What’s the Monster Stick? It’s Paul’s “nine-foot, surf casting rod full of six miles of brand new 50-pound test Stren Carp cord with 20 pound, custom made, stainless steel, slip-sliding sinkers.” The adventures Paul finds himself in from the day the Monster Stick comes into his life rival those of Paul Bunyan but add a modern twist, as when he somehow sets the hook in a DC-10 flown by drug smugglers. Then there’s Buck-dog, Bil’s “extraordinary hunting dog, whose mama was a German shepherd but whose daddy was a determined and extremely prolific basset hound.” Buck is smarter than your average human and stronger than four CS&X train engines pulling in unison, which he proves repeatedly as he takes on anything, including the government. These tall tales led the Lepp brothers to so many championships in the West Virginia State Liars’ Competition that their amateur status was nearly revoked. But that’s another tale…

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• At the tender age of fifteen, Charon McKay disappeared from the small coastal town of Innsmouth. When she turns up, nine month later, she is incoherent and raving; and slightly more surprising…pregnant! Fifteen years later, strange creatures have appeared in Innsmouth and awaken dark and terrifying powers within Charon and her daughter. Only the Shadowgirls can stand against this ancient threat — if the power doesn’t consume them first!

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What is the nature of sacrifice?

Cameron O’Donnel is a gentle hiker who wanders into what appears to be a green and idyllic Welsh valley. Meeting the charming and beautiful Rowan, he quickly loses his heart, only to begin an unstoppable journey into forest mysteries, cult, and deadly peril.

In Dying Gods, author Patrick Boal embraces and re-visions the story of the late 14th-century Middle English romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight into the present day. He weaves myth, reality and intrigue to share this eternal story of a flawed man tested beyond his moral and emotional limits – a man forced to question the boundaries between ancient beliefs, evil and reality.

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Autumn: the season of endings. And beginnings.

Especially for one young apprentice.

At the annual Festival of the Hunt, thirteen-year-old apprentice goblin hunter Finn MacCullen and his master, Gideon Lir, join other Tuatha De Danaan to honor their people’s heritage. But Finn soon realizes that there are some who denounce his right to attend due to his half-human bloodline.

While he struggles to keep his place by his master’s side, he finds himself embroiled in a decades-old grudge between Gideon and another Knight, bewildered (and beguiled) by a female apprentice with a temper as explosive as his own, and battling a pack of goblins determined to wipe out the entire camp in a surprise attack.

It’s going to take some fancy knife work, the help of a female Knight with a lethal bow, and one old pick up truck to defeat the goblins and prove to his people that his blood runs true-blue Tuatha De Danaan.

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Evgenia, a strong-minded and beautiful nineteen-year-old, spends the summer in Bulgaria with her grandparents. There, she finds herself courted by two zmay*—dragon-like beings from the local folklore. Once assured she is not dreaming and she hasn’t lost her sanity, Evgenia doesn’t mind their attention. Both of them are stunningly handsome in their human form and powerful beyond imagination. Both of them promise her the world. However, their intentions are not as forthright as she is led to believe, and the love story soon turns into a nightmare. Her suitors belong to rivaling factions of zmay, and Evgenia is at the center of their conflict. Unknown to her, she holds the power to either enable or shatter their plans. While one of the factions will stop at nothing to have her, the other one would rather see her dead.

*zmay (zmei) n. [Bulgarian (????)] Bulgarian Myth. A fire-breathing, dragon-like creature that can take human form, with superhuman strength and proficiency in magic, extremely intelligent, very rich, and often lustful for women, with whom it is capable of producing male offspring.
—Bulgarian Folklore Encyclopedia

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This is compilation of fantasy short stories, organized my best selling author Josh Walker. All proceeds go to benefit St. Jude’s Children’s hospital.

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**THIS IS THE SECOND BOOK IN THE SERIES. Be sure to grab the first book which is permafree here: https://getbook.at/odetothequeen [copy and past into your browser]**

Do you love Greek Mythology, Romance, Greek Gods, Olympians?

Explore Mount Olympus with the other Gods as 21st century adults find themselves the vessels of reincarnated Greek Gods.

In a world of Greek Gods and Goddesses Valentina still struggles to identify her own Goddess. Despite feeling out of place amongst others of her kind, nothing will stop her from protecting her friends from the dangers that begin to surround their new reign.

Valentina finds herself torn by the mysterious Griffin who leaves her frustrated and confused. She doesn’t understand the connection she feels toward him or why every time they start to get close, he pulls away.

But relationships are the least of her problems when she’s kidnapped and trapped in the Underworld. Her Goddess has no choice but to awaken to help Valentina navigate her way through the doomed hallways of Hades and try to get back to Olympus before it’s too late for all the Olympians.

With a reluctant Goddess in her mind, Valentina fights to survive in a realm where death is the only outcome. Will history repeat itself or will the New Olympians write their own myths?

Get your hands on this story of reincarnation, Greek Gods and Goddesses; free now!

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James Keith must follow his family’s ancient witchcraft tradition by serving the Order to keep his adopted daughter protected and out of the limelight. Rebekah, adopted at birth, is the likely heiress to the powers of Avalon. Keeping her out of the Order’s hands will ensure Rebekah lives a normal life for as long as possible.

This short story follows the Keith family to Edinburgh and provides a look into the family’s secrets.

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“With them, there are no happy endings.”

In the remote city of Lushan, they know that the Fey are not fireside tales but a dangerous reality.

Generations ago, the last remnants of a dying empire bargained with the Faerie Queen for a place of safety in the mountains and each year the ruler of Lushan must travel to the high plateau to pay the city’s tribute. When an unexpected misfortune means that the traditional price is not met, the Queen demands the services of Teresine, once a refugee slave and now advisor to the Sidiana. Teresine must navigate the treacherous politics of the Faerie Court, where the Queen’s will determines reality and mortals are merely pawns in an eternal struggle for power.

Years later, another young woman faces an unexpected decision that forces her to discover the truth of what happened to Teresine in the Faerie Court, a truth that could threaten everything she loves.

From the acclaimed author of The Night Inside and A Terrible Beauty comes a new novel about the price of safety and the cost of power.

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The Tale of Tales, made up of forty-nine fairy tales within a fiftieth frame story, contains the earliest versions of celebrated stories like Rapunzel, All-Fur, Hansel and Gretel, The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella. The tales are bawdy and irreverent but also tender and whimsical, acute in psychological characterization and encyclopedic in description. They are also evocative of marvelous worlds of fairy-tale unreality as well as of the everyday rituals of life in seventeenth-century Naples. Yet because the original is written in the nonstandard Neopolitan dialect of Italian—and was last translated fully into English in 1932—this important piece of Baroque literature has long been inaccessible to both the general public and most fairy-tale scholars.

Giambattista Basile’s “The Tale of Tales, or Entertainment for Little Ones” is a modern translation that preserves the distinctive character of Basile’s original. Working directly from the original Neopolitan version, translator Nancy L. Canepa takes pains to maintain the idiosyncratic tone of The Tale of Tales as well as the work’s unpredictable structure. This edition keeps the repetition, experimental syntax, and inventive metaphors of the original version intact, bringing Basile’s words directly to twenty-first-century readers for the first time. This volume is also fully annotated, so as to elucidate any unfamiliar cultural references alongside the text. Giambattista Basile’s “The Tale of Tales, or Entertainment for Little Ones” is also lushly illustrated and includes a foreword, an introduction, an illustrator’s note, and a complete bibliography.

The publication of The Tale of Tales marked not only a culmination of the interest in the popular culture and folk traditions of the Renaissance period but also the beginning of the era of the artful and sophisticated “authored” fairy tale that inspired and influenced later writers like Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm. Giambattista Basile’s “The Tale of Tales, or Entertainment for Little Ones” offers an excellent point of departure for reflection about what constitutes Italian culture, as well as for discussion of the relevance that forms of early modern culture like fairy tales still hold for us today. This volume is vital reading for fairy-tale scholars and anyone interested in cultural history.

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The friendship Erich shared with Nash withstood the test of time that allowed the next generation to mirror their path paved by war and deceit. Their friendship was based on trust with an underling hint of secrecy. They fought kings, enemies and each other but their bond has endured until now. Will their friendship be shattered by Nash’s curiosity? Will the Dweller nation force Erich to choose the life of one man in order to protect the future of a nation?

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This collection of 30 stories about wise judges, clever lawyers, and deceitful tricksters were collected from places as diverse as ancient Greece, Morocco, Germany, China, and Ireland. Some date back to pre-biblical days while others come from the American colonies. From her work as a deputy prosecuting attorney, Sharon Creed draws certain similarities between the cases she used to study and the ancient stories she tells. Rather than give a definition of justice, she allows the book as a whole to speak for itself so that it is left to the reader’s heart to respond to each story?either, “Hey, that’s not fair!” or “Fair is fair.”

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Survive the Night.

Eva McRayne and the crew of Grave Messages travel to Maine to investigate the morbid history of The Red Rose Bed and Breakfast. An inn that had a reputation not for its beauty or its food.

But for its suicides.

As Eva stays in the room where the suicides took place, she makes a gruesome discovery. Not just in the room. But with herself.

Will she survive the night? Or will the hotel add another chapter to its horrible history?

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Christmas lights and her sixteenth birthday brighten Sapphire’s days. Her London nights are warmed by the attentions of Ramsey, a kilt-wearing selkie with a smile that promises both fun and trouble.

She is growing into the role of leader of the Children of Fire. But her closeness with Ramsey and choice to withhold information causes distrust within her family. Their weakened bond allows a new evil to grow, unrecognized, around them.

Horrified by the consequences her decisions have on the people she loves, Sapphire has to choose between her own happiness and her responsibilities as the Jewel of Akasha.

Heirs of Avalon is the third novel in the Children of Fire series, a young adult urban fantasy series. Alica has plans for seven novels in this series, and possibly several novellas that accompany them. Currently, books 1 – 3 are available and book 4 is coming soon! (There’s also a novella available, however, if you subscribe to Alica’s newsletter you can receive Kayin’s Fire for free! For the link to subscribe, just scroll down to her biography below, or look on her Amazon Author page, or you can find it in any of her books.) 

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Lost without direction, Nash leaves Meir only to find himself at the crossroads of Noyi and the crossroad of life. His decision to go forward engulfs him into a vicious vacuum of love, death and the ultimate sacrifice. The friendship Nash shares with Erich is tested in the arena of Noyi. The law of the arena: two go in, one comes out. Drugged by Lugar, Erich faces his best friend in the arena of death. Two go in, one comes out…only one can live…one man must kill his best friend.

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Sequel to A Scout is Brave
The Two-spirit Chronicles: Book Three

Love can mean sacrifice. Joshua Ishkoday must decide if he can abandon the boy he loves in order to save him.

In the expansive and sometimes deadly northwoods of Wisconsin, Joshua must make a heartbreaking choice as he battles his greatest fears. His best friends, Mokwa and Little Deer, accompany him when a nightmare sends him on an adventure of self-discovery. But the three teenagers aren’t alone in the vast forest. Joshua realizes bizarre creatures called Memegwesi have not only been manipulating him through his dreams, but plan to use him in a mysterious plan of their own. Soon he’s fighting three enemies: the lethal storm headed their way, the mysterious beings appearing in his dreams, and most frightening of all, his mother’s hatred and bigotry.

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Unique Twists on eight Classic Fairy Tales Goldilocks, Sleeping Beauty, Red Riding Hood, The Bear, Beauty and the Beast, Hansel and Gretel, Snow White and a bonus, new in this edition, Rapunzel Something for everyone science fiction, classic fantasy, modern fantasy, and gritty contemporary.

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What happens to the Underworld if Hayden is no longer its god?

An old enemy of Zeke’s returns, threatening not only Hayden and Hartley’s relationship, but the very existence of the Underworld. When Hayden can’t protect her, Hartley is forced to put her trust in the last place she ever expected and do the unthinkable. Secrets are revealed, hearts are broken, and lives are turned upside down in this final installment of the Divine Darkness series.

Will Hartley be able to harness the darkness within and become the dark goddess? Or will the Underworld fall apart—taking Hayden along with it?

Dark Goddess is a coming of age young adult urban fantasy that will appeal to fans of paranormal romance, Greek and Roman mythology, dark fantasy, action and adventure, and supernatural lore.

Dark Goddess is the fourth and final book in the Divine Darkness series

Other books in this series
Dark Souls
Dark Sins
Dark Prophecy

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Enter the fantasy world of an unexpected encounter between a Dragon Prince and a 13-year-old farm boy!

Dragon heir Dracor has had a close shave with an evil, carnivorous spider after landing in human territory. He escapes narrowly, thanks to 13-year-old Jacen’s bravery. However, Dracor sustains a broken wing and is unable to fly back to his kingdom.

Out of pity, and awe, Jacen offers to nurse Dracor back to health. The only thing he cannot foresee is his protective mother’s reaction. Torn between taking care of the injured dragon and obeying his mother, Jacen goes with his heart.

Meanwhile, Dracor faces yet another dilemma. Should he accept the boy’s help once more? What will his parents, who abhor humans with a vengeance, say if they hear of it?

*This is a short story, ideal for avid dragon lovers, both adults and children.*

READ BOOK 1: “DRAGON MEETS HUMAN HEIR” FOR FREE – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0131SRTXS

BOOK 3: “BLOODSHED IN FALLREACH” IS OUT! – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016TDE048

Preview of Book 3
As the street they were on intersected with another in a wide clearing, they came upon the first body of a dragon. It was the first thing they saw that was not burned. It was one of the soldiers – Dracor thought his name might have been Korthax, or maybe Karthax – and he was studded with so many arrows and spears that he resembled a giant pincushion. The slain dragon was completely ringed in by dead human soldiers.
“Did you know him?” Jacen asked.
“Not well,” Dracor admitted, and felt a sharp twinge of shame as he did so.
“How many dragons did your uncle bring with him?”
“No more than a dozen, I believe.”
“A dozen dragons leveled an entire city?”
“It would appear that way.”
Jacen swallowed. “And how many dragons live in the Wyrmgarden?”
Dracor thought about it. “About 500.”
“Gods,” Jacen murmured, and then fell silent once more.
He circled the city before heading any deeper in. He needed to get an accurate count of the dead. At other major intersections, they found identical scenes: a fallen dragon soldier surrounded by a score of human ones. It didn’t make any sense – he had expected that if he did find any slain dragons, they would be all gathered in one spot. The only way his uncle’s retinue would have fought to the death was if they had had no other choice. But spread out throughout the city like this … that suggested that they had not been on the defensive.
He managed to account for all of his father’s soldiers – he found 11 of them, though it was possible one or two might have escaped. But he did not find his uncle’s body. At last, he headed toward the very center of the city.
A wide plaza stood at Fallreach’s center. In the epicenter was a massive fountain, now destroyed. Here the concentration of human soldiers was at its thickest. The bodies were scattered so densely that there was barely room to walk through them.
This was also where they found the dragons. The first things they saw that were not burned. There were a dozen of them, the ones who had accompanied his uncle. Some of them were studded with so many arrows and spears that they resembled giant pincushions. But his uncle’s body was nowhere to be seen.
In front of the fountain what looked to be a large pedestal or altar had been erected. It was wider even than the fountain, stretching nearly across the entire diameter of the plaza. And sprawled across the altar….
Dracor gasped. “Ohen.”
He lumbered over to the side of the altar.
Copper-colored scales, spiked tail – it was his brother’s body.
But the head was missing.
Dracor let out a howl of misery so loud that Jacen covered his ears. He buried his face against Ohen’s chest and let the tears spill. When they hit the stone, they sizzled. He pictured his brother’s face – the narrow eyes, the cocky grin. Why would they have taken his head and left the rest of him?

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FayeLynn Roberts didn’t intend to get pregnant. Instead of following her dreams and going to art school in the fall, she’ll be stuck in her hometown and under her dad’s roof. It isn’t like her baby’s father is going to be any help. He disappeared weeks before the two pink lines showed up on the stick.

When she tells her father about the child, he drops a bombshell. Her late mother was a fairy. And that’s not all. When her father married her mother, he made a promise to her people: the first male child born to his line would belong to them. While the revelation explains a lot, it also opens the door to dozens of new questions.

Suddenly, FayeLynn is becoming more and more protective of the child growing in her stomach. There’s no way she’s giving the baby to a bunch of fairies, even if they are related to her. On a quest to find out more about her mother’s side of the family tree, she meets Alvin Foster, a man who claims to know how to access the fairy realm. He might be crazy, but she needs answers and it isn’t hard to follow a man who fills out a pair of Levi’s like he does.

Alvin has his own agenda. A prince who was tossed from the fairy realm after a stupid decision, he’s determined to find his way home. Offering a male child to the King might be the ticket back to his family. He convinces FayeLynn to trust him and she follows him across hell and half of The Realm. Literally. She’s not the wilting violet he expected and before he can help himself, he’s falling for her.

When they arrive in the Fairy Realm, things aren’t as Alvin remembered. In the time he’s been gone, his father has weakened and Drake, an evil upstart with a score to settle, intends to take his place. Drake has been busy in both The Realm and the human world. He’s the father of FayeLynn’s baby and he wants custody.

In order to save the baby and The Realm, Alvin and FayeLynn must band together and battle Drake and his forces all while fighting their growing attraction to each other.
Even though Alvin wants to make her his Fairy Queen, FayeLynn is determined to leave Fairy Land with her baby but can she leave with her heart?

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Cupid’s back and at the top of his game.

The always adored – and now restored – God of Love has a new look, a new attitude, and even a steady girlfriend. With his humiliating dethronement and harrowing banishment behind him, Cupid wants nothing more than to settle in to a comfortable immortality.

But someone has dreamed up a different plan.

With a sea god setting the oceans against him, a drama-loving hanger-on refusing to go away, and the king of the gods ordering Cupid to steal the most powerful relic ever made by the most cunning god ever angered, Cupid and his leading lady, Tamara, must join a new cast and crew to face their most challenging mission yet. The stage is set for an epic performance, but just who is writing this script? And will Cupid and his troupe figure it out before they lose their minds – and quite possibly their lives?

God Awful Thief brings new hilarity and an ever-expanding cast of fickle gods to Cupid’s misadventures, potential tragedies, and everlasting comedies. God Awful Thief is the second act in the God Awful Series of Books.

“An impressively imaginative, extraordinarily witty, and exceptionally talented novelist, Ms. Acevedo continues to provide an expanding parade of fickle gods entwined with Cupid’s misadventures, potential tragedies, and everlasting comedies in her ‘God Awful’ series. An inherently riveting read from beginning to end, “God Awful Thief” is very highly recommended for personal reading lists as well as community library Fantasy Fiction collections.”
– Midwest Book Review

PRAISE FOR GOD AWFUL LOSER, BOOK 1 IN THE GOD AWFUL SERIES

“funny moments and attention-grabbing action scenes… this book might appeal to older fans of the Rick Riordan books or those interested in Roman mythology. VERDICT for larger libraries with high demand for mythological fiction.”
– School Library Journal

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Third Time’s the Charm….

Eva McRayne and the crew of Grave Messages head to Detroit to investigate claims of poltergeist activity at the headquarters of Still Life Photography. But as the night wears on, their investigation uncovers something much darker than a simple poltergeist.

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Looks can be deceiving…

As Eva McRayne and the crew of Grave Messages get prepared to film their live Halloween special, she learns something very important. Elliot Lancaster, her co-host and creator of the show, won’t be joining them. Instead, he has tasked her to film her interactions with a single, simple doll while he films a guest spot for a rival paranormal show.

But as the night unfolds, will Eva’s first solo venture on Grave Messages crash? Or will she beat Elliot at his own game?

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It’s a great day for Greece when Perseus defeats the dreaded kraken. But victory begins to lose its lustre when the remains of the beast swamp the shores and fishing nets of the Aegean. Now after weeks of kraken cakes, kraken kabobs, kraken fritters, and kraken stew, everybody is getting decidedly sick of kraken—none more so than Chef Pelops.
In response to the “kraken crisis,” the city of Athens announces the inaugural Bronze Chef competition. Normally, Pelops would jump at the chance to prove himself the best celebrity chef in Greece. The trouble is, the competition’s secret ingredient is sure to be kraken—and, having once offended Poseidon, Pelops can’t cook kraken to save his life.
To make matters worse, a loathsome rival has vowed to win the contest by fair means or foul. Now, Pelops must overcome the sea god’s curse to show once and for all that he is the better chef—a task made all the more difficult by the insufferable antics of a most unexpected relative…
Kraken Bake, the sequel to the critically acclaimed Food for the Gods by Karen Dudley (a finalist for the Boney Blithe Award, The High Plains Awards, and the Aurora Awards) mirthfully re-imagines the world of ancient Greece with a modern spin.

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This is the fifth book of The Slavic Way series. It introduces the reader to Slavic symbols, their meaning and uses in everyday life. Much of Slavic heritage has been lost over the years and with Christening of Rus’, this book is a small attempt to revive and bring into the light little of that which has been lost.

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FOUR NOVEL BOXED SET – The Swans Landing Series (Surfacing, Submerging, Shifting, Surrendering)

Along the Outer Banks of North Carolina lies a small island that holds secrets as big as the ocean. A race of beings called finfolk walk among the humans, only changing into their mermaid form while swimming. For centuries, the humans and finfolk happily shared the island and the surrounding waters.

But that has changed.

SURFACING (Swans Landing #1)
Sixteen-year-old Mara Westray has just lost her mother, and now, being shipped off to live with the father she doesn’t know is not how she imagined grieving. But from the moment she steps off the ferry, nothing is as ordinary as it looks.

SUBMERGING (Swans Landing #2)
Sixteen years ago, Sailor Mooring’s mother dove into the Atlantic Ocean and was never seen again. Now, Sailor is following her mother’s long swim to find answers to the questions that have haunted her life: Why did her mother leave? And what really happened the night Sailor’s father died?

SHIFTING (Swans Landing #2.5)
Dylan Waverly has lived his entire life on the tiny island of Swans Landing with his best friend Sailor Mooring at his side. But now Sailor has left, and no one knows if she’ll ever return. Dylan remains stuck in a half-life between land and sea on an island that is slowly dying.

SURRENDERING (Swans Landing #3)
Josh Canavan swam an entire ocean in search of the truth about what happened the night his father died. Now he’s made the journey back in order to save the people and the island he loves.

Get all four books in this one digital boxed set.

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Presents more than 20 Afro-American folktales featuring the escapades of Brer Rabbit and more than 10 tales describing the lives of Afro-American slaves.

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The Roman Empire has reigned strong for over a century. Now a young goddess born to the Greek gods of old and her beloved servant venture into the world of mortals. Follow them in this classic action adventure tale with a original twist.

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Human beings tell each other tales, be they fireside or through the visual media of movies.

This collection of short stories are modern tales told with the feel of ancient legends. From the tale of a bargain made for vengence to what might happen after the Norse end of the worl, Ragnarok, these tales are but echoes of Elder Times.

The ten previously published tales have been re-edited and there is one entirely new story collected together in this book.

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