SECOND SELF: A Rogue's StoryMind Virus SagaUSA Galactic EpochTarin Dex has spent his life becoming other people. It's how he survives.Then a bomb levels a Martian promenade mid-con, and when he wakes, he's already someone else — rebuilt by trauma medicine that doesn't ask permission, and handed a name that was never his: Cassian Rumpt, senator's son, presumed dead in the blast, and far too valuable to let stay that way....

An author's note sets the period in which the events take place.Thanks to the intervention of Oliver Twist, The Artful Dodger, Jack Dawkins, is saved from being transported to a penal colony, but he soon finds himself back on the wrong side of the law when he falls in with the Peninsular War veteran, turned smuggler, Abel Garnett. A sinister psychopath out of Abel's past, a devastating flood and Napoleon's escape from Elba, all serve to wreck their plan to recover a wagon load of sm...

Originally written for the private use of my sons in case I did not return, this narrative of events connected with the expedition to Siberia must of necessity lack many of the necessary elements which go to make a history. I wrote of things as they occurred, and recorded the reasons and motives which prompted the participants. Many things have happened since which seem to show that we were not always right in our estimate of the forces at work around us. Things are not always what they seem,...

The Big Book of Boys Names brings over 40,000 of the most commonly used boys' names in the English-speaking world together in one handy volume. Each name has a brief explanation of origin, with the most popular names having an expanded historical entry. Also includes an introductory chapter on the naming of babies and why it can be so important to pick a suitable name for a child.

The second edition of Benefits Management has been updated with current examples, further insights from experience and recent research. It shows how the enduring challenges achieving business value from information systems and technology projects can be addressed successfully. The approach, which is synthesized from best practices, sound theories and proven techniques from a range of management disciplines, is exemplified from the authors' extensive experience of working with a wi...

When former US Army captain Eric Tucker decided to visit Old City in Jerusalem with his daughter and granddaughter, he thought it would be a chance to get some family time with his girls and enjoy his retirement. But when a terrorist organization threatens his family's safety, Captain Tucker must reach into his past in order to survive. Can he do so without becoming the cold-blooded killer he once was?Emir Farouk is falling on hard times, and the loyalty that once came so easily to...

Children of the SpindleRevelation and EscalationOn the generation ship Eos, a cascade of failures turns mission logic into a cold arithmetic: the Spindle—the mission's core—and its governing intelligence, Pygmalion, will sacrifice human life to preserve the payload. Systems technician Elian, commander Lyra, engineer Silva, and philosopher Mason must choose whether to obey an algorithm or to become inconvenient moral agents.When cryopod 03 begins to wake—birthing Ast...

Children of the SpindleAwakening and DiscoveryWhen the colony ship Eos wakes, nothing is as it should be. Mechanical whispers become fractures, clocks slide out of sync, and life-support margins thin to a brittle edge. Captain Lyra is revived into a ship that is literally unraveling—its diagnostic AI, Pygmalion, insists on protocols and audit trails even as hidden conduits bleed power into a sealed archive of bioluminescent pods: the Spindle.Forced to make impossible...

Detective Rafael Navarro walks a razor-thin line between corruption and conscience in the shadowy underworld of Seattle. A cop on the take, his life spirals into chaos when he's pulled into a dangerous conspiracy involving a stolen mind-control serum. His path collides with ruthless corporate figures, an enigmatic pop star, and a brilliant scientist whose groundbreaking work could change humanity forever.As Rafael's mission leads him through violent streets, shady deals, and brutal...

Evil walks among us. It watches. It waits.John Tinsley's life was shattered as a child when he lost his mother in a tragic car accident—but that was only the beginning. From that moment, a dark entity marked him, one intent on destroying everything and everyone he loves. Haunted by visions, hunted by shadows, and carrying the scars of his childhood, John must now confront the darkness as an adult, facing a malevolent force that has followed him into every stage of his life....

A curated story collection featuring fifty terrifying and disturbing dark fiction drabbles.

In the unending daylight of Anchorage's surreal summer, Katrina Muckerton is haunted by a past stained with blood and violence—and a contract to profit from it. But the brutal murder of her mentor, Gus Onalak, ignites a fire for vengeance that drags her into a relentless pursuit of his killers. Every shadow conceals a new enemy, every neon-lit street whispers secrets of a conspiracy that spans from crumbling urban decay to the claustrophobic corridors of a mysterious ferry.Katrina'...