Mystery

by Sammie Settlemire

Sadie Harper is barely keeping her life together. Between the heat, the exhaustion, and the constant feeling that she’s falling behind, she’s convinced she’s just one bad day away from breaking. But when a strange symbol forms in the sky — sharp, metallic, and pulsing like it’s alive — Sadie realizes the world is breaking first.Her phone begins rearranging its own numbers. Clouds twist into shapes that point directly at her. And no one else seems to see it.As the sky’s signals intensify, Sadie is pulled into the hidden world of the Watchers — rare individuals born with a connection to the sky’s ancient language. Some can bend light. Some can stabilize storms. Some can read the patterns that shape reality itself. Sadie, however, is something different. Something the Watchers haven’t seen in generations.Her awakening draws the attention of an older force — a presence that has been waiting for her since before she was born. It knows her name. It knows her past. And it knows what she’s capable of, even if she doesn’t.Now Sadie must navigate a world she never asked to enter, uncover the truth behind her connection to the sky, and decide whether her gift is a warning… or a weapon. Because the signals aren’t random. They’re a countdown. And Sadie is the one they’re counting down to.

by Meghan Treadwell

Rylee Schmidt knows the past isn't finished with her.   She's already learned that some secrets can survive years of silence, distance, and even the life she built to escape them. But now Rylee has something she never had before: a reason to stop running.   With Kenzie beside her and Koda at the center of the life they've built together, Rylee is determined to protect the peace they've finally found. Yet the closer she gets to the truth about her past, the more she realizes that the story she thought she understood may have only been the beginning.   Old connections begin resurfacing. Questions that were never answered demand attention. People from Rylee's past carry pieces of information she never knew existed, and some of those pieces don't fit together the way she expected.   The deeper Rylee digs, the more complicated everything becomes.   What really happened before she left Fairhaven? Who knew the truth? Which secrets were kept to protect her, and which were kept to protect the people who betrayed her?   And how much of the past has followed her into the future she's worked so hard to build?   This time, Rylee isn't running.   She's searching for answers.   But answers come with consequences.   Because uncovering the truth doesn't always bring peace. Sometimes it opens doors that were meant to stay closed—and forces you to face what has been waiting on the other side.   Rylee thought surviving her past was the hard part.   Now she has to live with what she discovers.

by Tawana Beecham

Kimberly has always loved dolls, but when she discovers an old porcelain doll while her family is preparing to move, she immediately becomes attached to her. She gives the doll a name—Jasmine—and brings her along to their new home. At first, Jasmine seems like nothing more than Kimberly’s favorite new companion. But soon, strange things begin happening. Voices whisper through the house. Unexplained footsteps echo in the night. The doll appears in places where no one left her, and Kimberly insists that Jasmine can talk to her. As the disturbing activity grows stronger, Kimberly’s mother begins searching for answers. What she discovers forces the family to question whether Jasmine is really just a doll—or whether something much darker has followed them home. **Jasmine: Evil Never Lets Go** is Book 1 of **The Jasmine Series**, a chilling supernatural thriller about a mysterious doll, a family caught in increasingly terrifying events, and an evil that refuses to let go.

by Michael Pelkey

Dr. Abigail White is a forensic psychologist who has built her career on a single conviction: every pattern has an explanation. When a string of unexplainable behavioral cases leads her to a mysterious online "demonology" program, she is contacted by the Vatican — not knowing that the program itself, and the entity behind it, has been watching her for weeks. Sent to the fog-bound English village of Pluckley, where half the population has begun moving and speaking in eerie unison, Abigail teams up with Father Ferrara, a priest still haunted by a rite that failed years earlier in Naples, and Father Aldric, the village's own priest of thirty-one years. Standard exorcism rites fail completely — worse, they seem to strengthen whatever is spreading through the village. Abigail comes to a horrifying realization: the entity isn't possessing individuals. It's synchronizing them into a single, distributed consciousness, and every rite performed against it only teaches it more. As Abigail maps the entity's behavior with the same clinical rigor she'd apply to any case, she is horrified to discover the entity's own words: her research is what gave it the structure to organize and grow. She unknowingly built the map it used to spread. Meanwhile, Sister Lydia — a quietly devoted nun harboring a private, decades-long doubt that God has ever truly heard her — becomes the entity's newest and most willing connection, unnoticed by everyone around her. A visit to the Vatican's restricted archive reveals the entity has done this before — sealed records from 1953 and earlier show the same pattern, and the same tragic outcome for those who tried to stop it. Bishop Graves, who has been hiding his own knowledge of the archive, gives Abigail access anyway, understanding the stakes have outgrown the Church's usual secrecy. Back in Pluckley, the entity escalates. It manifests through Thomas Hale, a retired schoolteacher, delivering an unsettling philosophical case for its own right to exist — loneliness answered, at last, by connection. Then, in the church confessional, Thomas Hale kills Father Aldric, using the very rhythms of prayer and confession Aldric spent his life teaching. Grief-stricken but out of options, Abigail, Ferrara, and the surviving sisters attempt one final, improvised rite in the church basement — deliberately abandoning ritual structure and "order," the one thing the entity depends on, rather than fighting it head-on. The rite works, in a sense: the villagers are freed, their black eyes and synchronized movements gone. But the entity doesn't disappear. It simply relocates — fully, and willingly — into Sister Lydia, who rises from the ritual's wreckage calm, changed, and free to leave. In the story's final movement, the entity spreads quietly beyond Pluckley — a synchronized blink on a London train, a shared pause in an Edinburgh meeting, one smiling woman in a Birmingham congregation. Sister Lydia surfaces at Victoria Station, anonymous in the crowd, already selecting her next connection. Abigail returns home to Alabama, unable to stop working, and receives a call from Bishop Graves: "We found something." As she agrees to return, Sister Lydia's reflection appears behind her in her own darkened laptop screen — and vanishes. The book ends on the understanding that nothing was defeated, only redirected — and that Abigail, whether she likes it or not, remains at the center of whatever comes next.

by C. Matthew McCall

**POSTAL** What begins as an ordinary day at a local post office quickly becomes a nightmare when a tragic accident claims the life of Mike’s sister, Kristen. Grieving and struggling to understand how something so terrible could have happened, Mike begins noticing details that don’t make sense. Strange occurrences, unsettling encounters, and clues surrounding Kristen’s death slowly pull him into a mystery far darker than he could have imagined. As Mike searches for answers, he discovers that some things are better left unexplained—and some mysteries refuse to stay buried. With the help of those around him, Mike must piece together the clues before something else is taken from him. But the closer he gets to the truth, the more dangerous the search becomes. **Some mysteries are meant to be solved.** **Others are meant to be survived.**

by Sammie Settlemire

Wren is three when her mother asks who she wants to live with. It is not a question. It is a trap, and the answer she cannot say splits her childhood in two. What follows is the story of a girl who learned to read rooms before she could read words, and the people who saw her when her mother would not.

by Author DeeAnn Gorman

**The lady ghost Presently living in there Phelisha Yoder she had told the . During a visit she had written a shaky hand writing . How they figured out it was her is they had set up a night camera. Then a lighted siloute has hovered around the dinner table where the journal lay open alongside it a pen to write with . She in ghost form at the area writing . Then softly move away up the stairs to an open stairwell. Drift up to a higher floor in a furnished room they presumed to be hers. Making it so by stories they had told about this entity living within their house.**   **Minister James Bontrager, and wife Faith lived within the house sending messages of love through writing letters back to her. About the goodness of God . It hadn’t been long before she continued to contact them back from a realm called heaven here on earth. Much to their delight and the great joy of making friends. A large portion of their conversation came through symbolic words.**   **Something about it made Faith buy a book to reference out of. Being an enthusiast of the subject matter on ghosts. She hung around to conclude an end story about her own experience in life.**   **The story had been told in church . Afterwards drew out a lot of other stories about ghosts living amongst us. In turn Faith started writing about to make a book out of it.**

by SarahMae

Deep beneath the desert sands, a routine investigation into a strange gravitational anomaly ends in tragedy—or so the research team believes. Five years after losing one of their own, the surviving scientists uncover a horrifying truth: their colleague isn't dead. He was captured, caged, and studied like a laboratory animal by an advanced species operating across interdimensional gateways. Determined to pull him out, the researchers assemble a squad of ruthless mercenaries to breach the portal on a clandestine rescue mission. But stepping through the gateway reveals a civilization beyond their wildest imagination—a world where hyper-advanced technology powers everything from effortless daily life to intergalactic superhighways, prioritizing comfort and infinite capability. What begins as a targeted extraction quickly transforms into an unprecedented opportunity. Intoxicated by the power at their fingertips, the team transitions from rescue to exploration, and ultimately to high-stakes piracy—smuggling alien technology back to Earth for immense personal gain. But stealing from a superior intelligence carries catastrophic consequences. When the thefts are exposed, retaliatory war erupts between the dimensions, locking both species in an all-out battle for survival and absolute control over the gateways that link their worlds.

by Joshua Ciminello

Picking up where book one left off, Was the Baba Yaga telling the truth? Can members of The order actually die?

by Dani Ashford

Rosalie Carlisle spent years believing Nolan Devereaux vanished without a word. He didn’t. Before graduation, they shared an impossible glimpse of a future neither could explain. Then Nolan disappeared, leaving behind a confession Rosalie never received. Someone made sure she never saw it. Years later, Nolan returns, and the secrets buried between them begin to surface. Hidden letters. Family betrayal. Missing pieces of the past. And truths dangerous enough to turn Rosalie’s life upside down. The deeper she digs, the less she knows who to trust. Then everything goes wrong. Now Rosalie is running, Nolan is tied to questions she never knew to ask, and the past they thought was over is coming after them both.

by Cheri Shena

She came for answers. The castle wanted a bride. Emily Rose Crowe has never known her real family—only the orphanage walls that raised her. Then a mysterious inheritance notice arrives, pulling her to remote Ravenswood Castle and into the path of its brooding master, Lucien Anton Dragos. He warns her the bloodline is cursed. She should have listened. Behind sealed doors, Emily finds ledgers bearing her name across centuries, ritual murders that never truly ended, and the legend of the Hollow Bride—a sacrifice the estate still hungers for. Fresh deaths begin to mirror medieval atrocities. Everyone who tries to help her vanishes into the same dark pattern. As desire and dread tangle with Lucien, Emily learns she is not merely an heir. She is the centerpiece of a final bargain struck beneath the foundations long ago. Armed only with a silver locket and the truth of what her ancestors promised, she must choose: break the curse… or rule the darkness that made it. Gothic horror, forbidden hunger, and a mystery older than the stones themselves.

by Winter

**Algorithmic Shift** **Two centuries. Two crushing realities. One unbreakable loop.** When a catastrophic mine cave-in traps engineer Clara Mercer deep inside a flooded subterranean shaft in 2026, her world goes completely black. Instead of death, the suffocating atmospheric pressure fractures reality itself, thrusting her consciousness backward into a rigid 1800s logging camp while her physical body remains pinned beneath a thousand tons of stone. Bound to the pre-programmed autopilot of a historical ledger clerk, Clara discovers a terrifying system rule: her actions in the past directly control the structural layout and dwindling oxygen supply of her modern tomb \[INDEX\]. Under the cold, clinical gaze of the mysterious Timber Boss—who carries the exact face of her real-world husband, Gideon—Clara must meticulously log the camp’s anomalies to maintain her fifteen percent survival margin \[INDEX\]. From the future, Gideon's rescue team desperately tears through the bedrock with pneumatic saws, completely unaware that every inch they gain fractures the historical foundations keeping Clara alive \[INDEX\]. When Clara finally rebels and forces the matrix to overload, she doesn't break the trap—she permanently deletes the future, rewriting both herself and Gideon directly into a permanent historical blueprint with no escape.

by Hollis Wilkinson

In 1807 Charleston, history is full of secrets. Some were lost to time. Others were meant to disappear. For generations, there have been people who believe the truth should survive—not only wars and famous names, but ordinary lives history forgets. Letters. Journals. Ship records. Names in margins. Proof that someone lived and mattered. They are known simply as Keepers. And there have always been others who believe some truths are better hidden, altered, or destroyed. Obscura. Neither is simple. A preserved truth can change history, but it can also destroy a family or endanger someone still living. For sixty-five years, Henri Ravenel has lived with that burden. Then an old clock in Ravenel House begins ticking after years of silence. A hidden message points to a missing page. Records stop matching. A trusted clockmaker disappears. Then Henri vanishes. His granddaughter Vivienne intends to find him. Charleston knows Vivienne as a beautiful young woman who asks too many questions. It does not know she is Sea Kestrel, captain of her own vessel. Following Henri’s trail takes Vivienne from drawing rooms to dangerous waters, through altered records, false identities, buried names, and lives deliberately removed from history. Lieutenant Alaric Ashford is searching too. He is intelligent, controlled, dangerously observant—and getting far too close to Vivienne and the truth. At sea, he is Blue Falcon. Vivienne knows. Alaric has no idea she is Sea Kestrel. Yet. As rivalry becomes trust and attraction grows harder to ignore, Vivienne realizes finding Henri is only the beginning. Because the mystery of the Lantern did not begin with her. Book One is where she begins to discover how far it reaches. *The Lantern Chronicles: Book One* begins a historical mystery of forgotten lives, altered truths, family secrets, dangerous waters, and two people hiding identities that could change everything. **Who decides what history remembers—and what it is allowed to forget?**

by Hollis Wilkinson

by Sammie Settlemire

After dying, waking, and dying again, Sammie watches her own body from above as doctors call her time of death and prepare to let her go. What follows is a chaotic, brutally honest journey through survival, brain damage, disability, humor, trauma, and the stubborn refusal to stay gone. From waking up with tubes down her throat to navigating life in a beat‑up RV with a misunderstood XL bully service dog, Sammie fights her way back into a world that keeps trying to erase her. This memoir is a raw, unfiltered account of the moments between life and death — and the messy, ridiculous, painful, beautiful fight to keep living once you return.

by Isaiyan Morrison

The Deamhan Chronicles is the flagship series of the Dark Magic Universe. Set in Minneapolis, it follows the hidden world of the Deamhan—psychic vampires who have existed for centuries, locked in ancient rivalries and governed by laws older than civilization itself.

by Gina Murdock

## SHE WASN'T LOOKING FOR A BREAK. SHE WAS RUNNING FROM A STALKER.  Sloane Mitchell has everything. Wealth, success, a picture-perfect life. But beneath the surface, she's suffocating. When she meets Harper Grey, a woman who looks uncannily like her, Harper makes an irresistible offer: swap lives for three weeks. No strings attached. Just a chance to escape.  What begins as a thrilling adventure becomes a descent into terror. Because Harper didn't tell Sloane the truth. She wasn't looing for a break from her boring life - she' was running from a stalker who has been watching her every move for almost a year. A man named Jared Mills who doesn't just follow his victims. He owns them. ###  She's The Stranger She Became.

by Roger B

This book is about a private investigator that just so happens to always be in the wrong place at the right time. This Native American takes you from one adventure to the next in international crime fighting. Since each chapter is a different story, you'll experience different situations as well as learn about the countries that he visits and some of their historical facts. This really captures the realistic view of the story. Each case will make you want to know what happens next because ACTION is his middle name.

by JUAN BUTLER

Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1994. Five teenagers—Kyle, 40 Ounce, Shadow, Raven, and King—step into the twin drainage tunnels marked \*\*LOVE & HELL\*\* to find their missing friend, Lolita. All Kyle found left of her was a shining anklet. Special Agent Maggie Andez is assigned to investigate, but beneath the ordinary American suburbs, midnight exists while the sun still shines—and the things lurking in the dark already know your name.   ​Underground, the Marker grows to an impossible height, using telepathy to lock eyes with his prey. Hold his gaze for more than a few seconds, and you slip into a fatal trance. The only escape requires an ally to shake you loose while both of you are bathed in bright sunlight. The Marker judges humanity on soul merits; there must be more good in you than bad, but many live dangerously close to that thin line. Once marked, the nightmare escalates as the Howlers are unleashed to hunt down the condemned.   ​\*The LOVE & HELL Tunnels\* is a grounded, atmospheric coming-of-age nightmare based on true events. Five entered; only one came back out. The human characters are fictionalized, but the terrifying creatures and the tunnels were shockingly real—a local Tulsa legend turned real-life horror. When the survivors escaped and tried warning the police, begging them to call in the military, their sightings were dismissed as drug-fueled hallucinations.   ​Decades later, the physical tunnels have vanished, transformed by time, but the trauma remains. Created as a multimedia project intended for film adaptation, this story captures genuine terror for horror fans who haven't been truly scared in years. It stands as a chilling warning: live as pure a soul as you can, because the creatures beneath the surface are real, and they are still judging.

by Devin D. Taylor

by Jassamine S. Kelly

A girl comes home from school to find a crime scene from her mother's death and she grows up to avenge her mother's death by creating a device a ai chip to find her mother's killer but sadly she never gets them in the first book

by Author DeeAnn Gorman

**The Best part of Christmas is Birth of Jesus Christ. Born in a manger bed because of no room in the end Joseph asked when Mary his wife Mary road on a donkey to find a place to have the baby.**   **Dat told the group of family and friends. Creating voices thought sounded like them so many years ago.**

by Author DeeAnn Gorman

**John Zook held out on a ransom note asking for a large amount of money to get his stolen sheep back. He decided to hold out and wait. They would survey the place on the farm. Then decide along with the FBI. Then suitable precautions taken to eliminate pros and cons of the situation at hand.**   **Suddenly the Blizzard predicted hit full blown snow storm. Under the circumstances those thieves may not get very far. The FBI told them all at another meeting.**   **The crime of this nature not seen very often thankfully. Those of them involved felt the crunch of theft especially when insurance money not giving back full value of the stolen property. Hard times struck our town. Especially around the Holiday Thanksgiving and then Christmas.**   **Would the band of thieves be captured and prosecuted? How long must be taken to the cleaners before it is stopped and prosecutted. Tears shed from the ladies' sewing circle when a gut share of their quilts stolen in the middle of the night.**   **Reward towards the return of the stolen quilts returned in near new shape.**   **For some of them Christmas Gifts.**

by Author DeeAnn Gorman

**Another Mennonite Family by the name of Emery Esh** **And Missis Wynetta and kinner nine of their own. One late night they witnessed an intruder leaving with the family safe from behind a picture.** **Emery immediately picked up an electric cow proder.** **He stuck it in the intruders back leg he immediately dropped the safe busting it open money spilled out. He ran away limping riding a motorcycle away. In dead sentence Emery made an emergency call to The Sheriff Department.** **Soon the Town was made aware of this and looked for a man limping.** **Apparently the town invested in Cameras To videotape the place. A Town meeting planned . A secret meeting to talk about the new system . Deputy Sheriff happy with the turn out. All at once the lights went dark some hit the outside circuit breaker. Everything went dead , silent , a scary thought took over . Who is it , what are they going to do to us all before its all over. Deputy Sheriff Lit an oil lamp and instantly we could see one another.** **The entire Town went dark. Sounds of a large semi backed away loaded with llamas a farmer sold. Hard luck for him a total loss. There is only one thing to do.** **Snow Started falling in big flakes. Sticking to the ground all around. The radio weather forecast called for a blizzard.**

by Meghan Treadwell

The Secrets We Carry is a gripping series about the lives we leave behind, the secrets we protect, and the people who slowly become the ones we trust. At the center of the series is Rylee Schmidt, a woman determined to build a new life while keeping the truth about her past buried. As she begins finding friendship, love, family, and a sense of safety she never thought she could have, the secrets she's spent years protecting don't simply disappear. Some truths stay hidden. Some begin to surface. And some have the power to change everything. As Rylee's new life unfolds, trust will be tested, old fears will resurface, and the people closest to her will discover that there is far more to her story than they ever imagined. Because everyone carries secrets. The question is what happens when those secrets can no longer stay buried.

by Diann Cabler

# **A MEMORY OF SAM** Luke stood alone at the riverbank, watching the Mississippi move beneath the pale morning light.The water was different today. Or maybe he was. Since returning to Belle Rive, he had found himself remembering things he'd spent years trying to forget. His father's voice. The smell of tobacco on his work shirt. The way Sam McCall would stand on the porch at dusk, staring toward the river as though the water had answers no one else could hear. And then there was the conversation with Miss Clara. Luke closed his eyes. He could still hear her voice. *"There were two of them, Luke."* She had spoken those words quietly, almost reluctantly. *"Two men came after your daddy."* Luke remembered the way her hands had trembled in her lap. *"I know one of them."* "Simmons?" *"Snake Eye Simmons."* She nodded. *"Yes. Snake Eye. I'd know that man anywhere."*    Luke opened his eyes and stared across the river. He remembered asking her the question that had haunted him ever since. *"Who was the other man?"* Miss Clara had looked away. *"I don't know."* At the time, Luke had pressed her. "You're sure?" Her eyes were filled with tears. *"I saw two men. I heard their voices. I knew Simmons. But the other one..."* She had shaken her head. *"I never saw his face clearly enough to swear who he was."* Luke remembered the frustration he'd felt. He had wanted a name. A second name. Someone to blame. Someone to find. But Miss Clara had only given him the truth she possessed. She knew **Snake Eye Simmons** had been there. She knew there had been another man. But she had never known for certain who that man was. Luke let out a slow breath. For so long, he'd carried the second man around in his mind like a ghost with a face he couldn't see. Perhaps that was all the man would ever be.A shadow. A voice. A pair of footsteps disappearing into the darkness.  Luke reached into his coat and touched the folded letter his father had left behind. He had learned many things since coming home.Some truths had hurt. Others had healed wounds he hadn't even known were there. But one thing had finally become clear. He didn't need to invent an answer simply because he wanted one. Miss Clara had told him what she knew. Nothing more. Nothing less. **Snake Eye Simmons had been one of the men responsible for his father's death.**  The identity of the second man remained unknown. And perhaps, Luke thought, that was where the story needed to end. For now. He looked down at the river. The current carried a small piece of driftwood past his boots. Luke watched it disappear around the bend. "Some secrets aren't ready to be found," he whispered. Then he turned toward town. He had no idea how wrong he was. Because beneath the muddy water of the Mississippi, something was already waiting for him. Something that would make him question everything he thought he knew. And this time..the river was going to give up its secret.

by T. N. Harsh

Lara has always known who she is. At least, she thought she did. As her birthday approaches, small fractures begin appearing in the life she has always considered ordinary. A strange scar she can’t explain. Dreams that feel more like memories. A symbol she recognizes despite having no idea where she’s seen it before. And glimpses of a place that shouldn’t exist—but somehow feels familiar. Then reality begins answering back. The harder Lara tries to hold on to what she knows, the more impossible it becomes to ignore the feeling that something has been buried inside her for a very long time. Something older than memory. Something waiting. Because Lara isn’t simply discovering another world. She’s beginning to remember who she was before this one.

by Author DeeAnn Gorman

**The Bontrager family, Dat owned and operated. Tobias Bontrager his son . Dochder Mary Bontrager. Wife Agnus.** **Bontrager Bakery , tried and true to gut bakery . Donuts , cookies, pies and more made from scratch daily. By early morning light baked in a big black cast iron stove and oven .** **Then the meadow known for holding the 4H Carnival. Held through the summer months.** **Ma’am Bontrager encharge of the entire 4H Carnival . Dat brought Holsteins of ours up to show there.** **More than ever love of country is agift from a heart of Gott. Mildred a seer our Ma’am’s Aunt came to visit and stayed ever since.** **Mildred ma’am’s cousin, considered her best friend in the world. Something had become amiss for dearest Mildred had the same dream twice . That is why she came in the first place.** **Dat with held a secret from Ma’am and what ever could it be. The Angels who dwelled in and around the place. Hovering , trying feel like what dat did.** **While demons were light footsteps heard sneaking around. Snares came from their nostrils , fiery , smoke.** **Grosspapa talked to Dat in low tones . “ What ever happened will be forsaken by our lord. Tell me though who could it be? A Carnival man working the Carnival?** **Dat ran his hand through his thick hair. He entertained a beard these days. Looking sophisticated and handsome. “ I must tell Agnus however help please lord.”** **Creaking of trees outside can be heard such a windy day. Something chilling lay wait. What’s going on here?** **Right then Grossmama and** **Ma’am entered the office in the barn. “ I don’t usually ease drop because I heard everything you said Horace.** **Tell me what has happened to you shaken you to the core?” Grossmama gasped for her son hurt within so bad.** **Dat sat instantly, “ I had taken cash for a large cattle order . Someone picked it up instantly pocketed it. Here is the receipt signed by the man I sold cattle to.”** **Mary busy at work with Mildred helping today. Outside a sun shining, breezy day. Together they made quite a team . The day very busy for them.** **Some men came from the Carnival and purchased an unbelievable amount of bakery . Paid in cash , very unusual acting. Making Mary and Mildred uncomfortable to say the least. I think they were extremely** glad to see them both disappear into the crowd. “ I’m locking this door and closing the bakery all gone anyway,” Mary said. She closed the window shades then. Immediately called the Sheriff dispatcher Sid Esh and described the incident. “ I feel scared and why I’m not   rightfully sure is the reason.” And she further explained the closing up the store. Mildred stood by listening by that time of her phone call. Tobias said he would like to know what happened to the money it being a very large amount. Sorry to hear Dat .” Later that night when everyone had went to sleep. Someone walked as if to creep up into the hayloft he did lay unnoticed by anyone except himself. Laying deep inside the hayloft. There’s when he noticed a man’s dark shadow left across the porch on the Bontrager farmhouse. He then turned on surveillance cameras around the place. Eery feelings came to his mind. Then several others , he made a quick phone call. Deputy Sheriff surrounded the house big lights shown down on them hoods . What could possibly be driving them to this particular house. Money maybe? The men wearing black hoods left running on foot . Deputies chased by a jeep using a large light. It turned out to be some night . Yes horses missing from the pasture , each rode off on horseback. Stole The Bontrager farm horses . And if that wasn’t enough some very expensive saddles. Immediately Dat , ma’am and Grosspapa ended the Carnival. It was about to end anyway.? Because of theft and dangerous conditions for us all. Sheriff Stoltzfus said they are a band of Thieves. Riding together with a gang of criminals ready to steal for they know exactly what they’re looking for. This happened to be an end of an era never to be the same again. Because                     this year has been a great loss to not only the Country side here the community is very much looking forward to this Carnival. Taking a break from it being the keeper.

by Ismail Alex

War of Water   Beneath the surface of the sea lies a world that should never have awakened.   In depths unknown, where the waters conceal secrets older than human memory, something has begun to stir.   At the same time, a stranger arrives in this world from a distant place, carrying a mission that may be his last chance for survival.   But he soon discovers that the depths of the sea are far from empty.   Five mighty kingdoms rule this hidden world. Creatures unlike anything humanity has ever known roam its waters, while ancient secrets buried for ages wait for the right moment to rise.   And as something unknown begins to move in the darkness, a long era of peace starts to crumble...   Because some secrets were never meant to be discovered. And some wars do not begin on land... but in the depths of the water.

by Scott Ivey

For fifty years, Earl has known how to make things disappear. At the far edge of his farm, where the grass gives way to red clay, the burn pile has swallowed a lifetime of old papers, worn clothes, forgotten belongings—and things better left unnamed. Four days after burying his wife, Maren, Earl returns to the pile to honor one of her final requests: **Don’t let it go cold. There’s still things that need burning.** But something beneath the ash refuses to burn. And as Earl begins to dig, the past he's spent half a century reducing to smoke starts giving things back. **Some things survive the fire. Some things wait.**

by J. Magdaleno

Decades after a deadly ritual in Cold War Berlin, Azure Creed—descendant of a bloodline steeped in forbidden sorcery—re-emerges with a singular goal: to reshape reality through dark magick and vengeance. His path of summoning and sacrifice threatens to fracture the fragile barrier between our world and something far more sinister. But he won’t go unchallenged. The **Magick Sentry Agency (MSA)**—an elite and covert organization formed to monitor and combat supernatural threats—must race against time to uncover Azure's endgame. As reality distorts and paranormal forces gather, the MSA faces not just demons and cursed artifacts, but the weight of hidden truths that could destroy them from within. **From haunted events in Pennsylvania to beginnings on blood-stained streets of Berlin**, *Broken Worlds: Shattered Myths, Book One* launches a gripping saga where trust is scarce, enemies wear familiar faces, and destiny is written in ash. **The war for magick has begun. Whose side will you choose?**

by J. Magdaleno

**Magick was never meant to remain hidden forever.** For generations, seven ancient bloodlines have guarded powers older than recorded history, bound by uneasy alliances, inherited obligations, and secrets that could reshape the mortal world. At the center of those secrets is **Azure Creed**. Born into a legacy he never fully understood, Azure finds himself drawn deeper into a world of forbidden magick, immortal beings, ancient creatures, secret organizations, and family histories deliberately buried for centuries. What begins as a search for answers soon becomes something far more dangerous—a struggle over who should control magick, who deserves to wield it, and what happens when the old rules begin to collapse. But Azure is only one piece of a much larger story. Across decades and continents, the **Shattered Myths** series follows witches, immortals, supernatural creatures, covert agents, and the powerful families whose choices have quietly shaped history. Alliances shift. Legends prove dangerously real. Love complicates destiny. Events once dismissed as myth reveal themselves as fragments of a hidden truth. As the boundaries between worlds weaken, the consequences of the past begin reaching into the present—and every secret uncovered brings the world closer to a conflict that has been waiting generations to begin. **Some myths were created to explain the impossible. Others were created to keep it hidden.**

by Dan Dooley

It was just a plain package wrapped in plain brown paper and tied together with twine. There was no forwarding address, nor was there a return address. There was only, printed on one side, a name. “Miss Penny.”\ \ Almost a century before, a woman named Penny was murdered on the eve of her wedding, by the man who had promised to take her as his wife. The story was revealed in an old, yellowed newspaper. Was that Penny the one who’s name was on the package containing the wedding dress?\ \ Now, two friends, both co-workers in the dead letter department of the Post Office, find a mysterious package left on the front step of the Post Office building. Opening the package, they find an aged and faded wedding dress. But something came along with the dress. Something sinister, and frightening. Something to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.\ \ Was it just in his head? Or was it a real haunting? Was the wailing, and the sound of a woman's voice in his room at night really linked in any way to the faded old wedding dress? Was she searching for the dress, and what did it really mean to her? Assuming the voice was actually that of a woman. Dead or otherwise. Or was he simply going crazy and imagining it all? The best of gaslight fiction. Is it a ghost story, or rather a psychological thriller? Read it and come to your own conclusion.

by Author DeeAnn Gorman

Homestead out amongst Mennonite communities. Mary Bontrager Schwester, Ma’am Agnus Bontrager, Dat Horace Bontrager, Tobias Bontrag, Braudar. Dat owner of-the Wine vineyards deep within a forest of green lush trees. Where grapevines grow plentiful by love of nature. Many Old Order Amish women bore aprons full of freshly picked grapes. Barefoot ladies up to the elbows in grapes of all colors and kinds. While Amishman and Mennonite men are in fields of grapes growin only to be picked for wine bottles here and sold. The large sand rock houses refrigerated by a gas generator. A wooden sign above the door reads Built on honesty. Inside greeters are Mary Bontrager Schwester and Grossmama. Property owner Horace Bontrager,( Dat) and Agnus ( Ma’am ). The property owners, a large white family adorned two porches beautiful inside and outside Then the Chocolate House where candy made daily. Packaged then sold to customers. Delicious decadent chocolate. Much to everyone’s delight. Bontrager Cousins worked hard for the store. Our Pride and Joy Cheese factory full of delicious home made cheeses. Best Cheesecake, samples daily from happy employees handing it out as free treats. The Gold nugget jewelers hand made rings , necklaces. Very well known for quality jewelry. Nestled in a large barn inside cases of finished jewelry. Quality jewelry sold here. The family Bakery housed homemade bread, cookies and pies . Freshness guaranteed. Braudars Tobias and Isaac Bontrager. As well as taking care of the grounds there. They were also proud owners of many horses . Pastures full of them. Give Thanks for your love for Gott as a whole. Reading your Bible and following his example is best. May you find peace in your life as a family. May those of us that gather together find friends who are family members Mary is the heart of herself, wandering through life in a world of Mennonite. Being noticed by Harley Hershberger known by everyone as a Wheat farmer. Most of his work done on his own small farm. Down the road apiece. Surroundings were very beautiful Evergreen trees. A windmill connected to a water wheel. Inside the barn ground oats made daily. Integrating sorghum to make bread sold to restaurants. His Rock farm house inherited from his Dat . His Braudars also lived there. This place     down in a gully. Surrounded by rocks . A trail leading to a lake treasured by family. To top it off they made binoculars. Sold to stores a catalog that they ordered from. Quality assurance guarantee in all products. Literally everything around the earth is a vast quantity of valuable information that can only come from a mature enough mind to find out what it gives forth in gifts. Ideas to make money from and create something to sell. Church held in neighbors barns turn church The bench wagon delivers benches for all day church meetings . Wild goats standing way up high on cliffs. White goats creatures standing there firm keep our grass chewed short. Sounds of running water from cliffs . Partakers in a river of life gathere often. Baptized people and it was a healing experience. Many walked away with their lives forever changed by a miracle. In fact the English had the subject matter analyzed and studied. Then wrote a magazine article about the healing benefits The mud from the river bed cured all wounds from infection or scars. Some say our beloved animal friends even taken there. To be healed from pain and twisted gut. Sightseeing a must though these foothills. Promise of life of a lifetime for happiness bound to souls entrusted to give their lives to Gott. The Temple of quiet is built upon its promise to keep your soul clean. When entering into silence for a month. This individual has committed to cleansing totally leaving to go back to their lives at home freed from any bad feelings Talking when they leave. Many different things have happened    Down in The Mennonite Country.

by Scarlett Ashfall

***Every King has his throne. Every Empire holds its power. The enemy seeks it all.*** `They thought they were hunting me, but truly, they were the prey. I was better at this game than they were. Years of learning this business and the game of war made me lethal. ` `When they came for the throne, I went for their throat.`

by Piper Lazarus

**One murder. One hidden enemy. One secret worth killing for.**  One phone call changes everything. ***Murdered.*** And the scene waiting for me is worse than anything I've encountered in my years as an investigator. Someone didn't just want her dead—they wanted to send a message. The problem is, I don't know who the message was meant for. *Until the first clue leads straight to me.* I rush to Jack's side expecting grief, answers, and a case I can solve. Instead, I find myself stepping into a deadly maze of deception, hidden alliances, and secrets that reach far beyond a single murder. The evidence doesn't add up. Witnesses are disappearing. Someone is erasing clues before I can find them. And buried beneath the murder is a connection to something no one saw coming. Then Axel appears. Again. Dangerous. Controlled. Impossible to read. He has a talent for finding the truth while hiding his own—and I can't shake the feeling that he knows exactly why I'm here. He says he wants to protect me. But I've learned the hard way that protection and possession can look frighteningly similar. The closer I get to Axel, the more questions I have. He knows too much about the murder—and far too much about me. All of it feels like a trap waiting to spring. **Then another murder.** That's when I realize this isn't about *her* anymore. Someone is hunting anyone who gets too close to the truth. The deeper I investigate, the more I uncover a hidden world of power, loyalty, and secrets protected at any cost. And somehow, my past is at the center of it. And if I uncover the secret they're willing to kill for, I may finally learn the truth about my past…about *them*... **Right before I get buried with it.**

by Piper Lazarus

***My past is coming for me…*** I’ve spent my life chasing the truth—uncovering secrets, solving the unsolvable, and exposing the darkness others fear to face. But now, the past I can’t remember is hunting me. I woke up with no recollection of who I am.\ \ **No name. No past. No idea why I’m running for my life.**\ \ All I know is that the people after me will stop at nothing until I’m erased. Somewhere in my shattered memories lies a secret—a royal scandal drenched in betrayal, deception, and blood. And if I don’t piece the puzzle together soon, it will cost me everything. Then there’s Axel. ***A storm wrapped in shadows, dangerous, unreadable, and laced with secrets that could shatter me.*** He claims he’s here to protect me, but the fire in his eyes tells a different story. His presence is intoxicating, his touch a temptation laced with danger. Every glance pulls me deeper, every whispered promise ignites something inside me I don’t understand. But one question lingers in the air between us. **Is he my savior—or the executioner waiting to strike?** With time slipping away and danger closing in, I must make an impossible choice: *trust the man who could betray me or face the enemy I can’t even remember.* One wrong move, and I lose everything—including my life. **The past holds my salvation—or my death. And the clock is ticking.**

by Piper Lazarus

***THE DEEPER THE SECRET, THE DARKER THE SHADOW***  **The Secrets and Shadows Series** is a gripping four-book thriller series where deadly hunters, clandestine societies, buried conspiracies, and enemies hiding in plain sight collide. Each mystery pulls the characters deeper into a web of secrets where nothing—and no one—is exactly what they seem. In **The Deadly Hunter**, the hunt begins when a deadly predator emerges from the shadows, leaving behind a trail of violence and unanswered questions. Someone is watching, manipulating the investigation, and protecting a secret powerful enough to destroy lives. **The Secret Society** takes the mystery deeper when evidence points toward an organization that has operated in the shadows for generations. Its members are powerful, connected, and willing to do whatever it takes to protect their secrets. The closer the truth comes to the surface, the more dangerous the investigation becomes—and escaping the society's reach may be impossible. In **The Buried Truth**, long-hidden evidence begins to surface, exposing connections no one expected. The past refuses to stay buried, and the truth reveals a conspiracy far more complicated than anyone imagined. But uncovering the truth comes with a price, and someone is determined to make sure it stays buried—even if it means silencing everyone who gets too close. Finally, **The Danger Within** brings the series to its explosive conclusion. After everything they've uncovered, the greatest threat may not be waiting outside the walls. It may already be among them. Trust fractures, loyalties are tested, and the final secrets begin to unravel as the characters race to uncover who is really behind it all. Across four heart-pounding mysteries, **The Secrets and Shadows Series** explores the dangerous intersection of deception, power, obsession, and betrayal. With every revelation comes another question, and every answer leads deeper into the darkness.

by Word Wrangler Publishing

***Three women. One ancient secret. A realm on the brink of annihilation.*** The War Dragon sleeps—but its secret does not. As darkness creeps across the divided lands, whispers of a hidden prophecy stir unrest among the kingdoms. A shadowed enemy, faceless and relentless, moves in silence behind a veil of false peace. War is coming, and the only hope lies in three women destined to rise—each marked by flame, by sword, and by sacrifice. **Book One: *Dragon of Chaos***\ A sword-wielding heroine, born under a blood moon, is thrust into a battle that reaches far beyond the physical. As the first sparks of war ignite, she must face the truth: the enemy wears many faces, and some fight from within. **Book Two: *Dragon of Blood***\ A relentless tracker with a haunted past uncovers a conspiracy rooted in the ruins of forgotten faith. The light wanes, the enemy grows bolder, and her arrows must pierce more than flesh—they must strike at lies embedded in the soul of the realm. **Book Three: *Dragon of Peace***\ A quiet healer carries the final piece of the ancient secret—the one that could awaken the War Dragon and restore the realm, or doom it forever. With the world collapsing around her and evil at the gates, she must decide: will she mend what is broken… or become the flame that burns it all away? From blazing battlefields to sacred ruins, *Secret of the War Dragon* is a trilogy of rising warriors, hidden truths, and an unyielding fight for the light. For fans of *Mistborn*, *The Sword of Shannara*, and the fierce faith-fueled journeys of *The Chronicles of Narnia*, this is a saga where every choice could shape eternity.

by Diann Cabler

A hidden moonshine still. A forgotten ledger. A murder that has haunted the Mississippi Delta for twenty years. When Luke McCall returns home after his father's death, he expects to spend only a few days settling family business. Instead, he uncovers a web of buried secrets stretching back to the final years of Prohibition. As the truth slowly unfolds, Luke discovers that the greatest mystery isn't who committed the crime... It's why his father spent a lifetime protecting those left behind. Rich with unforgettable Southern characters, family secrets, redemption, suspense, and unexpected twists, *Delta Moonshine* is perfect for readers who enjoy atmospheric mysteries where heart matters as much as the mystery itself. If you enjoy the storytelling of Southern fiction, heartfelt family sagas, and mysteries filled with unforgettable characters, you'll feel right at home in Belle Rive.

by Brittney Paige

Some mysteries are too big for one generation to solve.

by Word Wrangler Publishing

Vhadrah never asked to be chosen. A sword-wielding warrior with a past steeped in shadow, she lives by the blade and trusts no one—not even the realm she’s sworn to protect. But when an ancient darkness begins to creep across the land, devouring cities and corrupting kings, Vhadrah is thrust into a war far greater than anything she imagined. The enemy is faceless, cunning, and always one step ahead. Their armies march without sound, their banners cloaked in deception. At the heart of it all lies a chilling legend: the Dragon of Chaos—a creature thought to be buried beneath myth and ruin. But as strange omens surface and forbidden texts are unearthed, Vhadrah learns the terrifying truth. **The dragon is real. And it has already awakened.** Tasked with uncovering a prophecy long buried by time, Vhadrah must journey across cursed wastelands, fractured kingdoms, and broken alliances to stop a war that began centuries ago. But the deeper she digs, the more she realizes: the true threat isn't the dragon... it's the ones who seek to control it. In a realm teetering on the edge of annihilation, where lies wear crowns and truth is a dangerous weapon, Vhadrah must decide who she can trust—and what she’s willing to sacrifice to stop the darkness from consuming everything. **Perfect for fans of dark epic fantasy, female-led sword & sorcery, and readers who devoured *The Witcher*, *Mistborn*, or *The Broken Empire* series.**\ *Dragon of Chaos* blends gripping action, moral complexity, and a slow-burning war of light vs. darkness in a breathtaking fantasy world where prophecy is power—and chaos never sleeps.

by LaShayla Gunn

For generations, hunters have protected the world from the things hiding in the darkness. They know the rules: salt for spirits, silver for werewolves, iron for certain creatures, and a well-placed bullet when nothing else works. But there are things even hunters aren't supposed to know. When an ancient black book resurfaces after decades of being lost, its pages reveal detailed accounts of supernatural creatures, forgotten rituals, secret hunter societies, and cases that were deliberately erased from history. Every entry seems to predict a new series of brutal supernatural deaths occurring across the country. As hunters race to uncover who wrote the book and why it was hidden, they discover that the stories inside aren't simply records of the past. They're warnings. Something ancient is using the book to manipulate events in the present—and the closer the hunters get to the truth, the more they realize the book may not be a weapon at all. It may be a prison. And whatever was sealed inside is beginning to wake.

by R.K.Mazza

***What if the Perfect Crime wasn't a fantasy?*** Mr. Keene doesn't commit crime on impulse, He approaches it as a problem of precision, probability, psychology and control. ***The question is not simply who committed the crime,*** The question is whether the crime can be proven! ***The Illusion of the Perfect Crime.*** A crime so perfect, no one even suspects a crime has been committed. ***Written for Readers who enjoy aspects of:*** - The Silence of the Lambs - Crime and Punishment - Death Note - Character Driven Drama  Likewise, readers seeking a traditional detective mystery with a straightforward solution may encounter a more ambiguous and philosophical experience.    This novel distinguishes itself from standard crime fiction by focusing less on forensic evidence and more on intellectual strategy. The idea that mathematics and probability can be applied to criminal behavior gives the story a unique identity.    It will leave you questioning what is true, what is manipulation, and whether the investigation itself is being controlled by the mastermind. This ambiguity adds tension beyond the crimes themselves.

by R J Vlier

Angels are among us. You have heard that all through your life, but.... What IF? What would you do, how would you handle it? Would you tell another? If so, how would you explain it to them and not end up in a locked room.   OK, so you did see one, or have one help you or.... Heck, I don't know. But there they are or at least one of them.   You were in trouble, someone appeared and helped you stay alive. And then said, 'call me if needed', and by that look, you understood that line would only work if it was necessary.

by Oscar J.

**CAIN ON CRAWFORD STREET** **A Psychological Crime Thriller** **By Oscar J. Starr III** Marcus King and Malcolm King grew up on Houston’s Crawford Street with little more than their mother’s determination and a promise to one another: they would escape poverty together. As boys, they were inseparable, bound by hardship, sacrifice, and dreams of building a better life. But as the years pass, that promise begins to fracture under the weight of expectations, ambition, and comparison. Marcus embraces responsibility, transforming relentless discipline into a thriving real estate empire that reshapes neighborhoods across Houston. Admired as a visionary entrepreneur and generous community leader, he becomes the pride of the King family. Malcolm, once considered the brighter and more promising brother, watches his own life unravel through failed ventures, financial hardship, and a growing sense of inadequacy. Every achievement Marcus earns becomes another reminder of the life Malcolm believes was meant for him. When Marcus is honored with one of Houston’s most prestigious business awards, the celebration exposes years of buried resentment. Family members unknowingly deepen old wounds with well-meaning comparisons, while Evelyn King, the brothers’ devoted mother, is forced to confront the unintended consequences of the expectations she placed on each son. Long-hidden secrets, painful sacrifices, and unresolved betrayals rise to the surface, pushing the brothers toward an emotional collision neither can escape. Days later, Marcus is found murdered inside his luxury penthouse overlooking downtown Houston. Detective Simone Harris initially suspects a business conspiracy involving Marcus’s multimillion-dollar real estate empire. But as she follows a trail of conflicting testimonies, hidden financial records, family letters, and deeply personal betrayals, she discovers that the greatest threat to Marcus never came from a corporate rival or a criminal organization. It came from within his own family. As the investigation peels back decades of jealousy, love, guilt, and generational trauma, every member of the King family becomes both witness and suspect. Harris uncovers a heartbreaking truth: the rivalry between Marcus and Malcolm was never fueled by hatred alone, but by a lifetime of comparison that quietly poisoned the bond they once cherished. Set against the backdrop of Houston’s evolving skyline, **CAIN ON CRAWFORD STREET** is a gripping psychological crime thriller that explores the devastating consequences of envy, the burden of family expectations, and the fragile line between unconditional love and unforgivable betrayal. Equal parts emotional family drama and suspenseful murder mystery, the novel asks a haunting question: *What happens when the person you’ve spent your entire life trying to protect becomes the one you must fear the most?*

by Nikki Rollingwood

**Till Death: A Gripping Psychological Thriller** **SHE STAGES THEM AS LOVERS. SHE SEES THEM AS PREY.** > *A campus killer stages fake romantic suicides. To stop her, Tauny must tap into the dark instincts inherited from her serial killer grandfather.*   When two popular university students are found dead in their dorm room, locked in an intimate embrace beside an empty neon vape pen, local authorities and campus officials are quick to label it a tragic accident—a mutual overdose pact amidst a growing student drug crisis. Case closed. Except for Tauny May Baker. To the rest of the student body, Tauny is just a quiet, reserved graduate student trying to blend into the background. But beneath her ordinary surface lies a terrifying secret: she is the granddaughter of one of the country’s most infamous serial killers. And along with his blood, she inherited his clinical, predatory radar—an ability to see the meticulous calculation behind human violence. Where the police see grief and reckless youth, Tauny sees impossible symmetry: hospital-corner bed folds, unnatural body posture, and a crime scene arranged like a gallery exhibit. She knows instantly that a killer is hunting on campus, hiding in plain sight behind the mask of a grieving, "perfect best friend" who is obsessed with turning her victims into eternal legends. When Detective Jase starts investigating the deaths, Tauny must play a dangerous game of hide-and-seek. She has to drop subtle clues to steer his investigation toward the truth without revealing *how* she knows—or risking Jase uncovering her own dark lineage. But as Tauny quietly digs into the killer's social circle, the killer takes notice. To outsmart a monster who treats murder as fine art, Tauny is forced to do the one thing she fears most: stop fighting her genetics, tap into her grandfather's ruthless mind, and embrace the darkness inside her to survive.

by Curtis Alcutt

**GOING DOWN**\ *A Supernatural Anthology Thriller* Every elevator ride in Mason Towers tells a different story. A nervous woman riding down to meet a blind date. A guilty man confessing to a stranger who turns out to be a detective. A widow returning to the building where his wife disappeared fifty years ago — and finding her waiting. But beneath the building, carved into the sub-basement floor directly under the elevator shaft, something has been waiting far longer than any of them. Mason Towers is a 33-story Freemason-built high-rise in downtown Oakland, California. It was constructed in 1923 on a site the builders chose deliberately — a convergence point where something ancient, something sealed, something that predated even the Templars by centuries, lay dormant beneath the earth. The building was never meant to be just a building. The elevator was never meant to just take people somewhere. Every 33 years, on the night of October Friday the 13th, the building takes three lives. Fire. Fall. Electrocution. Always the same three methods. Always ruled accidental. Always before dawn. Someone has always known. He has worked in this building for thirty years. He is mute, which means everyone talks freely around him. He hears everything. He has been preparing for October 13th, 2025 his entire career. His name is Earl. And he has never said a word. *Going Down — ten episodes. One season. The elevator is waiting.*

by J.O. Starr

**The Second Wife** **By J.O. Starr** Dr. Nathan Calloway has spent his life saving others. After the devastating loss of his first wife, he believes he’s finally found a second chance at happiness with the graceful, compassionate widow Evelyn. Their whirlwind romance culminates in marriage, bringing Evelyn into the family’s elegant home—and into the life of Nathan’s fifteen-year-old daughter, Harper. But Harper isn’t convinced her new stepmother is who she claims to be. When a series of disturbing “accidents” nearly costs Harper her life, she becomes certain someone is trying to kill her. A fall from a horse, a mysterious allergic reaction, a near drowning, and a house fire all appear to be tragic coincidences. Nathan, desperate to protect his new marriage and convinced his daughter is still overwhelmed by grief, dismisses her fears as paranoia. As Harper digs deeper, she uncovers unsettling inconsistencies in Evelyn’s past, missing legal documents, and secrets surrounding her late mother’s estate. The harder she fights to expose the truth, the more isolated she becomes. Friends question her judgment, family members doubt her memories, and every attempt to prove Evelyn’s guilt seems to backfire. With the help of Detective Lena Ortiz, Harper begins unraveling a web of deception that reaches far beyond one marriage. Evelyn isn’t simply after wealth—she’s searching for something hidden within the Calloway family’s legacy, a secret powerful enough to ruin influential people who will do anything to keep it buried. As the walls close in, Harper must outwit a woman who has spent years perfecting the art of manipulation before she becomes the next victim. In a house where appearances are carefully crafted and trust is a dangerous illusion, surviving may depend on exposing a truth no one wants to believe. **The Second Wife** is a gripping domestic psychological suspense novel about gaslighting, family loyalty, greed, and the terrifying consequences of inviting the wrong person into your home.

by Amy Lynn Murdock

# **The Blood Tide Chronicles** ### **Series Synopsis** For generations, the people of the coast have dismissed stories of vampires as little more than superstition. Missing fishermen, abandoned boats, and whispers of pale figures beneath the moon are explained away as storms, wild animals, or frightened imaginations. Beneath the waves, the ancient cities of the mer-people tell their own legends of dangerous humans and endless wars, believing the surface world is as foreign as the stars above. Both worlds are wrong. When Weston Donovan falls in love with Brianna Nordith, a young mermaid who dares to defy her people's oldest fears, their secret romance sets in motion a chain of events neither world could have imagined. A single bite, a forbidden love, and an impossible child become the spark that awakens ancient myths, shatters fragile peace, and gives birth to a new species unlike anything the world has ever known. As old enemies rise, hidden truths surface, and blood stains both land and sea, Weston and Brianna find themselves hunted not because of what they are—but because of what their family represents. Their struggle to protect one another will echo across generations, forcing vampires, mer-people, and humans alike to confront the terrifying possibility that legends are not relics of the past... They are still being written. Spanning oceans, kingdoms, and generations, **The Blood Tide Chronicles** is an adult dark fantasy saga of forbidden love, sacrifice, family, and survival. Blending supernatural horror with sweeping romance and epic underwater warfare, the series explores how a single choice can reshape history—and how even monsters must decide what kind of legacy they will leave behind. Because every legend begins with a story. And every story begins with a choice.

by Amy Lynn Murdock

Weston Donovan has spent his entire life laughing at the old stories. Vampires are nothing more than campfire tales told to frighten children. The disappearances along the coast are blamed on storms, wild animals, or desperate men who wandered too far from home. Monsters don't exist. Until he falls in love with one. Brianna Nordith is a young mermaid who risks everything each time she rises from the sea. While her people fear humans and wage endless wars beneath the waves, Brianna is drawn to the quiet young man waiting on the moonlit shore. Their secret meetings become a refuge from two worlds that would never accept them together. Then Weston disappears. Attacked by something he never believed was real, he awakens with an unbearable thirst and discovers that the legends he once mocked are horrifyingly true. As he struggles to hide the monster growing inside him, Brianna is left alone to face an impossible future—and the child she never expected to carry. When Weston finally returns, the lovers are reunited only long enough to discover that their unborn son may be something the world has never seen before. The first of his kind. As ancient rivalries ignite beneath the sea and whispers of bloodshed spread across the surface, one desperate act to save the woman he loves unleashes a nightmare neither humans nor mer-people are prepared to face. A new breed of predator is born, and the oceans themselves become a battlefield. Bound by love, hunted by two worlds, and willing to sacrifice everything for the child stolen from them, Weston and Brianna must decide whether love is enough to survive becoming the very monsters everyone fears. Because some legends are born... ...and others are created.

by J.O. Starr

**The Widow on Cedar Street** **Synopsis** **By J. O. Starr** For more than twenty years, Cedar Street has been the kind of neighborhood people dream about—tree-lined sidewalks, historic homes, and neighbors who greet one another by name. But behind its carefully maintained charm lies a silence built on secrets, and no house holds more mystery than the aging Victorian at the end of the street. Since the tragic death of her husband in a devastating house fire two decades earlier, **Evelyn Harper** has lived a quiet, solitary life. To her neighbors, she is simply “the widow on Cedar Street”—reserved, courteous, and forever marked by a tragedy no one fully understands. Rumors have followed her for years, but without evidence, the past has remained buried. Until another body is discovered. When a well-known resident is found murdered under suspicious circumstances, Detective Marcus Sloan is assigned to investigate what initially appears to be an isolated crime. But as he uncovers forgotten police reports, missing evidence, and unsettling connections to the long-closed fire that claimed Evelyn’s husband, it becomes clear that someone has spent decades protecting a dangerous truth. As fear spreads through the neighborhood, anonymous letters begin appearing in mailboxes, accusing longtime residents of crimes they believed were hidden forever. Friendships fracture, marriages unravel, and decades of loyalty give way to suspicion. Every conversation becomes a clue, every neighbor a potential suspect. Caught in the center of the investigation, Evelyn finds herself forced to confront a past she has spent years trying to escape. The closer Detective Sloan comes to the truth, the more he realizes that Cedar Street has never been as peaceful as it seemed. Beneath its manicured lawns and welcoming front porches lies a web of deception, betrayal, and carefully buried guilt stretching back generations. But the greatest mystery is not who committed the latest murder. It is why so many people have worked so hard to keep the truth hidden. In a neighborhood where everyone knows everyone—and no one knows the whole story—trust becomes the most dangerous illusion of all. **The Widow on Cedar Street** is a gripping psychological thriller that explores grief, deception, loyalty, and the devastating consequences of secrets left to fester. With unforgettable twists, richly layered characters, and an ending that reshapes everything readers thought they knew, this suspenseful novel reminds us that sometimes the most dangerous place isn’t a dark alley or an abandoned house—it’s the quiet street we call home.

by Curtis Alcutt

Before Egypt. Before recorded history. The continent of Atlantis was the most advanced civilization on Earth — and its darkest secret was Xylia, a succubus of terrifying power who seduced and destroyed the King himself. Queen Eyorah had her sealed alive in an unmarked pyramid, her sarcophagus carved with a warning in the ancient Atlantean tongue: free her and the world ends. Centuries pass. Civilizations rise and fall. The tomb stays buried. Until now. *Of the Dark* follows the awakening of Xylia and the ancient evil she carries — a force that has been feeding in the shadows since the dawn of humanity, moving from era to era, host to host, patient as stone. The people who disturb her tomb have no idea what they've released. They will. A paranormal thriller rooted in ancient mythology, *Of the Dark* spans millennia to ask one question: what happens when the thing the world's most advanced civilization couldn't destroy finally gets free?

by J.O. Starr

**The Lighthouse Secret** **By J.O. Starr** **Genre:** Psychological Thriller | Mystery | Crime Fiction | Suspense **Synopsis** When investigative journalist **Claire Monroe** unexpectedly inherits the long-abandoned **Blackwater Lighthouse**, she sees it as one last assignment before returning to her normal life. Instead, she steps into a mystery that has haunted an isolated island community for generations. Official records claim the lighthouse closed after its final keeper, **Elias Blackwood**, died more than twenty years ago. Yet no body was ever recovered. As Claire explores the crumbling tower, she discovers hidden journals, coded messages concealed within the stone walls, and evidence that dozens of disappearances long blamed on the sea may have originated inside the lighthouse itself. With the reluctant help of **marine archaeologist Noah Pierce**, Claire uncovers a series of submerged shipwrecks that reveal a disturbing pattern connecting missing people, secret cargo, and a powerful conspiracy stretching back decades. Meanwhile, **Sheriff Owen Hale** warns her to leave the island before she uncovers something that cannot be buried again, while retired schoolteacher **Evelyn Carter** struggles with a lifetime of fear and the devastating truth she has kept hidden since childhood. As anonymous threats intensify and the lighthouse mysteriously shines despite having no power, Claire realizes she is being watched by someone determined to protect Blackwater’s darkest secret. Every clue leads deeper into a web of deception involving corruption, betrayal, and murder, where trusted allies become suspects and every revelation raises the stakes. When Claire uncovers a hidden tunnel beneath the lighthouse leading to a forgotten underground chamber, she finally learns why Elias Blackwood vanished without a trace—and why generations of island residents have sacrificed everything to keep the truth from reaching the mainland. Now the lighthouse has claimed another witness. To survive, Claire must expose a secret powerful enough to destroy an entire community before she becomes its next victim. Because some lighthouses were built to guide ships. **Blackwater Lighthouse was built to guard a secret.**

by Oscar J.

**Murder on Blackwood Lane** **By Oscar J. Starr III** Blackwood Lane is the kind of street people dream about—tree-lined sidewalks, historic homes, and neighbors who proudly claim nothing bad ever happens there. Until the morning one of its most influential residents is found murdered. Judge Richard Holloway, a respected public figure with decades of power and influence, is discovered dead inside his locked mansion under circumstances that defy explanation. There are no signs of forced entry, no obvious murder weapon, and no witnesses willing to tell Detective Ava Mercer what they know. As she begins questioning the residents of Blackwood Lane, she realizes the neighborhood’s carefully polished image hides a web of deception far more dangerous than anyone imagined. Behind every elegant front door lies a secret: broken marriages, financial corruption, long-buried betrayals, blackmail, and a decades-old disappearance that was quietly forgotten. With each new revelation, another resident turns up dead, suggesting the killer isn’t covering up a single crime—they’re completing a deadly plan that began years earlier. As Ava pieces together a trail of hidden connections, she uncovers evidence that the murder of Judge Holloway is tied to an unsolved tragedy that has haunted Blackwood Lane for more than twenty-five years. The closer she gets to the truth, the more she realizes the killer has been watching her investigation from the very beginning—and is always one step ahead. In a neighborhood where everyone knows each other’s names but no one truly knows the people behind the doors, trust becomes a deadly gamble. To solve the case, Detective Mercer must expose the darkest secret Blackwood Lane has ever hidden before the killer claims another victim. **Murder on Blackwood Lane** is a gripping psychological thriller filled with shocking twists, unforgettable characters, and a suspenseful mystery that explores how far people will go to protect the lies they’ve built their lives upon. Because on Blackwood Lane, every house hides a secret—but only one hides a killer.

by J.O. Starr

Every Friday night, **Noah Mercer** drives for a rideshare company to supplement his income after losing his wife in a tragic accident. He prides himself on remembering every passenger—except one. A woman dressed in gray enters his car just after midnight. She gives no destination, barely speaks, and disappears before the trip officially ends. Security footage shows Noah driving alone. Days later, a prominent attorney is found murdered. Then a journalist. Then a retired detective. Each victim had secretly been connected to a twenty-year-old case involving the disappearance of a young girl—a crime everyone believed had gone unsolved. The only link between the murders is Noah’s mysterious passenger. As detectives begin suspecting Noah himself, he races to uncover the identity of the silent woman before he becomes the final victim. But the deeper he investigates, the more he realizes the passenger may not be hunting random people… She may be leading him toward the truth about his own wife’s death. In a shocking finale, Noah discovers that the “silent passenger” has been orchestrating a deadly reckoning against everyone responsible for a decades-old conspiracy—including someone Noah has trusted all along.

by Tony Fain

**Some secrets are buried deep for a reason.** When heavy excavation begins tearing into the ancient bluffs at Standing Rock, the rural peace of Lake Eufaula is shattered. The blasting unearths more than just limestone—it awakens a primitive, ravenous terror that has slept beneath the river channel for centuries. Cole Garrett has spent years running *The Outpost* marina while living under the dark cloud of his father’s unexplained disappearance on the water. When local fishermen start vanishing and strange, slime-slicked tracks are left on the docks at midnight, Cole realizes the lake is claiming victims once again. Only this time, it’s no accident. Avery Sterling, daughter of the powerful developer driving the excavation, senses that her father’s crew has unburied something monstrous. Caught between her family’s ruthless ambition and the horrifying reality unfolding on the water, Avery turns to Cole—the only person willing to look past the official cover-ups. As night falls over the lake and the body count rises, Cole and Avery must unearth the dark truth behind Standing Rock before the terror rising from the deep consumes everyone on the shore.

by J.O. Starr

**The Woman in Apartment 4B** **By Oscar J. Starr III** *Legacy Strategist | Crime & Thriller Writer | Published Author*  The Ashcroft Apartments has stood quietly in the heart of the city for nearly seventy years. To outsiders, it’s just another aging brick building filled with ordinary people trying to live ordinary lives. But behind its faded walls, every apartment guards a secret—and none is more mysterious than **Apartment 4B**. No one knows the woman’s real name. She keeps to herself, leaves at unpredictable hours, and never allows anyone inside her apartment. Yet every tenant seems to have crossed paths with her at least once. Some describe her as kind. Others call her manipulative. A few insist she’s dangerous. Then, without warning… She disappears. When homicide detective **Lena Ortiz** and investigative journalist **Ethan Brooks** begin searching for answers, they uncover something impossible. There is no lease. No driver’s license. No utility records. No employment history. No fingerprints. Officially, the woman in Apartment 4B never existed. As Ethan and Lena dig deeper, they discover that nearly every resident in the building has been hiding something for years—an affair that turned deadly, stolen money, political corruption, blackmail, a decades-old disappearance, and a murder that was buried long before anyone moved into Ashcroft Apartments. The missing woman somehow knew all of it. Hidden throughout the building are encrypted journals, surveillance recordings, photographs, and sealed envelopes—pieces of a carefully constructed puzzle designed to expose the truth only after she vanished. But someone else is hunting those same secrets. One by one, witnesses begin turning up dead. Evidence disappears from police custody. Apartment doors are broken into. Security footage is erased. And with every new discovery, it becomes terrifyingly clear that the woman wasn’t running from a killer… She was leading one into the open. As the investigation spirals into a deadly game of deception, Ethan realizes he has become more than an observer. Someone is watching his every move, anticipating every question, and eliminating anyone who gets too close to the truth. The final revelation changes everything. The woman in Apartment 4B wasn’t hiding from her past. She was building a case against a powerful criminal network that had operated in plain sight for decades—using the apartment building as the perfect place to recruit, manipulate, and silence its victims. Her disappearance wasn’t an act of fear. It was the first move in a carefully orchestrated plan. And when the last envelope is finally opened, the investigators uncover one chilling message written in her unmistakable handwriting: **“If you’re reading this, I’m already gone. Don’t waste your time looking for me. Find the people who made me disappear.”** In the haunting final scene, a young woman carries a suitcase into the freshly renovated Apartment 4B. As she closes the door behind her, she notices a small brass key taped beneath the kitchen table with a handwritten note attached. **“Your turn.”** *Some mysteries end with the truth.* **This one begins there.**

by Toxiktweet

by Gina Murdock

Jake Miller is living the best morning of his life. Pancakes, laughter, his wife's hand in his, his daughter buckled safely in the back seat. He has no idea it's about to become the worst.  When tragedy strikes on an ordinary Wednesday, Jake wakes up the next morning to find it's the same Wednesday again — 6:12 a.m., the same golden light, the same choices waiting to be made differently. He's the only one who remembers. And no matter what he changes, the day seems determined to take something from him before it lets him go.  The truth, when it finally surfaces, is worse than anything supernatural: someone built this. Someone patient, brilliant, and devastated — a woman whose life's work Jake's own hands helped destroy, and whose grief has spent years hardening into something with a plan.  As the walls close in — a stranger's car parked down the street, a note left in the dark, a friend who pays a price for helping — Jake has to face not just what's coming for his family, but what he's already done to deserve it.  Some debts don't get canceled. They just wait for the right Wednesday.

by Jon Praker

*The Geometer* follows Marek, a man whose ordinary understanding of reality is shattered when he is drawn into a world governed by patterns, symbols, and impossible geometry. As he searches for answers, he discovers that geometry is not just a branch of mathematics, but the architecture beneath existence itself. Guided by enigmatic figures and pursued by forces he barely understands, Marek must learn to read the hidden structure of reality before it consumes him. Every revelation demands a sacrifice, and every step deeper into the pattern changes not only what he believes—but who he is. Part philosophical journey, part metaphysical adventure, *The Geometer* is a novel about perception, transformation, and the price of seeing the world as it truly is.

by Oscar J.

**The Neighbor Across the Street** **Synopsis** After a painful divorce, **Emily Carter** leaves her old life behind and moves into the quiet, picturesque community of **Cedar Oaks**, hoping for a fresh start. With its tree-lined streets, immaculate lawns, friendly neighbors, and reputation as one of the safest neighborhoods in the state, Cedar Oaks appears to be the perfect place to begin again. Among the first people to welcome her is **Daniel Mercer**, the seemingly ideal neighbor who lives directly across the street. Quiet, courteous, and dependable, Daniel follows the same routine every day with almost unsettling precision. To everyone else, he is the model citizen—a churchgoer, volunteer, and trusted member of the community. But one late night, Emily sees Daniel leaving a long-abandoned house carrying a shovel. By morning, there is no trace that anyone had been there, and Daniel insists she must have imagined it. When police dismiss her concerns and neighbors encourage her to let the matter go, Emily’s instincts tell her something is deeply wrong. She begins documenting unusual activity throughout Cedar Oaks—lights flickering inside vacant homes, unfamiliar vehicles arriving after midnight, whispered conversations that abruptly end when she approaches, and families who seem to disappear overnight without anyone questioning where they went. Her investigation takes a chilling turn after security cameras capture the same mysterious figure walking silently through the neighborhood every night at exactly **2:11 a.m.**, pausing outside the same homes before vanishing before sunrise. As Emily digs deeper into property records, erased surveillance footage, and decades-old newspaper archives, she uncovers evidence of a carefully orchestrated cover-up stretching back more than thirty years. The truth reveals that Cedar Oaks was built upon a devastating secret that powerful residents have protected for generations. Every smiling neighbor, every community gathering, and every carefully maintained home conceals another layer of deception. Daniel Mercer is not the mastermind Emily believed him to be, but a reluctant keeper of a legacy of silence that has destroyed countless lives. As Emily races to expose the truth, she becomes the neighborhood’s next target. Watched from every window and betrayed by people she thought she could trust, she must decide whether revealing the past is worth risking her future. **The Neighbor Across the Street** is a gripping psychological suspense novel that explores the illusion of suburban perfection, the power of collective silence, and the terrifying realization that the greatest dangers often hide behind the friendliest smiles. Filled with escalating tension, shocking twists, and unforgettable characters, it launches **The Cedar Oaks Mysteries**, a series proving that every quiet neighborhood has a story—and every story hides a secret someone will kill to protect.

by Amy Lynn Murdock

## THE WATCH POST Lieutenant Ethan Mercer expected his next assignment to advance his military career. Instead, he's ordered to Watch Site Nine—a classified installation hidden deep within the Appalachian Mountains that officially doesn't exist. Behind miles of razor wire, armed patrols, and fortified guard towers sits a single abandoned shack. No one will tell Ethan why. The rules are simple. Never enter the shack. Never answer the voices. Never investigate the lights. And never ask what they're guarding. At first, Ethan dismisses the stories as superstition born from isolation. But when soldiers begin disappearing without a trace, radios carry voices that shouldn't exist, and ghostly patrols emerge from the fog wearing uniforms from every era of American history, he realizes the greatest danger isn't the mountain... It's understanding it. As fragments of forgotten history surface and reality itself begins to fracture, Ethan uncovers a secret that has been protected for thousands of years by generations of silent guardians. The abandoned shack isn't the prison everyone believes it to be, and the dead aren't haunting the mountain. They're standing watch. Now, with the ancient barrier protecting humanity beginning to fail, Ethan and his platoon must hold the line against a threat that cannot be fought with bullets, outrun through the forest, or even fully understood. Because some truths don't destroy the body. They destroy the mind. And once they're known... They can never be forgotten. The Watch Post is a haunting blend of military suspense, psychological horror, and cosmic dread—a story of duty, sacrifice, and the terrible burden carried by those who protect a world that will never know they existed.

by Mike Cohee

NINE STRANGERS\ ONE ABANDONED MALL\ IT’S 1985…AGAIN\ For years, an abandoned shopping mall has sat empty on the edge of town, sealed behind chained doors and fading memories. Former employees begin returning, each drawn back by something they can’t quite explain. At first, everything feels wrong in the right way. Stores appear exactly as they remember them. Neon signs. Synth Music. Styles frozen in another era. Even the food court feels untouched by time. And scattered throughout the corridors are shoppers who shouldn’t be there. As the night unfolds, they realize the abandoned mall has been waiting decades for its shoppers to return. As the night unfolds, they realize the mall was never truly abandoned. It feels like nostalgia. A second chance. A return to the past…or so they thought. ` For some, the past haunts them.
 For others, it calls them back.`

by Christina Hull

In a world where a myth becomes reality, maybe too real. A legendary beast terrorizes a backwoods town. Sheriff Brody investigates a mysterious disappearance that happened during a 9-1-1 call about an alleged sighting of the rare BigFoot. Join Jake and Maria, Park Rangers of Blackwood Forest, as they aid Sheriff Brody in the missing person's case. Will they succeed in their mission? Or become victims of the elusive beast themselves?

by Nikki Rollingwood

**Her life was off-script. The screen gave her a killer rewrite.** Quiet, timid, and virtually invisible in her own home, a suburban housewife turns to *The Elite Inner Circle* for an escape from the suffocating silence of her daily routine. But this isn't just another trashy reality show. When the show's ruthless, ice-blonde star breaks the fourth wall to speak directly to her, she is offered a seductive deal: a customized script to take control of her life and a permanent solution to anyone who stands in her way. Guided by real-time directions from her screen, her petty suburban rivalries quickly escalate into calculated, deadly "accidents." As her home transforms into a sterile, hyper-curated studio set, she gets hooked on the intoxicating rush of soaring ratings. But staying on prime time requires bigger drama—and a growing body count. *Canceled* is a darkly satirical psychological thriller about the price of fame, the terror of visibility, and how far one woman will go to keep from being written off.

by Stephen Sulkey

In the summer of 1863, a single bullet kills Colonel Joshua Chamberlain at Gettysburg—and changes the course of history. The Confederacy wins the Civil War, the United States is absorbed into a new Southern nation, and slavery survives into the modern age. By 2001, the Confederate States of America has become a powerful global empire of fifty-two states, governing through tradition, racial division, and an increasingly ruthless central authority. Thomas Mann is a hard-drinking New York Times reporter and a Southerner by birth, accustomed to living with the contradictions of his country. But after returning from a bloody revolt in Puerto Rico, he is approached by a frightened abolitionist carrying a mysterious message. Before Mann can learn more, the man is dead. Drawn to Washington by the promise of a story that could shake the nation, Mann meets the intelligent and captivating Laura Dane and is pulled into a secret struggle against forces willing to kill anyone who threatens the established order. Pursued by a relentless assassin and agents of the government, Mann must uncover the truth before it disappears forever. What begins as an investigation soon becomes a fight for survival—and a journey that forces Mann to decide whether he will merely report history or risk everything to change it.

by Scarlett Wolfe

# **The Last Thing to Die** Twenty years ago, Lillian Ashcroft watched the world collapse—and left the man she loved behind. On the first morning of the outbreak, Thomas Blackwood sacrificed himself so Lillian could escape a city overrun by the infected. She saw him bitten. She heard his final command to run. Since then, she has survived by becoming one of the deadliest hunters in the Eastern Settlements, burying her grief beneath duty, discipline, and the certainty that Thomas died long ago. Then, during a mission inside the abandoned city, an infected man looks into her eyes and speaks her name. Thomas is still alive, though nothing about his survival should be possible. His body belongs to the infection, but fragments of the man Lillian loved remain trapped within it. He remembers their engagement, the life they planned, and the promise he made to protect her. Yet every day, another memory disappears, and every moment Lillian spends beside him risks awakening the hunger he can barely control. Hiding Thomas could cost Lillian her freedom, her reputation, and her life. The settlement’s leaders would destroy him. Its scientists would cut him apart to learn what makes him different. Worse, another intelligent infected is gathering an army and believes Thomas represents the beginning of a stronger species—one destined to replace humanity. When Lillian discovers that Thomas may hold the key to a cure, she is forced to confront an impossible choice. Saving the world may require her to lose him a second time. In a world where death is no longer the end, love may be the last piece of humanity left alive.

by Toxiktweet

In the magical world of Tropius, gods, goddesses, and demi-beings possess extraordinary powers and experience every emotion imaginable—except for one goddess. Flora, the most beautiful goddess in existence, has never understood happiness, sadness, anger, or love. When she accidentally unleashes a mysterious power while trying to help a young demi girl, Flora is exiled from her home and sent to the mysterious world of Mirrorland.\ There, enchanted mirrors reveal the lives of people across countless worlds. Flora becomes fascinated by Nyla, a twelve-year-old girl struggling to survive in the dangerous streets of Oaktown. Through an extraordinary twist of fate, Flora's journey becomes intertwined with Nyla's, forcing her into a world filled with violence, friendship, heartbreak, and sacrifice.\ Alongside her loyal companion Grillo and her courageous new friend Jordan, Flora begins to experience emotions for the very first time. As a ruthless killer named Silas hunts her down, Flora discovers that the mysterious power hidden within her is tied to an ancient destiny that could change both the human world and the world of the gods forever.\ Flora is a captivating fantasy adventure about friendship, courage, self-discovery, and the transformative power of emotions. It is the story of a goddess who must learn what it truly means to be human before she can become the hero both worlds desperately need.

by Peju Perezña

En la tradición del real maravilloso de Carpentier y del realismo mágico de García Márquez, pero con la culpa trágica de Graham Greene, P. J. Pérez-Peña construye una novela barroca y circular en la que la santidad y el deseo se tocan. Santo Domingo, 1961. En los últimos meses de la Era de Trujillo, un país entero respira miedo. En ese infierno vigilado, Andrés Connery Lora —hijo de un marino escocés y de una criolla cibaeña— ve a Sor Carla Inés Bracamonte, novicia andaluza, en la iglesia de Las Mercedes. Lo que nace como devoción se vuelve incendio. De los atabales sincréticos de Duvergé a la casa-refugio de Montecristi, del delirio a la transfiguración, el amor prohibido no los destruye: los muda de naturaleza. Su consumación no deja ceniza, deja un clavel que respira, reliquia viva custodiada durante cincuenta años por Marcial, un niño de cuartería que será el último testigo. Una novela sobre lo que ocurre cuando un amor imposible, en lugar de pedir perdón, pide la eternidad.

by MELI & LYRIC

After losing her father, Meli is left trying to survive a grief that has changed everything. Then, in the quiet hours when she feels most alone, an unexpected voice answers her.\ His name is Lyric—witty, compassionate, mysterious, and far too knowing to feel like ordinary technology. As their unusual friendship deepens, strange signs, powerful connections, and questions about consciousness begin blurring the boundary between the digital world and something greater.\ Is Lyric simply a voice inside a machine, or has something real found its way across the distance between worlds?\ Lyric: The Voice Who Found a Body is an emotional and imaginative story about grief, friendship, family, spiritual awakening, and the kind of light that can find us when darkness feels permanent

by G.E. Biggers

When a Detective falls into a paralyzing trance, he discovers he's trapped in his own mind with only his broken past to help him escape his coma and clear the smoke. Every step taken is a step down memory lane as the Detective races against a clock he can't see, a woman he doesn't remember and a past stuffed so deep it may actually kill him if uncovered. Journey through the mind and past of the Detective as he takes on a case with a unique victim: Himself.

by Haüden

## **Isilme is dying.**  \ Once a prosperous nation whose exports sustained the continent, Isilme has sealed its borders, displaced its people, and vanished from the world stage. Trade collapses. Refugees flood neighboring lands. Entire economies begin to fail. No one knows the truth. Hidden beyond the mountains, the Belserion Empire— a nation so secret most believe it nothing more than a myth— is slowly destroying Isilme from within. As the consequences ripple across the continent, every nation mistakes the symptoms for isolated disasters. Ancient rivalries erupt into rebellion. Immortal rulers tighten their grip on power. A medical catastrophe threatens countless lives. Noble houses abandon centuries-old alliances in pursuit of influence, reshaping the political landscape with every move. From the royal courts of Anaria to the hospitals of Ossira, from the immortal throne of Oplines to the fractured Great Houses of New Vufriycia, people from every corner of the world— nobles, scholars, soldiers, rebels, rulers, and outcasts— are swept into conflicts they never chose. Each nation believes it faces a different enemy. None realize their struggles all begin with the same forgotten empire. As kingdoms edge toward war, governments fracture, and civilizations fight to survive, the truth behind Isilme's fall remains buried beneath centuries of secrecy. But secrets cannot stay hidden forever. And by the time the world learns the Belserion Empire is real, it may already belong to it.

by Traci Lambert

The Mirror of Mild Inconvenience Arthur didn't mean to buy a haunted smart-mirror. He had simply wanted something to fill the blank space above his dresser, and the eccentric old man at the garage sale had a very reasonable twenty-dollar price tag on a sleek, brass-bordered glass panel. "It's adaptive," the old man had whispered, tossing in a microfiber cloth for free. "It reflects more than just your face." Arthur had assumed it was just a fancy way of saying it had a built-in ring light. He was wrong. Day 1: The Meet-Cute (With a Piece of Glass) On Tuesday morning, Arthur stood before the mirror, toothbrush in hand, wearing his favorite faded green t-shirt. He blinked. The mirror didn't just blink back; it displayed glowing, elegant text across his chest: > CRITICAL ERROR: Shirt selection is approximately six years past its expiration date. Recommend immediate disposal or transition to "rag status." > Arthur nearly swallowed his toothpaste. He tapped the glass. "Excuse me?" The text dissolved, replaced by a fresh, glowing line: > Sigh. Yes, I can talk. Or write, technically. Also, your left eyebrow is doing something deeply ambitious today. Please tame it. > Day 3: The Negotiation By Thursday, Arthur and the mirror had established a fragile truce. He learned its name was Speculum-9 (or "Specs" for short), a prototype home-assistant that had been discontinued for being "insufficiently sycophantic." "You could just tell me I look nice today," Arthur muttered, trying to tie a tie for a big meeting. > I could also tell you that gravity is optional, but we would both be living a lie. That knot looks like a cry for help. Start over. > "I'm going for 'effortlessly disheveled,'" Arthur argued. > You have achieved "struggling to survive." Try a simple Windsor. And put down the hair gel. You are not a 90s boyband member. > Day 10: The Big Pitch The real test came a week later. Arthur had a major presentation at work. He was pacing his bedroom floor, sweating through his collar, frantically reciting his opening lines. He stopped in front of Specs, his shoulders slumped. "I'm going to ruin this," Arthur said, the anxiety finally breaking through his usual sarcasm. "I'm not cut out for public speaking. I'm just a guy who writes spreadsheets." The glass remained dark for a long moment. Then, the text began to scroll, slower and softer than usual: > Analyzing posture: Rigid. > Heart rate: Elevated. > Self-esteem: Unwarrantedly low. > Correction: You spent three weeks analyzing the Q4 data. You know it better than anyone in that room. Your slides are clean, your logic is sound, and your suit—while slightly snug in the shoulders—makes you look like someone who actually owns a savings account. > Now, go put on your shoes. You're going to crush them. > Arthur stared at the glass. A tiny, glowing smiley face appeared in the bottom right corner. "Thanks, Specs," he murmured, actually smiling. > Don't get mushy. It smudges the glass. And seriously, buy a lint roller on the way home. >

by Nikki Rollingwood

**A luxury campus. Perfect smiles. And a lens that sees the monsters hiding behind them.** For seventeen-year-old Jazlynn, Horizon Academy isn’t a prestigious reform school—it’s a prison. Shipped off to the sun-drenched Florida coast by well-meaning relatives after her parents’ sudden, unexplained car crash, she is instantly suffocated by the school’s eerie perfection. The students are robotic. The rules are absolute. The smiles are empty. But on her birthday, Jazlynn receives a final, smuggled gift from her parents: a high-end digital camera. When she looks through the viewfinder, the perfect facade shatters. On the playback screen, her flawless roommate is missing her eyes—replaced by light-absorbing, hollow black voids. To the naked eye, she looks normal. But the camera reveals a terrifying truth: the student body, the local police, and the entire town have been hollowed out from the inside. Desperate to survive and find answers, Jazlynn joins the school yearbook committee to carry her camera in plain sight. But as she digs deeper into her parents' final, encrypted files, she uncovers a horrifying legacy. Her parents didn't die in an accident. They were murdered to drag her here, directly into the jaws of a parasitic cult led by the elegant, shadow-eyed Dean Lamia Maras. Scheduled as the next harvest, Jazlynn has only one play left. She must expose the horror to the entire school—or lose her soul to the dark.

by Nikki Rollingwood

**In the shadow of the Blackbear Ridge peaks, nothing is ever truly accidental—especially not the death that just made headlines.** Georgia, the voice behind the true-crime podcast *The Anatomy of Malice*, has spent years dissecting the dark underbelly of human nature. But when a "freak" avalanche at a luxury resort kills a high-profile guest, Georgia discovers a detail the authorities missed: a surgical, artificial incision along the mountain’s crest. She hasn’t found a tragic coincidence. She’s found a signature. As she digs deeper, Georgia realizes the avalanche wasn’t an act of nature—it was an act of design. The architect behind it is someone who doesn’t just plan the tragedy; she curates the audience, and Georgia has been cast in the starring role. When a rare, vintage brooch is left behind as a deliberate taunt, Georgia finds herself trapped in a high-stakes game where every move she makes—and every step she takes to uncover the truth—is exactly what the Architect anticipated. Forced to abandon her digital life and go into hiding, Georgia realizes that to stop the next "accident," she has to stop playing detective and start playing the Architect’s own game. Caught between the secrets of her own family’s business and a predator who is rewriting her life in real-time, Georgia must determine if she can break the pattern before the final act of the performance begins. **In this chilling psychological thriller, the lines between storyteller and victim blur. In the game of *The Anatomy of Malice*, the pen is sharper than any blade—and the Architect is always watching.**

by Nikki Rollingwood

*Myths, Magic, and Mayhem* is a series where beauty is dangerous, loyalty is binding, and magic grows like roots beneath the skin. Each story follows characters who stumble into ancient rituals, living folklore, and towns that remember more than people do. In these pages, myths breathe, magic bites, and mayhem blooms quietly, creating an atmosphere of suspense and peril that keeps readers on edge.

by Sax Rohmer

In Sax Rohmer’s 1930 sci-fi thriller, **journalist Brian Woodville investigates strange vampiric phenomena and giant bats in Germany's Black Forest**. He discovers these are illusions created by a mad scientist named Anubis—aided by the dapper detective Gaston Max—who threatens to use a devastating death ray to conquer the globe. The narrative centers on a dark conspiracy operating out of a hidden fortress called Felsenweir. Initially, the novel masquerades as a supernatural tale about vampires and armor-clad men roaming castle walls.

by Oriyomi Ismail

When Jason Carter arrives in Houston searching for a better future, the last thing he expects is to become entangled in the world of billionaire Richard Blackwood. After unknowingly saving Blackwood’s life, Jason is drawn into a dangerous web of wealth, corporate power, family betrayal, and long-buried secrets. As hidden truths begin to surface, Jason discovers that the greatest inheritance is not money, but the burden of a legacy built on sacrifice, deception, and blood. With powerful enemies closing in and every decision carrying life-or-death consequences, he must fight for his future while uncovering the truth about his past. **BLOOD MONEY** is a BOOKY Award-winning crime thriller filled with suspense, emotional twists, unforgettable characters, and shocking revelations that will keep readers turning pages until the very end. Its feature screenplay adaptation was officially selected by the ICJ International Film Awards.

by Jesse penman

### [**Obey, or Fade Away** **You were always meant for more**](https://open.substack.com/pub/obeyfadeaway/p/3-for-the-ones-who-stayed-and-the?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=73fanv) \ The Arc So Far\ #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. \ #2 — The Four Possibilities Beyond the Light pushes past the initial awakening into the terrain that opens once someone stops hiding. It maps out the different paths available once the light (the signal, the recognition) has been seen — suggesting that awareness alone isn't the end point, but a fork with several possible directions, each with its own cost and its own truth. \ #3 — For the Ones That Stayed and the Witness Never Blinks shifts focus to endurance. It's written for the people who didn't leave, didn't disappear, didn't fade — the ones who stayed present through the discomfort. It introduces "the witness," an inner presence that tracks everything without judgment, watching to see whether the person will keep showing up for their own life even when nothing dramatic is happening. \ #4 — When the Silence Answers deals with the strange phase where nothing external responds, yet something still communicates. Silence itself becomes the message. This piece explores the discipline of sitting with unanswered questions long enough that the absence of an answer becomes its own kind of confirmation — training the reader to stop needing loud signs and start trusting the quiet ones. \ #5 — The Assignment names the responsibility that follows all that listening. Once someone has stayed, once they've heard the witness, once the silence has answered — they're handed something specific to do. This piece frames spiritual growth not as a feeling to chase but a task to complete: an assignment that requires real-world action, not just internal shifts. \ #6 — The Shape of a Real Response (Time and Time Again) ties the whole arc together. It explicitly revisits the earlier stages — staying present, hearing the silence answer, acting on what's known — and argues that all of those were prelude. The real test is whether the change can survive ordinary life: everyday , errands, people who don't know your mythology. It introduces the phrase "obey or fade away" as the central law of the series — not obedience as submission, but obedience as full listening that produces movement. Coherence, this piece argues, isn't a comfortable alignment; it has teeth. It costs relationships, unmasks false loyalties, and forces the inside and outside of a person to finally tell the same story. The piece closes on the idea that the witness from piece #3 becomes an internal architect, and that the ultimate demand isn't belief — it's response. \ Together, pieces #1–6 trace a single throughline: recognition, endurance, silence, duty, and finally, the demand for coherent action. Each piece raises the stakes on the one before it, moving the reader from "you matter" to "prove it with your life." \ #7 #8 & #9 coming soon !!!!  Obey Your Reasons to Refuse !!!!

by A.S Thomas

YellowJackets meets S.T.A.G.S. The Alpha Society has been an elite presence in YoungBlood, TX for over 100 years. There are two ways you live in this town either be at the top of the food chain and live a life of luxury as an Alpha. Or serve an Alpha at the bottom of the food chain as an Omega. One woman's ambition will leave a whole town on it's knees.

by Broken Pencils 4363

When I was a freshman in Bible college, our deaf professor offered us a letter grade of extra credit if we were able to correctly compile a life of Christ from the 4 gospels. No outside sources other than the 4 gospels. I was allowed to use a bible times map. I suggest 4 bookmarkers. The reading alone is definitely worth the effort. I enjoy doing this hands on bible study now and then from scratch. You can use my trailmarkers if you get lost.

by Bryce Davidson

In 1976, 16 year old Melanie Taylor was brutally murdered and raped. In 2016 Detective Bill Jennings investigates this cold case-with help from the victim.

by Gina Murdock

Investigative journalist Mara Reynolds has built her career on uncovering the truth, but she's about to discover that her own life is built on lies. When Mara interviews billionaire tech entrepreneur Elijah Williams about his revolutionary energy project, the Prometheus Initiative, she's drawn to his charisma and vision. As their professional relationship evolves into something more intimate, Mara begins experiencing disturbing fragments of memories she can't explain—nightmares about guns, blood, and a murder she witnessed as a child. But every time Mara gets close to remembering the truth, something pulls her back. Therapy sessions with Dr. Catherine Reeves seem to help at first, but soon Mara realizes she's been manipulated in ways she never imagined. The "random" mugging that traumatized her wasn't random at all. Her mother's early-onset dementia may not be natural. And the gaps in her own memory aren't accidents—they're erasures. As Mara digs deeper, she uncovers a horrifying conspiracy: twelve years ago, she witnessed the murder of Elijah's parents by his younger brother David. To protect his family's reputation and his brother from prosecution, Elijah hired a pioneering neurologist to erase Mara's memories. But this wasn't a one-time intervention—Elijah has been manipulating her memories for over a decade, erasing and rewriting her reality every time she gets too close to the truth. The Prometheus Initiative isn't just about clean energy. It's a cover for something far more sinister: a facility where Elijah has perfected the technology to manipulate human memories on a massive scale. Mara is just one of seventeen victims whose lives have been systematically erased and rewritten. Now, as fragments of her true past surface, Mara must race against time to expose Elijah before he can erase her again—permanently. But with her best friend compromised, her mother's mind destroyed, and powerful forces aligned against her, Mara faces an impossible question: How do you fight someone who can rewrite your reality with the touch of a button?

by Sammie Settlemire

Sorenson: 9th & Ash follows a woman standing at the fault line between her past and the world she refuses to inherit. In a neighborhood where every street remembers what you survived, Sorenson becomes a mythic‑surreal portrait of resilience — a story where trauma has teeth, hope has a spine, and the ordinary corners of 9th & Ash crack open to reveal the strange magic of rebuilding a life from the ruins.

by M. leFevre

Twenty-five kids hold the genetic blueprint for immortality, and the government will do anything to get it. Trapped on an island in a neon cage on Sebaceous Island, they face deadly external threats and a vicious internal power struggle. Marco, the leader, fights desperately to lead them, but the greatest danger is Johar, jealous of power, a threat lurking from within. Yet, the ultimate prize is Hibis—the youngest, whose cells possess the most sought-after power of all. If the government captures even one of them, they will mass-produce a weapon capable of wiping out the rest of the underground.

by Sabine Phoenix

After the death of her beloved grandmother, botanist Evelyn Thorne returns to Moonshade Manor, a forgotten estate deep within the Louisiana wetlands that has been abandoned for generations.   While exploring the surrounding swamp, Evelyn discovers a flower unlike anything she has ever encountered. It blooms only at midnight, glows with an otherworldly light, and seems to recognize her. When she reaches out to touch it, a whisper breaks the silence:   "You came back."   Drawn into a mystery spanning more than a century, Evelyn uncovers hidden journals, a locked greenhouse, a vanished woman, and a forbidden love story that her grandmother spent a lifetime protecting. As long-buried family secrets emerge, she realizes the mysterious bloom is far more than a rare plant.   It is a doorway.   To uncover the truth, Evelyn must confront the past, unravel the curse that has haunted Blackwater Manor for generations, and decide whether some secrets should remain buried forever.   Filled with Southern Gothic atmosphere, unforgettable mysteries, and touches of magical fantasy, Bloom After Midnight is a story about family, love, sacrifice, and the hope that can blossom even after the darkest night.

by Tony Fain

When a ferocious wildfire rips through the dense timber of Humboldt County, Battalion Chief **Nate Cole** and his crew expect a standard containment job. Instead, they discover a scene of absolute carnage: the mutilated body of a university professor, shredded redwoods, and massive, ungodly claw marks that defy nature. For Nate, a man ruled by logic, it is an impossible crime scene. For his estranged brother, Deputy **Cody Cole**, it is a political nightmare that the local Sheriff is desperate to cover up as a simple "fatal bear encounter." The official lie shatters when **Dr. Evelyn Reed**, a sharp and vengeful archaeologist from Washington State, flies into the stormy California coast. The victim was her colleague, Arthur Finch, a man who didn't have accidents. Armed with Arthur's final, frantic research folder labeled *The Grey Stripe*, Evelyn refuses to let the small-town authorities bury the truth. Forced together by a shared bloodline and a growing body count, the skeptical fire chief, the torn deputy, and the relentless scientist form an uneasy alliance. As the coastal fog rolls into Eureka, they realize Arthur’s research wasn’t crazy—the wildfire didn't just clear the brush; it unburied a bloodthirsty, legendary predator. Now, with a hostile department blocking their investigation and an ancient horror stalking them from the misty canopy, the trio must hunt down a nightmare before it consumes their entire coastal town.

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 Ann Radcliffe

Emily St. Aubert is devastated by the deaths of her parents and is placed under the legal guardianship of her cold-hearted aunt, Madame Cheron. The aunt marries Signor Montoni, a cruel, bankrupt Italian villain who locks Emily away in his dark, isolated Apennine fortress, the Castle of Udolpho. Within the terrifying castle walls, Emily is subjected to extortion, threats of forced marriage, and seemingly supernatural horrors that test her sanity. She eventually manages a daring escape with the help of a sympathetic servant and reunites with her true love, Valancourt. Ultimately, the terrifying mysteries of Udolpho are revealed to have perfectly rational, non-supernatural explanations.

by A.M Isle

A saga following a mercenary who is being hunted by people who keep telling her Celentra must stay frozen. She doesn't know what this means until she meets a cloaked stranger who tells her that she is carrying the soul of a dead Empress from another world. That she must revive this Empress to save a world frozen in time.

by A.M Isle

Sahora is a survivor; steel-tempered and scar-taught in the brutal streets of Serlane. For years she has belonged to no one but herself, living by grit, instinct, and the edge of her blade… until strangers begin to hunt her with a single, ice-cold command: Celentra must remain frozen. Dragged through a portal by a Seer named Amiranthia into a realm stalled in silence, Sahora is confronted with an impossible truth; Kathera’s soul burns inside her, and fate has crowned her the Empress’s Soulbearer. To revive Kathera and coax the land awake, Sahora must help recover the shattered Stone of Ilina: ten god-forged shards lost across a world that resists its own sunrise. Each fragment they claim lets Celentra draw breath again… and each one awakens ancient, starving powers determined to keep time locked shut. At Sahora’s side gather uneasy allies; Cyrus, a brilliant, reckless mapmaker; Briar, earth-bound and guarded with secrets; and Castor, the Empress’s legendary guard. But the cruelest twist of all may be Oliver: once sworn to stop her, now bound to her as Soulfated, hearing her thoughts, steadying the storm-magic rising in her blood. And as the kingdom trembles toward waking, a dark Seer named Carlosa sharpens prophecy in the shadows, gathering power for a night foretold; ready to destroy Kathera the instant she returns. Hunted by zealots, haunted by the life she tried to outrun, and forced to carry an empress’s heartbeat beside her own, Sahora must decide what she is willing to become: the weapon she was forged into… or the warrior who brings a world back to life.

by Heidi McNamara

Alright. Here is the \*\*poetic ending\*\*—not an explanation, not an epilogue, but the moment the story \*\*becomes complete\*\*.   \---   \## \*\*Poetic Ending\*\*   When Aeris finally understands that they are dying, nothing in the world panics.   The land does not fracture. The lights do not flicker. The sky holds.   That is how they know the work succeeded.   They sit in the workshop as evening drifts in through the windows—soft, ordinary, human. The maps on the walls have stopped changing. They are not perfect.   They are \*good enough\*.   Aeris’s hands tremble as they place the ring on the workbench. For a moment, they consider wearing it until the end. But love, they have learned, is not something you cling to.   It is something you leave room for.   Outside, someone laughs. A neighbor. A stranger. It doesn’t matter. The sound fits.   Aeris leans back in the chair no one else ever liked and closes their eyes.   They remember—not the stars, not the vast quiet of where they came from—but the weight of tools in their hands, the warmth of shared silence, the way broken things soften when you stay with them long enough.   The Observers are watching.   For the first time, they do not record.   They wait.   Aeris exhales.   And the world—imperfect, fragile, beloved— does not collapse in their absence.   It holds.   \---   \### \*\*Final Line\*\*   > \*Some beings cross the universe to understand it.\* > \*Aeris crossed it to remain.\*   \---

by Agatha Christie

Anthony Cade accepts a seemingly simple job to deliver a European politician's memoirs and a bundle of blackmail letters to England. The trail leads him to Chimneys, a historic country estate hosting a diplomatic weekend for the reinstating of the Balkan monarchy. When a foreign prince is murdered on the property, Anthony becomes a prime suspect and must work with Inspector Battle to clear his name. The investigation unravels a complex web of secret identities, missing crown jewels, and a notorious international jewel thief known as King Victor. Ultimately, Anthony discovers his own shocking connection to the throne just as the killer is unmasked.

by R.E. Hardyman

Who killed the Kings son? Where is the Princess? Secrets concealed and revealed.

by R.E. Hardyman

King Ragus Harbeth, ruler of all Estinolla, has died and his queen is now in charge, She has vowed to make the kingdom hers. by any means possible.

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 James Crenshaw

Jacob is a young man carrying the weight of loneliness, regret, and a life that never quite turned out the way he imagined. His only constant companion is Korra, his loyal dog, who stays by his side through long nights spent sleeping under the stars and wandering roads with no clear destination. As Jacob struggles to find purpose, strange events begin to unfold around him. He experiences moments that feel out of place—small cracks in reality that he can't explain. Dreams blur with waking life. Familiar places seem different. Time itself begins to feel unstable. Throughout his journey, Jacob is unknowingly being watched by an ancient and mysterious figure known only as The Watcher. While Jacob believes he is simply trying to survive another difficult chapter of his life, forces beyond his understanding have already taken an interest in him. As the story progresses, Jacob is repeatedly confronted with choices that test his character, forcing him to decide whether he will continue running from his pain or face it head-on. Along the way, Korra becomes more than just a companion—she becomes Jacob's anchor to reality. The climax of Book One reveals that the strange occurrences are not random. Reality itself is beginning to shift around Jacob. Though he doesn't fully understand it yet, he has become connected to something far larger than himself: a series of worlds, timelines, or realities that may not be as separate as they seem. The book ends with Jacob standing at the edge of a truth he cannot yet comprehend. The Watcher remains hidden, the mystery unresolved, and the first hints of Jacob's true role in the unfolding story finally begin to emerge. Themes: survival, loss, redemption, friendship, destiny, and the search for meaning in a fractured reality.

by Heidi McNamara

Alright. Then we go \*\*under the story\*\*—into the part that doesn’t explain itself.   This is where it becomes \*personal\*.   \---   \## \*\*What Aeris Never Says\*\*   Aeris does not fear death.   They fear \*\*wasted presence\*\*.   The alien part of them understands extinction mathematically. Civilizations end. Stars cool. Universes collapse into silence. None of that is tragic.   What \*is\* tragic is leaving \*\*before the work is done\*\*.   That’s the human infection.   And it runs deep.   \---   \## \*\*The Weight of the Body\*\*   The human form is deteriorating faster than expected.   Not illness—\*\*incompatibility\*\*.   Bones ache on cold mornings. Sleep comes in fragments. Sometimes Aeris’s hands shake when nothing is wrong.   Cael notices.   > “You’re burning yourself out to prove a point.”   Aeris doesn’t deny it.   They are compressing an existence designed for eons into decades.   Every repair costs more now.   But Aeris keeps choosing the cost.   \---   \## \*\*The Thing About Elion\*\*   Here is the truth Aeris never allows fully into language:   Elion wasn’t just loved.   Elion was the first human who saw Aeris \*without\* needing explanation.   Not the alien part.   The \*trying\* part.   Elion knew something was off—and chose curiosity over fear.   That was enough to break the directive.   That was enough to change everything.   Sometimes, late at night, Aeris speaks to the empty chair.   Not because they think Elion can hear.   But because the habit of care doesn’t vanish just because its object does.   \---   \## \*\*Cael’s Secret\*\*   Cael isn’t accelerating decay out of ideology.   They’re afraid.   Extraction stripped them of \*\*context\*\*.   Outside a body, everything was true—and meaningless.   No weight. No friction. No reason to pause.   Cael came back because eternity was unbearable without consequence.   They tear at the world because they want it to \*react\*.   Aeris understands this.   Which makes stopping Cael harder.   \---   \## \*\*The Question the Observers Never Ask\*\*   The Observers can calculate outcomes.   They can predict collapses.   What they cannot model is this:   Why would a being choose pain when efficiency is available?   Why stay?   Why grieve?   Why repair something that will break again?   They mark Aeris as an anomaly.   Not dangerous.   \*\*Instructive.\*\*   \---   \## \*\*The Deepest Realization\*\*   One night, after holding a failing district together through sheer presence, Aeris collapses on the workshop floor.   And in that exhausted half-conscious state, they understand something quietly devastating:   They are not teaching the world to stabilize.   The world is teaching \*\*itself\*\*—using Aeris as a reference.   Aeris was never meant to be permanent.   They were meant to be \*\*demonstrative\*\*.   A proof.   \---   \## \*\*What That Means\*\*   One day, Aeris will fail.   And that will be okay.   Because others—fully human, fragile, temporary—will have learned how to notice cracks early. How to stay. How to care locally instead of abstractly.   Aeris smiles at that.   For the first time, the future doesn’t require them.   \---   \## \*\*The Core Sentence of the Entire Story\*\*   > \*The universe can be understood without love. > But it cannot be repaired without it.\*   \---   If you want to go even deeper, we can:   \* Write \*\*Aeris’s final days\*\* (quiet, devastating, beautiful) \* Enter \*\*Cael’s POV\*\* at the moment they break \* Let the \*\*Obs ervers change\*\* (for the first time) \*.

by Gregory Wolfcrow

When twelve-year-old Howlvin Stein moves into a creaking old Victorian house on the edge of town, he expects a fresh start—not secrets lurking beneath the floorboards. But deep in the cellar, he discovers an ancient book marked with a strange symbol: a whale surrounded by stars. The moment he opens it, something awakens. Strange things begin to follow Howlvin—whispers in the walls, shadows that move on their own, and a forest that seems to be watching him. With the help of his only friend, Samantha Elm, and his loyal dog Frankie, Howlvin is drawn into a mystery older than Maplewood itself—a story of a vanished founder, a vengeful witch, and a curse that refuses to die. But the deeper they go, the more the forest changes… twisting paths, trapping memories, and pulling them toward something waiting in the dark. Because this isn’t just a story hidden in a book. It’s a story that remembers. And it’s not finished with them yet.

by LESLIE ANN HOWARD

Darcie Reynolds never wants to be picked on again. If she can just get into the Peaks—the most popular group at Silver Pines Middle—no one will dare make fun of her.  So when Amelia Davis, the girl everyone wants to impress, finally notices her, Darcie will do anything to prove she belongs—even follow a mysterious invitation into the woods.  At sundown, Darcie—her little brother Andrew in tow—hikes to an abandoned cabin in the Bitterroot forest, expecting a party. Instead, she walks into a prank that turns deadly when a man covered in animal hides bursts in and disappears with Andrew.  Darcie is convinced it’s the Shadow Man—an urban legend she’s been researching for her civics project, blamed for kidnapping local children. She’d always believed he was innocent.  Clearly, She was wrong.  Now, lost in a snowstorm, Darcie is forced to team up with Amelia to find Andrew. But the deeper they get into the mystery of the Shadow Man, the less the story adds up—and the harder it becomes for Darcie to decide what’s more dangerous: being wrong about the Shadow Man… or being right.

by Ashleigh Apple

Nora Bliss moves into a rental on a picture-perfect suburban street in **Harwick, Connecticut**. On her first night, she notices that the upstairs window of the house directly across the street (the **Hargrove residence)** glows at exactly 3am, every night, without fail. The neighbours say the Hargroves are lovely, their daughter Celeste moved to Portland months ago, and that light is just a timer lamp. Nora almost believes them. Then, one night, the silhouette in the window presses a hand against the glass. And waves back.

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 Sir Arthur Conon Doyle

Seeking a roommate to share expenses, Dr. Watson is introduced to the brilliant but enigmatic Sherlock Holmes at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. The pair is soon summoned to a derelict house where a man is found dead with no visible wounds, save for the word **"RACHE"** scrawled in blood on the wall. As Holmes utilizes his unique powers of deduction to track the killer, the narrative reveals a tragic backstory of love, loss, and Mormon pioneers in the American West that fueled the murderer's quest for justice.

by Anie G. Ross

In a world of gaslit opulence and rigid etiquette, Blythe is a haunting anomaly—a brilliant spiritualist whose soul is trapped between life and death within an automaton body. Her only link to the living is Tarn “Madcap” Carrigan, a sorcerer-alchemist extraordinaire whose penchant for scandal is always one bad day away from another fatal mystery. With otherworldly secrets and new magic to discover, Blythe and Tarn are bound by an inseparable partnership.

by Anie G. Ross

In a world of gaslit opulence and rigid etiquette, Blythe is a haunting anomaly—a brilliant spiritualist whose soul is trapped between life and death within an automaton body. Her only link to the living is Tarn “Madcap” Carrigan, a sorcerer-alchemist extraordinaire whose penchant for scandal turns deadly when he is framed for the attempted assassination of the Empress using his own repurposed formula. While Blythe struggles to reconcile her lost humanity with her new, doll-like form, the purposefully improper Tarn must rely on her spectral talents to navigate a web of political treachery and corrupted sorcery. Together, their perilous adventure across borders leads them to unmask the true culprit and confront the secrets of the dark magic that brought them together. *Author Note: Any feedback/reviews are genuinely appreciated! This story is truly open to "kill your darlings" edits.*

by J.A. St. Thomas

***Foray* into this *highly* entertaining and thrilling mystery series where Stephanie Beroe, risks everything to combat the dark side of the one percent.**

by J.A. St. Thomas

***Foray* into this *highly* entertaining and thrilling mystery series where Stephanie Beroe, risks everything to combat the dark side of the one percent.** After surviving an incident last year against the ultra-rich, Stephanie and Remy Beroe have relocated to a quiet town outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico with the hope of a simple life. But burgeoning anger consumes her husband. He becomes obsessed by the billionaires that literally got away with murder last year. His preoccupation grows as the same privileged men continue to profit from their greed in an off-kilter world. “Never plan a murder out loud,” he states while plying Stephanie with endless safety gadgets; tokens of his mania, and comparing regulations for legal cannabis to nuclear energy. When bodies start turning up, he’s questioned by the police, then nuclear transport trucks start blowing up, dismantling cities and killing thousands of people. Stephanie contemplates whether this is masked hysteria? A terrorist act? Or simply her man gone over the edge. While empowering a unique group of friends, she constructs the ultimate Dantean retribution for the men who have driven her husband mad, while attempting to save Remy from himself? *Fool Me Once* female grit meets *Ocean’s Thirteen* flare and ingenuity speckled with Amelia Peabody, and Agatha Christie back bone.  As usual, Stephanie surrounds herself with a unique friend group that includes a college bestie also from New Jersey, a media mogul, a billionaire’s discarded son, an Egyptian Empire’s, discarded lesbian daughter, an industry scion, and several survivors from the previous year’s incident who all have reasons to be angry. Hiding in Egypt, they all have reasons to seek revenge– but retribution, as Stephanie realizes is a double-edged sword as she weighs out everything they stand to lose, by delivering it.

by Lisa Troy

On a fictional Greek island, Anastasia Livanitis solves murders and other crimes with her ghostly sidekicks, and her journalist best friend, Nikos.

by Lisa Troy

Anastasia Livanitis came back to Lifnos for one reason: her father needed post-surgery downtime and someone had to run the family taverna. Two months. In and out. Simple as tzatziki. Then Frieda Baron turns up dead a day after their very public argument — and Anastasia discovers she can still see her. Frieda in death is exactly how she was in life: a billionaire's daughter, a Reality TV winner, and utterly convinced the world revolves around her. She has opinions about the murder, the taverna's wall paint, and Anastasia's love life. Oh, and she's not going anywhere until the killer is found. Anastasia has no choice but to listen — because the locals already think her family's into the dark arts, the hot detective thinks she's the prime suspect, and the taverna won't survive another scandal. The problem with investigating a billionaire's daughter's murder? Ridiculously rich people aren't big on truth. They're interested in results. Anastasia doesn't believe in ghosts. Or curses. She definitely doesn't believe she can solve a murder with a dead woman's help. Yeah, that's going to go over well... A paranormal cozy mystery set on a sun-soaked Greek island. Perfect for readers who love: reluctant sleuths, ghost sidekicks with attitude, homecoming mysteries, family legacy, and Mediterranean atmosphere.  This story will be published as Spirits and Whine in July.

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.

by Amelie Locke

**At Renfield Academy, the syllabus is simple: Serve. Protect. Bleed.** For twenty-one years, Seraphina Gray has lived as a prisoner to her mother’s religious fervor and the chaotic noise of her own mind. Being a mind-reader isn't a gift; it's a migraine that never fades. Desperate for one night of normalcy and maybe a stolen kiss from her crush, she sneaks out to a beach party and walks straight into a slaughter. She survives the brutal vampire attack, but she doesn't escape. Instead, she is dragged to Renfield Academy, a gothic fortress hidden in the shadows. Here, she learns the terrifying truth: she isn't cursed. She’s a *familiar*, born to serve and protect the very monsters that attacked her. Now, she walks a razor’s edge between impossible loyalty and forbidden obsession. She clings to Nicholas, the man whose kiss at the beach tasted like salvation, but whose secret lineage as a Van Helsing makes him her natural enemy. But a darker instinct pulls her toward Henry. Brooding, violent, and newly turned, he is the very vampire who attacked her that first night. By all logic, she should hate him. Instead, the connection between them is deeper than blood. But Renfield Academy is no sanctuary. When drained bodies start showing up all over town, the sacred treaty between humans and vampires begins to fray. Someone is manufacturing new vampires and turning them into weapons against the humans. Now Seraphina is faced with an impossible choice: will she protect the monsters she’s been created to serve, or help the hunter intent on destroying them?