Chiaroscuro The Mouse And The Candle

God’s will be done. After eleven years as a priest living by these words, Father Antonio Molinari never imagined who would teach his strongest lesson of faith―a vampire. As a member of a secret order within the Vatican, he investigates and debunks supernatural events. A case of possession brings him to the French countryside, where two local clergy offer him the chance of a lifetime. They claim to have captured a vampire, and beg his expertise in helping them study the fiend. When their monster turns out to be a little girl, cursed to spend eternity hiding from the sun, he cannot bring himself to destroy her. The priests, mistaking his compassion for diabolism, panic, and his efforts to protect an innocent child prove fatal. He awakes caught between light and darkness. Hunted by the Church he once served as well as the fiends he once destroyed, Father Molinari clings to his faith there is still room for him in God’s plan. But God is quiet, and the darkness tempting.

In the realm of imagination, characters live out a thousand different lifetimes in hundreds of worlds, offering an escape from the mundane. This book contains a selection of twenty-seven chapter ones from my standalone novels and first-in-series books. Spend a while with agent Kirsten Wren chasing ghosts across the cyberpunk future or Althea as she searches the Badlands for a place to belong. Follow Risa Black into the deepest tunnels of Mars, then go with Mia Gartner an unsuspecting happy owner of a new home who has yet to discover what awaits her inside. Watch little Kelly Donovan, a nine-year-old fan of superheroes, have an awful day at school unaware she'll soon be living her wildest dream. These, and many other stories wait inside.

Saving the world isn’t easy. It’s even harder when you’re only nine. Kelly Donovan used to be a nobody. Well, a smart nobody. Skipping ahead a year in school made her the smallest kid in fifth grade and a target for bullies in search of an easy mark. She tried to follow her father’s advice and ignore them, but it didn’t do any good. Escaping into her favorite comic books at least helped her through the day. Who needs friends anyway? Sometimes, dreams find a way to come true, even if nobody asked them to. Aliens bombard the Earth with gigantic glowing red crystals to restore its failing magnetic field. Soon after the seemingly benevolent invasion, Kelly discovers her wildest, happiest fantasy come to life: she has superpowers, along with roughly two percent of the population. Her strong good nature leads her to adopt the heroic persona of Übergirl. However, she has one major problem… Her dad’s turning into a mad scientist. It’s difficult to be a hero, especially when your father’s a bad guy.

Kelly Donovan wants to save the Earth from aliens, but her plan has a serious snag—she needs to do it before bedtime. It’s been a few weeks since the Nolmek scattered giant crystals around the world that unintentionally gave some people super powers. They also nearly eliminated war and shared technology to solve famine, drought, and pollution, so pretty much everyone loves them. Alas, the aliens didn’t visit Earth purely out of kindness. They needed a primitive species to enslave. Kelly discovers they’re speeding up their plans, already abducting people from the super-prison right out from under the cops’ noses, the same prison her mad-scientist father is stuck in. She’s desperate to protect him, but unfortunately, no one is willing to believe the Nolmek could be bad guys. Worse, they know she’s on to them. If she can’t find proof of the aliens’ plan, stop the invasion, and be in bed before nine, she faces worse than the enslavement of humanity—she’ll be grounded.

Nine-year-old Kelly Donovan helped save the world from aliens, but now she has an even bigger problem—someone’s trying to ruin Halloween. Life is difficult for the world’s tiniest superhero. Her genius plan to save her parents from supervillainy in one easy step proved impossible… at least not without destroying the Earth. Superpowers, good or bad, aren’t going away any time soon. Mom’s as likely to hug her as trick her into a ridiculous trap, but at least her dad’s mellowed out a bit. Lately, he seems focused more on being weird than evil. Small favors. Kelly’s looking forward to the happy normal of trick-or-treating… until candy starts disappearing. Convinced a mysterious supervillain is responsible, she and her best—only—friend Paige rush to stop all the sweets in the world from evaporating. Alas, with only a week left and zero clues, humanity will likely suffer an even worse fate than enslavement by an alien race: the end of all Halloweens.

Princess Oona Talomir enjoys the little things that come with her station: a handmaiden, her lavish bedchamber, and scores of fancy dresses―the duty to win a decades’ long war, not so much. Oh, did I mention assassins? Seers foretold the conflict would end by her hand. From the moment she drew her first breath, the neighboring kingdom has been trying to kill her so she could not grow powerful enough to destroy them. Fearing for his daughter’s life, the king has kept her confined to the castle grounds for most of her sixteen years. With the tide of war turning against them, the burden of her crown becomes too much to bear, yet one thing lifts her spirits amid the gloom. Her servant girl, Kitlyn. Alas, in a kingdom obsessed with the god of purity, she is terrified to confess her forbidden love. When her father makes a demand she cannot abide―marry a prince to forge a military alliance―Oona panics. He is handsome and honorable, but he’s not Kitlyn. Unable to admit why she cannot obey, Oona does the only thing she can think of, and runs away. Alone and unprepared in the wilderness, she prays the gods will let Kitlyn find her—before the assassins do.

Emma tries to balance her newfound abilities as a druid with only being ten years old. Chores and having to go inside before dark leaves only a few hours a day to save the forest―or at least her home town. Strange magic plagues the people of Widowswood Village. None of the adults take it seriously, as the effects are short-lived and whimsical. Emma suspects something darker is going on, having listened to Nan’s tales of night pixies who aren’t as nice as the Silverbells. Convinced someone or something wishes ill upon her home, she decides to do what the adults won’t. Amid the chaos, the daughter of a wealthy gem merchant goes missing. Emma’s father and the entire Widowswood Watch spend all their time searching for the abducted girl. Worse, a bully blames Emma for the girl’s disappearance, but after dealing with a banderwigh and the silk thieves, he doesn’t scare her at all—until he turns violent. Emma knows everything is connected, and isn’t about to let a mean-spirited older boy stop her from protecting her home.

Twelve year old Piper Bailey wouldn’t trade her friends for any amount of money―unfortunately, when her dad inherits a fortune, she doesn’t have a choice. She’s happy with her little house in Syracuse and hand-me-down clothes twenty years out of style. The unexpected windfall is a blessing for her family, but it comes with a giant house hours away in the woods. Heartbroken at being so far from her tiny social circle, she tries to talk her parents into staying home, but they drag her off to the forest anyway. Piper finds an unexpected friend in a boy who lives in the next house, and the two decide to explore grandpa’s giant mansion. It doesn’t take long for creepy things to start happening. Convinced there’s a malevolent ghost trying to hurt them, she asks her parents for help, but Mom goes from believing Piper is acting out over the unwanted move to being legit crazy. A near-fatal attack from the spirit strands the kids in a hidden underground complex packed with supposedly mythical beasts. Thinking the strange zoo cruel, Piper is determined to free the creatures, but not all the captives are friendly. Some are downright evil.