Ancient Suspense

It is the Roman holiday of Saturnalia. The days are short, the nights are for wild parties. A general has captured a famous enemy of Rome, and brings her home to adorn his Triumph as a ritual sacrifice. But the logistics go wrong.

After the death of her beloved husband Billy, Daisy Majesty falls into a deep depression. Everyone, from her family to her late husband's best friend, Sam Rotondo, worry about her. She's too depressed to eat and only mopes around the house.

When you read this, I'll be dead... These are the troubling words Serena Charter's grandmother has written on a note accompanying four pages of a centuries-old illuminated manuscript delivered after the old woman's passing.

The fourth of Joan Grant's Far Memory novels, Lord of the Horizon, the sequel to Eyes of Horus, is set in Egypt at the close of the dark XIth dynasty and is a profound commentary on the power of fear and the unlimited ability of light to shatter it. Lord of the Horizon is the story of Ra-ab Hotep, heir to the Nomarch of the Oryx. Ra-ab is 21 as the story begins. The dawn for which Ra-ab and the Watchers of the Horizon fought in Eyes of Horus has come, but to "Send Fear into Exile", as the Watchers' password promised, proves difficult.

He stood upon the lip of a dark ocean and looked to the end of night. What do you do when you wish you'd never got away with murder? Shelley was the forbidden love of Paul's childhood. Now she has turned his life upside down. She has become his lover, and he has committed a murder. How can he possibly reconcile who he was with what he has become? And why does he keep talking about the legendary golden statue of Sumerian courtesan Ah-le-tari? Paul Cane's daughter desperately needs answers. And is it really him talking to her on the phone? "An ambitious work." - Peter Preston Note: Greek ...

27 BC. Intrigues and betrayals are commonplace in the Roman Empire. The thirst for power of many senators leads them to commit reprehensible acts against their own allies, and there are politicians who are willing to commit infamous murders in order to assert their authority above others. Julia Minor is unaware of what fate has in store for her. Her brother has been accused of murder and her family declared traitors. The only person capable of helping her in the tragedy that her life has become is General Lucius Maximus Magnus, the man she has always secretly yearned for. Together, they ...

Pulpy supernatural horror short story from James J. Caterino the author of The Séance, Psychic Murder Incorporated, Time Travel Stories, The Promise, Pop Star, Watch the Skies, The Last Neanderthal, The Girl from the Stars, 50 Films, and much more.

The St. Charles Players present multi-cast dramatizations of some of Edgar Allan Poe's greatest works, including The Black Cat, The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether, The Purloined Letter, and The Murders in the Rue Morgue.

WINNER OF THE INDEPENDENT AUTHOR AWARD – Science Fiction Finalist in SPR Book Award “Searing and empowering…a dramatically original work of science fiction” Forget everything you think you know about sci-fi. The Matriarch Messiah isn't your grandpa's space opera. This is a wild ride through a world where ancient prophecies clash with cutting-edge tech, and two badass women are the only ones who can save the world (again). Zara, a devout Kurdish warrior, and Rachel, a brilliant Israeli archaeologist, are bound by an ancient matriarchal lineage and a shared, mind-blowing secret: a ...

Love, Betrayal, and Power Await Beneath the Surface of History… When brilliant archaeologist Cassidy Reyes discovers a long-lost clue to the Sun God’s Heart—a mythical Incan relic said to grant untold power—her world erupts into a whirlwind of danger and discovery. Haunted by her mother’s mysterious disappearance and determined to protect a sacred legacy, Cassidy must race across continents and into the heart of Peru’s ancient ruins before ruthless treasure hunters reach it first. Enter James “Raven” McAllister—ex-special forces, infamous treasure hunter, and Cassidy’s ...

Beyond the Sands of Chaos! The darkness they thought they'd buried is rising again... When a vampiric bat interrupts an ambassador's Christmas celebration, sibling archaeologists Lillian and Jack Stiller know their nightmare is far from over. The creature's origins lead them back to the tomb of Dina, the ancient Egyptian goddess they thought they'd defeated. As they brave the unforgiving desert and unravel the tomb's secrets, they're met with a sinister new threat: the Germans, driven by an insatiable hunger for dark magic. The Stillers, joined by Roy Sawyer, must save themselves before the...

Love can destroy you. In the darkness of ancient Crete, a cursed legacy unfolds. Queen Pasiphae's tragic fate has unleashed a terrifying prophecy, forged by the sorceress Circe's twisted magic. "By darkness one way, by light another... until your true love's heir ends your suffering." For Minotaur, a creature cursed by malignant magic, these words foretell a devastating destiny. Haunted by the memory of Pasiphae's infant child - the very key to his salvation and destruction - he lives in the darkness of the labyrinth under the palace.

In Romantic Whispers of the Lyre, Roman scholar Lucius journeys to Palmyra seeking ancient musical secrets—only to fall for Mara, a gifted musician hiding her identity as a warrior princess. As forbidden love blossoms, Lucius and Mara must navigate betrayal, political intrigue, and their own divided loyalties in a world on the edge of war. Amid ancient ruins and rising tension, their passion may unite two worlds—or be silenced forever by the shadows of empire.

101 A.D. Emperor Trajan, the heralded new Caesar of the Roman Empire, seeks to reverse 15 years of humiliating losses for Rome in wars against Dacia and its brilliant military leader King Decebal. To punish Dacia and Decebal, Trajan launches an invasion of Dacia with the largest army ever assembled in the history of Rome.

A mummy is nothing but a pile of bones covered with dried up skin, right? That is until you add a few demons and combine this mixture with a band of monks shrouded in secrecy. For some this story will bring tears of joy while others will experience tears of compassion. But, one thing is for sure – all will be left on the edge of their seats by this thrilling adventure. Dr. Andrew Rogers, a notable archeologist, along with his equally famous partner and friend, Dr. Kathleen McGregor, are persuaded to chaperone a class of thirty female students to the ruins of Egypt. While they have been ...

The Dowager Duchess has decided to sell off the less important family possessions. Blotto and Twinks are dispatched to help the valuer. He spies some Egyptian artifacts and in some excitement rushes back to London, leaving Blotto and Twinks alone in the attic, where they are drawn to a sarchophagus decorated with hieroglyphs. Twinks starts to translate: "Anyone who desecrates this shrine will be visited by the Pharoah's curse..." - just as Blotto prises the lid off.

Athens, 460 B.C. Life's tough for Nicolaos, sole investigating agent in Athens. His girlfriend's left him and his boss wants to fire him. But when an Athenian official is murdered, Pericles has no choice but to put Nico on the job. The case takes Nico, with a beautiful slave girl, to the land of Ionia within the Persian Empire. The Persians will execute him on the spot if they think he's a spy.

As twilight descends on the third century AD, the Roman Empire is but a shadow of its former self. Decades of usurping emperors, splinter kingdoms and savage wars have left the people beleaguered, the armies weary and the future uncertain. And into this chaos Emperor Diocletian steps, reforming the succession to allow for not one emperor to rule the world, but four. Meanwhile, two boys share a chance meeting in the great city of Treverorum as Diocletian's dream is announced to the imperial court.

Princeton. Good Friday, 1999. On the eve of graduation, two students are a hairsbreadth from solving the mysteries of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. Famous for its hypnotic power over those who study it, the 500-year-old Hypnerotomachia may finally reveal its secrets to Tom Sullivan, whose father was obsessed with the book, and Paul Harris, whose future depends on it. As the deadline looms, research has stalled, until an ancient diary surfaces.

Deep in the heart of the Upper Egyptian desert lies a forbidden village, where bands of artisans prepare the tombs of the Pharaohs. Guarded by a handful of elite soldiers, the hidden city shelters the most precious of treasures: the Stone of Light, a legendary stone of magical power. When a devious military officer schemes to infiltrate the city and capture the sacred gem, his subversive plot is thwarted by an unlikely hero: a desert wanderer who falls into a maze of treachery and betrayal, desire and danger.