Is the gold real, or is Pat on a fool's errand?It's January 1986, and Pat Kowalski has just turned 18, but there's no cause for celebration. His father is dying, and the local bank is foreclosing on their house. Pat talks to his senile great-grandmother, who tells him a story about a man dying in front of her in 1894. What she doesn't tell him is that the man – Mister Good Boots - had been carrying a suitcase worth of gold coins. These coins would be worth a fortune today – if any ...

“They were alive when I left them.”Vince robs banks, and he has a rule: never rob a bank too close to home, especially when home is a small town in Central Illinois. He broke that rule last night, and now he’s got some big problems.First problem: three people were in the bank when he robbed it. When he left, they were all alive. Now local news is reporting there were only two people in the bank and they’re both dead. He needs to figure out what happened bef...

From E.B. White's motherly Charlotte to J.R.R. Tolkien's monstrous Shelob, spiders both lovable and loathsome have crept their way into human literature. Here is a collection of tales about these fearsome, yet fascinating creatures. A golden spider learns how to spin webs of dreams and visions…A modern London barrister is chosen to be the vessel for an ancient African god…A scientist discovers some legends are all too true…An outlawed demigod passes judgment on a prince's fitness to rule. ...

In the 23rd century, spaceships just don't go missing.FBI agent Ray Volk is assigned to a task force to investigate a tragic accident: the disappearance of interplanetary passenger liner ValuTrip Cardinal, carrying 500 souls between Mars and Earth on a routine run. What looks like a cut-and-dried case of pressure loss is complicated by the arrival of a Martian Captain. A very cute Martian Captain who keeps sticking his nose in Ray's investigation.Martian ex...