Democracy has been suspended while the reconstruction effort lifts the country out of the ruins of conflict. America's fate lies in the hands of a genetically-engineered soldier with the ability to move through time.The Road to Hell deals with a futuristic world and the advent of limited time travel. It explores social issues such as the nature of trust and the conflict between loyalty and honesty.

    There's something strange about this girl, like she's been mistreated or abused. Worried about how the child might have gotten that way, Rand is determined to help her. As he and his ranch-hand Cole learn more about her and the events which brought her to the ranch, they soon realize that their new house guest is no ordinary girl....

    The following day US President John Remy is found dead of a heart attack in his hotel room.Meanwhile two friends on a road trip across North America come to the aid of a mysterious woman they find washed up and battered on the banks of The Colorado River. Somehow all these events are linked.Choosing to help her plunges them into a nightmarish race across the globe for she holds a secret that defies all we know about human evolution.Pursued by a deadly force intent on stopping them they must recover a relic so ancient it’s fallen into legend. A relic that will not only save them but the whole of humanity.

    "Here Be Monsters" is Jamie Sheffield's first novel.Tyler Cunningham is a detective like no other. He can mimic humanity, but in most cases fails utterly to understand people, why they do the things they do, or act in the ways that they do. His saving grace is an insatiable hunger for knowledge that combines with an ability to make connections from a series of seemingly unrelated data-points that other people miss; this continually pulls him into other peoples' problems, where his focus and unique perceptual abilities allow him to solve puzzles that others cannot see in ways that nobody else could conceive.In the heart of the Adirondack Park, the Northeast's last great wilderness, Tyler Cunningham, a detective who struggles to understand the human condition, finds himself trapped and powerless in the face of shocking cruelty and violence when the closest thing Tyler has to a friend vanishes as a result of his actions. His unique talents strap readers in for an astonishing thrill-ride, keeping them balanced on a knife's edge of suspense, while Tyler struggles frantically to unlock the secrets to a violent conspiracy that he finds himself swept up in, as the book rushes headlong towards a shocking conclusion deep in the primitive wilderness.

    Just the Earth Federation and the League of Sovereign Systems fighting for the third time over who would be the supreme power in settled space, and who would have to exist in the victor’s shadow. Then the Ascendency showed up and ruined everything.One moment, Flight Lieutenant Mason Grey was a fighter pilot of the Federal Space Forces about to strike a League base located on a dwarf planet in an uninhabited system. The next, unknown starships showed up, blew his carrier to hell, killed his squadron, shot down his fighter, and left him stranded amid the ruins of the very base he had come to attack.With nothing but a space suit and a dwindling life support system, Mason was in way, way over his head. And that was just the start of his problems. (Content Warning: This novel contains violence and adult language)

    Against this backdrop, space exploration is on the cusp of new technological breakthroughs. Jim Atteberry, a mid-30s English professor at City College in San Francisco, spends his free time listening for alien signals on the amateur radio astronomy bands. His life as a single parent to his precocious daughter is turned upside-down when he hears an intelligent cry for help from the Ross 128 system and realizes we are not alone. First Contact This signal unleashes a chain of events pitting Jim and his brilliant, mysterious colleague Kate against a power-hungry scientist with his own secret agenda. Jim must learn the truth about the signal, the strange disappearance of his wife Janet, and the meaning of true love before it's too late in this first contact science fiction thriller. The Human Side of Hard Science Fiction The Crying of Ross 128 is a sci fi mystery thriller and will appeal to fans of Robert J. Sawyer, Ted Dekker, Michael Crichton, and Ursula Le Guin. As well, readers of Star Trek will recognize the human side of hard science fiction presented here.This is the first book in the Ross 128 Science Fiction First Contact Trilogy.

    intelligence agencies wracked by internal power struggles and paralyzed by bureaucracy, the president has been forced to establish his own clandestine group--Covert-One. It's activated only as a last resort, when the threat is on a global scale and time is running out.THE UTOPIA EXPERIMENTWhen Dresner Industries unveils the Merge, a device that is destined to revolutionize the world and make the personal computer and smartphone obsolete, Covert-One operative Colonel Jon Smith is assigned to assess its military potential. He discovers that enhanced vision, real-time battlefield displays, unbreakable security, and near-perfect marksmanship are only the beginning of a technology that will change the face of warfare forever--and one that must be kept out of the hands of America's enemies at all costs.Meanwhile, in the mountains of Afghanistan, CIA operative Randi Russell encounters an entire village of murdered Afghans--all equipped with enhanced Merge technology that even the Agency didn't know existed. As Smith and Russell delve into the circumstances surrounding the Afghans' deaths, they're quickly blocked by someone who seems to have access to the highest levels of the military--a person that even the president knows nothing about.Is the Merge really as secure as its creator claims? And what secrets about its development is the Pentagon so desperate to hide? Smith and Russell are determined to learn the truth. But they may pay for it with their lives . . .

    And then when you take it--wham--you are faced with a savage choice of do-overs to correct past blunders. Roy Hobbs blew the cash windfall from his best-seller book. Gone was his money, and then his wife Rachel was murdered with the killer never found. Roy chose to pick up the pieces, riding into his sunset as a crime reporter in a smaller market. Then a weird stranger made him a freaky offer. The stranger would pay Roy the same money as his best-seller book in return for Roy to write a book for the stranger. The subject of the book would be secret until after Roy makes a decision. Big payday or walk away?Roy chose big money, and his life hurled into a dimension he could have never imagined. It was there that he faced the most savage do-over that would re-invent his life in stunning ways.Could he truly have do-overs on his biggest mistakes in life? Would he make those same mistakes again, this time knowing the consequences? Could a do-over allow him to rescue Rachel and put an end to the killings?Roy Hobbs wouldn’t be writing this strange new book, he would be living it, and the ending could kill him and kill Rachel again and again.This is a trip you gotta take. You won't guess the twists and turns, and probably not even the final destination, but you'll certainly have fun. Take the trip today.

    Scott Carver is asked to make this decision when "M.O.D." asks him to help plan a revolution.

    Two hapless stoners fall under the control of a deranged mercenary. A young woman finds herself trying to keep two lovestruck teenagers alive. A detective must track down a killer who sees the apocalypse as an opportunity. Together they attempt to survive this blackly comic saga of survival, murder, stale sandwiches, and the end of the world. 'Corpses lay all over the street. Some were burnt, their limbs curled into themselves from the heat. Some were crushed, entangled in one of several car wrecks that dotted the road. Limbs, torsos and heads were strewn haphazardly in their wake. Some were just dead, lying there oblivious to the carnage that surrounded them.'

    The doors had opened, and something was coming through. Once the initial shock and confusion wore off, and those in charge realized what was happening, mankind seemed to coalesce like never before. National boundaries no longer mattered. Religion, race, color and creed seemed to pass away in a flash. Old enemies put their differences aside. The only thing that did matter was survival. As a species. Now, Kyle is on a mission to save what’s left of our world. Or die trying.

     Pollution, war and overpopulation have darkened the skies, photosynthesis is failing and most of the Earth’s twenty billion souls face starvation and death. The only hope for survival lays with the fertile fields of Mars, where a thirty year terraforming effort is turning vast swaths of the red planet to green. But to the leaders of the Cartel, a conglomeration of the world’s most powerful families, using Mars to feed the overpopulated masses of the Earth is a waste of resources. They have another plan—take Mars for themselves and leave the Earth to self-destruct on its own. The only thing standing in their way is the idealistic President Jackson Collins, head of the United World Government and unquestioned leader of the World Military Forces, who believes that humanity must rise or fall as one. As the tide of war rises, the James Collins, the President’s son, a lifelong soldier and a weary veteran of his father’s military campaigns returns from the field disillusioned and doubtful as to whether humanity is even worth saving. Though he wants nothing more than to walk away, James soon finds himself drawn into the swirling vortex of battle and caught in the titanic struggle that will decide the fate of two worlds.

    Captain Meredith Simmons and her pilot husband Lincoln were formerly officers for the Commonwealth but each of them have now traded their commissions for civilian life and now make a living running cargo on their space freighter Celia. Trade is brisk between the planets and there is good money to be made running cargo to and from the Sphere and the Interior World planets, but there is even more to be made running out to the more remote...and more dangerous...Frontier World planets of the Rim. Captain Simmons has managed to put together a decent crew that has stuck together for the past three years. Her crew chief, Carolyn Faulks, was a former Commonwealth Marine Gunnery Sargeant, and is fanatically loyal to the Captain, if a bit of a bully now and then to everyone else. The "almost doctor" medic on board, who also moonlights as the ship's cook, is Tony Gannini, an outgoing Italian that never seems to have a care in the world. Rounding out the crew is the quiet, introverted engineer, Sean Galen. Everything is business as usual until a customer makes the unusual request for the Celia to take a young girl home with them as a passenger back to her people on the outer rim. As time passes the crew begins to notice that there is more than meets the eye to their young passenger. But then again on the Celia, even after spending three years together, the crew begins to realize that almost none of them are what they seem to be.

    Then we ask a team of ruthless judges to scour that ore and pick out the gems. The result is All These Shiny Worlds II:A world of today where cosplay and stagecraft are bright lights hiding dark shadowsA world of tomorrow, where kitchen appliances fend for themselves and take solace in each other's arms, refugees from indifferent ownersA world of little cogs in big machines, where the humble trash collector is the unsung hero of getting evil doneA world of small magics and big hearts, where a little chaos can go a long, long wayFrom the brutal curators at ImmerseOrDie.com comes another collection of indie short stories, each a distinct jewel forged in the fires of judgment, and all continuing to carry our one simple promise:Guaranteed not to suck.

    These are just some of the stories included in Bernard Schaffer's first collection, Women and Other Monsters. ***Vampires are assholes. They're not sparkly, reticent killers yearning for true love. They aren't gothic romantics who read poetry. They aren't even mysterious Romanians who turn into bats and terrorize the countryside. Really, they're just douche bags. - Room ServiceThus begins "Room Service," a dark comedy about a loser named Robbie who lives with his mom and dates a stripper. One night his girlfriend does a "private" with a suspiciously pasty customer and is never heard from again. As soon as Robbie figures out his girl was served up as a vampire Slurpee, he's out to exact revenge. Not that he has any clue how do it. But when you have nothing to lose and a bloodsucking freak to get even with, you don't mind improvising. ***Women and Other Monsters is the first collection of short stories by best-selling author Bernard Schaffer. Readers will have plenty more to feast on (nearly as much as Blake the vampire did in the story mentioned above), whether it's a Civil War Era woman too beloved by Death to die, or Ancient Astronauts who are only supposed to observe Earth, but instead tamper with humanity and trigger a history-altering event. Prepare to be seduced, surprised and sometimes horrified at the twists and turns that await as you venture into the darkness with Bernard Schaffer.***Women and Other Monsters is a short story collection recommended for fans of scary short stories, sexy short stories, superhero stories, secret agent short stories, horror stories and more.