he is killed by the very people he has come to save.