Tales of discovery and loss, laughter and terror.Think you know the world? Take a closer look. Strange figures emerge from the walls. Evil engulfs guilty and innocent alike. Nature and shopkeepers serve up deep meaning. And whichever way you turn, oddities are hidden in plain sight.In this eclectic gathering of thirty-one short tales by award-winning author Dale E. Lehman, you'll encounter desperation among the sinking islands of the Chesapeake, walk realms...

Tales of warmth, wit, and wickedness.You never know what you'll find along this road. Minds and machines rend space and time. The doomed and the immortal discover new life. Justice turns criminal while crime serves justice. And at every turn, ordinary people find inspiration in the unexpected.In this eclectic gathering of thirty-one short tales by award-winning author Dale E. Lehman, you'll tour the most extreme moon in the solar system, open doors to dista...

Who's the target?When Detective Lieutenant Rick Peller discovers a Bible verse spray painted on a Catholic church, he fears it's a death threat. But aimed at who? The reticent pastor seeking to cover it up? The retired priest who everyone insists is the most harmless man in the world? The nervous housekeeper with a troubled past? As Peller and his team investigate, the incidents multiply, drawing a second church into a tangled web of deceit obscured by the seal of ...

Only the rich and the ruthless survive.Upon discovering a rock bearing ancient microfossils, exobiologist Dr. Miguel Hernandez seeks to preserve a tract of Mars for further research. But Lowell Colony Mayor Andre Rand covets the same area for expansion. Framed for sabotage, Miguel must flee into the deadly Martian wilderness and, if possible, collect additional evidence before it's destroyed by construction.In a society driven by greed and ruled by corrupti...

Tales of mirth, imagination, and mayhem.Nothing is quite what it seems in this realm. Partners cross each other, intentionally or otherwise. Late-night visitors appear from nowhere and linger long after they're gone. Mountain lakes, forests, and caves harbor secrets best not revealed. And every day, curious encounters change lives.In this eclectic gathering of thirty-one short tales, including award-winning flash fiction and longer stories, you'll encounter...

Eternal fame or eternal shame?Hopeless optimist Roberto Maccarone has staked his fortunes on a bold move: he's brought grand opera to the Oort Territories, where there isn't enough culture to fill a petri dish. But it's a tough sell here in the cold dark of the next to last circle of hell, and soon Maccarone is up to his mephistophelean eyebrows in corporate greed, rebellious miners, bloodthirsty mercenaries, outrageous lies, intense loathing, inane conversations, ...

Accident? Or Murder?Four years ago, Detective Lieutenant Rick Peller's wife Sandra died on a country road. The driver who rammed her car vanished without a trace, leaving police stunned and baffled. But it wasn't murder. It was a freak accident, and the statute of limitations has run out. Now a bungled robbery raises new questions. As Detective Sergeants Corina Montufar and Eric Dumas investigate, Peller's memories awaken, triggering a series of insights that shine...

Normal is dead.Humanity has all but perished in a tidal wave of lethal violence, overwhelmed by a mysterious disease that drives its victims mad. Thrown together in the chaos, Will and Jesse, a white New York financial manager and a young black man struggling to make ends meet, flee the carnage in search of safety. But safe no longer exists in a world where monsters stalk the land in human skins and the sane must kill to protect themselves.Death haunts citi...

Those weasels are up to something...Between them, Bernard and Melody Earls have looks, charm, brains . . . everything but money. That's why they steal from the rich and give to themselves. So when Alexander Hamilton Plaskett hires them to nick a silver statuette of a pine marten from his brother Paul Revere Plaskett, they're happy to oblige. But it won't be as easy as it looks. For one thing, the little beast is guarded by Fitzroy Fortresses, the best security syst...

Bones litter the street...A catastrophic flood in Ellicott City leaves more than damaged buildings in its wake: a human skeleton now lies scattered along Main Street. Did a colonial settler wash out of his grave? Or is it murder? As Detective Lieutenant Rick Peller and his team investigate, the descendants of James Ferring, a local business icon from a bygone era, become the focus, and Peller is sure they're hiding something.There are clues aplenty. The gun...

Music. Art. Nazis. Easy peasy...Between them, Bernard and Melody Earls have looks, charm, brains...everything but money. That's why they steal from the rich and give to themselves. When they're offered $20,000 to pilfer a music manuscript believed destroyed in World War II, they figure it's worth a look. Sure, the artifact might not exist. (Probably doesn't.) Yeah, it's allegedly locked in an off-limits women's room. (What kind of sense does that make?) Ok...

"I start with zero. Nobody dies today."The strange note delivered to Howard County, Maryland Detective Lieutenant Rick Peller proves to be a warning shot. Soon Peller and his protégés Detective Sergeants Corina Montufar and Eric Dumas are pursuing a cunning killer basing murders on the Fibonacci series, a mathematical sequence in which each number is the sum of the preceding two. And the only thing Peller knows for sure is that the series never ends.As the ...