In this seemingly idyllic world, the charismatic Benjamin Smiley claimed to be protecting his followers from an impending nuclear apocalypse. But the valley concealed a terrifying secret. A secret that would change Smiley's followers forever.

    When another child vanishes into the creeping fog around a bus station, Kathryn and her partner, Selena Marrenger, embark on a mission to find the truth behind the disappearances. What they uncover is a hidden secret far more sinister than they could have imagined.As suspects begin to pile up, Selena is forced to leave the case for the FBI. Alone, and desperate for answers, can Kathryn find who's responsible before it's too late?

    Henry and Tom is an extraordinary tale of love and cooperation between a man and whale. It deals with enduring themes including marriage and family, life crises, finding one's self and personal development. It is a deep and very moving story for readers of all ages. Beautifully written and well produced. Henry and Tom won 1st prize in the 2015 Reader's Choice Fiction-Animals Genre and was a Semi-Finalist in the 2015 Kindle Book Awards.

    THE STEAL - A thief is hired by a collector to acquire an occult aaaaaartefact... CRASH - A hard landing on an alien plaaaaaanet... COLLISION - A world changing incident at the Laaaaaarge Hadron Collider... THE FALL - A London gangster finds himself in a baaaaaad situation...

    As the body count begins a reasonable explanation cannot be found. A local backwoodsman puts Jeremy onto a possibility that seems too farfetched to be plausible. The Warden quickly learns that considering the impossible is the only way to combat what has shown up on his doorstep. And the only way to prevent more loss of life, including the woman he loves.

    She doesn't know anyone. She has a midterm on Monday. And her house is haunted.Sean Clayton died at eighteen almost seventy years ago. He believes Jade is the one who can help him finally move on. But his connection to Jade exposes her to dark forces from the afterlife. Despite the danger, Sean promises to protect her. But falling in love with her might be the scariest thing he could do ...

    Recovering from a vicious attack and her sisters’ abductions, Cheyenne must rescue her sisters from vampiric kidnappers before they’re used to breed warmongering dhampirs.Betrayal lurks in every corner. Cheyenne must evade attackers by unconventional means through her online role-play game. She must navigate through virtual, tortuous clues and mailed body parts, which cross over from her virtuality into reality. Can a team of dragons, vampires, and werewolves come together to help her? Who can she trust? Will the help from her virtual lover become compromised when he learns of her new immortal existence and crush the fragile love they share? Amidst an impending vampire apocalypse, Cheyenne finds herself both in conflict for survival and for her heart. Will her immortal self derail any hope of solving the multiplying puzzles before time runs out to save her sisters, herself and her humanity?

    In the mist.An apprentice mortician moves his family to the small town of Sotherton to provide them with a better life. Little did he know the dark secret the town and its people harbored. The town sat on the edge of a mist-shrouded forest with a deadly secret. Something lives in the trees, in the mist and it’s jealous. Jealous of all those who have flesh.Disembodied is a preview story from the author’s upcoming collection Creatures and Crypts due out in late 2011. Creatures of the living and the dead gather in a volume of over 70,000 words to stalk their prey…humans. 20 stories set the scene for a cast ranging from the Grim Reaper, shambling zombies and restless spirits, to unimaginable monsters that only inhabit the shapeless darkness and the author’s imagination. Join them as they wreak havoc on their unsuspecting victims and celebrate with a victory dance on hollowed bones.

    That's when the realization hit: I'm young, I'm rich (thanks to a hefty inheritance), and I'm boring. Not "needs a little zip" boring, either. More like "mustard stain on a Sears tweed couch" drab. French's in a squeeze bottle, that's me. But suddenly I have Grey Poupon aspirations! Things are gonna change-starting now... Building a better mantrap... First things first: Exercise. Carrot juice. Straight hair. Whiter teeth. Clothes that fit (I have breasts? Who knew?) But wait-there's more. Life's kicked me around a bit, and I've been nursing my wounds for too long. I'm finally ready to take a chance on love with the perfect guy. He's handsome. He's smart. He's reliable. He's my CPA. Problem is, I'm clueless about winning him over. It's time to call in an expert. It's time to call in The Dog. Down, boy. Mike "The Dog" Dougherty is a man's man. A guy's guy. Okay, he's a chauvinist pig, and his sty is "The Dog House," a testosterone-charged column in Maximum for Him magazine. On one hand, I abhor all he stands for. On the other hand, who better to coach me? So here I am. Learning the complex unspoken language of the American male (Talk, bad. Sex, good.); trying exciting new things (Stripping lessons are empowering. Really.); falling for Mike. Uh oh. But the Mike I'm getting to know is different from The Dog. And the Mona I'm becoming isn't quite who I expected, either. This whole makeover scheme is getting crazier by the minute. But "crazy" beats "boring"...right? Jennifer Coburn is an award-winning journalist who has written for magazines and newspapers in the United States, Canada and Australia. She lives in San Diego with her husband, William and their daughter, Katie. Jennifer desperately wishes she had Mona's unlimited cash, beachfront estate and singing voice. When she's not living vicariously through chick-lit characters, Jennifer runs a public relations business which serves non-profit organizations and small businesses in southern California. She is also the coordinator of the Del Cerro Soccer Moms League and coach of the real-life Kickin' Chicks, the best seven-year-old girls to ever tear up suburban soccer fields.

    Shielded from humanity, the Otherside is watched over by the BTCO, a highly secret government agency, whose members all possess 'The Knack', a genetic anomaly that allows them to see this other world. Franklyn 'Bermuda' Jones is the BTCO's finest agent, the only human to have passed to the Otherside and returned. Gifted with the ability to physically interact with both worlds, Bermuda reluctantly stands between both worlds, pining for the life he had to leave behind and the daughter he can no longer see. Teamed with Argyle, an enigmatic Otherside warrior, Bermuda is assigned the case of a missing woman who has vanished under mysterious circumstances.As Bermuda delves further into the disappearance, he uncovers a threat that could destroy the truce between two worlds...and finds himself in a race against time to safeguard humanity's very existence. Discover a new world in this fast-paced urban fantasy packed with thrills, action and the odd one liner.

     Hugh Howey launched the idea on Kboards, a forum for Kindle readers, but also the meeting place of an active community of indie writers. The result is this anthology of 101 very short stories by 101 authors. To make it more attractive for you, the reader, we set ourselves a limit of a thousand words. You should be able to read each story in under five minutes — on your desktop computer, laptop, or tablet at home or in the office, but also on your smartphone, on the go, while you are commuting or waiting at a coffee shop for your significant other to arrive. We included as many genres as we could. We hope that maybe, with only five minutes of your time on the line that would otherwise be wasted anyway, you'll be tempted to venture outside your comfort zone and try out some new genres and new authors.

    A deranged family. Innocent victims being picked at random.If you're chosen, Turn The Other Way.Simon Bairstow is a top London Surgeon. He's performed dozens of life-saving operations. But something goes horribly wrong. The machine Eve Johnson is attached to flatlines, and suddenly her parent's world has collapsed.They're hell bent on revenge, someone to answer for the horrific error that's been made.Noah and Jess are driving on a busy dual carriageway and get stuck in traffic. They hear thumping coming from the back doors of the transit van in front of them. When Noah steps out onto the road, he hears muffled screams. He opens the back doors and what he sees shocks him to the core. The van pulls off, spilling Noah onto the road.Ignoring his wife's plea to leave it, he hits the accelerator in pursuit of the van.Chloe's parents are missing. She hasn't seen them since they left the party in Hampstead on Friday night. She needs answers, deciding to take matters into her own hands. A serial killer is stalking the streets of Islington in North London late at night leaving his victims in a horrific way.The press have dubbed him The Angel Attacker.A terrifying tale of revenge with a twist that will hit you like a sledgehammer.

    Welcome to Audra Tanner's personal hell. She had heard the rumors about her employer. The whispered secrets. But she had thrown herself into work to escape the pain of her miscarriage and demise of her marriage. Idealistic, she thought if she worked hard she would be rewarded. She thought wrong.Savagely initiated into the brutal underbelly of the firm, Audra learns too late that the rumors are true. Now after five years of careful plotting, Audra is ready to push the wheels of justice in motion. Her goal of retribution has turned into an obsession and she will stop at nothing until everyone responsible pays. Will revenge set her free or is Audra's quest for personal justice only beginning?

    That's what Harriet and Arthur Bloomsbury think, but that comforting feeling is a fiction. Hiding among the stone walls, picturesque barns, and hay bales is a horror they can't imagine. It's deadly, impossible -- maybe even paranormal. This short story isn’t your average murder mystery, because this time, the threat isn’t quite so clear. Is it the serial killers hunting you? Your own paranoia? Or the very laws of nature? The suspense is free.

    But his luck is about to change on a mysterious island near South Africa, where he seeks a rare prehistoric fish. Deep inside the caves, John finds more than he bargained for. He encounters the tribal elder, Kota―practically the devil himself with a plan straight from hell. Within the caverns beneath the island, the tribe worships and nurtures a prehistoric marine reptile that could engulf T-Rex. The size of a sperm whale, and equipped with ten-foot jaws bristling with eighteen-inch teeth, this pliosaur is the last remaining member of the greatest predator species that ever lived. Only then does John realize Kota’s true agenda―to unleash the leviathan on the modern world to fulfill the tribe’s bloodlust for revenge. Now it’s all up to John to warn humanity of the fifty-ton killing machine headed its way―before the Ivory Coast washes blood red. But first, he has to get off the island . . . alive.