A struggling writer. A team of U.S. soldiers. A fight for their lives. A battle for his soul. Writer Evan Davis desperately needs to find his muse to finish his book. As the impossible deadline approaches with a virtually nonexistent wordcount, his agent presents him with a unique reprieve: Gain a delay by becoming a press embed with U.S. troops going to Central Asia. Davis sees it as an unlikely place to rediscover his muse but lacks any alternative. After being presented with an odd luck talisman of three paperclips by a friend, he travels with his assigned unit to Afghanistan. There he is out of his comfort zone and pushed into a world where friendships are vital, and lives are on the line. His problems pale in comparison to what these brave men must face daily. As Davis begins to write about their daily hardships, he rediscovers his love of the written word. He also finds a use for each of his talismans, as they save his life and those of the men he comes to regard as his team; soldiers who promised each other they would all make it home in one piece. Follow Evan’s journey as he finds his muse in the most unlikely place under the most extraordinary circumstances.

Most people think the Cold War ended when the Soviet Union collapsed. Though the USSR may have been beaten, their war infrastructure and resentment didn’t simply go away. What if there were still secret weapons systems in place and angry old men eager to set them off? In From within the Firebird’s Nest, former KGB official Sergei Kirill Mikhailov revives a secret biological weapon: the Crimson Firebird. His aim is to strike a devastating blow to the United States while pinning the blame on an impressionable young Arab man, thus initiating a global crisis. Meanwhile, one of Sergei’s former colleagues is scrambling to stop the weapon from being deployed and recruits an unlikely team that includes his son (now a banker in Oklahoma), a former Stasi agent, and an American writer named Evan. Together they must shed light on foes hiding in the dark and save the world from unthinkable destruction. Crypto codes, numbers stations, and sleeper agents all factor into this ultra-high-stakes story of international intrigue. The Cold War gets a little warmer with each page, and all the animosity from the past builds and finally bursts in a shocking conclusion.

An anthology of stories selected to provide you with a brief escape from where you find yourself right now. Each will allow you to leave this reality and take a quick trip into someplace completely different. Have no fear. It's a nice place, and whether in the past or another world, it's okay, they know you there. The stories featured in this volume: I Only Slow Dance Rafe, a ninth-grade military brat, finds himself at the first dance of the school year in a new locale. Having made no friends and yearning to belong, he is befriended by fast-talking and slightly flirtatious Renée, who shatters his wall of loneliness, daring him to resist her charm. As the music plays, Rafe finds himself attracted to this siren. Before the last note, they enjoy a first kiss that becomes a lifelong memory, but is the memory of that explosive first kiss one that matters? Beyond AM Radio When Cordeil starts a new job, he discovers an antique car radio he needs to finish restoring his 1947 Cadillac. It might be perfect, but it is stored in a strictly controlled government warehouse, and taking it would be a federal crime. Over time, Cordeil convinces himself that since the radio has been sitting there for half a century untouched, stealing it will do no harm. Unbeknownst to him, he will not realize the true cost of his decision until he powers it up for the first and possibly last time. DD603 His father brought the AK-44 back from Vietnam as a war trophy. Now that his father is gone, he has been taking the rifle to the range, hoping to find Zen in shooting targets. Instead, with every cartridge he loads into the breach and every bullet he sends downrange, he finds himself delving into the history of the complex relationship he and his father shared since the rifle was thrust into their midst. As he fires the last twenty shells, he tries to decide what to do next with the war trophy that has become a painful reminder of their shared past. It's Said, Destiny Awaits Just out of the military, Daniel's life is at a significant turning point. Still, it seems like prospects for his next steps are vaporizing before him until a missed turn presents a possibility. Boarding the riverboat Queen Orleans, he sets sail toward a different future where new acquaintances teach him the skills needed to thrive in the place where he finds himself. When your present has no future, maybe it's time to pull on your boots, reshuffle the deck, and step into the past.

An anthology of short stories selected to provide you with a brief escape from where you find yourself right now. Each will allow you to leave this reality and take a quick trip into a different one. Have no fear. It’s a nice place. Even better, they know you there. Words Ever Unspoken Years have passed since Carson and Melissa broke up. Even though time has passed, both still dwell on the last time the two were together. Was that night a way of marking the end of their relationship, or was it a desperate attempt on both their parts to prevent their breakup from being permanent? Neither of them said a word during that last time together. Will either of them be able to find the words to express what is going on inside their minds and hearts today? It's a Surreal Thing He was deep into that summer between being a kid and being a teenager. She was the kind of woman that was the building block of a young man’s fantasies. As he sat there alone, she walked up behind him unnoticed and for a brief moment became the center of his universe when she made a simple request… a swig of his Coke. Just Down from Rimpy’s Bait Shop Peter’s grandfather brought him to live on his farm during his most turbulent years. As the man he loves succumbs to the deterioration of age, Peter is increasingly frustrated as he is forced to deal with the aging man’s belligerent and sometimes dangerous behavior. Fertilizing a section of the lawn should be a simple chore, especially when there are explicit directions. But then again, maybe not. A Scents of the Virus A sleepless night filled with the boredom of the COVID19 lockdown, a distracting ad on the Internet, and a credit card leads to the purchase of a Hollywood star’s latest vanity project: A candle with a unique scent. The first time Munro smells it, he begins to recover a memory. It is a memory he suppressed for years of a woman and relationship his heart and body cherished. Now, whenever the aroma surrounds him, he is immersed in a world where she and the relationship still exist.

The #1 New York Times bestselling author continues her thrilling series starring “spunky women who fight for truth, justice, and the American way” (Fresh Fiction on Final Justice). The Sisterhood: a group of women from all walks of life bound by friendship and a quest for justice, who will not rest until every wrong is made right. Isabelle Flanders Tookus isn’t expecting to involve the Sisterhood in a new mission when she strikes up a friendship with a curly-haired boy in her local park. Ben Ryan is an eight-year-old child genius, the grandson of millionaire Eleanor Lymen, who hired Izzy years ago to design an institute for gifted children. Ben’s mother passed away and Ben now lives with his stepfather and his wife. They’ve been using Ben’s trust fund to support their lavish lifestyle while shamefully neglecting Ben. And with the wife getting greedy, Ben’s safety is now in jeopardy. Izzy’s first step: call in the Sisterhood. The second: track down Eleanor, who has mysteriously vanished on a secret mission of her own. Izzy, Annie, Myra, and the rest of the Sisters come together at Pinewood, thrilled to be united once more. Together they’ll lay a trap, one that will protect Eleanor’s beloved grandson, get him into the happy home he deserves, and provide the kind of creative, satisfying payback the Sisters dish out so well . . . Series praise “Readers will enjoy seeing what happens when well-funded, very angry women take the law into their own hands.”—Booklist on Weekend Warriors “Delectable . . . deliver[s] revenge that’s creatively swift and sweet, Michaels-style.”—Publishers Weekly on Hokus Pokus

Three subtly connected stories converge in this chimerical debut, showcasing a powerful new Brazilian voice Three subtly connected stories converge in this chimerical debut, each burrowing into a turning point in a person’s life: a young woman gives a melancholy account of her obsession with climbing Mount Everest; a Peruvian-Brazilian vanishes into the forest after staying in a musty, semi-abandoned inn in the haunted depths of the Brazilian countryside; a young playwright embarks on the production of a play about the city of Sevastopol and a Russian painter portraying Crimean War soldiers. Inspired by Tolstoy’s The Sevastopol Sketches, Emilio Fraia masterfully weaves together these stories of yearning and loss, obsession and madness, failure and the desire to persist, in a restrained manner reminiscent of Anton Chekhov, Roberto Bolano, and Rachel Cusk.