You're seventeen, and studying hard for your A levels. How would you like it if you were suddenly adopted by a Great Being, who had been around for ever and knew everything? 'Pretty useful, with all that knowledge and the exams coming up', would be your first reaction, I expect. But then the Great Being lets slip that the end of the world is just around the corner.Tom Fletcher is a worried man. Middle aged and balding, he hasn't sold a house in weeks and his job is on the line. His wife is cheating on him and he is falling in love with his secretary.He is bewildered by the world. Animate and inanimate objects take on personalities and behaviours in his fertile imagination which make even the commonplace events of daily life into battlegrounds where misunderstanding and confusion reign.All he asks is to be loved, -- but not by the intimidating Carole who contrives and schemes to get him into her bed.In his mind there is a simple solution. Kill his wife and marry his secretary. But where to get the gun?Pausing only to reflect on topology and the meaning of life, Tom pursues a single minded route through a minefield populated by topless dancers and hippopotami, only slightly phased by a tendency to see people as donuts, and use Exchange and Mart as his guide.Frogs, Pizzas, Water Beds, Pygmies, Licorice Flavoured Condoms and an Ostrich all have key parts to play in this drama of everyday folk.This is a love story, or perhaps a murder story, or maybe it's just a tale about a man who doesn't own a decent jacket..... and in the background lurks the mysterious Geoffrey, without whom the story would be incomplete.

From the author of the bestselling memoir Wild Game comes a riveting novel about Cape Cod, complicated families, and long-buried secrets—for fans of the New York Times bestsellers The Paper Palace and Ask Again, Yes.Ken and Abby Gardner lost their mother when they were small and they have been haunted by her absence ever since. Their father, Adam, a brilliant oceanographer, raised them mostly on his own in his remote home on Cape Cod, where the attachment between Ken and Abby deepened into something complicated—and as adults their relationship is strained. Now, years later, the siblings' lives are still deeply entwined. Ken is a successful businessman with political ambitions and a picture-perfect family and Abby is a talented visual artist who depends on her brother's goodwill, in part because he owns the studio where she lives and works. As the novel opens, Adam is approaching his seventieth birthday, staring down his...

When a body is discovered in a locked toilet cubicle on the late-night train to Bath, Ishmael Jones is faced with his most puzzling case to date. When Ishmael Jones and his partner Penny are asked to escort a VIP on the late-night train to Bath, it would appear to be a routine case. The Organisation has acquired intelligence that an attempt is to be made on Sir Dennis Gregson's life as he travels to Bath to take up his new position as Head of the British Psychic Weapons Division. Ishmael's mission is to ensure that Sir Dennis arrives safely. How could anyone orchestrate a murder in a crowded railway carriage without being noticed and with no obvious means of escape? When a body is discovered in a locked toilet cubicle, Ishmael Jones has just 56 minutes to solve a seemingly impossible crime before the train reaches its destination.

'I loved this book' Raynor Winn, author of The Salt Path'Utterly absorbing' Lucy Jones, author of Losing Eden Wishing to leave behind the quiet isolation of her Orkney island life, Amy Liptrot books a one-way flight to Berlin. Searching for new experiences, inspiration and love, she rents a loftbed in a shared flat and looks for work. She explores the streets, nightclubs and parks and seeks out the city's wildlife – goshawks, raccoons and hooded crows. She looks for love through the screen of her laptop. Over the course of a year Amy makes space hoping for the unexpected. And it comes with an erotic jolt, in the form of a love affair that obsesses her. The Instant is an unapologetic look at the addictive power of love and lust. It is also an exploration of the cycles of the moon, the flight paths of migratory birds, the mesmerising power of Neolithic stonework and the trails followed by a generation who exist online.

These impossibly cheerful essays on the routine horrors of the present era explain everything from the resurgence of measles to the fiasco of the presidency.In Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why, acclaimed Washington Post satirist Alexandra Petri offers perfectly logical, reassuring reasons for everything that has happened in recent American politics and culture that will in no way unsettle your worldview.In essays both new and adapted from her viral Post columns, Petri reports that the Trump administration is as competent as it is uncorrupted, white supremacy has never been less rampant, and men have been silenced for too long. Q-Anon makes perfect sense! Perhaps the abyss is staring back at you because your outfit looks extra nice today! At the center of the book is a virtuosic account of the past four years, a history as surreal and deranged as the Trump administration itself. This Panglossian venture into the swampy present will soothe—...

One year ago Jason lost a race. Now he is training to run against the same person that beat him. In the mean time, he is spending time with the people he loves, playing tour guide, and dealing with loss.Jason's life goes on after his ruined first date with Wendy. Now he has a new challenge. Beating a runner that got the better of him a year ago. Jason grows closer to Wendy but feels an attraction to a beautiful new neighbor. Can Jason continue his relationship with Wendy? Can he control his hormones? And can he win the grudge match race?

In this second book of twelve year old Tania's adventures, a love-struck Tania has the idea that the world would be a better place if EVERYONE was happily in love. She pursues this goal with her usual tenacity, turning the whole world's secret services upside down, causing international incidents and not doing the health of her parents much good either.Love is Just a Moment. So live it...Rebecca knows she’s not a coward—after all she was brave enough to embark on the trip of a lifetime, a student exchange program to Italy, alone—but try telling that to the crippling anxiety that has hounded her whole life and followed her all the way to Europe, making her feel like just as much of a social outcast here as it did back home. Now the dream vacation is turning into a slow ordeal, but she’s not ready to give up just yet…As her time abroad draws to a close, Rebecca makes one last effort to face her fears and strikes out on a journey to the magnificent island of Sicily. She doesn’t know what she’s looking for or what she expects to find but she’s determined to make a change that lasts. And then she meets him.Thoughtful, deep, spontaneous, and above all drop-dead gorgeous, Piero is the kind of guy Rebecca would usually run a mile from just to save herself the embarrassment of screwing up. But this time is different. Piero believes in making the most of life, living in the moment, and with him Rebecca has finally found someone she can be herself around. But Piero’s quest to live life to the full comes with a price. Impelled by belief in a destiny of revenge, he has travelled to the island to face down the men responsible for the death of his father, many years ago—and time is already running out.Love is Just a Moment is a New Adult Romance novella by author Taylor Hill. This edition also includes the first four chapters of her novel “Romeo of the Streets” as a free sample.

For fans of Girl Online and Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging comes My Life Gone Viral by Rae Earl, a quirky, irresistible story that tackles the unpredictability, joy, and insecurity of life online. Millie Porter finally has everything she wanted. But it doesn't make her feel the way she thought it would . . . The pressure of having to create a great vlog forces Millie to take risks that her usual sensible self would never take. And soon, everything starts changing before her eyes— she's not getting along with her boyfriend, her former enemy suddenly wants to be her best friend, and she's unwillingly involved in her mom's dating life. Plus, the boy she thought was her totally, completely, non-romantic buddy is now feeling like anything but. Can Millie balance it all? She is about to find out and share it all online.An Imprint Book Praise for My Life Uploaded: "Quite excellent."...

Includes three flash fictions authored by Josh Thor, "Stewing Hot Car," "The Rescue," and "Hero of the Wood." Genres range from modern realism (the first two) to fantasy (Hero of the Wood)."A Compilation" is simply a compilation of three flash/micro fiction stories by Josh Thor.The first flash fiction, "Stewing Hot Car," is modern realism. It deals with a married couple in Alabama, Jack and his wife Dianne, who just can't seem to communicate to their respective spouse how they're feeling.The second story, a micro fiction, is named "The Rescue" and it is also modern realism. This piece takes the form of an excerpt from the autobiography of a protagonist who was held captive for a year. He explains in his autobiography his contempt for his rescuers and those that cannot understand his contempt.The third piece, "Hero of the Wood," is fantasy, and is a reimagining of Lewis Carroll's "The Jabberwocky" into prose form. Our protagonist is the young man noted in Carroll's original to have slain the Jabberwocky with the vorpal sword. Reading the original very short poem would be beneficial to anyone wanting to read Josh Thor's story, "Hero of the Wood."

Before the world of Facebook, Chat Rooms & Blogs, there were online communities called Bulletin Boards… Beth Lynn, devoted teacher, has terrible luck with men. That is until The Keeper enters her life through the most unlikely of places – her computer. He saves her from a humiliating moment & begins his pursuit of her. There’s only one problem, Beth has an admirer who isn’t willing to let her go.**The entire novel, Phoenix of the Heart, is now available eBook and paperback.**in Before the world of Facebook, Chat Rooms and Blogs, there were online communities called Bulletin Boards…Beth Lynn, devoted teacher and animal lover, has terrible luck with men. That is until Scott Reiner, also known as The Keeper, enters her life through the most unlikely of places – her computer. Scott saves her from a humiliating moment and begins his pursuit of her. There’s only one problem, Beth has an admirer who isn’t willing to let her go.* Beth’s journey begins with the two lovers finding each other. Obstacles lie ahead for the young couple and a tragic event stands at the end that will change the course of Beth’s life forever. For you see, she is a Phoenix ~ her future requires the flame.

The illustrious life of a wealthy couple is shattered.THE THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT ARE REAL.Kamlyn Paige is a young woman who has suffered great loss in her life. At nineteen, when she was seven months pregnant, her parents were in a fatal car accident. And at twenty-four, when her son was only five years old, he was murdered before her eyes by a cloaked figure in the middle of the night. It takes everything she has to hold on after the devastation.But when a mysterious neighbor sees her weeping on the sidewalk, he picks her up and introduces her to a new world. She goes with him to the Chamber of Darkness, an underground society, where she learns to fight evil beings and creatures as a Huntsman. The sole motivation to complete her training is getting revenge on the demon that killed her little boy. But while she's there, she realizes there are other beings that threaten the way of life on Earth. Prophetic dreams reveal there is a mysterious traitor in the Chamber's headquarters and he's trying to get his hands on a goblet that will open the portal to the demon world, unleashing them all on the humans.Will she be able to figure out who the traitor is in time to stop them from destroying the human race? With the help of her new friends and fellow Huntsmen, they may stand a chance at saving the world from a massive possession of epic proportions.

I held onto the bars of the truck and howled to my dogs as they fell further and further behind. Sunrise, Brutus, Zip, Nosey and Tiny all ran as hard as they could, but there was no way they could keep up...After four years alone in the wild, Gwen is overjoyed to see another person.But when she is thrown into the back of a van and stolen away to a prison camp, things don't look good.How will her pack find her? Where is her human family? Will the other kids in the camp be friends or enemies?Luckily, Eagle is fast, the dogs are brave, and bars and fences are no match for the one and only Wolf Girl!

Tinne is a disenchanted young Story Teller. He is thrust into the Quest for the Black Dragon (a lost magical stone whose power allows the Story Tellers to create the future) by the need to keep the stone from Katharine, the Story Teller Queen of Sitty, whose intentions for the Black Dragon are purely selfish and evil. His quest leads him through many turmoils including betrayal and war.The Black Dragon is a powerful magic stone, one in a set of three, which allows Story Tellers to create the future. The time for the Tellers to gather is close at hand and the stone is missing. The responsibility of recovering the Black Dragon falls into the hands of an unlikely candidate, Tinne. Tinne’s mentor abandons him half way through his Teller apprenticeship leaving him disenchanted and rejecting his heritage. Years later he realizes the truth of his training and that the future depends on him to find the stone before Katharine, the evil Queen of Sitty. Tinne and Ren, his best friend and partner in mischief, set out on their quest to find the last known location of the Black Dragon. They rescue a beautiful young woman from some of Katharine’s soldiers, but the woman is actually a witch who casts a spell on Tinne and traps the two over winter in the Forest of Sirens.More than a century before Tinne is born, Katharine (an ancient witch and veteran Story Teller) tries to steal the magic stones but her plan is foiled by Tinne’s mentor, resulting in the loss of the Black Dragon. Her Spirit Hunter spies have been searching for nearly one hundred and fifty years when Tinne’s interest in the stone catches Katharine’s attention. She then attacks Tinne’s home city of Bayfield, assuming, correctly, that the stone is there.Jessie is the Captain of the Royal Guard of Bayfield who tries to defend against Katharine. He is betrayed by his counterpart, Captain Maynard, who has been secretly courting Katharine’s great-granddaughter. Maynard commands his troops to surrender in order to assume power of the city. Jessie and his troops must flee with their families. In order to find them Maynard decides to torture the people who are left which include Angela, Jessie’s fiancé and future Queen of Bayfield.

A veneer of tranquility over latent violence and crime still prevails in the Pacific. Torres Strait between New Guinea and Australia is no exception. When young women and drugs are available on one side and potential customers on the other, then the narrow waterway provides little barrier. Unscrupulous thugs and racketeers take every advantage and hide behind layers of deception, secrecy and threats. Can Pete Martyn survive in this hidden cauldron of deceit, danger and drug-dealing let alone actually accomplish any positive outcome?