It's early summer, and in a small community on the central Jersey Shore, a black car screeches to a halt outside the Wright Bros grocery. Danny looks up from where he's working at the carwash to see the driver rifle out of the car and chase a girl rushing into the store. For some reason-fate perhaps or intuition-he decides to cross the lot and investigate. When he meets Mary, there is a great deal Danny doesn't know, but he certainly knows that he's been struck. For it's like the keys to an old car had been dropped into his hands and is about to start the engine that will forever alter the outcome of their lives. Some Place Better Than Here is a gritty, unflinching look at how we define family and come to grips with loss. It's about growing up in a small town, following your dreams, and mapping out the uneven ground that often lays between love, friendship, and sexual awakening.

The chance meeting on what promised to be a boring summer vacation leads Elizabeth Darby and Caleb Strait into three months of intense attraction and a heated romance.

Part one of two. In 1967, George was the legendary Georgina Monroe, the best Marilyn Monroe drag impersonator New York City had ever seen. But in 1994, George is a recluse who is scared of everyone and everything. Enter Ruiz, a young Latina pageant drag queen known as Audrey the Ritz, famous for her Audrey Hepburn impersonation. Since she was fourteen, she had admired Georgina Monroe's career obsessively, always wondering about why she disappeared so suddenly. During a chance encounter, Ruiz gets to meet George, and through a gentle friendship and a strong bond, Ruiz starts to uncover a story she never could have imagined in her worst nightmares. Stories of the mob, glamour, love, heartbreak, addiction, murder,and intensely dangerous secrets abound in this lgbt novel about ever present issues that pervade throughout time. Told through voices young and old, we follow the story of Georgina and Ruiz as witnesses to truths that are rarely told.

“Like the howl of an accordion—half sorrow and half joy, wondrous and exquisite—these stories squeezed my heart.” —Sandra Cisneros, author of "The House on Mango Street" * In "Once More to the River," Erasmo Guerra writes a moving account of his boyhood on the Texas-Mexico border. An award-winning novelist and journalist, Guerra explores present-day political and cultural realities, and recounts the shattering loss his family suffered when his teenage sister was murdered. Told with lyrical prose and a reporter’s ear for the “Tex-Mex” language of the region, these stories capture the voices of South Texas. By turns humorous and haunting, powerful and tender, this collection is an intensely personal chronicle of tragedy and the triumph of survival.

"Musician. Drug Addict. Mute." After leaving rehab six months ago, mute Ambrose Larkin has been living a lie. Wealthy and talented to the outside world, behind closed doors Ambrose is nothing more than a desperate drug addict struggling to keep up appearances, but as the new year approaches his façade is starting to crumble. Feeling trapped, Ambrose finds himself relying more and more on the companionship of his beloved Serena - an alabaster statue. When tragedy strikes and Ambrose is ready to end it all, an encounter with a strange woman leads to a deal that brings Ambrose's stone woman to life. But Ambrose forgets that every wish has a price and every price must be paid.

"You know, everybody sees the world in a completely different way. Some people look at blue skies where everything is fine and undisturbed, others look at grey ones, where clouds threaten their very existence and dampen their day." he said. "And how are your skies?" I asked. "Well," he chuckled, pushing a lose strand of hair behind my ear, "I collect skies."

Preview: "I can't come home Stefan," I said into the phone. "I can't look at you, let alone sleep in your bed, the one where you broke our marriage vows." "I understand you are hurting..." "You think you understand, really? How could you possible understand how I feel? Because I have been nothing but faithful to our union, and I would NEVER betray you." "What if I could understand? What if you taught me a lesson?" "I don't follow you,"I said. " I really don't feel like riddles right now." "Well it's sort of like the whole an 'eye for an eye' doctrine." he said. " An affair for an affair, show me what you feel by doing what I did?" "So that is what its come to Stefan, we'll just even the score. How will that fix things?" "It won't. But Beth,it's only fair you get a free night, since I did. What is the alternative, you hate me forever or we get divorced? Where will that leave little Jeremy? I think if you had a chance to see how easy it is to forget about me, you would understand. All I am saying is that if the opportunity presents itself, I give you full permission to sleep with someone else." ~~~~ Twisted knot is a story about three people, caught in a complicated and dysfunctional triangle of friendship and love. As it goes on, things will get more complex until eventually their decisions have deadly consequences.

She is an Anomaly. No future. No freedom. No prospect of falling love. Or at least that is what they would have her believe... * In Freya Elton's society love is promised at the end of a countdown. It is the law. No deviation and no change. Love is not a choice. Freya's entire future crumbles when a glitch in the system stops her countdown and renders her partnerless. Removed and isolated from society, Freya faces a life void of any purpose. But within the walls of her confinement Freya's eyes are opened to truths she had previously been shielded from. ...

"Sometimes it's best to stay out where you're not welcome." Demented will chill you to the bone, for these are not your usual bedtime stories. From a son who wants to teach his mother a lesson, a deadly myth on Kingly Road, people who have a certain bizarre diet, to some of the most terrifying things your head could barely even conceive-these stories will give you goosebumps, shivers, and more. There are also stories about a vengeful unborn baby, a psychotic babysitter, and a creepy bus that leads you to hell. These tales will torment your head with eerie echoes and haunting screams, and compel you to turn and check what's lurking behind... every few minutes. With twisted scenarios that will make you second-guess who you can and cannot trust, these are stories that may tell you what could actually be hiding under your bed... or perhaps make you realize that they're not under the bed... and that maybe you're the monster.

"It was then my mother was set on fire." When Beatrice stumbles upon a crazed man in the forest she barely gets away with her life. Unable to convince anyone of his presence, she tries not to go anywhere near him again but that seems impossible when unfortunate situations arise and feelings change. Her life had always been relatively normal until she met him but she never thought it'd take a holiday to Crazy Town like it did. As the murder count piles high, and the supernatural creatures take residence in her small, quaint town, she must fight for what she believes is right while trying not to lose her mind over everyone's lies and deception. Believing to be on top of the game, she's in for a shock as she realises she must give up those most precious to her or risk endangering Earth to those with greed on their mind and blood on their hands. HUMOUR | ACTION | ROMANCE | PARANORMAL | FANTASY |