BOOK 1 // Human Error (COMPLETE) BOOK 2 // Human Instinct (IN PROGRESS) *NOW OPTIONED FOR A TV SHOW* "Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness engineered right into their DNA." - William Shakespeare, 1602 (adapted for BioPlus) Astrid Oxford is not normal. Two hundred years into the future, society is recovering from global collapse, and genetic modification has saved the remaining population from a hunger crisis. The alteration of human DNA has been illegal since the technology was developed, but in the heart of New London, a sinister trend has emerged among society's elite. Designer children have been the city's best-kept secret for years, but strange side effects are now appearing as they hit adolescence. When a freak suicide forces modification into the public eye, eighteen-year-old Astrid is about to learn how difficult it is to stay under the radar when you really were born to stand out.

In a world where you're defined by class can anything else exist? "At the age of 16, each male and female must attend the earliest 'Summoning'. From there the ideal match is generated for each individual in a process known as the 'Sorting'. Once a pair have been matched, they will reside to the male's dwelling to live out their lives in harmony. If an individual is not matched at a Summoning, they must continue to attend until their match is Sorted. Failure to comply with these terms shall result in immediate imprisonment." - President Mangold ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the early ages both the caste system and the 'Sorting' were instituted. Society is based on a class system and the number of a particular caste branded on the left shoulder of each human. The caste system is rated from 1 to 5. Elle Silver is a 3. As is her twin sister, her mother and her father. On her 16th birthday, Elle and her sister Ana are summoned. Hoping to follow in the footsteps of her mother and father, Elle is anxious to find out who her match is and the caste he is from. Because as the her mother has always said: 'You would hope for your sake that you're not matched to a 1 or a 5.' Stereotypes are often accurate but occasionally they can be more wrong then you'll ever understand.

Emma Jacobs is like any other Californian girl who is only trying to survive high school. She’s happy with her group of friends, her brother and his wife, Caroline, and her secret talent. Emma can sing, and every Friday, she does just that. However, Emma is too shy to sing in front of anybody that may recognize her from school, so she drives to the next town over and performs every Friday at The Seaside Café. Emma is happy with her double life until there’s a bump in the road and her two lives begin to overlap just because of one boy who just so happens to work at the café. How will Emma keep her secret when the whole thing depends on Jace Parker, the school loner. And how can she keep the secrets of her demented past in the past if he is determined to pry into her history? Surely, all of her problems come back to The Seaside Café.

Young Katrina struggles with leukemia and lives all alone with with her precious cat. All of the sudden her world is turned upside down when she meets the love of her life...

Do you know anyone with a crippling, morbid fear of flying? Well, you do now. I have a theory: An event one spring day in the town cemetery at the dawn of my existence had everything to do with planting a stark view of life and death which led, eventually, to a profound mistrust of infernal contraptions that carried you up into the sky. Because of that profound mistrust, vast portions of my prime were spent (and misspent) on long journeys aboard trains. A trip that would have been a blip in time by plane was an entirely different deal on the train—days and nights, not hours. Veritable miniature eternities. This led to encounters, adventures, dilemmas and situations that could only happen on a train—and not merely because of the train’s comparative slowness, but because train people are an entirely different breed of human from airplane people (or bus people, for that matter, and that’s another story). Trains are so....well....so existential. This stark view of life and death, which also had plenty to do with me lobbying my mother (in vain) to get busy on building a fallout shelter in our basement, had some stiff opposition. To be an American child in the 50s was to open one’s innocent eyes on the post-WW2 decade, an era jumping with progress,plenitude, dazzling crazed optimism and fun. Nightmare glimpses of atrocities from that big bad war we missed by the skin of our teeth bobbed to the surface occasionally, sobering us and reminding us of our aberrant good luck, and in my case, whispering that innocence was but a thin, thin membrane, that this world I’d been born into was a seething, infinitely complicated place, and I’d better pay attention. But let’s have some fun! Here we go, with Bad Boys. What’s rock ‘n’ roll but the shot heard ‘round the world?

#WATTYS2014 HQ LOVE AWARD! There's a darkness that lurks in the City of Light Seventeen-year-old Connor Lewis is chased by a memory. On his first day of kindergarten he bit a boy hard enough to scar the kid for life. Since then he's been a social outcast at a New York private school. Through an unexpected turn of good fortune, he lands a scholarship to study in Paris, where everything starts to look up. On the first day he befriends two military brats, and he may finally get a taste of what it's like to be a normal teenager. It doesn't last. His host family - an alluring young tattoo artist and her moody, handsome boyfriend - inadvertently introduce him to the underworld of werewolves where there are two types: the born and the bitten. Those born to it take the form of elegant wolves, while the latter are cursed to transform into the half-man, half-beast creatures of horror movies. The bitten rarely survive. Unfortunately, Connor is on the wanted list of a four hundred-year-old bitten human who's searching for both a cure and a means of wiping out werewolves for good. Connor's loyalties are tested as he becomes embroiled in a conflict where werewolves, mad science and teen angst collide. POSTING ON TUESDAYS & THURSDAYS! Originally published by Fierce Ink Press and in translation from Random House Germany. My books are available in print and as ebooks on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Chapters Indigo and other retailers. The paperbacks are Collectors Editions that come with extras like a signed bookplate and extra content from me. You can also visit my English language publisher to pick up the entire box set at a discount: http://fierceinkpress.storenvy.com/collections/267139-the-magdeburg-trilogy *** If you enjoy the chapters, likes and comments are appreciated ***

A shoebox collection of short fables, stories in verse, discontinued manuscripts, and other fluffy curio. Featured by Wattpad under "Short Story" from October 2013 to 2015.

'I know enough of the world, enough of men, To know that what’s beyond’s beyond our ken.' - Faust Goethe. Gee is a short story that I sincerely hope you enjoy. Highly appreciate feedback! :)

Growing up in white-bread Omaha, Nebraska, Rachel Shukert was one of thirty-seven students (circa 1990) in Nebraska’s only Jewish elementary school. She spent her days dreaming of a fantasy Aryan boyfriend named Chris McPresbyterian, a tall blond god whose family spoke softly in public and did not inquire after his bowel movements. She spent her nights frantically plastering her bedroom with pictures of intimidating co-religionists such as Henry Kissinger and Bette Midler, hoping to repel the Gestapo officers she was certain were lurking behind the drywall. Even back then, Rachel knew she was destined for greatness. After winning the Omaha Metropolitan Area Theater Arts Guild Award for Best Youth Actress–and imagining herself as the biggest talent to come out of Nebraska since Montgomery Clift–Rachel finally arrives in Manhattan. Intent on making her mark in the glittering world of Show Biz, she isthwarted at every turn by episodes of anorexia, verbally abusive sock puppets, and a certain terrorist attack you may have heard of. She nevertheless soldiers on, as her people have done from time immemorial. In this hilarious, mordant, and moving memoir, Rachel Shukert tackles topics as diverse and weighty as life, death, love, Jewish paranoia, and errant feminine hygiene products with a fresh and irresistible mixture of humor, brains, and candor, proving that having no shame can sometimes be a very good thing indeed.

Rosalie Snape, the young sister of Harry potter, six months old as her mother was taken from her. A talented potioner, A fluent french and Chaser at Beauxbatons. She is no secret. Harry knows he has a sister but who and where she was he didnt. He knew nothing about her, not even the other half of her parentage. So the Triwizard Tournament arrives and she finds family, friends and Love in the shape of Draco Malfoy.