A fanta-thriller in a world in which magic does departs some daily life and the technology it is nearly absent."The Goddess of the Sea no longer cares just for sacrifices; she’ll punish all those tainted by blood on The Feast of Darkness."On this cursed night each year, The Goddess’s powerful magic lingers in the air. The moon and seas turn red, stirring violence in all those creatures dark of soul. Lady Dessi Quinn has vowed not to leave the castle on such a dangerous night. Instead, she longs to explore the strange connection between Lord Smit Croswell and herself, even as she tries to deny it.But as the night progresses, events outside of her control force her to make an impossible choice. A choice that will throw her into danger and change the course of her life forever.If she can survive it.Note: “The Goddess of the Sea” takes place in the world of Tarak, but readers can either enjoy this short story before or after "To Kill a Wizard."

On this cursed night each year, The Goddess’s powerful magic lingers in the air. The moon and seas turn red, stirring violence in all those creatures dark of soul. Lady Dessi Quinn has vowed not to leave the castle on such a dangerous night. Instead, she longs to explore the strange connection between Lord Smit Croswell and herself, even as she tries to deny it."The Goddess of the Sea no longer cares just for sacrifices; she’ll punish all those tainted by blood on The Feast of Darkness."On this cursed night each year, The Goddess’s powerful magic lingers in the air. The moon and seas turn red, stirring violence in all those creatures dark of soul. Lady Dessi Quinn has vowed not to leave the castle on such a dangerous night. Instead, she longs to explore the strange connection between Lord Smit Croswell and herself, even as she tries to deny it.But as the night progresses, events outside of her control force her to make an impossible choice. A choice that will throw her into danger and change the course of her life forever.If she can survive it.Note: “The Goddess of the Sea” takes place in the world of Tarak, but readers can either enjoy this short story before or after "To Kill a Wizard."

Merry Christmas! Your child will enjoy this cute Christmas book full of fun stories and Christmas jokes.* Excellent for early and beginning readers* Great for reading aloud with friends and family* Christmas stories and adventures about Christmas* Funny and Hilarious Christmas jokes & illustrations for kids* Christmas coloring book downloads includedMerry Christmas! Your child will enjoy this cute Christmas book full of fun stories and Christmas jokes.This is an excellent read for early and beginning readers. Big and bright illustrations for younger readers!* Excellent for early and beginning readers* Great for reading aloud with friends and family* Christmas stories and adventures about Christmas* Funny and Hilarious Christmas jokes & illustrations for kids* Christmas coloring book downloads includedThese stories are great for quick bedtime stories and cute tales to be read aloud with friends and family!

The tale of Mathias Auer's change from human to vampire. Eternal Sun is a short story prequel to the novel Mourning Sun.Fear constricts Mrs. Queen’s life. Anxiety turns her to stone. And all of Mrs. Queen’s worry overflows into the hum forever spilling from the trembling woman. Recognizing how the nervous habit has consumed his mother, Maven refuses to let his son David visit his grandmother until Mrs. Queen promises to follow the prescribed steps required to regain control over her trepidation. Mrs. Queen forces herself to cease fretting over her diet. She volunteers throughout her community to again socialize with her peers. She even tosses her emergency radio into the silence of her closet. Yet the woman's environment seems to unravel all the more furiously with each of Mrs. Queen’s efforts, until the world itself shakes in an attempt to make Mrs. Queen return to her humming.

The world's troubles make Mrs. Queen hum. But when her son threatens to separate her from her grandson unless she gains control of her behavior, Mrs. Queen vows to master her nervous habit of humming. The world's wars and famines, storms and earthquakes, fail to cooperate with Mrs. Queen, and the sweet woman must decide if chasing away her hum is worth placing her neighbors in peril.Fear constricts Mrs. Queen’s life. Anxiety turns her to stone. And all of Mrs. Queen’s worry overflows into the hum forever spilling from the trembling woman. Recognizing how the nervous habit has consumed his mother, Maven refuses to let his son David visit his grandmother until Mrs. Queen promises to follow the prescribed steps required to regain control over her trepidation. Mrs. Queen forces herself to cease fretting over her diet. She volunteers throughout her community to again socialize with her peers. She even tosses her emergency radio into the silence of her closet. Yet the woman's environment seems to unravel all the more furiously with each of Mrs. Queen’s efforts, until the world itself shakes in an attempt to make Mrs. Queen return to her humming.

Junior necromancer, Roger, and zombie sniffer, Cindy, from Mortimer’s School of Dark Arts come to the rescue in order to sing the dead back to sleep. When Roger’s plan backfires and he coughs loud enough to wake the dead, they conclude they need someone to rescue them! Can their blossoming romance survive a zombie uprising—and more importantly, will they survive? This is a humorous short story.When a videographer decides to record a “Thriller” video with real zombies, he quickly finds out dead men can’t dance—and are much more inclined to eat brains. Junior necromancer, Roger, and zombie sniffer, Cindy, from Mortimer’s School of Dark Arts come to the rescue in order to sing the dead back to sleep. When Roger’s plan backfires and he coughs loud enough to wake the dead, they conclude they need someone to rescue them! Can their blossoming romance survive a zombie uprising—and more importantly, will they survive? This is a 3500 word humorous fantasy/horror story.

‘The Parcel’ is a collaborative novella written by the attendees of the 2015 winter-term ‘Creative Writing – Intermediate’ ten-week class hosted by co-contributor Morgen Bailey. The authors wrote their chapters while knowing only the size, weight and destination address of the parcel, together with the chapters’ starting and ending locations – chosen by the authors themselves.‘The Parcel’ is a collaborative novella written by the attendees of the 2015 winter-term ‘Creative Writing – Intermediate’ ten-week class hosted by co-contributor Morgen Bailey.The authors wrote their chapters while knowing only the size, weight and destination address of the parcel, together with the chapters’ starting and ending locations – chosen by the authors themselves (some of whom have other books available here on Smashwords). They chose their own characters – the lead of which entitle each chapter – and plot.Morgen then collated the stories and made minor edits to turn each chapter into a cohesive novella before designing the cover and upload the finished package between weeks nine and ten of the course so all the contributing attendees left the course as published authors!We all hope that you enjoy reading this novella and that it feels seamless to you. We would love to know what you think and would also be very grateful if you left a review as an encouragement for others to read the novella.Thank you again for downloading this eBook – your support is much appreciated.

Left for dead by a band of strange, dark warriors, John Hedekira sets out on a quest to get revenge and to rescue his siblings from the hands of his attackers. Joining him is the kind, innocent Faith Pinck, and together they must stop the evil warriors before they can complete their mission: a dark plot to collide humanity with the world of an unholy, supernatural being.The Golden Lands, one of the three worlds of Terra, is supposed to be a place of peace, light, and happiness. But the Golden Lands hasn't exactly been such a place for John Hedekira, a jaded, hot-headed teenager. His parents disappear when he is thirteen, and he's left to look after his younger sister and brother. One evening, John decides that he has had it with the distant, self-pitiful dispositions of his siblings, and resolves to shut them out of his life for good...or so he thinks. That same evening, a band of warriors of a dark race invade his home, kidnapping John's siblings...and leaving him to bleed out on the floor of his own house. But John is not undone so easily. Compelled by his own hatred of the warriors that left him to die, and a sense of duty towards his siblings, John sets out on a quest for vengeance. Joining him is Faith Pinck, a caring, innocent girl who doesn't yet understand the true motives behind John's desire to track the evil band of warriors.And in the midst of their adventures as they journey to rescue John's siblings, they begin to uncover a deeper, darker plot that will endeavor to collide the world of humanity with the world of an unholy, malicious, supernatural being.

Very short stories. Bite sized fiction to entertain, thrill, amuse, or perhaps scare you in a small package. Stories that attempt to really go places in only a few sentences.This is the second in the series of five novelette eBooks providing stories relating directly to the New Voyages: Phase II series of fan-films, True To His Oath is a short story based on a concept developed by Charles Root (who played Scotty in the series) and used with permission. The events take place after the live-action episode “Enemy: Starfleet” and before the live-action episode “The Child.”Captain’s log, stardate 7254.3: With repairs to the Enterprise having been completed ahead of schedule—fortunately, the Peshan lasers were barely powerful enough to scratch our hull, and although the Eagle was once as formidable as the Enterprise, neither Alersa herself nor any of her crew knew where to hit us to inflict maximum damage—we were barely two hours out of Starbase Four when we were diverted to the Federation planetoid Memory Alpha. Our mission is to deploy a team of computer specialists to troubleshoot and then repair a major malfunction that has crippled much of the equipment we delivered here last year, rendering the facility all but useless. Commander Spock has completed a preliminary examination of the system and has identified the root cause of the problem. He informs me that repairs and reprogramming should take about three days, so I’ve authorized rotating shore leave for all personnel. On a personal note, Chief Engineer Scott has, not surprisingly, decided to take leave and spend all three days down there in hopes of reacquainting himself with a friend.

When galaxies collide, nothing happens for a long time. That’s because galaxies are mostly empty space. Yet when galaxies collide, strange, violent things do occur, given time. Dust clouds collapse. Matter is compressed. Before you know it, things ignite. A star lights. Words are like that too… aquadapts, atomgrabbers, archeologists, Colliding Galaxies has something for everyone.When galaxies collide in outer space, nothing much happens for a very long time. That’s because galaxies are mostly empty space. Yet when galaxies collide, and dust gets stirred up, strange and violent things do occur, given enough time. Dust clouds collapse. Gravity builds up. Matter gets compressed. Before you know it, the thing ignites. A star is born. And it burns hot and bright for billions of years.Words are like that too…whether on a piece of paper or arrayed as bits on a disk. When put together the right way, words get compressed. They ignite. Light and heat follow. Readers exposed to all this find new ideas, like new elements, bubbling to the surface. Illumination follows.My hope is that something like this will happen while you’re reading the stories gathered in this collection. Something sparks. Boom! A new idea…something you never thought of before pops into your head. I’m not content just to entertain or divert you from your troubles for a few hours, though there’s nothing wrong with that. I want to start a fire in your head. I want to slam atoms together, compress them and create something new…a whole new world. I’m leery of themes in story collections. If there’s any theme in Colliding Galaxies, it’s that they were all written by the same writer. Here, you’ll find a strange bunch of people, ostensibly normal in their backgrounds: an architect, a detective, a kid with a life-threatening disease, a physicist and a group of nursing home residents—but all of them eventually get smashed into new realities like planets pulled into a black hole. Here, you’ll find angels, aquadapts, atomgrabbers and archeologists, each drawn to their own personal event horizons, some wide-eyed and eager, some fighting all the way. What I’m trying to say is that free will ain’t what it used to be.

Nirupa goes to Paris. Life couldn't get any better, or sweeter for the irresponsible, teenage witch who thinks she is crazily in love with a total stranger. But while Nirupa is busy being having fun, someone near her has clear designs of stealing Nirupa of her powers, playing on the girl's teenage folly.An Ancient Alien artifact falls into the hands of a sociopathic Nazi bent on world domination. To find the source of its power he must follow the clues left behind by a long dead legendary explorer. Callously cruel and depraved he will stop at nothing to reach his goal. Jack Cage is equally determined to stop him and in doing so rescue the women he loves and avenge the death of his mentor. To accomplish this task he must first survive demonic cannibalistic Indians, cut throat bandits, ferocious beasts, and the lethal Amazon jungle. In this epic battle of good and evil neither side can imagine the horrifying truths they will discover at the end of their journey. Chasing El Dorado is a thrilling ride. Its unique characters discover ancient mythical cities hiding truths that will change humanity forever. Follow along as they also discover personal truths that forever mold their future.

An experimental work exploring ideas of thinking, emotion, and artificial intelligence.An Ancient Alien artifact falls into the hands of a sociopathic Nazi bent on world domination. To find the source of its power he must follow the clues left behind by a long dead legendary explorer. Callously cruel and depraved he will stop at nothing to reach his goal. Jack Cage is equally determined to stop him and in doing so rescue the women he loves and avenge the death of his mentor. To accomplish this task he must first survive demonic cannibalistic Indians, cut throat bandits, ferocious beasts, and the lethal Amazon jungle. In this epic battle of good and evil neither side can imagine the horrifying truths they will discover at the end of their journey. Chasing El Dorado is a thrilling ride. Its unique characters discover ancient mythical cities hiding truths that will change humanity forever. Follow along as they also discover personal truths that forever mold their future.

An Ancient Alien artifact falls into the hands of a sociopathic Nazi bent on world domination. Callously cruel and depraved he will stop at nothing to find the source of its power. Jack Cage is equally determined to stop him and in doing so rescue the women he loves and avenge the death of his mentor. In this epic battle of good and evil neither side can imagine the horrifying truth awaiting them.An Ancient Alien artifact falls into the hands of a sociopathic Nazi bent on world domination. To find the source of its power he must follow the clues left behind by a long dead legendary explorer. Callously cruel and depraved he will stop at nothing to reach his goal. Jack Cage is equally determined to stop him and in doing so rescue the women he loves and avenge the death of his mentor. To accomplish this task he must first survive demonic cannibalistic Indians, cut throat bandits, ferocious beasts, and the lethal Amazon jungle. In this epic battle of good and evil neither side can imagine the horrifying truths they will discover at the end of their journey. Chasing El Dorado is a thrilling ride. Its unique characters discover ancient mythical cities hiding truths that will change humanity forever. Follow along as they also discover personal truths that forever mold their future.

Sofie Rousseau, defender of the environment and resident superhuman. With powers over plastic, she tracked down dark dealings of Denmark's richest by the noses of their credit cards, but Savage Steel had other plans. Sofie will push herself to her limits in order to defeat her new foe, a messenger from Savage Steel with powers of his own.Emmella is an anxious girl. She worries about the things most of us ignore or take for granted. She believes she can see things very few people can, experience events and causal relations before they even occur. Her mother is patient with her, trying to empathize and manage Em's anxiety. She assumes her daughter will grow out of this phase; but what she's about to realize is that maybe there's much more to Emmella's perceptions than just mere anxiety. And maybe it's time she start taking Emmella's observations a little more seriously.

A small girl, racked with persistent and paralyzing anxiety, shows us that our perceptions of the world are far narrower than we could ever imagine. In fact, the world we experience is but a veneer over the real world. She alone holds the perceptive ability to see what we cannot. And perhaps warn us, should the need arise.Emmella is an anxious girl. She worries about the things most of us ignore or take for granted. She believes she can see things very few people can, experience events and causal relations before they even occur. Her mother is patient with her, trying to empathize and manage Em's anxiety. She assumes her daughter will grow out of this phase; but what she's about to realize is that maybe there's much more to Emmella's perceptions than just mere anxiety. And maybe it's time she start taking Emmella's observations a little more seriously.