He's a survivor. No matter the cost. Until he met Ciere and her crew of superpowered thieves, Alan Fiacre's life had been singularly focused on safeguarding the vaccine that changed the world. As an eidos, and reluctant heir to his father's legacy, it was his duty to ensure the formula never fell into the wrong hands. So it came as something of a shock to learn the right hands might belong to criminals. Now Alan and Ciere are conscripted into service with the Gyr Syndicate, notorious mobsters set on taking down all of the other crime families in the United States. Their latest mission: a train heist meant to derail a covert arms deal. It will put Alan--and the formula--in more danger than he's ever faced before. But if he's learned nothing else from Ciere, it's that there's more to life than survival. Word Count: ~12,000 words

When Joe and Wishbone take a mystery train ride to solve a pretend murder, they encounter a real crime that must be solved before the train arrives.

The X-Men meets Ocean's Eleven in this edge-of-your-seat sci-fi adventure about a band of "super" criminals. When the deadly MK virus swept across the planet, a vaccine was created to stop the epidemic, but it came with some unexpected side effects. A small percentage of the population developed superhero-like powers, and Americans suffering from these so-called adverse effects were given an ultimatum: Serve the country or be declared a traitor. Some people chose a third option: live a life of crime. Seventeen-year-old Ciere Giba has the handy ability to change her appearance at will. She's what's known as an illusionist. She's also a thief. After crossing a gang of mobsters, Ciere must team up with a group of fellow super powered criminals on a job that most would have considered impossible: a hunt for the formula that gave them their abilities. It was supposedly destroyed years ago--but what if it wasn't? Government agents are hot on their trail, and the lines between good and bad, us and them, and freedom and entrapment are blurred as Ciere and the rest of her crew become embroiled in a deadly race that could cost them their lives.

Deputy Mental Health Investigator Adam Thompson had worked hard for his position, but he soon discovers with increased responsibilities comes increased risk. A week before Christmas Adam faces a law enforcement officer's nightmare, the murder of his partner. Prevented from participating in the murder investigation and tracking down the killer, Adam is forced to carry on as usual. The following week brings a series of bizarre mental health investigations that pushes him to his limits.

Like many “language buffs,” I recall no time when my world was without words. It was my fortunate lot to follow their beguiling tunes until toys turned into tools, and I became a wordsmith—writer and teacher. The essays in this book are digressions on the light side of that career, a continuing game of word play, a motley cluster of errant shots with my grammar wedge, the twists and turns of things on the tip of my tongue.

When a gigantic damaged spaceship suddenly appears over Ottawa requesting assistance the world is thrown into confusion. Why are they really here? If they are having problems, what caused the damage? Then there is the Thorncroft family: Paul is depressed and gets sucked up into a spaceship. Lucile and her ex-military girlfriends are bored and looking for a fight, romance, or something to break up the monotony. Their mother, Martha, is trying to hold the family together while she deals with her husband’s PTSD and alcoholism. Everyone else is trying to discover the alien’s secrets and befriend them or destroy them and anyone who has dealings with them.

Lucky Lucy searches for adventure and maybe romance (?) across the vastness of space. After leaving Earth to join the Rygeillian Navy and see the universe, Lucy Thorncroft finds herself hurtling from one adventure to another. Not much chance she’d ever settle down and miss out on spaceships, alien monsters, evil empires and exotic planets?

Lucy Thorncroft finds herself hurtling back toward her home planet Earth, with a raucous shipload of old friends, and serious dangers, old and new, waiting to greet her. Can Lucky Lucy convince Earth’s strong-arm government that joining with the aliens is the only way to save themselves?

Only one road leads to paradise, and he found it. University graduate James Witson needs a change of scene in order to get away from the English professor who ruined his life and the other painful memories James wants to forget. He randomly chooses a remote coastal village in which to find himself and write a great novel. Paradise Cove is perched on the edge of the continent, a thin strip of civilization between the storm-tossed ocean and a thick, dark forest. Most of the locals appear friendly enough, although they hold a few odd beliefs such as little people in the forest and a White Lady who haunts the by-ways. James has no use for ghosts or witches, but even he has to admit things in Paradise Cove are strange. From the mansion down by the harbor that looks more like a pagan temple than a home to the uncanny way the girl at the general store anticipates his wishes. But James isn’t the only one hunting for something. An archaeologist is already in the village, rummaging through her rental house, trying to find an old journal that is the key to a mysterious tomb and possible riches. When Dr. Edith Bernard’s student helpers flee the dig site on the barrens, she enlists James as her assistant. As they try to understand why the original inhabitants abandoned the area over two thousand years before the Europeans arrived, there are more questions than answers. Searching for himself, James Witson finds far more than he bargained for.