Not Really Galileo

      Richard Kerr
     Not Really Galileo

All kids have a folklore about their neighbourhood, whether it's an old woman who's really a witch or, in this case, a derelict house that's haunted. Two boys decide to watch an eclipse at the dead of night. -0-The world is full of wonder and meaning yet, today, to understand it we seem to have to choose between science and superstition. I prefer the daydeaming, storytelling way.Samantha and Tracy have been best friends since kindergarten, but now that Tracy has gotten over her shyness and made new friends, Samantha is feeling left out. This is nothing compared to how she feels when a strange girl named Jessica tells Samantha that she’s actually an imaginary friend. Tracy has outgrown Samantha, and it’s time for Samantha to help another child who needs her. But will Samantha be able to move on and fulfill her duty as an imaginary friend?

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    The American Dream: A Short Story

      Jonathan-David Jackson
     The American Dream: A Short Story

Emily has just moved into her first house and is excited to start her adult life, but every night her American dream becomes a nightmare.In 2036, true artificial intelligence bots (Taibots) live in society and form relationships with humans; they behave like humans in every aspect. However, Olivia thinks Taibots are just a piece of machinery and have no understanding of what they are talking about. In other words, she doesn’t believe artificial consciousness is possible. But things get complicated after Toby enters her life. Despite the fact he seems like a Taibot, Olivia is certain Toby has human consciousness.On the eve of the sixth mass extinction, resulting from anthropogenic climate change, is artificial consciousness the answer to keeping human consciousness—the apex of 4.5 billion years of evolution—sustained in a universe without humans? Is Olivia able to find out why Toby so resembles her boyfriend who died five years earlier? How would the world deal with the imminent global wipe-out?It’s a fast-paced adventure that entails philosophical discussions about consciousness, love, life, the future of humanity and the universe.

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    The Last Aerie

      Brian Lumley
     The Last Aerie

Nestor and Nathan Kiklu are the twin sons of Harry Keogh, the Necroscope. United by blood, they also share some of their father's awesome powers--but what they do with those gifts cannot be more different! Nathan takes up the struggle against the metamorphic vampires, while Nestor, fascinated by the vampires' eerie evil, has become his twin's worst nightmare: a Wamphyri Lord! Harry Keogh's sons have become the bitterest of enemies, each determined to destroy the other. When next they meet, one will surely die!

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    The Beast of Bridgewater

      David Willoughby
     The Beast of Bridgewater

A story styled after the works of H.P. Lovecraft explores the potential for the bizarre and terrifying in even the most mundane settings. A group of students moves in to a new apartment complex and confronts the things that go bump in the dark.Having earned a tenuous place on the sailing ship Turnagain, Rose maintains her disguise as a boy while continuing on her quest to find Benson, her abducted twin brother. As if preserving her cover isn't difficult enough, she must face bullies, forbidden attractions, and her first fumbling attempts at espionage. Though she has her doubts as to whether the mysterious scribe Fenric—an accused murderer—can be trusted, she follows him into a plot that could either begin the restoration of the monarchy or end in the assassination of the heir to the throne. The Secret's Keeper and the Heir is the second book in the Rose's Garden and the Sea series.

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    Out of the Darkness

      Tymber Dalton
     Out of the Darkness

[Siren Classic: Erotic Contemporary Paranormal Romance, HEA] The land remembers… Built on a cursed patch of land, George Simpson's house of horrors ruined many lives. Author Steve Corey rents it as a surprise in a desperate attempt to salvage what's left of his marriage. Samantha Corey thought getting Steve sober in the early days of their marriage would be the hard part, but she's reached the end of her rope and is ready to leave. It doesn't help that her thoughts have turned to Matt Barry, Steve's best friend—and her old love. Now, Samantha needs Matt more than ever as Steve's behavior deteriorates. She wonders if her husband's sick, drinking again, or if her own sanity's in question. The house has a dark agenda. Even though she's ready to divorce Steve, she's not ready to relinquish his soul to the ancient evil enveloping him. Can she and Matt pull him from Out of the Darkness? Note: This book has been extensively expanded. It was previously published with another publisher and was a 2010 EPIC winner. A Siren Erotic Romance

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    Apocalypse Scenario #683: The Box

      Mira Grant
     Apocalypse Scenario #683: The Box

A new short story from Mira Grant, the author of Feed. Every week five friends get together to play a game-- a game they call the Apocalypse Game. It's a fun time with chips and beer and plotting the end of the world. Except this time, one of them is missing and the stakes are higher than ever before. Word count: ~3,900

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    Nightworld

      F. Paul Wilson
     Nightworld

Terror spreads throughout the world as the days grow shorter and the nights longer. As scientists rush to discover why the sun is rising later and later each day, an ancient evil waits to be reborn. Soon the vampire called Rasalom and the spiritual warrior Glaeken will fight the final battle.

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    Melody

      V. C. Andrews
     Melody

Melody Logan knew her beautiful mother, Haille, was unhappy in their hardscrabble mining town.... But with her wonderful father's unwavering love, Melody always felt safe — until a dreadful mine accident ripped her from her family's moorings. She was still devastated by her father's death when she left West Virginia with Haille to follow her mother's dream of becoming a model or actress. But first they stopped in Cape Cod to visit her father's family at last. Melody knew only that her grandparents had disowned their son when he married Haille — just because she was an orphan, her mother said. Yet moments after Melody first laid eyes on dour, Bible-spouting Uncle Jacob, nervous Aunt Sara, and her cousins — handsome Cary, whose twin, Laura, had been killed recently in a sailing accident, and sweet, deaf little May — Haille announced that Melody was to live with them. Sleeping in Laura's old room, Melody was awash in a sea of grief and confusion, with only her beloved fiddle to comfort her. Then Cary revealed the truth he'd gleaned about her parents — a sad shocking story that only puzzled her more. Melody knew nothing of the dark deceptions that would soon surface...the devastating betrayals she would face before she glimpsed the faint, beckoning lights of a safe harbor....

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    The Tattooed Heart

      Michael Grant
     The Tattooed Heart

Mara has already witnessed more evil as the Messenger’s apprentice than most people do in their lifetime, but the games continue. The Messenger leads Mara to the funeral of a Muslim boy named Aimal, who died standing up for his people, and then to an abandoned store, where they discover Graciella, a girl battling addiction. The all-knowing Messenger recognizes that they are victims of heinous crimes. Mara and Messenger will find the wicked—those who act out of selfishness and greed, and others who become violent because of prejudice and hate. But Mara and Messenger pay a price too. For every person who is offered justice, they will wear a tattoo that symbolizes the heart of the crime. And as Mara delves deeper into her harsh reality, she is suprirsed to realize that part of her is drawn to the sometimes compassionate Messenger. In spite of all the terror she and Messenger inflict, Mara will discover that caring in this world is the hardest part of all. The second book in New York Times bestselling author Michael Grant’s Messenger of Fear series, The Tattooed Heart combines fantasy with real-world horror stories to create a satisfying conclusion.

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    Valentine's Candy

      Melissa L. Webb
     Valentine's Candy

Candy has to spend another Valentine’s Day alone, but is she really alone? Who is leaving gifts on her doorstep? Will she survive this holiday?Iguru Halk, space pirate, was once a great scientist and respected man, but one mistake cost him his career, his pride and his very identity. Iguru would do anything to reclaim it all, even change history itself. Now he's on the hunt for a mysterious ship that could help him clear his name, but he's not the only one searching. Kira, an enigmatic man who lives on a planet with no name, wants the ship for his own machinations. They form an uneasy truce, but as their relationship starts to grow, Iguru finds himself on the brink of making the same mistake twice, which could be his undoing or his greatest chance at redemption.

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    Zombies! The Fall of London

      Kassandra Alvarado
     Zombies! The Fall of London

In 1824, a mysterious plague strikes England's fair shores, worse than the American Revolution and the War of 1812, simply put the dead walk! It becomes a race against time as Captains William Parry and John Franklin traverse London, evading brain-seeking unmentionables at every turn.Have you ever gone out to dinner with friends, expecting to enjoy a lovely meal, with poignant conversation...and instead have met with back-biting, in-fighting, and casual betrayals--all of it unspoken, sent to you by text?Or, rather, sub-text?The following conversation is a testament to just such a situation, where the table-talk above is merely a facade, and while what's really going on is candidly spelled out--in cool and cruel detail.Sub-texting is approximately 400 words.

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    The Familiar Man: A Short Story

      T. R. Stoddard
     The Familiar Man: A Short Story

A two part short that explains the real reason for a man's disappearance. Discover the unlikely connection between him and Alice. This short is to test people's interest in a possible follow-up novel.It's a story about a girl from Africa who was rudely taken from her own country to America to be a slave on cotton farm. She was abused by her master and had a really terrible times there. She somehow managed to have friends who helped her get through. By the end of this short novel she managed to rescue herself to a better life.

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    The Haunted Camera

      Drac Von Stoller
     The Haunted Camera

Delbert Gray was an amateur photographer with a hunger for fame. The camera Delbert used was a cheap Kodak instamatic. You can see why Delbert dreamed of owning a Nikon like his rich friend Michael. Delbert's longing for that special camera lead him to an Antique shop. The old man gave Delbert that special camera, but it would cost Delbert his soul in the end.Delbert Gray was an amateur photographer with a hunger for fame. The camera Delbert used was a cheap Kodak instamatic. You can see why Delbert dreamed of owning a Nikon like his rich friend Michael. Michael would let his friend Delbert develop his pictures in his dark room while he was developing his own. Delbert really envied Michael's photographs and would often close his eyes and day dream about being a famous photographer some day. As Delbert was walking around the town square he came across an Antique shop that had an old bellows camera in the display window. Delbert said to himself, "If I could just have that camera I bet it would take better pictures than Michael's." Delbert slumped over with tears again flowing down his cheeks knowing in reality there was no way he could afford such a beautiful camera. Just as Delbert was walking past the Antique shop, an old man opened the door and came up to Delbert and said, "I noticed you were looking at that old camera in the window as if it belonged to you." Delbert answered, "Yes, Sir, I was only wishing. I knew in my heart I could not afford such a beautiful camera. Besides, I don't even have a job or any money to give you and my father told me the only way I could buy a new camera was to get a job next year. By that time your camera would be gone and I would be heartbroken once more. Well I better be on my way, because if I don't get home soon my dad is going to whoop me.""Not so fast!” the old man said in a tender voice. I've never had anyone come by my shop and want any of my antiques like you have. I tell you what if you really want the camera it’s yours to keep. Don't worry about the money your money is no good to me. There's only one condition. Bring me a copy of the photos you take. I have a scrap book that I would like to place them in. That's all I ask of you. What do you say?" Delbert should have known something was up when the old man that sells antiques for a living doesn't give his antiques away for free. Why all of a sudden should the old man give him a rare valuable camera only one in existence to a young boy. There is something very wrong with this picture. You'll want to read on and on to find out.

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    The Monk

      matthew lewis
     The Monk

When Matthew Lewis’s The Monk was published in 1796, readers were shocked by this gripping and horrific novel. Lewis’s story, which drove the House of Commons—of which he was a member—to deem him licentious and perverse, follows the abbot Ambrosio as he is tempted into a world of incest, murder, and torture by a young girl who has concealed herself in his monastery disguised as a boy. As Ambrosio spirals into hell, the reader encounters an array of haunting characters: the innocent virgin, the Bleeding Nun, the Wandering Jew, an evil prioress, and Lucifer himself. This Modern Library Paperback Classic, set from the unexpurgated first edition of 1796, brings to a new generation of readers a timeless classic of gothic fiction that has influenced writers from Byron and Emily Brontë to Poe and Hawthorne. From the Trade Paperback edition.

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