Slinking through alleyways, that was the life May lived. She was a Hunted, because she loved pissing off the King. Just now, she had his Guardsman tied up in the tower. Of course, May Bane would always find new ways to keep the goody Hero-Vampire King on his toes, otherwise, she would dwell too much on her curse. On her sister’s curse. Her young sons. 

      King Ryder, King of The Collective States of Gerecia, had b...

DEDICATION

    As a child I loved going over to my Grandads, to spend time with him and my aunt, Myrtle Conner. My Grandad was a rather large, rough, tough, and burley man. He stood over six foot two inches and weighed over three hundred pounds. As a youngster I loved helping him on his small eighty-acres dairy farm. My favorite past time was sitting on my Granddads lap or beside him while he told me stories of his tales while bear hunting. In cha...

The room flooded with anger so palpable it almost smothered her with its intensity. Attempting to flee ahead of him, she lost as he caught her in mid-flight and began to shake and hit her.

Too ...

“What are you going to do when you grow up, Vic...

PROLOGUE

=============

IT ALL BEGAN ON THE EVE OF THE KING’S THIRTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION. He had asked for his son to stay behind with himself and his queen wife. They awaited for the knights, lords, ladies and the servants leave the warm Grande Hall. All that remained was the three of them and the princess. The blonde girl looked at her family, meekly, obviously wanting to be a part of the conversation. Her father gently beckoned her over, an eas...

Bigfoot, Bigfoot, rest your head

Your time for play is done and through

Take off your shirt, your socks, and shoes

Climb in the water and splash,splash,splash

All squeaky clean, we’ll be done in a flash.

Time to brush your teeth until they’re sparkly and white

Here comes daddy Bigfoot, don’t forget to tell him good night

So much fun you both have had, now it’s time for bed but don’t be sad

 Alura stiffened when she heard the chapel door open behind her. From the doorway, she could hear Reverend Mother Vikta, the temple’s high priestess, chastising whoever had entered the room. There was only a brief exchange of harsh whispers before she heard the rustling of the reverend mother’s robes and the angry clack of her shoes on the stone floor fading away. The intruder began to walk up the aisle between the pews toward the head of the room where Alura was busy praying befo...

“Thank you, Sean. Thank you for bringing me home from Rachel’s birthday party.” Lisette paused for a moment, and then continued, “Would you like to come up for a nightcap?” The words had tumbled out before she realised it. She had enjoyed Sean’s company at the party - and even more so when she realised that she had no chance of an intimate relationship with Rachel. She knew now that Vincenzo had won Rachel’s heart.

So she invited Sean up to ...

Liberty and Harper

A Novel

By

Nancy Klann-Moren

"The biggest victory is that we did fight...

That we came together and we fought.

And that we have that history to build on."

                                   ~ Kipp Dawson

“You were married for eight years. Your marriage to John ended in divorce. You had no children even though you tried. You know that the zip had run out of your relationship - the tender romantic spark had blazed and died. You were living together like sister and brother.”

The inner voice intoned the mantra again:

“Alone! Rachel, you’ve...

My floor light, which usually comes on to help me see my way to the bathroom at night, failed me. It was pitch black, and I had the same sharp vision as Mr. McGoo.

I didn't panic, though. Even without my floor light, I thought I could make it to my bathroom. After all, I was in my own living room. So, I continued to creep...

“Fucking Raezors,” she groaned, wiping the sleep from her eyes. Every single time she got some sleep, it never failed that someone would interrupt her.

Syn pushed herself from the warm confines of her bed an...

 Chapter 1

“Kelly, you need to answer the question,” Chief Deputy Kurt Theodore Robinson said. 

The woman looked around the room, hungrily taking in every detail as if looking for answers. Or reassurance. She didn’t seem to have an understanding of what was going on or why she was there at the police station. Not able to focus on one thing for more than a few seconds, her eyes were wild, and she kept biting her bottom lip so often that it bled. The...

Each civilisation’s prophets and scientists had foretold a variety of endings for their world, depending on the information available at the time (and sometimes on their funding). Predictions included alien invasion, meteor collision, solar cooling, global warming, exhaustion, pollution, fire, flood, famine, war, pestilenceâ�...

The good news was that his strong grades and academic activities had landed him offers of admi...

Th...

The countryside is always sunny, blue, and radiant, thanks to the sun that touches everything with life. Landscapes are full of pasture, which looks like a yellow ocean of buttercups when they bloom to its full wonder. This is what Camille enjoys the most about springtime. The season of rebirth and restart.

This is the perfect time to feel the gleaming sun on her skin, burning it enough to give her a little color, which also hel...

He eased his dagger from its sheath with his f...

It’s nearly midnight. The Thanksgiving celebration has been rocking for hours. The turkey carcass sits like a vociferous wart amid the near-empty bowls of veggies and stuffing on the long row of buffet tables in Old Man Thompson’s barn. Every member of the Moore family is in attendance. I know. I hear you asking what I’m doing here as I’m not related to anyone in Uncertain, Florida let alone the Moore clan. The answer is that they wouldn’t take no for an an...

As always at festival time, the people were in their finest, especially the aristoi who led the procession. Noblemen wore white kilts with elaborate embroidery in blue or crimson, leaving their torsos and most of their legs bare. Their dark hair fell to their shoulders, some in braids, some left in loose cascades of curls. Their beards were carefully trimmed and teased into elaborate curls. Those who were young and fit strod...

August 20, 2010 

 “Cameron, where are you going?” she asked as he quietly made his way out the room. He stopped at the sound of her voice, making him hesitate for a quick second. Her eyes were already finding an answer in his sweet tortured face, an answer he wouldn’t admit to, for her own good.

“I’m going for a ride,” he answered after some thought.

She knew the only thing she could do was smile and let h...

Young Kelly Jones looked longingly at the playground. It wasn’t far away, but it might as well be a million miles away. Instead, she was stuck in the boring queue with Mum and Dad. It was her first-time visiting London, visiting England even, and they seemed to have been standing in queues all day.

There was a queue for the underground train. When they finally got on, it was hot and horribly claustrophobic in the summer heat. Then they’d had to queue for the Natural History...

Aradia’s Diaspora - Author's Note - 2023

I’m reactivating Aradia’s Diaspora because I want to work on it... eventually. I began it in 2018 through ChapterBuzz.

   Last year (2015) in mid-May my best friend Holden James Finch asked me to our junior prom. Neither of us had dates, nor were we ever the type for the perfect prom experience. I had...

“Please, be awake.”

Closing the door softly, I listened. Someone was in the kitchen. Relief washed over me as I peered around the doorjamb. Her small, frail frame bent over the sink. The house-dress hung on her like a worn rag, and white nurse shoes appeared too big for her thin leg...

Billy Talent

SHE WAS DEAD, THERE was nothing he could do about it, now; he had to accept it. But there was more. He had stumbled badly; he had come up short. He knew that he had unwittingly failed in what he had come to realize was the only worthwhile endeavor. Still, there must have been signs before she, they, were swallowed whole forever. In his self-made purgatory of grief and shame, he found no solace where once triumph and achievement reigne...

         Josh Sparkins stretched as he sat on the edge of his bed. Getting back into a morning routine on the first day of his sophomore year proved harder than he thought it would be. A backpack, notebooks, pens and assorted folders covered the top of his Gramps’ antique desk, along with a new IPad. He was grateful his parents finally realized he needed to get into the electronic age.

   &...

‘There is...

Freedom. The word played in her head like sweet music on the radio. She stared at his coffin as the pallbearers lowered it into the waiting grave. It landed on the ground with a dull thud. She cringed, unable to take her eyes off the wooden casket. Expecting, at any moment, for her husband to shove back the lid and pull her into the grave with him.

Relax, Laryssa, he's dead.

She searched her heart for any feelings whatsoever for the man she'd been married to for seven years,...

CHAPTER 1

Lilly Brighton pulled in behind the moving truck stopped in front of her new residence. It wasn’t a new house, but it was new to her. The quaint, two-story cottage style, typical of southern coastal Maine, was a far cry from the rambling ranch house she sold when she left Arlington, Texas. The movers rolled up the large door at the rear of the truck, pulling out rolling carts and dollies and began unloading. It didn’t take long for them ...

"The village and its occupants grew up together in close proximity. It was organized by a group of elders who made decisions that affected the entire village. They relied upon a well and farmed the arid land. All were known to each other.

"Samad had a son, and his name was Ionus. Samad adored ...

The Story of Prince Arsalan the Famous [Amir Arsalan Namdar] (Volume I of III)

Introduction:

The Story of ((Prince Arsalan the Famous[1])) is one of the most famous novels in Persian folklore. This story was told to King Naser al-Deen of The Qajar Dynasty by his storyteller - Mirza Mohammad-Ali Naqeeb Al-Mamalek. At that time, King Naser al-Deen's daughter - Fakhr od-Dowleh - sat behind the half-open door of the room. She then wrote the stories carefu...

Front matter:

Love,

Or Something Like It

Love, or Something Like It

This novel is a Team Reliant series, Book Four

Businesses, brands, places, products, names, and other Marca Registrada referred to in this book are used fictitiously and are the property of the respective trademark holders. There is no association express or implied between the author and any trademark holder. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting t...

It was around t...

just happen to have nine holes in your body do you

think that’s an accident? That’s because you are the

Universe, you are nature. You got twenty-six thousand

billion cells in your body, sixty-two thousand miles of

blood vessels in your body that blood makes a complete

cycle every thirty seconds which means your blood

travels 104,000 miles a minute. You know how strong

you are? D...

‘Get off the Pit damn table.’ Four-Fingered Djan was not a fan of Preacher’s rousing oratory. He threw a stale bread roll at Preacher’s head from the end of the long table.

Preacher snatched the baked projectile out of the air, a snarl twisting ...

She had weighed the benefits versus the dangers of embarking on the longes...

Vietnam Gunship Pilot

By

CWO 2 Richard Sims

     As told to

      Larry K. Thompson

________

His blood beat in his ears and he struggled to quiet his breathing. He slowed, as he approached the archway. Moving with caution, he allowed the flames to illuminate his surroundings and he checked the shadows. No one lurked, no sign of ambush. Be...

In the middle of the night Lizzie woke. Her eyes half opening, trying unsuccessfully to adjust to the dark. She moved her hand marginally – just enough to feel if he was still in the bed. He was. She expected he would be asleep after last nights drinking, but she listened hard to hear if his breathing was steady.

When she was sure he was asleep, she quietly slid out of the bed, padded round and felt for the familiar door handle.

She didn't go into the en-suite, instead w...

Dedication

This novel is dedicated to the following:

SSG John Thompson for his Army experience, foreign service, and honest reflections of events.

Amy Stell for her steadfast and keenly insightful copy reading.

Sharon Henderson for enduring friendship and willingness to read my work for errors.

COL David Osterhout for his eye for detail and because he isn’t afrai...

"An unenlightened man is like a man in a cave with his hands bound.

He is looking at the wall and seeing the spot of light from the entrance to the cave which is behind him.

You step into the dark cave, out of the light and try and tell the man there is more to his life than this.

But he exclaims almost like a madman that "He sees the light! He sees the light!",

looking at the beam of light on the wall...

Tsukiko had always been sensitive to her surroundings, the prickle of a colder wind that meant winter was on the way or the aroma of the first tiger lily blooming in the summer. Tonight felt the same. It wasn't uncommon for the mountain to be quiet, but what engulfed her senses was complete silence; something that made the spring air heavy and sick.

In just a few moments the moonlight would rain down upon the dried river, where Tsukiko sat cross-legged, in d...

Then what if the light was ever present.

But our perception remains one of illusionary shadows.

Who decided the shadows were real?

Was it you?

Or was it programmed?

Even then, what if we could perceive it all as a gift,

Then what would it become?

Light.”

He flicked on the bedside lamp. Scrambling for pen and paper.

Wow what a bizarre dream.

He scrib...

The acrid smell of iron filled her nostrils right up to the point where she could taste it and no amount of swallowing rid her of it. Wherever her eyes roamed, she saw bodies lying prone, lifeless, in the streets as rivulets of blood converged together to paint the pavement in the very essence of life. Men, ...