Academic standards call for increased rigor, but simply raising complexity is not enough. Students need to be able to process information quickly and respond to situations with fluency and accuracy. As teachers become better at planning and providing practice sessions that build these skills, students become more adept at using new knowledge and processes swiftly and accurately. Fluent thinking is crucial for success on the SAT, ACT, and other timed testing situations.Practicin...

Danger awaits the Kingdom of Borgund if a woman fails to take the throne. When the pregnant Queen finally gives birth, the king faces a terrible choice. Will he choose wisely or doom the kingdom to ruin?“Blood Soup” by Kelly A. Harmon is an award-winning novella first published in 2008 by Fantasy Gazetteers, and then again in 2009 by Eternal Press publishers. This tale of murder, betrayal and comeuppance has readers clamoring for more.For more information about Ms. Harmon’s...

Why can’t she catch a break?When demon-marked Assumpta Mary-Margaret O’Conner killed the demon who owned her mark, she expected it to disappear and her soul be saved from eternal damnation. But the mark remained, assuring her she’s still on a collision-course for Hell.Now, she must rid herself of the mark as soon as possible, and reclaim her soul—or spend eternity as some demon overlord’s plaything.Fleeing from powerful demons all claiming the right to her ...

Sometimes, you’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time. For Jo Byrne, owner of The Turning Wheel, wrong place-wrong time perfectly describes her friendship with Assumpta Mary-Margaret O’Connor.Because of Assumpta, Jo finds herself the target of a death curse. When Assumpta can't help, Jo realizes she is the only one who can save herself--and anyone else Assumpta cares about.Breaking this curse will take Jo past the dark side of magic and into the realm of demon magic. ...

The 34th Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine contains:Fiction:A VERY CURIOUS OCCUPATION, by Paula HammondMINERVA JAMES AND THE GODS OF SLEEP AND DEATH, by Mark BruceTHE SURGEON’S SWINDLE, by Jeffrey A. LockwoodHIDING, by Jenna WeartTHE MONSTER’S BLOOD, by David AfshariradTHE ONE I LEFT BEHIND, by Hal CharlesTHAT MEDIEVAL TOUCH, by Pete BarnstromSNIFFING OUT THE PROBLEM, by Laird LongX MARKS THE S...

The heroes are on vacation. Really. The wedding of Dane and Annabeth (Danabeth) is over, the team has caught their villain-of-the-month, and Hope thinks everyone deserves a break from the cycle of training and public-relations appearances. So except for Ozma and Grendel (who've decided to return to adventures in Oz) they're all enjoying the sand and the sun in Littleton, the safest secret community in the world.But then Shell vanishes—her quantum-neural link with Hope and Shelly se...

Astra was done traveling, or so she thought. Benched for physical rehab and retraining, she's in LA dating movie stars (not as fun as you might think) when the Department of Superhuman Affairs asks for help catching a superhuman serial killer. When what should be a simple job develops . . . complications, she finds herself catapulted into another reality—one with its own history and superheroes! As her teammates scramble to find out where she's gone and what's become of her, Astra embarks ...

"Don't worry, as long as I'm alive and raising h-e-double diving boards those rat bastards aren't gonna touch us, trust me. I love this place too much not to fight for it." Set the summer before last around a series of happenstances at a community swim and racquet club in Yellow County, The Happenstances at the Yellow County Community Swim and Racquet Club the Summer Before Last is a bittersweet, nostalgic, but comic novella about a team of misfits, including a loser who secretly lives in ...

Astra has finished her training and is now a full-fledged Sentinel, but things are not going well. She suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and the public revelation of her relationship with Atlas has caused her popularity to nose-dive.To complicate things, the Teatime Anarchist's intervention has changed the course of events—leaving her with lots of knowledge about the way the future was before the Big One, a complete future-history that is now out of date.And just...

Home is behind, the world ahead. - J.R.R. TolkienOld gods outwitted by heroes. Magical weapons that bring good and evil. Dragons winging over the city or walking upon the earth. A wizard witnessing endless battles. These stories and more explore the theme of Re-Quest.Leave home behind and wander magical worlds in these 16 fantasy tales from an international roster of authors. Featuring fiction from Robert E. Howard, Douglas Smith, James Dorr, Lillian Csernica, Gregory L. No...

The North American Jules Verne Society is pleased to present its first-ever anthology of short stories, written by a select group of modern authors, inspired by classics like Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Around the World in Eighty Days, and other novels and stories by the 19th-century master of “Extraordinary Voyages,” Jules Verne.The collection includes the following stories:Joseph S. Walker: “The Do...

Things that go bump in the night, mysterious portals to other dimensions and places, bones that know who killed them, seductive vegetation, ghosts that have a tale to tell, and even unexplained behavior in the far reaches of the universe. Twilight Tales contains thirty-one stories each taking you just beyond reality, reminiscent of the rich and uneasy stories by A. Merritt or episodes from the classic Twilight Zone television series.In honor of Betty Pope, a forme...