As part of an interplanetary exchange scheme, a human (from San Francisco) arrives on another planet. He begins to write his journal as he explores the new world and meets the inhabitants.In this book, you are taken on a transformative journey between two worlds. The narrator is the reader’s eyes and ears on this extraordinary trip from the old and the familiar to the new and surprising, but can his observations be trusted?We learn about life and friendships in this alien c...

Former US Deputy Marshal Jack Parker was tough, rough and relentless in tracking criminals. So when he felt forced to retire from the US Marshals Service he used those same skills to track down a Nazi artifact in Iraq worth millions of dollars. In his pursuit of a fast payday he sets in motion a series of events that has the CIA, Mossad, Al Qaeda and the Iraqi Army all chasing after him. He escapes from one pursuer after another and when he gives in to a desire for payback he inadvertently...

Detective Johnny “Blue” Heron is lured away from stargazing on his fire escape by a wealthy socialite who wants to track down her husband’s lover. It appears to be a straightforward task for a private investigator, but the trail quickly muddies. Blue is chased by hit men and seduced by the suspected lover. A fight in an abandoned pipe factory, a headless body on the railroad tracks, and the curious involvement of homeless kittens makes OUT OF MIND a fascinating read. Michael Burke has prod...

What You Dont Know About Men tells the funny, heartbreaking stories of 20 sometimes shy, sometimes sexy, often sentimental men who march through life as punch-drunk fathers, sons, brothers, uncles, friends and lovers.Michael Burkes debut collection opens with the story of Matthew Connors, a suburban Chicago teen struggling to protect his sister and brother while their parents vacation in the Petrified Forest.The book closes with Brendan and Richard, two grooms in a...

This work seeks to chart what happens in the embodied minds of engaged readers when they read literature. Despite the recent stylistic, linguistic, and cognitive advances that have been made in text-processing methodology and practice, very little is known about this cultural-cognitive process and especially about the role that emotion plays. Burk’s theoretical and empirical study focuses on three central issues: the role emotions play in a core cognitive event like literary text processin...

After a drug cartel abducts his sister, a Kansas judge puts everything on the line to find her.Judge Benjamin Joel catches a death penalty case involing a local drug dealer with ties to a Mexican cartel. When his sister is abducted three days before the trial, Ben is told what he must do to save her--cut the defendant loose utilizing a seldom-used judicial tool known as a judgment of acquittal. A call to law enforcement would expose a conflict of interest that woul...

Attention, guys of America: It's time to get off the couch, turn off the PlayStation, and set down your beer (just kidding— never set down your beer). Your days of freedom are numbered. Every guy owes it to himself to do something audacious, ostentatious, hilarious, or just plain fun before it's too late. The time is now for the kinds of things that will be decidedly against the rules after you "settle down." Die Happy is here to help you create the kind of stories you'll...

Thirteen years ago, a young girl called forth an ancient entity, little realizing the consequences of her unwitting act. Now, with all she loves gone, she summons forth once more...The Ivory Goddess.

This original anthology of six novellas from a cadre of acclaimed horror authors dares readers to be captivated and entertained by their confrontations of secret orders, survival, and horror.We all have secrets. That' s one truth. Another is that secrets are tricky to keep: They want to be shared. In the company of these secrets, societies emerge. They fester and spread. From the esoteric to the pragmatic, history is built on these societies made as much of myth and...

The story of the friendship between two women: a survivor of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake-now a young deputy county coroner in Arizona-and a Whiskey Row saloon girl from Prescott, Arizona. Together they learn about their two very different worlds as they unravel a murder that leads them on a wild chase to San Francisco and back to Arizona-all to stop the assassination of Theodore Roosevelt atop a high dam on the tenuous eve of Arizona's statehood. Along the way, they collect a remarka...

The Virtus Fides was a proud craft of the Imperium, a millennias-old empire. Upon completion of its thirteen-month mission above the primitive world of Arago, the crew takes part in the Mid-Winter celebration before embarking on their next mission. Strange blue lightning soon disables the station.Tarquin and Arrius, officers of the Imperium, come face to face with the source of the mysterious blue event and discover the true meaning of "brotherhood and loyalty".

Author Bernadette M. Burke has always looked up to her brother, Michael.At the tender age of twenty, Michael Burke almost lost his life fighting to defend the quality of life and freedom valued by all Americans. His experiences on the field of combat in Vietnam were like that of many, yet his spirit prevailed when others crumbled. He saw his comrades die in front of him and survived a bomb attack that claimed too many of his company.Through it all, he never wavered from his...