Book Releases || August 16, 2016 || Religious Mysteries & Space Travel


 The Brothers’ Keepers

A Nicholas Branson Novel #1

by Matthew Peters

Most of us are familiar with Jesus’ parents, Mary and Joseph, and Jesus’ purported spouse, Mary Magdalene. But what about Jesus’ siblings? What role did they play in early Christianity?

Contemporary Jesuit and renowned religious historian Nicholas Branson is about to find out…and the answer will shake the foundations of the Judeo-Christian world.

It all starts with the murder of a United States Senator in a confessional, and the discovery of a strange religious document among his possessions. At the urging of his FBI friend, Branson joins the investigation. His effort to uncover the truth behind the murder draws him into the search for an eight-hundred-year-old treasure and into a web of ecclesiastical and political intrigue.

Accompanied by a beautiful, sharp-tongued research librarian, Jessica Jones, Branson follows a trail of clues, from the peaks of the awe inspiring French Pyrenees to the caves of war-torn Afghanistan. Along the way, shadowy powerful forces trail the pair, determined to keep safe a secret buried for centuries.


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Short Excerpt

Nicholas Branson had just managed to get to sleep when—Christ almighty!—the phone rang. He started, grabbed his cell, and sat up in one quick motion.

“Yeah?” He dabbed his eyes with his palm to blot out sleep.

“Nick? Greg, Greg Hanlovian.”

“Han? Why the hell are you calling at this hour?” Branson clicked on the lamp and groggily got his bearings. The red digital clock on the rickety nightstand showed 4:02 a.m. Across the room, the particle-board desk was covered with open books, facedown, forming little tents under the crucifix on the wall.

“Did you hear?” Han snapped.

“Hear what?”

“What happened last night?”

It’s still last night. “No, I went to an—I had a meeting. Came home, did some work.” Now he was wide awake. “Is Nola all right?”

“She’s fine.”

Branson relaxed a little. “Well, what happened?”

Silence at the other end.

“Han?”

“Thomas Caldwell has been murdered.”

“The senator from California? Head of the Armed Services Committee?”

“Yup. Gunned down in a confessional in St. Peter’s last night, sometime after nine.”

Branson shook his head. “St. Peter’s? I don’t understand. What was he doing in a confessional at that hour? Was Caldwell even Catholic?”

“No, he wasn’t. But there’s something else, and that’s the reason I’m calling. There are some photos.”

“Of what?”

“Can’t talk about it on the phone, Nick. Meet me at Spencer’s in half an hour.”


"FLIPSPACE: Jaded Mars" by John SteinerJaded Mars

FLIPSPACE Missions 13-15

by John Steiner

Surpassing the speed of light remained elusive in the 2170’s. However, the trick was to hold still to swap out spatial locations. For Colonel Sumitra Ramachandra, Major Lamarr Fitch, Captain Malcolm O’Connell and the rest of the ISS Mockingbird’s crew jumping between solar systems is just the start of their wondrous, sometimes zany and often perilous missions. The future of aerospace defense stretches far above the blue yonder.

Murder of Ravens
Flipspace 13

During Earth-duty, the ISS Mockingbird takes part in an airshow, until an unprovoked strategic strike by the Jade Continuum puts Earth defenses on high alert. Colonel Rama and Major Fitch must rally their crew and prepare for a counter-strike raid to Mars to unravel the Continuum’s motive and remind them that they’re not out of reach. Mustering their assets also means that Colonel Rama must convince their former flight surgeon, Malcolm O’Connell to rejoin the crew. However, he brings his own bad news.

Garbage Man
Flipspace 14

A reconnaissance mission to the exo-planet HD 40307G has gone wrong. Two crewmembers are left behind, as the Mockingbird evacuates researchers back to Earth. Captain Diaz is forced to put another of his team into cryptobiosis and hold out until the Mockingbird’s return. Trekking 500 kilometers, and evading Jade Continuum forces, Diaz encounters indigenous intelligent aliens called Leons. Lacking SETI training, Diaz must overcome cultural differences with the Leons, and ensure the return of his team member, whatever the cost.

Microcosm
Flipspace 15

Paired off with the ISS Kulshedra, the Mockingbird is dispatched to a second colony established by the Jade Continuum in violation of international treaties. Securing the skies over the exoplanet named Purple Haze becomes suspiciously easy as the Continuum abandoned their colony in haste. Along with a sole surviving member of the Jade Continuum, the SETI Team finds an unusual form of intelligent life capable of terraforming the bodies of macro-organisms, even those alien to the planet. Tensions rise over what to do with a prisoner of war while the alien threat grows.


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Short Excerpt

MURDER OF RAVENS

Chapter 1

The Ramachandra

Sparse cirrus clouds streaked a light blue sky dotted with lighter-than-air monitoring probes. Below lay the Berlin ExpoCenter Airport. A temporary stadium that seated over a hundred thousand encircled a set of runways with a healthy few hundred meters of green between. Millions more watch via M-Cast cameras at ground level and in the floating monitors.

The ILA Berlin Airshow had overtaken Paris in being the world premier aerospace event thirty years ago. On May 20th, 2177 the show would include a demonstration of the ISV-71 Ravens of the 1st Raven Light-Ops, FTL. It would end with a simulated aerial knife-fight for the foremost and longest serving ISV-71 Raven, the ISS-454 Mockingbird, piloted by Colonel Sumitra Ramachandra and Major Lamarr Fitch, against a flight of four OSF 168s.

Standing at a podium near one of the runways was the 1st Ravens Wing Commander, Brigadier General Benjamin Chaffee. The seventy-two-year-old dark brown general in his black uniform narrated the events transpiring far above. “The ISV-71 Raven is a lot bigger than a fighter, but don’t be fooled. The Raven has a proven track record in air-to-air knife fights, and has made its name in multi-role deep space operations. NATO’s Aerospace Defense Response now fields sixteen ISV-71s organized into four wings, with another twenty-four Ravens to be added over the next three years.”

Taking a pause, General Chaffee turned his gaze skyward right as four Orbital Supremacy Fighters zipped overhead and pitched into a steep climb toward the ISS Mockingbird. The fighters exhibited a blended body-wing design with canards on their nose cones and variable-height stabilizers. In contrast, the ninety-meter long Mockingbird loitered two kilometers up in a straight-wing flight mode. The ISV’s elongated diamond-shaped hull, triangular tail and variable position wings reinforced to viewers below the raven outline for which the ship design was named.

“Ladies and gentlemen, you’re in for a treat,” General Chaffee promised. “What you’re seeing is a flight of four OSF 168s on their way to start some trouble with the famed ISS Mockingbird, the Raven that found the lost crew of the Astraeus and carried out multiple SETI first contact missions. You’re about to see something we at ADR like to call, ‘doin’ the Ramachandra’.”

Book Releases || July 19, 2016 || WWII Spies & Family Saga’s


Red Sun Over Mexico"Red Sun Over Mexico" by H. Paul Doucette

by H. Paul Doucette

Spring 1942

Washington, DC. The country is slowly recovering from the shock of Pearl Harbour. Everywhere, everyone is ramping up for the coming conflict. Recruiting centers are flooded on a daily basis as men and women rush to enlist.

Sergeant Paul Jarvis, newly married and returned from his last assignment in Panama, has been informed that he and the rest of CIC has been assigned to California where they will be working with the Office of Naval Intelligence.

Intelligence has reported that the Japanese are settings up radio posts and possibly submarine bases in the Gulf of California. They have also indicated that they are doing this with support from a splinter faction opposed to the government and with strong anti-American leanings. It is rumoured that these operations are being run by a Tokeitei agent. Jarvis believes this might be Haito Toshi who led the attacks in Panama.

Jarvis and a young ONI agent are ordered to Mexico with orders to capture Toshi…if possible. Problem is, Jarvis still remembers the dead naked body of a young American woman on a bed.

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Chapter One

 February 1942, Washington, D.C.

A cold north wind blew all the way from the Atlantic Ocean and over Chesapeake Bay making the gray overcast day even more miserable. The sidewalks were full of people huddled inside heavy coats and boots against the biting cold. Everywhere you looked all you could see was a sea of uniforms from ratings to all levels of brass. Most were wearing one type of military uniform or another from the various branches of service; clerks, administrators, aides or just those awaiting their orders to report somewhere.

America had been at war now for a couple of months and was caught up in that period of shifting from a peacetime country to one in full mobilization for war. Not long after Pearl Harbour we had also declared ourselves against Germany. Pearl Harbour had the effect of galvanizing the country silencing any isolationists or those who opposed involving us in what was considered to be a European war. The attack on Pearl Harbour was a serious blow to our naval forces in the Pacific. The resulting fear and confusion was mounting that the Japanese were staging for an invasion on the west coast and cries were coming almost hourly for army and air force resources to establish coastal defences. Hence the confusion in the capital.

My name is Paul Jarvis. I am a Staff Sergeant with the newly created Counter Intelligence Corps, formerly called the Counter Intelligence Police. We are part of the Military Intelligence apparatus with our primary function being, in part, the security of our bases at home and abroad.

In January of this year we underwent a change in name and function. Like I said, we are now called the Counter Intelligence Corps and have taken on a more direct role with counterespionage and other intelligence operations. Like Major Dobson once said, we’re not just another cog in the machinery. We have something the others don’t have—extensive background and experience in the Pacific, especially, Japan.

We had been waiting at Area Command in Puerto Rico where we were sent after my last assignment in Panama where I played a major role in stopping a Japanese attempt to sabotage the western canals. It was just pure luck that we stumbled onto their plot. I was actually there to investigate a murder on one of the bases. This happened just days before the Japanese attacked us at Pearl Harbour.

We had arrived back in the States two weeks earlier. The ‘we’ I refer to is Major John Dobson, my boss, and Lieutenant Carol Jarvis, my new wife. The major and I have been together since 1930 stationed in the Philippines.

I was heading to our temporary offices just off from the Georgetown University campus. Since Washington was in a state of confusion as it made the transition to a war footing, everyone was clamoring for office space. Our office was located on the fourth floor of an old office building that had been taken over by the Army. I was on my way back from the FBI with their latest reports on a variety of activities that might be of interest to us. I was stopped at the entrance by one of two large armed MPs who asked for my ID.

When I reached our assigned space, I saw Carol Jarvis sitting at her usual place: a desk outside Major Dobson’s office.

Carol Jarvis has been with Major Dobson for almost five years as his personal assistant. She joined us as a young lieutenant from the Women’s Army Corps as an administration clerk. She is a very attractive woman in her mid-twenties, five foot four with a svelt figure but don’t make the mistake that’s all she is, because she is very good at her job and completely loyal to Dobson and, of course, me.

Over the years she and I became very close and ultimately fell in love. It was just after the Panama mission that we decided it was time so we got married. Major Dobson was delighted. He stood for us gave her away. Carol was happy he did this since her parents were both dead and she thought of him like a father.

Today she was dressed in her regulation uniform, as usual. She always wore her uniform when on duty. The only identifying items on it were her lieutenant bars on the epaulets and shirt collar, and the new shoulder patch identifying her as being with Military Intelligence.

“Hi, baby,” I said, as I removed my overcoat and hat. One of the advantages of our little operation was not having to always wear uniforms when on duty.

“Hi yourself,” she said back with a gorgeous smile. “He wants to see you. Go right in.”

I gave a quick rap on the door then opened it and went inside.

“Sir. You wanted to see me?” I asked, stepping to his desk.

Major Dobson was sitting behind his desk as usual. A heavy set man in his forties with graying hair. He wore a dark blue single breasted suit, shirt and tie. One of the first things you notice when meeting him for the first time are his eyes: clear, bright and penetrating.

“Yes, take a seat,” he said. “I just came from a meeting over at headquarters. Looks like we’ve got our marching orders.”

He passed a sheet of paper across to me. I scanned it quickly.

“San Diego?” I looked up and passed the page back to him.

“Uh-huh. Looks like it’s going to our main base of operations for the near future, and we’re getting some help…new agents.”

“That’d be nice. When do we have to go?”

“Soon. I just wanted to give you a head’s up. Oh, and be available for a while. ONI is sending someone over later today for a meeting with information relevant to San Diego. Anything I need to know from the Bureau?”

“Not really. Just the usual traffic.” I put the file I had on the desk.

“Okay. Thanks. That’s it for now.” He looked back at the documents on his desk. “Leave that with Carol. Thanks.”

“Yes, sir.” He wasn’t big on a lot of chatter. I stood and headed for the door.

About an hour and a half later Carol stood in the door of my office.

“You’re being summoned. They’re waiting.”


"The Season of Forever" by Brenda Ashworth BarryThe Season of Forever

A Seasons Saga Novel

by Brenda Ashworth Barry

Life throws curve balls left and right at Beth Ann and Kaylob. Tragedy strikes, leaving Blake shot and paralyzed needing to undergo a delicate surgery, that he may not survive. While Kaylob deals with the emotional roller coaster of all the secrets kept from him, he is also holding his breath waiting to see if Blake makes it through the night, after being shot three times. Beth Ann tries to keep the faith, but with a new child and everything going on around her, she finds faith slipping away.

If he does live through the operation, will he ever walk again and will he blame Ginger, who also suffers from the physical damage of being shot and beaten by her soon to be ex-husband? She is faced with the fear that Blake might die, or Arnold will be jailed, and all she can do is blame herself. Some relief comes when Frankie swears to take Arnold to trial and have him put away.

Come and take the final journey in book six with Beth Ann and Kaylob as they say goodbye to the old and hello to the new. They both cling to each other as life gives them storms and devastating news.

Will they ever get their forever life of love and happiness?

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Chapter One

Blake’s eyes flew open to unholy pain, but he fought like hell to focus. Why were fireworks echoing around him and where was he? Wait, this was winter, so why in God’s name was he lying on the ground outside? The sounds around him vanished as the memory assaulted him.

Christ all mighty, it wasn’t fireworks it was gunshots. Blake raised his head and tried to move, but couldn’t budge anything. Damn, the burning was excruciating. He groaned in agony, feeling as though his guts had been ripped out. Placing his trembling hand on his stomach, he asked, “What the hell?” Something warm and wet gathered on his fingers. “Holy shit.” He glanced at the blood as it dripped down onto his shirt.

He cringed. “Damn, that’s not good.” When he tried to wipe it off on the asphalt, he tasted a metallic flavor in his mouth.

Did that mean he was bleeding internally? Was he dying?

He caught sight of his friend, Johnny, who was firing his gun at Arnold, Ginger’s deranged husband, who kept darting behind the telephone pole. Johnny was yelling into the phone with his free hand. “Get someone here now. Two have been shot and are bleeding. One is my fiancée.”

Good thing Blake had a long cord that allowed Johnny to bring the phone out on the front porch. He heard Johnny say, “hurry,” before he dropped it.

The pain ripped through him, and his breathing became labored. Oh Lord, he remembered something else, Ginger had been with him, but where the hell was she?

“I’m calling the police,” someone yelled, more than likely his neighbor.

“I called the ambulance,” Johnny yelled back.

Blake heard several loud cracks and saw Johnny shooting at Arnold. After a few seconds, he saw the asshole finally fall to the ground and start to wail, like the coward he was. Thank God, Johnny had finally brought him down, and it appeared he had got him in both legs.

“Make sure you get his rifle, Johnny,” Blake said with a ragged voice and knew damn well Johnny would handle it, but it made him feel something besides completely useless since he couldn’t move.

Johnny ran over and handcuffed the piece of shit. “You fucking scum!” He grabbed the rifle.

Blake was sure as hell relieved that Johnny had been a detective and was his bodyguard.  He knew how to handle this. No doubt, he was big enough to kick Arnold’s ass from here to China. He winced, trying to move again, but couldn’t.

“Ginger,” Blake hollered. He needed to get to her and see if she was okay, but nothing worked. “Ginger!” he called out two more times. Where the hell was she?

Johnny hurried next to Dana, his fiancée, who was like Blake’s little sister. “Oh, sweetheart,” he said, trying to soothe her as she cried.

Next, he rushed to Blake “You’re okay, boss. Help is on the way.”

They both shot a glare at Arnold when he yelled, “I’m going to kill that bitch. You can’t stop me. Ginger, get out here, you slut!”

“Bastard,” Johnny grumbled. “I got him in both legs, but I should have shot him in the head.” He touched Blake’s arm. “Can you move anything?”

“No.” Blake tried again with a raspy voice. “Check on Dana, and make sure she’s okay. We have to find Ginger, too.”

A few minutes later, Johnny was holding what looked like Dana’s sweater around her arm. It was bleeding, but it didn’t look too bad.

Dana looked over and met Blake’s eyes. “Johnny, go to Blake,” she cried. “I’m fine. I can hold my sweater on my arm.”

Johnny ran over, pulled off his jacket, and stuck it under Blake’s head. “I can’t move you, boss. The people on the phone told me to wait and let the paramedics do it.”

“I can’t feel my legs.” Blake glanced up at him and saw sadness shadow his eyes. “If I die, make sure Ginger is taken care of.”

“You’re not going to die,” Johnny said, but Blake knew by the look in his eyes that he didn’t believe it.

“Just promise me!” Blake raised his voice. “Now, check on Ginger.”

“I don’t want to leave you and Dana.”

“She’s here, damn it.”

He looked around. “Where is she? I didn’t know she was here. I thought you were just delirious when you were calling for her.”

Blake pointed at the car. “Oh shit, now I remember. I pushed her inside the car. I think she was shot in the head.” He closed his eyes and felt tears burning. He hadn’t been able to keep her safe as he’d promised. There was no way to hold back his emotions. He’d grown fond of the redheaded beauty. After everything that monster had put her through, she couldn’t die. Her crazy asshole husband had beaten her so bad that he’d almost killed her.

Book Releases || July 12, 2016 || Demon Hunters & Korean Mafia


"Pigeon River Blues" by Wayne Zurl

A Touch of Morning Calm

A Sam Jenkins Mystery

by Wayne Zurl

Sam Jenkins’s experience as a New York detective and Tennessee police chief may be varied, but none is more interesting than his encounter with Korean organized crime.

Two former call girls, hoping to establish a legitimate massage therapy business in Prospect, ask for Sam’s help after a Korean mobster attempts to extort protection money from them. Jenkins agrees to investigate but wonders, is their business really aboveboard?

Sorting out truth from fiction in this complicated investigation becomes only a minor problem for Jenkins after a Korean girl, employed by the ex-hookers, is found murdered. And the trouble doesn’t stop there.

When bodies begin piling up, Sam finds it difficult to link the victims other than by their ethnicity. That’s when he again turns to the women in his life for assistance in his police endeavors. His wife, Kate; desk sergeant, Betty Lambert; and TV news anchor, Rachel Williamson, all contribute significantly to the successful closure of two murders in Prospect and finding who killed a pair of thugs in nearby Knoxville.

As often happens, an old colleague from Sam’s days in New York visits his former boss and the touristy town of Prospect, Tennessee. Retired Detective Fred Mazzio becomes intrigued with the murders and volunteers to team up with Jenkins’s assistant, John Gallagher, another ex-New York cop, and follow the undeveloped leads. The two former partners bicker constantly, but lend their fifty years of police experience to the investigation.

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Prologue

Long before there was much ado about the division of North and South Korea at the 38th parallel, that land was known to the rest of the world as Koryeo.

In those ancient days, a dynasty existed in Koryeo called Chosun. To those people, the loose English translation of Koryeo meant The Land of Morning Calm.

If you’ve ever been to the Korean countryside, you know the phrase is appropriate. The same could be said for the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee.

But not all the time.

 

Chapter One

For the last two years, I’ve spent nearly one third of my life with Sergeant Bettye Lambert, my administrative officer and occasional partner. We get along famously—most of the time.

At my age, you’d expect I’d know how to deal with women, but experience shows I’m not as smart as I think. If I inherited the ability to handle the opposite sex efficiently, I would have taken a different job—like a hairdresser. But apparently in that area I’m hopeless. So I remain a cop.

The main telephone rang on Bettye’s desk. If the caller wanted me, she would buzz my phone and forward the call. Nothing happened. Moments later, she stood in my office doorway, looking a little miffed.

I could always tell when things weren’t going her way. She cocked her left hip to the side and rested a hand there. I thought she looked attractive. With her right hand, she leaned on the doorjamb and scowled at me.

At least she isn’t holding a gun.

“It’s your friend—that cheap blonde,” she said.

“Who?”

Bettye shook her head, and her blonde ponytail swung back and forth. “You know who.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t. Who are you talking about?”

“Well, you seemed to get along with her just fine. It was me she didn’t like.”

“Huh?” I remained in the dark.

“You damn well know who I’m talkin’ about, Sam Jenkins. That blonde we met on the Cecil Lovejoy case—that one from Chicago.”

“Ah-ha.” A light in my brain switched on.

“Yes, ah-ha. Now pick up your damn phone.”

Bettye gets away with saying things like that because we both know how important she is to my little police department. And hearing a note of jealousy in her voice boosts my ego.

“You’re beautiful when you’re angry,” I said. “Just why are you angry?”

“Lord have mercy, you’re pathetic.”

I tried a smile. “That may be true, but you’re still hopelessly in love with me.”

“Not after today, darlin’. I said answer the phone. That one’s waitin’ for ya.” She turned and walked away.

Sergeant Lambert made reference to a woman named Veronica Keeble. Two years ago, after a local man, one Cecil Lovejoy, was murdered in Prospect, Bettye and I interviewed Mrs. Keeble. Sort of a suspect at the time, Veronica was thirty-five-years-old, blonde and absolutely gorgeous. Did I mention she was an ex-hooker?


"Jack Slade: Night of the Hunter" by Richard DawesJack Slade: Night of the Hunter

 by Richard Dawes

Jack Slade, Demon Hunter, special operative for the Diamond Group, travels to San Francisco to help the police solve a series of vicious murders. Once there, he finds out that behind the murders is a powerful vampyre whose goal is world control. He fights the monster’s assassins, battles his half-demonic minions and finally faces the vampyre himself in an epic battle for dominance. In the process, Slade discovers secrets about himself that will change his life forever.

 

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Chapter One

Jack Slade paused in his climb up the face of the mountain and looked around at the Romanian countryside. It was a little before midnight, and like an unblinking eye, the full moon shimmered in the crystalline sky. It cast a silvery sheen over the densely wooded mountain range that dropped precipitously to the valley far below. In the distance, farmlands dotting the valley floor resembled a huge quilted coverlet stretched out in the misty darkness. Slade clung like a lizard to a rock-faced promontory six hundred feet above the valley, with still another hundred feet to go before he reached the top. Leaning out, he gazed upward and sighted the crumbling ruins of an ancient castle perched like an eagle’s aerie upon the crest.

Shaking the sweat from his eyes, he continued climbing.

Half an hour later, he reached the summit, climbed over the edge and flopped onto his back to catch his breath. He glanced at the moon again; at this height, it seemed close enough to touch. Perhaps it was fatigue, or maybe anxiety over what he knew was awaiting him beneath the castle, but he would swear the moon had become sinister, even menacing.

Grinning to keep his vivid imagination in check, Slade got to his feet and brushed the dust from his black leather jacket and dark trousers. He made sure the Colt .38 automatic was in its holster to the left of his belt buckle, angled for a cross-draw, and extra clips lined the back of his belt beneath the jacket.

Then he looked around.

The castle had been constructed in the fourteenth century, but hadn’t been occupied since the seventeenth. Now, it was only a ruin, with broken walls, collapsed ceilings, stone blocks and rotting timbers scattered everywhere. As he moved cautiously through the rubble, searching for an entrance, he thought back to the old gypsy woman who gave him the information about the castle. Slade found her in a village in the valley, and when he told her what he was looking for, she took him into her trailer and demanded to see his palm.

After scrutinizing his hand for some time, the wrinkles on her face deepened, and she gazed at him sadly. “You walk a dark path, young man,” she said in a voice thin with age. “You have one foot in this world and one foot in the other. It is your dark destiny to be a hunter—a hunter of demons.” She shook her head. “Your life is war, but this war will not end until the earth itself fades away.”

It was then she told him that what he searched for was at the top of the mountain beneath the castle ruins. And she told him about the entrance.

He saw it just where the old woman said it would be.

At the foot of a collapsed wall, almost hidden by fallen, rotten timbers, was a black hole leading down into the ground. Slade lifted an oaken beam, pushed it out of the way, then bent and peered inside. Only blackness met his gaze. A foul, rancid odor, like the stench of rotting flesh, struck him forcibly in the face. He pulled a flashlight from his pocket, flipped it on and aimed the beam into the hole. The entrance to a tunnel angled downward beyond the range of the light.

Taking a deep breath, Slade shifted the flashlight to his left hand, pulled the automatic, bent his six-foot frame almost in half and entered the cavern. The incline was gradual, and after about twenty feet, the tunnel opened up and widened so he could straighten and walk normally. The cave was cut from solid rock and continued downward into the bowels of the mountain. Slade directed his flash to the walls and ceiling, but he stopped when his foot struck a solid object. Shining the light downward, he saw that he just kicked a human skull. Casting the torch around, he discovered to his horror that half-buried skulls and bones littered the floor of the tunnel.

Suddenly he heard howls, like ravening beasts, sweeping up from the blackness beyond the light. The very darkness became malevolent—it clawed at the feeble light of the torch like some alien entity, seeking to devour it.

A drop of sweat cut a long icy furrow down Slade’s spine.

Book Releases || June 28, 2016 || Vampires, Warriors, Deception, Gargoyles, and Sex.


Sword of The Quest

A Wolf Slayer Saga #3

by Richard Dawes

Captured by pirates, Valka the Wolf Slayer is sold into slavery then battles as a gladiator in order to survive. Purchased by a great spiritual master, he undertakes a quest to re-capture a magical emerald stolen by the Black Brotherhood. Accompanied by the Shield Maiden, Aquila, and her band of women warriors, Valka battles his way across a blazing desert and into a black mountain of sorcery where the jewel is kept. He faces psychic attacks, an army of bloodless ghouls, a wave of poisonous serpents and a deadly labyrinth. But his most dangerous challenge comes when he confronts the emerald itself and faces the irresistible lure of the gift it offers.

 

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Deception

by Laura Ranger

How far would you go to get to the truth?

Izzy’s had a lifetime of liars in her past. All that changes with Caleb Matthews who’s genuine and sincere. He teaches her not all is black or white. After 25 years of marriage she begins to suspect there’s more to her husband then what she’s known. No matter how she tries, she can’t find anything amiss. Is her paranoia from being deceived in her past sabotaging her future or is there something more she’s missing?

 

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Lover In Stone

The Darkest Kynd #1

by S.C. Dane

To the world they are the Grotesques—hideous chimeras and gargoyles of stone. But before they are locked in their granite prisons, they are Kynd—magnificent beings condemned to prowl the nightmares of every realm.
Their tortures will doom them to stone.
The love of a Chosen One could save them.

Hell hath no fury like a woman… who really wants her man. For more than two thousand years, Merrick the Chimera has borne the misery of being the guardian to Hell’s Archway. He has witnessed millions of condemned souls, slaughtered thousands of trespassers, and his enraged despair is pushing him to the brink of becoming what the world expects his Kynd to be.

Go to Hell. A mission the timid Angelia Delacroix must undertake in order to find the ancient Scriptum, even though the fearsome Merrick has been assigned to be her guide.

As their quest leads them deeper into danger, Merrick and Angelia must turn to each other. Can Angelia find the courage to keep the chimera’s battered soul safe? Or will Merrick give in to his torments—dooming himself to his stone fate, and Angelia to the tortures of Hell?

 

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Carissa’s Redemption

Bloodmates #4

by Jaden Sinclair

Belonging nowhere, the best at what she does, love is the only thing that can bring this Guardian to her knees.

She was born half vampire, half bloodmate. A half-breed, belonging to neither world but protector of both, Carissa Morrisroe chose to become a Guardian, and she’s turned out to be one of the best. Cold as any other Guardian, she’s a natural when it comes to killing. Nothing can bring her down. Nothing that is but one simple thing—love.

Rage is nothing more than a killer. Raised with not one kind hand, it’s no wonder he feels nothing for no one—or so the world thinks. However, when he meets the one and only female Guardian on the battle field, buried emotions slowly start to emerge.

Enemy—savior—lover? Which will they be? It’s a question that Carissa asks herself as she fights the pull. It’s a question that Rage is tired of asking, but when fate knocks them both down hard they get their answer and with it a vengeance no one sees coming.

 

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Madame Vanity: Laced in Rouge

The Academy of Carnal Games

by Isabella Michelle

Enjoy an erotic twist that is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat—or bed—climaxing for more.

A relationship established by sex, turns out to be a little more than what Noémie was expecting, once Sofaine admits he is in love with her. Noémie must now decide, if pleasing Madame Cherry and exploiting herself as the one and only Madame that will not submit to Cuming to the opposite sex is more important, than actually falling in love with Sofaine.

 

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Book Releases || May 17, 2016 || Famous Singers & Bodyguards

"Pigeon River Blues" by Wayne Zurl~ Detective Mystery ~

Pigeon River Blues

A Sam Jenkins Mystery

by Wayne Zurl

Sam Jenkins thinks no good turn goes unpunished when the famous singer he’s assigned to protect decides it’s hate at first sight.

Famous country and western singer C.J. Profitt receives death threats from a group of rightwing zealots. Chief Sam Jenkins gets the job of keeping C.J. safe while she performs at a charity benefit.

Problems arise when C.J. says she’s dead against any police involvement. Jenkins uses friends and professional colleagues to foil a plot destined to kill not only the local girl turned celebrity, but hundreds of innocent people.

 

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Book Releases || April 18, 2016 || Baseball & A Christmas Murder

2016-04-19


"The Rovers"~ Baseball / Historical ~

The Rovers

by Paul Ferrante

Like the Irish Chieftains of Old
They Boldly Went Forth, Seeking Adventure

During the Roaring Twenties anything was possible
for those who dreamed big and were willing to risk it all.
This is the story of two men who traveled different paths,
yet whose fates were inextricably entwined.
Theirs is a tale of love and lust,
truth and deception,
history and fantasy,
damnation and redemption—
and Baseball.


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"On A Midnight Clear"~ Mystery / Thriller ~

On a Midnight Clear

A Christmas Mystery

by Henry Hoffman

The lives of an enchanting young girl and a determined detective become forever bound following an unconscionable Christmas Eve crime.

It’s Christmas Eve and private investigator Adam Fraley has lost his way while traveling a remote rural road in the foothills of the Colorado Rockies during a heavy snowstorm.

At a loss as to where to turn next, he happens upon an isolated cabin in the woods where he stops to seek directions. There to greet him is the dwelling’s lone inhabitant, an enchanting young girl who invites him in out of the storm.

Puzzled by the circumstances of a child left home alone under such conditions, Fraley soon discovers the horrific reason why, a revelation that launches him into an intensive search for both a killer and a trove of buried gold.


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Books Release || April 5, 2016 || Vampires & Mysteries


 

~ Vampire Romance ~

A Noble’s Love

Bloodmates #3

by Jaden Sinclair

Shadow is one of three original Guardians left. While he’s got brains, he’s not much of a fighter. When he discovers an encrypted code while searching for clues about one of his own—another Guardian—he learns of Noble-bred females being taken and disappearing, never to be seen again. When he sees a video on his computer of two women taken from their homes, he decides it’s time to put a stop to it.

Janecka Ashford, Noble born, was born different than any other bloodmate. She can’t be matched up with just anyone because of her special blood, and that causes a big problem in a world where bonds between a man and woman are arranged. Because of her unique blood, she should’ve been put to death after birth, but her mother managed to save her life, a decision that Janecka regrets. Kidnapped and touched by a man has opened the door to her impending death. Asking for help from the one man who helped her before is the only thing that can save her life, but who can save her from the instant attraction to this man—Shadow—a Guardian?

Shadow never thought he’d bond with anyone, let alone with a Noble female. But as Shadow’s love for Janecka grows, he’s compelled to deal with changes in his own life, but also with one particular threat—a man bent on taking Janecka’s life. Bonded with a Noble comes with twists and turns, and when new blood sheds pure blood, it appears a whole new war might break out between the Guardians and Nobles.


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J. Troy Seate - Swann Saga 3~ Mystery / Thriller ~

And the Heavens Wept

Swann Saga – Book Three

by J. Troy Seate

The Altinoma Valley has been the catalyst of the Swann family’s destruction for nearly twenty years. As new terrors face the family’s surviving members, someone must journey back to the place where the legacy of deceit and horror began—where the haunted dead have a way of seeking retribution from their graves and those that want more blood wait to strike.

 

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Books Release || March 22, 2016 || Detectives & Paranormal Mysteries

Did you know Melange has two imprints?

For romance readers, check out Satin Romance and subscribe to the blog HERE.

For fans of young adult / teen reads, check out Fire & Ice YA Books and subscribe the the blog HERE.

AND…. Find us on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Connect with our authors on Facebook HERE.


~ Detective Mystery ~

Heroes and Lovers

A Sam Jenkins Mysteries

by Wayne Zurl

For an exciting exclusive story, TV reporter Rachel Williamson helps Chief Sam Jenkins with a classic fraud investigation. But the case puts Rachel in jeopardy and her abduction by a mentally disturbed man, changes her life forever.

After several frustrating days, Jenkins uncovers a significant clue and leads a team deep into the Smoky Mountains to rescue his friend. But after Rachel is once again safe at home, they find that her problems are far from over.

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~ Paranormal Mystery ~

Midnight’s Edge

Book 2: The Possession

by David Chappuis & Michael Klinger

Successful in his plan to return to the mortal realm, Jeremy Wickcliff believes he’s found his son, whose body will allow him to continue to live, and he has brought back his sister, Rachel, as part of his resurgence plan for the Wickcliff family. However, the son that he thinks is his isn’t, and Rachel isn’t exactly his ally. Trapped in the Wickcliff mausoleum in the spirit realm, the Wickcliff ancestors have their own plan to return to life in the mortal realm, with or without Jeremy’s help.

As the witches begin to piece together Jeremy’s plan after a visit from his wife, Lucy, in spirit form, they realize that they must band together in an attempt to stop him from bringing his family back and to banish him back to the ghost realm. With a battle between good and evil takes place on the grounds of the Wickcliff cemetery, the outcome will change the lives of the residents of Sleepy Meadows forever.

 

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Books Release || March 8, 2016 || Mysteries & Thrillers


~ Mystery ~

A Leprechaun’s Lament

A Sam Jenkins Mysteries

by Wayne Zurl

A stipulation of the Patriot Act gives Chief Sam Jenkins an easy job; investigate all the civilians working for the Prospect Police Department. But what looks like a routine chore to the gritty ex-New York detective, turns into a nightmare. Preliminary inquiries reveal that a middle-aged employee didn’t exist prior to 1975.

Murray McGuire spent the second half of his life repairing office equipment for the small city of Prospect, Tennessee, but the police can’t find a trace of the first half.

After uncovering nothing but dead ends during the background investigation and with frustrations running at flood level, Jenkins finds his subject lying face down in a Smoky Mountain creek bed—murdered assassination-style.

By calling in favors from old friends and new acquaintances, the chief uses resources developed during a lifetime in law enforcement to learn the true story of the man everyone called Typewriter Murray.

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~ Mystery & Thriller ~

Weave a Murderous Web

 by Anne Rothman-Hicks & Ken Hicks

No good deed goes unpunished. When Jane Larson—a hot-shot litigator for a large firm in New York City—helps out a friend, she is sucked into the unfamiliar world of divorce and child support.

Jane’s discovery of the deadbeat dad’s hidden assets soon unravels a web of lies, drugs, and murder that keeps getting more dangerous.

Soon, Jane is involved in a high stakes race to recover a missing suitcase of cash and catch the murderer before she becomes the next victim.

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~ Mystery ~

Family Education

A John Seraph Mystery – Book Three

by C.G. Eberle

When college student Jacob Ragnar is found shot to death, suspicion immediately falls on Professor Burke Kendall. After some time, John Seraph begins to investigate, leading to threats against him, and a murder attempt on his life.

Meanwhile, John’s old friend, Denise, has asked for his help with a delicate situation she’s in. A psychotic sadist, who happens to work for John’s father, is stalking one of her employees, an escort. This turns into a bigger problem for John than he can imagine.

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Books Release || Feb 13, 2016 || Fantasy & Paranormal


 

~ Paranormal Romance ~

Fate’s Prison

Promise Me #14

by Tara Fox Hall

When a simple loving encounter with Devlin raises the ghost of his long-dead paramour, Rene, Sarelle intervenes, saving Rene’s soul from the demon Shaker. Forced to share her body with Rene, Sarelle works diligently with the sorceress’s ghost to magically build her a new body, even as attacks by vampire hunters escalate, threatening all Sarelle holds dear. As Hayden’s defenses crumble, Sarelle magically escapes certain death only to become Michael’s prisoner along with Lash. Faced with an eternity of captivity and Lash’s impending death, Sarelle forges a Hellish pact, changing her life forever.

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~ Fantasy ~

"Sword of Doom" by Richard DawesSword of Doom

A Wolf Slayer Saga #2

by Richard Dawes

King Tancred, the ruler of Korava, plans a sneak attack on the kingdom of Argos. Princess Uralia, the daughter of the Argosian king, hears of the plot and asks Valka the Wolf Slayer to take her back to her father so she can warn him of the impending attack. Valka agrees, and embarks on a blood drenched journey that pits him against the whole army of King Tancred, who intends to stop them.

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~ Paranormal ~

One More Night by Rhonda StrehlowOne More Night

The Horton Auction Series #2

by Rhonda Strehlow

If love can transcend time then perhaps hate can, too.

While preparing an old saloon for auction, Honor Horton meets Jonas and Ruby… and Captain Davis, a love triangle that played out, unhappily, more than one hundred years ago.

When a lover from Honor’s past returns those complicated emotions mix with that of the long dead characters. The resulting chaos makes everyone wonder if there is a chance for a happy ending.

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