It should be just a normal day – there’s a beach to enjoy with family and friends and the summer is at it’s height. Except today is not a normal day. Today there is no one around. In fact, the only living creatures Cass can see are birds. And a horse. Where is everyone?As Cass struggles to find other survivors in this strange new world where nature is taking back the land, she discovers that being alone might not be the worst thing. It depends on who or what else is out there...

    She muddles through daily routines, her only respite coming in the form of a harmless crush on Rebecca Greenway. Claire believes that the sexy restaurant manager is safely unavailable. But when Rebecca shows signs of interest, Claire's past unravels, revealing an immeasurable love and a dark secret. .an outstanding contribution to lesbian fiction. Author Margaret A. Helms deftly alternates past and present events in the life of Claire Blevins to build an enthralling and intriguing story. Her rich prose, compelling plot, lively pace, and strongly-drawn characters make The Fifth Stage an outstanding contribution to lesbian fiction. -- Nann Dunne, editor and publisher of Just About Write (www.justaboutwrite.com), author of The War Between the Hearts, and other stories.

    Riley Parra Plans to Give Them Hell.No Man's Land isn't the kind of place you go after dark, even if you have a badge. But Detective Riley Parra was born there, and she refuses to surrender it to the drug dealers, killers and criminals who have made it there home. The case of a body stuffed into a drainage pipe leads her to discover that there is far more at stake than she ever imagined. Reeling from the knowledge that angels and demons are at war in her city, Riley finds herself thrust into the role of champion for Heaven. Determined to stop the demons and be more than just a pawn for the angels, Riley does the only thing she knows how to do: she fights.

    She doesn't believe in anything much. Except that people can't be trusted -- certainly not anyone she's ever met. But Jamie knows some things. From experience. She knows if she died, nobody would give a damn. Nobody would even notice. She knows the better she can fight, the safer she'll be. That's why she can't resist the sleek, dark lethality of the weapon -- and the recruiter's promise that yes, if she's strong enough, good enough, she'll get to fire that weapon in combat. She doesn't care about the uniform. And screw the pretend-camaraderie. Only Safe matters -- and if she can do combat, then maybe she can fight her way to Safe. Jamie expects a grueling fight that she might lose. What she never expects is to win love.

    Now, a small remnant – the descendants of the few survivors who were able to escape the massacre below – lives above the clouds, on the top of a Mountain. When they discover that their water supply is being poisoned Down Below, an expedition, including seventeen year-old girl Icelyn Brathius, must descend and face the monsters, the Threat Below, that wiped out civilization centuries ago. Icelyn quickly learns that all is not what it seems as she uncovers secrets hundreds of years old and struggles to stay alive in a world where no human is fit to survive.

    Their goals justify all means, even when it comes to their own agents.Sin is the Agency's most efficient killer. His fighting skills and talent at assassination have led to him being described as a living weapon. However, he is also known to go off on unauthorized killing sprees, and his assigned partners have all wound up dead.Boyd is not afraid to die. When his mother, a high-ranking Agency official, volunteers him to be Sin's newest partner, he does not refuse. In fact, his life has been such an endless cycle of apathy and despair that he'd welcome death.In the newly revised Director's Cut of Evenfall, the first volume follows these two cast-offs as they go from strangers to partners who can only rely on each other while avoiding death, imprisonment, and dehumanization by the Agency that employs them.120,000 words.Warnings: Explicit violence, physical and psychological abuse.Note: This is the first of the two volumes comprising Evenfall, the first book in the ICoS series.

    Because the end came and went and now she's alone in the middle of nowhere--doomed to dwell in the darkness because of the impossible sun that rules over the barren land.One simple, ordinary night everything changed. The night Elle met Tex. The night where she learned about a paradise, completely opposite of the dry, dusty life she had been living. Now Elle and Tex must defy all odds as they find themselves on a journey that will change them forever--a journey that will threaten to tear them apart in more ways than one.Let yourself be swallowed up in this tale of suspense, betrayal, and love.

    Birth authorization must be paid for and obtained prior to having a child. Someone must die before another can be born, keeping the country in a population neutral position at what experts consider to be the optimal population. The new laws are enforced by a ruthless government organization known as Pop Con, responsible for terminating any children resulting from unauthorized births, and any illegals who manage to survive past their second birthday, at which point they are designated a national security threat and given the name Slip.But what if one child slipped through the cracks? What if someone knew all the loopholes and how to exploit them? Would it change anything? Would the delicate resource balance be thrown into a tailspin, threatening the lives of everyone? And how far would the government go to find and terminate the Slip?In a gripping story of a family torn apart by a single choice, Slip is a reminder of the sanctity of a single life and the value of the lives we so often take for granted.

     Even the best job can slowly drain your battery. When Gillian Lindsay realizes it’s time for a recharge, she impetuously decides to visit Scotland. Knowing nothing about the country, she schedules a tour of Edinburgh Castle for the day she arrives, just to get the lay of the land. After spending the afternoon with Torie Gunn, her very able tour guide, Gillian proposes hiring her for a week-long trip across the country. Torie’s astonished. Gillian has done no research, and has no plans, placidly asking Torie to come up with an itinerary. That seems like the ideal way to create an unsatisfied customer. But Gillian certainly seems like a very easygoing person, and earning a week’s pay merely talking sounds like a dream. Torie jumps in, hoping she can satisfy Gillian’s desires. Over the course of their trip, other, more romantic desires spring to life. Will they be satisfied too?

    It's time for retirement, freedom from the tedious drudgery of his job as a data clerk. Time to explore parts of the city he's never seen before, and hopefully meet some people other than his Deacon or his health monitor. And at the end of the month? Time to die.Will runs the counter at the historic coffee shop, and when he talks, he sounds just like an old-time data feed. He's nothing like anyone Ernest has ever met—which isn't saying much—but still, something about him simply doesn't parse.

    You could work around it, dodge it, run away from it. But in Bria Ford’s new life, the truth is always knocking … about the past, the fate of friends and family, the realities of burgeoning love, and the changed world. For Bria there’s no escaping the truth—no matter how much she may want to. In this unflinching sequel to Jacqueline Brown’s The Light, Bria and her friends stride into the heart of the post-disaster world and face test after test of their character and convictions. Bria must choose her path in this wounded world. Freedom or comfort? Give up or run? Who has she become since the world fell away?

    City of lights, City of love... City of drama! With a year remaining on Dominique's first presidential term, the Laroche camp is gearing up for her re-election campaign. Dominique herself, however, doesn't seem so keen on going through it all again.Aurore and Solange's relationship has been on and off so many times, nobody can keep count. The prospect of being on opposing sides of an election campaign is proving too difficult to overcome. Unless one of them can find it in her heart to make a sacrifice.Claire is showing signs of a midlife crisis. Rather than test her marriage to Margot, her behaviour puts in danger Barbier & Cyr, and her friendship with Juliette and Steph.Partnerships will be questioned, loyalties will shift and priorities will be reassessed as favourite characters, and old foes, return for a new season of Parisian drama and intrigue.Warning: This title contains sensual language, ladies making love, copious wine consumption and the occasional bout of political backstabbing.

    At first, reports trickled across the wire in small segments relegated to the final seconds of the broadcast news. Lost among stories of failing economies and political bickering, few noticed what proved to be the birth pangs of a monster. Within months, the disease dominated the news as thousands died and infection rates soared.William Hill knew his chances of avoiding the virus sat squarely between slim and none. With experts predicting a global pandemic, his choices boiled down to not if, but where he would die. While the rest of the world built barricades and set up distribution points for food, he chose a simpler end. The island had been one of the last and best times with his father. He couldn’t think of a better place to spend his final days.He wanted sun and sand, fresh fish on the grill and cool nights by the campfire. He wanted feel-good days filled with oldies on the radio, days when he could hoist the sails and run before the wind. He didn’t set out to make enemies, but he did. He didn’t plan on becoming humanity’s last hope for survival, or watching over an old woman and an eerie little boy either.To William Hill, the island seemed as good a place as any to die.He just didn’t realize how good.

    Seas cover most of the land areas except high elevations which exist as islands where the remaining humans have learned to make do with much less. People survive on what they can take from the sea and with foodstuffs supplemented from an orbiting set of space stations.Jess Drake is an agent for Interforce, a small and exclusive special forces organization that still possesses access to technology. Her job is to protect and serve the citizens of the American continent who are in conflict with those left on the European continent. The struggle for resources is brutal, and when a rogue agent nearly destroys everything, Interforce decides to trust no one. They send Jess a biologically-created agent who has been artificially devised and given knowledge using specialized brain programming techniques.Instead of the mindless automaton one might expect, Biological Alternative NM-Dev-1 proves to be human and attractive. Against all odds, Jess and the new agent are swept into a relationship neither expected. Can they survive in these strange circumstances? And will they even be able to stay alive in this bleak new world?

     In the year 2098, there is no more war, no more hunger and no more pollution. The world is secure and Earth’s 2.9 billion people are healthy and happy. There is also only one remaining library that still houses physical books. In addition to the dusty volumes, the library holds many secrets. But the government has decided to shut it down and burn the contents. Unless an unlikely trio can save the books, humanity will lose more than just what is printed on those antique pages. With a single government ruling the entire planet, one currency, one language and no religion, the population is unified and enjoying the prosperity that comes with more than seven decades of peace. Free healthcare for all and guaranteed employment make the future a dream. But this future may only be safe if they can hide the past. The books must be saved . . . the impossible task is up to an angry author, a brazen revolutionary and the last librarian. When everything is perfect, the only thing left to fear is the truth.