Short Game

Human populations have ballooned to seventy billion. The world teems to capacity with complacent human beings, and only strict adherence to crushing routine maintains order. Despite harsh discipline, the planet's prisons swell with rebels and reprobates. To maintain peace and ease congestion, the International League of Diamond Ballers formed and then passed their game's Rule Number One - condemned criminals can earn their freedom by competing in the One True Game, a lethal five-day spectacle televised around the world to its teeming inhabitants. After his father's execution for rebellion ...

Part One of ‘The Billionaire’s Obsession Series Vanessa’s latest assignment has her feeling nervous. She has received a last minute assignment to interview mysterious and gorgeous billionaire CEO, Vincent Crawford. With the request reportedly having come from Vincent himself, Vanessa feels wildly unprepared. As business quickly gets mixed with pleasure, Vanessa finds herself less sure than ever. As the two grow closer, Vanessa notices Vincent’s constant need for control, which opens up some unique and brand new possibilities for Vanessa as she moves deeper into Vincent’s game. ...

Before the game there was power, there was desire. And one man who made control feel like chaos. Dominic Vale rules his world with discipline, wealth, and detachment. Every encounter is calculated. Every feeling—silenced. But the auction world he observes so clinically is about to flip the script. Before the games, before the power plays—there was him. This is the origin story of a man who never meant to feel, and the moment that cracked everything open. Inside this seductive prequel to the Power & Possession series, you’ll find: 💼 A ruthless billionaire with secrets even he ...

Miss Lucy Lancester has loved her brother's best friend, Roman Alexander, for as long as she can remember. So devotedly, she's vowed never to marry anyone else. But her beloved libertine is hardly aware of her existence, and not the least deserving of her affection. Deciding her cause is lost, she makes plans to open a girls' school in Bath. There's just one thing she needs to do before she confirms her spinsterhood forever: spend one blissful night in Roman's arms.

Follow the adventures of Zippy the pippy puppy. Zippy is a brave little pup that loves to go on adventures! These are five fun stories about Zippy and the fun he has on his journeys.

Sherlock Holmes is one of the most iconic and lasting figures in literature. In this new edition of Baker Street Irregulars, authors present the iconic detective in over a dozen wildly entertaining new ways. In Keith DeCandido's "Six Red Dragons", Sherlock is a young girl in modern New York City. In Sarah Stegall's "Papyrus", Sherlock is a female librarian in ancient Egypt. In Daniel M. Kimmel's mesmerizing "A Scandal in Chelm", Sherlock is a rabbi. Derek Beebe sends Sherlock to the moon, while Mike Strauss, in "The Adventure of the Double Sized Final Issue", casts him as a comic book character.

Joe Fleming, a youth of twenty, earning his livelihood as a sailmaker and supporting his mother and sisters by his trade, augments his income by prize-fighting before so-called sporting clubs. On the eve of his marriage to Genevieve, an employe' in the Silversteins' candy shop, Joe is to fight his last bout before a club, having promised Genevieve to give up "the game," which, while it seems wrong to her, is to him a clean and manly as well as lucrative occupation.

Join the last vestiges of Humanity and their alien allies (the reptilian Thrynn, the insectoid Velox, and the plant-based Elowan) as they attempt to carve out their own territory in a sector of space filled with wondrous opportunity and deadly threats. Brave explorers seek out new worlds to colonize while merchants cruise from starport to starport, their holds laden with exotic goods. Not all in this futuristic setting have noble intent. For every prospector and trader attempting to make a difference, a dozen pirates, smugglers, and mobsters engage in all manner of criminal enterprise.

Is two weeks in Paris long enough for these lifelong competitors to learn to play for the same team? Betsy Ever since I was a little girl, my dream was to go to the International Games. When I discovered an aptitude for volleyball, I pursued my dream with a laser focus that left no time for the frivolous things in life, like romance. Who cares if the snobby ice queen athlete who is my new roommate makes my heart race? It’s probably just the excitement of being on the world stage. Kelly I’ve fought incredible odds in my life to get to the Games. Growing up with conservative religious ...

Stagehands argue about their relationship between acts, a mountain climber struggles to rise above the summit of public opinion, the man once sent to kill a princess finds her working at a diner, retired superheroes lament their new life, and a villain threatens to blow up the world if he can get the Henchman Union to end contract negotiations. These are some of the situations found in this second collection of ten-minute plays. Each one is designed to be produced with just a few actors, few props, and within a single setting. They are easy to perform or fun to just read.

Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game is a science fiction classic. In Ender’s World almost two dozen writers offer new perspectives on the 1985 novel, along with insights gleaned from other Ender stories that fit within the Ender’s Game chronology. In addition, military strategists Colonel Tom Ruby and Captain John Schmitt offer insight into the human-Formic war.

The victims are the most popular girls in school, each murdered and arranged in a grim fairy-tale tableau. To find the killer, rookie detective Callum Pederson has gone undercover where the Princes hold court. He’s found enough secrets among the bros to bring them in for questioning - but he could very well get lost in the games the Princes play.

Follow the adventures of Tooty the tiger. Tooty is a special and adventurous little tiger. She only has three legs but that doesn't stop her from doing anything.

In order for their team to win the gold, these two sworn enemies are going to have to learn to play nice. Anna If there’s one thing I hate, it’s those super perfect wealthy athletes who have everything handed to them on a silver platter. Nadia – or Little Miss Sunshine as I like to call her – comes from gymnastics royalty, but I’m not impressed by the blonde princess. I’ve worked hard to make it to the International Games despite my blue collar upbringing. I’m not going to let my sworn enemy and new roommate ruin my concentration, even if I find myself inconveniently attracted...

You only get once chance to kill Mack Austin. A mysterious letter pulls Austin back to Yellow Run, a place he’s avoided for years because of a past better left buried. He’s not the only one who’s changed, but some changes are not for the better. Austin must tread lightly as who he is now—a man of conscience—is no longer welcome. But first he must decide who’s friend and who’s foe, for the woman he came back for shares her suspicions that her husband—his old partner—lives a secret life. But the debt Austin owes him plagues his conscience and he must find a way to reconcile ...

She’s not even a contestant on the Alien Love Game show, so how did she become fated to one of the alien men? Lyra I was finally taking a break from my grueling tour schedule on Earth between album releases. I was trying to do a good deed and helped my sister get on an alien love reality show. Somehow it got all messed up. The man my sister chose is now claiming I’m his one and only. How do I get out of this mess so I can go back to Earth and continue living my dream. Dhavoi When I saw Lyra, it was like I was hit over the head with a sledgehammer. She’s the only one for me, and now I ...

Franz Kafka's profound and disturbing novella Metamorphosis was first published in German in 1915. In this recent translation by David Wyllie, Gregor Samsa, a travelling salesman, wakes to find himself "transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin". How he, his family, and others deal with this untoward situation is subsequently revealed.

And through the sleepiness, Inka sensed a man in her presence. He was standing there but she couldn’t see him. He was hunting for her, but he couldn’t see her either. Inka Keto - Sexy, curvy and full of vigor, she's a bear shifter from a very close family of shifters. As open, kind, and as whimsical as she is, she's also tight like a steel trap. Her family has been trying to save shifter slaves from the powerful, yet evil regime, on Herta for some time.

War is a serious business - or is it? Christopher Anvil turns his sardonic sense of humor loose on the subject. Hard-SF legend and Analog regular Christopher Anvil brings together mind-bending ideas and grim-but-true black humor in the face of war's utter destruction in this mega-compilation.

"In a world where loyalty and survival clash, Shaylean finds herself caught between family drama and the enticing lifestyle of Detroit Black and his father, the notorious 'Johnny the Party Maker.' Struggling to escape her sister Sandy's anger and desperate for a fresh start, she gets swept up in a whirlwind of cash, secrets, and unexpected alliances. As she navigates this new path, Bobby, a soldier stationed in Vietnam, holds onto thoughts of her, hoping to return to a life that seems further out of reach. In the backdrop of money, power, and past lives, each character must find their place...