If I continue to tour for another twenty years, as I have for the last twenty-one, I will end up sleeping in at least 1000 hotel beds in my lifetime. For maximum poetic oomph, let's say 1001 beds...They symbolize a life and art dedicated to reaching out toward folks from Bozeman to Tampa. A life and art that has traveled widely and, I believe, reached a couple hundred thousand people with my stories of queer life and love. For a quarter century, Tim Miller has worked at the intersection of performance, politics, and identity, using his personal experiences to create entertaining but pointed explorations of life as a gay American man - from the perils and joys of sex and relationships to the struggles of political disenfranchisement and artistic censorship. This intimate autobiographical collage of Miller's professional and personal life reveals one of the celebrated creators of a crucial contemporary art form and a tireless advocate for the American dream of political equality for all citizens. Here we have the most complete Miller yet - a raucous collection of his performance scripts, essays, interviews, journal entries, and photographs, as well as his most recent stage piece ""Us"". This volume brings together the personal, communal, and national political strands that interweave through his work from its beginnings and ultimately define Miller's place as a contemporary artist, activist, and gay man.

Meghan Murphy is an average twenty-eight-year-old mother of three. She spends each day going over the same old chores, cooking, cleaning, and working part-time at a local cafe.Life wasn't meant to be like this. She had so many plans and ambitions. At school, she was admired and dated the fittest and top athletes. She married the most popular boy in school – that didn't turn out well. That perfect athletic teenager became a fat, uncaring, unhelpful, lazy, good-for-nothing husband who takes her for granted, and after work simply dumps his butt into a chair and watches sports all night.Everything changes when a mysterious man turns up at the cafe. He returns each day, sitting in Meghan's section. He's everything her husbands not – he's rich; he's caring, and he listens to what she has to say.After a month, he hands her a canvas bag, full of PVC clothes, fishnet stockings, high-heels, and a rubber mask. He wants her to join him at a party at a mansion, which will be full of like-minded, scantily clad, masked people.Meghan has a choice to make; say no and go back to her monotonous life, or say yes and take a chance.

Mankind is no longer at the top of the food chain.The Sixth Extinction is an apocalyptic tale about a pandemic that sweeps the globe, decimating the human race, leaving humanity struggling to survive. Within three weeks, everything has changed. Social structure has collapsed as the government locks itself away with a select portion of its vast army in deep bunkers, leaving the civilians to their own fate and the infected that stalk the streets.Naomi is battered and shaken, but she has been released by the large pod to pass on a message to the others on the cargo ship. Will they do as requested, or will the reanimated old crew attack?Stu and Soozie find themselves having to team up with the people they hate the most… Why would Smokie put her trust in the enemy? However, Stu finds something that could turn the tide in their favour.The mutated birds, and the new strain of the infection cause more chaos, destroying their chance of getting off the death ship. Will Frank, Mollee, and Smokie be able to stop the out of control vessel before it's too late?Meanwhile, Bachman and the others, as well some of the newfound cleaning crew, have to deal with Pete – who has become infected, which causes more death and impossible choices.

Anastasia Lucilla Vãduvã was born in 41 BC between the Balkan Mountains and the Black Sea in the Kingdom of Dacia – present-day Transylvania. At the age of eighteen a group of raiding Scythian's attacked her family's farm, killing her father and brother while keeping her mother, sister, and her alive for their own, twisted gratification.After three days they left, thinking they had disposed of all the loose ends. However, things didn't go according to plan, and Ana was left bleeding on the ground as she watched her mother and sister die.During the cold night, while the wolves howled in the distance, as the scent of blood wafted on the breeze, a strange leathery beating sound emerged. In her weak vision, Ana sees a man's naked legs standing beside her. It is a figure from ancient local legend – Dracula. He gave her some of his own powerful blood to save her life, taking away her humanity and replacing it with immortality.Together they hunted down the Scythian's, wreaking vengeance. For nineteen centuries, Ana stayed at his side, until Abraham Van Helsing took him away from her. Alone, Ana hunts the sexual predators, people like the Scythian's who took away her family and her virginity.It is now 2014 and she's stood on a skyscraper in New York City, as she follows a black town car through the streets. Inside is Special Counsel to the District Attorney's Office, Dennis C. Brock II. He is a sexual predator that hunts on the weak. He has an unknowing victim in his car. Ana has him in her sights. After tonight, he will never hurt anyone again.

Frankie De Rossi's family used to own and work in one of the most prestigious circuses on the American Eastern Seaboard, but it all vanished in the blink of an eye due to a sudden act of violence.Thirty-six years later, Frankie lives in New York City in a Federal halfway-house with drug addicts, rapist, and murders.After more than three decades locked in a Federal prison, he tries to transition back into the real world, struggling to make a living working as a clown at children's parties – hanging on to the only profession he's ever known.Frankie hardly gets a chuckle from the kids, but the parents laugh – and for all the wrong reasons.On the anniversary of the worst day of Frankie's life, on a day that was the catalyst for the death of his whole family, life conspires against him, and once again he does something unimaginable.*"e;Violence is a disease, a disease that corrupts all who use it regardless of the cause."e;– Chris Hedges

There are many things beyond mere human comprehension that should never be meddled with.Nok is an average thirty-two-year-old Thai woman, who keeps her small apartment clean and her violent husband happy. He is prone to outbursts after their baby girl died in a road accident. To compensate for the loss, Nok buys a Luk Thep – a spirit doll and takes it to her local temple so the monk can perform Plook Sek on it – to invite a spirit to inhabit the doll to give it a soul. She prays for the angelic soul of her dead daughter.However, we don't always get what we wish for…Evil constantly wanders the mortal world looking for a way to get in... Sometimes we hold the door wide-open.*"e;Our feet are planted in the real world, but we dance with angels and ghosts."e; – John Cameron Mitchell

Terry Strickland is a 27-year-old assistant in a residential nursing facility in New York City. While in Mr. Derne's room – a 94-year-old mute – Terry finds a wooden box wrapped in brittle yellowed newspaper, with the date September 1945 – the end of World War II. Inside is an old war medal and a small black book that is empty apart from the last two pages, which has the coordinates for South Brother Island that is in New York's East River, less than a mile from the nursing home. Along with the coordinates is a small hand-drawn map of the island. An X marks a secret.Terry's curiosity takes him on a journey that soon turns into a nightmare when he uncovers a secret about South Brother Island. A secret the American government is willing to kill for. A horrific secret that has already cost millions of lives worldwide.Some secrets and lies should stay buried. The consequences of their meaning could destroy a country."e;There are no secrets that time does not reveal."e; Jean Racine.

Mankind number less than nine million. The world is on the brink of the next mass extinction.THE DYING WORLDThe year is 2073. The world stands on its final footing. Back in 2048, the world's population numbered over a hundred billion. Wars were fought over food not land. A new organization was put to work; to find the cure for world hunger.THE MACHINEThey used the best scientists from every nation and succeeded in creating D.E.F (Digitally Enhanced Food.) However, the name came to have a more sinister meaning. The machine manipulated time, speeding up the growing process. However, it caused rips in time and space, allowing another dimension – which had been poised waiting for mankind to make such a mistake – to churn through, reaping death and almost total destruction. The answer to their prayers became their worst nightmare.THE LAST OF MANKINDHumankind now numbers a mere nine million. The adults survive in eight underground cities, protected by barriers – it used to be thirteen, but five perished when the moon was rent in two. Their offspring lives on a vast space station, which sits in a geostationary equatorial orbit around a world riddled with creatures from the darkest parts of the imagination. The cities barriers are failing. Also, the Station is slowly being pulled down by the earth's gravity – it was not designed to hold so many, for so long.PART ONE: THE LAST HOPEA small group of six holds all of mankind's hope in their hands as they head towards the largest rip to try to close it down. A father withholds secrets, possibly sending his sons to their death – secrets that if they seep out will cause total panic in all eight remaining cities. The head of the Council of Cities knows what is coming, what's heading their way; she sits and looks at aerial photos of the advancing armies that are closing in. The decision she makes will affect millions. The commander in charge of the orbiting space station awaits the yearly rocket with the children onboard. However, something is wrong with the data files, the numbers just don't add up. With only one day to go, things start to take a deadly turn. Is there a traitor onboard their last hope for humanity?Time is one luxury mankind doesn't have; however, time is what they need the most. Unless a miracle happens, within the next broken lunar cycle, humankind will become extinct.

It's Carl Ramirez's second week as a farmhand at Jake Jackson's large Texas ranch, and Jake loves watching the eighteen-year-olds body move under his tight jeans and white tee-shirt. He's a natural with the lasso and knows how to handle himself.When the opportunity arises, Jake gets Carl into his truck, and it isn't long before Jake pulls over next to a deserted barn. Soon the truck is rocking, and the windows are steaming up. Then they move out of the truck and onto the bonnet. It's lucky no one is around to hear their cries of pleasure.

Sophia Franziska Schäfer lives in a small village at the base of Mount Großen Krottenkopf set in the Allgäu Alps in northern Germany. The year is 1818, and she has just been accused of witchcraft. She slept with the Baker's son out of wedlock, and days later he becomes seriously ill after admitting his sin to the local priest.The pastor believes she has worked a hex, and he gathers a large group of men and hounds to chase after her as she flees the village, heading for the mountains. Sophia only has one chance for survival, to reach Doctor Frankenstein's castle and hide from the angry mob.The Doctor finds her hiding in a deserted, crumbling part of the fortress, and instead of turning her over, he has her cleaned and fed and offers her a job working for Mrs Beckenbauer the aged cook.However, after two months, Sophia becomes intrigued as to what the Doctor is doing up in the tallest tower, hidden away from prying eyes. One night, as a storm rages and the Doctor is away, she climbs the steep stone steps and enters his laboratory.What she finds paralyses her with fear – but also something else – it fills her with primal lust. In that large chamber, something happens to change her world and affect the rest of her life.

Mankind faces the worst pandemic in modern history.Raymond Roberts is an Englishman teaching English in Wuhan, Hubei, China. It's an underwhelming, mediocre Chinese city of twelve million people, with no notable distinctions to make anyone notice its existence, unless you happen to live there. Until that is, it becomes the epicentre of a viral pandemic outbreak that sweeps the globe.The city is on quarantined lockdown – the largest in human history. Raymond ignored the calls from the British Government when they offered him a chance to leave with other British Nationals. Like everyone else, he presumed the People's Republic of China is overreacting.Quarantined to his tiny one-room apartment, Raymond becomes restless and starts spending his time trying to work out what's going on, through China's restricted social media and the Internet.In doing so he draws unwanted, dangerous attention.A rat who gnaws at a cat's tail invites destruction. – Ancient Chinese Proverb

Kylee Cruz is a twenty-one-year-old who works at a large lawyer's firm.Milly is her supervisor, who happens to be a complete bitch that makes everyone's life a misery. Only the week previous she fired a woman who stuck up for herself.Kylee can't afford to lose her position; she worked two jobs to put herself through admin/secretarial school, and she isn't about to be bullied by the likes of Milly Gates.Kylee has a plan. There are three main partners in the firm, Edwards, Gates, and Mortimer – one just happens to be Milly's brother. All she has to do is get one of the partners on his own, and she can guarantee she will be able to convince him she is essential to the company – well, indispensable to him anyway.Even Kylee couldn't have predicted the outcome – fate has a funny sense of humour.

From the author of the #1 best-selling The Sixth Extinction Series comes a new apocalyptic collection.Twelve years have passed since the fires of World War III abated. The clouds of ash have settled. The world as we know it is gone; most of civilization was wiped out by the weapons of war, disease, and then starvation. Nothing grows in the barren soil, and the trees slowly give up and collapse into the ash. The world is a windswept, sterile wasteland, populated by nomadic wanders who scavenge what they can to subsist.One lonely man – Isaac Baptiste – survives in a bunker. For twelve years he has struggled in isolation. He went in at the age of twenty-nine with his wife and daughter – only he survived. However, the bunker cannot sustain him any longer; he is running out of food, and the machines are failing. He has only two choices – leave or lay down and die.At the age of forty-one, Isaac embarks upon a journey to find meaning and salvation, in a world where the cruel feed on the weak, and the line between life and death is thin. He soon realizes that in this dying world, he has to do whatever it takes to survive.

There are many things beyond mere man's comprehension that should never be meddled with.Ram is a fourteen-year-old delinquent from Bangkok, Thailand, living in the Klong Toey slum on the banks of the Chao Phraya River. He runs with the wrong crowd, and his single mum can no longer control him. He has killed many pets in the neighborhood for fun, and he's now ready to move on up to bigger game. The last straw is when he's accused of attempted rape.His uncle takes him up into the mountains, for contemplation and meditation, and to try to teach him some self-respect and discipline. He leaves Ram at an ancient jungle temple that has a shrine dedicated to the tall, hungry ghosts. Instead of helping Ram, it manages to get him into even more trouble with the monks.Ram comes face-to-face with his worst nightmare when he realizes something's should never be meddled with, and the comprehension that mere material possessions cannot save his damned soul.

Jasmine Kennedy is a twenty-one-year-old in her final year at university studying Earth and Marine Sciences. She was out late the night before, and she's regretting it; she's fallen asleep twice in class, and to make matters worse; it was Professor Riley Hubbard, who caught her both times.Professor Hubbard is thirty-six years old and has the kind of body that makes it hard for a female student to concentrate on what he's saying.After running into the professor three times on the same day, she accepts his offer to help her with some extra study time. She's been invited to his office that evening.However, her best friend thought it would be funny to stuff a black silky corset, with pink frills, into Jasmine's bag just before she leaves. When the professor finds it, something happens that she would never have predicted.

There are many things beyond mere human comprehension that should never be meddled with.Naak is an average twelve-year-old Thai school girl. Her only quirk is her ability to see and communicate with the dead. For this, she is constantly teased by her classmates who don't believe her wild tales.While her school class is on a field trip in Japan, heading towards Mount Fuji to do some sightseeing, the bus driver becomes hopelessly lost, and they end up deep inside Aokigahara – the infamous suicide forest, where at least two hundred people annually kill themselves. Here the Yūrei – the angry ghosts of the dead – have been looking for a way to escape.Naak watches in horror as an accident causes all the children to leave the bus. However, something sinister is now controlling them. Naak's gift has taken on a more ominous meaning when she realizes what is happening, and she knows there is only one way to stop it – only one way to save the other children.*"e;No one is more afraid of ghosts than those who don't believe in them."e; – A Chinese Proverb.

Kent Marshal is just an average thirty-one-year-old. His life is dull, boring, and repetitive. He is in a loveless, childless marriage and works for his wife's father as an estate agent.Everything changes when he receives a phone call from Mrs. Townsend, a mid-twenties trophy wife of a successful businessman, who is bored and needs a little action in her life.Everything comes to a head when she arranges a house viewing and insists that Kent is the one to show her around. When they arrive, she disappears upstairs, with strict instructions that he is to come and join her in ten minutes.Will Kent follow her? The decision Kent makes will change his life forever.

Fully revised and updated! Full-color guide to capturing great wedding images and building a successful photography business

This full-color book from acclaimed professional wedding photographer Glen Johnson not only teaches you how to take memorable photos, it also shows you how to start a wedding photography business. Packed with great tips and savvy advice, this new edition helps you set up efficient workflows, choose camera equipment, manipulate images, make impressive presentations, and launch smart, photo-based marketing strategies to build your business. Best of all, it''s loaded with new, superb photos that illustrate photography techniques.

Shows you how to set up and capture beautiful photos, posed or candid, in all kinds of settings, for weddings and other special events Offers practical marketing strategies for building your own photography business, including how to build a fantastic Web site that attracts clients Covers current camera equipment and accessories, post-shoot digital darkroom techniques, digital editing software, and how to print your images successfully Gives you invaluable insights and tips from the author, who is one of the country''s top wedding and special events photographers

Capture better pictures of some of life''s most memorable events—and build a sucessful photography business—with this indispensable guide!

Fully revised and updated! Full-color guide to capturing great wedding images and building a successful photography business

This full-color book from acclaimed professional wedding photographer Glen Johnson not only teaches you how to take memorable photos, it also shows you how to start a wedding photography business. Packed with great tips and savvy advice, this new edition helps you set up efficient workflows, choose camera equipment, manipulate images, make impressive presentations, and launch smart, photo-based marketing strategies to build your business. Best of all, it''s loaded with new, superb photos that illustrate photography techniques.

Shows you how to set up and capture beautiful photos, posed or candid, in all kinds of settings, for weddings and other special events Offers practical marketing strategies for building your own photography business, including how to build a fantastic Web site that attracts clients Covers current camera equipment and accessories, post-shoot digital darkroom techniques, digital editing software, and how to print your images successfully Gives you invaluable insights and tips from the author, who is one of the country''s top wedding and special events photographers

Capture better pictures of some of life''s most memorable events—and build a sucessful photography business—with this indispensable guide!

Lobsters and Landmines is the second book in the Human Nature Series, following in Lamb Chops and Chainsaws footsteps, by continuing to look at the darker side of human nature, by delving into the dark twisted world of the sick minded, the perverse, the psychos and sociopaths; people who take pleasure from hurting others. Individuals, who could be your next-door neighbour or your lover, even a close family member.Read about a captain who discovers the perfect lobster bait after a violent outburst. A HIV infected man who injects women with his tainted blood. A disfigured ex-army bomb disposal expert who has carved out a piece of paradise for himself in Vietnam, who keeps females as slaves and children as objects to sell. Or the sad story about two friends who are forever parted on September 11th 2001. And the airhostess Jenny who finds the perfect job on a Brazilian airline, but it seems they want more from her than most employers. What about the sweet little old lady who wins awards for her cakes, but what are her secret ingredients? Or the doomsday prepper that spends every waking minute of everyday prepping for the end of the world, until one critical mistake changes everything. Or a computer firm that sells its algorithmic computations to cosmetic firms, cutting out the need to test on animals, but below ground, the vast computer server hosts a disturbing secret. Finally, a businessman who realizes a little too late, what is truly important in life?Contents1 Lobster TheodoreAfter a violent outburst, Jim's life will be forever changed. However, every cloud has a silver lining when the captain discovers the perfect lobster bait.2 Little PrickA HIV infected man injects women with his tainted blood. One victim gets the ultimate revenge.3 Man's Best FriendA disfigured ex-army bomb disposal expert has carved out a piece of paradise for himself in Vietnam. He collects women as slaves to live on his farm, and children to be used by his American clients who fly over once a year. Today is the day they arrive, but not everything goes according to plan.4 Towers of TearsOn September 11th 2001, two friends are forever separated.5 Fit for the JobJenny's medical checkup clears her for a job as an airhostess for a small Brazilian airline. However, it seems they want just a little more than most employers do.6 The Last CakeGrace has won every baking competition she has ever entered. She has just one cake left to make before she hangs up her oven-glove. But what are her secret ingredients?7 LockdownA doomsday prepper has everything he needs to survive any end of day's scenario. His underground bunker is all prepped and ready. However, in his haste to survive he has made one critical, life-changing mistake.8 Nosey ParkerA computer firm is raking in hundreds of millions by selling their latest algorithmic computations to cosmetic firms, cutting out the need to test on animals. However, below ground, one section of the vast computer server hosts a disturbing secret.9 RegretsA businessman is taking a flight he has flown hundreds of times before. At home, he leaves an unfinished argument with his wife. However, the flight does not go according to plan, and he realizes what the most important things in life really are.

Mankind is no longer at the top of the food chain.The Sixth Extinction is an apocalyptic tale about a pandemic that sweeps the globe, decimating the human race, leaving humanity struggling to survive. Within three weeks everything has changed. Social structure has collapsed. The police are non-existent, and the army concentrates on the cities. Gangs of yobs rule the streets. It becomes everyone for themselves.The story follows three different people, and their journeys of self-discovery through the changing world.Noah Morgan is just an average twenty-one-year-old. He has no aspirations in life, no girlfriend, few friends, and a dead-end job. Red is a nineteen-year-old female runaway, with a sad past and a disturbing secret. Together they leave behind everything they have ever known, looking for a safe haven.Doctor Melanie Lazaro is working around the clock, under military supervision, in Exeter University's Biomedical Sciences Department, trying to create a cure for the new pandemic that is turning humans back to their primordial roots, creating mindless killing machines with only one purpose − to eat.

Ruin is Part II in The Sixth Extinction Series.A pandemic has swept the globe, decimating humanity, affecting all who breathe in its deadly spores. The Sixth Extinction Series follows a collection of people from all walks of life, as they struggle to survive through the eradication of the human race.Doctor Melanie Lazaro identified the marker of the disease on the human DNA chain, and she carries a file with the information needed to create a blocker, to stop the disease from spreading. While she was being shown the four different stages of the transformation of the human host, the building came under attack by a horde of the infected. During the attack, she was rescued and placed on a helicopter en route to the Dartmoor military base. The helicopter crashed and Lazaro, along with nine military personnel, has to take shelter in a dentist's clinic, while fighting back a mass of the infected. They gain new transportation; however, it proves to be a fatal mistake.Noah and Red join forces with an old woman called Betty, and her special need's grandson, Lennie. The four of them hear the gunfire of the soldiers from the crashed helicopter, and Noah leaves the three behind in a house while he goes in search of rescue. However, not everything goes according to plan, and he finds himself in the wrong place at the worst possible time.Due to the timeline, the whole country is now overrun with stage three eaters – crazed, animalistic predators that only have one thing on their mind – to eat.

The Sixth Extinction Series is an apocalyptic tale about a pandemic that sweeps the globe, decimating the human race, leaving humanity struggling to survive. Within three weeks, everything has changed. Social structure has collapsed. The police are non-existent, and the army concentrates on the cities. Gangs of yobs rule the streets. It becomes everyone for themselves.The Sixth Extinction continues with a collection of short stories about the main characters from the #1 bestselling four-book series.The first character in The First Three Weeks Series is Noah Morgan.Noah is just an average twenty-one-year-old. He has no aspirations in life, no girlfriend, few friends, and a dead-end job stacking shelves in a local supermarket. He locks himself away in his small flat, playing computer games, while ignoring the world outside.The story follows him as the infection first starts to spread across the world, city-by-city and then country by country, until it eventually reaches England. Over the next three weeks, the world as he knows it will change forever, and he has no choice but to adjust to the situation or die trying.

Parkingdom in just over 91,000 words – 531 pages long.Parkingdom is the first installment in a humorous and witty fantasy adventure trilogy, about a group of gnomes trying to survive in a human world.A SECRET WORLDParkingdom is home to a hidden society of tiny gnomes whose whole world resides inside the tall walls of a vast inner-city park; watched over by their Watcher from a large billboard. Then, without warning she disappears along with all the noisy humans.A MISSIONFisher and Bel have been sent away by the city elders to the Great Green Gates, to the Wardens Office, to find out why? It is a perilous journey through the deserted human section of the park and across the uncharted Wild Lands. Soon they find themselves travel companions with a witch's ferret and a scrawny long toothed rat, and befriended by a strange little green snotling that knows a startling secret.HOPEUpon returning they discover their city under the control of a hostile neighbouring city's army. Has their Watcher deserted them in their time of greatest need? Will the elders understand their Watcher's cryptic message? Moreover, will they – along with their rebellious Elders – be able to do anything to save their family and friends?Join Fisher and Bel as they embark upon an adventure that will change their small world forever.

Mankind is no longer at the top of the food chain.The Sixth Extinction is an apocalyptic tale about a pandemic that sweeps the globe, decimating the human race, leaving humanity struggling to survive. Within three weeks, everything has changed. Social structure has collapsed as the government locks itself away with a select portion of its vast army in deep bunkers, leaving the civilians to their own fate and the infected that stalk the streets.The fourteen find themselves prisoners inside a makeshift town on the outskirts of New York City. Captain Stitt has created a renegade – AWOL – army, carving out a small 'utopia' for himself and his men.Lindell and Terrance rushed back to see what is happening to the group once they notice men chained and being loaded on a truck. Frank and Juan have been marched away at gunpoint, and two soldiers remain with the females – one is attacking Jessica, while the other is about to toss Dante out of a window.Alex and Troy escape from the hospital and find the truck. Troy stays with the vehicle while Alex goes to get the others. But first he needs to create a diversion.Doctor Nathan Bachman has been informed that all the pods weren't destroyed. One is in the same bunker, deep below his feet, and he's also been informed it's reproducing. What he finds completely changes everything he knows about the pods. He dons a hazmat suit and enters the chamber where the pod is located. He is shocked with what he finds, just moments before he is knocked unconscious.Does Alex find the others before the town is overrun with the infected? Can Lindell and Terrance help Jessica and Dante in time? Will Doctor Bachman survive his meeting with the only remaining, original, pod?Mankind has underestimated the pods, and now we will pay the price for thinking we are the only sentient species on the planet.

THE MAGICThe World was almost destroyed by science – billions died. The survivors gave up looking for God and looked within themselves. They could hear a new song emanating from the ruins of the past. An ancient song, older than religion and time itself – they heard the magic.THE DEMON ARMYBut the holocaust caused a spell uttered eons ago – when the magic was strong – to weaken. A spell that now released unmentionable creatures back into the world; creatures their ancestors had banished. Science failed to destroy humanity, now it's the powerful Demon Kings turn to try – back with vengeance and a vast army.HOPEPowerful sorcerers could stand in his way, but they have grown old and tired with time, leaving the hope of all New Mankind on the shoulders of a female magus, a slaphappy, lovesick human, a drunken whimsical elf, and an ambitious dwarf, all looking for a Spell that has been hidden for a thousand generations.PART ONESimeon, the head of the Council of Magi, has spent decades deciphering an ancient leather bound book. He sends word to Minika, a sorceress close to where he believes the Spell is hidden – a female magus who is not quite what she seems – and with the aid of a human, an elf and a dwarf, she heads out into the barren wasteland to try and reach the Spell first before Vorr, the demon king and his vast army. But the demons are the least of Minika's worries. Someone else seems hell bent on stopping her – someone who is manipulating magic that hasn't been used for thousands of years. Also the Great Prophetess has just announced the prophecy that Vorr has been waiting to hear for over two thousand years: "e;In a time of great sorrow seven will heal the world."e;

If I continue to tour for another twenty years, as I have for the last twenty-one, I will end up sleeping in at least 1000 hotel beds in my lifetime. For maximum poetic oomph, let's say 1001 beds...They symbolize a life and art dedicated to reaching out toward folks from Bozeman to Tampa. A life and art that has traveled widely and, I believe, reached a couple hundred thousand people with my stories of queer life and love. For a quarter century, Tim Miller has worked at the intersection of performance, politics, and identity, using his personal experiences to create entertaining but pointed explorations of life as a gay American man - from the perils and joys of sex and relationships to the struggles of political disenfranchisement and artistic censorship. This intimate autobiographical collage of Miller's professional and personal life reveals one of the celebrated creators of a crucial contemporary art form and a tireless advocate for the American dream of political equality for all citizens. Here we have the most complete Miller yet - a raucous collection of his performance scripts, essays, interviews, journal entries, and photographs, as well as his most recent stage piece ""Us"". This volume brings together the personal, communal, and national political strands that interweave through his work from its beginnings and ultimately define Miller's place as a contemporary artist, activist, and gay man.

Meghan Murphy is an average twenty-eight-year-old mother of three. She spends each day going over the same old chores, cooking, cleaning, and working part-time at a local cafe.Life wasn't meant to be like this. She had so many plans and ambitions. At school, she was admired and dated the fittest and top athletes. She married the most popular boy in school – that didn't turn out well. That perfect athletic teenager became a fat, uncaring, unhelpful, lazy, good-for-nothing husband who takes her for granted, and after work simply dumps his butt into a chair and watches sports all night.Everything changes when a mysterious man turns up at the cafe. He returns each day, sitting in Meghan's section. He's everything her husbands not – he's rich; he's caring, and he listens to what she has to say.After a month, he hands her a canvas bag, full of PVC clothes, fishnet stockings, high-heels, and a rubber mask. He wants her to join him at a party at a mansion, which will be full of like-minded, scantily clad, masked people.Meghan has a choice to make; say no and go back to her monotonous life, or say yes and take a chance.

Mankind is no longer at the top of the food chain.The Sixth Extinction is an apocalyptic tale about a pandemic that sweeps the globe, decimating the human race, leaving humanity struggling to survive. Within three weeks, everything has changed. Social structure has collapsed as the government locks itself away with a select portion of its vast army in deep bunkers, leaving the civilians to their own fate and the infected that stalk the streets.Naomi is battered and shaken, but she has been released by the large pod to pass on a message to the others on the cargo ship. Will they do as requested, or will the reanimated old crew attack?Stu and Soozie find themselves having to team up with the people they hate the most… Why would Smokie put her trust in the enemy? However, Stu finds something that could turn the tide in their favour.The mutated birds, and the new strain of the infection cause more chaos, destroying their chance of getting off the death ship. Will Frank, Mollee, and Smokie be able to stop the out of control vessel before it's too late?Meanwhile, Bachman and the others, as well some of the newfound cleaning crew, have to deal with Pete – who has become infected, which causes more death and impossible choices.

Anastasia Lucilla Vãduvã was born in 41 BC between the Balkan Mountains and the Black Sea in the Kingdom of Dacia – present-day Transylvania. At the age of eighteen a group of raiding Scythian's attacked her family's farm, killing her father and brother while keeping her mother, sister, and her alive for their own, twisted gratification.After three days they left, thinking they had disposed of all the loose ends. However, things didn't go according to plan, and Ana was left bleeding on the ground as she watched her mother and sister die.During the cold night, while the wolves howled in the distance, as the scent of blood wafted on the breeze, a strange leathery beating sound emerged. In her weak vision, Ana sees a man's naked legs standing beside her. It is a figure from ancient local legend – Dracula. He gave her some of his own powerful blood to save her life, taking away her humanity and replacing it with immortality.Together they hunted down the Scythian's, wreaking vengeance. For nineteen centuries, Ana stayed at his side, until Abraham Van Helsing took him away from her. Alone, Ana hunts the sexual predators, people like the Scythian's who took away her family and her virginity.It is now 2014 and she's stood on a skyscraper in New York City, as she follows a black town car through the streets. Inside is Special Counsel to the District Attorney's Office, Dennis C. Brock II. He is a sexual predator that hunts on the weak. He has an unknowing victim in his car. Ana has him in her sights. After tonight, he will never hurt anyone again.

Frankie De Rossi's family used to own and work in one of the most prestigious circuses on the American Eastern Seaboard, but it all vanished in the blink of an eye due to a sudden act of violence.Thirty-six years later, Frankie lives in New York City in a Federal halfway-house with drug addicts, rapist, and murders.After more than three decades locked in a Federal prison, he tries to transition back into the real world, struggling to make a living working as a clown at children's parties – hanging on to the only profession he's ever known.Frankie hardly gets a chuckle from the kids, but the parents laugh – and for all the wrong reasons.On the anniversary of the worst day of Frankie's life, on a day that was the catalyst for the death of his whole family, life conspires against him, and once again he does something unimaginable.*"e;Violence is a disease, a disease that corrupts all who use it regardless of the cause."e;– Chris Hedges

There are many things beyond mere human comprehension that should never be meddled with.Nok is an average thirty-two-year-old Thai woman, who keeps her small apartment clean and her violent husband happy. He is prone to outbursts after their baby girl died in a road accident. To compensate for the loss, Nok buys a Luk Thep – a spirit doll and takes it to her local temple so the monk can perform Plook Sek on it – to invite a spirit to inhabit the doll to give it a soul. She prays for the angelic soul of her dead daughter.However, we don't always get what we wish for…Evil constantly wanders the mortal world looking for a way to get in... Sometimes we hold the door wide-open.*"e;Our feet are planted in the real world, but we dance with angels and ghosts."e; – John Cameron Mitchell

Terry Strickland is a 27-year-old assistant in a residential nursing facility in New York City. While in Mr. Derne's room – a 94-year-old mute – Terry finds a wooden box wrapped in brittle yellowed newspaper, with the date September 1945 – the end of World War II. Inside is an old war medal and a small black book that is empty apart from the last two pages, which has the coordinates for South Brother Island that is in New York's East River, less than a mile from the nursing home. Along with the coordinates is a small hand-drawn map of the island. An X marks a secret.Terry's curiosity takes him on a journey that soon turns into a nightmare when he uncovers a secret about South Brother Island. A secret the American government is willing to kill for. A horrific secret that has already cost millions of lives worldwide.Some secrets and lies should stay buried. The consequences of their meaning could destroy a country."e;There are no secrets that time does not reveal."e; Jean Racine.

Mankind number less than nine million. The world is on the brink of the next mass extinction.THE DYING WORLDThe year is 2073. The world stands on its final footing. Back in 2048, the world's population numbered over a hundred billion. Wars were fought over food not land. A new organization was put to work; to find the cure for world hunger.THE MACHINEThey used the best scientists from every nation and succeeded in creating D.E.F (Digitally Enhanced Food.) However, the name came to have a more sinister meaning. The machine manipulated time, speeding up the growing process. However, it caused rips in time and space, allowing another dimension – which had been poised waiting for mankind to make such a mistake – to churn through, reaping death and almost total destruction. The answer to their prayers became their worst nightmare.THE LAST OF MANKINDHumankind now numbers a mere nine million. The adults survive in eight underground cities, protected by barriers – it used to be thirteen, but five perished when the moon was rent in two. Their offspring lives on a vast space station, which sits in a geostationary equatorial orbit around a world riddled with creatures from the darkest parts of the imagination. The cities barriers are failing. Also, the Station is slowly being pulled down by the earth's gravity – it was not designed to hold so many, for so long.PART ONE: THE LAST HOPEA small group of six holds all of mankind's hope in their hands as they head towards the largest rip to try to close it down. A father withholds secrets, possibly sending his sons to their death – secrets that if they seep out will cause total panic in all eight remaining cities. The head of the Council of Cities knows what is coming, what's heading their way; she sits and looks at aerial photos of the advancing armies that are closing in. The decision she makes will affect millions. The commander in charge of the orbiting space station awaits the yearly rocket with the children onboard. However, something is wrong with the data files, the numbers just don't add up. With only one day to go, things start to take a deadly turn. Is there a traitor onboard their last hope for humanity?Time is one luxury mankind doesn't have; however, time is what they need the most. Unless a miracle happens, within the next broken lunar cycle, humankind will become extinct.

It's Carl Ramirez's second week as a farmhand at Jake Jackson's large Texas ranch, and Jake loves watching the eighteen-year-olds body move under his tight jeans and white tee-shirt. He's a natural with the lasso and knows how to handle himself.When the opportunity arises, Jake gets Carl into his truck, and it isn't long before Jake pulls over next to a deserted barn. Soon the truck is rocking, and the windows are steaming up. Then they move out of the truck and onto the bonnet. It's lucky no one is around to hear their cries of pleasure.

Sophia Franziska Schäfer lives in a small village at the base of Mount Großen Krottenkopf set in the Allgäu Alps in northern Germany. The year is 1818, and she has just been accused of witchcraft. She slept with the Baker's son out of wedlock, and days later he becomes seriously ill after admitting his sin to the local priest.The pastor believes she has worked a hex, and he gathers a large group of men and hounds to chase after her as she flees the village, heading for the mountains. Sophia only has one chance for survival, to reach Doctor Frankenstein's castle and hide from the angry mob.The Doctor finds her hiding in a deserted, crumbling part of the fortress, and instead of turning her over, he has her cleaned and fed and offers her a job working for Mrs Beckenbauer the aged cook.However, after two months, Sophia becomes intrigued as to what the Doctor is doing up in the tallest tower, hidden away from prying eyes. One night, as a storm rages and the Doctor is away, she climbs the steep stone steps and enters his laboratory.What she finds paralyses her with fear – but also something else – it fills her with primal lust. In that large chamber, something happens to change her world and affect the rest of her life.

Mankind faces the worst pandemic in modern history.Raymond Roberts is an Englishman teaching English in Wuhan, Hubei, China. It's an underwhelming, mediocre Chinese city of twelve million people, with no notable distinctions to make anyone notice its existence, unless you happen to live there. Until that is, it becomes the epicentre of a viral pandemic outbreak that sweeps the globe.The city is on quarantined lockdown – the largest in human history. Raymond ignored the calls from the British Government when they offered him a chance to leave with other British Nationals. Like everyone else, he presumed the People's Republic of China is overreacting.Quarantined to his tiny one-room apartment, Raymond becomes restless and starts spending his time trying to work out what's going on, through China's restricted social media and the Internet.In doing so he draws unwanted, dangerous attention.A rat who gnaws at a cat's tail invites destruction. – Ancient Chinese Proverb

Kylee Cruz is a twenty-one-year-old who works at a large lawyer's firm.Milly is her supervisor, who happens to be a complete bitch that makes everyone's life a misery. Only the week previous she fired a woman who stuck up for herself.Kylee can't afford to lose her position; she worked two jobs to put herself through admin/secretarial school, and she isn't about to be bullied by the likes of Milly Gates.Kylee has a plan. There are three main partners in the firm, Edwards, Gates, and Mortimer – one just happens to be Milly's brother. All she has to do is get one of the partners on his own, and she can guarantee she will be able to convince him she is essential to the company – well, indispensable to him anyway.Even Kylee couldn't have predicted the outcome – fate has a funny sense of humour.

From the author of the #1 best-selling The Sixth Extinction Series comes a new apocalyptic collection.Twelve years have passed since the fires of World War III abated. The clouds of ash have settled. The world as we know it is gone; most of civilization was wiped out by the weapons of war, disease, and then starvation. Nothing grows in the barren soil, and the trees slowly give up and collapse into the ash. The world is a windswept, sterile wasteland, populated by nomadic wanders who scavenge what they can to subsist.One lonely man – Isaac Baptiste – survives in a bunker. For twelve years he has struggled in isolation. He went in at the age of twenty-nine with his wife and daughter – only he survived. However, the bunker cannot sustain him any longer; he is running out of food, and the machines are failing. He has only two choices – leave or lay down and die.At the age of forty-one, Isaac embarks upon a journey to find meaning and salvation, in a world where the cruel feed on the weak, and the line between life and death is thin. He soon realizes that in this dying world, he has to do whatever it takes to survive.

There are many things beyond mere man's comprehension that should never be meddled with.Ram is a fourteen-year-old delinquent from Bangkok, Thailand, living in the Klong Toey slum on the banks of the Chao Phraya River. He runs with the wrong crowd, and his single mum can no longer control him. He has killed many pets in the neighborhood for fun, and he's now ready to move on up to bigger game. The last straw is when he's accused of attempted rape.His uncle takes him up into the mountains, for contemplation and meditation, and to try to teach him some self-respect and discipline. He leaves Ram at an ancient jungle temple that has a shrine dedicated to the tall, hungry ghosts. Instead of helping Ram, it manages to get him into even more trouble with the monks.Ram comes face-to-face with his worst nightmare when he realizes something's should never be meddled with, and the comprehension that mere material possessions cannot save his damned soul.

Jasmine Kennedy is a twenty-one-year-old in her final year at university studying Earth and Marine Sciences. She was out late the night before, and she's regretting it; she's fallen asleep twice in class, and to make matters worse; it was Professor Riley Hubbard, who caught her both times.Professor Hubbard is thirty-six years old and has the kind of body that makes it hard for a female student to concentrate on what he's saying.After running into the professor three times on the same day, she accepts his offer to help her with some extra study time. She's been invited to his office that evening.However, her best friend thought it would be funny to stuff a black silky corset, with pink frills, into Jasmine's bag just before she leaves. When the professor finds it, something happens that she would never have predicted.

There are many things beyond mere human comprehension that should never be meddled with.Naak is an average twelve-year-old Thai school girl. Her only quirk is her ability to see and communicate with the dead. For this, she is constantly teased by her classmates who don't believe her wild tales.While her school class is on a field trip in Japan, heading towards Mount Fuji to do some sightseeing, the bus driver becomes hopelessly lost, and they end up deep inside Aokigahara – the infamous suicide forest, where at least two hundred people annually kill themselves. Here the Yūrei – the angry ghosts of the dead – have been looking for a way to escape.Naak watches in horror as an accident causes all the children to leave the bus. However, something sinister is now controlling them. Naak's gift has taken on a more ominous meaning when she realizes what is happening, and she knows there is only one way to stop it – only one way to save the other children.*"e;No one is more afraid of ghosts than those who don't believe in them."e; – A Chinese Proverb.

Kent Marshal is just an average thirty-one-year-old. His life is dull, boring, and repetitive. He is in a loveless, childless marriage and works for his wife's father as an estate agent.Everything changes when he receives a phone call from Mrs. Townsend, a mid-twenties trophy wife of a successful businessman, who is bored and needs a little action in her life.Everything comes to a head when she arranges a house viewing and insists that Kent is the one to show her around. When they arrive, she disappears upstairs, with strict instructions that he is to come and join her in ten minutes.Will Kent follow her? The decision Kent makes will change his life forever.

Fully revised and updated! Full-color guide to capturing great wedding images and building a successful photography business

This full-color book from acclaimed professional wedding photographer Glen Johnson not only teaches you how to take memorable photos, it also shows you how to start a wedding photography business. Packed with great tips and savvy advice, this new edition helps you set up efficient workflows, choose camera equipment, manipulate images, make impressive presentations, and launch smart, photo-based marketing strategies to build your business. Best of all, it''s loaded with new, superb photos that illustrate photography techniques.

Shows you how to set up and capture beautiful photos, posed or candid, in all kinds of settings, for weddings and other special events Offers practical marketing strategies for building your own photography business, including how to build a fantastic Web site that attracts clients Covers current camera equipment and accessories, post-shoot digital darkroom techniques, digital editing software, and how to print your images successfully Gives you invaluable insights and tips from the author, who is one of the country''s top wedding and special events photographers

Capture better pictures of some of life''s most memorable events—and build a sucessful photography business—with this indispensable guide!

Fully revised and updated! Full-color guide to capturing great wedding images and building a successful photography business

This full-color book from acclaimed professional wedding photographer Glen Johnson not only teaches you how to take memorable photos, it also shows you how to start a wedding photography business. Packed with great tips and savvy advice, this new edition helps you set up efficient workflows, choose camera equipment, manipulate images, make impressive presentations, and launch smart, photo-based marketing strategies to build your business. Best of all, it''s loaded with new, superb photos that illustrate photography techniques.

Shows you how to set up and capture beautiful photos, posed or candid, in all kinds of settings, for weddings and other special events Offers practical marketing strategies for building your own photography business, including how to build a fantastic Web site that attracts clients Covers current camera equipment and accessories, post-shoot digital darkroom techniques, digital editing software, and how to print your images successfully Gives you invaluable insights and tips from the author, who is one of the country''s top wedding and special events photographers

Capture better pictures of some of life''s most memorable events—and build a sucessful photography business—with this indispensable guide!

Lobsters and Landmines is the second book in the Human Nature Series, following in Lamb Chops and Chainsaws footsteps, by continuing to look at the darker side of human nature, by delving into the dark twisted world of the sick minded, the perverse, the psychos and sociopaths; people who take pleasure from hurting others. Individuals, who could be your next-door neighbour or your lover, even a close family member.Read about a captain who discovers the perfect lobster bait after a violent outburst. A HIV infected man who injects women with his tainted blood. A disfigured ex-army bomb disposal expert who has carved out a piece of paradise for himself in Vietnam, who keeps females as slaves and children as objects to sell. Or the sad story about two friends who are forever parted on September 11th 2001. And the airhostess Jenny who finds the perfect job on a Brazilian airline, but it seems they want more from her than most employers. What about the sweet little old lady who wins awards for her cakes, but what are her secret ingredients? Or the doomsday prepper that spends every waking minute of everyday prepping for the end of the world, until one critical mistake changes everything. Or a computer firm that sells its algorithmic computations to cosmetic firms, cutting out the need to test on animals, but below ground, the vast computer server hosts a disturbing secret. Finally, a businessman who realizes a little too late, what is truly important in life?Contents1 Lobster TheodoreAfter a violent outburst, Jim's life will be forever changed. However, every cloud has a silver lining when the captain discovers the perfect lobster bait.2 Little PrickA HIV infected man injects women with his tainted blood. One victim gets the ultimate revenge.3 Man's Best FriendA disfigured ex-army bomb disposal expert has carved out a piece of paradise for himself in Vietnam. He collects women as slaves to live on his farm, and children to be used by his American clients who fly over once a year. Today is the day they arrive, but not everything goes according to plan.4 Towers of TearsOn September 11th 2001, two friends are forever separated.5 Fit for the JobJenny's medical checkup clears her for a job as an airhostess for a small Brazilian airline. However, it seems they want just a little more than most employers do.6 The Last CakeGrace has won every baking competition she has ever entered. She has just one cake left to make before she hangs up her oven-glove. But what are her secret ingredients?7 LockdownA doomsday prepper has everything he needs to survive any end of day's scenario. His underground bunker is all prepped and ready. However, in his haste to survive he has made one critical, life-changing mistake.8 Nosey ParkerA computer firm is raking in hundreds of millions by selling their latest algorithmic computations to cosmetic firms, cutting out the need to test on animals. However, below ground, one section of the vast computer server hosts a disturbing secret.9 RegretsA businessman is taking a flight he has flown hundreds of times before. At home, he leaves an unfinished argument with his wife. However, the flight does not go according to plan, and he realizes what the most important things in life really are.

Mankind is no longer at the top of the food chain.The Sixth Extinction is an apocalyptic tale about a pandemic that sweeps the globe, decimating the human race, leaving humanity struggling to survive. Within three weeks everything has changed. Social structure has collapsed. The police are non-existent, and the army concentrates on the cities. Gangs of yobs rule the streets. It becomes everyone for themselves.The story follows three different people, and their journeys of self-discovery through the changing world.Noah Morgan is just an average twenty-one-year-old. He has no aspirations in life, no girlfriend, few friends, and a dead-end job. Red is a nineteen-year-old female runaway, with a sad past and a disturbing secret. Together they leave behind everything they have ever known, looking for a safe haven.Doctor Melanie Lazaro is working around the clock, under military supervision, in Exeter University's Biomedical Sciences Department, trying to create a cure for the new pandemic that is turning humans back to their primordial roots, creating mindless killing machines with only one purpose − to eat.

Ruin is Part II in The Sixth Extinction Series.A pandemic has swept the globe, decimating humanity, affecting all who breathe in its deadly spores. The Sixth Extinction Series follows a collection of people from all walks of life, as they struggle to survive through the eradication of the human race.Doctor Melanie Lazaro identified the marker of the disease on the human DNA chain, and she carries a file with the information needed to create a blocker, to stop the disease from spreading. While she was being shown the four different stages of the transformation of the human host, the building came under attack by a horde of the infected. During the attack, she was rescued and placed on a helicopter en route to the Dartmoor military base. The helicopter crashed and Lazaro, along with nine military personnel, has to take shelter in a dentist's clinic, while fighting back a mass of the infected. They gain new transportation; however, it proves to be a fatal mistake.Noah and Red join forces with an old woman called Betty, and her special need's grandson, Lennie. The four of them hear the gunfire of the soldiers from the crashed helicopter, and Noah leaves the three behind in a house while he goes in search of rescue. However, not everything goes according to plan, and he finds himself in the wrong place at the worst possible time.Due to the timeline, the whole country is now overrun with stage three eaters – crazed, animalistic predators that only have one thing on their mind – to eat.

The Sixth Extinction Series is an apocalyptic tale about a pandemic that sweeps the globe, decimating the human race, leaving humanity struggling to survive. Within three weeks, everything has changed. Social structure has collapsed. The police are non-existent, and the army concentrates on the cities. Gangs of yobs rule the streets. It becomes everyone for themselves.The Sixth Extinction continues with a collection of short stories about the main characters from the #1 bestselling four-book series.The first character in The First Three Weeks Series is Noah Morgan.Noah is just an average twenty-one-year-old. He has no aspirations in life, no girlfriend, few friends, and a dead-end job stacking shelves in a local supermarket. He locks himself away in his small flat, playing computer games, while ignoring the world outside.The story follows him as the infection first starts to spread across the world, city-by-city and then country by country, until it eventually reaches England. Over the next three weeks, the world as he knows it will change forever, and he has no choice but to adjust to the situation or die trying.

Parkingdom in just over 91,000 words – 531 pages long.Parkingdom is the first installment in a humorous and witty fantasy adventure trilogy, about a group of gnomes trying to survive in a human world.A SECRET WORLDParkingdom is home to a hidden society of tiny gnomes whose whole world resides inside the tall walls of a vast inner-city park; watched over by their Watcher from a large billboard. Then, without warning she disappears along with all the noisy humans.A MISSIONFisher and Bel have been sent away by the city elders to the Great Green Gates, to the Wardens Office, to find out why? It is a perilous journey through the deserted human section of the park and across the uncharted Wild Lands. Soon they find themselves travel companions with a witch's ferret and a scrawny long toothed rat, and befriended by a strange little green snotling that knows a startling secret.HOPEUpon returning they discover their city under the control of a hostile neighbouring city's army. Has their Watcher deserted them in their time of greatest need? Will the elders understand their Watcher's cryptic message? Moreover, will they – along with their rebellious Elders – be able to do anything to save their family and friends?Join Fisher and Bel as they embark upon an adventure that will change their small world forever.

Mankind is no longer at the top of the food chain.The Sixth Extinction is an apocalyptic tale about a pandemic that sweeps the globe, decimating the human race, leaving humanity struggling to survive. Within three weeks, everything has changed. Social structure has collapsed as the government locks itself away with a select portion of its vast army in deep bunkers, leaving the civilians to their own fate and the infected that stalk the streets.The fourteen find themselves prisoners inside a makeshift town on the outskirts of New York City. Captain Stitt has created a renegade – AWOL – army, carving out a small 'utopia' for himself and his men.Lindell and Terrance rushed back to see what is happening to the group once they notice men chained and being loaded on a truck. Frank and Juan have been marched away at gunpoint, and two soldiers remain with the females – one is attacking Jessica, while the other is about to toss Dante out of a window.Alex and Troy escape from the hospital and find the truck. Troy stays with the vehicle while Alex goes to get the others. But first he needs to create a diversion.Doctor Nathan Bachman has been informed that all the pods weren't destroyed. One is in the same bunker, deep below his feet, and he's also been informed it's reproducing. What he finds completely changes everything he knows about the pods. He dons a hazmat suit and enters the chamber where the pod is located. He is shocked with what he finds, just moments before he is knocked unconscious.Does Alex find the others before the town is overrun with the infected? Can Lindell and Terrance help Jessica and Dante in time? Will Doctor Bachman survive his meeting with the only remaining, original, pod?Mankind has underestimated the pods, and now we will pay the price for thinking we are the only sentient species on the planet.

THE MAGICThe World was almost destroyed by science – billions died. The survivors gave up looking for God and looked within themselves. They could hear a new song emanating from the ruins of the past. An ancient song, older than religion and time itself – they heard the magic.THE DEMON ARMYBut the holocaust caused a spell uttered eons ago – when the magic was strong – to weaken. A spell that now released unmentionable creatures back into the world; creatures their ancestors had banished. Science failed to destroy humanity, now it's the powerful Demon Kings turn to try – back with vengeance and a vast army.HOPEPowerful sorcerers could stand in his way, but they have grown old and tired with time, leaving the hope of all New Mankind on the shoulders of a female magus, a slaphappy, lovesick human, a drunken whimsical elf, and an ambitious dwarf, all looking for a Spell that has been hidden for a thousand generations.PART ONESimeon, the head of the Council of Magi, has spent decades deciphering an ancient leather bound book. He sends word to Minika, a sorceress close to where he believes the Spell is hidden – a female magus who is not quite what she seems – and with the aid of a human, an elf and a dwarf, she heads out into the barren wasteland to try and reach the Spell first before Vorr, the demon king and his vast army. But the demons are the least of Minika's worries. Someone else seems hell bent on stopping her – someone who is manipulating magic that hasn't been used for thousands of years. Also the Great Prophetess has just announced the prophecy that Vorr has been waiting to hear for over two thousand years: "e;In a time of great sorrow seven will heal the world."e;