To my readers, thanks for reading this far. This is seriously difficult for me, but I am being forced to admit, this novel is not working as a web serial. I would be embarrassed to say just how few readers I still have at this point. it has been dropping for quite some time. Is it the fact that this …

. Roy and Monica sat with Sandra on the couch in her living room, as the Crime Scene Unit and the various on-duty police officers wrapped up their work and departed. Sandra was now leaning into Monica’s shoulder and crying, and Roy believed it was as much due to the grilling from the FBI as to Meg’s disappearance. They clearly …

. An unexpected ring-tone woke him. It was his private joke, setting the dour and serious Lt. Moore’s number to mariachi music. Nobody else got mariachi for a ring tone, not even his great uncle who actually played the stuff… but, why was the Lieutenant calling him at this hour? Roy thought it was crazy, how quickly he adapted to …

. Meg followed his commands, studiously obedient but infuriated at herself for cooperating. This demonic thing in her head, this slave stone that he put in her, wouldn’t allow her to stop herself. She wasn’t even tied up. She fully understood she was now the latest victim of the serial kidnapper who was constantly in the news, and that all …

Markhov and Johansen said nothing as they approached the house. They wouldn’t joke or chatter on the way to a potential tragedy anyhow, but this time they worked in near silence. Even the after-midnight air seemed unusually still. Another potential abduction, a missing girl and an open bedroom window… Please let it just be nothing. She snuck out to see …

The wave of nausea struck the Jhisari like an ocean wave, telling him immediately that the villain was near. He could not use the information. When his quarry triggered the hideous weapon whose secret his lord still had not deciphered, he was closer to it than he had ever come before. In horror, while he struggled to use his spiritual …

While Payton studied the photograph, Cipolli watched a couple uniformed officers pass by the cafe booth on their way to a booth closer to a window. Neither officer recognized them, but that was by design. The little pattern he had sketched and activated in his notebook was working well. The figure in the enlargement which Cipolli had declared Or Shahch, …

Jack Rogan chuckled. “I find it almighty dangerous, Jack. That’s why we’re keeping you close. I’m counting on Nam and myself to counter it if something goes wrong. But frankly, the safest thing we can do with it is bring it as quickly as we can to the place where we’re most likely to find the tools to get a …

Jack Rogan nodded. “Oh, aye. Heavier-than-air vehicles are mostly military on this world. Airships are the make of civilian air travel here. On your world, folks seem to think them flying bombs. Will you be alright?” He grimaced, then stated, “That depends on how often do they blow up.” Rogan shook his head ruefully. “We use helium, so they do …

. SWORD OF THE KING Volume 2: People Of The Blood by Eric Fretheim (“Fushigi”) Jack “Not what you were expecting? How so?” Nam’s innocent curiosity seemed sincere to Jack, although he had expected she would already know the answer. He cast his eye around the room. What would be a polite way to put this? The restaurant didn’t look …