* 2017 WATTY WINNER!* Blurb: Humans are at the top of the food chain and always have been. But what if they weren't? What if another took our place and decided to raise and exploit us as we have every other animal on earth? Welcome to a world after humanity... No one is exactly certain where the sibla came from. Some say they evolved from humans long ago, slowly taking power as their numbers increased. Taller, stronger, and longer-lived, than homo sapiens it isn't too hard to imagine. Now humans must face a reality in which they are no more than animals, domesticated beasts bred for their master's various needs and hungers. Rachel Turner is only eight years old. Born in Demin, one of the last remaining free human settlements on earth, she has never been forced to face the reality of life under a sibla Master, living a carefree existence in her hidden village. Magnus Kendrick is a sibla farmer with a sizable estate on which he raises all manner of livestock, from chickens, to sheep, to...humans. He is also the man destined to purchase Rachel's life. *Warning: This book contains a certain degree of gore and disturbing themes Beautiful cover by @my_fairytale 2016 Fright Fest Gold Winner Cryptic's Choice 2017 WATTY Winner ( Story Smiths category) *All Rights Reserved

(TH#4)"His mind is a chaotic mess, built of the kind of stuff you read about in a Stephen King novel. He couldn't control his anger any more than I could control my stomach from rumbling when I was hungry. He thought cursing like a sailor at others was morally acceptable, and most of all didn't seem to give a rat’s ass about himself. Any normal person would have stayed far, far away. But me? Well, I wasn't normal.” When Lilia Matthews' argumentative and dysfunctional family becomes too much to bear, she moves in with her grandfather for a summer in Heart, North Carolina. What she doesn't expect? Alec Grey. He's creepy, and dark, and frankly everything Lilia doesn't need to be getting involved with. But he has a few problems of his own. Besides the fact that he's certifiably crazy, he can't remember any of the events that led to him showing up on her grandfather's doorstep. And Lilia's apparent mission? To help him regain those memories. When they clash it's like fire and ice, but as Alec and Lilia find out, it's the craziest moments of all when that fine line between love and hate seems to blur. When you find out maybe going against the world all on your own isn't all it's cracked up to be. And that sometimes, it takes delving into the insanity of another to find the sanity within yourself.