Deception Science

As much a history as it is a book of sci-fi tales, the third volume of sci-fi shorts by P. E. Rowe brings us deeper into the Post-Columnar Epoch. Each of these 15 stand-alone stories fits within a rich tapestry depicting a sector of the Milky Way that came to be known as the Battery Systems. For returning readers, places like Athos, Iophos, and Hellenia may be familiar, while new places like the Columns, Charris, and Exos have merely been hinted at before. Here, they are explored in depth through stories that reveal the peoples in them.

In a post-apocalyptic world, Sloane Delaney struggles to keep her daughters safe. With all her neighbors gone and her abusive second husband dead, Sloane and her daughters, Mae and Wren, maintain a dangerous charade to keep looters at bay from their neighborhood. But when their home becomes unsafe, Sloane and her girls head for the woods and an abandoned old house Sloane is sure will be a safe haven for at least a few days. She doesn’t count on the handsome and helpful Dr. Kent having also taken refuge there.

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, trust in the healthcare system seems to be at an all-time low. Conspiracy theories are now mainstream, and distrust of government health agencies is common among private citizens. Yet many of those same individuals still profess trust in their doctors. What, then, is driving the general mistrust in medicine, and how can the public's faith be restored?

From former Vice journalist and executive producer of hit Netflix documentary Fyre comes an eye-opening look at the con artists, grifters, and snake-oil salesmen of the digital age - and why we can’t stop falling for them.

Presented in homage to Brower's original thinking, Denial offers a powerful warning about the dangers inherent in our remarkable ability to ignore reality-a gift that will either lead to our downfall, or continue to be our greatest asset.

Nothing wrecks Captain Eva Innocente’s vacation plans quite like an anonymous threat to vaporize billions of people. Hundreds of monoliths have suddenly materialized in space, broadcasting the same looped message: surrender or be exterminated. Is the universe being epically spammed?

Do you wish things were different? Do you ever pine for the days not long ago, before all this happened and things changed so quickly, so vastly across the world? Do you wonder when things will return to normal? If they will or can? If you’ve found yourself feeling different, odd, unaccustomed to the changes small and large over the past almost-two-years, you’re not alone. In fact, you’re surrounded by people just like you. They’re curious minds, normal everyday people, and profound, revolutionary thinkers. They come from all walks of life, have toiled in all jobs and careers, with ...

What are the consequences of cheating Death? Five months have gone by since her last encounter with Death, and in spite of having experienced the most intense period of happiness in her life at Evan's side, Gemma's instinct reminds her that the game is far from over. Evan, overconfident, lets his guard down, revealing an unmentionable secret - an error that can be paid for only with blood....

This is the story of an unforgivable con man. Vulnerable families were his prey. His promise was an impossible dream and a lie. Peter Candlewood understood the system. That’s how he could commute prison sentences and reunite hopeless families with incarcerated loved ones. For a price. Except there was no Candlewood. No hope. Just a lowly Texas con artist who bet on the desperate - and won. And he wasn’t working alone. The multimillion-dollar deception cost the betrayed more than their savings.

Eli and the crew of the Boomerang think they finally have a handle on what they're up against. A surprising new revelation shows that things are about to get much worse.

A small number of people, motivated by an insatiable greed for power and wealth, and backed by a pinstripe army of enablers, have driven the world to the brink of destruction. Patrick Alley, co-founder of Global Witness and the author of Very Bad People, introduces us to some of the world's worst warlords, grifters and kleptocrats who can be found everywhere from presidential palaces to the board rooms of some of the world's best known companies. Pitted against them, the book also follows the people unravelling the deals, tracking the money and going undercover at great risk.

The wealthiest bachelor in the solar system is about to get the surprise of a lifetime from a woman he believes will be his next conquest. Sophie has a dark secret, and she’s traveled from Earth to Jupiter’s moon of Ganymede because of it. Guy Devereux's parties are considered legendary in the solar system. Just because you're rich doesn't mean you get invited. Sophie's secured an exclusive invitation to Guy’s latest soiree on Ganymede. She's not there to have a good time. She's there to meet the one-and-only Edmund James, a wealthy moonboy considered one of the most sought-after ...

Warlock Milo Velazquez has always dreamed of a day when “monsters” like him don’t have to hide in the shadows. Now, on a planet far from Earth, he’s hoping the old prejudices have been left behind. Though from what he’s seen so far - not a chance. Their new leader could make life a living hell for Milo and the other immortals illegally transported across the galaxy. Under cover, he scopes out the threat, but he never expected to find a beautiful woman locked in a cell underground. He should ignore her and focus on his mission, but instead he sets her free.

There is a new self-awareness taking place as people are starting to find their spiritual identities. As exciting as this sounds, and it really is wonderful, there are many pitfalls and cul-de-sacs along the 'New Age' path to be very wary of. This spiritual awakening is something that the 'powers that shouldn't be' have been aware of for many years, and the architects of the current system we live under know that if we figure this out then we are a lot more than just worker bees for the system than it threatens their own power.

Hoping to revive her dishonored clan’s forbidden magic, sorceress Brehane just wants to find a lost teacher and bring him home. Instead, she finds herself trapped in a foreign port, where warring crime factions vie for control of the city’s pyramid. Local Diviner, Cassius Larusso, knows why: atop the pyramid sparkles a Dragonstone, preventing the Orc Gods from returning to the world.

Sucked into the deception by Diane Shawe is the second sequel to Scrolling Shadows both a rollercoaster of a novel that weaves together elements of science fiction, cyberpunk intrigue, and thrilling adventure. From the very first page, readers are thrust into a world where the boundaries of reality blur, and technology holds secrets that could alter the fate of the multiverse. The story follows Amy, a seemingly ordinary teenager, whose life takes an extraordinary turn when she stumbles upon a mysterious phone. This device, unlike any other, is linked to a time traveler and possesses mind-...

Although the Great War has ended, the resulting chaos in Germany proves fertile ground for the conspiracies inspired by the Eternal Ones and their allies, the German National Socialists. Having barely survived his contest with Contessa Civita at the conclusion of the “war to end all wars," Colonel Matt List faces a new challenge as the contessa has fled to the other side of the world—China. From her new headquarters in Shanghai, the contessa shatters the millennia-old peace, directing a civil war for domination of the Eternal Ones. With his family thrust into the middle of the war ...

As Naz and Oliver find themselves on the run in mainland Europe their friendship is put to the test like never before. With vampires on their tail, they are forced to keep a low profile, but when desperate times call for desperate measures they find themselves embroiled in an underground fight ring.

On the cut-throat streets of Tarkis, orphaned teens like Rath end up jailed...or dead. So when the shadowy Janus Group offers Rath a chance to earn riches beyond his wildest dreams, he seizes it. But the Janus Group is as ruthless as the elite assassins it controls. Rath will have to survive their grueling, off-world training, and fulfill all 50 kills in his contract before a single cent comes his way. And ending so many lives comes with a price Rath can't anticipate. It'll certainly cost him what's left of his innocence.

Private investigator Frank Harken’s worldwide fame has only made him more cynical. And living in a giant mall covering the entire USA only serves to drive him nuts on a daily basis. So, when a femme fatale barges in asking Harken to track down her sister, he knows when he’s heard an offer too good to be true.