Showing results by narrator "Emily Sutton-Smith" in All Categories

Morgan Bailey's complicated life - dragon boyfriend, witches, vampires to slay, the ongoing pursuit of coffee - is about to turn more complicated. The Fairy Queen is calling in a favor. She wants Morgan to exterminate the djinn. If that isn't bad enough, her nemesis Alister has gone completely mad, and most alarmingly, Inigo isn't quite himself. It's enough to make a vampire hunter yearn for the simpler days: stake 'em and leave 'em.

When the Colonial Marines set out after their deadliest prey, the Xenomorphs, it’s what Corporal Hicks calls a bug hunt—kill or be killed. Here are fifteen all-new stories of such “close encounters,” written by many of today’s most extraordinary authors. Set during the events of all four Alien films, sending the Marines to alien worlds, to derelict space settlements, and into the nests of the universe’s most dangerous monsters, these adventures are guaranteed to send the blood racing—one way or another.

Bringing the Fairy Queen's murderous brother to justice was supposed to give Morgan Bailey a little peace and quiet - at least as much as a vampire hunter ever gets. But two murders, a jail break, a price on Morgan's head, and rumbles of paranormal war don't bode well for rest and relaxation. Mix in the reappearance of mysterious "soul vampires", and Morgan's emotions are on the verge of melting down.

This year, when Jessica Martinson-Canton blows out 11 candles on her homemade vegan cake, she makes the same wish she's made for as many birthdays as she can remember: She wants a mother. Mallory O'Connell leaves her dream job in a big city to return home to help her fiercely independent mother recover from tragedy. After forming a unique bond with Jessica - and a friendship with Jessica's hot father - Mallory finds that in coming back to Stonehill, she might just have found a way to make all of her dreams come true.

An impossible decision in the chaos of D-Day. Ripples that cascade seventy-five years into the present. And two lives transformed by the tenuous resolve to reach out of the darkness toward fragments of light. Cancer stole everything from Ceelie—her peace of mind, her selfimage, perhaps even...

On an island in Maine, four siblings arrive at their sprawling, old summer place for the Fourth of July. It's the Willoughbys' first summer without their parents, and their beloved house is falling apart. When a substantial offer is made on the estate, the two brothers and two sisters are forced to confront issues they had hoped to keep hidden. An homage to the layers and limits of the family bond, North Haven explores the shifting allegiances between siblings as they contend with their inheritance.

Falling through the window of their family's cozy house into a dark and bitter world, riven by sectarian violence and struggle, five siblings search for a way out - and discover extraordinary talents deep within themselves on their path toward love.

Andrea “Andi” Silvers thought moving to the tiny fishing village of Coffin Cove, on the Vancouver coast, would be a fresh start. But she got shot during a murder investigation.

Her boss at the Coffin Cove Gazette keeps telling her to take it easy. But she’s back on the booze and won’t get help. Instead, she’s going to do what she does best and follow her next lead.

Rebecca Meer's hometown of Ward, Nebraska, is small - so small that she can't even sneak home after a drunken girls' night without running into at least three people she knows. But she has bigger problems than her reputation. The head doctor at her fertility clinic is losing his mind, and his wild behavior could cost them the business. Her supersuccessful ex-boyfriend has blown back into town and somehow become her son's fifth-grade teacher.

In a few hours, MOLLY MAGUIRE's life implodes. After her apartment burns down, a lawyer shows up at her office informing her that a distant relative left her a home in Loon Lake, Wisconsin. Then she's fired. With nothing holding her back, and nowhere else to go, she heads to the small town. Young retiree, GRANT REEM sold his tech start-up and was contacted by the owner of his family's favorite vacation spot with an interesting next act: buy a tour boat company in Loon Lake. With nothing stopping him, Grant buys the business and moves across the country.

Leaving the OCD Circus reveals the story of Pagacz's traumatic childhood and the escalation of her disorder, demonstrating how OCD works to misshape a life from a very young age. It also explains the various tools she used for healing, including meditation, cognitive behavioral therapy, yoga, exposure therapy, and medication.

Mary Anna Custis Lee is a great-granddaughter of Martha Washington, wife of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, and heiress to Virginia's storied Arlington house and General Washington's personal belongings. Born in bondage at Arlington, Selina Norris Gray learns to read and write in the schoolroom Mary and her mother keep for the slave children and eventually becomes Mary's housekeeper and confidante. As Mary's health declines, Selina becomes her personal maid, strengthening a bond that lasts until death parts them.

Gracie Parish knows the true cost of trust. Rescued as a child by the infamous Parish family, she became a member of their covert sisterhood of vigilantes. Gracie saw her most precious relationships destroyed by secrecy. She learned long ago to protect her heart as well as her family's secrets. Special Agent Leif "Dusty" McAllister will do anything to uncover the truth about the Parish family's covert operations. Dusty knows Gracie is his ticket in. But the more he gets to know Gracie and her family's mission, the harder he starts to fall.

The A'ras of Nyaesh have a terrifying reputation: skilled swordsmen, owners of powerful magic, and ruthless killers. When they kill her parents, Carth discovers her parents had trained her for magic she never knew she possessed. She must use the skills they taught to stay alive, discover a way to find answers, and avenge them if she can. Only the discovery of a greater threat than the A'ras forces her to risk herself, for new friends and a home she never wanted.

From his position behind the pulpit, Reverend Peter Taylor has a unique view of his affluent congregants. By and large, they appear respectable and morally upstanding, but they have their share of troubles - and perhaps even more than their share of sins. Liza Howard is a notorious Jezebel who seduces young and old alike, and who now has her sights set on Judy Bennett’s son, despite his engagement. Meanwhile, Judy hides her own family secrets behind her relentless judgment of others.

I find him injured, a monster hiding in the shadows of an unknown, terrifying world. When I run from him, I end up thrust into the middle of an unbelievable war full of creatures I can't fathom exist. My sole worth in the eyes of these warmongering beings is as a sacrifice on the altar of destruction. My mind and body crave what only he can give, but the darkness harbored within his soul frightens me. Resigned to my fate, I prepare myself to draw my last breath; I dream he will come, but we all know dreams never come true.

Maggie Thomas is still stumbling her way through running her uncle’s Miami Beach P.I. agency. When a dead woman washes up on the shore, Maggie has reason to believe the woman’s death wasn’t an accident. Maggie may have recently solved her first case as a private eye, but handsome detective Jake Jackson warns her that this one is too complex.

Celebrated for more than fifty years as a world-renowned novelist, essayist, and political figure and commentator, Gore Vidal is less known for the exquisitely crafted short fiction he wrote as a young man. Like the work of Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams, his stories have been overshadowed by the author’s triumphs writing in other genres. Still, Vidal’s short fiction offers us a portrait of the young artist in the 1940s and 1950s. His subtle and comic tales often center on adolescence and homosexual themes.

November 13, 2015. It was a Paris night that began like so many others - until a series of terrorist attacks brought darkness to the City of Light. Stirred by the tragic events at the Bataclan music club, One Night in November locks into the hearts and minds of all those whose paths crossed that fateful fall evening...

Corpse magnet Odelia Grey is at it again―stumbling across a dead body at a wedding reception while "Achy Breaky Heart" plays in the background. Bodies are turning up so fast that Odelia enlists the help of her family and friends―Greg, Seth, Zee, Detective Frye, her half brother Clark, even...