In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter.  How McCandless came to die is the unforgettable story of Into the Wild.

Immediately after graduating from college in 1991, McCandless had roamed through the West and Southwest on a vision quest like those made by his heroes Jack London and John Muir.  In the Mojave Desert he abandoned his car, stripped it of its license plates, and burned all of his  cash.  He would give himself a new name, Alexander Supertramp, and , unencumbered by money and belongings, he would be free to wallow in the raw, unfiltered experiences that nature presented.  Craving a blank spot on the map, McCandless simply threw the maps away.  Leaving behind his desperate parents and sister, he vanished into the wild.

Jon Krakauer constructs a clarifying prism through which he reassembles the disquieting facts of McCandless's short life.  Admitting an interst that borders on obsession, he searches for the clues to the dries and desires that propelled McCandless.  Digging deeply, he takes an inherently compelling mystery and unravels the larger riddles it holds: the profound pull of the American wilderness on our imagination; the allure of high-risk activities to young men of a certain cast of mind; the complex, charged bond between fathers and sons.

When McCandless's innocent mistakes turn out to be irreversible and fatal, he becomes the stuff of tabloid headlines and is dismissed for his naiveté, pretensions, and hubris.  He is said  to have had a death wish but wanting to die is a very different thing from being compelled to look over the edge. Krakauer brings McCandless's uncompromising pilgrimage out of the shadows, and the peril, adversity , and renunciation sought by this enigmatic young man are illuminated with a rare understanding--and not an ounce of sentimentality. Mesmerizing, heartbreaking, Into the Wild is a tour de force. The power and luminosity of Jon Krakauer's stoytelling blaze through every page.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Pulitzer Prize–winning historian David McCullough rediscovers an important and dramatic chapter in the American story—the settling of the Northwest Territory by dauntless pioneers who overcame incredible hardships to build a community based on ideals that would come to define our country.

As part of the Treaty of Paris, in which Great Britain recognized the new United States of America, Britain ceded the land that comprised the immense Northwest Territory, a wilderness empire northwest of the Ohio River containing the future states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. A Massachusetts minister named Manasseh Cutler was instrumental in opening this vast territory to veterans of the Revolutionary War and their families for settlement. Included in the Northwest Ordinance were three remarkable conditions: freedom of religion, free universal education, and most importantly, the prohibition of slavery. In 1788 the first band of pioneers set out from New England for the Northwest Territory under the leadership of Revolutionary War veteran General Rufus Putnam. They settled in what is now Marietta on the banks of the Ohio River.

McCullough tells the story through five major characters: Cutler and Putnam; Cutler’s son Ephraim; and two other men, one a carpenter turned architect, and the other a physician who became a prominent pioneer in American science. They and their families created a town in a primeval wilderness, while coping with such frontier realities as floods, fires, wolves and bears, no roads or bridges, no guarantees of any sort, all the while negotiating a contentious and sometimes hostile relationship with the native people. Like so many of McCullough’s subjects, they let no obstacle deter or defeat them.

Drawn in great part from a rare and all-but-unknown collection of diaries and letters by the key figures, The Pioneers is a uniquely American story of people whose ambition and courage led them to remarkable accomplishments. This is a revelatory and quintessentially American story, written with David McCullough’s signature narrative energy.

The Dresden Files have taken the genre of paranormal mystery to a new level of action, excitement, and hard-hitting magical muscle. Now, in Death Masks, Jim Butcher’s smart-guy private eye may have taken on more than he can handle...

Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only practicing professional wizard, should be happy that business is pretty good for a change. But he also knows that whenever things are going good, the only way left for them to go is bad. Way bad. Such as:

• A duel with the lethal champion of the Red Court, who must kill Harry to end the war between vampires and wizards...
• Professional hit men using Harry for target practice...
• The missing Shroud of Turin—and the possible involvement of Chicago's most feared mob boss...
• A handless and headless corpse the Chicago police need identified...

Not to mention the return of Harry’s ex-girlfriend Susan, who’s still struggling with her semi-vampiric nature. And who seems to have a new man in her life. Some days, it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed. No matter how much you’re charging.

Construct your dungeon. Summon your monster girls. Slaughter your foes.

When the Inkolana Cartel's experimental computer network comes under attack, they give white-hat hacker Clay Knight two hours to fix the problem.

If he succeeds, he'll be rich beyond his wildest dreams.

If he fails, he's a dead man.

But when Clay hacks the hackers, he stumbles into an ancient ritual that summons him to the dusty, forgotten world of Soketra. In this strange new land, Clay finds dungeons, monsters, and a fierce pride of beautiful cat women who believe he is the reincarnation of the ancient Dungeon Lord Rathokhetra. With a band of bloodthirsty dungeon raiders on his doorstep, Clay must master his new abilities and gather guardians for his territory to save himself and his army of warrior women from a fate darker than death.

If you had to choose between your life and your dreams, would you ever wake up?

Alan Campbell thought he’d gotten his dream job working on a revolutionary VRMMORPG with Osmark Technologies, until the project was canceled. He has one weekend to dive into an untested world full of intrigue, violence, and corruption to prove that Viridian Gate Online works, but the AIs running the game have their own plans for his soul.

Set a year before the events of “Viridian Gate Online: Cataclysm,” The Illusionist: Nomad Soul takes you back to when VGO was just a game, or so it seemed.

From James A. Hunter—author of Viridian Gate Online, Rogue Dungeon, and War God's Mantle—and D.J. Bodden, author of The Black Year Series, comes an epic new entry into the Expanded Universe of Viridian Gate Online that you won't want to put down!

Levi Adams is a soft spoken, middle-aged Mennonite man—at least he tries to be when he’s not murdering people.

Levi’s a golem, a Mudman, crafted from the muck, mire, and corpses of a World War II concentration camp—killing is just a part of his DNA. He doesn’t like it, but unfortunately he’s been saddled with a divine commission to dole out judgment on those who shed innocent blood. After seventy years as a cold-blooded murder machine, however, Levi’s trying to change his grisly nature. And the AA meetings and church services are helping. A little. But when he runs across a wounded girl, Sally Ryder, during one of his “hunting expeditions,” he realizes self-help may have to go on the back burner.

Someone is attempting to revive a pre-Babylonian murder god, and the road to rebirth is paved with dead bodies. Lots and lots of them.

Now, Levi must protect Ryder—the key to an unspeakable resurrection—and defeat a Nazi mage from Levi’s murky past. But the shadowy mage holds a terrible secret about the Mudman’s unorthodox birth, one offering insight into Levi’s morbid compulsion for bloodshed. It’s a secret Levi would pay anything to uncover: maybe even Ryder’s life. If Levi isn’t careful, he may end up turning into the monster he always imagined himself to be.

“Levi Adams isn't good in social settings, but he's great at killing things. A dark tale of vengeance and redemption (with a healthy dose of ass kicking), James Hunter's MudMan is a knockdown beat-'em-up that doesn't pull any punches.” –Domino Finn, author of the Black Magic Outlaw series

The world’s best thief. A Holy Knight with a dark past. A quest for blood across the Revived Earth.

Narcissist, sociopath, and shameless backstabber Jubal Van Zandt is the best damn thief in the history of the Revived Earth...and he won't shut up about it.

But not everybody in the swampy, soggy, feudal future approves of Jubal's vocation. The Guild—the religious fanatics who helped rebuild civilization after the collapse—in particular are waiting for their opportunity to slip the noose around his neck.

Which is why when the renowned Guild knight Carina Xiao—a.k.a. the Bloodslinger—contacts Jubal about an off-the-books job that violates Guild Law, he's too intrigued to say no. He is the best damn thief in the history of the Revived Earth, after all.

Part bizarro ecopunk, part outworld thriller, part odd-couple roadtrip, Jubal Van Zandt & the Revenge of the Bloodslinger is a 150% futurepunk quest for blood and betrayal across the Revived Earth.

PRAISE FOR REVENGE OF THE BLOODSLINGER:
"... Funny, sexy, action-packed, and a little bit cruel, with heartwarming moments of sincerity..." —DJ Bodden, author of the Black Year Series

The New York Times bestselling author of the Lady Julia Grey mysteries returns once more to Victorian England and introduces intrepid adventuress Veronica Speedwell.... 

London, 1887. After burying her spinster aunt, orphaned Veronica Speedwell is free to resume her world travels in pursuit of scientific inquiry—and the occasional romantic dalliance. As familiar with hunting butterflies as with fending off admirers, Veronica intends to embark upon the journey of a lifetime.

But fate has other plans when Veronica thwarts her own attempted abduction with the help of an enigmatic German baron, who offers her sanctuary in the care of his friend Stoker, a reclusive and bad-tempered natural historian. But before the baron can reveal what he knows of the plot against her, he is found murdered—leaving Veronica and Stoker on the run from an elusive assailant as wary partners in search of the villainous truth.

Artificial Intelligence overpowered and exiled humanity to a hostile planet.

A.I. robots having consumed all available energy on Earth, sent the surviving humans to a hostile planet to gather energy for them. While a powerful liquid there produces energy, robots can't function close to it and so humanity lives in exile producing energy in exchange for water shipments and their lives.

However, not all survivors are content to be servants to the robots and dangerous plans that endanger every surviving human are set in motion pulling three friends in the fight for humanity's future...

*A stand-alone, fast-paced sci-fi action novel.*

Annie Le Roux finds Tristan De Rozier hot enough to be the reason his polar bear clan’s glacier is melting. But his personality leaves something to be desired, because every time he opens his mouth he makes her blood boil in anger. Their true mate attraction means they need to find a way to get along before they kill each other.

Isabelle De Rozier came to Maine with her brother to conquer a kingdom, but when Tristan falls for the very women they planned to betray, Isabelle has to take matters into her own hands. Luke Robichaux, the son of another clan’s alpha appears to be the perfect solution.

I never thought I would hate the man I love.

But I do now.

And I have to escape and hide.

Hiding does not mean falling into the arms of another, surrendering myself as I did once before. But Malik is everything I dream of, everything I desire. No matter how hard I try, I’m ensnared by his spell.

But what if I have escaped from one mistake into another?

What if I haven’t escaped at all?

What if my past greets me in my future…

For lovers of Skye Warren and Sierra Simone, this spellbinding tale of desire and hope will never let you go

Don’t date clients.

One rule.

Easy enough, or so I thought.

Until this hot surgeon that I’ve been dating off and on becomes a client.

It was a casual fling, a fun summer love affair.

Until it wasn’t.

My heart wasn’t ready to fall so hard for this bad boy in scrubs.

The secrets he has hidden in his past stop me dead in my tracks.

But he isn’t giving up on us. Not for anything.

And I have to decide where I stand.

Break the rules or walk away from the best thing I’ve ever had.

Someone will have the Devil to pay.

Doris Watson is an engineer by profession, a designer of kitchen appliances. But when she gets an emergency late night message, her mundane existence takes a decided turn into the bizarre and deadly realm of human trafficking as her secret existence resurfaces. She is an on-call agent for a firm named Seekers Worldwide, a front for a loose group of high-tech mercenaries, managed by one Della Jamay Charboneau and run by NSA agent, Sam Namath.

Someone made the mistake of taking Della’s niece. And that was a truly epic mistake indeed.

Della Jamay is no ordinary aunt. She is an assassin with a very short temper and a very large arsenal. Doris’ assignment from Sam—to handle her handler and keep Della’s body count low. Plagued by prophetic dreams and embroiled in Della’s most private matters, rookie Doris finds herself in way over her head. Together the two women fight for their lives against ruthless New Orleans criminals and a mysterious voodoo priestess claiming to be stealing souls with fire in this thriller about family love versus true evil.

Non-stop action and suspense propels these two tough women through a mystery shrouded in the darkest aspects of human behavior and crime. Time is of the essence—every hour, every day the girl is missing means the trail is growing colder and her fate more dire. Della Jamay is forced back to her home, her hidden past and memories she would like to keep buried. Doris is pulled with her into a morass so dangerous and unthinkable it is beyond even her darkest nightmares. Intriguing subplots, explosive situations, humor, heartwarming moments and a cast of highly memorable characters combine with a touch of the paranormal to weave a tapestry of memorable proportions in this contemporary romance adventure.

The gods walk again …

When Marine Corps pilot Jacob Merely crashes during a routine mission off the coast of Cyprus, he was sure it was game over.

After surviving the crash and pulling himself onto the sandy shores of a long-abandoned island, however, Jacob unwittingly stumbles headfirst into the ancient ruins of a dead city. Unfortunately, he also stumbles into an age-old battle between good and evil—and he is now its newest recruit.

The island once belonged to the Amazons, daughters of Ares, the God of War, and stood as the final bastion between the human world and the monstrosities of the Great Below. But Jacob’s arrival has awakened the old gods and disturbed the seal holding the ravaging darkness at bay.

Now, with the help of a sacred gem containing Ares’ power, Jacob must recreate the Amazonian defenders of humanity and fortify the island stronghold. And if he fails, Hades will unleash his army of the damned and the world of men will fall, giving rise to an age of walking nightmares.

Check out War God’s Mantle by James A. Hunter, author of Rogue Dungeon and the litRPG epic Viridian Gate Online, and Aaron Crash, author of the bestselling American Dragons series.

"You had me at mythology. You sold me at the crafting, game mechanics, great characters, and serious action. From start to finish, War God's Mantle delivers. Do not miss this book!" — Harmon Cooper, author of Cheery Blossom Girls, Monster Hunt NYC,and House of Dolls.

When you're a demon hunter, you probably shouldn't invite a succubus into your bed...

Blaze is a highly trained astral marine, fighting demons and saving lives, so he should know better than to bed his latest client. And yet, when she puts a hex on him, suddenly women find him irresistible. Even his ex-wife is eyeing him, which is a problem, because she's an evil witch. Literally.
Together, Blaze and Mara form an uneasy alliance with a misfit crew of aliens and monsters to track down demons, snare ghosts, and destroy hellish creatures bent on murder--all while trying to close the gates of hell forever.

There's just one problem. A demon-possessed robot has infiltrated their starship, the Lizzie Borden, and a vicious coven of stellar vampires have stranded them in a graveyard of ships at the edge of known space. All the while, the women on his crew won't leave Blaze alone!

From Aaron Crash, author of the American Dragons series and the litRPG epic War God's Mantle, comes a brand new shoot-em-up, action adventure, paranormal space opera you won't want to put down. This novel contains swearing, violence, cyborg vampires, and a harem of beautiful if somewhat inhuman women that the hero regularly sleeps with--when he's not hunting demons. Enjoy!

A Note from the Author: ROBOT BANGARANG was originally published as DAMNATION ROBOT and what you are about to read is the re-mix. Now, this is important, if you already read DAMNATION ROBOT, you might think twice about this book. There are a lot of similarities. I eased up on some of the horror elements and added some sexy times, so those scenes involve one or more beautiful women, but a lot of the main plot is still the same. 

Still, if you read and LOVED DR, this will be a variation on something you already like, which can be fun. I hope it's fun because I really liked these books. They didn't quite find their audience, however. Sad face. I'm hoping with a little re-imagining, they'll find readers who like a little spicy in their supernatural space opera. Happy face!

Now, if you didn't read DAMNATION ROBOT at all, you're totally fine. I'm Aaron Crash and I approve of this book.

I'd like to thank Shadow Alley Press for allowing the re-mix. Also, thanks to Byl Karvetz for being a fan, and all the people who read and left reviews.

New worlds get new kings, and that’s exactly what Abby thinks she’s found in her boss’ hacked code.

With a cataclysmic asteroid careening toward Earth, the VRMMORPG project Viridian Gate Online has become more than just a game, and Abby thinks her boss, Robert Osmark, wants to be more than just its founding father.

Now, Abby holds a hacked key to the kingdom that could earn her a punishment worse than death. To uncover the secret that drug lords and corrupt politicians paid millions for, Abby must dive into the game she helped create and team up with one of its AI creations. It’s a race against the clock as she tries to discover what’s hidden in the secret code before Osmark can crown himself ruler over all that remains of humanity.

From James A. Hunter—author of Viridian Gate Online, Rogue Dungeon, War God's Mantle, and the Yancy Lazarus Series—and debut author J.D. Astra, comes an epic new entry into the Expanded Universe of Viridian Gate Online that you won't want to put down!

A witch. A murder. A curse…

Beneath the murky waters of the lake, an ancient being slumbers, and Brygida is its servant. Kept sheltered in the woods by her mothers from the nearby village, Brygida has never had so much as a friend—until the day she meets a charming stranger painting by the lake. He invites her to the village’s harvest feast, but her taste of the forbidden ends with a murder.

Called into service for the first time, Brygida must take up her ancestral duty as Reaper of Death and solve the murder within three days. If she brings the murderer to the lake on the third day, the being she serves will be sated. If she fails, Brygida herself will be drawn beneath the murky waters, and the village massacred. There’s only one problem: the main suspect is her charming painter, Kaspian.

As Brygida investigates, the dangers are many and answers few. The village and her family stand against her, and with time running short, the lake demands a price. Brygida believes Kaspian is innocent, but can she stake her life on it, when failure means condemning the rest of the village, and being dragged into the deep...?

Find out what lurks beneath the lake in FEAST OF THE MOTHER, the first entry in a romantic dark fantasy series inspired by Slavic mythology and folklore, sure to please fans of Juliet Marillier’s Blackthorn & Grim series and Naomi Novik’s Uprooted.

Read Feast of the Mother to begin the beautifully haunting adventure today!

Dark Magic and Monsters Threaten to Take Over LA

Yancy Lazarus—bluesman, mage, and former paranormal fix-it man—just wants to drink good bourbon, listen to great tunes, and keep his head down.

But when some kind of demonic nightmare carries out a series of brutal gangland assassinations in LA, Lazarus finds himself stuck in the middle of a deadly turf war with otherworldly forces closing in on every side. Now, he needs to figure out who is behind the twisted hoodoo before someone hexes him into early retirement. The kind of retirement that comes with a toe tag.

“Move over Harry Dresden because there’s a new wizard in town. Yancy Lazarus, a chain-smoking, take no prisoners S.O.B. with a heart of gold and a fistful of primal power. A stellar debut novel from James Hunter, the next big name in Urban Fantasy.” —Rick Gualtieri, Author of Bill the Vampire (The Tome of Bill)

Sci-Fi Meets Romantic Comedy...With Sword-Swinging Adventure!

This boxed set includes the first three books in the Time Amazon series: Memoirs of a Time Traveler, Confessions of a Time Traveler and Revelations of a Time Traveler.

Memoirs of a Time Traveler: In this journey through time, archaeologist David Preston comes into possession of a baseball supposedly signed by the legendary Ty Cobb in 1908, thanks to Ariyl Moro and her mysterious companion, Jon Ludlo. Except the ball tests out to be an impossible paradox. It was signed with a ballpoint pen (not invented until 1938) using ink that's several centuries older. But then, Ariyl and Ludlo aren't who they claim to be either.

Ariyl, a voluptuous 6-foot-3 beauty, turns out to be a tourist from a 22nd century paradise where time travel is the latest craze. Unbeknownst to her, however, her traveling companion, Ludlo, is a psychopath whose thefts are starting to alter history. In a world were even small changes in the timeline can cause catastrophic consequences, Ludlo's actions may completely destroy the future.

To stop Ludlo, David and Ariyl must solve a mystery involving Bronze Age swordsmen, modern-day Nazis, a steampunk world, Albert Einstein, some highly skeptical Founding Fathers, and a Golden Age Hollywood where the murder of a beloved movie star will spell doom for civilization.

Confessions of a Time Traveler: History's not what it used to be. Ariyl Moro, the gene-powered amazon from 2109 A.D., drags David Preston, archaeologist, back to ancient times to help her fix some broken historical events. But after an epic night together, Ariyl vanishes, leaving David her Time Crystal…and a clue that might lead him back to her…in the camp of a Mongol warrior princess…or a harem in medieval Baghdad…or a monstrously mutated 1950s America.

Revelations of a Time Traveler: Humanity is running out of time. Ariyl Moro, superstrong amazon from the 22nd century, has changed history again...and again...as Earth's climate ricochets from hothouse planet to ice age. Ariyl and her main squeeze, historian David Preston, have to travel through time and fight to restore her lost utopia...while battling Civil War assassins and Roman gladiators...and solving a deadly mystery in 1933 Hollywood.

“A thoughtful and powerful page turner.”—People

Elvis Cole is just a detective who can't say no, especially to a girl in a terrible fix. And Jennifer Sheridan qualifies: Her fiancé, Mark Thurman, is a decorated LA cop with an elite plainclothes unit, but Jennifer's sure he's in trouble—the kind of serious trouble that only Elvis Cole can help him out of.

Five minutes after his new client leaves his office, Elvis and his partner, the enigmatic Joe Pike, are hip-deep in a deadly situation as they plummet into a world of South Central gangs, corrupt cops, and conspiracies of silence. And before the case is through, every copy in the LAPD will be gunning for a pair of escaped armed-and-dangerous killers—Elvis Cole and Joe Pike.

“Elvis Cole provides more fun for the reader than any L.A. private eye to come along in years.”—Joseph Wambaugh 

“Elvis lives, and he's on his way to being crowned the king of detectives.”—Booklist