In a human lab behind locked doors and bulletproof glass, a group of scientists works on a covert project. They keep from forming personal contacts and even avoid knowing each other's names. Together they refine the virus set loose on the world. The goal is simple: eliminate all creatures.In a bar hidden from human sight, a secret meeting reveals a startling reality: a mysterious illness is killing creatures. All creatures with genetic markers are falling ill, and many of them are dying. Even humans with genetic traits are not immune to the effects. The nature of the illness feels too targeted to be natural. And one late night in a lab reveals the engineered genome of the virus.The race is on. As cases spread and death counts rise, the species unite to face the common threat. Vampires, witches, werewolves, and even demons and spirits set aside their millennia long disputes and work to discover the truth. Where did the plague come from? Who is behind it? And most importantly, can it be stopped?
The Anchor Trilogy Continues in Fear & Sand . . .Aidan Montgomery dreams of fire. He fears the fire growing within him, the power taking over and killing everyone he knows and loves. After spending months hiding in the Waste, he heads south to meet up with the girls only to find them deployed to the war effort in Rebluinia. Struggling to cope with a terrible tragedy, he doesn't know if he can control the fire within. He doesn't know if he is safe to be around.Nadia Oswald is a pacifist. Yet she finds herself fighting again and again, against the military, against her father, against everything working to constrain her and her power. She is terribly afraid of her power being turned toward violence and death. Even with Elise Chulyin by her side, how can she hope to fight every person who seeks to control her?From all sides enemies rise. Morvath ap Gwynned envies the power of the witches and resents the hidden anchor witches. He seeks to gain the power for himself. And Morvath knows who the anchor witches are. Down south in Rebluinia, Nadia and Aidan meet their greatest foes yet. With Aidan standing by her side, she fights to prevent Ecrian forces from destroying all hope. In this sequel to Hope & Fire, follow Aidan and Nadia as they face their deepest fears and greatest challenges yet. With Ecrium on the rise and Morvath tracking their every move, can they stand together and bring their world back to peace? Or will their fears come to fruition as all they know and love falls apart?
Guardians, Protectors, Witches. The titles vary species to species, but they all mean the same thing: an individual with a Spark of power and a purpose. Every Spark has an ignition point where their power goes from everyday useful to world-changing strength. Some Witches die in their spark-point.Penelope Williams is angry. A daughter of conservative parents, her Witch power coming to light reveals a hidden family history of a Salem survivor and power buried for generations. Disowned by her family, she lives as a ward of the Witches, studying and working far from Earth. She ignores the pain of her family's abuse, shoving aside the trauma of rejection and betrayal. Penelope throws herself into her work and her power, her abrasive attitude pushing anyone but demons away. Even in the midst of her pain and outcast life, people from several species choose to make friends with her. The one that surprises her the most is the demon Ikthiel.At the Edge of reality, a threat looms twisting the nature of space and time, encroaching from the space beyond the universe. Despite warnings from Ikthiel, she cannot focus on the coming threat, instead focusing on her studies and striving to find her power's purpose. But threats cannot be ignored forever. And Penelope faces what could be the answer to all her questions.
Penelope Williams continues her journey in the next installment of the Powerhouse Series . . .At the Edge of the universe, the incursion created by the Kolvat only worsens. The fall of the Academy was only the beginning. The Kolvat were only the beginning. The Witches are losing the war. A myth from the beginning of the universe provides a glimmer of hope: the Weapons forged by the Witches at the beginning of time could help to drive out the Kolvat. But no one has seen those Weapons in millennia. No one believes they're real anymore.Back on Earth, Penelope Williams continues her work. Work on magic, work on her normal life, work on her freedom. While living with the mother who disowned her, she feels trapped and claustrophobic, no longer allowed to travel where or when she wants. But she is given the task of finding one of the Weapons, rumored to have been hidden in Earth's galaxy for the past several millennia.A stunning discovery changes everything as a new enemy encroaches on their universe from the outside. The devouring of reality at the Edge of the universe changes the focus of the war. How can they hope to defeat an enemy that can consume reality itself?Between the rise of this new enemy and her own personal problems, Penelope barely has time to think. She focuses on her quest to find the Weapon and bring an end to the Kolvat. In the process Penelope finds herself trusting an unexpected person. But is that trust misplaced? And will she ultimately regret letting her secrets out?In this sequel to Altair, follow Penelope as she seeks the lost Weapon, tests the limits of her freedom, and adjusts to the changing nature of friendship.
An Amazon Charts bestseller. From USA Today bestselling author L.J. Shen comes a second-chance romance about love, loss, finding yourself, and getting lost in the right person. Maddie Goldbloom stitched up a plan to ensure everything in her life was perfect—from a career in fashion to a chic NYC apartment to a pediatrician boyfriend. When her ex, Chase Black, storms back into her life with an outrageous request, her immediate reaction is to refuse him. But he only wants to fulfill his father’s last wish. So even though he’s the man who broke her heart, playing his fiancée shouldn’t be hard, especially if it means she gets to watch the arrogant devil squirm a bit. What ensues is a chain of events that detonates Maddie’s life—and when Chase’s walls come down, they both are forced to face reality. They say keep your enemies close. But what if your enemy is also the man you love?
A bizarre murder, a missing woman, and a pack of online predators. Can Jackson and Dallas stop the disturbing crime spree? A body wrapped in plastic turns up in the middle of the road-with no ID and no viable explanation. The pressure builds when Detective Jackson must also locate a missing woman that few people seem to know. Both victims lived on society's edge, so witnesses and leads are scarce. Worried that the woman's life is in peril, Jackson resorts to following her ex-boyfriend, but the effort backfires in a deadly way. Across the country, FBI Agent Jamie Dallas takes on a dangerous undercover assignment-tracking a sexual predator who brags about his assaults in a perverse dark-web forum. She travels to Jackson's hometown and soon discovers that her target's crimes are just the opening salvo. Yet confronting the hatemongers could get her killed.The investigators race the clock to find the victims, but will they discover the connection in time to save all the women caught in the deviant trap? "Flawless pacing, fascinating characters, and a plot woven together with seamless complexity: The Black Pill is one of LJ Sellers' most masterful works."-Andrew Kaufman, bestselling thriller writer Author's Note: When I traveled to Costa Rica to visit my grandchildren, I ended up rescuing them from a dangerous cult and running through the jungle from armed men. The horrific conditions those kids were living under formed the characters' background in this thriller.
Sexual abuse happens. Domestic violence happens. We know it happens. We have child protective services. We watch Law and Order: SVU. We are surrounded by sex in our media, and we are surrounded by sexual violence in our media. Yet I have turned to the work of Toi Derricotte because we are not surrounded by sexual violence in our literary criticism, because we are not discussing sexual violence in our college classrooms, because the work of a poet like Derricotte, a poet who reveals the long, difficult trajectory of the emergence of voice, of the emergence of a healthy, vibrant, bisexual self, is largely ignored by those of us in the academy who contribute articles to that grand behemoth otherwise known as the Modern Language Association's International Bibliography. The Black poetic feminism of Toi Derricotte works on this silence in a variety of ways. Read on, and perhaps learn a great deal from her journey.
The story starts in 1986, two years after Maria's kidnapping. Nicky is the head of his family. He is taking Sal to see the mausoleum he built for their mother and father. Sal is living in a mental ward after he smothered his parents. Nicky believes someone got to Sal and made him do it. At the grave site Sal is shot and falls to his knees. Nicky thinks he is crying but then sees the blood. Then Nicky is shot. Pauley and Rocky rush Nicky to the hospital, Sal is already dead.Lana gets a call from Cherry Bomb to tell MoJo that Nicky has been shot and is in a coma. MoJo is America's most wanted as John Morrison. He travels to the US as Maj. Nelson, the name he borrows from a sitcom. He has people to clear his flight as a NATO secret agent at Steward Air Force Base. He reminisces on Nicky other 'shooting.'MoJo goes to the hospital in '78' because his people reported that Nicky was the victim of an assassination attempt. When he arrives, he can tell Nicky is faking. Nicky tells MoJo of his plan to finally gain control of the NY Mob. He has Carmella kill Angela because Nicky had jilted her. He would help Carmella take down the other family and make her a boss. MoJo points out the flaw in his plan, that Angela's father would never stop looking for her killer. MoJo plans to kill Carmella's Colombian cocaine family calling the hit that killed Angela a retaliation for Nicky's drug trade.Nicolas, Nicky's father, is informed the DA is reopening the Banoa murder case. He has an ADA on the hook and confesses to the hit. Pauley and Vinny (who is already in jail) are his coconspirators. Nicolas is suffering from Alzheimer and his wife heart is getting weaker. After he is convicted, he planned to have Pauley and Vinny exonerated. However, Benny the Chicago Godfather tips off the FBI that Nathan, who has been arrested for prostitution in Las Vegas, is a person they should talk to.Before the FBI can discredit Nicolas' statements, he has Sal kills him and his wife. He makes a tape for MoJo explaining his plan and not to go after Sal's killer. With his confession and Sal death, Nicky and MoJo should be in the clear. But Nicolas did not know about Nathan and the gun.MoJo takes control of the family and has Pauley killed when he objects. He puts Chris, Carmella's husband, in charge of the operations while he considers the actions other capos. Nicky comes out of the coma but is terribly shaken. MoJo set his bed on fire to get him to snap out of it. MoJo shows Nicky his father's tape, they know who killed Sal and Nicky wants revenge.They must figure out who tried to kill Nicky.
The long-awaited book that bestselling novelist, Ziram Xwang, is calling "an imaginatively fresh cri de coeur" at once "spellbinding and absurdly entertaining." Plunging headfirst into the cerebral chaos, our mercurial narrative opens with: Tinkerbell-a cat with an indefatigable curiosity, and also the native impresario who seems to understand the strange emergence of The Black Doorway, unlike the saboteur who seeks to rid himself of the feline scourge by any means necessary. Schlepping into the unfathomable unknown, your trusty narrator--cleverly unnamed, but thought to be a Wastrel-enters the majestic realm of the Nation of Imagi's, along with the cat and a friend they pick up on the way over, Conscience, alias: the bald-headed Wise One, via the airport by way of train? Tinkerbell finds Quamigdellium hunts to be of first priority, and the others saunter off behind a door to find a strange circus replete with weirdness.And so it goes...tumbles and fumbles around the evanescent halcyon mollusk.Meet Oona, the famed exegete of the Democritus sector, and also the most sought-after symbologist this side of the Pale. She's Class-A STAR material. And Flip-Flop, a rapper who's been on both sides, feels it lurking on his nostalgic radar and decidedly lends a hand. A random excursion to Mars to film a reality TV show unravels rather lackadaisically. Ares commissions a painting from the great artist, Eros, to commemorate the bravest hominin diaspora in all of history. Nyx and Erebus, forgotten deities of another bygone era, drop their lines and go night fishing. And Sebastian Laissez finds religion in the salubrious form of a relatively unknown Martian goddess. The Doorway is real, it's here, and only for a limited amount of time. Introducing guest appearances by the numinous likes of Bastet, Gnosis, Persephone, Poimandres, Jennifer Love Hewitt? and Yin and Yang, the vigilant auspices guarding the Boardroom of the STARS Complex.(Why does this sound like a marketing spiel?)As for now, Atlantis surreptiously waits on refulgent islands far, far away...Just as Anthony Kiedis once sang, "Take it on the Other Side."And I'll meet you there.
There is a hidden threat in the world: humans with extraordinary abilities and little control over them. But every government strives to keep this danger a secret and assure the public the world functions exactly how they've always believed.Top Bureau of Special Interests (BSI) agent Morgan Connor is tasked with tracking down and recovering these Others. Actively opposing the BSI is a group of renegades called SION, who seek to rescue Others before they're taken into government custody, while the mysterious Mr. Lionhart works in the shadows. When Connor is partnered with the Bureau's newest asset, Orion Starr, he must discover why they are both so interested in the Starr family.
Dale Bruyer and James Sandover were huntsmen: monster hunting heirs to a secret legacy, warriors and students of magic. Until James died and left Dale all alone on a self-destructive path through alcoholism to an early grave. Then a killer begins ritualistically murdering young women in the small town of Solagrove, Louisiana and the deaths may or may not be paranormal, but Dale gets drawn into it anyway. There is something very familiar about the murders and someone has to stop them. Witnesses describe seeing a man in a long black coat who sounds a lot like James, and it doesn't matter that it's impossible. Dale knows it's impossible because James is dead. There is absolutely no question about it. But in Dale's world, corpses sometimes get up and walk away from their graves.
I'VE LOST SO MUCH.FAMILY. MY HOME.PRIDE. MY IDENTITY.And I couldn't help but feel it's entirely my fault. There is no one else to blame. I've quickly learned that being the White Raven isn't easy. The dead are restless and angry, and I don't know the first thing about being a banshee. Those around me will get hurt. To keep them safe, I must endure painful decisions.Zane Hunter, the ultra-bad boy who stole my heart, is one of those difficult decisions. Our souls are synchronized, making us a compatible duo. Too bad I'm engaged to his brother.My forbidden relationship with Zane is complicated. Deep down I want more than what my duty demands of me, what my family's past has shaped for me.Our problematic relationship only increases in tenfold when a surprise I never saw coming shows up in Raven Hallow, changing the game. I thought I had nothing left to lose...I was wrong.Yeah, being a banshee isn't all that it's cracked up to be.
