Matthew S. Cox

Book 2 in the bestselling Winter Solstice series Something stirs in the murk of the Volga River, something big, emerging at night to sow mayhem and death along the banks. 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. He seems to know his way around the city, and he's not bad on the eyes either. Solstice soon realizes she's tracking a beast the likes of which none of her father's books have mentioned, a creature unique to Russia that her magic lacks the strength to kill. To make matters worse, the Federal Security Bureau sticks their noses into the mix. While hunting the dangerous creature, she awakens a forgotten power in the depths of the river that has the potential to alter the course of human history―and not for the better.

In August of 2021, they tried to disprove the adage that violence doesn't solve anything-by killing everyone. No people, no problems. Fifty years later, humanity has emerged from the ashes. As if nuclear war didn't do enough, a cruel virus followed on its heels, reducing many survivors to mindless killers. Drivers are the only link between scattered towns. Anyone with the skill to maintain a vehicle (and the balls to hit the road) can seek fortune and glory running jobs for the Roadhouse. Kevin longs to trade in his steering wheel for a Roadhouse of his own, no longer the idiot dodging bullets for a handful of coins. He's one run away from retiring when a strange woman begs him for a ride to Harrisburg. Desperation has a way of getting a man to do stupid things, like running a package so valuable half the Wildlands will come after him. All his life, Kevin cared mostly about himself-and his car-yet this woman makes him wonder if there's more to life than selling food, booze, and weapons to reckless fools. Her past comes calling, leaving Kevin at a fork in the road: fulfill his dream, or let it go for something he never thought he'd want: love.

Riley McCullough thought her best friend getting 'dragged' off to Puerto Vallarta for the first two weeks of summer vacation was the end of the world―at least until the bombs fell. Life in suburban New Jersey with her mother is comfortable, not to mention boring, to an introverted fourteen-year-old. As if her friend's surprise trip didn't suck enough, her 'best summer ever' falls to pieces when she's sent across the country to stay with a father she hasn't seen in six years. Adjusting to a tiny, desert town where everyone stares at her like she doesn't belong proves difficult, and leaves her feeling more isolated than ever. To make matters worse, her secretive father won't tell the truth about why he left-or what he's hiding. Her luck takes a turn for the better when she meets a boy who shares her interest in video games and contempt for small town boredom. Alas, her happiness is short lived. To escape nuclear Armageddon, she shelters with her dad in a bunker he'd spent years preparing. After fourteen days without sun, Riley must overcome the sorrow of losing everything to save the family she still has.

Safety is at best a relative thing in 2073, fifty-one years after nuclear war scorched the world. Kevin found a quiet little place to hole up with the woman who came to mean more to him than his lifelong dream, and a little girl she took in after the Virus wiped out her home. They're well defended against bandits, raiders, and the occasional stray Infected. But walls don't face the sky, and all the guns in what's left of the world won't do a thing against a biological weapon dropped from an Enclave drone. A message from a dead man disturbs this tenuous peace with a chance to stop the Virus for good, but it would send them right to the Enclave's back yard. Tris can't say no, and Kevin refuses to leave her side again, but they won't bring a child along for such a dangerous ride. Knowing it's not only their lives, but the lives of everyone outside the Enclave at stake, they decide to hit the road once again, hoping their home―and their daughter―will still be there when they return.

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. A routine sweep-and-clear during a hotel blaze takes a deadly turn, but also explains how she escaped death eleven years ago: she's probably a demon. Brooklyn had always enjoyed having psychic abilities, but wings? She's still trying to come to terms with what she might be when she experiences a vision of an arsonist planting an enchanted bomb, but the Fire Marshal's office is ill-equipped to handle magic. Since she's the most paranormal thing they've got, they offer her a temporary promotion. Unfortunately, she soon finds herself neck-deep in an investigation that goes straight over her head. And oh yeah-she's supposed to destroy the world.

Brooklyn thought nothing would ever surprise her again after learning her father is an extraplanar being―until the police ask her for help. For most of her life, the cops have been a thorn in her side, always in the way of a good time. By seventeen, she'd spent more time in police cars than some rookies. With age comes (a little) restraint, and she's managed to avoid getting in trouble for six whole years. Working for the Philadelphia Fire Department offers a sense of belonging and purpose she never had growing up, even if the whole 'adulting' thing sucks. After responding to a fire call eerily similar to the one that claimed her childhood home, a local detective seeks her out. He's hunting a serial killer who preys on the city's homeless, taking the lives of those no one cares to see. Every victim's body has so far been stolen from the morgue, frustrating the investigation to the point he's willing to rely on a psychic―even a former delinquent. Brooklyn senses a connection between the recent fire, the murders, and a mysteriously guilty little girl, but her respect for the law only goes so far.

Book 2 in the bestselling Alexis Silver, Mermaid Detective series Alexis Silver has always defied convention: in the 1920s, she tried to attend college. She also prefers to live on land and she doesn't really care for the taste of human flesh. Oh, by the way, she's also a mermaid. A century of existence comes with a certain amount of boredom, but work as a private investigator in the Pacific Northwest offers a pleasant combination of access to the sea, intrigue, and helping others. 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.

Sometimes, the best thing a girl has to look forward to is killing someone. When she learned the truth behind her father's death, Risa Black thought she'd given up on revenge. After an unknown enemy takes the life of someone dear to her, revenge is all that keeps her going. While hunting for the assassins, she uncovers a web of espionage and deceit that destroys her sense of everything she knew. Her idealism tarnished, her drive to free Mars from Earth gives way to something more personal: the need to protect a child. It soon becomes clear she's in over her head. Consumed by the sorrow of loss, she accepts a mission from the Martian Liberation Front, not caring it's a one-way ticket. Desperate to uncover the truth hidden behind all the lies, she hopes to find answers in a place that should not exist: Araphel. The home of the angel Raziel.

Risa Black will decide the fate of an entire planet. After all, an angel told her so. Orphaned young, she grows up among the resistance, fighting to give the people of Mars command of their own destiny. Two governments from Earth vie for control of the Red Planet. She wants them gone, regardless of how many explosives it takes. To the outside world, she's an emotionless, broken marionette. Inside, her father's fiery end haunts her every waking moment. She never cared for destiny or politics, until the angel Raziel focused her anger. Both friend and foe alike believe her grip on sanity tenuous, but she knows he is real, and pities those who will never feel his divine presence. Whenever her adrenaline wears off, guilt at what her bombs did cuts deep, as does the apathy of the citizens she fights to liberate. The pain worsens after unexpected love cracks open her armored heart, causing her to question the role she plays in the bloody conflict. Torn between duty and desire, she learns change never comes without loss. Even to the Hand of Raziel.

Kerys Loring hopes an expedition to a distant alien ruin will make her career

Intrepid reporter Solstice Winters is about to discover that life has big surprises for her. She's about to discover just how extraordinary she really is... The first thrilling book in the new paranormal mystery series by #1 bestselling authors, J. R. Rain and Matthew S. Cox 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. Neither her love life nor her professional life are going anywhere in a hurry. Her boyfriend is successful and handsome, but she constantly has to compete with his job for affection. At thirty-two, she works as a photojournalist for The Spiritualist, a small paper dedicated to magic and the supernatural―that most people regard as a tabloid. Desperate for that 'one break, ' she'll do almost anything to get that big story and get into a 'real' media outlet. Years of always not quite fitting in begin to make sense after an error at a particle physics laboratory alters the dimensional alignment of the world, strengthening magic and revealing an unexpected truth to Solstice. She's not even human. In the wake of an event her boss at the paper is calling the Convergence, magical beings are appearing all over the Earth. Solstice doesn't hesitate, racing to be the first to capture indisputable evidence of mythical beasts. Alas, being a magical creature herself, she soon winds up in the cross-hairs of not only a three-letter government agency, but an ancient sect of mages with dark intentions. Solstice is about to discover just how powerful she really is..

Everything Risa Black believes is a lie. Her angel is dead, the cause she's killed for is as false as her metal eyes, and the one man she thought she could trust has deceived her for sixteen years. Smothered by deepening layers of conspiracy, she decides to embark upon the most frightening mission of her life: leaving the Martian Liberation Front. After eight years of trying to free Mars with high explosives, and a reputation as a less-than-sane killer who hears the voices of angels in her head, Risa didn't expect to walk away clean. Her former bosses won't let go easy, agents on both sides of the war want her dead, and truth is in short supply. A politically connected enemy threatens to purge the Front of those unwilling to play by their rules. To survive, Risa must become that which she has so long denied being-an assassin. With bombs poised to bury her former life and everyone associated with it deep beneath the surface of Mars, Risa has thirty minutes to make an impossible choice: save the life of her daughter by killing her best friend, or disarm the bombs and let her child die.

She saw it coming. She knew it would happen-but no one believed her. Almost a year after tragedy shattered her family, sixteen-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. On her first day at school, a chance encounter with a bullied eighth grader reawakens a gift Paige had forgotten, and ingratiates her into a pack of local outcasts. For weeks, they've been trying to cast a ritual to fulfill their innermost desires, but all they've done is waste time. After witnessing Paige touch the Ouija board and trigger a paranormal event, the girls are convinced another try with their new fifth member will finally work. Once the darkness is unleashed, it's not long before they learn it will give them exactly what they asked for-whether they want it or not.

Fantasy roleplayers often get deep into their games, but thirteen-year-old Keith Croft is about to take it to a new level. He's been invisible for seven years, smart but not working hard, athletic enough, but too lazy to excel. His parents are sorta cool, but only two weeks into his eighth-grade year, his friends are all busy with sports or projects and can't hang out. On the way home one day, he 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. By the time Keith realizes the Gamemaster's Codex holds something darker than rules within its pages, the curse that claimed the soul of a girl in 1987 has its claws in his group as well. Keith vows his friends will escape―even if he can't.

Nina Duchenne walked away from a perfect life to pursue a noble idea. Unfortunately, her hope of becoming a forensic investigator drowned in two years of mandatory street patrol. One tragic night shatters her dream, and she finds herself questioning the very nature of what it means to be alive. Joey Dillon lives at the edge of a perpetual adrenaline rush. A self-styled cyber cowboy who chases thrills wherever he can find them, he doesn't think about what will happen twenty minutes into the future. With the government of Mars chasing him, he flees to Earth, taking refuge in places society has forgotten. Division 9 gives Nina command of the operation to stop two international agents. Joey just wants to find his next meal. Voices from beyond the grave distract Nina from her pursuit, and send Joey on a mission to find out who is responsible. His suspicions lie grounded in reality while she hopes for something science cannot explain. The spies prove more elusive than expected, convincing her they have help from a master hacker. Joey falls square in her sights with the fate of the entire West City-as well as Nina's humanity-at risk.

Lieutenant Nina Duchenne has almost come to terms with her life-but isn't sure she still has one. Eighteen months ago, she awoke as a doll, a living brain inside a military-grade artificial body. She looks human in every way on the outside, but dreads the thought of what lies beneath her skin. Her role as a field agent for Division 9 has exposed her to depravity unlike anything she thought possible. Building darkness clings to her heart, until a tiny orphan girl reminds her that more than a body defines humanity. A new case falls in Nina's lap when electronic evidence links Harmony, a fast-spreading new recreational drug, to a foreign government. She hopes for a nice 'normal' investigation that won't blacken another slice of her soul. The straightforward case turns into a balancing act as she exposes an infestation of enemy agents within West City. If the spies see her coming or if she takes too long finding them all, a drug meant to provide peace of mind may bring about the downfall of society.

In the aftermath of World War Three, the most famous face in the world belongs to a nine year old girl. Maya Oman is the daughter of the woman who controls what's left of civilization, the CEO of Ascendant Pharmaceuticals Corporation. Her smile is as ubiquitous as air, selling everything from vital medicine to vanity drugs with risky side effects. Lifelike android clones reside in over a dozen homes, shielding her from the violent resentment of a population straining under her mother's boot heel. Ascendant's power comes from Xenodril, a drug capable of reversing the effects of Fade, a disease some claim came from aliens or from the governments that predate the war. Only Ascendant sells it, and at a price only Citizens can afford. The rest are left to die. Maya's earliest memories are of living alone in a penthouse apartment, desperate for the attention of a mother who never visits. Forbidden to go out except to record advertising video, her only friend has been the 'net. When she is taken for ransom by a group of mercenaries with nothing left to lose, she discovers her life may not be what she thought it was-or wants.

The universe holds various immutable constants: death, gravity, taxes... and the Wright family road trip. After a couple months as a vampire, Sarah's mostly adjusted to her new unlife. Despite being eighteen and immortal, she embraces staying at home. Her almost demise makes her quite aware that her family won't be around forever. She only needs to keep her supernatural and normal lives separate. Yeah... that'll happen. Every summer, Dad plans a vacation-by-car somewhere across the country. Lameness has increased each year, but Sarah blames that on growing older. She thought dying might get her out of going, but her father's not about to let something that trivial put an end to the tradition. After renting an RV and tinting the back windows, he's confident he can bring the whole family along. Of course, as a vampire, Sarah can't seem to go anywhere without attracting the weird.... and the deadly.

The Far Side of Promise is an anthology of short stories spanning cyberpunk, high fantasy, psychological horror, and science fiction. In the titular story, a jaded deep-space miner sets out on a desperate bid for real food. The boundary between the virtual and real worlds becomes an Ouroboros. Alex Grant always gets what he wants-until he gets what he deserves in The Tower. Many people hide skeletons in their closets, but in The Roommate, Roy talks to his. At age ten, Kirsten Wren's mother tried to kill her. To survive, she followed a ghost Into the Beneath. In A Queen's Lament, a young monarch copes with love, betrayal, and demons. In Evergreen, seventeen-year-old Harper and her little sister find themselves alone after nuclear war. Neris dreams constantly of A Ghost Among Fireflies, an unseen force compelling her to visit a dangerous, destroyed world.