Everyone in the city, the law, the people, and the criminals, have surrendered the Four Corners to chaos. The strong thrive. The weak hide. Amongst it all gangs fight for supremacy. Paul Ventura, a petty thief who never had anyone so much as glance at him, is forced to choose sides. When his best friend is targeted to die it is left to Ventura to carry out the sentenceA life spent in the shadows, hiding from the forces who would do him harm, leaves Paul Ventura with little to do other than simply survive from one day to the next. He finds no safety in the company of his friend and family. He gives no thought to what a life of normalcy would be like. Fight or flight prevents him from thought of the miracle of his own existence.The Four Corners breeds the disinterested and the apathetic. Pleasure is nothing more than varying degrees of pain and suffering. Somehow the thieves find a way to take from those who have nothing. This is the twenty square miles in which Paul Ventura exists. In those twenty square miles Paul Ventura will die.When a robbery goes awry Ventura finds himself at the junction point of his life. He can neither go back to the way things were nor would he do so if he could. He can continue with his friend and live as nothing more than a waste of human life. Or, through the most-difficult choice he will ever have to make, embark on the path to reclaim the Four Corners and find his own soul in the process.Read the debut issue of “The Hood” and follow along as Ventura finds his way.

Life for Audrey Reynolds consisted of nothing but the routine developed to cope with abuse. She never looked to the Moon, to the Mare Gods, for help, never prayed for their influence, and never cursed their apparent lack of interest in her existence. When civil war erupts among the Five of the Mare, Audrey finds Nubium, god of justice, in need of help and, quite possibly, in need of her love.The world looks to the Moon when in full and it is known the Mare Gods look back. A new Moon frightens the true believers who worry whether the gods have abandoned them and whether they will ever return. Storms are attributed to angry gods. Peace and prosperity means the gods are pleased. Humans understand precious little about how great, or how feeble, control over the course of events they have.When the Five of the Mare determine to fight one another for control of their realm, and ours, humanity will be forced to choose sides and hope to survive the war.If she had her way, Audrey Reynolds would stay as far away from the conflict as possible. A believer, but by no means devout, Audrey spent a lifetime wondering why the gods failed her in her time of need. These are her stories and how she comes to grips with Nubium, the god of justice, and his quest to restore peace among the gods.

By outward appearances the North Shore is the greatest place on Earth. Affluent families living on compounds driving the finest vehicles. Friends, families, and parties the way of life. Coffee shops. Yoga pants and Mexican groundskeepers. But just beneath the surface the North Shore is anything but idyllic as best friends Anne, Chaz, and Margot are about to find out on D-Day.Any occasion is cause for celebration on the North Shore. An announced engagement sets off a course of parties where each host attempts to outdo the previous. Election to the Board of Directors of a charity in the city requires the local newspaper to attend to photograph the event. Milestone birthdays keep the CEOs away from their palatial offices and in their corporate jets spiriting away to private clubs the world around.In River Grove there were few celebrations larger than the party commemorating one of its favorite citizen’s participation in the landings at Normandy.For Margot Wallace, June 6th will always mark the day her life irrevocably changed.For Chaz Perkins, June 6th is always a day to shine in the spot light.For Anne Glassmaker, June 6th is all too familiar to the day before and bodes poorly for the day to follow.Follow Margot, Chaz, and Anne and their searches for love and fulfillment in stories of “The North Shore” available monthly.