Showing results by publisher "Crossroad Press" in Literature & Fiction

She made a deal with a demon to live again…Now she's cursed to live over and over, see-sawing into people's lives at the moment of their deaths, thrust into maelstroms of violence and emotion without any warning. As she strives to survive and do the right thing, she finds herself sometimes forced into evil acts, recognizing that she has become a game piece used in the eternal game of good vs. evil.

DRAGON ISLAND is a dark, young adult fantasy that explores the dysfunctional relationships that often exist between nature and technology, and father and son. With action and cliffhangers galore moving the story along at a breakneck pace, DRAGON ISLAND combines elements of Japanese pop culture and mythology with the Western coming-of-age tale to create an adventure that will have both young and old racing through to hear what happens next!

"Auntie Helen," the little boy sobbed, "I'm home, and nobody's here!" The phone trembled in Helen Connolly's hand. She could not believe her ears. This was her nephew, Michael Young, on the phone - Michael, who had been dead for sixteen years. Who was this mysterious caller? Could it really be Michael? And if so, what did he want?

Loss concerns a failed writer working as a handyman in an old Manhattan apartment building with a strange history and numerous oddball tenants, not all of whom may be what they seem. The penthouse is owned by a bestselling novelist and his wife, the nameless narrator's longtime unrequited love, who soon goes missing. Is she dead or somehow trapped within the endless corridors of a lair full of twisted memories and half-forgotten ambitions?

There are superheroes, and then there is Captain Nothing - ready to crack knuckles and break heads - no matter what the cost. Here are five truly unforgettable stories - three of them never seen or heard before - plus a behind-the-scenes afterword and a sneak preview of Apocalypse Nothing, Steve Vernon's upcoming Captain Nothing novella.

Before the world was born, there was the Dust of Eden - blood-red earth from which all else was created. The last deposit of the mysterious dust became a viciously guarded secret...until the site was disturbed. A bit of Eden found its way into the hands of Ariel Leppa - an embittered elderly woman unaware of its ferocious power...for a time.

Something was stalking Jennifer. Threatening phone calls, strange noises in the night, a feeling that someone was watching, waiting. No matter how much police protection her rich father provided, no matter how much comfort she got from the nice young man next door, her terror grew. She got a guard dog. A bodyguard. Still, the gloved hand holding the bloody knife slipped through a crack in her bedroom door. And the name Azarius began to be whispered.

Returning to characters introduced in her previous novel, acclaimed author Joanna Catherine Scott explores the terrain of a devastated South, where the war is over - but conflict lives on. Having endured years of hardship, Eugenia Mae Spotswood returns to Wilmington to find out who her mother is, only to be met with racism and hatred.... Until she is befriended by the most powerful Negro leader in the state Senate. Also driven forward are the strong-minded ex-slave Tom and his crippled former enemy Clyde Bricket.

This brand new collection by Bram Stoker Award-Winning author and poet David Niall Wilson brings together fourteen tales of madness, horror, fantasy, zombies, and dark magic, as well as fourteen original poems. Spanning more than two decades of his career, the stories offer a wide range of glimpses into the creative process that has formed his career.

The year is 1952. Fourteen-year-old Alex Gambier is rebellious by nature and scarred by childhood tragedy in the southern community of Evening Shade. An outcast in his own family, mute from a bout with diptheria at an early age, Alex expresses himself by writing imaginative stories and by conceiving daredevil stunts that test all of his physical rescources while putting his life in extreme danger. The aftermath of one of his hair-raising stunts finds Alex in the care of a young black nurse named Mally Shaw. An unlikely friendship results, which is ended by an unspeakable crime that costs Mally her life.

In 1903, a tall woman with flashing Tartar eyes was the talk of military circles, newspaper offices, and salons. Her name was Isabelle Eberhardt, and the life she actually led made her justifiably the object of the most scandalous gossip in Paris as well as in North Africa. This compelling novel, a fictionalized biography, tells her story - the story of a brave, self-destructive and sensual being with an irrepressible rage to live. Isabelle came to Tunis when she was 17, longing for fame as an author and discovering that her life could be the inspiration for her art.

"My life changed overnight. I was driving home from a gig when a tramp stepped out in front of my car. I killed him. I know I did. But no-one believed me. The medical staff at the hospital insisted he was the result of some sort of hallucination because trauma sustained during the accident. I tried to convince them otherwise, but the more I protested, the more obvious it became to them that I had damaged more than just my ribs in the crash, so I started to lie to keep them happy."

Crease is going back to his quaint, quiet hometown of Hangtree. It's where his father, the sheriff, met ruin in the face of a scandal involving the death of a kidnapped little girl and her missing ransom. It's where Crease was beaten, jailed, and kicked clear of the town line 10 years earlier.

Ray Storey plays the role of Kit Carson in Col. A. J. Mahaffey's Authentic Medicine Show, wearing a fringed outfit and doing trick shooting to help the colonel push his Miracle Oil and Indian Vitality Pills. Storey's using his job with the show to travel around the country to look for the men who killed his parents, and of course there's a showdown in the end.

From internationally-acclaimed New York Times best-selling author Raymond Benson comes a suspense thriller that blends modern-day crime, historical figures, and fantasy. When his ranch hand's newborn son is abducted from the hospital's maternity ward and found dead hours later in a trash dumpster, former FBI agent and West Texan Rusty "Red" River resolves to bring the perpetrators to justice. Investigation reveals that a string of similar child abduction/murders previously occurred in Texas towns between Limite and the Mexican border.

Mark Stone has a score to settle. A former Green Beret, he has only one activity that gives meaning to his life - finding American's forgotten fighting men, the P.O.W.'s the government has conveniently labeled M.I.A.'s, and bringing them back from their hell on earth. It's too big a job for one man. But Stone has friends. And with Hog Wiley and Terrance Loughlin-a merc from east Texas and a crack British commando - Stone returns to the steaming jungles of Laos on a do-or-die mission.

What seem to be nightmares about her daughter, Heaven's, favorite cartoon characters soon lead Gabrielle to a stranger paranormal conspiracy focused on revenge. She's faced with a living nightmare in which friends die and dangerous sorcery is at work.

With only the help of a holy man named Danube, Gabrielle battles supernatural forces for her daughter's soul, and for her own sanity, especially when she learns she has to face demonic forces - and even hell itself.

It all started with the best of intentions. Kate McDolen, an elementary school teacher, knew she had to protect one of her students, little 8-year-old Mistie, from parents who were making her life a living hell. So Kate packed her bags, quietly picked up Mistie after school one day, and set off with her toward what she thought would be a new life. How could she know she was driving headlong into a nightmare? The nightmare began when Tony jumped into the passenger seat of Kate's car, waving a gun. Tony was a dangerous girl, more dangerous than anyone could have dreamed.

Webster's Dictionary defines the word "appetite" as: a) any of the instinctive desires necessary to keep up organic life; specifically: the desire to eat, or b) an inherent craving; an insatiable appetite for nourishment. Of course, there are other terms for appetite as well. Craving, coveting, hunger, lust, gluttony, ravenousness, want, yearning, and passion, just to name a few. South of the Mason-Dixon Line, we call it a "hankering". When thinking of appetite, two supernatural beings come instantly to the minds of horror fiction readers: vampires and werewolves.

Chuckie Eechaute thought a new life under the Witness Protection Program would save him from Victor Sanaducci, but he was wrong. When Victor captured Chuckie's brother, Danny, he gave Chuckie an ultimatum: Come back and suffer the consequences of turning state's evidence, or Danny would die. A severed ear sent to Chuckie's old girlfriend sent the message home. Chuckie had to go home. So, he called Frank Powell, the one cop in Chicago he could trust.