Gideon Groebel is barely old enough to remember what the bees looked like and only knows about the Dieoff thanks to the internet. Suddenly finding himself in possession of the only known hive in the country—and hunted for it—he seeks sanctuary on a small farmhouse off the road, which only lands him as prime suspect in the pipeline bombing. For protection, he strikes a deal with a local deputy to gather evidence on the real terrorist. But when his efforts are sidelined by a forbidden romanc...

Brothers Mark and Orin make a habit of attending Gatherings. This one begins like all the others. The healer claims unnatural powers and uses poor Latin. But there has never before been a snake-bearer. As the ceremony begins and the role of the snake-bearer becomes clear, Mark is scandalized. The prices the Healer demands are too high. And the outcomes, questionable. "He's just another fraud," Mark says. So then, why does Mark keep feeling the Healer rummaging around in his head? This stan...

Titus' life as a stay-at-home dad is disrupted when his husband, Lucas, loses his job. He re-enters the workforce as a stockboy at Glenn's Value Plus, where an encounter with a woman stealing tunafood and a coworker vowing to get him fired cause him to wish he lived on Mars. The X-Tellus company wants to give him that wish. But what would it take to leave his life—and his family—behind?This stand-alone short story from the Helium Quest series follows the events in "A Land Overflowi...

University student, Josiah Greene, has a secret. He's a musical savant poised for greatness from a young age. Growing up under an abusive father and exploitive mother he developed self-injurious practices to repress his music. Finally free to make his own decisions, he obsessively seeks affection from Maya, cashier at the local super Mercado. Her beauty elicits the music he hates.When Josiah uncovers Maya's bruise, he vows to rescue her, no matter the cost. But under the glower of J...

Decades after Nancy Myers is threatened to keep quiet about travels she can't remember, struggling magician, David Aguilera, and Richard Jackson, a pilot on thin ice with both his boss and wife, are sole witnesses to strange lights while their plane plummets. Miraculously surviving the fall, David can't stop talking about the Virgin Mary appearing to him--and some people don't like it. David's priest condemns him while the televangelist and his atheist co-anchor play him for ratings. Meanw...

Braving a cold night in Myra to give his gifts in secret, Our Bishop encounters a child who seems intent on stopping him. But is that the child's true intent, or is he offering a chance to give more than mere fruit?

In this final transcript from the "Helianthus," First Lieutenant Hyland Rivera confronts his own desire to take the vessel on a collision course with the sun, because as he says, "God told him to." Torn between his love for Captain Zephaniah Cass, "the only other man in the universe" and his own fears, he grapples for any meaning in life and death. Once Zeph gets wind of Hy's plans, the battle for the fate of the "Helianthus" begins.This stand-alone short story from the Helium Ques...

In this short story, Christie, a relapsed alcoholic, faces her first Christmas apart from her children. As she window-shops for gifts her ex-husband won't allow her to give, she finds a family huddled around a fire in the alley behind the store. If she wants to offer help, she must face her own fractured heart.

Jack, Adam, Wes and Mark Stanhope fear falling in love. No wonder. No Stanhope has enjoyed a happy marriage in centuries. What does it take to change the family curse? Courage? Devotion? Love?LORD STANHOPE’S IMPROPER PROPOSALAdam Stanhope is a politician who needs a wife. When he marries for convenience, he overlooks the fact that he cares for his lovely childhood friend more than he should.LADY FEATHERSTONE’S FERVENT AFFAIRWes Stanhope is a national hero, b...

Gritty, heartrending and unputdownable – the story of two sisters sent first to an English, then an Australian orphanage in the aftermath of World War II.Rita and Rosie Stevens are only nine and five years old when their widowed mother marries a violent bully called Jimmy Randall and has a baby boy by him. Under pressure from her new husband, she is persuaded to send the girls to an orphanage – not knowing that the papers she has s...

As the Earl of Blackmore, Lucas Devalle is no stranger to the scandals propagated by Society’s elite, particularly since more than a few of those scandals have come about due to the Devalle family’s affairs. As such, it comes as no surprise when a young lady in search of a scandal attempts to entrap him at the ball he’s giving to honor his brother’s betrothal. He is surprised when second young lady intervenes in the name of freeing him from an undesirable fate. Why would anyone feel the ne...

As the Earl of Fordingham, Tristan Cavendish has lived by the code his father beat into him for so long he’s driven everyone in his life away, including his brother. Now he is alone. Loneliness dictates he must change, so he sets out to make amends with his only sibling. Alas, his brother seems none too inclined to hear him out, and a woman who must be a vision from Fordingham’s dreams walks into his path. Now, more than ever before, he knows he must change his ways or risk driving her awa...