Everyone wins. Whether the success is observed and applauded, or passes in a quiet, internal celebration, the victory is real and the results change the course of a life. This collection of short stories takes you into the minds and hearts of nine main characters. Some are human, some are not. But the one thing they share in common is the sometimes bittersweet taste of personal victory.

In the wake of the Pandora pandemic, Newton began. With Mother at the helm, it grew and blossomed. Her policy of open doors and shared information benefited not only those in town, but people across the continent. As her fame grew, she attracted the attention of what remained of the US army. They moved in next door, built a base, and for years, seemed content to simply watch her.However, Mother would not follow the army's "supply and comply" policy. They were soldiers trying to giv...

Years after the Pandora pandemic decimated the world's population, successful civilizations are truly starting to come together. Led by Mother, Newton stands as an example to the people, a model for how their lives can get back to normal.But not everyone lives in Newton, and not everyone misses the life of old. Children raised in the time after the pandemic have no memories of shopping malls, have no idea why make-up was so popular, and don't have a clue what it was like to call a ...

A silent killer stole everyone she knew and loved. Where there were once people, she only saw ghosts. Where cars used to travel, only leaves moved across the barren roads. There were no planes overhead, no messages to hear on her voice mail, no signs of life anywhere. She wandered in a numb haze through the terrifyingly still world, until suddenly there was a sound. A call. One voice that woke her up and made her realize that she wasn't alone. And in that moment, she decided to live.

After an asteroid collided with earth and changed the tilt of the axis, humanity had to adapt. The survivors of the impact slowly rebuilt, creating a migratory society that followed the short growing seasons. Migration was more than a suggestion, it was the law.Tenet Bradwin, the son of the nation's Exalted Leader, spent weeks gathering supplies and making plans to go through the modern day rite of passage and off-season through the Summer. Others had done it. Others had hidden fro...

Jacob Cosworth grew up on the Condor One, a small deep space craft, being raised by a team of scientists lead by his parents. His first friends outside his little ship were alien species, and the first planet he stepped foot on didn't even have a name. It was the life he knew and the life he loved for sixteen years.And then something changed, something happened that made his parents send him away. With little warning, and no explanation, he was sent back to a galaxy he didn't know,...

Six years after the Ogden Septad offered Tenet and Scarab sanctuary in their small mountain village, life for the Lornes is peaceful and calm. The pains and trials of their old life faded away into days of hard but rewarding work as members of a community. Tucked away in their comfortable cabin, it gets easier and easier for the Lornes to ignore the past and build a future. They could almost believe the rest of the world didn't exist outside the comforting protection of the forest....

With the help of a bounty hunter, Tenet Bradwin, son of the Exalted Leader, lived though his High Summer escape through the burning sands of Southland and ended up in the oasis of a rough border town. Instead of being the end of his journey, though, Tenet quickly learns that it was really only the beginning.His government is still after him, his family is leading the charge, and the only hope he has at any kind of life rests in the deep, unknown wilds of the Borderlands. The challe...

SENTENCED TO LIVE"She had only wanted to study life, she roared, now transformed into a beast, not destroy it."A powerful story told through a "sensorial book"The world is on the brink of collapse. Coastal cities are being lost to the oceans but the evacuation of millions of people is impossible. The Army is put in charge, however for the majority there is no way out and they are left to their destiny. Only those w...

Twelve thousand years later, low on reaction mass and with 20,000 colonists aboard, Ark One is coming in hot. Captain Sandra Jensen and Astrogator Dooley Peeters have a plan to save her. There is the question of how they will be received, on an Earth that has returned to barbarism. That is, if they can slow her down enough to get a shuttle away..From what they can see, North America is headed for war. As if that wasn't bad enough, Dooley has an insane crush on 'The Ice Queen,' Captain Jens...

Humans by themselves could only fail. Society is splintered after allowing an evolving artificial intelligence, calling itself Makr run the planet's resources, saving humankind the trouble. Not all people have accepted the illusion of a perfectly run society or PerSoc. The lazy and frustrated ones did. Some even worship Makr as a god. Makr has armies of mobile cyberts constantly seeking out human malcontents to delete. Had the human race rebelled or unified in some way there might ...

A timeless species manipulates and controls the destiny of mankind.Unknown to most and shown only to a few, The Book not only holds the answer to the question of creation, but to the mystery of life itself.Beyond the previous three years of his troubled existence, James had only confusing memories and fragmented visions of a life unknown to him; will the activation of a technology older than time provide the answers that lie to the furthest borders of our solar system, or wi...