Big City

When the world turns its back on you, sometimes the greatest love comes from the one who never leaves your side. Once, Martha had a home, a family, and a life filled with love and purpose. But time, loss, and circumstances beyond her control have stripped away nearly everything she once held dear. Now elderly and homeless, Martha struggles to survive on the unforgiving streets of a bustling city, where the bitter winds of winter cut through her worn clothing and the indifference of strangers hurts almost as deeply as the cold. Yet Martha is not entirely alone. Beside her is Shadow, her loyal dog, faithful companion, and the last living connection to a life that seems impossibly far away. While the world rushes past without noticing them, Shadow offers something money cannot buy: unconditional love, unwavering devotion, and a reason for Martha to face another day. Together, they endure freezing nights, gnawing hunger, exhaustion, and the constant uncertainty of where they will find their next meal or a safe place to sleep. Every day becomes a battle for survival, and every small act of kindness becomes a precious reminder that compassion still exists. But as winter tightens its icy grip, Shadow begins to fail. Faced with the heartbreaking possibility of losing the one soul who has never abandoned her, Martha must confront the loneliness, grief, and memories she has fought so desperately to endure. With her beloved companion's strength fading, she discovers that sometimes the hardest part of loving someone is knowing that goodbye may be drawing near. Echoes of Solitude: A Final Goodbye in the Cold is a deeply moving story of devotion, loss, aging, homelessness, and the extraordinary bond between a woman and her dog. It shines a light on those society too often overlooks and reminds us that love does not disappear when comfort, security, and possessions are gone. A poignant, heartbreaking tale about the dignity of the forgotten, the power of compassion, and a love that even the coldest winter cannot erase. For readers who believe that family sometimes has four paws, and that no life should ever be forgotten.

*He wears the mask. She wears the badge.* Rookie detective Marcene "McGee" Summers didn't ask for the case nobody wanted — but it's hers now. A killer in a Guy Fawkes mask is staging clean, ritual murders across the city, and every victim has one thing in common: they hurt people the system couldn't touch. Abusers who walked. Predators who paid their way out. Every crime scene is a verdict, and the city is starting to read them like headlines. They call him Fauwks. He calls her... Marcene. As the body count climbs, McGee finds herself hunting a ghost who seems to know her better than she knows herself — a killer who anticipates her every move, who leaves her messages only she would understand. And all the while, she's falling for Thomas: charming, attentive, always there in all the right places at all the right times. The closer she gets to the mask, the thinner the line becomes — between hunter and hunted, between justice and vengeance, between the badge she swore to wear and the truth she's afraid to face. A thriller about the hunt, the mask, and the detective who got too close.

# TWIN PEAKS TWINK THROUPLE TROUBLES *An Ethically Sourced Romantic Disaster* Love is complicated. Love in San Francisco is expensive. And love in a throuple where everyone has a sustainability manifesto is a full-blown municipal emergency. Meet Gaius, Auberge, and Ruslan: three men, one relationship, and absolutely no ability to let anything go. A questionable avocado becomes an ethical crisis. A twenty-third birthday requires a memorial service for lost cheekbones. Fine lines are diagnosed as Stage Four Crow’s Feet. A prescription medication triggers an existential reckoning with the porcine industrial complex. And meeting the parents? That means navigating Sedona crystal evangelists, Russian borscht diplomacy, and a Texas barbecue patriarch whose Republican politics nearly bring the entire relationship to its knees. Naturally, the solution to every problem is a conference, a committee, or a resolution circle nobody asked for. But when these three attempt to plan a wedding that is emotionally sustainable, ethically sourced, and liberated from the wedding-industrial complex, they discover that even true love has its limits—and that sometimes the most radical act of all is eating the damn cake. Set amid the fog, fabulousness, and occasional existential collapse of San Francisco’s Twin Peaks, *Twin Peaks Twink Throuple Troubles* is a wildly camp, gloriously absurd comedy about queer love, performative virtue, family dysfunction, and the exhausting business of trying to be a good person in a world where even your sandwich might have questionable origins. **Three men. One throuple. Zero ethically uncomplicated avocados.** Some relationships need couples therapy. These three need a city permit.

The new Nashville is big, shiny and fun. It's called Nashvegas for a reason. Thousands of tourists, and their money, descend on downtown and Broadway every night. Big money brings big opportunities, for everyone, but there is a dark side to the party buses, rooftop bars and bachelorette parties. The underbelly of Music City has always been cold, harsh and unforgiving. It's a barren wasteland of heartbreak, crushed dreams and unanswered prayers. The men of the old Gulf Coast Dixie Mafia have died out. In their place has risen a new type of southern criminal organization and they have made the Athens of the South their home. Young, sophisticated and savvy. They are entrenched like a malignant tumor, preying on innocent, gullible tourists and their families back home. Kidnapping, ransoms, trafficking, drugs and murder. 'Southern Gotham' is a dark story of the not so pretty world of Country Music USA and one woman's crusade to bring down the new Dixie Mafia.

Set against the polished backdrops of San Francisco, Carmel, Napa Valley, and Paris, *Bound to Both* is a sophisticated LGBTQ+ romantic drama and comedy that explores the quiet dissolution of a long-term marriage and the unexpected awakening of a second chance at happiness. Forty-two-year-old Jonathan Stern has built his life around routine, financial security, and the increasingly cold silence of his marriage to Elliott, a celebrity chef whose restaurant empire and Napa expansion have consumed his entire existence.When Jonathan's friend Michael introduces Martin—a broke, sharp-tongued French-Canadian artist with zero filter and a lifelong dream of seeing Paris—he is reluctantly pulled into Jonathan's spare bedroom as a temporary houseguest. What starts as an awkward living arrangement slowly thaws during a chaotic trip to Carmel and an unforgettable, dream-fulfilling week in Paris, where Jonathan watches Martin experience the world with a raw, joyful authenticity that he hasn't felt in a decade. But as Jonathan's feelings for Martin deepen, the boundaries of his marriage are pushed to a breaking point—culminating in a disastrous misunderstanding, an explosive confrontation, and a sudden UCSF hospital call revealing that Elliott is battling multiple myeloma. In the wake of a life-threatening diagnosis, long-hidden secrets about Elliott's infidelity come to light, forcing Jonathan to confront the reality of his past. Bound together by an unexpected and extraordinary medical sacrifice—and a frantic,classic rom-com dash through San Francisco International Airport—*Bound to Both* is a witty, emotionally grounded story about letting go of what has already faded and finally choosing a life on your own terms.

Juniper Reyes has a type: emotionally complicated men, questionable romantic decisions, and people whose birth charts suggest they should come with a warning label. But even Juniper’s deeply opinionated polycule, The Sanctuary, has its limits. Enter Reggie Vale: devastatingly handsome tech billionaire, human tax bracket, and an Aries. Their meet-cute involves lavender matcha, a ruined designer coat, and enough astrological hostility to trigger a collective emergency meeting. The Sanctuary is unanimous: absolutely not. Unfortunately, Reggie is persistent, Juniper is intrigued, and the chemistry between them is considerably harder to explain away than Mercury retrograde. Soon, Juniper finds himself swept into a world of private jets, extravagant surprises, and a billionaire who might actually be capable of loving someone beyond his own reflection. But falling for Reggie means navigating the friction between Juniper’s chosen family and a man whose idea of solving a problem involves throwing money at it. As the relationship deepens, everyone must confront uncomfortable questions about intimacy, independence, commitment, and whether an Aries can ever truly be trusted. Featuring a gloriously chaotic polycule, an emotionally indispensable lemur, billionaire excess, and enough astrology to make an entire zodiac wheel reconsider its life choices, *My Polycule Hates My Billionaire Boyfriend Because He’s an Aries* is a wildly funny romantic comedy about unconventional relationships, chosen family, and discovering that sometimes love refuses to follow the rules—even the ones written in the stars. Because the universe works in mysterious ways. And apparently, sometimes those ways involve a private island.

Featuring a spiritually exhausted Pisces, an infuriatingly attractive spy, international chaos, weaponized emotional unavailability, and enough questionable relationship decisions to concern several intelligence agencies, *OMG My Super Secretive Boyfriend Might Be a Spy… I Think* is an absurdist romantic comedy about love, lies, and discovering that sometimes the biggest red flag isn't that your boyfriend might be a spy.

**Every secret has a price. Every lie leaves a trail.** In New Orleans, secrets are currency. And some are worth killing to protect. When a powerful French Quarter madam is found murdered, Detective Jon Shaw is assigned what initially appears to be a robbery gone wrong. But something about the crime scene doesn't add up. There are no signs of forced entry. No evidence of a struggle. And the one thing missing is far more valuable than money—a digital ledger containing the darkest secrets of some of the city's most influential people. As Shaw digs deeper, he discovers that the victim's connections reach into places where money buys influence, loyalty comes at a price, and the truth is carefully buried. What begins as a straightforward homicide investigation quickly becomes a dangerous search for a missing ledger. Witnesses are afraid to talk. Powerful figures have everything to lose. And someone is determined to stay one step ahead of Shaw. Every new discovery raises more questions. Every lead brings him closer to people who have spent years protecting their secrets. As the danger escalates, Shaw realizes he's not simply investigating a murder—he's threatening to expose a network built on deception, corruption, and fear. But the people behind the killing have survived by making problems disappear. And Detective Jon Shaw has just become their biggest problem. Set against the rain-soaked streets, historic neighborhoods, and shadowy corners of New Orleans, **Nothing Stays Hidden** is a gripping crime thriller packed with suspense, betrayal, and deadly secrets. **Because in New Orleans, the truth doesn't stay buried forever.**

Hospital monitors beep steadily as federal agents whisper outside the door, waiting for Jeremy Ryan to flatline. But before the silence claims him, his entire defiant existence surges back into focus.   Born into severe rural neglect and subjected to horrific medical abuse under Munchausen by proxy, Jeremy refused to be caged. Breaking free from small-town Wisconsin's psychiatric wards, he fled south into the mid-2000s criminal underworld of Detroit's notorious Cass Corridor. Adopting the street handle Fuzzbuster, Jeremy moved weight, outmaneuvered rival operators, and found a fierce, grounded love in Dominique.   Even as an aggressive cancer diagnosis and punishing radiation threatened his body, Jeremy refused to yield to weakness or fear. But survival in Detroit demands blood. When a fatal neighborhood ambush tears his world apart, claiming Dominique and their unborn child, Jeremy is catapulted into agonizing grief, exile, and a profound psychedelic rebirth.   Origins of a Demon is an unfiltered, heart-pounding journey through institutional violence, organized crime, and relentless personal resilience. Discover what happens when a corrupt system tries to break a man—and creates a demon instead.

After years of living in the shadows as a cold, methodical operative known only as "the Ghost," Corbin relies on extreme isolation, precision, and zero human attachments to stay invisible and survive. His rigid routine breaks when his neighbor, Samantha, knocks on his door asking for food after her power is shut off. Despite his instinct to remain detached, Corbin opens his door, feeds her, and eventually offers her a place to stay on his couch. As she gradually brings warmth and normalcy into his desolate life, Corbin finds himself genuinely caring for her safety and well-being. Simultaneously, Corbin takes on a contract targeting Daniel Mercer, a corporate CFO with dirty books. However, his meticulous surveillance reveals that Mercer is merely a lure—and the dossier he was given contains deliberate lies. A secondary operative, "the Observer," has been positioned nearby not to take out Mercer, but to eliminate Corbin the moment the hit is complete. Corbin turns the tables, ambushing and capturing the Observer. Before sending the operative to his death in a disused furnace, Corbin learns that both contracts were orchestrated through a shadowy broker named Vance. Corbin discovers that Vance and his network have been tracking him for eight months—and worse, they have documented Samantha as well. When a photograph of Corbin and Samantha taken that very morning is left inside his locked apartment, Corbin realizes his home and the woman he cares about are directly compromised.

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.

Darian Whitmore is the Alpha of the Silvercrest Pack and CEO for Whitmore Terra Acquisitions, the corporate facade that handles all of the Pack’s financial and territorial needs. When human financial analyst, Theresa “Tess” Beaumont comes in for a financial audit of his company, the life of cool, calm, collected control that Darian once knew shatters the second the wolf screams “Mate!” Now the only thing Darian cares about is how to keep Tess there.

Victoria Armstrong is running for senate on a promise she can't keep. Something in Kins City's water finds the para gene and turns it into a death sentence, and proving it means going after the men who own the labs, the insurance companies, and the ballot. Winning means becoming the thing her wife and best friend may no longer respect, but if it keeps her alive... does it matter? October Sky reads tarot for a living and insists that's all it is. When a fourteen-year-old slips her a note about the people going missing, she lands in a vigilante crew run by a detective and starts seeing disasters her cards deliver just late enough to watch. Dannika once hunted paras for the government. She was sent to infiltrate a youth center, and now the man who runs it is helping her with her own para abilities, and she has no idea how to tell him what she came there to do. Everyone standing in their way believes they're the hero. Before it's over, one of these women will erase a mind to save a life. One will erase a nation's records to save a people. And one will ask to have her own gift taken from her. *For readers of M.L. Wang, J.D. Evans, and Krystle Matar.*

If killing a superhero were easy, everyone would do it. But for Julian Godfrey, defeating Storm Warning was far from the hardest part. What began as victory over the city's biggest hero quickly unravels into a mess, once he learns that the mysterious source of Storm Warning's power has found a new host. Charlotte Hathaway has no idea how to use her new abilities, but she won't stop trying until she destroys Julian's alter ego, Citadel. Julian should have taken her new powers from her when he had the chance, but he let her go in favor of a new plan: training her for a real fight. It's the only way to prove he didn't get lucky when he killed Storm Warning, and show the city--and the other villains--that he's a force to be reckoned with. Getting close to Charlotte comes with far more than Julian bargained for. She's the perfect hero. Determined, confident, and selfless above all else. She's even nice to him, of all people. But if Julian doesn't follow through with his plan despite his growing feelings for her, he has another force to reckon with: Blazar, the villain who raised him and taught him to use his powers. It seems that no matter what choice Julian makes, he's going to lose. And it's not just his life in danger. With its biggest hero gone, the fate of the city of New Atlas hangs in the balance.

\# \*\*“Cold Keys” (Urban Fiction Novel)\*\* \### \*\*Chapter 1 — The Delivery That Didn’t Come\*\* The city always told on you eventually.   Vance Mercer sat in the back of his black SUV, tinted glass turning streetlights into melted gold. The warehouse district was quiet in the way a room gets quiet when somebody’s about to say your name.   His phone lit up.   \*\*MARI.\*\*   He let it buzz twice before answering. “Where’s the load?”   Mari’s voice came through even and controlled. “What load.”   Vance leaned forward. “The one you promised. The one you confirmed.”   Silence—just long enough to be deliberate.   Then: “The driver called. Yard got switched.”   Vance’s knuckles tightened around his key ring. “Switched by who.”   Mari didn’t answer quickly. That hesitation was the first crack.   “Someone who had access,” she said finally.   Access meant keys. Access meant schedules. Access meant people who didn’t move like crew—people who moved like architects.   Vance looked at Calvin Price by the warehouse door. Calvin’s eyes were scanning corners like the dark owed him money.   “Wrong dock,” Vance told him, and his voice made it sound like an accusation, not a problem.   They went inside. Crates sat in formation like props waiting for a scene that never came. Vance stood in front of his whiteboard—codes, names, routes, times written in the tidy hand of a man who never trusted chaos.   He added one line in thick marker:   \*\*LOCK KEYS. COUNT AGAIN.\*\*   Calvin frowned. “So we got a rat.”   Vance shook his head. “No. We got a key.”   He called Mari again—but this time his tone wasn’t controlled. It was surgical. “Send me confirmation.”   Mari’s breath sounded close to the mic. “I can’t.”   Vance stood still. “Try.”   “I tried to keep you out of it,” Mari said softly.   “Out of it,” Vance repeated, and something in him cooled.   Then she finally gave him the place she’d rerouted everything to.   “Shaw Yard.”   Rowan Shaw—the inspector who smiled through tragedies. The man with clean hands and a habit of appearing just after the city decided to look away.   Vance ended the call.   He handed Calvin a burner phone and a jammer like opening the first trap. “Dre needs eyes. Now.”   Calvin hesitated. “You think Dre—”   “I don’t think,” Vance said. “I test.”   He left Mari close enough to watch and far enough to breathe. If she was betraying him, Vance wanted to see the moment her story broke from reality.   Outside, the city’s bass thumped somewhere down the block. A siren rose in the distance, then faded, then rose again—like the night was counting down.   That’s when Vance understood the betrayal wasn’t just personal.   It was structural.   Someone had rewritten the system from the inside, and Vance was the signature on the wrong page.   \---   \### \*\*Chapter 2 — Eyes on Shaw Yard\*\* Dre Holloway came through like a rumor—always moving, always listening, never quite landing in the same place twice.   He met Vance in a backroom of a barber shop that smelled like menthol and overheated clippers. Dre wore a fitted hoodie even in summer, like he was afraid sunlight might discover him.   “You want Shaw Yard watched,” Dre said, not asking—confirming.   Vance slid a stack of bills across the table. “I want to know who touched the schedule.”   Dre’s eyes flicked to the money and stayed on Vance. “You already know.”   Vance didn’t blink. “I know the destination. I don’t know the hand.”   Dre leaned back. “Then here’s what I can do. I can tell you what I see.”   He disappeared for an hour. Came back with silence instead of words—until he spoke.   “Lights went out,” Dre said. “Dock crew changed. Not cops. Not guards. Guys with the right calm.”   Vance frowned. “Calm like what.”   “Calm like they’ve done it before,” Dre said. “Calm like they weren’t afraid of getting caught because catching them doesn’t happen.”   Calvin, standing near the door, asked the obvious question. “So it’s a setup.”   Vance exhaled slowly. “Not necessarily.”   He tapped the table. “Shaw Yard doesn’t care about my shipment. Shaw Yard cares about my legitimacy. Someone wants me looking weak.”   Dre nodded. “You’re the one with the ‘empire.’ If you get hit publicly, the city starts believing you can be replaced.”   Vance stood. “Then we don’t let the city finish the replacement plan.”   He turned to Calvin. “Track the driver. The one who reported the yard switch. Find out who his last call was to.”   Calvin hesitated. “And Mari?”   Vance’s jaw tightened. “Mari stays close.”   Calvin’s voice lowered. “You really think she did this?”   Vance’s eyes went hard. “I think she knows more than she admits. And tonight I’m going to find the exact shape of that knowledge.”   Dre stood too, like he didn’t like being left out of consequences. “Just so you know—Shaw’s people don’t do loud. They do clean. Paperwork clean.”   Vance smiled without humor. “Good. Then we’ll beat him where he thinks he can’t bleed.”   \---   \### \*\*Chapter 3 — Mari’s Soft Threat\*\* Mari met Vance in the kind of quiet that felt staged.   Not the silence of fear—the silence of control.   They sat in a low-lit diner where the windows were thick and the menu was just a prop for people who wanted to seem normal. Mari didn’t look like a traitor. That was the problem. Traiters usually looked guilty.   Mari looked tired.   “You called me back twice,” she said. “You were waiting for me to fold.”   Vance watched her hands. Hands told the truth faster than mouths. Mari didn’t fidget. She didn’t rush. She only held her posture like she was bracing against a wave.   “What did you do?” Vance asked.   Mari sighed. “I didn’t do what you think.”   Vance leaned forward. “Then explain.”   Mari’s gaze shifted briefly toward the window—toward a reflection that wasn’t theirs. “You want the whole story now?”   “I want the part where you stopped protecting me,” Vance said.   Mari’s mouth twitched. “Protecting you doesn’t mean saving you. Sometimes it means keeping you alive long enough to choose better.”   Vance’s voice sharpened. “Choose better? Or obey better?”   Mari stared at him like she hated that he was right. “I’m in this because I made a deal.”   Vance’s stomach tightened. “With who.”   Mari’s eyes didn’t waver. “With Rowan Shaw.”   Calvin arrived then—right on cue—like the room itself had turned into a trigger. He didn’t sit. He just stood there and stared at Mari like he was deciding whether she was a human being or an equation.   “You’re lying,” Calvin said.   Mari didn’t flinch. “I’m not.”   Vance stood slowly. “Then why.”   Mari’s voice dropped. “Because Shaw offered me something you couldn’t. A way to stop the city from swallowing people we can’t replace.”   Vance laughed once. Not friendly. Not even amused. It sounded like a warning. “You think I don’t see the collateral?”   Mari leaned in. “Then you already know what Shaw is doing.”   Vance’s eyes narrowed. “Explain.”   Mari’s words came slower now, heavier. “He’s collecting names. He’s making arrests before you even move. He’s putting your people in a position where they’ll fold. And when they fold, the city will blame you.”   Vance’s mind raced through his own operation—every small inconsistency, every missing count, every “how did this get approved.”   A system didn’t break on accident.   It broke because someone in the room held the pen.   “Why reroute the load to Shaw Yard?” Vance asked.   Mari swallowed. “Because if the shipment disappears, you’ll go looking. And if you go looking, you’ll walk into a room where your choices are already decided.”   Vance looked at Calvin. “She’s trying to warn me.”   Calvin shook his head hard. “Warn you or set you up with your eyes open?”   Mari’s gaze fixed on Vance like it was a final confession. “Both can be true.”   Vance’s voice went calm. “Here’s what happens next. You tell me exactly what Shaw wants, down to the detail. And then you help me bait him.”   Mari blinked. “Bait him how.”   Vance stood over the table. “Cold keys. Hot traps.”   \---   \### \*\*Chapter 4 — Calvin’s Loyalty Test\*\* Calvin didn’t like puzzles. Calvin liked decisions.   So when Vance ordered him to find proof that Mari’s deal was real—proof beyond “she said”—Calvin moved like a man hunting a lie that had already cost someone blood.   He pulled records from a driver contact. Not official. Not legal. Calvin’s specialty was the gray area where truth got lost and then found again.   The driver—Jose “J” Ortega—had called Shaw Yard two times before the reroute. Not a crew number. Not a guard station.   A line with a blocked caller ID and a name tag in the logs: \*\*R. SHAW\*\*.   Calvin brought the printouts to Vance.   Vance didn’t look impressed. “People with blocked IDs can lie.”   Calvin slammed the pages down. “Vance. It’s his line.”   Vance stared at the paper, then at Calvin. “You sure it’s his line.”   Calvin’s throat tightened. “I’m sure.”   Vance reached for the papers and kept his voice low. “Then we have a bigger problem.”   Calvin blinked. “Which is.”   “The betrayal isn’t only inside my crew,” Vance said. “It’s inside my assumption that Mari would betray me for money. Shaw’s doing it for leverage.”   Calvin took a step back. “So what do you do.”   Vance smiled thinly. “We take away the leverage.”   He asked Dre for another set of eyes. “Watch Jose. Watch who he meets next.”   Dre returned an hour later with a new kind of dread. “Jose got picked up.”   “By who,” Vance demanded.   “Not cops,” Dre said. “Vehicles with no plates. Men who move like their bodies are trained to obey.”   Calvin’s fists clenched. “They’re removing witnesses.”   Vance nodded once. “Exactly. That means Shaw isn’t just setting a trap for my shipment.”   He looked toward the dark window like he could see across the city.   “Shaw is setting a trap for my story.”   \---   \### \*\*Chapter 5 — Hot Load, Cold Lie\*\* Vance called it a test, but he knew it was a war.   They staged a fake load—product that wasn’t meant to survive long, money that wasn’t meant to last, timing that was built to fail on purpose. The kind of plan you only run when you’re trying to draw a predator out of its den.   Mari didn’t argue. She watched. And Vance watched her watching.   At 9:07 p.m., the fake delivery rolled toward Shaw Yard.   At 9:09 p.m., the yard lights flickered like a throat clearing.   At 9:11 p.m., the shipment was “interrupted.” Not stolen. Not destroyed.   Recorded.   There were cameras. There were logs. There were witnesses who didn’t even look afraid.   Dre’s voice came through Vance’s earpiece, tight with adrenaline. “They’re letting it happen. They want it seen.”   Vance exhaled. “Because if Shaw can show it to the city, the city will believe.”   Mari whispered from beside him, the first time she sounded genuinely shaken. “Vance, you can’t outsmart a machine that writes its own evidence.”   He turned to her. “Watch me.”   Rowan Shaw arrived in a clean suit that looked like it had never touched grime. He didn’t need to raise his voice. People stepped aside for him automatically.       \---

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.

Titus Wolfe - high school music teacher by day, and DJ extraordinaire by night, becomes a wolfman. But not your typical wolfeman. Not the vicious, brutal and savage man-eating killer, but a savior. Titus's love for music is his saving grace, and also for his alter-ego wolfman. Music calms this savage beast, and along the way he meets the woman of his dreams and befriends those he saves. Romance, humor, adventure, music & dancing ensues. The ride is just beginning....

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?

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

Marian Michaels spends her nights singing in New Orleans jazz clubs and her days chasing the career she has always wanted. After witnessing a violent attack that appears to target Black residents, she finds herself frustrated by a lack of evidence and official inaction. Unwilling to let the incident go, Marian begins investigating on her own. As more attacks occur across the city, Marian adopts the masked identity of The Butterfly and follows a trail of intimidation, recruitment, and organized violence. What begins as a single assault soon points to a coordinated movement gaining influence in New Orleans. Balancing her growing music career, complicated relationships, and increasingly dangerous investigations, Marian must decide how far she is willing to go to stop it. Set in New Orleans, The Butterfly is a grounded crime drama that blends vigilante fiction, mystery, and noir with the city’s music scene and culture.

This story is about being a square and faced with survival and the hard streets living in Atlanta Ga.