Metaphysical Mysteries

SYNOPSIS: In 1993, a young Italian dramatist and his wife arrive at an island resort, where they meet an old Impressionist and his granddaughter. Surprisingly, the teenage girl looks like the author’s first fiancée, who has been missing since 1982. The same night, the artist and the girl disappear, as if only to create a much greater mystery that cannot remain unsolved forever. (This standalone story is available in print as part of the STARCALL Anthology, Vol. 5, illustrated by the author.)

Robert Baxter once reveled in the intoxicating delights of Atopia - the man-made island where humans lose themselves in a world of boundless virtual realities. Now, Bob has returned to immerse himself in this mind-altering, consciousness-sharing refuge from the eroding Earth. But something is very wrong. Bob feels a tidal wave of doom cresting above the pleasure dome that is Atopia. As alternate universes perish, the salvation of all he loves - and all that exists - rests with Bob alone.

Before Amir Zayne became a seeker of truth, he was just another lost kid in Cairo — smart, angry, and already circling the drain. When a classmate dies under mysterious circumstances, Amir’s investigation drags him into a world of pills, secrets, and surveillance. The deeper he digs, the stranger it gets: missing factory shipments, strange visions, and whispers about a drug that doesn’t just numb — it opens something. As Amir spirals deeper into addiction and paranoia, he starts to question everything — his friends, his teachers, even his own father. But some truths don’t want ...

When a solid-gold reliquary missing from a church in Belgium suddenly resurfaces in America, a young newspaperman begins to investigate the story. At first it seems like just another case of a treasure stolen during World War II that has resurfaced. But it soon becomes apparent that much more is at stake.

The continuing adventures of the survey starship Yellowjacket after an alien force larger than any in living memory sweeps through the worlds of the Engel Empire. Note: The Stars Dark series is an homage to thrilling pulp sci-fi of yesteryear. If you're interested in hard science fiction look elsewhere. But if you're looking for action-packed adventures on strange worlds with even stranger aliens, this series is for you!

Aaron has cheated death once more... the heart attack didn’t kill him, just made him contemplative, walking the corridors of his life’s memories. Read Aaron’s incredible journey, written in a comfortably lazy, lyrical style that evokes all the senses – all the tastes, aromas and sweet touches of life.

Booklist calls the world of Hugo Award winner Elizabeth Bear’s spellbinding Jacob’s Ladder series “magnificently populated, well worth visiting.” Here the trilogy that began with Dust and Chill draws to its stunning conclusion. The passengers of the generation spaceship Jacob’s Ladder have found a new home at last. But the planet Grail is already inhabited - and its population of genetically engineered humans has no intention of sharing the world.

The newspaper headlines all asked the same question; is James Brennan the new Messiah? Roy Lindermann's, MP for a ruling Liberal Party in crisis, is left a Top Secret folder by his dead friend Dustin Hislop. Investigating the folder's contents, he begins to unravel the story of James Brennan, writer, philosopher and, some would say, Messiah, who the Government put on trial for Treason. Brennan has been under house arrest for years, his only communication with the outside world being a soundless, live broadcast on TV every night from his farm. Now the transmissions have suddenly stopped. Is ...

A mummy is nothing but a pile of bones covered with dried up skin, right? That is until you add a few demons and combine this mixture with a band of monks shrouded in secrecy. For some this story will bring tears of joy while others will experience tears of compassion. But, one thing is for sure – all will be left on the edge of their seats by this thrilling adventure. Dr. Andrew Rogers, a notable archeologist, along with his equally famous partner and friend, Dr. Kathleen McGregor, are persuaded to chaperone a class of thirty female students to the ruins of Egypt. While they have been ...

Goldilocks' latest case takes her to the deserts of the southwest, home to gun-toting cowboys, sun-scorched caverns, and high-noon showdowns. Goldilocks has been given a fresh start, trading in the lush forests and Midwest plains for sandstone cliffs and desert cacti. This time around she’s determined to play it straight and show the higher-ups that she’s got what it takes. Easier said than done, especially when the Great Coyote Spirit Glooskap appears and charges her with finding the Dawn’s Blessing, a mythical flower that only blooms once per century. The race is on, and she’s not...

On the day of her mother's funeral, 23-year-old Grace Maxwell discovered the man who raised her was not her biological father. Instead, he was a best-selling self-help author and a world famous "Guru to the Stars." Known as Mr. MAJIC, for the miraculous impact his books and seminars had on millions of people, he had inexplicitly vanished around the time Grace's mother became pregnant with her. For over 20 years, the mystery of Mr. MAJIC’s sudden and unexpected disappearance, and the speculation of what might have become of him, was the stuff of Urban Legend.

Hugo Award winner Elizabeth Bear has won high praise for her thought-provoking science fiction. The second in Bear’s powerful Jacob’s Ladder series, Chill finds the generation starship Jacob’s Ladder with a new captain—Perceval. As Perceval struggles with the ship’s recent damage, remnants of the rebellion still linger and a threat to the crew grows.

Buried secrets. Magical lies. With a shadow’s whisper, darkness begins to rise… When June Morgan returns to her hometown of Stonebridge, she isn’t expecting it to be easy. Having denied her magic for far too long, she feels it beginning to break free, leading her to seek out the Stonebridge Witches for help. Turning to her one-time mentor, Alistair Blackthorn, June begins to seek control…only to find herself in the midst of shadowed whispers of a rising darkness that feels all too familiar. A power so consuming that claimed her parent’s lives and sent her running. A power, that ...

Memory Signal By Caleb James In the frozen ruins of the last lighthouse on Earth, one man discovers a signal that doesn’t speak in words—it speaks in memories. Silas Ward is the final keeper of Nordhavn Light, a forgotten outpost on the edge of the world. Isolated for over a thousand days after the Collapse, he endures storms, silence, and the haunting lullaby of a daughter lost. But when a mysterious aurora begins pulsing in harmony with an old reel-to-reel recorder, Silas realizes he’s not alone. The signal is alive—and it remembers. Joined by Rhea Ainsley, a crash-landed stranger...

Big bugs, cloned cats, and feral star-children play leading roles in the seven stories that make up Fast’s unconventional and thought-provoking collection. The Edge of Tomorrow is a significant foray into science fiction by one of the 20th century’s most prolific novelists. In looking beyond our universe, Fast reveals much about the America of his time - where the Cold War and a nascent civil rights movement stoked unconscious fears and desires.

“The Tracing: Secrets Within, is an incredible and brilliantly penned five-star novel that stands out in the science fiction category, whose intriguing plot is set to exhilarate, thrill and enlighten." READER VIEWS "The perfect five star novel for readers who enjoy cutting-edge technology, high-paced action, and strong characters. Highly recommended!" Readers' Favorite __________________________ Imagine that within the spirals of your DNA remain secrets deeper and more intricate than the double helix itself—secrets that Jack Shaw, a molecular scientist grappling with his own ...

Returning to the Yucatan wasn’t what Hank had in mind when he and Nicole discussed taking time away from their mind-numbing research inside ATLAS headquarters. Nevertheless, the two archaeologists are asked to travel to Chichen Itza and investigate the last thing they were trained for, something a bit over their heads professionally. A murder has been committed, witnessed by one of their trusted contacts. Once they arrive and the whole story revealed, Hank and Nicole quickly understand why they, in particular, were called. A secret has been uncovered, one that Ponce de Leon failed to find...

Thomas Tessler, devastated by a tragedy, has cloistered himself in his bedroom and shut out the world for the past three years. His wife, Silke, lives in the next room, but Thomas no longer shares his life with her, leaving his hideout only in the wee hours of the night to buy food at the store around the corner from their Manhattan apartment. Isolated, withdrawn, damaged, Thomas is hikikomori. Desperate to salvage their life together, Silke hires Megumi, a young Japanese woman attuned to the hikikomori phenomenon.

Take a journey into the afterlife with Elizabeth Walker... Leaving her life behind, she enters Heaven full of expectations, meeting friends and family long gone, and marveling at the fact she can still get her favorite cappuccinos. New adventures await...yet she cannot forget her husband and daughters she left behind. Soon, however, she begins to realize Heaven is not what she believed; indeed, the dark lower levels seem to be encroaching...and calling to her. Elizabeth will soon learn what we do in life really does affect where we go in death. What Readers are saying: ★★★★★ “...

In the year 1960, private eye John Nyquist arrives in Delirium, a city of a million borders, to pursue his strangest case yet: tracking down Oberon, the stolen, sentient image of faded film star Vince Craven. As Nyquist tracks Oberon through a series of ever-stranger and more surreal borders, he hears tantalising stories of the Yeald, a First Wall hidden at Delirium's heart. But to get the help he needs to find it, he'll have to journey into the fractured minds of the city's residents, and even into his own.