Sam Cheever

I was finally going to be able to stay on Earth to do a job. Joy of joys. No endless water dimension. No realm filled with slavering monsters. No dimension with deadly winds. It was going to be a piece of cake. Yep. I'm an idiot. Ghouls. I was ready for them. Or so I thought. Justice and I had been working hard on my magical skills. The borders between dimensions had been quiet for almost a month. And I'd even managed to work my regular part-time gig at The Muddle, helping my best friend keep the human-type boogies at bay. But alas, the sanity was destined to end. And so was my na ve notion that working within my own dimension for a change was going to be familiar and easy. I'm such a putz. But then, what would you expect from a traveler who doesn't know how to travel?

I'm trying to find my missing Council member, which might involve visiting the spectral plane. Something that I'm strangely not looking forward to. (sarc) The last thing I need is this...this mess. Achieving my full powers feels like mega-menopause, hot flashes and all. Unfortunately, these flashes can actually burn. Something's changing. Something big. I'm finally achieving the last stage of my Lares power. I realize the transformation is going to be hard. It's going to be painful and confusing. I know all of this because my advocate, the world's crankiest moon hound and consummate know-it-all, was elated to inform me about it. What I didn't know was that I'd be trying to save one of my council members and beating back a demon invasion in the middle of the whole mess. Unfortunately, this is all starting to remind me of my initiation into the Lares gig. I barely survived that transition. I'm not so sure I'm going to survive this one.

Villains, Annoying Assistants, and Monsters...Oh My My best friend had nothing to do with bouncing or monsters until something went terribly wrong in my new job. Suddenly she's missing, and the rumor is that a nest of monsters might have her. Those monsters are about to meet their match. I'm going to go medieval on their furry butts. If only I can figure out how to control my bouncing magic for five solid minutes. I just hope Molly will forgive me for bringing her assistant Rog along on the rescue mission. The man has taken annoyingto levels heretofore unknown. Believe me, I've tried to shake him. But he's like a giant octopus with a thousand tentacles. He insists he needs to go with me on the rescue. Unfortunately, the man has even less sense than he has magic. And he has zero magic. Something tells me this is going to go badly.

Sometimes the only decision you can make is the wrong one. Then, all you can hope for is that two wrongs DO make a right. Also, don't mess with Dave.Someone has taken fairy Queen Sindra and all the fae and locked them away. For their safe return, the villain is demanding the most powerful artifact in existence. Unfortunately, the artifact is in the protective custody of The Universe, which is the main governing body for all magic. It's being protected by a powerful magician, a three-headed anti-mythological feline, and a guy named Dave. Don't ask me about the Dave thing. I don't have a clue. The only way we can save the entire fae population is to get our hands on that artifact. Our journey promises to be epic. Alas, it doesn't promise to be successful. Any way I look at it, things stand a really good chance of going horribly, epically wrong. Good thing I'm used to things going hideously wrong. In fact, it's become something of a signature move for me.

One of the great things about midlife is having the experience and knowledge that comes from decades of navigating jerks and mansplainers. Unfortunately, I had nothing in my repertoire to help me deal with a true Trickster. Amid magical mushrooms, ghosts popping up in unexpected places, dangerous predators, strange pregnancies, barking cats, meowing dogs, and an endless array of other weirdness, I'm facing a foe unlike any I've encountered before as Lares of Rome. My new enemy is determined to destroy my dominion and he doesn't care who he takes out in the effort. He probably doesn't realize it yet, but he's in for a curse, swear, curse of a battle. It's going to take the combined effort of an entire town and all of my council and allies, but I have no intention of giving my people over to the type of madness the Trickster generates.

Don't ever let anyone tell you that getting on the wrong side of a curse is a small thing. Even when you think you've got a handle on them, those suckers have a way of jumping up and chewing on your nose before flinging you into the pits of Hell. Have you ever heard of a Groundhog Day curse? Yeah, I hadn't either. Until somebody put one on a certain goth teenager, who means a lot to me. I'm determined to find the source of Wanda's curse and fix it. But the timetable for that becomes greatly accelerated when she goes missing, and I get a vision of her begging for help. Not good. The curse has just gone from inconvenient to deadly. Unfortunately, the path to saving Wanda is long, twisted, and fraught with challenges. Did I say challenges? Silly me. We only need to overcome an array of murderous sea monsters. A legendarily wicked crone. Corrupt, power-hungry witches and a cadre of deadly demons. Piece of cake, right? Sigh... I've only been on the job for a couple of months, and already I need a vacation.

I'm discovering that glossing over that whole "epicenter of a magical vortex" thing when I took this Lares job was a mistake. Looking back, that now seems like important information. Whoever said midlife was a time for reflection and relaxation clearly wasn't an ancient guardian deity. I'd just started to think I was getting a handle on this whole Lares thing, and then the earth decided to open up into a giant, fiery hole of evil nastiness. Talk about your hot flashes Add in a deadly new ally, a magical weapon I'm pretty sure I'll never get the hang of, and being forced to play "Where's the Voodoo Queen" while trying to deal with everything else...well...let's just say that crepey skin is probably the least of my worries.

Psst Can I tell you a secret? Midlife is a c-r-a-z-y ride. Not what I expected at all. But, I'm having a ton of fun in between the...you know...near death experiences and bladder-testing moments of complete terror. Curse, curse, swear How did midlife get so out of control? All I wanted was to make my own mark on the world. Start my own business and celebrate the end of an uninspiring marriage. Instead, I have a bat in my belfry. Not a metaphor...a REAL bat. The woods in my back yard is full of something dark from my nightmares. I've got a mysterious and sexy neighbor who seems to appear out of nowhere and knows more about my life than he should. And my best friends? Yeah, they're witches. What the..? My life has become a carnival and I'm sitting at the OhMyGoddessNo spot on the most heart-stopping roller coaster.Things are getting hairier than my chin. And midlife is definitely not shaping up to be the calm and graceful phase I'd been expecting. But, I've got a good grip on my granny panties and I'm taking the ride. What could possibly go wrong?

It's definitely curtains for May's client. He's exited Stage Left for the last time. May Ferth just wants to do a good job in her role as fake girlfriend. But there are strange goings on at the funeral. Shifty characters whispering secrets in shadowed corners, and a truly yummy advocate for the dead guy implying that May might have had something to do with his friend's unscripted exit. May might be a thirty-three-year-old ex-community theater actress on her second career, but she comes from a family of cops. And, despite her talent for acting, she has a lot more Detective in her than Diva. The villain thinks he can threaten her and she'll fold like last week's panned play. Clearly, he hasn't read the day's script changes. May and her little dog Shakespeare are on the case. Though, they might take a little direction from the Private Investigator who believes that May's client was murdered, and fully intends to prove it.

Auctus...Augment: A portal protector and her baby gargoyle, a guardian daemon, a hellhound, and a witch. Together, they must survive in a strange land filled with unknown monsters. Combined they must be strong enough to defy an elite group of magical terrorists. They are Auctus, augmenting the magic flowing through her world...but will they be enough?I'm Glynn Forester. I'm Magis. More. Recently, in an attempt to save my friends and home from the Body, a group of elite magical terrorists, I accidentally dragged them all through the portal I'm charged with protecting. We ended up in a place where monsters thrive and nothing is familiar. Survival is our first order of business. I need to figure out how to provide food, clothing, and shelter to the people I brought with me. Though the power of this new place sings through my veins, filling me with magical purpose, I'm in way over my head. I don't know how to take care of so many people. I was barely scraping by just taking care of myself and Boyle, my baby gargoyle. And then there's Hawk, a powerful daemon guardian whose touch turns my bones to goo. And Nicht, his faithful Hellhound, who is fierce and deadly, unless he's giving a certain baby gargoyle horsey-back rides across my living room. How am I going to keep my people safe? How will I save my friends who we were forced to leave behind? What will I do about the Body? And the portal? And Grams? And...so much more? One thing is clear. My relatively safe, slightly boring little world is gone, gone, gone. And I am up to my eyeballs in challenges I have no idea how to meet. This should be interesting.

The heart holds the potential for great love...and a deadly need to protect it.Love potion? Really?I don't have enough trouble dealing with a cranky assistant, a mouthy frog, an opinionated cat, and a hobgoblin who thinks getting smacked upside the head is the best kind of fun?Now I'm dealing with a love potion that turns a delightful human emotion into a death sentence. Banshee bunions As if I didn't already have enough trouble with my love life. Now I have to save someone else from dying of love. This magical librarian gig is going to be the death of me. Or...you know...of someone else.

She's just a girl with a dog, a cat, and a pig. And since she's been drafted into helping her boyfriend scare his younger brother straight, she's a girl who's suddenly glad she's an only child.Hal's younger brother has been banished to Deer Hollow because of his proclivity for getting into trouble. Hal's parents are hoping he'll take the kid under his wing and straighten him out. But Asher Amity has a knack for finding trouble, and it doesn't take him long to find it in Deer Hollow. When Asher steps into a steaming pile of murder and treachery, Hal and Joey are destined to get dragged into the mess with him. Who knew how dangerous babysitting could be?