When you’re 11 years old, it’s tough convincing people to take you seriously. When you’re an 11-year-old savant, It’s exponentially more difficult. Since Jake’s inability to connect with others had made him somewhat of an outcast for most of his life, he’d learned to divert his energy into his artistic talent, creating mesmerizing images capable of literally paralyzing anyone who should gaze upon them.

Most of the successful private prospectors who’d struck it rich during the California and Nevada gold rushes during the mid- to late-1800s, had journeyed westward with a specific plan from which they never deviated. Upon achieving their pre-defined goals, they packed up and returned to their original homes in distant regions of the United States. There were also plenty of others, who’d been unable to pull the plug after striking it rich, believing their lucky streak to be a never-ending one.

When Andrew Ingram walks his longtime friend and confidant Jeanie home after a celebratory dinner, he has no idea that his life is about to change in unimaginable ways. After having created an innovative new automotive gaming platform, he was riding high on the wings of success when a deadly explosion ripped not only his best friend but also his eyesight away from him.

Although Alex had no idea which of his yet-to-be monumental achievements would be the one to launch him on his road to success, that was of little concern to him because the path was irrelevant, as long as the destination fulfilled his desire: to be famous. As Alex reaches for his goals of fame and fortune, he finds love along the way, but there are those who live to turn his dreams into a nightmare that even a classic muscle car—known as The Black Phantom—cannot outrun.

Think again! We have unearthed from their yellowing pulp pages coffins, six stories that you have probably never heard, and combined them with two indisputable classics for one of the best and freshest anthologies of undead doings you are likely to listen to for a long time to come.

When Terrance picks up a rideshare client at Logan International Airport in Boston, he has no idea how pivotal a moment in his life it will be. Within minutes of their introductions, the stranger offers Terrance the fulfillment of his dreams in less than one month. All he asks in return is that Terrance agrees to open and distribute the contents of one box per day, for 21 days. Although it would appear to be such a simple task, the dynamic quickly changes when he's faced with the decision of fulfilling his own dreams, or the dreams of otherwise total strangers.

When Barney, a clever little dachshund, looks for a place to escape the chaos created as movers load the family's belongings into a moving truck, he discovers a box of warm laundry fresh from the dryer, and burrows himself comfortably inside it. After a refreshing snooze, he awakens to find that his makeshift doggy bed has been loaded onto the truck, and he is already on the way to Denver, Colorado. Although the rest of the family intended to follow the moving truck, when they were unable to locate Barney, they remained in Pueblo, Colorado.

It is the Year of Our Lord 1685 and fourteen-year-old Maude Prichard finds herself at a crossroads in life. A chance meeting with a strange woman, who never ages, sets the young Puritan maid on a path littered with fear, superstition, and witchcraft. A boy whose love is forbidden and an old man, drenched in darkness and depravity, will catapult Maude out of her well-ordered world into a life fraught with danger.

When an unusual chain of drownings occurs in Upper Mystic Lake, two families are pitted against one another as they attempt to lay the blame for the loss of their only begotten children, at the feet of the other family. The Shakespearian tragedy forces everyone to reassess their own culpability as well as their way forward, while attempting to find closure.

In 1955, the Soviet Union introduced the Moscow Water Dog in a canine show to great acclaim. However, in real world situations, they fell far short of the expectations Russian cynologists had set for them, and in 1979, the Moscow Water Dog project was shut down. Supposedly the last of the breed died out in 1990, but did they?

Odin is a love story that chronicles the relationship between Katherine, a successful although self-centered executive, and the puppy she literally snatched from deaths icy grip. After being rescued by her in a dramatic fashion, Odin comes to see her safety and wellbeing as the central purpose of his existence. Although the line between the savior and the saved may become blurred at times, their unconditional love and affection for one another remain clear and unimpeachable, even in the face of certain death.

The thing is…when your intention is to remain below the radar, an ever-expanding reputation is the last thing anyone needs, and soon, old problems and long-forgotten adversaries begin to resurface. Despite his reluctance to revisit the ghosts of his past, sometimes in order to move forward, you have to go back again. In doing so, Malcolm realizes that a few of the broken things requiring his attention…aren’t things at all.

Stanley Swanson believes that war, one day, will happen between the creatures of the night but will involve humans. He reaches out to a retired journalist, Kain, in hopes that if he shares the secrets of both werewolf and vampires, if a war does occur, humans will join sides with the breed of the werewolf. And a friendship is formed quickly as Kain agrees to write the journal. When the knowledge of what Stanley is doing with this mortal is leaked, the highest of all vampires, known as Drakulis, set a war in motion.

Following an emergency landing in an experimental spacecraft on an uncharted planet in an unknown solar system, Major Åt will embark upon a journey that tests the very limits of his patience and tenacity. During his mission to acquire the materials needed to repair the ship’s propulsion system, he soon discovers that some things, even when they are abundantly available, are not necessarily easy to procure.

Bandit’s love for everyone close to him is matched only by his unquestioning respect for Malcolm—the alpha of the Abernathy Pack. Your acceptance into the pack hinges solely on the alpha’s approval or disapproval, and the last place you want to find yourself is at odds with the pack’s fearless gatekeeper. Bandit’s autobi-dography is an endearing tale of love, dedication, and unwavering loyalty by man’s best friend, and an enemy’s worst nightmare!

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission - and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

It’s 1984, and life has changed beyond recognition. Airstrip One, formerly known as Great Britain, is a place where Big Brother is always watching, and nobody can hide. Except, perhaps, for Winston Smith. Whilst working at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history, he secretly dreams of freedom. And in a world where love and sex are forbidden, where it’s hard to distinguish between friend and foe, he meets Julia and O’Brien and vows to rebel.

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive - and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. But Mark isn't ready to give up yet.

Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place. Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan. Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie. But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits.

Two astronomers have detected a strange, pulsing signal from deep space. Within hours, the US government goes into lockdown, restricting airspace and scrubbing scientific data. Was the signal an intercepted communication revealing alarming plans for an enemy’s military strike? Or has humanity at long last found proof of extraterrestrial life?

After years of fighting for justice with his deadly nanotech, Templar Drin abandons his post, crash landing on a desert world controlled by a tyrannical alien empire. Its inhabitants are forced into slavery, broken where a once-proud race cultivated its lands. For the first time in Drin's life, he has no backup, no support, none of his brothers. He stands alone against evil.

The First Dragon Rider Trilogy: The Complete Series includes the three books: Dragon God, Dragon Dreams, and Dragon Mage. Neill Torvald is desperate to prove himself - his father’s warlord kingdom depends on him. When a vicious attack on the way to the Draconis Order monastery nearly kills him, it becomes clear that grave trials await him on this path.

King Crow isn’t having a very good day. The Empire’s most famous athlete suddenly finds himself convicted of treason and sentenced to the Hunt, an annual event where the city’s most undesirable prisoners are sent into a dungeon filled with treasure, magic, and… bloodthirsty monsters. Crow didn’t commit the crime, so why is he in the dungeon? Who set him up? And why—for the love of god—is his only weapon a fast-talking, sapient, electromagnetically charged potato named Spud?

"Blood and Gold: The Spirits' Revenge" is a supernatural horror novel set during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. The story follows Hernán, a ruthless Conquistador, and his band of soldiers as they invade the sacred land of Tenochtitlan, driven by greed and hunger for gold.

Lucas was shocked when he awoke to find the world had ended. An alien AI called the System had taken over Earth and transformed his apartment building into a 100-floor dungeon tower of traps, monsters, and loot. Trapped at the top, Lucas and the other residents have just one year to reach the ground floor and escape before the tower self-destructs. That’s his first problem. The second is he slept through the System’s welcome orientation, so a Class was picked for him. Lucas is now a Blood Reaver. A brutal Class based on speed, ferocity, and striking from the shadows.