Underdog
Character overcoming disadvantages to succeed
51 items found (7 series, 44 stories)

Mr boogie
by Miracle okpa
Supernatural Horror | Mystery | Psychological Thriller When 52-year-old Daniel Whitmore inherits an old house, he hopes to give his family a fresh start. But everything changes when he discovers a mysterious box of vintage film reels hidden in the attic. Playing the recordings awakens an ancient supernatural entity known as the Hush King. Soon, terrifying whispers fill the walls, strange shadows appear, and his daughter, Wren, begins communicating with an invisible friend. As Daniel investigates the house's dark history, he discovers that every family connected to the recordings has suffered a horrifying tragedy. With his wife, Claire, fighting to protect their children, Daniel must uncover his late uncle's secrets and find a way to destroy the entity before it claims Wren. But the Hush King is more powerful than they imagined, and escaping the house may not be enough. **Some evils never die. They simply find another family.**

The Turkey Who Came for Thanksgiving
by Marilyn Q
He came for Thanksgiving. He just didn't know what was on the menu! When Tucker, a plump and rather self-important turkey, arrives at a cozy little farm just before Thanksgiving, he's absolutely convinced he's the guest of honor! With his magnificent tail feathers, proud strut, and enormous opinion of himself, Tucker is certain the entire celebration is being planned in his honor. But when his new barnyard friends start acting strangely, and he discovers what Thanksgiving dinner might actually mean for a turkey, Tucker decides it's time to make a run for it! Suddenly, our brave (well, mostly brave) turkey finds himself lost in the woods, facing frightening creatures, unexpected adventures, and the realization that being on his own isn't nearly as wonderful as he imagined. Will Tucker find his way home before Thanksgiving? And will he discover that being loved is far better than being important? Filled with laughter, lovable characters, and a heartwarming surprise, The Turkey Who Came for Thanksgiving is a delightful holiday adventure about friendship, family, courage, and finding where you truly belong.

60 Million Reasons to Run
by Larry Lee Rhoton
**They came for their home. They accidentally took their $60 million.** Homer Hoskins expected a quiet retirement at the Meadow View Assisted Living Center. Instead, he finds himself staring down the barrel of an international drug cartel after a ruthless criminal syndicate evicts twenty seniors to convert their home into a smuggling hub. But the cartel made one fatal mistake: they forgot that Homer had spent forty years as a deep-cover detective. Refusing to be thrown out onto the street, Homer and a rogue crew of stubborn retirees stage a midnight heist, steal the cartel’s massive Silver Eagle touring bus, and hit the open road. Only when they are miles away do they open the luggage bay to discover six heavy duffel bags filled with sixty million dollars in cold cartel cash. Now, pursued by a frantic motorcycle gang, tracking aircraft, and a clinical executioner known as El Verdugo, this armed senior-citizen family must rely on high-voltage stun guns, a 30,000-volt electric-fence crisis, and a highly weaponized bus sewage tank to survive. To save his friends, Homer must return to the lion’s den alone and pull off the greatest, most chaotic psychological frame-up in thriller history. Packed with high-octane suspense and laugh-out-loud humor, this heartwarming road-trip thriller follows a family of misfits who prove that while aging is mandatory, backing down is entirely optional.

The Pumpkin Who Wouldn’t Say Boo
by Marilyn Q
Pip has one very important Halloween job: say “BOO!” But every time he tries, something completely different comes out. MOO! TOOT-TOOT! YEE-HAW! Even… POTATO! Pip is sure he’s the worst Halloween pumpkin ever—until he meets Lucy, a little girl who thinks Halloween is just a little too scary. Together, Pip and Lucy discover that Halloween doesn’t have to be frightening to be fun. A silly, sweet story about being yourself, finding courage, and discovering that sometimes laughter is the very best kind of Halloween magic.

Deadly Conflict Over Acheron
by Marilyn Q
**Former Navy SEAL Lieutenant Samantha “Sam” Kessler has built a life far removed from the deniable missions that once defined her. Then her former commander summons her to a clandestine compound with an assignment wrapped in secrecy: enter the war-torn nation of Kharif, extract chemical systems engineer Dr. Elias Rourke from rebel-held Dar Qamar, and recover everything connected to a black program known only as ACHERON.**\ \ **Rourke’s research was supposed to neutralize industrial toxins. Instead, someone transformed it into a fast-acting nerve agent capable of killing thousands.**\ \ **Sam knows the mission is incomplete. She also knows that refusing means another team may be sent in blind.**\ \ **So she calls the five people she trusts most—Joe Hardy, Pete Reilly, Andy “Sparky” Kauffman, Owen “Judge” Mellon, and Hannah Thompson—and asks them to step back into the world they fought to leave behind. But when they arrive, they discover Meridian Tactical Group has been preparing for their involvement long before Sam ever agreed to the mission. Someone knew exactly who she would call.**\ \ **Once inside Kharif, the mission begins to unravel.**\ \ **Their intelligence has been manipulated. Communications are compromised. Rival military factions are closing in. And the deeper Sam pushes into Dar Qamar, the clearer it becomes that extracting Rourke is only the beginning.**\ \ **Because Acheron is not merely a chemical.**\ \ **It is a program.** Long Book Description **She walked away from covert warfare four years ago. One classified name is about to drag her back in.**\ \ **Former Navy SEAL Lieutenant Samantha “Sam” Kessler has built a life far removed from the deniable missions that once defined her. Then her former commander summons her to a clandestine compound with an assignment wrapped in secrecy: enter the war-torn nation of Kharif, extract chemical systems engineer Dr. Elias Rourke from rebel-held Dar Qamar, and recover everything connected to a black program known only as ACHERON.**\ \ **Rourke’s research was supposed to neutralize industrial toxins. Instead, someone transformed it into a fast-acting nerve agent capable of killing thousands.**\ \ **Sam knows the mission is incomplete. She also knows that refusing means another team may be sent in blind.**\ \ **So she calls the five people she trusts most—Joe Hardy, Pete Reilly, Andy “Sparky” Kauffman, Owen “Judge” Mellon, and Hannah Thompson—and asks them to step back into the world they fought to leave behind. But when they arrive, they discover Meridian Tactical Group has been preparing for their involvement long before Sam ever agreed to the mission. Someone knew exactly who she would call.**\ \ **Once inside Kharif, the mission begins to unravel.**\ \ **Their intelligence has been manipulated. Communications are compromised. Rival military factions are closing in. And the deeper Sam pushes into Dar Qamar, the clearer it becomes that extracting Rourke is only the beginning.**\ \ **Because Acheron is not merely a chemical.**\ \ **It is a program.**\ \ **And hidden somewhere behind layers of classified files, buried laboratories, and competing agendas is a weapon powerful enough to turn a rescue mission into a catastrophe.**\ \ **With her team wounded, alliances shifting, and trust becoming more dangerous than enemy fire, Sam must decide who she can believe—and how far she is willing to go to keep Acheron from reaching the outside world.**\ \ **Fast-paced, tense, and packed with covert operations, battlefield action, betrayal, and a team that refuses to leave its own behind, Deadly Conflict Over Acheron: Into the Fire begins a high-stakes military thriller where the mission is classified, the truth is buried, and survival is only the first objective.**

The Strategist: The Summoner Who Doesn't Give Up
by Caelanwriter
A Bastion of Sanity Tale
by L.W. GREGSON

a werewolf in Jordan Mart
by Brenda Blake Butterfield
I made this story to reflect what i go through at my current job and gave it a supernatural twist.

Are You Serious Right Now
by Sammie Settlemire
"I Can't Make This Up" is a humorous and heartfelt memoir about one woman's ongoing battle with bureaucracy, bad luck, and baffling human behavior. Through a series of unbelievable but true experiences, she recounts everything from scam emails and vehicle registration nightmares to canceled medications, a traffic stop involving "weed" that wasn't weed, and the loss of a cherished home. Along the way she reflects on modern society, common sense, education, family, disability, and the resilience required to keep moving forward when life seems determined to pile one absurd challenge after another in your path. Equal parts comedy, frustration, and perseverance, this collection of stories proves that sometimes the only way to survive life's chaos is to laugh at it. Back Cover Blurb If someone told you this stuff happened in a novel, you'd say it was too ridiculous to be believable. A vehicle registration renewal becomes a bureaucratic obstacle course. A WiFi adapter is mistaken for drug paraphernalia. Medications disappear without warning. Scam artists promise millions. A beloved fifth wheel home vanishes from reach. And somehow, through it all, there's still room for family, stubborn determination, and the occasional glimmer of hope. With sharp humor, unapologetic honesty, and plenty of "you've got to be kidding me" moments, I Can't Make This Up is a memoir about surviving disability, bureaucracy, bad decisions, and the endless parade of absurdities that make up everyday life. Because sometimes reality is stranger than fiction. And sometimes a whole lot funnier.

How NOT To Do It
by Donald N Walker
*"What happens when a fifteen-year-old dishwasher discovers that professional kitchens and hard liquor both offer the same thing? An escape from the noise inside his head."*\ \ For Donald N. Walker, the answer is a thirty-five-year journey through some of America's finest kitchens and darkest corners—a story of extraordinary culinary achievement built on a foundation that was crumbling from the very first drink. At thirteen, Walker blacked out for the first time.\ At forty-eight, standing in a parking lot in Victor, Idaho, with everything he owned in a borrowed pickup truck, he'd been fired, laid off, or escorted out of more kitchens than he could count without a piece of paper. He had five DUI arrests across three states. He had slept in a homeless shelter while employed at one of the most exclusive resorts in the American West. And he was about to do the single best thing he would ever do. This is the instruction manual on how not to do it—and the hard-won wisdom of a man who finally learned to put down the shovel. **How NOT to Do It** weaves three powerful narratives into a singular, unforgettable memoir. First, it's a culinary coming-of-age story that takes readers from the chaos of an Ohio smorgasbord's dish pit to working alongside Certified Master Chefs at elite country clubs, from the pirate-ship energy of Florida's Mad Hatter restaurant to catering thousand-person events with Secret Service oversight. Walker apprenticed under some of America's most decorated chefs, learning mother sauces, classical technique, and the particular satisfaction of plating food that earns a nod from people who don't give easy praise. For anyone who has ever loved the controlled chaos of a professional kitchen, this is your story told with the precision of a chef's knife and the honesty of a man with nothing left to hide. Second, it's an addiction and recovery memoir of brutal honesty. Walker's first blackout came at thirteen with a glass of mixed liquor stolen from his parents' cabinet. What followed were fifteen years of drinking without attempting to stop, then fifteen more years of starting and stopping, then finally—on January 1, 2022—sobriety that held. Between those bookends: multiple DUIs, jail time, lost relationships, geographical solutions that stretched from Ohio to Florida to Maryland to the Florida Keys to Idaho, jobs abandoned, opportunities squandered, and the slow, grinding realization that the thing he was running from was inside him the whole time. This is not a redemption story wrapped in a bow—it's the raw, unglamorous accounting of how addiction works, how it doesn't, and what it finally takes to stop digging. Third, it's a coming-of-age narrative about a boy who grew up on an Ohio apple orchard with a beloved Irish Setter named Sandy, watched his schizophrenic brother's eyes go empty, survived the bankruptcy that took the family farm, and learned early that the storm always felt more exciting than the calm. Walker carries readers through the geography of American restlessness: port cities and country clubs, college attempts and spectacular failures, the basement room with the back door that let him slip in and out unannounced, and the long road to Sweetwater, Tennessee, where he would finally stop running. For readers who love memoirs of resilience, Kitchen Confidential-style kitchen culture, or the hard-won wisdom of recovery literature, **How NOT to Do It** delivers all three with unflinching prose and dark humor.

Half Blooded: They should have killed me first
by Jordana Faye
In Gravepoint, blood determines everything—and Nyx Calder’s has always made her less. Half witch and half something no one can explain, twenty-three-year-old Nyx has spent her life surviving a supernatural society ruled by powerful pureblood Houses. To vampires, witches, lycans, and elementals, hybrids are mistakes to tolerate, control, or quietly erase. Nyx learned to keep her head down, hide what she could do, and let everyone believe she was weak. Then her power wakes up. Nyx isn’t just another hybrid. She is Nullborn—the descendant of a bloodline the Houses tried to erase because her kind can do the impossible: resist supernatural control, bypass ancient wards, and rewrite the very rules magic is built upon. Suddenly, the girl nobody considered a threat becomes the one person capable of dismantling the system that made them untouchable. As Nyx uncovers PROJECT: ECLIPSE VEIN, the Ashfall Initiative, and the horrifying truth behind the Houses’ experiments on hybrids like her, survival stops being enough. With rebel pureblood Mara Vale and the dangerously mysterious Orion at her side—and arrogant vampire heir Cassian Vale getting far too close for either of their comfort—Nyx turns her attention toward the people who spent generations deciding whose blood deserved power. But the Houses have one final weapon: the Eclipse Failsafe, a citywide contingency designed specifically to hunt and destroy Nullborn before they can threaten the supernatural order. There’s just one problem. The purebloods built their empire believing Nyx Calder would always play by their rules. They should have killed her before she learned she could rewrite them.

How to be white for dummies
by Sammie Settlemire
How To Be White For Dummies A completely unofficial, wildly unnecessary field guide to suburban white culture. Have you ever wondered why otherwise rational adults become emotionally invested in grass? Why Costco feels like a religious experience? Why people spend entire weekends putting up seasonal decorations only to spend another weekend taking them down? Or why being asked to "bring a dish" can trigger a full-scale existential crisis? In How To Be White For Dummies, author Sammie Settlemire takes readers on a hilarious tour through the customs, rituals, and contradictions of suburban American life. From HOA enforcement squads and lawn maintenance warfare to pumpkin spice season, garage clutter, small talk etiquette, and the mysterious power of the fitted sheet, nothing escapes observation. Writing from the unique perspective of life in a fifth-wheel RV and trailer park communities, Settlemire contrasts suburban culture with a world where survival, resourcefulness, and community often matter more than appearances. The result is a funny, affectionate, and sometimes painfully accurate look at the ways people try to create order in a world that stubbornly remains chaotic. Perfect for fans of observational humor, social satire, David Sedaris-style storytelling, and anyone who has ever: •Argued about trash cans •Purchased something unnecessary at Costco •Pretended to care about grass •Folded a fitted sheet and lost the battle •Smiled through an awkward conversation about the weather No membership card required. Readerful Tags / Keywords •Humor •Satire •Cultural Humor •Suburban Life •HOA •Costco •RV Living •Trailer Park Life •Social Commentary •Comedy Essays •American Culture •Observational Humor •Lifestyle Humor •Small-Town America •Memoir Humor •Funny Nonfiction •Community Life •Modern Life •Lighthearted Satire •Everyday Absurdity Genre Primary Genre: Humor Secondary Genres: •Satire •Social Commentary •Humor Essays •Cultural Observations •Memoir Humor

Shift: Project Titan Book 1
by Justin Nead
Carter Barnes wanted a normal senior year. Instead, he discovers he can alter the density of his body—becoming nearly untouchable one moment and impossibly durable the next.\ At first, Carter wants nothing more than to understand what is happening to him and keep it hidden. But when another powered teenager begins leaving destruction across Tristan, staying out of it becomes harder to justify.\ With his best friend Miles at his side, Carter must learn to control his abilities, protect the people around him, and decide what kind of person he wants to become.\ Because having power doesn't make someone a hero. The choices they make do.
The Things We carry
by Summer Hawkins
The Things We Carry is a daughter’s journey through memory, grief, family, and the complicated inheritance of love. At its heart is Don Hawkins—a father, husband, mentor, coach, educator, and friend whose influence reached far beyond his own family. Through memories of football, family, work, caregiving, laughter, loss, and the people whose lives he quietly changed, his daughter begins to see her father not only as the man she knew, but as the man others knew. Some of the stories are hers. Others belong to the people who walked beside him, worked with him, learned from him, challenged him, depended on him, and loved him. Together, those stories become something larger than a portrait of one man. They become a reflection on what we inherit from the people we love: the lessons they taught us, the kindness they showed, the battles they fought, the mistakes they made, and the pieces of themselves they leave behind. Because when someone we love is gone, we don't simply lose them. We carry them. And sometimes, it takes losing someone to finally understand how much of them was already living inside us.

Social Candidate
by Nolan Bell Douglas Jr.
**When a tech entrepreneur from the working class of Washington D.C. dismantles Washington’s financial corruption with a radical transparency app, a disgraced Majority Leader and a secret intelligence apparatus align to execute a silent, systematic execution before he can reshape the American state.**

Just A Little Bit Above Average
by Octavious Rayne
A teenage boy who is so average that he feels inadequate in every aspect of his life wants nothing but to be seen as equal to his peers and the people in his town, but more especially by his love interest, Allison. But he soon realizes that he was already just a little bit above average.

The Rock Climb
by Octavious Rayne
Four 15-year-old boys in a small town dream of heavy metal stardom and all that comes with it. But they discover the journey is long, and the path is rougher than they ever could have imagined. But the rewards, if achieved, are bigger than their wildest dreams; they just have to get there first. Will they make it, or will their dreams crash, burn, and die like so many before them?

The Rock Climb
by Octavious Rayne
Four 15 year old boys have heavy metal dreams only to have them shattered, or do they. Fighting to the top is not a strait or easy path, the pain severe, the rewards are bigger then they ever dreamed, but they have to get there first.

Tweaker Apocalypse (Director’s Should because the first one was too sober)
by Sammie Settlemire
Welcome to the end times. Not the biblical ones — those would be easier. I’m talking about the kind of apocalypse where a man wearing a foil hat shaped like a swan tries to sell you a broken vape and a conspiracy theory at three a.m behind a Dollar General. Why would you even have been behind there to see them at three a.m? This is not a drill my friends. This is not a simulation where you wear those simulation glasses and can be stopped at anytime. This is not even the worst Tuesday I have personally have had. Let me tell ya I've had some bad ones too. This is the Tweaker Apocalypse, and if you’re reading this, congratulations — you’ve survived long enough to need a field manual.

How to survive a 94' Bounder without losing your shit- tv series
by Sammie Settlemire
How to Survive a '94 Bounder Without Losing Your Shit is a raw, funny, and painfully honest documentary about life inside a worn-out 1994 Fleetwood Bounder. What begins as a simple plan for freedom quickly turns into a relentless battle against breakdowns, leaks, electrical gremlins, mechanical failures, and the daily reality of living in a machine that's older than some of the people offering advice online. Armed with limited money, questionable repair skills, and an unhealthy amount of determination, the filmmaker documents every setback, small victory, and hard-earned lesson from the driver's seat of an aging RV. Along the way, the film becomes more than a story about fixing a motorhome. It's a story about resilience, self-reliance, and finding humor when everything seems to be falling apart. Part survival guide, part road diary, and part cautionary tale, How to Survive a '94 Bounder Without Losing Your Shit proves that sometimes the road to freedom is held together with duct tape, zip ties, and sheer stubbornness.

AlkeBulanXVerse
by Jamaal Walker
**ALKEXVERSE** **Official Story Synopsis** **Genre:** Adult Superhero Fiction | Afrofuturism | Fantasy | Action | Drama | LGBTQIA+ | Spirituality In a world where extraordinary abilities exist beneath the surface of ordinary life, an unlikely family of superheroes must confront a terrifying new threat—one that cannot be defeated by strength alone. Jamaal Walker wants nothing more than to enjoy a Saturday afternoon with his lifelong best friends, Rey Edwards and Bradley Demerios. Between shopping, Bradley’s shameless flirting, Rey’s undeniable confidence, and Jamaal’s determination to finally get some pizza, everything seems perfectly normal. Until every television in the mall broadcasts an unexpected address from President Ronald Doge and his second-in-command, Vice President Lucien Voss. Their newly unveiled **Civic Harmony Initiative** promises national unity and public safety. But beneath the carefully crafted message lies something sinister: technology capable of manipulating human emotions, amplifying fear, and turning ordinary citizens against one another. When the mall descends into chaos, the three friends must become their heroic alter egos—**D1V0, Reyleo, and Wolfex**—to protect innocent lives and uncover the truth behind the broadcast. Their victory reveals a disturbing reality: the mall was only one of twelve simultaneous attacks. The following morning, Jamaal’s mother, Ann Walker, encourages him to attend Sunday service at The Creator’s House, where Pastors Naomi Grace Whitfield and Elijah Nathaniel Whitfield deliver messages about faith, compassion, identity, and the strength found in community. Meanwhile, Wolfie Briar prepares the church organ for worship, and Taylor Edwards embarks on his first official date with the captivating Karman S. Bulan, surrounded by his former wife, Mona, and their children. For a few precious hours, love, family, faith, and laughter offer refuge from the previous day’s horrors. But when an unnatural frequency emerges beneath the choir’s music, the heroes discover that Doge’s influence has reached even the sanctuary. Now, from the sacred halls of **Alkebulan Temple**, an expanding alliance of extraordinary individuals must unravel a conspiracy designed to transform humanity’s deepest emotions into instruments of control. As relationships deepen, secrets emerge, and the boundaries between faith and power begin to blur, Jamaal must confront not only the darkness threatening his world but also the complicated desires of his own heart—including his enduring love for the one man who has always stood beside him. Because in the AlkeXVerse, being a superhero is not simply about possessing extraordinary power. **It is about protecting humanity’s right to love, believe, exist, and choose its own destiny—even when the world demands otherwise.**

𝑃𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑙 𝐹𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑂𝑟𝑒𝑔𝑜𝑛 𝑀𝑒𝑙𝑡𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛: 𝐴 𝑇𝑎𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑆𝑢𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑙
by Drew Faraday
For most survivors sheltering in the wilderness along the Upper Alsea River, Pearl’s raspy voice announcing her arrival was music to their ears. Little wonder since she was the only outlier with enough nerve to trade goods out of a drift boat upriver and down through a dystopian landscape, patch up the wounded, bury the dead, and share the latest news about the Meltdown dragging on into its fourth year. But a few months ago, her luck went from bad to worse. Bounty hunters tracked her down. Jailers locked her away in a single cell with the well-worn gallows in her line of sight. A military court found her guilty of gunrunning during a declared disaster. Now Pearl faces her toughest challenge yet—confronting her own part in the chaos while talking her way out of being the next inmate hauled up those rickety stairs to take the long drop.

But Every Day I’m Their Mama
by Teanna Askew
*But Every Day I’m Their Mama* is an honest and emotional look at motherhood beyond the picture-perfect moments. Teanna Askew explores what it means to keep showing up for your children when life is exhausting, support is limited, and the responsibilities never seem to stop. From advocating for children with different needs to navigating schools, relationships, financial pressure, job hunting, absent support, and the everyday demands of raising a family, this book gives a voice to mothers who quietly carry more than most people ever see. This isn’t a story about being a perfect mother. It’s about being present. It’s about the nights you cry privately and still get up the next morning. It’s about fighting for your children while trying not to lose yourself. Above all, it is about a simple truth: life may be difficult, motherhood may be overwhelming, and some days may feel impossible—but every day, **I’m still their mama.**

Core Haven: Hope Amid the Ruins
by Drew Faraday
At the height of the Oregon Meltdown, a simple mistake along an evacuation corridor leads to disaster. Less than a week before the military plans to cordon off the last bridge over the Columbia River, Nate finds himself stranded along a wilderness ravine with little more than the clothes on his back. His only hope of reuniting with his family and continuing up the coast to safety is to survive a fifty-mile solo journey on foot through a lawless landscape devastated by warring factions.

America's Town
by Ed Quest
Former Gettysburg College basketball star Jay Siler returns home to manage a bank branch and, almost by accident, ends up coaching the high school girls' basketball team. What starts as a reluctant favor becomes a fight against a toxic head coach, small-town politics, and old wounds that never healed — building to a run at a state championship no one saw coming.

Without Villains
by F.J. Blooding
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.*

Embersoul Chronicles
by Jeremiah T. Foxx
Kieran Ashford embraces a new body and destiny as he discovers to master his magic and become known as one of the greatest wizards of Valterra

Darkside of the Moon and the USSF Semper Supra
by L J Temple
Darkside of the Moon is a testament to the future of human aspirations. Donald J. Trump's vision was a slow, steadily growing force. Within a decade, the vision became reality, with next-generation platforms and behemoths that carried humanity's dreams to the stars. Yet the future is much nearer than was believed. A secret is to be found, and a hope for the future of humanity is to be revealed, but the survival of humanity is to be determined by the willpower of a few brave souls and the ambitions of the newly envisioned United Galactic Space Force and the might of Sol's Vanguard

Mister Weatherspoon's Unfortunate Clock
by Dan Dooley
Elijah Weatherspoon's world is turned topsy turvy when he unknowingly releases a genie from an old clock he had just bought. Just a plain old windup clock in a brass housing which is formed in the shape of a castle. Who would have known what was inside the old clock?\ \ But now here he was sitting on a park bench, and on a bench across from him, the strangest of characters. A genie, so it turns out. But now that the genie is free from the clock which had been his prison for more years than he would tell, he owes Elijah the customary three wishes. But will he pay up?\ \ Genies are not all the legends and old stories tell them to be. One can not always expect them to fulfil their promises. Three wishes? Elijah Weatherspoon was soon to find out the true nature of those promises. A comic tale of facing mizerhood head on, and learning what really matters in life. When one is fortunate enough to find a mysterious lamp, rubbing the lamp will free the genie who has been imprisoned within that lamp for a thousand years. Out of gratitude, the genie is empowered to grant you your desires in the form of wishes. Usually three wishes. But what happen if the genie has a whole different idea about gratitude for his release and your wishes are turned upside down? Instead of good fortune, you receive the opposite. And the genie seems more interested in playing tricks on you than on granting your wishes. That's what Elijah Weatherspoon found, to his dismay. Seeming all misfortune contrary to the wishes he asks for. He asks for riches. He asked for good health and a long life. He asked for prestige and influence within the circle of important men. What comes his way seems to be the very opposite. Now his world is turned topsy turvy. And he wishes he had never bought that cursed clock.

Awakwening | Prequel Stand Alone | The Bloodrite Syndicate
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.`

The Bridge: Volume I – The Foundation
by Adrian Pruitt
**The Bridge** is not simply a memoir. It is an invitation to investigate the invisible foundations that shape every life. Through deeply personal stories spanning childhood trauma, family secrets, military life, failed rescue, hidden shame, and the long search for identity, Adrian never asks readers to simply witness his past. Every chapter becomes a bridge from his story to their own. Rather than asking, *"What happened to me?"* the book asks deeper questions: *What shaped me?* *What did I learn to believe?* *What patterns did I inherit?* *What do I want to hand forward?* Combining authentic storytelling with practical reflection, **The Bridge** introduces concepts such as the Fixed Point, Generation Zero, the Forensic Audit, and Companion Guides that help readers recognize the difference between survival and healing. This first volume (15 Chapters), **The Foundation**, explores the earliest experiences that quietly formed identity, trust, safety, shame, and resilience. It demonstrates that while we cannot change what was handed to us, we can decide what continues through us. **The Bridge** is written for anyone who has ever wondered why they respond the way they do, where those patterns began, and whether a different future is possible. Because healing does not begin by rewriting the past. It begins by understanding the foundation beneath it.

Cold Keys
by Mario Logan
\# \*\*“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. \---

Shadows Of Standing Rock
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.

To Build a Nation
by B Halevi
Judah has given his all to the Roman legions. Having advanced from being a mere auxiliary to a mighty centurion in the regular legions, Judah has fought his way to glory all over the known world; from the great Romanized bastion, the Syrian-Greek city of Antioch, to the shores of barbarian Gaul. But, now, stationed in the Greek Isles, everything falls apart when his powerful friend and patron turns on him. Abandoned and alone, Judah decides to return to his native land, Judea, where he has been invited by an old childhood friend, he hasn’t seen in years, to join their struggle against the Roman yoke. The people of his native land have recently rose in rebellion seeking their freedom; a way out from under the thumb of Roman imperialism. Fighters are massing in Jerusalem and the leaders of the movement have even begun to issue their own coin. However, when the Roman campaign of reprisal finally begins, the rebels are proven to be no match for the Roman invaders. Before Judah even arrived, Vespasian and his legions have swept through the land like lightning, retaking the Galilee in under a year. Now, as Judah arrives home amongst his former people, he arrives to find Jerusalem already stands alone. Together with the Jerusalemites, he must revitalize a defeated cause. The situation he has entered could not have looked more grim. The factions in Jerusalem are eating each other alive, tearing each other apart in their quest for control over their nations course. Grizzled brigands have seized control from those who are reasonable minded. It seems, none of the powerful leaders left, are noble men. Under the looming prospect, of a siege, which surely must come, the quest to quell the brigands and marshal the spirit of Jerusalem is on. Judah will find, a stout sword arm is not enough, nor will his well trained military mind, alone, get him through the siege. He will need to learn local politics, if he expects to survive in Jerusalem and see this deadly struggle through, until the bitter end. As armed factions vie for power, there are still those in Jerusalem who seek to build a nation. Judah will discover, however, that not everybody in the holy city shares the same vision for what it means to be a Judean. In Jerusalem, they wrestle with important questions? Is shared ancestry enough to unite a fragmented people? Or does it take, a unified identity, or perhaps religion, to keep disparate groups together? however they solve the equation, the citizens of Jerusalem *must* come up with an answer; ***what does it take to forge a nation?*** Through it all, Judah is personally adrift, practically a stranger in his own country. It is a land bristling with strange habits and customs he hasn’t seen since childhood; brimming with a religious zeal of a kind, Judah hasn’t encountered in any of his many travels. As ever, Judah finds himself alone. Why does he sometimes feel he has neither a nation, nor a home? Will he always be a traveler in life whisking into one place and flying out in an array of violence. Is he destined to stand for nothing, to possess no identity? Read the book and find out How to build a nation but more importantly how to build a man! Oh, and of course remember, as Long as the great Temple stands how can Jerusalem fall?

REMEMBER ...I'VE SEEN YOU NAKED
by Stuart Grant
**For twenty years, Stuart Grant stood inches from the spotlight while witnessing everything audiences were never supposed to see.** **Remember, I’ve Seen You Naked: A Backstage Memoir pulls back the curtain on life behind some of America’s biggest touring theatrical productions. As a hairdresser, makeup artist, wardrobe professional, and quick-change expert, Stuart traveled from city to city helping performers become glamorous, heroic, terrifying, and occasionally presentable—often while complete chaos erupted around them.** **Backstage, personal boundaries disappeared quickly. Actors undressed without hesitation, wigs malfunctioned at the worst possible moment, costume changes became full-contact sports, and conversations took turns no ordinary workplace would survive. Stuart found himself surrounded by outrageous personalities, unexpected hookups, touring disasters, sexual misadventures, nightclub escapades, and situations so absurd they could only have happened in show business.** **But beneath the laughter is the story of a demanding and deeply intimate world built by people the audience rarely notices. It is also a remembrance of the friendships formed on the road, the people whose curtain came down too soon, and a career Stuart believed would last forever—until an injury abruptly took it away.** **Candid, adult, darkly funny, and unexpectedly moving, Remember, I’ve Seen You Naked celebrates the people behind the scenery who make the magic happen, clean up the disasters, and return the next night to do it all again.**

Storm of the Silver Wolf
by M. N. Watkins
In Frostfang territory, the mate-bond doesn't ask permission. It doesn't negotiate. And it definitely doesn't care that you had other plans. Storm of the Silver Wolf follows two parallel bonds forged the same chaotic midsummer morning — Crystal and Aiden, shoved together by a pull neither of them asked for (and both are handling with the emotional maturity of two people who'd rather fight a bear); Halvard and Violet, caught between duty, desire, and a kingdom that picked the worst possible moment for a crisis. As their stories collide, one truth surfaces that neither pack saw coming: the disappearances haunting their territories trace back to the same woman — and she's been sitting at the table the whole time. A slow-burn werewolf romance series full of claiming, trust issues, and men who communicate exclusively through growling and grand gestures. Love isn't simple here. But it is very, very worth it.

KOSTYA
by Scott Zimmerman
Reviewers are raving about KOSTYA... \--A well-written, emotionally intense novel that I couldn’t put down. \--From the very first pages, the writing pulls you into Kostya’s world with vivid, unflinching detail. \--Relentless sense of movement. \--The vivid imagery captured the setting and mood with cinematic precision. \--The ending is extremely beautiful. \--The difference in speaking voices between characters was quite fun to read. \--KOSTYA is a must-read. \--You will instantly form a connection with the characters in this book. The tensions they feel pours off the pages and directly into your heart. \--The story combines historical depth with the momentum of an adventure novel. Readers become invested not merely in what happens next, but in who Kostya becomes along the way.

The Inherited Silence
by SummerRuby Provience
The Inherited Silence follows Summer as she confronts the quiet legacy that shaped her life—an unspoken history passed down through generations, carried in gestures, memories, and the spaces where words should have lived. Growing up inside a silence she didn’t create, she learned early how to read what wasn’t said, how to survive on fragments, and how to hold together a story that never fully belonged to her. As an adult, the weight of that silence becomes impossible to ignore. When a long‑buried truth resurfaces, Summer is forced to examine the emotional architecture of her past: the patterns she repeated without understanding, the loyalties she inherited without choosing, and the questions she avoided because the answers felt too dangerous to touch. What begins as a search for clarity becomes an excavation—of memory, identity, and the hidden forces that shaped her family. Through lyrical honesty and unflinching introspection, The Inherited Silence traces the journey of a woman determined to break a generational pattern by finally naming what was never spoken. It is a memoir about the cost of carrying what isn’t yours, the courage required to confront what you were taught to ignore, and the moment when silence becomes a story you can no longer keep buried. At its heart, this is the story of one truth—carried for years, protected by silence, and finally ready to be told.

Novice
by Shelbye Karr
*“First rule of being a Storm Chaser, don’t walk; stride. Second rule of being a Storm Chaser, don’t stride; **fly**.”* Corbingiin Peregrine from Rook has always had her heart set on something bigger than the pastoral life surrounded by goats and horses she was born into. With her powers over the wind, water and electricity, Peri is determined to become a Storm Warden, masters of the three elements and the right hands of the Storm Warden General who rules over their large sprawling kingdom. To do so, she'll have to leave everything behind and start out as a Storm Novice, a student of the Storm Guard Academy in the Capital City. When she's told that she'll only be allowed to master wind, her natural element, due to her lack of nobility, Peri is determined to go around the rules being imposed upon her and keep her three skills sharp without the powers that be at the Academy knowing. The Academy's Instructor of Wind, Anirgiin Taymour from Ilhan, not only ignores Peri's drive to accomplish what only the nobility have been allowed to achieve, but actively encourages it - until she's taken away by the Watchers, the Storm Warden General's guard dogs, for interrogation. Left without a teacher she can trust, she seeks out one of the last of the Noble Houses from her own region at Taymours insistence, a reclusive healer named Narengiin Batu of Salhi, to aid her in her small rebellion and after wearing him down she acquires a grumpy yet effective teacher who, like Taymour, encourages her to not only hone her skills but to question everything around her for the betterment of her follow citizens. Between her training, her noble classmates looking down on her and a system that wants to keep her in her place, Peri is finding it hard to breathe, but if there's one thing a Storm Warden never runs out of it's wind. Fueled by her passion to become the first so called 'peasant Storm Warden', Corbingiin Peregrine from Rook is determined to not only succeed but soar higher than anyone ever has before.

Briefed in Lies
by Ashti Buttafuco
Kelly and her tactical team are Briefed in Lies and are sent out to hunt and dangerous cryptid but soon discover the suits lied to them. Confused she soon discovers they are being hunted by a Skin Walker. Will Kelly be able to keep herself and her team alive? Find out by reading Briefed in Lies.

Patterns of an Underdog Founder
by Andrew Carl Vincent Squires
**Identity isn’t a story—it’s the structure that decides whether you rise or collapse.** When life erodes the floor beneath you, most reach for motivation. Andrew Carl Vincent Squires reached for architecture. Patterns of an Underdog Founder is a stark, unflinching field manual born from eviction notices, hospital rooms, and storage-unit nights—then rebuilt into a rigorous discipline that treats identity as infrastructure. Across four phases—Collapse, Clarity, Construction, and Contribution—Squires shows how underdogs engineer stability from scarcity, reclaim agency from drift, and version themselves with intention instead of inheritance. You won’t find pep talks here. You’ll find the Underdog Operating System, identity versioning, narrative architecture, and founder‑grade standards—practical scaffolding that turns survival into structure and structure into forward motion. Squires writes with the precision of a systems designer and the honesty of someone who had to build a blueprint before he could afford hope. Short chapters move quickly, translating heavy truths into usable frameworks: rebuilding foundations of stability, agency, clarity, and evidence; returning to voice after erosion; forging disciplined systems that carry you when willpower doesn’t; and converting lived experience into a transferable method. By the end, your story stops being personal and becomes structural—you’re not just standing again; you’re standing on something you can pass forward. This is Identity as Infrastructure. For One—and the first volume in a series that advances from self-governance to co-founded systems and beyond. If you’re rebuilding after everything went quiet—if you need more than inspiration—this book gives you architecture you can live inside. For Kindle or print, the promise is the same: clear language, tight pacing, and frameworks that fit on a page yet hold the weight of a life. Read it straight through or enter at the chapter you need most; either way, you’ll leave with a map you design, a system you govern, and a voice that doesn’t fade when pressure returns. **For readers of James Clear, Cal Newport, and Ryan Holiday who want not just better habits or ideas—but a load‑bearing identity they can build on.**

Beyond the Silence: A Journey from Trauma to Triumph
by William Charles Larsen
For forty years, William Larsen ran from pain. Trauma, addiction, mental illness, and hopelessness shaped his life—until he discovered a different path.\ Beyond the Silence: A Journey from Trauma to Triumph is a raw and deeply personal memoir about surviving childhood trauma, decades of alcohol addiction, mental health struggles, chronic illness, and the crushing weight of shame. Told with unflinching honesty, William shares the experiences that shaped him—from abuse and loss to self-destruction and multiple encounters with death.\ For years, alcohol seemed like the only way to escape the memories and emotions he could not face. Yet every attempt to outrun the past only deepened the wounds. Beneath the addiction was a man searching for acceptance, purpose, and a reason to keep going.\ This is not a story of instant transformation or easy answers. It is the story of a long and difficult journey toward healing. Through recovery, faith, the support of others, and the steadfast love of his wife Regina, William began to confront the pain he had spent a lifetime trying to bury.\ More than a memoir, this book is an invitation to those who feel trapped by their past. Through reflection questions, journaling prompts, and practical insights drawn from lived experience, readers are encouraged to examine their own stories and take steps toward healing.\ Whether you are struggling with addiction, carrying the weight of childhood trauma, facing mental health challenges, supporting a loved one, or simply searching for hope, Beyond the Silence offers a powerful reminder that the darkest chapters do not have to define the rest of your life.\ A story of resilience, redemption, faith, and second chances, this memoir demonstrates that healing is possible, hope can be restored, and no life is beyond transformation.

The Chronometric Engimas
by D. K. Dowdy
Stories set in a universe where time and space are not the limits but the start of wonderful adventures.

Tell No One
by S. J. Malave
Felicity Ponce grew up thinking that she was a clone just like everyone else. However, after a random genetic code test was conducted, she begins to realize that nothing is what it seems and her world changes drastically. Now tasked with keeping this secret, she must find a way to avoid getting caught by government officials, find reliable allies, and understand what it means to be a unique individual. But, hey, what else could go wrong?

Unbroken
by Sarah Bantu
**A breathtaking true story of unimaginable loss, survival, and the fierce resilience of a child's heart.** **In the gritty, contrasting streets of post-Soviet St. Petersburg, nine-year-old girl lived as a "Little Shadow" always running to keep pace with her older brother and undisputed hero, Yuri. To her, the city was a sun-drenched playground of fortresses and boundless adventure.** **Until the fateful morning a catastrophic explosion shattered her world in a single second.** **Left holding nothing but Yuri’s scuffed rubber shoe, she was thrust into a downward spiral of adult tragedy. As grief mutated into fatal addiction and suicide, she lost both of her parents, survived the cold cruelty of an abusive relative, and was violently torn away from her sister by state authorities. Stranded in a sterile Russian orphanage, she had to build a calloused armor just to survive the freezing institutional gray.** **But from clouds of flour in the kitchen to the hot spotlights of the orphanage stage, her spirit refused to bleed out. Clutching her brother's shoe beneath her iron cot, she used her memories as a weapon against the dark.** **UNBROKEN is a profoundly moving, cinematic memoir of a young girl’s journey through the deepest shadows of trauma to the brilliant, twinkling Christmas lights of a new beginning in America. It is a raw, heart wrenching testament to the unbreakable bond of siblings, the cost of survival, and the beautiful, enduring light that can never be extinguished.**

Sunday, things to do
by Broken Pencils 4363
I'm officially published https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HN9N6WPX?lv=shuf&channelId=425&plpRedirect=mhFallback

New Eden the creation of the second Eve
by Anthony Egerton
The end of civilization few surviving humans. In the aftermath a power emerges promising to bring humanity back and rebuild civilization from the rubble. A new start a better way could this be heaven on earth. A reflection back to us in this present from a very near future crying out for mankind to inspect the governments that they continue to place over themselves for the past 4 thousand years all ending in disaster only to be repeated in hopes of a better result with nothing changing. That people is the clinical definition of insane.

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

America's Town
by Ed Quest
**America’s Town** In the era of Caitlin Clark and the unorthodox style of *Ted Lasso*, an accidental coach leads an under-appreciated girls’ high school basketball team in Gettysburg, America’s most famous small town, through a season no sports parent could ever predict-or forget. Former Gettysburg College basketball star Jay Siler returns to the scene of his glory days to manage First Colonial Bank’s downtown branch to complete his last rotation as an executive trainee. As Jay’s business star rises, city fathers urge him to become assistant coach of Gettysburg High’s girls’ basketball team. Hesitant at first, Jay takes the job, only to face conflicts with verbally abusive, dim-witted, and unwelcoming head coach, Barry Hughes. Jay cannot look the other way as he sees Coach Hughes act his worst against Stefani Baker, a promising player ordered to sit in favor of Megan Reynolds, the less-skilled daughter of a local power broker, president of a rival bank. Jay’s older sister was similarly abused; her basketball dreams ended with her suicide. His sympathies lie with Stefani, but he must get her to change her flippant attitude and play to her potential. Jay joins with Bonita Blount, her teammate and best friend, Gettysburg’s most recruited basketball star in a generation, to make Stefani their personal project. As a promising season goes awry, Coach Hughes’ abusive actions reach a head. Jay takes over and puts Stefani into the starting role she deserves, over the objections of Megan’s father, Stan. As Stan relentlessly attacks Jay’s personal and professional credibility, it’s up to Stefani to rise to the occasion to help Gettysburg win its first state championship. Will Stefani and Jay respond to their challenges, or will the community’s basketball aspirations end in disappointment?

Unorthodox - An Exorsism Story
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.

Chosen by The Moon
by Rose M Joy
“Your lips have a flavor reminiscent of mango.” “Wait, what?! How do you even know that?” “Isn't it obvious?. While you were sleeping, I—” Dove is fed up with playing the role of the Damsel in Distress. Now that she has the chance to pick a mentor, her dreams feel much closer than ever. Yet, she’s at a loss for words when the very essence of the night, draped in blue, suddenly decides to choose her.