Fiction

All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. But when one of his professors offers to send American grad student Jack Farmer to Europe to do historical research in Amsterdam’s Begijnhof—a peaceful closed community in the heart of the bustling Dutch capital—Jack looks forward to a summer of mostly play and not much work. Then he meets Jet Schilders, an attractive young nurse who takes care of the elderly woman next door, and realizes that his summer in The Netherlands might just turn out to be even more fun than he'd hoped.When the woman next door is brutally murdered, though, and her nurse turns out to be the prime suspect, Jack and Jet join forces in an attempt to find the real killer and clear her name. But their investigation puts them in Dutch with the local police, and a second murder raises the stakes … and paints a target on both of their backs.“Dutch Threat has wit, charm, and lovely crisp prose—everything that’s great about Josh Pachter’s short fiction. His debut novel was a long time coming, and it was well worth the wait!" —Tom Mead, author of Death and the Conjuror and The Murder Wheel

Add to cart

Richard Buz Williams

Dilemma $15.50

It’s 1975 and rookie cop Edward One patrols the streets of Long Beach, California. As he gains experience as a police officer, he finds himself dealing with dangerous criminals as well as outrageously funny scenarios, learning from some of the best—and worst—officers the Long Beach Police Department has to offer. Edward One is dedicated to Truth, justice, and the law, which are not always in harmony.During this time, a twisted and violent predator who calls himself The Skulker grows deadlier with each attack. When The Skulker arrives in Long Beach, he crosses paths with Edward One, and the results are as surprising as they are deadly.Dilemma tells the captivating tale of the dangers and joys of police work in the ‘70s, and provides an insight into the corrupted thinking of a killer.

Add to cart

Steven W. Booth

The Hungry - Penny Miller Book One $19.99

The zombies are here. An accidental outbreak of a mutated virus unleashes hundreds of the undead on the sleepy town of Flat Rock, Nevada. Now, Sheriff Penny Miller must use her wits, grit, and damn near all of her ammunition to endure the arrival of zombies. Sheriff Miller quickly finds herself leading a vicious biker named Scratch, her ex-husband Terrill Lee, and a unit of incompetent National Guardsmen to safety. At their heels is Colonel Sanchez, the wicked Army commander who is pursuing Miller to gain the special powers the virus has given her. With a gang of murderous bikers on their tail and surrounded by slobbering hordes, Sheriff Miller must do what she does best: Aim for the brain! “THE HUNGRY is a zombie thriller loaded with sex and smarts. A real nail-biter that brings a new weapon to bear in apocalyptic fiction: Hope. Highly recommended.” —Jonathan Maberry, NYT Times bestselling author of Dust & Decay and Dead of Night “If you’re craving an apocalyptic horror novel that’s not just wall-to-wall action but balls-to-the-wall intense, Steven W. Booth and Harry Shannon have cooked up a real treat for you. I would say The Hungry will leave you totally satisfied, but that’s not true: Readers will be howling for more more more MORE just like the hordes of insatiable zombies rampaging through this book.” —Steve Hockensmith, author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls “You don't know what gut-churning page-flipping horror really is until you read this one. The Hungry combines the storytelling power of the big commercial thriller with many new twists on standard zombie fiction. A real winner.” —Ed Gorman, author of The Dark Fantastic and Cage of Night

Kimberly Croft

Unbroken $15.50

Scarlett Fergusson’s life is anything but perfect. Working as a waitress in a small town, she lives with her addicted father, his girlfriend, and her toddler. Scarlett dreams of a better life. When wealthy Hugh Cruz sweeps her off her feet, she’s ready to believe that her life has turned around. And when Hugh proposes, her fairytale ending suddenly seems possible. But Hugh isn’t the man she thinks he is. Cruel, controlling, and violent, he turns her fairytale into a nightmare. Scarlett can’t believe the woman she’s become. Just when things can’t get any worse for Scarlett, the unthinkable happens. Is it the end, or a new beginning? Unbroken is the tale of a woman’s fight for survival, and her quest to discover her own strength.

Add to cart

Chapter 1 <div class="element element-bodymatter element-container-single element-type-chapter element-with-heading" id="chapter-1"> <div class="heading heading-container-single heading-size-full heading-format-full heading-alignment-flexible heading-without-image"> <div class="heading-contents"> <div class="title-subtitle-block title-block-title-is-element-number"> <div class="element-number-block"> </div> <div class="title-block"> <h1 class="element-title case-mixed">Chapter One</h1> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="text" id="chapter-1-text"> <h2 class="section-title subhead keep-with-next paragraph-follows case-mixed" id="subhead-1">Oh brother, what have you done</h2> The smell of death rode on the wind. John Altar crested the hilltop and brought his horse to a stop. He’d smelled it a ways off, but the breeze had all but stilled some time ago. The stink remained. He whistled low and the dog that had been his companion for a while, some kind of wolf half-breed, sat on its haunches close on his left. The fat gray clouds overhead threatened rain, and no wind stirred the thick expectant air, which was hot. As he stared down the slope, he cut a hunk of tobacco from his plug, sliding it off the blade directly into his mouth. The leaf was hard and dry. It had been wrapped in a cloth in his saddlebag for a time. Spit washed over the scrap and the bitter flavor crept into his senses. Below, at the bottom of the slope, a series of double tracks had been worn into the earth by scores of wagons over the years. Upon that trail were the remains of some homesteaders who had been on their way to what they’d hoped to be a better life. Nothing moved down there, except the black flutter of buzzard’s wings as they fought over bloated corpses. He couldn’t tell how many settlers there had been, and by the butchery, he figured more scavengers than just the buzzards had visited this site. Being that it was going on late summer, this seemed kind of late in the season for pioneers to be this far down the trail. Unless of course, they were Mormons. They wouldn’t be going all the way to Oregon or California. Still don’t see many Mormons moving west this time of year, Altar thought, but there were always those late to the party. Seemed like most who’d wanted to migrate had already done so, no matter how austere the conditions might be. He had to wonder if he was going to find Bobby down there. He’d been dogging his younger brother, and the collection of dirty, low-down, no-account Johnny Rebs Bobby had taken up with, for weeks. Could those ne’er-do-wells be responsible for the carnage down below? Could Bobby? Or his brother might be among the dead. Only one way to find out, he thought. Altar steered his horse forward, despite the animal’s reticence to approach the field of death. He reached out and patted the horse’s neck in reassurance. “Easy, boy. I’m not liking this any more than you do, but we got to go down there.” The inevitable dread of what he might find weighed as heavily on him as an anvil around his neck. He yanked his blue handkerchief from his back pocket. Unfolding it, he rubbed the cloth on the horse’s sweaty flesh and got it good and wet. The lather smelled strong, but it probably wouldn’t help much gauged on the putrid odor lingering in the air from this distance. He gave the chaw a grind with his molars to break it apart and moistened the results with spit. Then he spat some of the ground tobacco and juice onto the blue fabric and roughed it in hard. He fastened the cloth in place around his head, bandit style. He was hopeful, as the mixture of animal and tobacco odors made him wrinkle his nose, that the powerful smell would somehow mask the overwhelming stench of the charnel house below. But as he made his way closer, he knew it wasn’t going to be much help. The only sound was the buzzing of insects, the swish of his horse’s tail, and the not-so-distant rumble of thunder. A storm must be coming. He looked at the dog. “Stay.” The dog settled onto its belly and laid its head on crossed forelegs, ears ever alert. Altar drew his Henry repeating rifle and laid it across his lap as his horse started forward with the slightest nudge from his knees. Nothing was moving on the horizon, no dust clouds. He wove his horse all the way down the incline through the scrub, all the while watching everywhere, alert for any movement or sound out of place. Safe at the bottom of the slope, Altar studied the gruesome scene. The settlers had apparently taken no defensive posture, no circled wagons, no firearms strewn about, though those could’ve been stolen to be sure. Not much of value remained after a massacre. The area was a wide-open expanse. They sure should have been able to see the attack coming. Why hadn’t they at least circled their wagons? But his gut spoke to him, and he suspected he knew what had happened here. God knows he’d seen its like in the war. Looks like they got bushwhacked. Bobby, what have you done? As he neared, the reek grew worse, and he could practically taste it. Lots of distended green-blue bottle flies buzzed nearby. He dismounted at the end of the carnage and looped his reins around a broken fragment of wagon wheel jutting from a groove in the dirt. The horse snorted and bucked at the pervasive odor of nearby death. Altar patted the animal once more and scanned the horizon again. Nothing yet, besides the approaching clouds every bit as bloated at the feasting flies. His ever-alert dog was still quiet up on the ridge. The clouds, and the flashes of lightning, were the only things that looked threatening. He pulled his slicker from his saddle and unrolled it. The heat was stifling, but he put it on anyway. Prairie schooners, mostly covered, had been overturned, their canvas torn, and the cargo, what wasn’t worth taking, was strewn across the trail. Oxen had been killed; and in a couple of instances, steaks had been cut from their flesh. There was even a dead dog. A horse or two had been killed, which was unusual, but he suspected most of the quality animals had been stolen. A smattering of rough arrows, fletched with feathers he didn’t immediately recognize, were prominent on some of the dead animals. Men lay dead, too, the tops of their blond heads shorn to the bone, and their soft bellies torn open. He came across an old woman’s body. She lay on her back with her skirts up around her head. She’d also been scalped, and her lady parts had apparently been mauled, probably by some wild critter. They were only doing what any hungry critter would do, and he couldn’t really fault them for that. Might as well get mad at the clouds for raining. But it wasn’t no animal that hiked her skirt up like that, Altar thought. That was done by a two-legged kind of varmint. A baby lay under her. It was dead too, but from what he couldn’t tell. These were among the worst killings he’d ever seen, but he couldn’t really hold no ill will with the animals. A fat raindrop splattered on the back of his hand, and then another. It wasn’t until the moisture brought his mind round back to the present that he realized he was gripping his Henry so hard his scarred knuckles were white. The skies unleashed a torrent of rain as he stood and stared at the butchery that lay before him. Even the cold rain didn’t divert his attention from the slaughter. He reckoned no amount of water would wipe away the stain of this massacre from the earth. At least nothing short of the forty-days and forty-nights rain that his momma read to him and Bobby about from the Bible. He stowed his rifle back in its saddle boot and covered the Henry with his blanket, even though some blue sky was already visible over the hills to the west. He turned back to the trail and set his teeth. He had a grisly task ahead of him. Oh, Bobby, he thought, were you a part of this? Am I gonna find you? Would it be better if his brother were among the dead, rather than having participated in this slaughter? Perhaps so. But on to the task—time to bury the dead. <div class="ornamental-break"> <div class="ornamental-break-block ornamental-break-aspect-wide"> <div class="ornamental-break-size-container ornamental-break-width-281"> <img alt="" class="ornamental-break-image" src="images/break-dinkus-palatino-screen.svg"> </div> </div> * * * </div> He hadn’t stopped for anything but water until the sun was about set, then he cobbled together a fire halfway to the top of the rise, upwind from the dead. The material for burying them all had been almost conveniently close thanks to the nearby rocky expanse, but any appetite he’d worked up was long gone. He settled for some pan coffee and hardtack soaked some in the dark liquid. All of the dead looked to be pilgrims. At least none had been his brother, nor had any of the others appeared to be the ne’er-do-wells he’d heard Bobby was now running with. While that was a relief, it also made him ask what the hell had happened to his brother. The boy he once knew would never have participated in anything like this. What had happened to him in the war? The war. The damn war… So many lives ruined. Altar had served with the Union, and Bobby had gone with the South. The brutal conflict between the states had divided his family and how many others? He fished the oilcloth-wrapped locket from his saddlebag. He cradled the bundle in his hand for a long moment, and then opened it. The orange-red flames flickered in the reflection on the small metal oval. He thumbed it open and gazed at the shadowed picture within, not really seeing her likeness as much as some remembrance, though those had faded, like the picture, to near nothing. How many times had he opened this same locket in the field? When he fought in Missouri or out west, after some battle or skirmish, when his thoughts were dark with death and dying, he’d found comfort by opening it. At one time, memories of her had driven some of the horror from his mind. Though the time apparently had driven memories of him from her mind as well. She’d married someone else while he was away fighting. Married some farmer with a hundred head of dairy cattle or some such. Why couldn’t those images fade with time, as was the case with his memory of his love? That thought brought him back around to the massacre. He hadn’t found anything that led him to believe the wagon train had been herding any livestock, other than a few oxen. That was strange. Most of the wagon trains he’d known had at least a hundred head of cattle or sheep with them. He replaced the locket in his saddlebag and went to sleep with his freshly oiled rifle next him and his revolver tucked partially under the saddle upon which he laid his head. The wind shifted in the night, and he awoke with the death stench heavy in his nose and mouth. He rose and hiked up to the top of the hill. The sun’s rays were breaking over the hilltops in the east, but the bottom of the slope was still obscured in darkness. A shadow for the dead, he thought. Just as well. The dog loped up to him and sat, its tongue lolling out. Altar stood there and let the rays reach him, warming him against the chills of the past night. When he turned to go back to his makeshift camp, he gazed again at the ruins below, now basked in radiant sunlight. The way he read the signs, these homesteaders had died with their killers most likely hiding among them. And not like they were overrun by Indians or butchered by marauding men on horseback. Even though scavengers had been at the bodies, they hadn’t done enough harm to make it look any different than it was. It didn’t seem as if these people had time to even panic, let alone run, just die. And what about the smattering of random arrows? Indians? Some of the folks had been scalped, but the arrows in some of the animals hadn’t been what killed them. The feathered shafts weren’t driven in deep. It was more like they were stabbed in by hand, not shot from a bow. No, this hadn’t been the work of Indians, although measures had been taken to make it look that way. All the tracks of the living he’d found had been wearing boots, nary a moccasin among them. And the horses that had rode off were all shod. He’d never known an Indian to ride a shoed horse. Altar knew what had really happened. And he had a real good idea of who was responsible. It made him sick to his stomach. He reckoned these pilgrims had been killed by the men he’d been tracking, and they’d tried to make it look like savages had done it. The men he’d been trailing… The men his brother had joined up with after being released from the prisoner of war camp in Chicago. Up until now, he’d only thought of them as outlaws, stealing and the like, not murderers. The tactics were like what he’d seen the guerillas in Missouri use during the war, infiltrate and destroy from within. As he stared at the debris a while longer, the way the wagons had been overturned seemed more suited to men doing it deliberately as opposed to panicked animals. The battleground didn’t look like any Indian attack he’d seen in his years in the army. But it sure did look like how the Confederate guerillas had burned some communities to the ground in and around Missouri. And the people killed. “These folks got bushwhacked,” he said aloud. The dog looked up at him. Altar nodded as if the animal understood. “A damn shame,” he said. “But there’s something eviler if men make it look like someone else done it, getting people all riled up at the wrong folks.” He started down the incline, back to his fire and bedroll. “If we hadn’t of happened along, Dog,” he said, “whenever this here got discovered the Indians would’ve been blamed. And people would’ve been happy to believe it.” He shook his head as he kicked dirt onto the coals. “Talking to a damn dog, guess I been on my own too long.” He grinned. “But it ain’t like them homesteaders been talking much.” He looked in the direction the tracks led off. It didn’t seem right that no one was doing nothing about these people. Hell, once he left here, would anyone even know? Altar sighed and placed the blanket and saddle onto his horse’s back. The nagging question remained in his gut like solid stone. Had Bobby been a part of this? When Altar had begun this journey, he’d just been looking to bring his brother back home to their farm in Missouri while their mother was still alive. But now, he didn’t know what to think. The little brother he knew before the war would never have been involved in anything like this, but the war did strange things to people. Still, he didn’t want to think it had turned Bobby into the kind of man that could do what he’d seen these last two days. He took his hat off and wiped his brow with his shirt sleeve and looked at the dog. “Mama always said I looked for trouble, even when it wasn’t none of mine to begin with.” He twisted in his saddle and looked back at the site of the carnage. “I know it would kill her, for certain, if she thought Bobby was involved in some way. So would his hanging for it.” A grim smile suddenly overtook him as he mounted his horse. There I go talking to that mutt again, he thought. But as he rode away, his mother’s reproachful voice kept echoing in his mind: Go find your brother, John. Bring him back to me before I die. I’ll do my best, Mama, he thought. Altar pulled his reins over and set off after the tracks of the killers, including his little brother. </div> </div>

Dave Case

Stand for the Dead $17.95

The stench of death hung in the air as John Altar studied the massacre and tried to convince himself that his younger brother, Bobby, couldn’t have been part of this. Torn apart by the Civil War, the two brothers had fought on opposite sides, and in defeat, Bobby had fallen in with a group of Confederate raiders when released from a prisoner of war camp. Their mother’s wish was for her wayward son to be brought back to her, and Altar has sworn to do it. But how much had the war changed his brother? Riding into the Dakotas, Altar must face an unsavory lawman with a rapacious posse, rampaging Indians, and finally battle the brutal renegades in a climactic showdown.

David Dean

The Thirteenth Child $15.95

Police Chief Nick Catesby has been haunted for seven years by the unsolved disappearance of a young boy from his peaceful New Jersey town. When Megan Guthrie goes missing from her school playground, followed quickly by two teenage boys, Nick’s nightmare begins anew. He has only one suspect, disgraced professor and town drunk Preston Howard, whose arrogance has left him with nothing more than his pride, a sea of whiskey, and his exasperated daughter, Fanny, with whom Nick is falling in love. Preston is not the culprit, he insists. Instead, Chief Catesby should seek out Gabriel, the strange and terrifying boy who appears only between dusk and dawn. Nick wants to ignore the old alcoholic’s rantings, but Preston’s story rings true when sightings of the boy lead to a trail of missing and murdered children going back three centuries. Now Nick and Preston must race to stop Gabriel before more children are sacrificed to his ravenous appetite.

sale

Chris Westphal

The Spy Who Loathed Me $15.50 $16.50

Hollywood, 1982. Struggling sitcom writer Tom Huttle has the ideal side gig: writing personality profiles for an insurance company’s newsletter. If only he knew that the company is a CIA front. When a CIA agent is murdered, Tom is the key suspect—at least in the eyes of bumbling FBI Special Agent Terrance Tillberry. If Terrance weren’t hopelessly in love with undercover KGB agent Petra Tarasova, maybe he would see that Tom has no idea what’s going on. But this is Hollywood. Nothing is really what it seems.

Dan Harary

After They Came $22.95

Jonathan Tuckerman, a Los Angeles man down on his luck and truly alone in life, decides to mark his 70th birthday by drowning himself in the Pacific Ocean. Instead, he inadvertently becomes the world’s “Wonder Man” after a pair of extra-terrestrial visitors from the Pleiades interdimensional star system appear in a giant spacecraft, pluck him from the sea, and present him to the media and the world as their sole “Ambassador to Mankind.”Jonathan’s life is dramatically transformed for the better as he works closely with the magnificent Tall White aliens Jorthon and Kalyssa to solve man’s long-insurmountable problems.Jorthon and Kalyssa aren’t the only aliens visiting Earth, however. The Draconians, a long-hidden race of ancient—and sinister—extra-terrestrials, make their presence on Earth known, livid that Jonathan and the Tall Whites have received global accolades for their remarkable achievements. The Draconians and their heinous leader blame the Tall Whites—and God himself—for their miserable existence, as they decide to seek recognition, retribution, and revenge.After They Came takes the reader—indeed, the entire human race—on a wild ride through real UFO research and lore, global politics, climate change, religion, true love, a family reunion, and “the meaning of life itself,” all set against the backdrop of unprecedented extra-terrestrial intervention. The novel presents unlimited possibilities for achieving global peace and prosperity—dreams heretofore unattainable by man.After They Came is a story of loneliness reversed, despair erased, and one man’s wholly remarkable destiny fulfilled.

Steven W. Booth

Blood Desert - A Penny Miller Novel $19.99

Sheriff Penny Miller’s philandering ex-husband is convinced the cattle on a ranch north of Flat Rock are being attacked by blood-sucking bats. Miller brushes him off, since Terrill Lee has always been a conspiracy nut. When the rancher dies suspiciously, the property is sold to two eccentric women who open—of all things—a wine and knitting shop. Their odd little business brings tourist money to Penny’s sleepy little town, along with two teenaged drug dealers and a huge heap of trouble. In Blood Desert, the thrilling prequel to The Hungry series, there’s a new kind of undead giving Penny a pain in the neck. Though the zombie apocalypse remains one possible future, Patient Zero has yet to be infected. In this here and now, Sheriff Miller ends up face-to-fang with deadly, ravenous vampires who are determined to take over the entire state of Nevada, starting with Flat Rock. Readers of The Hungry zombie novels will love Blood Desert for its familiar characters, serious scares, and quirky black humor. The somewhat younger Sheriff Penny Miller is as funny, foul-mouthed, and courageous as ever. Readers both new and old are in for a real treat. Paperback, 273 pages ISBN: 978-1947521-01-8

David Dean

Her Terrible Beauty $15.50

In this chilling collection, prolific short story writer David Dean turns his talents to tales of suspense and the supernatural. Nominated for Edgar, Derringer, and Barry Awards, as well as twice winning Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine’s prestigious Readers Award, Dean proves here that he’s no stranger to an even darker world than that of crime fiction. Her Terrible Beauty and Other Tales of Terror and the Supernatural offers a variety of stories that will amply demonstrate his talent for the terrifying. A writer who decides to winter over at his family’s lake cottage discovers that an unsettling local legend contains much more than a kernel of truth, in war-torn Bosnia a company of Serbian soldiers happen upon a village like no other they have encountered… and wish they hadn’t, and a student of Edgar Allan Poe’s literature uncovers the real reason why three roses and a bottle of Cognac are left on his grave every January 19th. Her Terrible Beauty and Other Tales of Terror and the Supernatural is the third volume in the collected short fiction of David Dean.

Add to cart

D.J. Palladino

Werewolf, Texas - a Grim Love Tale by D.J. Palladino $18.95

There are no werewolves in Texas... Right? Research wizard John Shaney launches his career as a grad student at University of Texas, Austin planning to investigate how chemistry can transform human lives for the better. One moonlit night downtown, however, Shaney discovers unexpected and more pleasurable mysteries surrounding one Lila May Wulfhardt and her well-heeled, eccentric family while crossing paths with something more ancient than love and money, something that also wants to change the lives of hapless locals. John Shaney’s world is about to become seriously weird and deadly dangerous, yet ultimately transformative. Werewolf, Texas is a gripping and vividly dark story of a blood-thirsty dynasty set on preserving their power. With Palladino’s unique voice, this grim love tale explores the not-so-secret dark world of the Wulfhardt family.

Add to cart

sale

Chris Westphal

The Pyongyang Paradox $11.55 $16.50

Where the spy novel and novelist intertwine After decades of writing utilitarian copy for trade magazines, Tom Huttle believes that he is on the path to a glamorous new life when he completes the first chapter of his novel, The Pyongyang Paradox, featuring dashing hero Buck Samson. The novel might give Tom the confidence he needs to pursue the woman of his dreams, and fulfill his abiding conviction that he is destined for a life of action and romance. Tom gets more excitement than he bargained for when the explosion of a top-secret satellite sends him to Buck Samson’s fictional world, just as Buck takes over Tom’s pedestrian life. For Tom, living a life of relentless peril and intrigue is a far cry from writing about it, and Tom’s normal world may not be ready for the likes of Buck Samson. A rollicking blend of espionage, romance, and science fiction, The Pyongyang Paradox is laced throughout with Chris Westphal’s quirky brand of dark humor and psychological insight.

Add to cart

Chris Westphal

Huttle to the Rescue $15.50

The Emperor of Japan is a pyromaniac, living in the orange groves of Echo Valley as he plots revenge against Tom Huttle, who he believes has ruined his life. Meanwhile, Tom is in Baltimore to collect a writing award, while his wife and her bawdy traveling companion have been kidnapped by terrorists in Cairo. It’s up to Tom to save the day. The third book in The Chronicles of Huttle is an intricately constructed black comedy that skewers everything from post-Cold War paranoia to sexual taboos to our fascination with youth, beauty, and celebrity. Huttle to the Rescue is book three in the Chronicles of Huttle.

Add to cart

Chris Westphal

In Huttle We Trust $15.50

It’s the early 1990s, and Tom Huttle has abandoned film and television writing for a more stable, although far less glamorous, career as a business writer. When he finally sells his first book—Garbage—he believes that wealth and celebrity are just around the corner. With his wife and son, he moves to tiny, isolated Echo Valley. The place seems ideal, until Tom learns that life there is dominated by Bagnoosianism, a crackpot religion presided over by the enigmatic Swami Bagnoose. Tom’s wife soon succumbs to the cult’s allure, while his fragile son falls under the spell of a shifty conman from long ago in Tom’s life. Meanwhile, Tom’s agent makes increasingly bizarre demands for the book, and Tom nurtures a maniacal fondness for pink lemonade. And then things began to get weird. In Huttle We Trust is book two in the Chronicles of Huttle.

Add to cart

sale

Slade Templeton

Truth of the Shadows $16.50 $17.95

A DARKNESS IS IN ALL OF US Cottage Grove Oregon is a sleepy little town, but in the surrounding forests, an ancient nightmare is growing stronger. Dr. Joseph Hoffman, head psychiatrist at Cottage Grove Hospital, wants to believe he has all the answers to his patients’ problems, but there is a darkness within him that always lurks beneath the thin veneer of his competence. That veneer is about to crack. In his Victorian home at the edge of the forest, his troubled memories hide in untouched rooms under a thick blanket of dust. He thinks he has them under his control, but as he delves into his patients’ twisted stories, the shadows of their insanity begin to follow him home. In order to see what is happening to him, Joseph must turn everything he knows about his past, and his reality, upside down. As he gets closer to discovering the source of the malevolence that surrounds him, he feels his sanity slipping away. Joseph must uncover the truth before it consumes him. Something terrible is taking over, and he may be the only one who can figure out why. “The author’s rich and dark psychological landscape shows a suspenseful tale of evil iconography, while providing room to create a mysterious world. The decisive intensity of the characters comes from the narrative’s beyond world experiences - A book well worth picking up!” —Brian Perera, CEO of Cleopatra Records / Cleopatra Entertainment

David Dean

Shadow Lane $17.95

In Shadow Lane, prolific short story writer David Dean examines the lives of children who find themselves in unfortunate circumstances. Nominated for the Edgar, Derringer, and Barry awards, as well as twice winning Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine’s prestigious Readers Award, Dean shows his command of short fiction and his attention to the plight of children left to their own devices. Shadow Lane is a collection of eleven stories that will make you think twice about turning your back on a child. An orphaned teenage girl living with her grandmother discovers something terrifying in the older woman’s past, and gains a new and terrible understanding of her own circumstances; a young boy trying to fill the emotional gap his father’s absence has left takes up stealing, but finds that some things are better left where they are; and a nine-year-old boy’s search for his missing friend turns murderous when he gets too close to the truth. These and other stories of children, both endangered and dangerous, fill the pages of this suspenseful collection.

Add to cart

Dr. Ashley Baker

The Furious Others $18.95

In typical serial killer novels, the victims are a footnote. In this book, they’re the whole story. Betty. Tina. Sarah. Leslie. Chrissy. Sheena. Sherry. Lena. Debbie. Ashley. The ten victims in The Furious Others lived ordinary lives until serial killer Jason LeDown entered stage left, knife in hand, with a belly full of bad intentions. That’s where fear is found, in the space between a typical Friday and a man intent on murder. The fictional characters in The Furious Others depict real people: mothers, lovers, hip-hop aficionados, and green thumbs, united by the tragedy of lost lives. Author and clinical psychologist Dr. Ashley Baker PSYD envisions a fictional world where the murderer is not the main character in the serial killer trope. Instead of exploring Jason Le Down’s methods of madness, Dr. Baker chooses to honor the victims rather than romanticize monsters. As a condition of Jason’s LeDown’s purgatory, those he harmed reflect on their humanity, proving they’re more than crime scene photos or roadside crosses. In this multiple point of view novel, the deceased blaze a fast-paced trail, recounting their last moments, with tentacles of grief stretching across timelines. In The Furious Others, Dr. Baker, drawing from her own experience of devastating loss, paints a vivid picture of collective trauma and sorrow. The quest for closure drives the story to its gripping conclusion, making The Furious Others a powerful testament to the strength of the human spirit.

Blood Desert - A Penny Miller Novel (Ebook)

Steven W. Booth

Blood Desert - A Penny Miller Novel (Ebook) $9.99

Sheriff Penny Miller’s philandering ex-husband is convinced the cattle on a ranch north of Flat Rock are being attacked by blood-sucking bats. Miller brushes him off, since Terrill Lee has always been a conspiracy nut. When the rancher dies suspiciously, the property is sold to two eccentric women who open—of all things—a wine and knitting shop. Their odd little business brings tourist money to Penny’s sleepy little town, along with two teenaged drug dealers and a huge heap of trouble. In Blood Desert, the thrilling prequel to The Hungry series, there’s a new kind of undead giving Penny a pain in the neck. Though the zombie apocalypse remains one possible future, Patient Zero has yet to be infected. In this here and now, Sheriff Miller ends up face-to-fang with deadly, ravenous vampires who are determined to take over the entire state of Nevada, starting with Flat Rock. Readers of The Hungry zombie novels will love Blood Desert for its familiar characters, serious scares, and quirky black humor. The somewhat younger Sheriff Penny Miller is as funny, foul-mouthed, and courageous as ever. Readers both new and old are in for a real treat. Paperback, 273 pages ISBN: 978-1947521-01-8

Rise of the Triad - Penny Miller Book Four (Ebook)

Steven W. Booth

Rise of the Triad - Penny Miller Book Four (Ebook) $9.99

The Zombies Are Coming… Again. Small town Sheriff Penny Miller and her outlaw friend Scratch managed to survive a nuclear blast in Nevada and a brutal attack on their peaceful lodge in Colorado. They head for Los Angeles, looking for a fresh start. It seems the citizens of Southern California remain blissfully ignorant of the coming war. They believe zombies are simply an urban legend. As usual, there’s no rest for the wicked. When they find themselves in a suspiciously run Malibu rehab facility, Miller can't relax. She knows the gore is about to hit the fan. It seems that Miller can sense when zombies are near. And they’re almost always near. When all hell breaks loose around them, Miller and Scratch must survive deadly experiments, resist an ongoing government conspiracy, and battle another horde of ravenous zombies. And that’s just for starters.

At the End of the World - Penny Miller Book Three (Ebook)

Steven W. Booth

At the End of the World - Penny Miller Book Three (Ebook) $9.99

The Zombies are Spreading... Small town Sheriff Penny Miller and her friends Scratch, Terrill Lee, and Sheppard escaped from Nevada moments before a devastating nuclear explosion intended to eradicate the zombie plague. The Government’s plan didn’t work, and the undead are spreading fast. When Miller and her men find an abandoned hunting lodge in a remote village in Colorado, they’re hoping to steer clear of zombies, redneck survivalists, and panicked locals, and to simply ride out the winter. Penny Miller just wants some peace and quiet, a glass of wine in front of the fireplace, and maybe some quality time with Scratch over the holidays. Unfortunately, that isn’t Santa coming down the chimney—and this will not be a Merry Christmas. “Zombie thrillers loaded with sex and smarts.” —Jonathan Maberry, NYT Best Selling Author of Extinction Machine “Defines laugh-out-loud funny.” —Bookish Brunette “From the opening line, I loved it. For a zombie fan like me, presses all the right buttons.” —Stoker winner Joe McKinney, Author of Dead City and Flesh Eaters “The dialogue and narrative crackle, and the expressions that come out of Penny's mouth are hilarious. Great combination of action, gore, horror and humor.” —Dana Fredsti, Author of Plague Nation Paperback, 205 pages ISBN: 978-0615785-27-1

Find anything you need

Fiction (50)