Showing results by author "S.A Matthews" in All Categories

She saw it coming. She knew it would happen - but no one believed her. Almost a year after tragedy shattered her family, 16-year-old Paige Thomas can’t break free from her guilt. Her mother ignores her, doting on her clingy little sister, while her father is a barely functioning shell. He hopes a move to the quiet little town of Shadesboro, PA, will help them heal, but Paige doesn’t believe in happiness anymore.

Brooklyn Amari knew not to get in a car with a stranger. When a man tried to lure her - she killed him. As if taking a life at the tender age of ten wasn’t bad enough, her childhood home burned to the ground two years later. She doesn’t remember how she survived, but she’s felt a pull toward the conflagration ever since. After a troubled patch in her teens, she’s become a respectable firefighter, rushing again and again into the inferno that almost killed her.

Agent Kirsten Wren, a gifted psionic with a troubled past, possesses a rare combination of abilities that makes her a powerful weapon against paranormal threats. Adrift in a society that fears people like her, she feels alone in a city of millions. In 2418, rampant violence and corporate warfare have left no shortage of angry wraiths. Most are little more than fleeting shadows or eerie whispers in the darkness, but every so often, one gathers enough strength to threaten the living. A series of attacks by androids known as dolls leave the normal police baffled.

Kerys Loring hopes an expedition to a distant alien ruin will make her career - assuming she lives long enough to still have one. When Avasar Biotechnology appeals to her unique combination of experience and desperation, she jumps at the chance. At least she’ll be thousands of light-years away from her abusive ex. Within minutes of arrival, her excitement shatters at the sight of her ex already there. Then, on her first day in the ruins, she makes a profound discovery...but something goes terribly wrong.

On the way home one day, 13-year-old Keith Croft stops at a neighbor’s yard sale and discovers a book for Crypts & Creepers that the lonely old woman says belonged to her granddaughter who disappeared without a trace. Days after he convinces his friends to try this bizarre game that doesn’t require electronics, strange noises in his closet wake him. His increasing inability to focus on anything other than a girl who vanished before he was born - and his obsession with her NPC ranger - drives him to dig deeper into the past, searching for what really happened to her.

In 2411, overpopulation has spread a plaque of filthy, congested city to the corners of the Earth. Government has raised corruption to an art form, and no one hears the cries of those left to die in the dark passageways of civilization. Following the End of Nations, people cling to the only division left: social status. Since running away from home four years ago, Sima has managed to stay a step ahead of death - or worse. At 16, she’s getting too old to survive from begging, despite her best effort to pretend she’s younger.

Natalie Rausch said she'd die for a chance to meet DJ Crazy Todd, but she didn't mean to be literal. A bitter divorce shattered her family and turned her into a 13-year-old weapon in the hands of two people who want nothing more than to destroy each other. Once an accelerated student looking at early college, Natalie let anger at her parents lead her down a desperate path of self-destruction. No amount of rebellion gets her mom or dad's attention - or stitches up the hole inside her where love used to be.

Twelve-year-old Piper Bailey wouldn’t trade her friends for any amount of money - unfortunately, when her dad inherits a fortune, she doesn’t have a choice. The unexpected windfall is a blessing for her family, but it comes with a giant house hours away in the woods. Piper finds an unexpected friend in a boy who lives in the next house, and the two decide to explore Grandpa’s giant mansion. It doesn’t take long for creepy things to start happening.

Sophie lives in a most peculiar cottage at the center of the Forgotten Forest, its inside much larger than its outside. You see, the house must be large, for it holds a great troll as well as a little girl. As one might expect, working for such a creature is rather frightening to a seven-year-old, but the endless expanse of black trees outside is even scarier. She’s afraid to make even the slightest sound, for the troll abhors loud children. He’s not terribly fond of quiet children either - unless they’re in his stew. Sophie’s precious light offers comfort in her darkest moments.

No longer a small child, Wisp accompanies Dad on one of his treks, her first time more than a few steps away from the cabin. A day exploring with him is the happiest time of her life, but joy is short-lived. A monster follows them home. Safe in her haven, she hides while Dad goes outside to confront the beast. She wakes alone the next morning and waits. Alas, her hope of his return fades with the daylight. Afraid but determined, Wisp sets off on her own into the Endless Forest to find Dad - before the Tree Walkers catch her.

Bronx born and bred, Mackenzie Ferrara is both nervous and excited to begin her career as a restorer of fine art at the prestigious Cloisters in New York City. The star of the restoration team is a handsome and reserved Italian, Anthony Bataglia. On loan from the Ufizzi, he is renowned for his ability to bring pre-Renaissance treasures back to life. Despite a rocky start, the two form a close working relationship, which Mackenzie hopes will blossom into something more. But as she works with him she begins to notice patterns and unexplainable similarities in all of his restorations.

A fantasy, science fiction, and horror anthology featuring seven short stories by well-received authors. They may scare you, thrill you, and capture your imagination. If you enjoy high-quality short stories that will excite you, then this is for you! E. R. Robin Dover’s “The Trees” (horror): In a remote desert region of southwestern New Mexico, centered along the Rio Grande, is an ancient grove of trees permeated with an evil that has always existed.

Solstice Winters has spent most of her life halfway between normal society and the world of her magical parents. However, when getting caught between two worlds becomes more than metaphorical, being able to summon light or open locks might not be enough.

This pod provides insight into mental health and relational health in brief but impactful episodes.

Harper Cody used to worry about the SATs or a getting a new laptop for Christmas...but now, she only wants to keep her little sister alive. At 5:59 a.m. early in September, life as she knew it came to an end with a nuclear flash ninety miles away in Colorado Springs. For two months, her family sheltered in the basement of their home, surviving on whatever canned goods Dad could scavenge. Passing evacuees told of a safe haven in the mountains, but her father refused to leave. He thought their home was safe...until a gang of looters kicked in the door.

The North American Jules Verne Society is pleased to present its first-ever anthology of short stories, written by a select group of modern authors, inspired by classics like Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Around the World in Eighty Days, and other novels and stories by the 19th-century master of “Extraordinary Voyages,” Jules Verne.

Matthew Friedman provides an up-to-date overview of human trafficking, a largely ignored present-day evil, and recounts true stories of enslavement in Asia today. Former United Nations and USAID expert Matthew Friedman obtained in-depth first-hand knowledge with boots-on-the-ground work over 30 years throughout Asia. Human trafficking exists in nearly every nation on earth and Friedman has personally interviewed hundreds of freed slaves and imprisoned traffickers throughout South and Southeast Asia.

Addiction is the perpetual epidemic, where swarms of human moths flutter to the flames of hell. Because that warm blanket of a heroin high, that joyful intoxication of a pint of vodka, that electric energy from a line of cocaine, over time leaves you with a cold loneliness and a bitter heart. Relationships destroyed, bodies deteriorate, loved ones lost, yet the craving continues for that which is killing us—living, as the title suggests, like an Orphan of Bliss.

FNH Audio present the first in a series of science fiction short story collections. In this collection: On board a starship a ghost of the past fights horrifying monsters. An explorer find a mining crew dead in their beds, but the next day they're up and walking. Humanity is under the thumb of aliens. The Earthers discover a strange fact of ancient history, their ancestors walked on two legs! The Martians are using a white mist to sedate and ambush all the colonists. And more.

Dwayne Devero is just like you and me, except he simply doesn’t give a sh*t anymore. He’s had enough. He’s done with people living life wrong. You’ll do it right, or he’ll bury you under the bases at the ballpark where he coaches. It’s just that simple. Tired of poor decisions being made all around him, from the politics of player positions on his son’s little league baseball team to the philandering of his wife in his own bedroom, Dwayne decides that breaking is better than bending.