Metaphysical Mystery Fiction

Set in three cities in three eras, The Mirror Thief calls to mind David Mitchell and Umberto Eco in its mix of entertainment and literary bravado. The core story is set in Venice in the 16th century, when the famed makers of Venetian glass were perfecting one of the old world's most wondrous inventions: the mirror.

"Highly recommended!" — The Prairies Book Review. Young runaway Mig isn't like the other children. When Mary Ellen catches him stealing eggs from her henhouse, she decides to help him hide from his pursuers. Little does she know that her simple act of kindness will change the Universe forever.

Things in the fishing town of Cold Storage, Alaska, are changing. It's the summer of 1968; the men are wearing their hair long, the Vietnam War is at its height, and multiple assassinations have gripped the country. But some things remain the same. Ellie's bar is still the place to catch up on the town gossip, and there's a lot to talk about, from the boys who have returned from the war (and the ones who haven't), to the robberies that are plaguing the locals, to the new guy in town: a famous monk from Kentucky.

Memory Signal By Caleb James In the frozen ruins of the last lighthouse on Earth, one man discovers a signal that doesn’t speak in words—it speaks in memories. Silas Ward is the final keeper of Nordhavn Light, a forgotten outpost on the edge of the world. Isolated for over a thousand days after the Collapse, he endures storms, silence, and the haunting lullaby of a daughter lost. But when a mysterious aurora begins pulsing in harmony with an old reel-to-reel recorder, Silas realizes he’s not alone. The signal is alive—and it remembers. Joined by Rhea Ainsley, a crash-landed stranger...

When a solid-gold reliquary missing from a church in Belgium suddenly resurfaces in America, a young newspaperman begins to investigate the story. At first it seems like just another case of a treasure stolen during World War II that has resurfaced. But it soon becomes apparent that much more is at stake.

Doing the right thing can land you in a whole heap of trouble, or so Natalie Swift discovers on her Florence vacation. When she interferes with the soul collection of a child, she inadvertently opens the gates to Heaven and Hell and finds herself in the midst of a struggle between good and evil that she could never have foreseen. Now she is a target for those from the dark side, it seems the only way for her to survive is to form an alliance with the man she has been trying to avoid since everything went so horribly wrong. Drawn in is a thrilling and unsettling adventure for readers with a ...

Krygelski writes a compelling and startling story centered on the mysterious arrival of a man who claims to be the Creator. Clearly not a mortal, Elohim - as the stranger prefers to be known - astounds those he meets with unexplainable miracles and reality-altering answers. All of this is but a prelude to his announcement that he has come to do something...something which will affect every person on Earth...something which will occur in five days.

Be careful what you wish for. A year earlier, with the help of enigmatic industrialist Michael Walker, all of Penelope Drayton Spence’s dreams had come true. Now, as one of the country’s top journalists, she has discovered what she thought would make her happy was only making her busy. After months of avoiding her, Michael Walker burst back into her life with an outlandish plan to launch his controversial “Hermes” satellite into space. But she soon learns someone just as resourceful and well-financed is willing to go to any lengths to stop the launch.

The world was descending into chaos: wars, sickness, famine, climate change, irregular weather patterns and general world unrest. One person, a priest, had the power to intervene. With a shaking hand he scripted an obscure, cryptic riddle on scraps of ancient papyrus scrolls. The riddle, together with an unusual gemstone, was tucked inside five silk satchels then delivered to each of his chosen ones. A chilling dampness filled the little church; lingering, enveloping and clinging.

Returning to the Yucatan wasn’t what Hank had in mind when he and Nicole discussed taking time away from their mind-numbing research inside ATLAS headquarters. Nevertheless, the two archaeologists are asked to travel to Chichen Itza and investigate the last thing they were trained for, something a bit over their heads professionally. A murder has been committed, witnessed by one of their trusted contacts. Once they arrive and the whole story revealed, Hank and Nicole quickly understand why they, in particular, were called. A secret has been uncovered, one that Ponce de Leon failed to find...

The Terraist Letters is the ultimate archontic allegory set in the nuclear age. Who is Sean Enstitue? Sean Enstitue has gone by many names, and Sean believes he is the world's last chance. Sean lives on the last street, off of the last stop of The A train, in the last apartment building, and on the last corner in Manhattan, on 218th Street. He has lived in Inwood, by Washington Heights, for his whole life. Sean believes that nuclear experimentation is destroying the atmosphere, causing global warming, negatively impacting the health of life on the entire planet, and because of what he knows...

Please Note: This story is also part of book 10 of The Hunter Legacy series, The Long Road to Gaia. Thirteen doesn't like humans. The last thing he wants is to be assigned a mission to babysit them. Given a choice, he'd happily let them blow themselves up, after he saved all the cats first. Exactly how humans could ever have anything to do with galaxy wide consequences is completely beyond his ability to understand. When asked to perform an intervention, there was always freewill to choose not to. But in this case, does he really have a choice? This is a 5000 word short story, set in The ...

Hugo Award winner Elizabeth Bear has won high praise for her thought-provoking science fiction. The second in Bear’s powerful Jacob’s Ladder series, Chill finds the generation starship Jacob’s Ladder with a new captain—Perceval. As Perceval struggles with the ship’s recent damage, remnants of the rebellion still linger and a threat to the crew grows.

“The Tracing: Secrets Within, is an incredible and brilliantly penned five-star novel that stands out in the science fiction category, whose intriguing plot is set to exhilarate, thrill and enlighten." READER VIEWS "The perfect five star novel for readers who enjoy cutting-edge technology, high-paced action, and strong characters. Highly recommended!" Readers' Favorite __________________________ Imagine that within the spirals of your DNA remain secrets deeper and more intricate than the double helix itself—secrets that Jack Shaw, a molecular scientist grappling with his own ...

Read by award-winning narrator Mike Vendetti, this short story by Philip K. Dick takes us where the powers of earth had finally exterminated the last of the horrible tribes of mutant freaks spawned by atomic war. Menace to homo sapien supremacy was about ended - but not quite. For out of the countryside, came a great golden, godlike youth whose extraordinary mutant powers, combining the world's oldest and newest methods of survival, promised a new and superior type of mankind.

This book was previously published as Fairy with a Twist by Katharine Sadler. Even the scariest monsters need help sometimes. Chloe Frangipani is floundering in her new job as the gatekeeper for fae immigrating from Rubalia to the human realm, and she’s struggling to save her martini bar from collapse. Just when she’s sure she can’t take any more, a succubus companion is murdered, and Frost asks Chloe to help him find the killer. The murder is just the first of many in the succubus community, and Chloe has to find the time and the desire to help a group of beings who are deadly ...

On the day of her mother's funeral, 23-year-old Grace Maxwell discovered the man who raised her was not her biological father. Instead, he was a best-selling self-help author and a world famous "Guru to the Stars." Known as Mr. MAJIC, for the miraculous impact his books and seminars had on millions of people, he had inexplicitly vanished around the time Grace's mother became pregnant with her. For over 20 years, the mystery of Mr. MAJIC’s sudden and unexpected disappearance, and the speculation of what might have become of him, was the stuff of Urban Legend.

Thomas Tessler, devastated by a tragedy, has cloistered himself in his bedroom and shut out the world for the past three years. His wife, Silke, lives in the next room, but Thomas no longer shares his life with her, leaving his hideout only in the wee hours of the night to buy food at the store around the corner from their Manhattan apartment. Isolated, withdrawn, damaged, Thomas is hikikomori. Desperate to salvage their life together, Silke hires Megumi, a young Japanese woman attuned to the hikikomori phenomenon.

Big bugs, cloned cats, and feral star-children play leading roles in the seven stories that make up Fast’s unconventional and thought-provoking collection. The Edge of Tomorrow is a significant foray into science fiction by one of the 20th century’s most prolific novelists. In looking beyond our universe, Fast reveals much about the America of his time - where the Cold War and a nascent civil rights movement stoked unconscious fears and desires.

Anthropologist Calliope Santiago awakens to find herself in a strange and sinister wasteland, a shadow of the New Mexico she knew. Empty vehicles litter the road. Everyone has disappeared - or almost everyone. Calliope, heavy-bellied with the twins she carries inside her, must make her way across this dangerous landscape with a group of fellow survivors in search of answers. Long-dead volcanoes erupt, the ground rattles and splits, and monsters come to ominous life. Calliope will be forced to reconcile the geological record with the heritage she once denied.