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The Gilded Butterfly Effect by Heather Colley When introverted loner Penny transfers to a Midwest university in search of the all-American college experience, she finds herself under the intoxicating influence of Stella, a glamorous, damaged sorority girl with a razor-sharp wit and a bottle full of secrets. As their unlikely friendship deepens into obsession, both young women spiral into a hall of mirrors—haunted by frat-house cruelties, prescription drug dependencies, and the brutal expectations of modern femininity. Narrated in alternating voices, The Gilded Butterfly Effect exposes the glossy absurdities and grim realities of contemporary campus life, exploring themes of body dysmorphia, mental health, sexual assault, and peer manipulation with both ferocity and humor. This acerbic, atmospheric debut asks: how much of ourselves do we lose when trying to belong? |
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Jason June meets F.T. Lukens in this YA debut that’s two parts fluffy romcom, one part contemporary fantasy, and all epic love story. First love is magic. Sometimes literally. Sixteen-year-old Phoenix “Nix” Ashwell has spent his whole life looking for his soulmate. He’s also spent that life living a lie. After discovering his parents kidnapped him as an infant, he runs away to a town built inside an ancient crater to search for clues about his past. And, no, he’s totally not there to look for a boyfriend. That is, until he meets Max, a boy straight out of his dreams. Okay, fine, he’s definitely there for a boyfriend. Desperate to be closer to Max, Nix takes a series of bizarre tests to get into the special program he’s part of. There’s just one problem: Max is magic. And, after unknowingly cheating on the tests, everyone thinks Nix is magic too—including a group of ex-students whose attempts to reveal magic to the world put Max in danger. Now Nix has way more to worry about than figuring out if Max is flirting with him or just super nice. He’ll have to find his own magic to protect the guy he’s falling so hard for he’s seeing stars. But then he learns his birth parents are hiding even more secrets than the ones he ran away from—one being that he was born to wield the most dangerous kind of magic. He’s faced with an impossible choice: risk the life of the boy he’s spent his whole life looking for or let him go to save him. What began as a quest to find where he belongs becomes a battle between the fire of who he is and the gravity of who he loves. |
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Percival Gynt and the Inevitability of Fire and Other Cases by Drew Melbourne One day, the fate of the entire universe will rest in the hands of one man. A hero. An accountant. But Percival Gynt is neither of those things. Not yet. Collected here for the first time are the early adventures of Percival Gynt, a young man caught between his own dark past and an incandescent future. A future of starships and sorcery. Of monsters and mysteries. Of... um... card games and... conference calls? In this volume, you'll learn how Percival caught his first killer, toppled a despot, and saved Christmas. And YOU will guide Percival through his darkest day, as he seeks any path to escape... ...the inevitability of fire. Percival Gynt and the Inevitability of Fire and Other Cases presents eleven stories of maximalist space-fantasy, existential angst, comedy, adventure, and mystery in the 201st century, in this standalone prequel to the novel Percival Gynt and the Conspiracy of Days. |
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Jester by Tim Carter In a realm ruled by idiots, their only hope is the Fool. You’d think an army of zombie trolls and undead ogres would catch the nobility’s attention. You’d be wrong. The rulers of Halfsock are deeply in denial. Besides, they have taxes to avoid, neighbors to plunder, and relatives to backstab. With war looming, a goblin latrine slave named Shelly resolves to save Castle Halfsock from itself. He must take on many roles… jester, detective, spy, and political fixer. But his most challenging role—especially after a lifetime spent cleaning other people’s toilets—is as a confident secret agent worthy of trust, friendship, and maybe even love. Can the least powerful person in the realm overcome his insecurities to depose rulers, forge alliances, and fend off an undead horde? A comic tale of politics, friendship, and found family for fans of Nicholas Eames, Terry Pratchett, and J. Zachary Pike. |
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Page's Pyre by Jordan Loyal Short How do you steal a book that doesn’t exist? When Izola travels to Jarlsbeck bearing news of her ex-husband’s death, she discovers that her daughter, Page, has made dangerous friends. Obsessed with finding a mythical book whose origins are clouded in mystery, Page is embroiled in a magical heist. To steal the book out from under the noses of a secret society of librarians, she’ll have to assemble a team of a sarcastic dwarven historian, a devious summoner, and of course… a book witch—her mother. But working together will test the team’s loyalties. Page was always a daddy’s girl, and her rebellious spirit has pushed her away from Izola. Worst of all, Page is keeping a secret that just might get the whole team killed. On the eve of Reinveldt’s post-war election, the world’s fate teeters on the brink, and the sinister Thule Society puts forth a candidate. Nothing is beneath the Thule in their quest to control the fabled intimidation, blackmail, assassination. Can mother and daughter make peace in time to save a nation from itself? And can the team hold it together long enough to steal the legendary book, or will old scars and secret agendas tear them apart? |
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Dragon Bone Elixir by Jordan Loyal Short Delve into Wormwood's wonderfully warped mind and discover a secret the Thule Society will kill for. Dragon Bone Elixir puts the high in high stakes adventure as the alchemist Jabar Wormwood unravels a psychic puzzle with clues scattered across the Continent. To cure the magical tumors transforming his dearest friends, Wormwood embarks on a madcap journey to decipher the fragmented truth of a year-long blackout. Cackles and chaos follow in his wake as Wormwood sets out to find a magical formula with the power to sway the course of the next Great War. Zeppelin rides, unhinged assassins, and psychedelic shenanigans await! But when the dragon supremacist nation of Reinveldt invades its helpless neighbor, Wormwood is forced to flee, one step ahead of the bloodshed. With the brilliant and cruel Colonel Gelmen hot on his trail, Wormwood races an elite unit of dragons on a quest to unearth the terrible secrets the alchemist has hidden—even from himself! |
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A Machine for Hugs by Galen Gower A Machine for Hugs is a collection of tales embracing the everyday strangeness of being alive. These stories explore forgotten avenues and dark corners too weird to ignore. A lone gravedigger’s life hangs in the balance between insanity and damnation... A pair of erstwhile goldminers unlock a horrible secret on their trip home to Kansas... A lonely boy creates a machine for hugs and learns some of life’s hard truths... ...and more. All this and more waits for you in this fifteen-story odyssey from Galen Gower, a writer whose imagination is only surpassed by his willingness to explore absurdity and fantastical new themes with a keen eye regarding the human condition. |
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Chalupacabra Y2K by V.S. Lawrence Fast Food Just Got Freaky. In the summer of Y2K, a slow night shift at TicoTaco takes a turn for the cursed when a couple of bored employees deep-fry something they definitely shouldn’t have. Now something greasy, pissed off, and way too into hot sauce is leaving behind a trail of empty packets and drained bodies. Janet (burned out), Landon (baked), and Trina (bedazzled) are the only thing standing between the Chalupacabra and total chili cook-off carnage. They have no weapons training, no plan, and absolutely no business being the heroes in this story — but unfortunately, they’re all we’ve got. |
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Grim Portents by Christian Akins Bill Baker wants nothing more than to marry the woman he loves, but when his wedding is interrupted by a rampaging hell-beast, his life is thrown into disarray. Desperate for a second chance, he will do anything to set his future back on track. Now, with the help of a soul-collecting reaper named Sonny, he must uncover who is releasing monsters from Hell, in order to earn back the life that was stolen from him and prevent the oncoming end of days. Faced with the choice between what is right and what is easy, Bill may have to sacrifice all he holds dear for one last shot at life. Grim Portents is a paranormal odyssey that takes a man through Heaven and Hell in a satirical exploration of the institutional pitfalls of the afterlife. Though desperate to return, death may have been the very thing he needed to learn how to live. |
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First Verse (Get your rocks off Book 1) by G Eilsel First Verse is a Friends to (one-sided) Hate to Love, bi-awakening MM Romance, packed with angst and steam. Eric My life is already complicated enough. Most of my waking hours are dedicated to my band, and we’re on the edge of making it big. It’s the stuff that dreams are made of. Until the day our drummer backs out, weeks before our tour kicks off. Just in time to save the day, in walks the one man I’d hoped to never see again. The one blip on my radar. The only man to ever break my heart. Dmitri What do you do when you have the chance to jump back into the life of the one that got away? The guy you never risked taking a chance with, because falling in love with your straight best friend is a recipe for disaster? You dive headfirst, not caring how much it’s going to hurt when you land. Six years apart hasn’t changed the way I feel about Eric, and it hasn’t changed the way he hates me. The more time we spend together, the more he makes it clear that he wants nothing to do with me... and I’ll do anything to find out why. |
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The One Handed Holidays: Crossed Swords Edition Series - Christmas Novella Just when things in Hell are starting to get boring, The Lucifer receives another of these blasted letters... the candy-striped, smiley-faced, hopeful letters of humans. Only these letters aren't intended for him, and he's tired of reading about the silly Christmas wishes of mankind. The best solution is the most obvious one: go to the North Pole, and demand Santa do something about it. Only things don't... quite... work out the way he's imagining. Lucifer's riled up and ready to put Santa in his place, but the tall, dark, and somber man who greets him at the workshop door isn't a man that can be bossed around, and he's quick to put Lucifer in his place. Only Lucifer isn't so easily dissuaded, and soon, he's causing chaos right underneath Santa's nose. It quickly becomes a game of cat and mouse, until they're no longer Lucifer and Santa, but Damien and Niklaus, and what's happening between them is a lot more complicated than either of them could ever have expected. Author's Note: This is an 18+ erotic novella based loosely on holiday themes. Read accordingly. |
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It's been almost a century since the veil fell and monsters invaded the world. We didn't give the humans an opportunity to retaliate as we charged in and took over, and I was at the head of the front lines with my sword in hand. A perfect soldier, fighting the battles that ultimately put my people in charge of this planet. Half of humanity was slaughtered, and in the decades since the invasion, things have only gotten worse. Tensions between the rebel humans and monsters grew as the climate changed, and temperatures rose as resources dwindled. The sun scorched away plants and trees, leaving behind a husk of a planet where everyone fights for survival. The Fates were furious at our violence, and now we're trapped inside the hell we created. We've all heard tale of the Mate's Mark, and how we're destined to find our fated mate. One human, one monster - foretold to be the cure to this cursed world and repair the damage that has been done. What was once the cause of curiosity and intrigue has turned into nothing more than a mockery. Decades have passed, and not a single pair of fated mates had been found. Until now. Until me. Until the night I pull off my armor and find the mark staring back. Author's note: Ronan is a First Person Dual POV MM Monster Romance series with explicit content intended for readers 18+. It is the first in a series that will have an overarching storyline carrying between books. While this series ends with a guaranteed HEA, individual books end on more of a HFN basis. The feature couple's story will be resolved, though there will be some unanswered questions and mild cliffhangers that lead into the next in the series. |
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A Dark Hole Darkly by Drew Melbourne The World's First/Best/Only/Last ADHD Detective Novel! Patrick Hinkle's mom is dead. Murdered. And maybe he could find her killer if his brain weren't for shit. Or if her whole stupid life wasn't as big a mystery to him as her death? If he understood her last words. If he knew who his dad was! If he knew what it all had to do with an obscure British sci-fi show from the 1980s... Before he can solve his mom's murder, Patrick Hinkle will have to solve her. And to do that? He'll have to solve himself. A Dark Hole Darkly is a postmodern comic mystery about family, fandom, who we are... ...and who gets to write the endings to our stories. |
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Scrub Me, Daddy by April Showers My entire life is a mess. My ex cheated. My job sucks. And my apartment smells like old takeout and despair. a 3 A.M. infomercial promising the Scrubbie Dubbie will change my life. Desperate and half-delirious, I order it. The next day, a sponge arrives—hot pink, dual-textured, and paired with a cleaning liquid that smells suspiciously like seduction. Then things get... weird. And wet. One steamy scrub-down later, I slip, hit my head, and wake up to a six-foot-something alien Adonis with abs for days and an obsession with cleaning. And with me. He’s strong, sudsy, and ready to polish more than just my floors. He came to tidy my apartment—and he just might stay to deep-clean my soul. |
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A Life in Too Many Margins by S. E. Thomson David is dying, or maybe he isn't. Hard to say, really, because no one ever gives you a timetable when you're disabled, autistic, queer, and stuck improvising your way through existence. What he does know is this: if life is going to keep punching him in the gut, he might as well write it all down first. A Life in Too Many Margins is the story of a man looking backward while time keeps nudging him forward. From childhood misunderstandings to medical disasters, David is collecting the fragments of a life shaped by truths he didn't discover until far too late: that he's neurodivergent, that his body will never play by the rules. That gender was never the box people insisted it had to be. If you've ever felt like the world wasn't built with you in mind, or if you just enjoy a dark laugh in the middle of disaster, David's story will remind you that sometimes real life only happens… in the margins. |
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Vividwater by Jacqueline Owens In a future world, only a few hydrospheres, like AotearoaNZ, have enough drinkable water, nearly all sold overseas. Alex is a mnemopath, a professional memory machine, at the main water trading bureau, WaiOra. Her job isn’t noble, selling water overseas while locals die of thirst. But she needed a job, and the extra water allowance. Her humdrum life, struggling to earn enough water to live, is upended when her great love comes back to AotearoaNZ, after fifteen years in China. Alex’s world is transformed to one of excitement, danger and a relationship she has to hide. |
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Dissatisfied Me: West Coast Larry by Bruce D. Gordon Layabout Larry Johnstone’s life mission to find the perfect spouse began in his early teens. After dating (and being dumped) by nearly a hundred women, he finally meets and proposes to his dream girl, Heather—a successful advertising executive from Vancouver. A shocking truth about Larry surfaces during his bachelor party, thwarting his plans for a traditional wedding. Determined to complete his quest, he abandons his Ottawa life and flies to his “Schnookums” on the West Coast—only to discover his mission might not come to fruition as expected, thanks to a charismatic Scandinavian with ice blue eyes and a portable meatball oven. Needing guidance, Larry stumbles into a non-conventional church, where a seagull-cawing woman reveals a Larry will father a nation and be married to the voice of a generation. With the help of Peter, a hippie who “spreads the love” in the streets, and newfound friends at the Hospice of Good Hope, Larry is driven to seek the answer to the “How the hell will this prophecy be fulfilled?” |
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Seiryu Tokinage is a two-hundred-foot-tall lizard living in Brooklyn. He is part of a community of “Tall people,” giants resembling animals trying their best to mesh into human society. Seiryu works as a one-man police unit protecting New York City from alien attacks. He feels unappreciated by the people he saves and has developed gripes with the people closest to him. Seiryu is jealous of his roommate Junior, a Tall bonobo, who New York adores because of his job as a window washer. His best friend, Sook, a giant fish-frog, has become an intolerant drunk. Chloe, his Cloverfield-esque girlfriend, is often too awkward and shy to interest him. Seiryu decides to leave town before his bitterness turns him into a kaiju—a rogue Tall man who destroys cities and eats humans. “While other writers reduce us to mere natural catastrophes, Evan finally grants us the dignity and agency we’ve long been denied.” —Godzilla “I never thought I’d see the day we got a giant monster story without some half-baked human drama shoehorned in. Give the giant monsters the problems, the feelings, and the emotional victories—finally, someone gets it.” —King Kong “A sweet, charming story that’s basically made to be read with your feet up on a beach chair... if you have those.” —The Blob |
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The Marfa Blues - searching for treasure by John Egenes Vera DeSoto runs a cafe in Marfa, Texas in 1968. The cowboys and truckers who come in fantasize and hope for a chance with her, but she enjoys her solitary life and isn’t ready to settle down with anyone. Somehow, Vera seems to collect strays—lost and wayward people looking for second chances. A 14-year-old girl, two hippie boys, and a scared young artist manage to find their way into her life and suddenly, Vera is joining them in a search for buried treasure in the badlands of the rugged desert of Southwest Texas. Egenes gives us a mismatched group of characters that helps explore themes of found family, redemption, and the varying interpretations of "treasure"—is it gold, or human connection? The dusty, mystical backdrop of 1968 West Texas—with its iconic Marfa Lights—adds a magical, almost surreal quality to the narrative. In a playful yet poignant tone, the author takes us from hippie culture and desert adventure to giant cloned cows and a psychic raven, as the novel balances whimsy with real emotional stakes. If you're drawn to offbeat, character-driven fiction with a strong sense of place, this could be a delightful discovery. It’s breezy enough to read quickly, yet it lingers in your mind due to its emotional resonance and quirky charm. It’s an unexpectedly warm, humorous, and heartfelt adventure story—perfect for fans of nostalgic road trip vibes and unconventional treasures. If you enjoy that kind of narrative, The Marfa Blues is definitely worth a read. From the author of the award-winning “Man & Horse: The Long Ride Across America.” |
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Don't Date the Haunted: A Dark Romantic Comedy by C. Rae D'Arc "Certain to have the reader laughing out loud . . . a highly intoxicating story . . . unexpected plot twists." - Readers' Favorite Does the heart beat faster from love or terror? As a born-and-raised citizen of Horror, Pansy Finster has survived Hauntings such as mad killers and poltergeists by living her brother's rules, including, "Avoid dolls, clowns, and masks." But after the death of her fiancé, Pansy finds herself alone--which is a dangerous status in Horror. When she flees to Heartford, Romance, she's startled that a masquerade has Regency ladies screaming... in excitement. Culture-shocked, Pansy struggles to avoid any ill omens, such as repeated glances from the curiously handsome Lord Theo, from Fantasy. With a seemingly useless magical ability, he could be the Romance Pansy never knew she needed... or her most deceitful Haunting yet. Pansy must learn to love like a Romantic and teach her new friends to survive like a Horror before the masquerade becomes a massacre. Follow Pansy Finster's hauntings and romance in "Don't Date the Haunted," first book of the Haunted Romance trilogy, by C Rae D'Arc. If you like Seth Grahame-Smith, Isaac Marion, or Christopher Moore, then this dark romantic comedy will keep you up! Don't forget; it's never just a power-outage. |
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Hoodlum Army by Elizabeth Roderick A Robin Hood for the Modern Age… Robin never thought she’d meet the girl of her dreams in a bank, much less when they were both robbing it, but her mother always said to find someone who shares your interests. Maryann wants to start a cooking school for disadvantaged kids, Robin to save her parents’ farm from repossession. It's natural that they team up to make the world a better place through crime. Their job experience as a barista and a hotel maid doesn’t transfer to grand larceny, however. Some clumsy mistakes mean it’s not long before the FBI is hot on their heels. The agents seem to have criminal motivations of their own, so going to jail might be the least of Robin and Maryann’s worries. Worst of all, Robin is falling in love. She doesn’t think Maryann has ever dated a woman, but sometimes it seems like maybe, just maybe, she feels something deeper than criminal conspiracy. Will they find a happily-ever-after this side of prison…or the grave? |
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Gracie & Zeus Live the Dream by Elizabeth Roderick Grace Morgan has been on the music scene long enough to know the life of sex, drugs & rock & roll is just a dream. But after a messy divorce, Grace wants to give her dream of being a music journalist one last shot. She moves to LA with her 21-year-old foster son, Zeus. They live in a motel on cup noodles and hope, until Grace finally gets a break: a story about Inez Carter, hot-mess frontwoman of the popular band Karma Korn. The story delivers more sex, drugs and rock & roll than Grace bargained for. Karma Korn's drummer, Nelson, has Grace rethinking her post-divorce vow of celibacy. And after they're invited to an elite Hollywood rave, where they mistakenly drink the electric Kool-Aid, Zeus is scouted to be the lead guitarist for another star band. However, the story soon goes sideways, and things aren't adding up. Someone is spreading rumors about Grace, trying to sabotage her career and reputation. Then someone tries to kill her. Grace is left frantically trying to connect the dots in the dwindling hope she'll be able to salvage the story, her relationship with Nelson, and her life. |
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Welcome to the Dark Ages by Malory When Merlin needs a hero to save the world, he gets... well, me. Fan-bloody-tastic. I was supposed to be dead. Instead, I wake up face-down in Dark Age mud, possessing some poor bastard's body, while the ghost of history's most famous wizard rambles on about being murdered, cosmic energy and the end of all reality. Just one tiny problem: I know about as much about cultivation as a pig knows about particle physics. Now I'm fumbling with mystical energy that feels like juggling nitroglycerin, trying not to get shanked by everyone and their grandmother, and dealing with Merlin's constant "helpful" commentary. Something dark is rising in Arthurian Britain. Something that made even Merlin scared. They say fate has a sense of humour. Turns out it's the kind that laughs while setting your hair on fire. Welcome to the Dark Ages, where cultivation meets chaos, and the only thing sharper than a sword is my questionable wit. |
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Toshie the Hero and the Orbs of Destiny by Eric Koziol A second life. A fantastical world. A truckload of trouble. Toshie’s dead—and that’s just the start of her troubles. As a former bank teller from Pennsylvania, she’s in no way qualified to become the hero of a fantastical land. So when she wakes in Vara Elma and is tasked with saving a princess from a dragon, Toshie knows she’s in over her head. Handed a sword and joined by a band of misfits, things go from bad to worse when one of her companions is slain by the dragon. A dragon Toshie soon discovers is the princess’s lover, not her captor. Confronted with the possibility that Vara Elma doesn’t need heroes, Toshie is forced to question why she’s been given a second life at all. Questions that become all the more pressing when she meets other formerly dead people just like her. As Toshie gets into trouble well above her paygrade, she fears she’ll never get her answers—and that her second life will be shorter than her last. Toshie the Hero and the Orbs of Destiny is the first exciting fantasy novel in the Toshie the Hero series. If you love isekai stories, witty banter, and a heaping dose of adventure, get transported into Toshie’s story! |
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Attack of the 50ft Trans Woman by Caledonia Fife Lily Watson will do anything to transition, so when a shady biotech company offers her an experimental gene-editing gender change for free, she jumps at the chance. It means the end of her marriage, but she is prepared to live with that. She isn’t prepared for the radiation mutating her edited DNA, causing Lily to grow to an astounding FIFTY FEET! Now the biotech company wants her dead, genital-obsessed cultists are whipping up a public fear of her, the media has labelled her a terrorist for the crime of being a (really, really) tall woman, the police are after her for stealing her own DNA, and the government has sent the army to kill her. She’s big and she’s angry Fine, if they think she’s a threat, she’ll be a threat. She sets out for Downing Street, with death, destruction and murderous mayhem on her mind. When she is given the opportunity to affect meaningful change for trans people, she must choose if that is more important than her lust for vengeance… #GiantTransLivesMatter |
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On 1st October 2017 the Catalans went to the poles to vote on independence from Spain. The Spanish government didn’t like that very much and tried everything they could to stop it. Among other things, they sent thousands of police officers who attacked voters and broke down doors in an attempt to take the ballot boxes and close the polling stations. The Catalans didn’t like that very much and tried everything they could to go ahead, like peacefully resisting and hiding ballot boxes. 2 million people ended up being able to vote and the result was overwhelmingly in favour of independence. Which the Spanish government didn’t like. In the weeks and months that followed there were strikes and demonstrations on a daily basis in Catalunya and for a long time it seemed that all that was needed to set off an actual revolution was for a leader to emerge. Peter Brown was a loser and couldn’t lead a conga line, let alone a revolution. However, after he gets caught up in a riot in Barcelona, shortly after the referendum, that’s exactly what the whole world seems to think he’s doing. |
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Littlethumb Sneezed by Truant D. Memphis What would happen if everything in the world froze but you? Littlethumb Sneezed is the tale of prolific artist and renowned philanthropist, Littlethumb Brooks. From the discovery of his creative genius as a child to his rise to fame, join Littlethumb on a satirical journey through the world of American pop culture. It is a life filled with love, laughter, charity, art, disguises, magic tricks, international intrigue and unfortunately, horrible tragedy. Also, there's a punk rocker named Tommy Toxic. It began with the Occurrence. Littlethumb was a little boy… |
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Wanted for quiet end-of-summer period: one housekeeper and two general staff to help run this charming Kentish manor house. Must be prepared to cook, clean, see to guests' needs...oh and help bring about popular revolution. A decadent and bourgeois comedy from the author of Mrs Tempest's Marriage Bureau. |
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Intelligent People by H. A. Ferdinand “I know we can do this. I believe in us. We are intelligent people. Between us, we can put together an issue that’s so hot that you’ll need asbestos gloves to turn the pages.” Once they were the thoroughbreds of Fleet Street, a close-knit gang of young investigative reporters at the sharp end of their profession. Twenty-five years later, single and burnt out, they come together for one last glorious stand on the local paper of a bustling Yorkshire seaside town. At their heart is Vita, newly abandoned by her husband, eternally wrong-footed by her teenage children. She thought she’d left it all behind her but here she is, sparring with the police again and finding herself the office object of desire. Just when she thinks she’s back in her stride, a suspected attempted murder in a local tourist spot drags her into a plot that is too close to home for comfort. Suddenly Vita and her lovelorn band of colleagues risk ending up on the front page themselves. A warm-hearted, fast-paced, comic, seaside romp from the writer of Mrs Tempest’s Marriage Bureau. |
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An Evening with the Dymond Sisters by H. A. Ferdinand It's the summer of 1933 and four English college girls, who have formed their own cabaret act and who should have known better, are about to release their puerile humour on the genteel German spa town of Baden-Baden. Before long, Glossie, Cressida, Josefa and Amy have acquired a following, including ageing British screen legend Gareth Palamon who promises them a future of fame and glamour and handsome charlatan Hector Bedingfield who dabbles in psychoanalysis and financial advice. But it soon becomes clear that there are other shadowy forces guiding the fate of the Dymond Sisters and they find themselves knee-deep in the kind of trouble that threatens to unravel their showbusiness ambitions and, worse still, a friendship that they assumed would last for ever. Comedy, romance and mystery come together in this endearing story set in a pre-war world of nightclubs and casinos and starring a cast of four heroines who stumble well-meaningly from one misadventure to another. |
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Mrs Tempest's Marriage Bureau by H. A. Ferdinand Just when she thought there was nothing left to live for, middle-aged underachiever Phyl is handed £65,000 and told to go out and turn her life around. Inspired by a 1920s book on relationships by the bewitching Mrs Natalia Tempest, she sets her heart on opening an old-fashioned marriage bureau and bringing together lost souls just like herself. But the lost souls who come to her door are about to embroil her in the strangest adventure of her life. Comic, heart-warming and as eccentric as its heroine, Mrs Tempest’s Marriage Bureau is part romantic comedy, part mystery and a big part farce. For fans of PG Wodehouse and Helen Fielding, HA Ferdinand’s books combine sharp wit with a fondness for the oddballs, misfits and cynics of this world. |
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Cicada Man: The Tale of Jonny Dice by Vincent Trezor Step into the wild, unregulated world of the crypto markets origins with “Cicada Man,” where you'll meet Jonny Dice, an erratic trader wrestling with bipolar disorder. Jonny's quest for his manic version of the American Dream often leaves him clinging on to reality. His almost true tale unfolds across an unpredictable landscape where reality is constantly rewritten. |
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The Haunting of Maddy McKenzie by Steve Rogan The Haunting of Maddy McKenzie Maddy McKenzie [mmm, why does that compel me to sing about darning my socks all by myself late at night?]. Oh well. Anyhoo. Maddy’s a 36-year-old Wollongong detective, and a hard-line sceptic to boot; she doesn’t even believe in believing in the belief of believing those beliefs. After buying and moving into a house at Thirroul, which the realtor warned her was haunted, Maddy is forced to put her scepticism aside and come to accept that there may just be some substance to this spirit-world hoohah. As always, someone’s mother is intrinsically involved. Delphine Morgan, psychedelic hippy-type beach bunny, was murdered in Maddy’s new house in August of 1969 and, as a result, missed Woodstock by a week and a rippin’ little grand final between the Tigers and the Rabbitohs in September. Unless her killer is caught, belted with a phonebook by an angry old desk Sergeant and brought to justice before he dies, Delphine will be stuck in the wrong realm and inherit her killer’s violence for eternity, thus rendering her one of those annoyingly nasty spectres that aren’t too welcome at dinner parties. Delphine’s only chance is if Maddy reopens her cold-case investigation and tracks the old codger down before he runs out of puff. That’s the tear-jerker part of the story; the rest is just an utter load of old tosh! |
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Japanese Robots Love to Dance by Margret Treiber It's tough being a robot - unrealistic expectations from humans, long hours, lack of social interaction. And what can you do when unscrupulous owners break the law? Humans have attorneys and so should you. Sometimes you just need a good lawyer to do what a robot can’t. Gary Legal, attorney at law. |
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The Duchess of Kokora by Nikhil Prabala The Duchess of Kokora, Phera Ylir Mdana, has entered the marriage games of the neighboring kingdom of Ryene. But she’s not there to woo the dashing Prince Dominic. Her true objective? To win back one of the other contestants, Lady Rocelle Virae—Phera’s true love and ex-fiancee. Love proves to be a game like any other when Phera must not only mend matters with her childhood sweetheart, but conceal her true intentions in order to earn votes and stay in the competition. And as long-brewing political tensions simmer beneath the surface, the playful veneer of the competition begins to crack. In the end, Phera, Dominic, and Rocelle find themselves united in a desperate bid to prevent a duel that threatens the integrity of the kingdom, the stability of the continent, and any hope for a happily ever after. |
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CICADA by Tanya Pell Ash is stranded at a rural horror film festival about a giant killer cicada and can't decide what's worse, the movie or her idiot boyfriend, until she realizes she's starring in the bloody sequel when people start dying and the locals won't let them leave. |
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Havoc & Happiness by Wren Handman Michaela Peters didn’t let dying get her down. After all, it was only for a few minutes, and the hospital paid her a huge settlement. Now she’s an emancipated minor with nine million dollars in the bank and her entire future ahead of her. Life could be a heck of a lot worse! Michaela moves to Montana, determined to enjoy the queer high-school drama that life is serving up. Instead, she finds herself caught in the crosshairs of a fight between horrible monsters that shift with a person's imagination, and the gorgeous trigger-happy siblings who hunt them. The problem? She seems to be able to destroy the monsters with a thought, but the hunters haven't decided which side she's on. |
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If it feels good to be bad, then these ladies are in ecstasy! Meet Lane Bryantt, shameless debutante and mother to a pair of lusty blonde alt-right social media influencers. Follow them to contemporary left-coast Los Angeles as they become trapped on a dystopian reality television show of their own making. Will they escape the clutches of their evil producer, or will they be doomed to evolve into a life forever lived on the screen? Follow Lane and her family’s misadventures in this satiric, humorous take on social media and reality television until they finally find that rarest of commodities in modern-day society—privacy! Praise for Canceled: "...for fans of satire, flawed characters, anti-heroes, and witnessing unlikeable characters become the victims of their own ambitions.." - Independent Book Review "...scores big laughs and some insights about privacy and consent.." - BookLife Canceled offers a humorous and cathartic happy ending to life in the age of social media and reality television. |
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The Threads That Weave by Sienna Eggler Tormented by memories of past lives and a general distaste for structure, Sloane dropped out of a prestigious magic college to find themself. During their travels, they came across a curious little creature: a chatty spider that fit snugly in their hands. Unbeknownst to Sloane, this wasn’t a harmless garden or cellar spider. The spider had a craving that mere flies couldn’t quench. It demanded blood and flesh, and when mice failed to suffice, moved on to bigger and dangerous prey. Sloane appeased it as best they could, but as the spider rapidly shot up in size, turned their focus from butcher shops to farms. Together, they concocted a plan to “solve” a manifested loss of cattle. The spider got a steady supply of food, and Sloane got street cred as a “monster slayer”. “What could possibly go wrong?” – Famous last words of any irresponsible pet owner. So now Sloane has a very real infestation to contend with, along with suspicious rangers and wannabe hunters edging in on their turf. “…I’m gonna need a bigger boot.” |
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Third Loch From the Sun by Rex Burke Jake has left it late, and the only summer job he can find is on the remote Scottish island of Elsay. Still, that sounds fine – the work isn’t too hard, the pay’s all right, and the scenery is great. But he soon has second thoughts about staying. His boss, Fraser, is clearly a bit of a rogue, while Fraser’s cute but snippy daughter, Alva, takes against him from the start. And the oddball characters in the local pub aren’t exactly welcoming. Then Jake stumbles on an extraordinary secret that changes everything that’s known about the universe. A secret he can scarcely believe. A secret that Alva and the island recluse, Ruan Strang, have sworn to protect at all costs. As the mystery deepens, the questions only mount – and none of the answers make any sense. Plus, Jake’s falling for Alva and she still hasn’t so much as smiled at him. One thing’s for certain – he’s not going anywhere until the full, fantastic truth is revealed. From the author of The Wrong Stop comes a SciFi fantasy adventure set on a dreamy Scottish isle. Stuffed with larger-than-life characters, it’s perfect for fans of island mysteries, with crackling dialogue and a will-they-won’t-they romantic edge. |
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For Your Benefit by Patrick Canning Teddy Lint is the kindest private investigator on the planet, committed to seeing the best in everyone he meets. The detective agency he runs with his brother Ralph out of a Los Angeles strip mall has seen a strange case or two before, but never anything like this. A man claiming to work for the CIA hires the Lints to find a shipping container of radioactive Agent Orange that vanished over fifty years ago. He insists someone is planning on using an army of drones to drench L.A. with the deadly chemicals before the week is out. The Lint Brothers enter a maze of bizarre suspects, from nefarious ad executives, to anarchistic Boy Scouts, to a toga-clad militia fighting for exclusive rule by women. The propaganda-obsessed society that seems to be running the world is probably worth looking into as well. The power of empathy collides with the dangers of disinformation as Teddy fights to save the people he loves. Our beloved detective doesn't give up easily, but any Angelenos with an aversion to death by herbicide might want to dust off that umbrella, just in case… |
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Xiapo Yellip Zump (book 1: Let the Adventure Begin!) by Yehuda Shapira Sure, the prophecy sounds fake. And it's a total cliche. But Xiapo lacks backbone, and is bullied into taking the responsibility to save the planet. Aided by his glowing dog and magical staff that doesn't do anything, Xiapo must face thugs, demons, mysterious Things, lack of toilet paper and — worst of all — boredom, on his epic mission to save Earth before it is destroyed by those bumbling humans. "This book is a work of art!" - Author's mother "I would suggest this book to people who don’t mind spelling mistakes" - Christy E, Amazon customer |
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Citrus Bravo by Christopher George Quick A tongue-in-cheek space adventure that plays to the lighter side of the genre. Take a break from hard-core Sci-Fi with Citrus Bravo! Embark on a cosmic odyssey with Arthur Bartlebee, a humble plumber aboard an aging space station named Citrus Bravo. Although Arthur would love more than anything to live out his simple days managing the pipes and drains of the station, he is quickly ripped away by a whirlwind of absurd events that place him smack dab in the center of an otherwordly conspiracy. Flanked by odd aliens and carefree cyborgs, Arthur is bewildered to find humanity's destiny lies in his less-than-capable hands. |
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Zoo by A.C. Cross Welcome to the Zoo! Inside, you won't find tigers or lions but Anxieties galore. You'll crawl through the Depression Caves and gallivant through the Regret Gardens. You'll see wondrous creatures that will tug at the very heart of you. And at the very end, amidst it all, we offer you one more surprise. Join us for a tour today! |
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Bruce at Fifty by Everett T. Ruth Bruce Lewis is a badass. He eats Cheerios without the milk. He stirs his coffee with Slim Jims. Heck – he wears Tuesday’s pajamas on Monday! Total badass, right? Since turning fifty, however, Father Time is showing Bruce who’s Boss. Will Bruce prevail with his pride intact, or will his leather pants make way for dad jeans with built-in creases? Join Bruce as he discovers what Fifty ultimately means. |
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The Trouble with Prophecies by Jake Joy The heroes of old are gone and the world of Feydern has fallen into darkness. With the prophesised Chosen One missing, Feydern’s only hope lies with Derrick, the Last Wizard, but he doesn’t want to help. In his opinion, tracking down the missing Chosen One is an idiotic idea that will get them all killed. But prophecies must come true and despite his best efforts, he’s dragged along on the quest. Bandits, goblins, and warring grannies stand in the way of his freedom, but he finds his greatest obstacle is destiny itself. That’s the trouble with prophecies... They don’t really give you a choice. |
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Kill All The Dogs by Rick Berry Are we defined by the things that happen to us, or the things we make happen to others? Ten-year-old Nathan Hyde is playing in a tree house, when he witnesses a vicious attack on his best friend’s younger sisters. Life is never the same again. Many years later, Nathan finds himself in the lower reaches of a government department, when an opportunity to confront his demons and enact revenge presents itself. A mystery illness is taking hold in the population, at the very moment a scheming, attention-seeking politician becomes Nathan’s new boss. It can’t happen, can it? In the farcical world of politics, anything is possible. Nathan Hyde is going to kill all the dogs. Part psychological drama, part political satire, Kill All The Dogs is the story of how of a personal trauma becomes twisted into a national tragedy. |
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The Weird & Unexpected World of Ronald Taylor by Jack T Canis Recently retired, Ronald Taylor worried about his future, stuck in his bungalow w his wife of 40yrs. Then he encounters a Brownie relieving itself in his hedge. And he was worried he was going to be bored! |