Literary Fiction

by Jesse penman

#1 — You Were Never Meant to Disappear opens the series with a confrontation: the reader has spent years learning to shrink, stay quiet, and erase their own edges in the name of safety. It names that erasure for what it is — not peace, but a slow kind of dying — and insists the reader was built with weight and voice, not built to fade into the background of their own life.

by Shawna K. Whaley

Billy goes back in time to try to stop his older brother from turning evil. If he succeeds, he'll not only save his brother - he'll save the world. If he fails, the future is doomed to the fate Billy grew up in. It's a terrible future, one he'll do almost anything to avoid. Almost, because he's not willing to lose his brother in the process of trying to save the world. The only thing standing in his way is his family. They don't trust him and want him gone. He can't tell them who he really is so he's got an incredibly difficult task ahead of him.

by Chasity Phillips

In a small town, Sonya, reeling from the grief of a miscarriage, struggles to maintain her marriage to Adam, who becomes distant and unfaithful. Her childhood friend Jordan offers support, but as Sonya's mental state deteriorates, she becomes possessed by a dark entity that feeds on her sorrow. This malevolent force drives her to commit violent acts, ultimately leading to tragedy. As the town grapples with the aftermath, Jordan vows to protect Sonya's unborn child, unaware that the darkness may still linger, threatening their future.

by Don Shaze

RASUL İs the unforgettable orlgin story of the man who would one day become the architect behind the Status empire. Growing up on Erle Avenue in North Philadelphia, Rasul learns early that every declslon carries consequences. Ralsed in an environment where respect must be earned and survval is never guaranteed, he develops a sharp mind, an unbreakable work ethic, and an instinct for reading people that sets him apart from everyone around him. Told in Rasul's own volce, this gripping coming-of-age novel follows his journey from a deternined teenager trying to find his place in the world to a young man whose choices begin shaping his future. Along the way, he experiences first love, fatherhood, heartbreak, loyalty, and painful lessons that force him to confront the cost of chasing the life he believes he wants.  Guided by a father who teaches him to think beyond the moment, Rasul begins studying leadership, business, psychology, and human behavior. While others focus on surviving each day, he quletly starts building a vision for something greater. But before that vision can become reality, he must face life changing consequences that challenge everything he beleves about success, purpose, and legacy. Inside prison, Rasul refuses to let his circumstances define him. Instead, he transforms adversity into opportunity, using his time to sharpen his mind, develop a long-term plan, and lay the foundation for a future built on discipline, strategy, and vision.  Raw, emotlonal, and thought-provoking. RASUL Is more than an urban novel-t's a story about growth, reslence, redemption, and the power of relnventing yourself. t is the frst chapter in the jouney of a man determined to leave behlnd more than a reputatlon-he ls determlned to bulld a legacy. If you enjoy authentlc urban fiction, Gompelling character development, and stortes about overcoming adversity, RASUL Is a powerful beginning to the Status Universe.

by Don Shaze

Status Legacy Series Power is earned. Loyalty is tested. Legacy is forever. From the unforgiving streets of North Philadelphia to the glittering boardrooms of global empires, the Status Legacy Series follows a cast of hustlers, visionaries, killers, lovers, and survivors who discover that the most dangerous battles aren't fought over money—they're fought over power, family, and legacy. At the center of it all is Rasul Baker, a brilliant strategist whose ability to read people turns a street hustler into the architect of a hidden empire. Alongside allies like Nyazia, whose legal career conceals a far greater influence, and a coalition bound by loyalty, ambition, and sacrifice, every victory creates a new enemy and every betrayal carries deadly consequences. As fortunes rise, romances ignite, blood feuds erupt, and empires expand from Philadelphia to Atlanta and beyond. The line between love and manipulation, business and crime, justice and revenge grows thinner with every decision. New kings emerge. Queens refuse to bow. Old debts demand payment. And every generation must decide whether to protect the legacy...or destroy it. Blending gritty street realism with psychological suspense, romance, high-stakes crime, and relentless ambition, the Status Legacy Series is an interconnected saga where every book reveals another piece of a larger game. In the world of Status, respect is currency, loyalty is priceless, and only the strongest leave a legacy. The Status Legacy Series by Don Shaze—where every move matters, every secret has a cost, and every chapter brings you one step closer to the throne.

by Danël Feydrich

Dr. Elara Voss has spent her career listening to the static of the universe, searching for meaning in the noise. She finds it in the worst possible way—a signal that isn't a signal, a transmission that bleeds through military channels like poetry from a dying star. It speaks of ribs like canyon walls and knives that remember hands. It is beautiful. It is devastating. It kills everyone who truly understands it. Lieutenant Rael understood it. He clawed his own throat out six hours later. But Elara doesn't go mad. She translates. And that makes her the most dangerous woman in the galaxy. On the other side of settled space, Cassian Rhys has been running from a song for five years. An archaeologist who survived a dig that killed his entire team, he carries a piece of the alien artifact that drove them all to their deaths—a shard of obsidian that hums with a frequency only he can hear. It saved his life. It cursed him. And now it's singing a new name: Elara Voss. Together, they are drawn into a conspiracy that spans millennia. Project Lament. A secret military experiment that weaponized the signal. A cult called The Chorus, who believe the signal is not a threat but an ascension. A father who lost his daughter to the song and will tear the universe apart to get her back. Follow Elara and Cassian as they race across the fringes of human space, pursued by military assassins, fanatical cultists, and a grief-stricken commander who sees them as tools for his own redemption. The artifact's song grows louder. The fragments are awakening. And someone has been on-hold for a billion years...

by D.M. Jordan

Copyright 2026 D.M. Jordan. All Rights Reserved. Cover Art by Mohsin Afridi Dr. Aubrey Prentice is a rising psychiatrist with ambitions of writing a groundbreaking self-help book for women trapped in destructive relationships. But her methods are anything but conventional. Rather than observing from a clinical distance, Aubrey immerses herself in the lives of her male patients—crossing ethical boundaries in pursuit of deeper insight. Through intimacy, she believes she has uncovered what drives men, both emotionally and physically. The question is no longer what she has learned—but what it has cost her. At the center of her most dangerous case is Ian Henshaw III: a brooding, powerful millionaire whose influence extends far beyond the therapy room. What began as a professional relationship quickly evolved into something far more entangled—first patient, then lover, and now fiancé. But Ian is not a man who shares. Possessive, commanding, and accustomed to control, he demands absolute loyalty—even as Aubrey’s current marriage remains unresolved. Drawn into his world of wealth and power, Aubrey finds herself facing a chilling realization: the life she has pursued may come at the price of her independence. In a high-stakes collision of ambition, desire, and control, Aubrey must confront the consequences of her choices—and decide whether she is the architect of her own destiny, or merely another piece in Ian Henshaw’s carefully constructed empire.

by LA Stonebear

When a young boy disappears during a routine medical transfer, Eliza Morningstar becomes involved in a case. This case initially focuses on the missing child but soon reveals something much more dangerous lurking beneath the reservation's land and water. As the tribal clinic reaches its limits and the county ambulance never arrives at the hospital, Eliza navigates a maze of jurisdictional dead ends, corporate stonewalling, and a county sheriff’s department eager to distance itself from responsibility. What begins as a disappearance becomes a deeper investigation into environmental contamination, falsified compliance records, and a corporate footprint expanding into tribal territory under the guise of “community benefit.” The more Eliza uncovers, the clearer it becomes that Milo’s disappearance is not an isolated failure but part of a larger pattern—one that ties into PMEP’s operations, county politics, and a system designed to let Native children fall through the cracks. As tensions rise and the community fractures under fear and suspicion, Eliza must confront the limits of her authority, the fragility of interagency cooperation, and the widening gap between what the county claims and what the evidence shows. Each step forward reveals another layer of buried truth—about the land, the water, and the people willing to exploit both. **Book Two deepens the series’ central themes:** - the weaponisation of jurisdictional boundaries - the systemic failures that endanger Indigenous communities - the quiet, grinding violence of environmental harm - and the way a single missing child can expose the rot beneath institutional promises While Book One focused on the immediate human cost of jurisdictional neglect, **Book Two expands the lens**, showing how environmental exploitation, political ambition, and corporate influence intertwine to create a threat that is both intimate and structural. It sets the stage for the broader conspiracy that will unfold across Books Three through Five, each reservation revealing another piece of a system built to fail the people living within it. At its heart, this book is about a boy who vanished—\ and the truth rises when a community insists on remembering him. *Beyond Jurisdiction* is a series that examines the manipulation, weaponisation, and corruption of jurisdiction on sovereign Indigenous Nations. It explores the uncomfortable truth that **Native Americans are U.S. citizens — yet they are the only citizens not consistently counted when they go missing.** The situations are real.\ The historical context is accurate.\ The documentation shows the systemic failures. But the reservations, characters, and storylines are fictional — crafted to illuminate the truth without exposing actual families or communities to further harm.

by Jeff B White

Darkness invades Evenhere, unmaking people and the memory that they ever existed. King Jethran and King Fable face their most difficult challenge yet as they fight to protect their twin teenage sons and save their kingdom from annihilation. As the Kings remain behind to confront an attack that threatens to erase the entire world and all memory of it, they send the Princes to Silvarii Hollow under the protection of a very pregnant Mayor Saga. While there, Prince Arby and Prince Tierro uncover a dark secret about their past that sends them down diverging paths of equal darkness. Tierro becomes trapped in a permanent state of Overjoy as he tries to prove he is not the person he remembers. Arby is overtaken by what appears to be the Uncrowned King who forces him to wreak havoc across Evenhere. Mayor Saga and her fiancée, Eldress Stanza, work to unite their respective communities, but must put everything on hold as they help Jethran and Fable save Arby from the monster inside him. Together, Saga and Stanza fight to protect the first generation of the Woven Melody growing inside Saga as they face the actions of Saga’s past and endure unspeakable tragedy. Jethran is given an ultimatum by the Pixxels who demand he give up his life as King, husband, and father to live as Cadence full time and return to their chorus. To save their son and their kingdom from the dark erasure, Jethran and Fable combine their songs once again, creating a fusion of power the likes of which the kingdom has never seen. The story culminates in an ultimate battle where Evenhere must learn that sometimes love is not enough, and some losses are eternal. The final installment of *The Shards of Color Trilogy* closes the story with a satisfying conclusion that promises to rewrite everything you thought you knew about the world of Evenhere, fairytales, and what it means to be the chosen one.

by Joshua (J. E.) Dyer

Being sixteen can be Hell. For Sarah, every day is the same. Keep up with the grades. Stay on top of the cleaning and laundry around their cramped apartment. Friends? Boys? If her mom found out, her rage would follow. For as long as Sarah could remember, it’s always been her and her mom. Stories of her dad’s untimely death hold their own questions.\ \ So long as her chores get done and she stays close to home, everything’s sunny. Otherwise, she might feel the wrath of her mom’s love.\ \ That all changes when Sarah’s great aunt leaves her a mysterious journal in her will. Its pages tell tales of a missing brother’s adventures, riding the rails in the 1930s. The further Sarah delves into the events surrounding him, the closer she gets to uncovering her own past. As the truths of her great uncle’s disappearance come to light, she unearths the skeletons hidden in her mom’s closet.\ \ Then, there’s Collin. The boy she’s had a crush on for years picks now of all times to ask her out. Juggling a boyfriend and a relationship on top of everything else could push her and her mother to their breaking point.\ \ Sparks will fly on Sarah’s journey to independence and healing. One boy’s journey across Great Depression America could hold the key to setting her free. Sarah needs to find him in time to get to the truth before time takes another relative and his secrets to the grave.

by joshua gibson

Caleb Monroe survived the war, but he did not come home whole. After an ambush near Ghazni costs him his right leg and takes the life of his closest friend, Caleb returns to Texas carrying wounds no surgeon can repair. His marriage is broken, his faith is buried under anger, and his relationship with his young son is slipping away. When a failed attempt to end his pain leaves him alive, Caleb is forced to face the wreckage he has spent years trying to outrun. Through his twin sister Riley, a wounded nurse named Leah, and an old veteran named Jenkins, Caleb is drawn into Rally Point—a Christ-centered refuge for veterans, families, and the brokenhearted. Inside the retired walls of Station 9, Caleb begins to learn that redemption does not erase the fire. It teaches a man how to rise from the ashes.

by Sarah Bantu

**About the Story** What if the key to your survival was locked inside a secret, ancient bloodline?\ Spun from a fascinating true piece of Russian history and set against the brutal, breathtaking backdrop of the frozen north, *Daughter of the Falcon* blends gripping suspense with an unforgettable romance.\ For centuries, deep within the endless, snow covered forests, an elite and hidden clan of warriors lived by their own laws. They did not just survive the winter they ruled it, training lethal military falcons to hunt, fight, and protect secrets hidden from the world. Today, that fierce bloodline legacy is alive, but the isolation of the frozen north is cracking. A dangerous, unpredictable threat is closing in, forcing old secrets into the light and testing the loyalty of a clan that has never bowed to anyone.\ Filled with high stakes twists, deep betrayal, and a slow burn love story that burns hot against the bitter ice, this fiction novel proves that some family histories can never stay buried. Step into a harsh, beautiful world where danger hides in every shadow, trust is a luxury, and you never know what's going to happen next. Discover what happens when the frost bites deep, and the falcon finally takes flight.

by Terrance Leon Austin

THE STORY AT A GLANCE   Holder Williston is a young Black man freshly off probation — smart, guarded, carrying the weight of choices that cost him years and the absence of a mother who was never really there. The judge who released him calls in one favor: drive four terminally ill women on a road trip they have planned for themselves. Holder expects a simple job. What he gets are four women who see straight through every wall he has ever built.   The story is short. The impact is not.   Every mile of the road trip costs Holder something — his defenses, his cynicism, his conviction that he is not the kind of man people love. Every woman gives him something in return — honesty, warmth, correction, laughter, and the specific gift of being mothered by someone who chose to mother him even though they had every reason to spend their remaining time on something else.   When the last woman is gone and Holder is standing alone at the end of the road, he is a different man. Not because life got easier. Because four women showed him what it meant to live toward something, face death without flinching, and love without conditions — and he watched all of it up close from the driver's seat.   He never had a mother. He got four. And then he had to let all four go.   That grief, and the man it makes him, is the whole story

by Chasity Phillips

When Calvin Chambers loses his business and moves his family into a inherited Victorian estate in rural Alabama, they discover the property harbors a century-old curse. His grandfather David was possessed by the spirit of his own father Thomas, a grief-maddened man who built a hidden chapel deep in the woods and trapped the souls of stolen children inside porcelain dolls. The curse seeks a new keeper in every generation — and it finds one in Beth, Calvin's wife, slowly consuming her from the inside out while the family's ledger of victims grows. As Beth's possession deepens and neighbors begin disappearing, teenage Trisha teams up with a gothic classmate named Marsha to unravel the truth buried in the hollow's dark history. Meanwhile, the curse moves to claim its final victim — thirteen-year-old Nancy, buried alive in the family graveyard. Racing against time, the family pulls Nancy from the grave. But Marsha's research reveals the only way to permanently break the curse is fire — the chapel, every doll, and the possessed Beth must all burn together

by LA Stonebear

A hidden network thrives in the cracks between jurisdictions, and across five books a scattered team uncovers how borders, systems, and power structures weaponise themselves against Indigenous communities until the truth forces a reckoning no one can outrun.\ \ All the books in the series bear the title Beyond Jurisdiction. ### \\ ### Book 1: **Theme:** The hidden crisis \ **Focus:** Missing Indigenous youth, cross‑jurisdictional failures, shell corporations\ **Purpose in series:** - Introduces the investigative team - Exposes the trafficking network’s existence - Reveals the jurisdictional loopholes - Ends with the corporation wounded but not destroyed This book is the “discovery” phase of the series. ### Book 2: **Theme:** Manufactured consent \ **Focus:** Environmental protest, water contamination, corporate lobbying, trafficking hidden in the chaos\  **Purpose in series:** - Shows the corporation scaling up - Introduces national attention and political pressure Reveals that the trafficking is not a side operation — it’s part of the business model\ \ This book is the “expansion” phase. ### \\ ### Book 3: \ **Theme:** Corruption as infrastructure\ **Focus:** - Federal hearings - Lobbyists - PAC money - Politicians pressured to ignore Indigenous sovereignty - Shows how the corporation protects itself through legislation - Introduces whistleblowers, journalists, and federal investigators - Reveals the trafficking network’s interstate logistics This book is the “institutional exposure” phase. ### Book 4: \  **Theme:** Extraction without borders\ **Focus:** - How trafficked youth are moved across state and national lines - International buyers, offshore accounts, foreign shell companies - Shows the global scale of the trafficking network - Reveals the corporation’s true leadership This book is the “global revelation” phase. ### Book 5: **Theme:** Sovereignty reclaimed\ **Focus:** - All four reservations - All protagonists - Tribal coalitions - Federal investigations - Community‑led resistance - The collapse of the corporate empire\ \ **Purpose in series:** - Every thread from Books 1–4 converges - Each reservation contributes unique knowledge and evidence - The investigative team completes its arcs - People exposed the corporation publicly. - The ending is realistic: - Some justice - Some loss - Some healing - No simple answers This book is the “reckoning.”

by LA Stonebear

When ten‑year‑old Aiyana Red Elk is found miles from home on the outskirts of the Black Rock Reservation—barefoot, bruised, and unable to explain how she crossed multiple jurisdictions—her discovery exposes a truth far more dangerous than a single disappearance. Her case pulls investigators from **three sovereign reservations**, **two U.S. states**, and **Canada** into the dark spaces where law has no reach and accountability dissolves at the border. As RCMP analyst **Leah Gagnon**, Tribal Police officers from **Red Rock Flats**, **Black Rock**, and **Boundary Ridge**, and a reluctant federal agent unravel Aiyana’s fragmented memories, they uncover a pattern of children taken across borders through a network built to exploit the cracks between nations. Those cracks are not accidental.\ They are the architecture of the system itself. **The investigation exposes systemic barriers with brutal clarity:** - Tribal police have authority only on their own land. - County sheriffs refuse to share evidence. - State police demand protocols but offer no resources. - The FBI asserts jurisdiction but deprioritizes Indigenous victims. - Cross‑border cooperation with Canada is slow, symbolic, and often meaningless. These are not abstract policy failures—they are lived realities that stall cases, erase evidence, and leave families without answers. **The system is not broken. It is functioning exactly as intended.** Across four locations—each distinct, each carrying its own weight—the people who cross these jurisdictional lines come together like strands in a braid. Their unity becomes the only force strong enough to expose a network that exists solely to harm. *Beyond Jurisdiction* starts a series that examines the manipulation, weaponisation, and corruption of jurisdiction on sovereign Indigenous Nations. It explores the uncomfortable truth that **Native Americans are U.S. citizens — yet they are the only citizens not consistently counted when they go missing.** The situations are real.\ The historical context is accurate.\ The documentation shows the systemic failures. But the reservations, characters, and storylines are fictional — crafted to illuminate the truth without exposing actual families or communities to further harm. *Beyond Jurisdiction* introduces a five-book series that explores how exploitation conceals itself in the blind spots of sovereignty. Book One exposes the fissures. Book Two explains how consent gets manufactured; Book Three exposes corruption as infrastructure; Book Four crosses borders without permission; and Book Five becomes the reckoning—**sovereignty reclaimed**.

by Chasity Phillips

When fourteen‑year‑old Mary Ann Hamilton begins noticing strange cracks in her mother’s behavior—late‑night whispers, missing money, a sudden new identity—her quiet Alabama life shatters. Swept into a world of secrets, lies, and a man whose charm hides something far darker, Mary Ann is forced to confront the truth her mother has been hiding.   Some families protect you. Some destroy you. And beneath the rock, the past is waiting to be uncovered.

by Ellie A Pinzon

Luna Alvarez and Oliver Cohen were inseparable as children—until their fathers' explosive partnership collapse tore them apart and turned their families into sworn enemies. Now, as rival CEOs of competing New York publishing houses, they've spent years avoiding each other, nursing old wounds, and protecting the legacies their fathers left behind. But when a series of cryptic threats escalates into full-scale corporate sabotage, Luna and Oliver are forced into an uneasy alliance. Someone is systematically destroying both their companies—leaking manuscripts, breaching servers, intercepting shipments—and the attacks are too coordinated, too personal to be coincidence. As danger closes in and attempts on their lives become terrifyingly real, they must confront an impossible truth: the person hunting them knows their families' darkest secrets. Secrets their fathers died protecting. Trapped together in safe houses and forced to trust the one person they swore never to forgive, Luna and Oliver rediscover the connection that once defined them. But their rekindled passion is threatened by devastating revelations about corruption, betrayal, and the sins their fathers committed to build their empires. When the mastermind behind the attacks is finally unmasked, Luna and Oliver face an agonizing choice: protect their fathers' legacies, or expose the truth and risk losing everything—including each other. As layers of deception peel away and new threats emerge from the shadows, they discover that some enemies are closer than they ever imagined, and some truths are more dangerous than any lie. **WHEN EMPIRES FALL** is a pulse-pounding romantic thriller that explores the collision of love and loyalty, ambition and integrity, vengeance and redemption. Set against the cutthroat backdrop of New York City's publishing industry, this enemies-to-lovers second chance romance delivers high-stakes suspense, emotional depth, and the kind of chemistry that burns through every page. Perfect for readers who crave corporate intrigue, family drama, and the question of whether love can survive when built on the ruins of betrayal. **Can two people haunted by their fathers' sins build something true? Or will the weight of legacy destroy their second chance at love?** *A standalone contemporary romance with mystery, suspense, and a guaranteed happily ever after.* **Content Warning:** Contains themes of grief, corporate corruption, violence (including kidnapping and physical threats), and adult romantic content.

by Jack Gunderson

Welcome to Silver Creek City!  A young man stared at his test, trying to focus, but the cool breeze drew his gaze to the beautiful day outside. Clack, clack, clack, clack! The boy's gaze snapped to the window in time to see a grinning, shirtless, long-haired boy about his age glide by on his skateboard. The young man tried to focus on his test, but the only questions he could think of were, "Who the heck was that kid, and what was he doing *out there?"* I carried this image in my mind for several years, wondering about these two young men. Who were they? What happened before? What happened after? Finally, things slowly came together, and a short story that looked only slightly like this one began to emerge and take shape into a book. The book grew into a series. And now, here we are. I feel like I should give you a warning before you start. This story is about teenage boys. Sometimes they are wonderful. Sometimes they're gross. Sometimes, they're both at the same time. I tried not to clean them up to make them more "presentable." If you are under 16, I respectfully ask you to reconsider this book. You may want to wait a bit. It is often deeply personal. If you choose to proceed, be prepared to get muddy. \~Jack ps. I'm currently working on this story. I'm going to release a new section every Friday, so stay tuned!

by Jeff B White

The Brothers Grimm never told a story like this, and Mother Goose's egg would crack under the allegorical weight of this dark fairytale. *The Shards of Color Trilogy* is a battle cry of resilience for any person who's ever felt as if they are not good enough. With loving queer relationships at its core, this dark fantasy follows one man's story as it unfolds into a multi-generational epic. Classic fairytale tropes shatter in satisfying and surprising ways. In Evenhere, survival depends upon emotional intelligence, radical vulnerability, and psychological integration, in a universe where emotions are physics and color is physical force.  Blush Born is available for pre-order now ahead of its August 31st launch on Amazon! Click this link to secure your ebook today! https://a.co/d/0bq6EbyV Jethran Frye escapes a monochrome existence within Evenhere City under the Uncrowned King. After fleeing into the vibrant expanse of the Western Wilds, he meets Fable, sparking a connection that alters their lives. Years later, the FADES Crisis begins turning the Silvarii to dust. Jethran teams up with Fable's younger sister, Saga, as they journey to the seven Edges of Evenhere, seeking the Pixxels of Power. Meanwhile, Fable returns to Silvarii Hollow to defend against old enemies and face a faction of Silvarii who blame Jethran and his magic for the genocide threatening their people. The trilogy reaches its sweeping conclusion as an existential threat emerges to erase reality itself. The next generation of Evenhere steps into the story as secrets from the past come to light. Jethran and Fable face the most difficult test of their love while the boundaries of the world collapse. Saga and her future wife must answer for her past while preparing for motherhood and facing immense tragedy. As the kingdom faces erasure, the heroes combine their powers in a fusion unlike anything they have ever done before, making a monumental sacrifice to protect Evenhere.  \*death&violence

by Jeff B White

Everyone stares at Jethran Frye, but no one truly sees him. Born with a pink blush on his cheeks, eyes, hands, and hair, he's labeled a Flaw. When his body erupts with new colors that stain the world, he becomes a fugitive accused of Malicious Vibrancy and Public Emoting. Crimes worthy of death. In the wilderness, Jethran discovers that lullabies are an ancient magic and varii tales carry historical truth. He meets Fable, a silver-skinned Silvarii carrying Wing FADES, a malady contracted through magical intimacy. Jethran names Fable his Chosen Water, a bond closer than blood. Together, they create Spectrasy, an ultimate power of totality channeled through emotional intelligence and radical vulnerability. Jethran must learn to navigate his new emotions and channel his new power, as he restores the world with color and fights to free his kingdom through song. *Blush Born* is a direct translation of the memoir *Shards of Hope*, told through a fairy tale lens. This story presents a strange world where emotions become physics and color is a tangible force. Queer defiance is baked into this epic entry point to the *Shards of Color Trilogy.* *All three books are available now on Readerful and Blush Born will be available on Amazon August 31st.* *Visit www.[jeffbwhite.com](http://jeffbwhite.com) to learn more.*

by Jeff B White

Peace shatters as the FADES Crisis threatens the lives of the Silvarii. Their glittering bodies are turning to dust and the Pure Melody is shattering. For the Silvarii, the blame falls squarely on King Jethran because his magic filled Evenhere with color four years prior. To save Fable's people, the Kings must take separate paths for the first time since they met. Fable returns to Silvarii Hollow with Martier at his side, stepping back into a home torn by fear. There, manipulative opportunists twist tradition into a weapon. Fable must transform their collective grief into a force strong enough to unite the very people who once rejected him. Jethran and Saga, Fable's traditionalist sister, set out in search of the Pixxels of Power, the primordial creators and source of all elements. Raised to distrust outsiders and resent the colors Jethran sang into the world, Saga must learn to accept the King. She finds every belief she's ever been taught challenged when they are joined by Stanza, a brilliant Colorista who slowly weaves her way into Saga's heart. As the FADES accelerates, the young rulers uncover the devastating truth that this is no natural illness. Former enemies, believed to have fallen with the Gray Order, have returned, determined to restore the aesthetics of the old world at any cost. While Fable plans to defend his home against the faces of the past, Jethran discovers that the reality of his existence is far more than he could have ever believed. The survival of Evenhere will require more than restoring what was lost. It will require embracing the unpredictable beauty of what the Kingdom can become once truly united. This second book in *The Shards of Color Trilogy* expands the world of Evenhere while giving an intimate view of the colorful characters fighting for its future. *A Faded Quest* stands as its own story, offering a clean entry for new readers and rewarding returning readers with a deepened emotional history behind the world they already know.

by Audrey Connor

Audrey is no stranger to impulsive decisions. She once decided to move to China and was on the plane within 2 months. Quitting her job as a kindergarten teacher was no big deal. Hiking El Camino de Santiago was. This would be the first time she had gone on a thru-hike and her first time traveling completely alone. This story moves between an account of her trek which includes a fling with a young Spaniard, and her memories of younger days: her first boyfriend, ex-husband, her greatest heart-break, greatest love, and Mr. Perfect/Not-So-Perfect. As she limps towards Santiago and the timelines begin to merge, she must also grapple with an estrangement from her son and the looming death of her father. Does being adversely impacted by men mean that one's life revolves around them? This is a story intended for all the women who would choose the bear. Audrey is a solo pilgrim, and sometimes pilgrimages begin long before ever setting foot on the trail.

by Cary Kimble

Julian Pappas, the son of Greek immigrants, knows loss.  His twin brother enlists in the U.S. Army and dies in the final months of World War II under ambiguous circumstances.  The politics of the Sixties leave him estranged from his oldest daughter.  His beloved wife Thea dies just as they are planning their retirement.  In his final years of life, in a Milwaukee nursing home, Julian is paired with a Polish widower who has experienced loss and suffering even more devastating than his own. Somehow, a friendship evolves – cruelly disrupted by the Covid pandemic.  In the end, approaching his 99th birthday, Julian comes to appreciate that, even now, life is still capable of delivering happy surprises.

by Michelle Luise

Shana is on a mission to become a famous Christmas squirrel, so she can eat all the hazelnut Christmas cupcakes she desires. But when she discovers she's not actually a squirrel, her dream is in jeopardy. A joyful holiday adventure about identity, belonging, and the magic of embracing who you are meant to be. I love reading the reviews! They mean so much to me!

by Marco Velos

Sportswriter Bish Weatherly writes the story of Harry "Cotton" Purcell, the most talented ball player who never made the majors, and Grace, the wife who followed him across Prohibition-era America. Spring 1922, Indianapolis. Bish has been in love with Grace since he before he introduced her to Harry years earlier. Now, with Harry at spring training and Grace pregnant and alone in a new city, Bish positions himself as the reliable friend—helping her find housing, buying gifts, being there when Harry isn't. Harry, son of ruined Alabama aristocracy, hits like Babe Ruth but can't control his "surly disposition." Each success fuels his conviction he deserves the major leagues; each setback confirms he's been cheated. As his career spirals through brilliant performances and self-destructive collapses, Bish documents it all on the pages of the newspaper while growing dangerously close to Grace. The crisis comes in Nashville, 1925. Harry is hitting .357 alongside Lou Gehrig. Gehrig goes to the Yankees. Harry doesn't. When Grace—exhausted and desperate—finally offers Bish the love he's claimed to want for years, he discovers things about himself that he didn't want to know. Decades later, Bish lives on, telling himself he did the right thing—until writing the story reveals he was never the man he pretended to be. *The Great Gatsby* meets *Remains of the Day*, set in 1920s minor league baseball.

by Arin Lee Kambitsis

"In his latest fantasy, Kambitsis crafts a tale of small-town weirdness that would tickle Stephen King." - Kirkus Reviews Something evil is hidden in the woods outside of the beautiful town of Sparkle, PA, the kind of thing Peter Huffy, newly arrived in town, does not believe in. Little does he know that something is happening in Sparkle, something that hasn’t occurred on Earth since the destruction of Camelot a millennium and a half before, and the forces of good and evil are going to collide. Twelve-year-old Derek Windward is the sole keeper of Sparkle’s oldest secret. He is the only one who has witnessed the evil hiding in the darkest part of the forest, and how terrifying the power it wields truly is. It is the Bunyine - a giant, tormented creature born eight-thousand years ago in the Garden of Eden and harboring an ancient grudge for the betrayal of its masters, whom we call Adam and Eve. One morning, Derek receives a cryptic message carved into a tree. A message from the beast itself. Though what the Bunyine wants is unclear, what it would do to get it is unthinkable. Sparkle brings together the charm and wonder of fantasy and the thrills of horror, creating a unique experience for readers of both genres, and all ages.

by H.B. West

When Sam’s terse hospital text arrives—"I’m still in California. Diagnosed with breast cancer today" ([#](https://wd.autocrit.com/editor/858686#id-fy7d))—the old man slips a whiskey under his coat, buys a one-way ticket, and heads for the rain-washed coasts of the British Isles. He is a man of small rituals: one more fly to tie, one more pub to learn, one more fish to catch. Along the way he collects strangers—Slick behind a bar, a red-haired Tralee traveler in a blue dress ([#](https://wd.autocrit.com/editor/858686#id-ebm9)), a cranky taxi driver who pins a daddy-long-legs fly to his lapel ([#](https://wd.autocrit.com/editor/858686#id-cmtz))—and each encounter loosens a knot he didn’t know he carried. But this is not just a travelogue; it is a reckoning. As storm Lorenzo drives him from the Isle of Man to the Lake District and across Scotland’s Spey ([#](https://wd.autocrit.com/editor/858686#id-pshp), [#](https://wd.autocrit.com/editor/858686#id-gur9), [#](https://wd.autocrit.com/editor/858686#id-jb4j)), the old man measures the steady tick of time against a bucket-list dream: to catch an Atlantic salmon on the fly ([#](https://wd.autocrit.com/editor/858686#id-no5k)). Wry, tender, and quietly fierce, this is a story about why we keep making plans in the face of good sense—and what happens when the future finally insists on being lived

by Jonathan Swift

Lemuel Gulliver encounters the tiny inhabitants of Lilliput, the giants of Brobdingnag, and the intellectual but detached residents of Laputa. Through these fantastical journeys, Swift delivers a biting satire on European politics and the flaws of the Enlightenment.

by Herman Melville

Narrated by the sailor Ishmael, the story follows the Pequod and its captain, Ahab, on a perilous voyage. It is a profound meditation on obsession, fate, and the indomitable power of the natural world.

by Jane Austen

When the Bennet family's five daughters must marry well to secure their futures, the arrival of the wealthy Mr. Bingley and his even wealthier friend Mr. Darcy sets the neighbourhood abuzz. Elizabeth Bennet, the second eldest and most spirited of the sisters, finds herself at odds with the arrogant Mr. Darcy — yet as misunderstandings unravel and true characters are revealed, both must overcome their pride and prejudice to find happiness. A masterwork of irony and social observation, Pride and Prejudice remains one of the most beloved novels in the English language.

by Mary Shelley

Told through a series of letters and nested narratives, \*Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus\* follows Victor Frankenstein, a young Genevan scientist consumed by the desire to unlock the secret of life itself. After years of obsessive study, he succeeds in animating a creature assembled from the dead — only to be seized by horror at what he has made and abandon it entirely. Cast out and alone, the creature educates himself, yearns for companionship, and ultimately turns to vengeance when his creator refuses to grant him a mate. As Victor pursues the creature across Europe and into the frozen Arctic, both hunter and hunted are destroyed by the same relentless ambition. A profound meditation on creation, responsibility, and the price of forbidden knowledge, this is one of the founding works of Gothic and science fiction literature.

by Judah Ray

INSPIRED BY A TRUE STORY! Madison thought she was the only sane one in the house.\ \ Fourteen and isolated in a remote farmhouse ruled by her mother Faith’s rigid devotion, Madison is convinced the madness belongs to the adults around her. Aunt Hope urges patience. Aunt Grace sees demons in everything. Faith stands between doubt and doctrine.\ \ Certain she is being suffocated by religious extremism, Madison secretly launches a livestream channel to expose her mother to the world. The followers grow. The comments validate her. And no one in the house knows they are being broadcast live.\ \ When Grace convinces Faith that Madison’s rebellion is something darker, prayer turns to accusation. Accusation turns to restraint. An exorcism unknowingly unfolds live as viewers watch religious fanaticism spiral out of control.\ \ This may seem like just another story about a rebellious teenager and her controlling mother.  Another story about faith gone too far.\ \ But the footage tells a different story.\ \ UNORTHODOX is a claustrophobic psychological horror about faith, rebellion, and a mother who refuses to abandon her child, even when the world calls her crazy.

by Judah Ray

In 1955, a secret experiment at the Large Hadron Collider tore open a doorway to another realm.\ \ Extradimensional beings came through, possessed the top scientists and military officials in the room, and kept the portal open.\ \ One of the first crossed over and took a human infant as its host. That infant was Christina.\ \ The only issue is that Christina forgot what she was,  and the others could not enter or control her, but she could see them. So they declared her unstable and institutionalized her.\ \ Years later, world leaders, billionaires, media figures, and political dynasties are all possessed. The New World Order is not a conspiracy theory. It is literal possession.\ \ A decade later, Christina escapes and resurfaces in Berlin. The forces that have tracked her since childhood want her reclaimed or eliminated.\ \ With the help of Jory, who has been able to see the entities inside people since surviving a near-death experience as a child, Christina uncovers a power structure that has ruled humanity from within for generations.\ \ When she learns she is one of them, she must choose between her own kind or the man she loves and the humanity she chose to protect.\ \ They have ruled the world from inside us.\ Now one of their own stands against them.