The Lost Days

The Lost Days

Rob Reger

Comics & Graphic Novels / Horror / Science Fiction & Fantasy

13 Elements you will find in the first Emily the Strange novel: Mystery A beautiful golem Souped-up slingshots Four black cats Amnesia Calamity Poker Angry ponies A shady truant officer Top-13 lists A sandstorm generator DoppelgAngers A secret mission Earwigs Emily the Strange: 13 years old. Able to leap tall buildings, probably, if she felt like it. More likely to be napping with her four black cats; or cobbling together a particle accelerator out of lint, lentils, and safety pins; or rocking out on drums/ guitar/saxophone/zither; or painting a swirling feral sewer mural; or forcing someone to say "swirling feral sewer mural" 13 times fast . . . and pointing and laughing.
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The Darker Mask

The Darker Mask

Gary Phillips

Mystery & Thrillers / Crime / Comics & Graphic Novels

Wildly fantastic superhero stories by a cross section of today's cutting-edge urban fantasy and crime writers.Expanding on the concept behind Byron Preiss's Weird Heroes from the 1970s, George R. R. Martin's Wild Card series, and Michael Chabon's McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales, The Darker Mask is a collection of original prose stories recalling the derring-do of the beings we call Superheroes and the worlds they fight to save. But unique to The Darker Mask stories is that these plots and characters color a literary universe outside of what has been predominantly white, idiosyncratic, and male in previous homages to pulp. This is the stuff of urban legends, new mythos, and extraordinary folks who might live in a soon-to-be-gentrified ghetto, the dreary rust-belt of the city, or in another dimension.The Darker Mask offers an eclectic mix of popular fiction writers exploring worlds gritty, visceral, and...
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Time Will Tell

Time Will Tell

Barry Lyga

Literature & Fiction / Comics & Graphic Novels / Young Adult

A young-adult thriller ricocheting between the bigotry of the past and present as teens unravel their parents' secrets. Perfect for fans of One of Us is Lying. Four teens have dug up the time capsule that their parents buried in 1986 and never bothered to recover. But in addition to the expected ephemera of mixtapes, Walkmans, photographs, letters, toys, and assorted junk, Elayah, Liam, Marcie, and Jorja discover something sinister: a hunting knife stained with blood and wrapped with a note. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to kill anyone." As the action dramatically alternates between the present day and 1986, the mystery unfolds and the sins of the past echo into today. The teens haven't just unearthed a time capsule: they've also dug up pain and secrets that someone—maybe one of their own parents—is willing to kill for.
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Gun Machine

Gun Machine

Warren Ellis

Comics & Graphic Novels / Science Fiction & Fantasy / Mystery & Thrillers

After a shootout claims the life of his partner in a condemned tenement building on Pearl Street, Detective John Tallow unwittingly stumbles across an apartment stacked high with guns. When examined, each weapon leads to a different, previously unsolved murder. Someone has been killing people for twenty years or more and storing the weapons together for some inexplicable purpose. Confronted with the sudden emergence of hundreds of unsolved homicides, Tallow soon discovers that he's walked into a veritable deal with the devil. An unholy bargain that has made possible the rise of some of Manhattan's most prominent captains of industry. A hunter who performs his deadly acts as a sacrifice to the old gods of Manhattan, who may, quite simply, be the most prolific murderer in New York City's history.
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Violent Spring (Deluxe Edition)

Violent Spring (Deluxe Edition)

Gary Phillips

Mystery & Thrillers / Crime / Comics & Graphic Novels

The mystery that launched Gary Phillips's career: Black private eye Ivan Monk investigates the murder of a Korean shop owner in the aftermath of the 1992 Los Angeles riots.This reissued edition features an introduction by Walter Mosley.In 1992, Los Angeles burned. In the aftermath of the Rodney King beating and subsequent riots, a ground-breaking ceremony at the infamous intersection of Florence and Normandie unearths the body of a Korean shop owner. Black private eye Ivan Monk searches for the killer—many suspect the motives for the murder were racial. But then another body turns up, and while the FBI and the Rolling Daltons—the largest gang in the city—dog Monk’s trail, Monk begins to question just how many people will be involved, and how many will die before he can find the truth.
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Otherness

Otherness

David Brin

Science Fiction & Fantasy / Science Fiction / Comics & Graphic Novels

From multiple award-winning author David Brin comes this extraordinary collection of tales and essays of the near and distant future, as humans and aliens encounter the secrets of the cosmos--and of their own existence.  In "Dr. Pak's Preschool" a woman discovers that her baby has been called upon to work while still in the womb.  In "NatuLife" a married couple finds their relationship threatened by the wonders of sex by simulation.  In "Sshhh . . . " the arrival of benevolent aliens on Earth leads to frenzy, madness . . . and unimaginable joy.  In "Bubbles" a sentient starcraft reaches the limits of the universe--and dares to go beyond.  These are but a few of the challenging speculations in Otherness, from the pen of an author whose urgent and compelling imaginative fiction challenges us to wonder at the shape and the nature of the universe--as well as at its future.
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Assassin's Code

Assassin's Code

Jonathan Maberry

Mystery & Thrillers / Horror / Comics & Graphic Novels

In ASSASSIN’S CODE, the fourth book in New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry’s Joe Ledger series, Joe Ledger and the DMS go on a relentless chase to stop an ancient order of killers from plunging the entire world into Holy War. When Joe Ledger and Echo Team rescue a group of American college kids held hostage in Iran,the Iranian government then asks them to help find six nuclear bombs planted in the Mideast oil fields. These stolen WMDs will lead Joe and Echo Team into hidden vaults of forbidden knowledge, mass-murder, betrayal, and a brotherhood of genetically-engineered killers with a thirst for blood. Accompanied by the beautiful assassin called Violin, Joe follows a series of clues to find the Book of Shadows, which contains a horrifying truth that threatens to shatter his entire worldview. They say the truth will set you free… Not this time. The secrets of the Assassin’s Code will set the world ablaze.
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What if Only Adam Bit the Apple?

What if Only Adam Bit the Apple?

James Serio

Comics & Graphic Novels / Horror / Short Stories

We all know the story: Adam & Eve bit the apple and the rest is history. But what if only Adam bit the apple? This hilarious fantasy explores what might have happened: Women now rule the world! And there are now 'true' mental health solutions--graciously provided by the Devil.Steven Clark delivers 52 original poems, including the favorites "Used To Think", "One with God", "Just Another Memory" and "Just One More Time (the John Denver Poem)". These poems will make you fall in love all over again as well as renew your faith. For You: Poems of Faith, Hope and Love is a collection of poems by Steven Clark. Written with simple clarity, these poems will take you on a journey of nature's wonders plus love and inspiration. Once read, you will want to share these poems with your family and friends. This book of poems was written For You.
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The Time of the Attack

The Time of the Attack

Greg Ellis

Comics & Graphic Novels / Science Fiction & Fantasy / Mystery & Thrillers

Earth that was could no longer suport us. We looked to the stars for our salvation. We thought the impending doom of humanity would unite us. Boy were we ever wrong.Earth that was could no longer suport us. We looked to the stars for our salvation. We thought the impending doom of humanity would unite us. Boy were we ever wrong.Follow the tales of those trying to save humanity stuck on an infertile and used up Earth.
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Song of Deerwoman

Song of Deerwoman

Daniel Hoover

Comics & Graphic Novels

The new world is a strange, and wild place. The natives have told tall tales of the spirits that reside in the dark woods for generations. Many see the stories as nothing more than myths meant to scare the settlers.Still, if you should happen to find yourself walking alone in the woods be mindful of what thoughts you keep in mind. Should you hear some strange, and pleasing melody. Run, just run.The story of a normal student who encounters a peculiar group of girls, called guardians, who are defending the earth from darkness itself, freed from their prison by an unknown force after millions of years of peace. Now this threat seems to be disturbing the peaceful life of humans who are unaware of this new problem, ignoring that their lives might be in danger and could end at any moment. The guardians are now trying to activate again, after years of normal life, and fight to their best the darkness that is threatening the world itself and trying to send it into a new dark era, similar to the one in ancient times when the world was just a dark ball in space with little life in it.
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Island of the Dead

Island of the Dead

Brian Keene

Horror / Comics & Graphic Novels / Mystery & Thrillers

World Horror Grand Master Brian Keene returns to zombies in this relentless sword and sorcery horror epic! Einar, an enslaved barbarian, plots his escape from a war galley transporting troops and a mysterious weapon to far enemy shores. But when an apocalyptic storm at sea leaves Einar and his fellow captives shipwrecked on a strange, uncharted island, friend and foe alike must band together against a ravenous, steadily growing horde of the undead... and even worse dangers. Not even death is an escape from the... ISLAND OF THE DEAD.
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Marriage & Prosperity

Marriage & Prosperity

Chris Hampton

Comics & Graphic Novels

How an enduring and faithful marriage led to great wealth. That's all I'll tell you. Click the blue below to see why. Here it suffices to say that the story is short and free. Why read a summary when with little more effort you can read the whole thing? If you can't spare a moment more, you shouldn't be wasting time reading fiction anyway. Go back to work!"One can not judge a book by its cover." So we are told. But a cover is usually the only thing a reader has to base a judgment on. Smashwords tries to aid readers by providing summaries, one short, one long, for each book it distributes. For non-fiction this works well. But this, it seems to me, defeats the whole purpose of fiction. After all, one reads a story to find out what will happen. It’s the uncommon twists and turns that make a story interesting. But if a summary has told all this beforehand, what fun is to be had in the reading? Therefore, no summary of the present short story is given. It's short and it’s free! So read the whole thing and see if you like it. I ask you to do this because I think it is the best book judging method. To find fiction you like you must first read around enough to learn something of the style and stories of different authors. Then you can judge books, not by their cover, but by the your opinion of the writer. I'd like to help you do this. The present short story is one of several which I will make available free at Smashwords. Read a few (or all of them) and decide if you like them. It won't cost you a dime. If you like them, you can then purchase some of my not free (but still inexpensive) longer stories. All these stories are of one particular kind. To reflect this similarity all have the same cover picture, the Kitty & Rose shown above. So after you’ve read a few, you can, in fact, judge them by their cover. The common theme of the Kitty & Rose stories is human sexuality. This is not unusual. Most fiction concerns sex in one way or another; ranging from romances so sedate and demure an extraterrestrial could never know sex is at the root of everything described, to erotica so unrestricted even an extraterrestrial might blush. Kitty & Rose stories are in the middle of this range. All deal with human sexuality, but none do so explicitly. Rather, they are seemly. The dictionary gives three meanings for seemly: Attractive or agreeably fashioned; Decorous or conventionally proper; and Appropriate or suited to its purpose. With respect to appropriateness, seemly sex stories range from the humorous to the inspirational, but all concern human sexuality. So they are clearly appropriate. These stories are also seemly in the decorous and conventionally proper sense. For, while they treat sex candidly, they do not do so graphically. There is nothing pornographic nor erotic in any seemly sex story. Of course, different persons’ opinions about this may differ. A few consider frank pornography decorous. At the opposite extreme are those like the abbot of the monastery where the great biologist Gregor Mendel did his epochal research. This abbot thought Mendel’s studies were decidedly indecorous because they involved the sex of pea plants! Finally, there is the principal sense of seemly, attractive and agreeably fashioned. Like every author I exert my every effort and ability trying to make these stories seemly in this regard. But like every author, I must await your determination of the degree of my success. Since both of us will be pleased if you find them attractively seemly, I very much hope you do.Happy reading!BobbyBP.S. This is the fifth Kitty & Rose short story, uploaded 2-21-2017.
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