Metaphysical Mysteries

Deep in the enchanted hills west of Florence, a powerful ancient relic lays hidden, shielded by veils of secrecy both human and divine. Julia Giardano’s father tells her she’s a witch, heiress to an ancient tradition and all its mysteries, but before she can learn more, he’s murdered in cold blood. Alone, with few clues, can Julia find her legacy in time to save it from her father’s murderer, Gregor Danilenko, who will stop at nothing to possess the relic he believes will give him eternal life and unmitigated power?

When Mata Hari arrived in Paris she was penniless. Within months, she was the most celebrated woman in the city. As a dancer, she shocked and delighted audiences; as a courtesan, she bewitched the era's richest and most powerful men. But as paranoia consumed a country at war, Mata Hari's lifestyle brought her under suspicion. In 1917, she was arrested in her hotel room on the Champs Elysees, and accused of espionage.

He thought he left the spirit world behind him. He was dead wrong. Rohan defeated the evil Frank Altemus, but now it's his ghost he has to worry about. To make matters worse, Altemus obtains a stone tablet with the magic needed to settle the score. Rohan's only hope is a woman named Nora, a reluctant necromancer who wants nothing to do with the journey. Rohan and Nora will have to work together to stop Altemus from using the tablet to rewrite the rules of the afterlife.

A Year in the Borderlands writer Kevin Candela's wild second excursion into alternate realities includes 17 tales, twelve of which have appeared in previously released anthologies and are collected here for the first time. These short stories combine with five never before released works, including the novella It's Only Funny if You Laugh, to produce a wide-ranging panoramic view of the worlds and realities that exist beyond our own. Playing With Reality is another vividly detailed page in the Atlas of the Unknown.

A prophecy of doom. A destiny she cannot escape. When the black sun rises, death will choose the hand of fate. The real Elspeth Quarrie has awoken, and with her comes a prophecy of extinction. Her dark Fae power, known as the black sun, will destroy everyone she’s come to care about…unless she can rewrite a destiny given to her before she was even born. But thwarting the threads of fate was never going to be that easy. Now her spirit has awoken, Elspeth finds herself hunted by the ruthless Chimera — the dark sect of Fae warriors who are desperate to use her powers for evil. She knows ...

Love remembered...life honored...our lives are memory...our loves are our only hope to be, and all that hope adored and lost has melted into memory.

The world has quite literally gone to hell. Rohan and Nora find themselves stranded and without transportation in a world where spirits and demons are wreaking havoc. The battle for the world’s survival depends on them. But along the way, they'll discover others with powers that may be able to help in this spiritual warfare. Will they find a way to banish the demons or, in the end, find themselves in their own eternal hell?

If techno-shaman Olivia Lawson thinks a trip to the Hopi mesas is the escape she needs, she is gravely mistaken. Abducted from her tour, Livvy quickly discovers that all is not as it seems in the quiet villages. Formidable shamans draw her into a bitter and centuries-old conflict. While Livvy struggles to do what's right, she can't help but pursue an unexpected chance to be with the man she loves.

Rebekah Scarlet is celebrating her 23rd birthday at a midnight pub in downtown Raleigh when fired gunshots send the freezing January night into a blazing panic. In an effort to escape, Rebekah conjures a powerful entity from the dead to protect her. Only, her summoning fails when bullets tear through her side, leaving her unconscious as cops and ambulances race to the scene.

On a winter’s day in the Dandenong Ranges, Australia, pianist Ginny returns home to her eccentric mother, Harriet. Ginny tries to apprise the truth of her father’s disappearance. In an effort to distract her daughter from interrogations, Harriet proposes they collaborate on an exhibition of paintings and songs. Meanwhile, on the edge of Dartmoor, artist Judith paints landscapes of the Australian Outback to soothe her troubled heart, as her wayward daughter Madeleine returns and fills the house with darkness.

An ancient power. A demon horde from a parallel universe. The world is ending and the only person who can help Scarlett Ravenwood stop it is missing. Scarlett Ravenwood has done the impossible. She has awoken Arondight, but without a sword she can’t prove it. How is a broken thing like her supposed to save the world with love in her heart when no one believes her? But when the Dark launches a coordinated attack on everything the Light holds dear, the Naturals are forced to face a second cataclysm — and the truth of Arondight’s destiny. It’s a race against time to find the rift and ...

Every family is a secret society. Forget the Freemasons, forget the OTO, and forget the Illuminati. This applies to some families more than others, but no family is an exception. My family is both typical and exemplary. For your paranoia trip, look no further than your own household. Think about all the secrets you keep—every deep, dark one and every shallow, vain one, and all in between. Stop assuming everyone else doesn’t have the same amount of secrets or more. They are all constantly lying about, omitting, and distorting information.

Deep within the archives of time-and-motion pioneer Lillian Gilbreth lies a secret. Famous for producing solid light-tracks that captured the path of workers' movements, Gilbreth helped birth the era of mass observation and big data. Did she also, as her broken correspondence with a young Soviet physicist suggests, discover in her final days a 'perfect' movement, one that would 'change everything'?

Exposed is quickly beginning to unravel the ties-that-bind Jackson Stafford's story together. Brent has revealed his true nature and his mission. The Defector has the director of the FBI in his corner intervening for a notorious assassin. Don and Nancy, NSA professionals locked in the final throws of uncovering the greatest of all truths about Jackson Stafford, stand stunned by the facts.

If you could live forever, would you want to? This is the story of Anita and Kimmo's struggle against cancer, of Aender and Kiyoshi and the first interstellar war, and of An and Ki and Earth’s last days.

Rachel Connor has qualified as a physician, but her brother’s pain is haunting her. Locked in prison for murder, he carries the power of life and death in his hands. New Zealand has settled in an uneasy peace, but Rachel’s father, the Prime Minister, sees the threat of a nuclear holocaust on the horizon.

Relics from another world and ancient pacts. It’s just another day at Camelot… Six years ago, the world Madeleine Greenbriar knew almost ended. As the Naturals come together on a day of remembrance, Arondight delivers a warning that only Madeleine can hear, but it comes too late. The vault under Camelot explodes, setting free a power that could remake their entire world. The Natural’s only hope for survival lies within Avalon, a realm locked away in space and time. Problem is, no one knows the way...except the Druid Merlin who left for another world eight hundred years ago. With ...

Forgotten blooms. Sinister sigils. In the shadow's embrace, chaos looms… As spring blossoms in Stonebridge, and the memory of the harsh winter fades, fledgling witch June Morgan finds herself embarking on a new chapter of her magical journey: herbalism. Hoping for a quiet season, June delves into the intricate world of plants and potions, seeking solace amidst the turmoil of loss. With Harriet’s friendship gone, and the potential for romance with Lucas, she grapples with the void left in their absence, finding refuge in her studies as she navigates the complexities of life as a witch. ...

Jake Ingis made a mistake the day he entered the Stone Circle known locally as The Nine Ladies. From that day forward, everybody he loves will be affected. How can a normal, fun-loving young man be pulled into this life? Who is Cynbel, and what was a warrior from the past doing on Stanton Moor? Nothing made sense. Share Jake's emotion of fear, love, hatred, and the need to protect his loved ones. With no explanation, in the beginning, was he just dreaming?

Echoes of the past. Powers of the present. The deeper the truth, the darker the price. With her Resonant powers no longer a secret, Vesper Ainsley has become a target for every magical faction in Nightreach. But a greater threat lurks within her mind—vivid echoes of her friend Selene's final days, memories that aren't her own yet feel increasingly real. These dangerous visions may hold the key to stopping Lucian D'Arco—a mysterious figure whose dark magic threatens both the mortal and magical worlds. Her path collides with Detective Inspector Blair Calloway, who's investigating the ...