Personal Injury attorney Paul Newton likes his cases easy and obvious. Judith Hoople’s situation is anything but easy. Abused as a child, she developed Multiple Personality Disorder to protect her from her reality. Now, an unscrupulous counselor has broken the barriers that protected her, using her for a sex toy before cutting her loose. Newton doesn’t like this kind of case, but he can’t walk away, either.
Author Paul Nelson is, himself, an attorney and this courtroom drama/legal thriller rings true. Newton pushes the case forward despite insurance problems, an opposing council with a personal agenda, and a significant financial investment on his part. It would be worth it to get the win, though…unless Judith really is lying about everything.
In an alternate present the minds of teen offenders are uploaded into computers for rehabilitation—a form of virtual wilderness therapy. Zach is a homo cognoscens, one of the new humans who can navigate the Fulgrid. Though still a high school student, he is indentured to the Fulgur Corporation as a counsellor. Laura is a homo sapiens. Their story is part odyssey, part tragedy, part riff on the nature of consciousness.
The novel is being serialised in weekly instalments, a chapter each Friday. Podcasts (audiobook) are also available, read by the Welsh actor Ioan Hefin.
With squirrel mania currently sweeping the Internet, what better time to announce a free novel by award-winning author Jon Evans. Beasts of New York is an urban fantasy about the wildlife of New York City, starring a squirrel protagonist who has to find his way from exile back to his home in Central Park, rescue his mother, and win a war.
If you haven’t heard about the squirrel that photobombed a Canadian couple’s holiday pic, you can read about it in the Examiner. Then use the Squirrelizer to add a cute squirrel to any pic on the Internet.
I usually write international thrillers, but Beasts of New York is very different: it’s an urban fantasy about the wildlife of New York City, starring a squirrel protagonist who has to find his way from exile back to his home in Central Park, rescue his mother, and win a war. No easy task - but the unconventional friends he makes along the way just might be able to help him save his homeland…
– Jon Evans
This story is beautiful… Made me think of squirrels completely differently and its cool to hear about NY in a different perspective. As I’m reading this book, I cant help but feel for all the characters. Unbelievable that this book is free and a must read for all.
Jon Evans is a fool to give this away for free. This story is every bit as entertaining as any Harry Potter adventure or modern fiction thriller. Download it. Read it. Print it. Give it to everyone you know.
4:Play - A contemporary cocktail of erotic short stories
4:Play captures the deliciousness of sexual fulfillment, the adventure of conquest, and the mystery of unexplored territory.
Among these progressive stories, a brother and sister try to make sense of the sexual love they share; a demure young woman encounters an incubus; and two friends strike up a stimulating discussion that acts as the perfect aphrodisiac.
With a scope and style that is fresh and compelling, 4:Play dives into the depths of navigating gender, sexuality, and the lines of desire.
About the Author
Jess believes that the erotic nature of human beings continues to evolve, along with the human species itself. She is currently 1/4 of the way through the first draft of her next book.
In May 2009, Editor Unleashed and Smashwords partnered to sponsor The Flash Fiction 40 Contest. Any writer could post a story of 1,000 words or fewer on the Editor Unleashed forum, and the members would get a chance to read and rank all of the stories.
More than 280 writers took up the challenge and posted a story. It was a dynamic experiment in what is quickly becoming the new wave of publishing: crowd sourcing and open review. Both the forum members and editors who made the final cut chose the same story as the Grand Prize winner—a dark, astonishing piece of magical realism titled “Fairy Tales” by Laurel Wilczek. You can read about Laurel and her inspiration for her flash fiction in profiles on both Editor Unleashed and at the Smashwords Blog.
In this anthology, you’ll find “Fairy Tales” as well as 39 other winning stories from the Flash Fiction 40 Contest. These stories encompass every genre—from literary to horror and beyond—and are 40 outstanding examples of the rapidly evolving flash fiction form. Savor the stories one at a time or spend a few leisurely hours reading the collection in whole. I know you’ll enjoy reading these 40 great flash fiction pieces as much as I did.
Jason Cosmo is perfectly happy as a humble woodcutter in the village of Lower Hicksnittle-until a foppish stranger tries to kill him, claiming there is a huge price on Jason’s head. Ten million gold carats is enough to put Arden’s best–and worst–bounty hunters on his trail. It seems Jason has become the most feared man in the Eleven Kingdoms–which is news to Jason!
On the run from mercenaries, Demon Lords, and the full might of the sinister Dark Magic Society, Jason teams up with cynical wizard Mercury Boltblaster and winsome twins Sapphrina and Rubis to learn the truth.
Driven by the Laws of Narrative, Jason’s quest will take him from the bright realm of The Gods to the deadly depths of the Incredibly Dark Forest–and into a final confrontation with the forces of evil. Followed by another final confrontation. And then a sort of wrapping up loose ends scene. If he lives that long…
Set three thousand years in the future, at a time when spaceships travel between the worlds with the help of “webbers.”
Human worlds are organised in two empires - the “Old Empire” and the “New Empire” - and each of the two emperors is immortal. The two emperors have each signed an oath to respect the interests of the guild of Webbers which is seen as central to keeping the peace between the worlds.
In place of a single commanding officer, ships are run by a trirumvirate or “Three.” At the start of the book, the patrol ship Bhattya needs a new first officer. Commanda Rallya and her two colleages who make up Bhattya’s “Three” decide to offer the post to Rafe, a brilliant webber who looks twenty five, and believes himself to be thirty, but has had his memory erased on defecting from the New Empire to the old one.
As the Bhattya gets caught up in events which appear to threaten the stability of the galaxy it becomes very clear that there is something very unusual about Rafe. He is every bit as talented as Rallaya and her colleages had hoped, but his background seems to be very mysterious - and hint at an age rather greater than the 25 which his physical condition suggests or the 30 which he admits to. And whatever his past is, both of the two emperors are taking a close personal interest in him. Who or what is Rafe - and why is he so important ?
I really liked this book and am surprised that it didn’t become a bestseller. Good for a try if you want to read a science fiction book which is a bit different from the usual run.
The Ghosts of Earth is the first book of the Truthfarer series which describes the beginnings of a universe - the origins of space and time, and of consciousness itself. These cataclysmic events set in train the Truthfarers’ quest, and the account of their journey Homewards.
This history follows the adventures of two of these beings as they travel from the skies of an ancient planet to the realm of the gods, and then onwards to the freezing landscape of a new world, before finally encountering the subterranean regions of the Gaki. These creatures are a strange race indeed, inexorably driven by an insatiable hunger towards madness, to an insanity that holds within itself the key to the next stage of their path towards ultimate knowledge.
To the outside world she was just Leena Duncan, a quiet woman who worked a normal job and lived a quiet life.
A few times a year she could openly use her magical gifts at celebrations within a small community of people she called friends.
Having lived through the horrors that can come from the hands of someone you thought loved you; she decided never loving again would prevent more emotional scarring.
It took one man at a rainy Beltane celebration to change everything with which she was comfortable and one killer to change her safe world.
He created worlds on and put them on paper to entertain others. After years of using his imagination he finds out his friends can do things he thought only his mind created.
For his entire adult life Owen Grey had always played it safe and kept to his own world of writing, never getting too close to anyone.
Having lived a nightmare growing up he would never take the chance of repeating history. He may write about happily-ever-after, but he knew it was pure fantasy and didn’t exist.
Playing on every teen’s passionate desire to look as good as everybody else, Scott Westerfeld (Midnighters) projects a future world in which a compulsory operation at sixteen wipes out physical differences and makes everyone pretty by conforming to an ideal standard of beauty. The “New Pretties” are then free to play and party, while the younger “Uglies” look on enviously and spend the time before their own transformations in plotting mischievous tricks against their elders. Tally Youngblood is one of the most daring of the Uglies, and her imaginative tricks have gotten her in trouble with the menacing department of Special Circumstances. She has yearned to be pretty, but since her best friend Shay ran away to the rumored rebel settlement of recalcitrant Uglies called The Smoke, Tally has been troubled. The authorities give her an impossible choice: either she follows Shay’s cryptic directions to The Smoke with the purpose of betraying the rebels, or she will never be allowed to become pretty. Hoping to rescue Shay, Tally sets off on the dangerous journey as a spy. But after finally reaching The Smoke she has a change of heart when her new lover David reveals to her the sinister secret behind becoming pretty. The fast-moving story is enlivened by many action sequences in the style of videogames, using intriguing inventions like hoverboards that use the rider’s skateboard skills to skim through the air, and bungee jackets that make wild downward plunges survivable — and fun. Behind all the commotion is the disturbing vision of our own society — the Rusties — visible only in rusting ruins after a virus destroyed all petroleum. Teens will be entranced, and the cliffhanger ending will leave them gasping for the sequel. (Ages 12 and up) –Patty Campbell, Amazon.com Review.
An amateurish ebook video trailer does more harm than good. Most of the ones I’ve seen lately send me scrambling for the back button in the first 5 seconds. Here’s one from Seth Godin for his free Tribes Q & A ebook that I enjoyed so much I watched it to the end - a first!
Please let me know if you’ve seen any other good examples lately.
This guidebook is the result of ten years of extremely active personal practice and study of the out-of-body phenomenon(the phase), coupled with having successfully taught it to thousands of people. I know all of the obstacles and problems that are usually run into when getting to know this phenomenon, and have tried to protect future practitioners from them in this book.
This guidebook was not created for those who prefer light, empty reading. It is for those who would like to learn something. It contains no speculations or stories, only dry, hard facts and techniques in combination with a completely pragmatic approach and clear procedures for action. They have all been successfully verified by a vast number of practitioners that often had no prior experience. In order to achieve the same result, it is only necessary to read through each section thoroughly and complete the assignments.
The book is beneficial not only for beginners, but also for those who already know what it feels like to have an out-of-body encounter and have a certain amount of experience, as this guidebook is devoted not only to entering the state, but also equally dedicated to controlling it.
Contrary to popular opinion, there is nothing difficult about this phenomenon if one tries to attain it with regular and right effort. On average, results are reached in less than a week if attempts are made every day. More often than not, the techniques work in literally a couple of attempts.
EyeLeash is a coming-of-age debut novel which captures self-discovery in the 2000s.
Jade Ashton is a sassy virgin. In her blog, she vents about “fitting in” a world where superficiality reigns supreme.
Suddenly all logic flies out the window when she meets Novan: a delicious songwriter-musician. They decide to be “friends-with-benefits.” But it’s Novan — with his poems and riddling passages on his own blog — that backs out.
EyeLeash showcases the colorful, intricate drama in two youths’ relentless search for themselves — and what’s really in their hearts.
About the Author
Jess C Scott is an ambitious, 22-year-old writer/artist/non-conformist. She reads, writes, loves, lives, and throws herself whole-heartedly into experiences.
It is her modus operandi for storytelling. Her website is www.jesscscott.com.
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