In order to achieve the American Dream, Chris must either choose being ethical and getting fired or crossing to the other side and keeping his job. Tired of living paycheck to paycheck he decides to play the corporate game. This decision will not only affect his professional life but his personal life as well.Silicon Valley is home to several Technology and PharmaceuticalBiotech corporations. Chris moved to Silicon Valley in 2000. He has been fortunate to have worked for various prestigious corporations. He has been handling data for these companies for well over ten years. His work ethic and morals have kept him employed. During his tenure at a Fortune 100 company, he is offered a position at a small Biotech. It is not too long after taking this new position that he is promoted to Management. The IT Director who Chris reports to gives him the choice of playing the corporate game or getting fired. Chris must either choose being ethical and getting fired or crossing to the other side and keeping his job. Honesty and integrity have hampered him from achieving the American dream. Though employed, Chris does not have a house, nice cars or a family. He realizes that he is part of the ninety-nine percentile. Tired of living paycheck to paycheck he decides to play the corporate game. This decision will not only affect his professional life but his personal life as well.

At the center of winter, in Motley, Minnesota, Arnold Schiller gives in to the oppressive season that reigns outside and also to his own inner demons -- he commits suicide, leaving a devastated family in his wake. Claire Schiller, wife and mother, takes shelter from the emotional storm with her husband's parents but must ultimately emerge from her grief and help her two young children to recover. Esau, her oldest, is haunted by the same darkness that plagued his father. At twelve years old, he has already been in and out of state psychiatric hospitals, and now, with the help of his mother and sister, he must overcome the forces that drive him deep into himself. But as the youngest, perhaps it is Katie who carries the heaviest burden. A precocious six-year-old who desperately wants to help her mother hold the family together, she will have to come to terms with the memory of her father, who was at once loving and cruel. Narrated alternately by Claire, Katie, and Esau, this powerful and passionate novel explores the ways in which both children and adults experience tragic events, discover solace and hope in one another, and survive. The Center of Winter finds humor in unlikely places and evokes the north -- its people and landscape -- with warmth, sensitivity, and insight. The story of three people who, against all odds, find their way out of the center of winter, Marya Hornbacher's debut novel will leave you breathless, tearful, and ultimately inspired.

When the headstrong eleven year old Tania gets an idea, NOTHING can divert her from her goal. And nothing gets her going more than the discovery of some injustice in the world. Nor does the 'help' she gets from her somewhat cynical English tutor serve to temper the mayhem. Righting wrongs with Tania comes with considerable collateral damage.Bored in the Breakroom is a compilation of flash fiction and slightly longer stories that I have written, most of which had already been published on my blogs as well as blogs run by others.Originally this collection had no theme and was instead just a glom of everything I thought worthwhile. During the editing process, Matt DeBenedictis mentioned the strong presence of academic and office life in many of the stories. We decided to do much pruning here and add some detail there to make the content less burdensome. The result is a more cohesive narrative about the lives of academics and young, urban professionals.All stories written by Jay DiNitto.Edited by Matt DeBenedictis.

Enter the thousand worlds of Amy Wilson in her captivating novel, Shadows of Winterspell, sparkling with frost and magic.Stella has been living behind the magic of the forest for most of her life. Lonely, she enrolls at the local school, and as she begins to make friends, she discovers that she is even more different than she thought. But as autumn turns to magical winter, Stella realizes that uncovering her own family secret is the only way to release the forest from the grip of a dark and old magic.A seasonal magical adventure from the critically-acclaimed Amy Wilson, author of A Girl Called Owl.

A daughter's tale of living in the thrall of her magnetic, complicated mother, and the chilling consequences of her complicity.

From the author of the international bestseller Papa Hemingway, based on his own experiences: the story of a man struggling to overcome a rare syndrome that causes terrifying hallucinations, who eventually, despite the odds, finds love. AN ANCHOR ORIGINAL.Chet Tremaine is living his best life. A successful lawyer with a loyal best friend, the arts and culture of New York City at his doorstep, and a peaceful retreat in Connecticut, Chet has it figured out. Even when a freak tennis accident leaves him blind in one eye, Chet is confident he'll be able to bounce back. But then he starts hallucinating: unknown children playing in his living room, pine needles seasoning his salad, wire grids barring access to his bathroom. His doctor allays his worst fears, only to deliver an even more shocking diagnosis: Chet's eye injury has left him with Charles Bonnet syndrome, and this rare disease is incurable. Chet is going to be plagued by these hallucinations for the rest...

Back in the last weeks of February, which now feels like a hundred years ago, we here in Innishannon were busy planning what was termed 'The Big Rake Off' of the dead grass on the long sloping bank beside the road coming into the village. Happily unaware of forthcoming events, we were totally focused on creating our wild flower bank: to get something like this going you need a 'metheal', a word which prior to the corona virus was unknown to anyone under 40. Then everything changed ... Exploring the themes of community, family and personal wellbeing, Alice Taylor examines a world changed utterly by the arrival of a once-in-a-century infectious disease. Heart-warming, reflective yet always practical, Alice is a wonderful guide in a world unlike the one we lived in only a few short months ago.

Alexei Sayle reveals his true vocation: proprietor of an imaginary sandwich shop. Blending politics, comedy, philosophy and memoir, this is the Godfather of Alternative Comedy at his most anarchic and irresistibly entertainingAlexei Sayle has been telling people he runs a sandwich bar on Gray's Inn Road that doesn't exist since the mid-1970s. From behind this imaginary counter Alexei dispenses wisdom and focaccia to his famous customers as he explores his love of pretending, reveals why he disappeared from our TV screens in the 1990's, lobbies for eleven-hour long episodes of Newsnight and discusses rampant nepotism in coveted careers. And from drawing striking comparisons between capitalism and all-you-can-eat buffets to discussing the hidden depths of Taylor Swift, this flight of fancy packs a surprising punch and will leave you hungry for more.

The Stone House looked as fine, and its gardens as gay with flowers, as when the members of the household were to be at home for a season, for it always seemed at those times as if the blossoming plants did their best, because sure of loving admiration.

Lucy McDonald is content to go on mourning her dead fiance, Harry, forever. The angels she and her family can interact with have other plans. First, her trusted guardian angel, Kira, informs her that Harry's death was ordered by the powerful archangels. Then, she is paired with the sexy and determined prince of the Earth Angel kingdom, Sam, to save the universe. Who knew she was a superhero?Losing her fiance, Harry, four months before their wedding in a senseless accident was bad enough. Finding out the powerful archangels ordered it is an infuriating mystery. Lucy McDonald is a seer...she shares her mother's family gift of being able to see, hear, and touch angels. Only, she's not to thrilled with the angel community at the moment. That has to be put aside, though, when she is pulled into a world of angelic intrigue that has implications for the safety and freedom of this universe and everyone in it. Paired by the archangels with a strong, sexy Earth angel named Sam to end the threat, and told they are the only two in the universe who can do it, Lucy soon learns some surprising secrets about who she really is, uncovers treachery in the Earth angel kingdom, and is made privy to many of the truths about the inner workings of the universe that most people never know. From the streets of Orlando to the forests of northern Vermont, and from an intriguing alternate dimension to which she is the only key to the capital city of the Earth angel kingdom itself, Lucy and Sam are on a race against time to build an army powerful enough to take on the oncoming danger and save the lives of everyone they've been entrusted to protect. At the same time, Lucy discovers maybe just maybe, the archangels were right about Harry, and learns that true love often looks completely different than you ever imagined.

It’s Thanksgiving Eve and a novel and bold evening of inclusion turns to terror in this beautiful village amid the new normal of the mix of humanity.In the spirit of Thanks on occasion of the sacred holiday of Thanksgiving, the leaders of this lovely town’s Community Center have put out the call for citizens from all across the spectrum to gather for a very first “Feast of Thanks.”It’s working - from all walks and all parts of this exceptionally beautiful and romantic town, the citizens are responding, provoking what has become, unfortunately, the normal of polarization.All it takes is a trigger, and with “enablers” stoking natural fears of these citizens, most of whom are responding to the benevolent call to with the best of intention and loving spirit, such trigger occurs and leads to chaos and terror on a special, holy evening of Thanks.

Part 1 of a new series. Jason Peirce is going on his first date with an old friend. Things are going smoothly until a chance encounter. Suddenly Jason finds the date has gone horribly wrong.A haunted train, the gods’ retirement home, a spirit of vengeance doesn’t know her purpose, and a blackmailer has lost his memory. An ancient star’s gravity brings a starship to life, and the laws of the dead are tricky.Fireflies is a collection of short stories by Erica Lindquist and Aron Christensen.