Young Survival

Nearly a third of Americans under the age of thirty have no religious affiliation, the highest in any recorded generation. In this growing segment of "nones" are many young Atheists who have faced prejudice in their high schools and communities for standing up for their constitutional right of freedom from religion. You'll hear some of their stories in this book, whether they're protesting their school's public prayers at football games and graduations or sitting out the "under God" portion of the Pledge of Allegiance.

One minute they're in Poland, subjected to gruesome tests they keep failing. No friends to support them. No family to claim them. No hope of ever living a normal life again. Then suddenly, they're trapped on an abandoned freighter in the middle of the ocean and forced to fight for survival. No food. No drinkable water. No way to get home. And strange memories of another life they don't understand.

Saba is ready to seize her destiny and defeat DeMalo and the Tonton...until she meets him and he confounds all her expectations with his seductive vision of a healed Earth, a New Eden. DeMalo wants Saba to join him, in life and work, to create and build a healthy, stable, sustainable world…for the chosen few. Jack’s choice is clear: To fight DeMalo and try to stop New Eden. Still uncertain, her connection with DeMalo a secret, Saba commits herself to the fight.

Dean, Alex, and the other survivors of the Monument 14 have escaped the disaster zone and made it to the safety of a Canadian refugee camp. Some of the kids have even been reunited with their families, and are making tentative plans for the future. Then, Niko learns that his lost love, Josie, has survived! Or is it? For Josie, separated from the group and presumed dead, life has gone from bad to worse. Trapped in a terrible prison camp with other exposed O’s and traumatized by her experiences, she has given up all hope of rescue.

This story is composed of two interconnected narratives, with Part 1 describing a tragic family situation that is resolved by the events in Part 2. The families involved are separated in both time and space, but their fates intertwine in this location which has become known by the locals as "the haunted park". Philosophically, the story explores the notion of a ghosts and the afterlife from a several different perspectives. And of course, it is just a satisfying ghost story. The characters in Part 2 are also found in Helena Puumala’s selection of ‘Lake’ stories, entitled Five Holiday ...

Maddie and Logan were torn apart by a kidnapping attempt when they were young. They were only kids - Logan's dad was POTUS and Maddie's father was the Secret Service agent meant to guard him. The kidnappers were stopped - but Maddie was whisked off to Alaska with her father, for safety. Maddie and Logan had been inseparable...but then she never heard from him again. Now it's a few years later. Maggie's a teenager, used to living a solitary life with her father. It's quiet - until Logan is sent to join them.

San Francisco, 1906: Fifteen-year-old Mercy Wong is determined to break from the poverty of Chinatown, and an education at St. Clare’s School for Girls is her best hope. Although St. Clare’s is off-limits to all but the wealthiest white girls, Mercy gains admittance through a mix of cunning and a little bribery, only to discover that getting in was the easiest part. Not to be undone by a bunch of spoiled heiresses, Mercy stands strong—until disaster strikes.

The Five Falls survivors lost nearly everything in the Chicom and SAA assaults, but they haven’t lost their will to live, their determination to take their country back or the fighting spirit needed to do both. The war won’t unfold the way you think. Hardened warriors like Logan, Skylar, and Riker have endured the worst, and now they’re putting everything on the line to take their country back. But they can’t do it alone. They’ll need help.

Brit Pheiffer has trained to backpack the Teton Range, but she isn’t prepared when her ex-boyfriend, who still haunts her every thought, wants to join her. Before Britt can explore her feelings for Calvin, an unexpected blizzard forces her to seek shelter in a remote cabin, accepting the hospitality of its two very handsome occupants - but these men are fugitives, and they take her hostage.

Cade has managed to survive the duel with the Hydra Alpha - barely. But the Games are far from over. By order of their cruel and mysterious overlord, Abaddon, Cade and his friends are sent off to war against the Greys, a humanoid race who have far surpassed humans in technology on their home planet. This attempt to move up the leaderboard, however, leads Cade to a game-changing revelation: The Pantheon - the millennia-old alien masterminds behind the Games - have a weakness.

Great magicians are masters of illusion. The truly dangerous ones don’t bother with tricks. On Augie Doyle’s seventeenth birthday, a strange carnival rolls into Hollowbrook. It’s all gears and steam, brass and bone—a dazzling steampunk spectacle of rides, wonders, and performers. But beneath the laughter and cotton candy, Augie senses something dark. Something wrong. Then the magician takes the stage. He doesn’t just perform tricks—he defies reality. In his most chilling act, he assembles a man piece by piece, as if stitching together a living puzzle. The crowd cheers. Augie’s...

Sam Hopkins is a good kid who has fallen in with the wrong crowd. Hanging around with car thieves and thugs, Sam knows it’s only a matter of time before he makes one bad decision too many and gets into real trouble. But one day, Sam sees these friends harassing an eccentric schoolmate named Jennifer. Finding the courage to face the bullies down, Sam loses a bad set of friends and acquires a very strange new one.

In the final installment of an exhilarating sci-fi adventure trilogy in the vein of The Hunger Games, Divergent, and Red Rising, Scott Sigler's unforgettable heroine, Em Savage, must come to grips once and for all with the perilous mysteries of her own existence.

Danny and his younger sister, Peg, are placed in St. Joseph, Missouri, with kind Alfrid and Olga Swenson. Danny is thrilled to have a "real" father again, but when Olga suddenly dies, he is devastated - until he thinks of an ingenious plan to find Alfrid a new wife.

The year is 2072. Soon a volcanic eruption will trigger catastrophic devastation, and the only way out is up. While the world's leaders, scientists, and engineers oversee the frantic production of a space fleet meant to save humankind, their children are brought in for a weekend of touring the Lazarus|a high-tech prototype spaceship. But when the apocalypse arrives months ahead of schedule, First Daughter Leigh Chen and a handful of teens from the tour are the only ones to escape the planet.

Trapped in a superstore by a series of escalating disasters, including a monster hailstorm and terrifying chemical weapons spill, brothers Dean and Alex learned how to survive while working together with twelve other kids to build a refuge from the chaos. But then strangers appeared, destroying their fragile peace, and bringing both fresh disaster and a glimmer of hope.

When the nuclear bombs start flying a single mother escapes to a Mutual Assistance Group retreat with her two small children. The post-apocalyptic world that soon follows is a dangerous place, and they will have to learn new skills to survive. Her young son especially will need all the help he can get, and he finds an unexpected boost from a cowboy action shooter who planned ahead for the worst.

It's not about the zombies; it's about the survivors. When a meteor obliterates a top-secret government research facility, the world spirals into chaos. The dead walk among the living, and humanity's hope seems lost. Chalice Hart never imagined she'd lead a band of survivors through the apocalypse. Now, she must guide her rag-tag group to safety, navigating a world where every sanctuary is fleeting, and danger lurks around every corner. As they journey through the ruins of civilization, they gather allies and lose friends, each step fraught with peril. Their one beacon of hope is Colton, ...

In the near-future United States, a one-child policy is ruthlessly enforced. Everyone follows the Rule of One. But Ava Goodwin, daughter of the head of the Texas Family Planning Division, has a secret - one her mother died to keep and her father has helped to hide for her entire life. She has an identical twin sister, Mira.

In the near future "Dystopian Kids" is set during the transition period between peace and civil strife. When the United States is taken over by a Socialist Administration that enlists the help of the United Nations to help take control of the country and void the U.S. Constitution and all its freedoms. Three families refuse to be controlled and embark on a dangerous cross country trip to escape the bloody take over. We follow the families and their kids in this first book of a three part series set when the U.S. government gets out of control and attempts to control its citizens through the...