Showing results by author "Matthew S." in All Categories

From the moment Elizabeth escaped her mind prison, Sam and her friends braced for the worst. With the Dark Masters' plan now set in motion, only two things are known for sure: The plan is big, and it's going to be horrible. After tracking the dark masters down to the remote jungles of Venezuela, Sam and her crew rush to prevent the apocalypse they're certain is brewing. Not only are they facing a new type of vampire, but Sam is thrust into a maze of alternate realities where she is forced to face an enemy far more dangerous than an ancient sorceress: Herself.

It's the holidays, and Samantha Moon and her family are ready to get together and celebrate. No, they may not be your average family, but the love is just as real. It's two days before the big Thanksgiving meal when Sam receives a most unusual guest. Unusual because she hasn't seen her brother, Clayton, in twenty years. Turns out, he isn't just here for the pumpkin pies and yams. He's got a problem. He's been cursed and thinks his little sister is his best chance to fix it. With pie baking put on hold, Sam and company set out to break his curse, locate a kidnapped baby, and save the day. ...

Samantha Moon would go to the ends of the Earth to stop Elizabeth.... Or into another world entirely. Fourteen years ago, her life forever changed, entwined with the darkest of dark vampires.

How do you quantify the mental, physical, social, and cognitive health of people and organizations? Heart rate variability or HRV is the answer. HRV is a biometric that measures the differences in successive heartbeats. While simple, HRV provides an incredible amount of information on the health of our autonomic nervous system and brain. Heart Rate Variability explores how professionals and organizations can implement HRV to track the psychological, social, and physical health of those they serve, their staff, and the organization.

Summer is a great time to visit scenic Richmond, Virginia - except during the start of the American Civil War. After her attempt to save a young woman goes disastrously wrong, Samantha Moon has wound up trapped in 1862 with no way home to her children. The great, great granddaughter of the voodoo priestess who hurled her back in time refuses to undo the spell.

My story starts the day that my parents told me we must leave our adopted home forever. Because of the soldiers and the drought we barely had enough to eat and we could no longer stay to help the people in our village.

Sarah Wright woke up a few times after parties in strange places - but the morgue's a first. At 18, she's eager for a taste of independence, moving out of state to attend college. A change of scenery is extra-needed due to a bad breakup with her boyfriend, Scott. However, soon after escaping the body cooler, she makes two startling realizations: vampires are real and she is one. There's nothing quite like an untimely death to ruin plans. California's sunny beaches aren't the best place for vampires to chill, and worse, she winds up stuck in Seattle, living with her parents.

Something stirs in the murk of the Volga River, something big, emerging at night to sow mayhem and death along the banks. And Since Solstice Winters is already stranded at ground zero, she agrees to help, even though coping with giant lizards is far from her skill set as an intrepid reporter for a paranormal tabloid. Yay for being the only elf in the world. After narrowly escaping the Ordo Sanguinem Aeternam, she winds up sharing a flat halfway across the world from home with the enigmatic Cristiano, an agent of the secretive organization she may have obligated herself to join.

Deputy Marshal Zebadiah Clemens can't die. After the Civil War came to a close, Zeb decided to head west to raise cattle and a family. No sooner did he step off the train in Texas, a stray bullet knocked him senseless. Believing he'd somehow cheated death, he gave up on his peaceful plans and became a lawman. After migrating farther west into New Mexico, he expected to find the usual run-of-the-mill outlaws - not a strange woman watching him from the edge of his dreams. He might be imagining it all - or still unconscious with a head wound - but with his luck, it's probably real.

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.

An inexplicable change has happened to the fabric of the universe, evidently driving some dark masters insane. An Ohio-class nuclear missile sub is about the worst place imaginable for a werewolf to have an existential crisis. Though mermaids aren't well equipped to fight other supernaturals, Alex isn't about to let nukes hit the US. Even if it kills her.

Allison Lopez has almost got her life back to something resembling normal. The radio station survived the wrath of the Jaguar God, so she at least has a steady job. Being a nighttime psychic radio host is a fun gig, even if the marketing people make it cheesy sometimes. But hey, the ‘Hump or Dump’ segment pays the bills. With the trifecta down to two, her witchy powers aren’t exactly at full strength, making it risky to challenge anything too dangerous. Millicent thinks the Universe will provide a third... but when? When a call-in guest seeks help against a spirit trying to kill him, ...

It’s been a few weeks since the Nolmek scattered giant crystals around the world that unintentionally gave some people superpowers. They also nearly eliminated war and shared technology to solve famine, drought, and pollution, so pretty much everyone loves them. Alas, the aliens didn’t visit Earth purely out of kindness. They needed a primitive species to enslave.

Mermaid Alexis Silver can tolerate only so many years living primarily on dry land before it’s time for a nice long swim. While she loves her work as a private investigator, a few nail-biter jobs in a row calls for some time off. She leaves everything behind - literally - and dives into the ocean, planning to take a month off cruising around Central America.

Fifty years after the moon landings, the commercialization of space travel is finally here, but do we still know how to dream? Final Frontier recalls the heady thrill of the Apollo era and glimpses wonders yet to come. Inside, find a dozen uplifting stories of humor, tragedy, sacrifice and good old fashioned cussedness by today's award-winning authors - plus a healthy dose of optimism. All that, plus a forward by a NASA astronaut and a piece by Spider Robinson, inspired by Robert Heinlein. The Final Frontier is open for business!

Alexis Silver has always defied convention: In the 1920s, she tried to attend college. Oh, by the way, she’s also a mermaid. When a well-to-do woman hires her to find her missing adventurer brother, Alexis feels like she’s landed straight in the middle of the sort of action movie they just don’t make anymore. The man’s trail leads all over the globe, but she suspects he’s not dead - yet. An international mining conglomerate evidently wants whatever the missing explorer has found, and they’re more than willing to kill anyone who gets in their way. Even mermaids.

Six months ago, Harper Cody stressed out over finding the right college. Now, she’ll be thrilled if she makes it to her 18th birthday. Unexpected nuclear war destroyed the world she knew, along with her dreams for a future. Violent thugs took away her parents and home, sending her fleeing into the ashes with her traumatized little sister. Following her best hope for survival, she chased a rumor of safety in the mountains.

True love can withstand distance and time... but can it survive immortality? Over more than a century as a mermaid, Alexis Silver never really questioned the profound effect her first husband had on her, despite their brief time together. She’s tried a few relationships with other immortals, but none lasted. Content to be on her own, Alex chases the kind of adventures her mortal life could never offer. When her dark master friend Licinia suggests a trip to the land once called Ptolemais, Alex's curiosity is piqued. However, when their jaunt hits a snag. Licinia wants to conduct a ritual ...

Earth’s oceans are so vast, not even merfolk have explored everywhere. And for good reason. An unexpected call from the CIA seems initially like a routine job, but Agent Michaels has a surprise for her. At a nondescript Agency warehouse, Alex discovers something she never imagined possible and soon finds herself on the way to Atlantis, deep on the ocean floor halfway around the world. Worse, the denizens of the fabled city are locked in a desperate fight for survival against an adversary older than human civilization... and they’re losing. If Alex gets caught up in the undersea war, she...

We live in a world of oppositional relationships and increasing in-group/out-group divisions. Christian sociologist Matthew Vos explains how the problem of the stranger lies at the root of many problems humanity faces, such as racism, sexism, and nationalism. He applies classic sociological theory on "the stranger" to matters of faith and social justice, showing that an identity in Christ frees us to love strangers as neighbors and friends. The book also includes two guest chapters, one on intersex persons and the church and one on stranger-making in the "correctional" system.