Showing results by author "C.A.L." in All Categories

Abducted by an ancient, evil entity to his castle and into his service, what is one to do? Amalina is about to find out. The darkest, most dangerous time in her life begins. With dark humor, suspense, and new takes on genre tropes, this dark fantasy series quickly grows to surprising, epic proportions, but it starts here in the first novel: Amalina and the Secrets of the Wailing Castle.

Mystery. Love. Lies. It's been a year since Grace's world was ripped asunder. The Shadow Children are fighting a losing battle to rescue the halfborn from the Silent Homes, but when a routine mission takes a sinister turn, Grace and her friends are faced with an impossible decision - battle on alone and risk losing everything, or place their trust in the people who have hunted them for centuries. With allies by her side and enemies at her heels, Grace must negotiate her way through the secrets and lies that pave the roads of the Shadow City. The dark is closing in....

In the time of the great King Arthur, there was an island in the mists called Avalon where, in the shadows of history, the much greater force of magic was used to shape the course of humanity. Anna and Bronwyn, two young Priestesses-in-training, don’t know it yet, but they will rule Avalon someday. The only problem? They can’t stand each other. Needing the girls to not only be civil to each other but also to learn the essence of teamwork is of the utmost importance to the current High Priestesses. In order to teach the girls to work together, they bind Anna and Bronwyn in magic, then ...

Charles and Grace wanted a quiet staycation honeymoon, but when their train terminates early due to a storm up ahead, they wonder if they made the wrong decision. Forced to take shelter in the nearest seaside town, Saltwater, they discover that there is only one guesthouse left. Unlike the rest of Saltwater, the Anchorage is entirely deserted. That night, with the storm howling relentlessly, Grace is woken by a child crying. She is haunted by the sound, until Charles convinces her it was only her imagination. But the next day, she finds a warning scrawled in the guest book.

Serial killer Herbert Mullin terrorized the Santa Cruz, California, area at the same time the infamous Co-Ed Killer, Edmund Kemper, was active. Unlike Kemper, Mullin killed anyone. Young, old, men, women, children, and even a priest in a confession booth. He didn't adhere to a particular MO. The deadly voices told him to kill...and he killed.

Two million dollars secured Noah Crawford the most enticing woman he has ever known. Initiating Lanie Talbot into a sensuous world of pleasure took them both to the brink - again and again. But when Noah discovers why the beautiful innocent sold her body to the highest bidder, he's faced with the hardest thing he ever had to do: set her free. Lanie can't believe Noah would let her go. Doesn't he know they share a bond deeper than sex - a connection too powerful to sever?

The rebels have won, and the empire is withdrawing from Qazal. But undoing the tangled web that binds the two nations will not be easy, and Touraine and Luca will face their greatest challenge yet. Luca needs to oust her uncle from the Balladairan throne once and for all and take her rightful place as Queen. But he won't let go of power so easily. Touraine has found a home in the newly free country of Qazal. But she soon realizes that leading a country and leading a revolution are two very different tasks.

Artists in every era and medium have depicted Neptune as a tempestuous god with ever-changing moods, so it’s fitting that his anthology follows suit. In these sections, you’ll find stories by turns heroic, comic, pensive, absurd, uplifting, and ambiguous. They also reflect different conceptions of what it means to be “related to Neptune”, as this volume was intended to be. Some anchor themselves in mythology, while others focus on the planet, and still others are weird amalgams of Neptunian themes.

Maud Baxter's peaceful life on sleepy SeaBreeze Island is shattered when local artist Samantha Granger is found dead of a suspected overdose. But things don't add up for the sharp-witted bookstore owner. When Maud starts poking around, she discovers that Samantha's house has been broken into and crucial evidence is missing. With the help of her spunky daughter, Annette, wisecracking best friend, Krysteen, and the charming Dr. Russo, Maud must unravel a decades-old mystery and catch a vengeful killer before she becomes the next victim. Join the SeaBreeze Murder Club ladies in this delightful...

It’s been almost two years since investigative reporter Jack Logan and television producer Taylor Parks brought down the Institute. But soon, a series of bizarre, seemingly random murder/suicides captures Jack’s attention as a disturbing pattern emerges. Could someone be intentionally causing people to become homicidal? At the same time, Taylor is producing a story about a class action suit against a national insurance company that has reached the Supreme Court.

Presley and Susan Merriweather are eagerly preparing for the upcoming Fall Harvest Festival flower arranging contest, a cherished event in Hunter's Hollow. As the excitement builds, tragedy strikes with a chilling twist—Susan is discovered locked in the flower shop's cooler, lifeless. Presley's hunches and her loyal companions lead her to delve into the mystery. From rival florists to jealous competitors, everyone's a potential culprit.

Jack Harper is a dangerous woman, capable of death and resurrection. Raised and utilized by Cyrus, the leader of a mystical religion, she was once a fearless and brilliant weapon against all who blasphemed. Now, having destroyed Cyrus, Jack is free to be more.

Peter Manuel killed repeatedly, both random and targeted victims, including men, women, and children, because he enjoyed the rush. As a lifelong criminal, Manuel mainly committed property crime. That all changed when his heart was broken. The woman he'd been engaged to called off the wedding and left him, causing Peter to snap. His violence escalated then, and Peter terrorized various communities for almost two years. His cockiness had no end, and he went as far as giving a police inspector a ride.

"After Dinner Conversation" Magazine - October 2022 The Loneliest Number: A bipolar piano player goes off her medication to enter an international competition. Immortality Failure: The medical nanites in the elderly inventor's body are failing, and she is finally going to die. Gardenia: The narrator decides to stop in for breakfast at a small-town diner and must come to terms with Elroy Goddard. After "The End": A free-floating planet is on a collision course with earth and a man must decide how to spend his last hours. The Empathery: Various family members try out new bodies to learn ...

As the charming town of Hunter's Hollow bustles with life, tragedy strikes at the heart of its beloved Uptown Cafe. Andie Swartz collapses over lunch, a victim of poisoning, and Presley finds herself swept into the midst of the drama. With Cooper running for mayor, Presley knows she needs to be careful not to make him look bad with her sleuthing.

For the first time in this ancient bloodstained story, the tournament is breaking. The boundaries between the city of Ilvernath and the arena have fallen. Reporters swarm the historic battlegrounds. A dead boy now lives again. And a new champion has entered the fray, one who seeks to break the curse for good...no matter how many lives are sacrificed in the process. As the curse teeters closer and closer to collapse, the surviving champions each face a choice: dismantle the tournament piece by piece, or fight to the death as this story always intended.

King Khoury of Manaf has come across an interesting piece of intel: the Princess of Ashwari has been hidden in America for 25 years. If the story proves true, the King would be able to form alliances with the war-torn nation, not to mention finally secure himself a bride. All he has to do is get the Princess to go along with his plan, which may be a challenge according to his good friend Belkacem Al-Malwali, King of his sister country Ghassan. The King decides to rely on his trusted vizier, educated in the States, to plead the King's case and vet the young girl to see if she is truly King ...

When her fifteen-year-old son Milo goes off the rails, Alex Harding is terrified she’s passed on her abusive father’s ‘bad’ genes. When she then makes the shocking discovery that her estranged son, Samuel, who she gave up for adoption as a baby, has been accused of murder, she becomes even more convinced nature not nurture is the cause. The only way Alex sees to help Milo, is to get to know Samuel and understand the crime that he has been accused of. But it isn’t long before Alex starts to wonder if she has made the biggest mistake of her life by inviting this man into her family.

This is a story about a family coming of age at the same time as smartphones and social media; a multiracial family coming into its own as windows into social injustice opened up before our very screens; and a multi-parent multi-professional family with children living differently depending on which house and which combination of family members happen to be home. While it is a story about a family, it is really the story of technological and global changes unfolding on our doorsteps.

A gripping story of love, loss, and redemption in the vietnam war: As Roger Connors, a widower with no children, ponders whether to pursue aggressive treatment for his cancer, a cryptic note arrives from a long-lost USAF buddy announcing the visit of an acquaintance from Vietnam. The startling news resurrects ghosts of fallen comrades and haunting memories of the great love he once knew. Once upon a Mulberry Field follows one man's journey to self-discovery, fraught with disillusionment and despair but ultimately redeemed by the power of love.