Kief has found a way to escape the rigidly controlled world inside the cityplex. He knows the way to the outside world, and he has a friend out there, and access to the antique car nicknamed by Order news lackeys the Red Racer. Life seems good, until the day he meets up with Ry, a young man that stands his entire world on end. Then, life gets even better... for a while.The Eyes are watching you. Everyone knows that. The Eyes are everywhere, men muttering into their links to report minor infractions, electronic Eyes recording every move with their unblinking gaze, even informers. Your closest friend might sell you out. All for your safety, of course, in this clean, sanitary, sterile, and utterly repressive world built by the Order. But Kief has found a way to escape the rigidly controlled world inside the cityplex. He knows the way to the outside world, and he has a friend out there, and access to the antique car nicknamed by Order news lackeys the Red Racer. Life seems good, until the day he meets up with Ry, a young man that stands his entire world on end. Then, life gets even better... for a while.

Sir Simeon Meriwether Kerrigan, fresh out of college, was expected to marry his cousin Rebecca and settle down like a proper gentleman. But he didn't want to. And a farewell-to-bachelorhood voyage on his steam-powered airship with his dearest friend brings both disaster and a shocking discovery.This lighthearted parody is a unique book. Technically science fiction, it is almost an anti-fantasy, which pokes a fair, or perhaps an unfair amount of good-natured fun at the serious tone and dependence on magic common to many epic fantasy adventure genre novels. With its charming and truly likeable characters, witty, intelligent humor, and prose style blending humorous science fiction and epic fantasy elements, The Warden Threat is a delight. It is sure to appeal to readers of these genres who may be looking for something fresh and different.Prince Donald, the idealistic third son of the king of Westgrove, believes he may be the only one able to protect his country from an invasion spearheaded by an ancient and massive magical stone warrior known as the Warden of Mystic Defiance. Donald, unfortunately, is woefully unprepared. His only real understanding of such things comes from his reading of adventure stories. When he finds an ancient scroll he believes may allow him to take control of the mysterious Warden, he eagerly takes on the task. He dreams of saving the kingdom and becoming a hero like those in his epic adventure stories. To his dismay, his quest turns out to be nothing like he imagined. He finds the stories in his library seriously understate the complexities and hardships involved. He also soon realizes that the real world can be much more confusing than fictional ones, and that the hero is not necessarily predestined to save the day.

Leena lived and breathed dogs, working in the kennels of a Baron. Then one day she attracted the attention of the Lady Eliana and was launched headlong into a sea of intrigue and adventure, carried far from her homeland into danger and discovery. Will she and her friends escape certain horrible death? Will Leena learn to control her natural magical abilities?Common born kennel girl Leena had little thought for the nobles she worked for. That is, until she attracted the attention of the noble Baroness, Lady Eliana, who sought to lure Leena into her web of intrigues. Leena's disgusted rejection of the plotting Lady's offer leads her down a road of despair and hope, intrigue and adventure. Along the way Leena discovers that not only is magic not the pure nonsense she'd been taught, but she holds hitherto unsuspected magical abilities of her own. Join Leena and her closest friends, Camryn and Varley, as they journey into the unknown future, barely one step ahead of certain death and destruction.

When Lorrine runs off with a wild mage, she leaves behind a woman in tears, whose shattered life may not be worth repairing. Will Kama recover? Will Lorrine ever grow up and recognize her own feelings? Or will wild magic bring an end to them all...Summer has set in the small coastal town of Breezewater, Georgia, and nineteen-year-old Sarah Towson has returned home from college in California. In the midst of her fresh return, she finds her family and friends are much adjusted to life without her. On the other side of town, Joel Sealet, who went to high school with Sarah, uncovers a sad truth about his own family. And unlike the high school valedictorian, Joel stayed close to home, a place he has discovered might be suffocating him.While neither is looking for love, the two meet and discover that the Earth revolves no matter what others do to them. And this one summer... Sadly, they'll have to let it go.

The Mazuri were nothing but a myth, a horror story used to frighten children into good behavior. Or so Kevran thought, until he stumbled across one of their dead on a lonely asteroid, and his life changed forever.The final installment of award-wining poet Kevin Shlosberg's coming-of-age poetry arc "To Say This is the Way One Man Went." This chapbook rounds out the journey w/ reflection, contemplation, and humor.This is not center-justified poetry, if you know what I mean. Heavy on Imagery. Light on rhyme.20+ poems covering topics including (but not limited to): family, headaches, cats, monks, puppetry, books, fruit, pigeons, rocks, french fries and death!Fun times guaranteed!

Lydia, now known as Aurora, rides the lands at the whim of the Circle, a proud servant of the Light. In the course of her duties, she rescues a wandering mage-historian whose beliefs challenge her own and shatter her view of herself, her training, and even her service to the Light itself.Stand-alone sequel to Apprentice.Lydia, the former baker's apprentice, has grown into a powerful mage indeed. Now known as Aurora, she and her Cluster ride out into the world for the first time, hunting down magically altered monsters ravaging the countryside of her homeland. This simple and straightforward task leads the Cluster into battle with demons and other evils, including a dark mage who kills to raise power. Little do they know that the act of rescuing his next intended victim will alter all of their lives forever...Stand-alone sequel to Apprentice.

All her short life, Lydia dreamed of being a baker. As an apprentice she greeted each day with joy and wonder. Until the day a magical little beast entered her predictable world, and turned everything upside down...All her short life, Lydia dreamed of being a baker. As an apprentice she greeted each day with joy and wonder. Until the day a magical little beast entered her predictable world, and turned everything upside down. Meeplar the fuzzling, a being of pure magic, singled out the young baker's apprentice and marked her as a mage-to-be. Filled with reluctance, Lydia must leave her happy life in the bakery and learn to control her mage abilities. She arrives at the magnificent Hall of Lights in nearby Caissa determined to learn the minimum amount of control possible and then run back home to the bakery. Little does she know fuzzlings only appear to those with the strongest of mage talents, the kind of person destined for things other than baking...

Sin, or love? Dorian seeks to rid himself of sin, to purify his soul, leaving him free to pursue a socially acceptable life and marriage. But can he? His only hope is to leave the world of the living and walk the Path of Redemption. He knows he can make it on his own. But Osval, his closest friend, insists on accompanying him. How can he expiate the worst sin of all with Osval by his side?Is it sin, or is it love? When is it a sin to truly love? Dorian seeks to rid himself of sin, to purify his soul, so his deeply held secrets will bother him no longer, leaving him free to pursue a socially acceptable life and marriage. But is it even possible? His only hope is to leave the world of the living and walk the Path of Redemption, hoping to survive Perdition and pass through to Veritas. But his closest friend, Osval, refuses to let him undertake the transformative journey on his own. Despite Dorian's protests, Osval holds firm, and the two young men set off together on a journey to begin life anew.

The Kingdom of Larantyne has opened its collective arms wide to embrace its new Prince. Why, then, does Kirel feel so ambivalent about his role in life? Prince, Horsemaster, Commander of mounted troops, the new roles he must fill in life demand dramatic change in his thinking. But will Kirel manage to come to terms with his new life before the dangerous Northlands destroy him?Inspired by the legend of the plague doctor who took his own life on the now-haunted Poveglia Island, this companion piece tells the story through a philosophical and metaphysical lens, theorizing what happens to him in the after-life. After 2 years of when it was first released, Miasma is now revamped and the final piece of The Shroud Eater flash fiction, the story that intimately focusing on the nuances of what led to his suicide - both stories are now included in this version.

A cry in the woods leads Ranger Kell Ardantin to the rescue of a lovely young lady, escaping a horrible fate in her homeland to start life anew.Santa’s Ninja Elves: two short stories depicting elite elves whose missions are to protect Santa against all enemies using an assortment of cinna-bombs, candy cane bullets, tinsel traps and throwing bells and intelligence from the fortune-telling Mrs. Clause. After years of dedicated service, Santa decides to reward them by helping them find love on Christmas.Past retirement, Natasha is sent from the North Pole to Ohio on a final mission to identify a threat to Santa. Natasha runs the lead to ground, only to find Santa sent her there for an entirely different mission. She’s been set up with a handsome stranger, a final gift from Santa to his favorite Ninja Elf.Hunter gets drunk on eggnog one day and beheads an innocent snowman. His punishment: he’s banished from the North Pole to work at a mall in Arizona, managing a fake Santa’s long line of kids. When the fake Santa sheds the fat suit to reveal a beautiful woman, Hunter falls fast for the woman who makes him feel the thrill Christmas Eve with one look.

A tradeship mysteriously burns down to the waterline. A disturbance rocks the magical ether. A journeyman disappears. A powerful dark mage arises from obscurity. All of these events are linked... but how?In this short story, a young journeyman seaman discovers the truth about himself in a traumatic series of events. Fire, death, destruction, an evil mage... Events conspire to convince the young man that he is filled with pure evil. Enter Arden, a teacher of elemental magic. Can he save the young man from his convictions?

He called it Demon Sun as a kid, a play on his mother's words when he tried to describe the magical land of music he'd discovered: Sounds like you've discovered a magic new dimension. Little did he know he'd find himself back there as an adult...He called it Demon Sun as a kid, a play on his mother's words when he tried to describe the magical land of music he'd discovered: Sounds like you've discovered a magic new dimension. Little did he know he'd find himself back there as an adult, fighting against the evil Dark Queen Animara the Eyeless as she sought to remake the magical realm in her own dark image...

A year after a disastrous breakup, Shane is desperate, unhappy, and about to move on. Life isn't getting any better. Time to restart somewhere else. Then he discovers that his former lover is in town, and decides to say goodbye, see if Erik will speak to him one last time...A brief, unashamedly sweet tale of love rescued from the trash can. Warning: contains M/M sex, not graphicTired of getting no respect at the big P.I. firm where she’s worked for years, Dix Dodd has hung out her own shingle at the ripe age of 40. There are plenty of cheating husbands to go around, and Dix has a knack for busting them. Problem is, it doesn’t always pay so well. Conscious that the guys back at the old firm are laying bets about how soon she’ll come crawling back, she figures she’s got six months to make a go of it. The going gets even tougher when she hires Dylan Foreman. But when he told her about getting fired from his law firm and disbarred for putting common decency before the firm’s interests, she hired him on the spot. In addition to being smart, he’s gorgeous enough to remind her she’s a woman. And at 28, young enough to make her feel like a total cougar. Things start looking up when Dix gets hired by millionaire businessman Ned Weatherby’s wife Jennifer Weatherby, to tail Ned 24/7 for a week, for a cool ten grand. Easy-peasy, right? Wrong! The job lands Dix in the middle of a murder investigation – with her as the prime suspect and her arch-enemy Detective Richard Head (a.k.a., Dickhead, one of the cheating husbands she’d nailed) gunning for her. Dix will need all her ingenuity, as well as the help of Dylan and her oddball cast of supporters to extricate herself from this one.

Kirel is a confused young man, almost convinced he's a worthless failure. Sylvan is a confident, self-assured musician with no doubt at all of his own worth. What happens when a mutual love of music brings them together?Kirel is a confused young man, almost convinced he's a worthless failure. He'd been Lord of a fine estate, until he was deposed and divorced all at once. He'd been a trader's escort, until he'd all but died of boredom. He'd tried his hand as a caravan guard, until he had to kill a man. Then Kirel discovered Scholastica, a strange town filled with scholars, students, and horses, Kirel's lifelong passion. In between classes and work in the stables, a snatch of better-than-average music drifted across the night air, drawing Kirel into a life-altering encounter with a young Bard, forcing Kirel to learn new ways of thinking and to wonder, at long last, just who he really was. Why did his armor bear the royal crest of a far-away kingdom? And what was he going to do with the rest of his life?

A creepy science fiction tale involving a bit of horror, a bit of romance, and a whole lot of revenge.A charm hidden in a shipping box brings Tredan’s disgraceful past to his door.Retired Enchanter Tredan and his wife Lanith, magical curio merchants in the seaside town of Isor, have been model citizens for years. But Tredan has harbored a terrible secret. As the victim of a Church-induced spell, he created a journal with spells to enslave the Enchanters’ magical essence to the Church.Enchanters generate the essence powering everything in Tredan’s world. The Church has long resented the Enchanters’ exclusive control over essence. The head Church magician, His Divine, is determined to acquire Tredan’s journal and take the Enchanters’ power for his own.With Lanith out on an errand for the morning, Tredan opens the box containing an Enforcer’s compulsion charm. This Church magician will stop at nothing to collect Tredan’s journal for His Divine. The ensnared Tredan must battle the Enforcer’s superior magic and keep the journal safe. Tredan must also find a way, even if he must enlist the help of the dead, to warn an unsuspecting Lanith before she returns home and falls prey to His Divine’s wrath.Wrath, Prequel to Tredan's Bane -- Honorable Mention Winner, Fiction-Short Story Category, 2014 Readers' Favorite International Book Award Contest