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 . . .

    To Kill a MockingbirdThe Shoes of the FishermanSeven Days in MayTo Catch an Angel

    Meanwhile, a dark and blurry photograph puts the entire town on high alert, and the election recount goes Sinfully haywire. It's all fun and games until bodies start turning up... and Fortune might just be the next victim.Fan Fiction: works written by adoring fans of the original author, using the original author's characters and settings. Jana DeLeon has graciously allowed certain authors to write in her world and Aunt Tillie is proud to be one of them. Jumbalaya was Tillie's first effort, and she hopes you will enjoy this and other stories by fan fiction authors. The timelines for these stories may not coincide with current Jana DeLeon stories, but they should fit almost anywhere within the Miss Fortune series.

    Life is good until the father who abandoned her as an infant turns up dead in the swamp. Who else can help her but Ida Belle, Gertie and Fortune? And they've got their work cut out for them as they try to solve two mysteries - who Hugo Ancelet really was, and who killed him?

    Book One – Forever Mine, Ren & MayaBook Two – More Than Forever, Luke & IslaBook Three – Until Forever, Cole & EbruBook Four – My Forever, Cole & Ebru pt 2 This is a box set of the Providence Series books 1 to 4

    Martin was born September 20, 1948 in Bayonne, New Jersey. He began writing very young, selling monster stories to other neighborhood children for pennies, dramatic readings included. Later he became a comic book fan and collector in high school, and began to write fiction for comic fanzines (amateur fan magazines). Martin's first professional sale was made in 1970 at age 21: "The Hero," sold to Galaxy, published in February, 1971 issue. Other sales followed. Moving on to Hollywood, Martin signed on as a story editor for Twilight Zone at CBS Television in 1986. In 1987 Martin became an Executive Story Consultant for Beauty and the Beast at CBS. In 1988 he became a Producer for Beauty and the Beast, then in 1989 moved up to Co-Supervising Producer. He was Executive Producer for Doorways, a pilot which he wrote for Columbia Pictures Television, which was filmed during 1992-93. Martin's present home is Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is a member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (he was South-Central Regional Director 1977-1979, and Vice President 1996-1998), and of Writers' Guild of America, West. Volume 1 of "George R. R. Martin: Short Stories" contains the Hugo, Locus Poll and Nebula Award? Winning "Sandkings," and more excellent short science fiction and fantasy.

    

    But soon the sexy sheriff isn’t laughing. Someone—or something—is stalking the beautiful defense lawyer, turning her once-grand mansion into a house of horrors. The Betrayed One day on the job and contractor Zach Sargent is ready to believe the dilapidated old LeBeau mansion is haunted. Some intruder—earthly or not—is threatening the youngest LeBeau sister, back to claim her inheritance. And though Danae keeps her distance from the sexy hired hand, he falls for her in a heartbeat. The ReunionBodyguard to an heiress is Tyler Duhan’s idea of hell. The steely, sexy ex-marine has heard—and dismissed—the gossip about the haunted old LeBeau mansion and its “cursed” heiresses. Now headstrong Joelle has arrived to reunite with her long-lost sisters. And as much as he wants her, he needs to keep his distance—or suffer the fatal consequences.

    And when Slaughter created detective Will Trent she broke the mold. While displaying an uncanny knack for reading people, solving puzzles, and cracking cases at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Detective Trent navigates the varied relationships with the women in his life: vice cop Angie Polaski, supervisor Amanda Wagner, partner Faith Mitchell, and Dr. Sara Linton. This gripping eBook bundle contains six novels in the Will Trent series, including:  TRIPTYCHFRACTUREDUNDONEBROKENFALLENCRIMINAL  Praise for Karin Slaughter and her Will Trent thrillers   “One of the best crime novelists in America.”—The Washington Post   “Crime fiction at its finest.”—Michael Connelly   “Slaughter writes with a razor. . . . Better than Cornwell can ever hope to be.”—The Plain Dealer   “Slaughter will have you on the edge of your seat.”—Seattle Post-Intelligencer   “Slaughter’s gift for building multilayered tension while deconstructing damaged personalities gives this thriller a nerve-wracking finish.”—USA Today, on Triptych   “Heart-pounding . . . Trent and Mitchell, a pair of complex and deeply flawed heroes, will leave fans clamoring for the next installment.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review), on Fractured   “A complicated spider web of secrets and tangles.”—Los Angeles Times, on Undone  “Addictive . . . Slaughter is a terrific writer, and she keeps the emotional tension high throughout.”—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, on Broken  “An absolute master . . . Slaughter creates some wonderfully complex and mature female characters, a distinctive achievement in the world of thrillers.”—Chicago Tribune, on Fallen   “[A] hold-on-to-your-hat, nail-biting story . . . What raises Slaughter way above the sensational is her wonderful way with characters.”—The Washington Post, on Criminal

    Jack Schiller and I are back together. Raymond James is settling in to life in Vegas. Life is good.Of course it couldn't last.A golfing legend dies after playing poker with me and once again I become embroiled in one of Jack's cases. And it's one too many for him. He's done--and not just with me.I try to protect Raymond's identity from being made public during the spectacle of the sports hero's death by offering up myself as a scapegoat. Life is getting pretty complicated... And then JoJo shows up. What are the odds I make it out of this one alive? *NOTE: The case is solved, the perpetrator caught, but there are a few threads that are continuing on through the next book and the series.Books in the Anna Dawson series thus far:1 - Against The Odds2 - Against The Spread3 - Against the Rules

    A great new addition to your Pokémon library

    Two pillars made them and supported them through their lives; now one is gone and the other is near to collapse. Can he be renewed, or has he been conquered at last? Major James Andrew Skinner, AKA Jazz Morgan, takes up the story. Quintin Jardine's 6,000 word short story is a glance into the future that was born from a joke, when he used its title as a throwaway line to a friend. 'A great title for a children's book,' she observed. This isn't a children's book, but in a real sense it's a take about children and the power they have to help us overcome, and emerge from, the deepest despair.

     Lacey Luzzi’s rollercoaster of a life has been filled with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. She just never expected the lows to be so… sparkly. After falling on her face during an attempt to follow in her recently-deceased mother’s stripper-boots, Lacey realizes she’s not cut out for life on stage. She sets out on a year-long investigation to find her true family, never expecting she’ll find it with a capital “F.” With a rumbling stomach, a need for money (check engine lights don’t fix themselves!), and a conscience that operates at 78% on a good day, Lacey is sucked into a whirlwind of Family secrets, hard-as-cement cookies, and mysterious, sexy men who unfortunately shoot guns, sometimes aimed at her face. The long-lost-granddaughter of Carlos Luzzi, the Godfather of the Italian Mafia, Lacey accepts her first assignment for the mob: finding fifteen million dollars of ‘the good stuff.’ Even after she enlists the help of her mouthy best-friend and her cousin, a technical genius and social disaster, she finds that going toe-to-toe with the rival Russian mob is more dangerous than expected. No one chooses their Family, but Lacey Luzzi will be lucky if she can survive hers. ** ** Lacey Luzzi: Sprinkled, is a full-length, laugh-out-loud, humorous cozy mystery with a strong female protagonist in the spirit of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum, albeit one working for the wrong side of the law… Note: Rated a strong PG-13 for sarcasm and mild language. No graphic gore or sex.

     Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection If You Liked School, You'll Love Work.

    Hephaestus Books represents a new publishing paradigm, allowing disparate content sources to be curated into cohesive, relevant, and informative books. To date, this content has been curated from Wikipedia articles and images under Creative Commons licensing, although as Hephaestus Books continues to increase in scope and dimension, more licensed and public domain content is being added. We believe books such as this represent a new and exciting lexicon in the sharing of human knowledge. This particular book is a collaboration focused on Novels by Lucy Maud Montgomery.