Adrenaline
I watched my father fall to his death at the hands of another. When I grew up, I hunted down the man who killed him. I got caught and did my time. When I got out, I tried rebuilding my life. Katrina Tavares was part of that. She gave me something I’d never had before. Stability. Hope. Love. But she destroyed us. So I became someone I recognized again. A blood thirsty wolf. Now she’s put herself back on my radar. And theirs, too. My friends want me to claim her. My pride won’t let me. But something is hunting her, and the threat of an unknown predator isn’t all…
The Invention of Sound
A father’s decades-long search for his missing daughter. A young woman about to engineer the perfect scream. The most dangerous secret Hollywood has ever kept. Gates Foster lost his daughter, Lucy, seventeen years ago. He’s never stopped searching. Suddenly, a shocking new development provides Foster with his first major lead in over a decade, and he may finally be on the verge of discovering the awful truth. Meanwhile, Mitzi Ives has carved out a space among the Foley artists creating the immersive sounds giving Hollywood films their authenticity. Using the same secret techniques as her father before her, she’s become an industry-leading expert in the sound of violence and horror,…
Devil’s Night
Erika I was told that dreams were our heart’s desires. My nightmares, however, became my obsession. His name is Michael Crist. My boyfriend’s older brother is like that scary movie that you peek through your hand to watch. He is handsome, strong, and completely terrifying. The star of his college’s basketball team and now gone pro, he’s more concerned with the dirt on his shoe than me. But I noticed him. I saw him. I heard him. The things that he did, and the deeds that he hid…For years, I bit my nails, unable to look away. Now, I’ve graduated high school and moved on to college, but I haven’t…
3 Children’s Books to Read at Bedtime
Reading to your child before bed is extremely important. Not only does it cultivate one on one time with your child, it also stimulates their excitement and enjoyment of reading. Choose any of these fun and entertaining picture books to keep reading time a special time between you and your child. The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister This beautifully designed picture tells the story of a fish that loves the way it looks. However, the story goes on to tell a wonderful story about how this fish learns to share with others. He also learns that having and keeping friends is more important than material items. This story is a…
3 Books ESL Students Should Read
Reading is such a key thing for any person to do and it is a wonderful way for a language student to practice their English outside of the classroom. Here is a list of three English books for ESL learners to try. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi This beautifully illustrated and written book is the story of the author’s childhood living in Tehran, Iran. The book is a graphic novel, which allows students of all different English levels to read and enjoy this book. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros This book is a short novel that tells the story of Esperanza Cordero who…
The Bone Orchard
Charm is a witch, and she is alone. The last of a line of conquered necromantic workers, now confined within the yard of regrown bone trees at Orchard House, and the secrets of their marrow. Charm is a prisoner, and a survivor. Charm tends the trees and their clattering fruit for the sake of her children, painstakingly grown and regrown with its fruit: Shame, Justice, Desire, Pride, and Pain. Charm is a whore, and a madam. The wealthy and powerful of Borenguard come to her house to buy time with the girls who aren’t real. Except on Tuesdays, which is when the Emperor himself lays claim to his mistress, Charm…
Tender is the Flesh
His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans. Then governments initiated the “Transition.” Now, eating human meat—“special meat”—is legal. Marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing. Then one day he’s given a gift: a live specimen of the finest quality. Though he’s aware that any form of personal contact is forbidden on pain of death, little by little he starts to treat her like a human being. And soon, he…
Glow
“I was nothing but a road to Midas. A means to get to where he wanted to go, and I paved that path in gold.” My life has been made up of gilded lies. But death has been shaped from rot. Like a phoenix caught fire, I will need to rise from the ashes and learn to wield my own power. Because my wings may have been clipped, but I am not in a cage, and I’m finally free to fly from the frozen kingdoms I’ve been kept in. Yet the world doesn’t want to let me. That’s the thing when you turn against a king—everyone else turns against you.…
The Guncle
Patrick, or Gay Uncle Patrick (GUP, for short), has always loved his niece, Maisie, and nephew, Grant. That is, he loves spending time with them when they come out to Palm Springs for weeklong visits, or when he heads home to Connecticut for the holidays. But in terms of caretaking and relating to two children, no matter how adorable, Patrick is honestly a bit out of his league. So when tragedy strikes and Maisie and Grant lose their mother and Patrick’s brother has a health crisis of his own, Patrick finds himself suddenly taking on the role of primary guardian. Despite having a set of “Guncle Rules” ready to go,…
Absolution
He was supposed to protect me. Instead, he stole my light. He was supposed to love me. In the end, I was nothing but a plaything for his sick and twisted pleasures. The monster who haunts my nightmares is back from the dead. His sinister plans have turned into a game of cat and mouse with deadly consequences. No one is safe, least of all the four men who stole my heart and pieced my tainted soul back together. They vow to protect me, but how can we outrun the darkness picking us off one by one? As secrets from the past begin to unravel, long forgotten truths are revealed.…
