Crimson Rain

An engaging, futuristic thriller! Star-crossed lovers Rayn and Dina, bound to each other by their telepathic abilities, are forced to part when Rayn is deported back to his home world. But instead of reuniting as planned, they're enslaved by forces out of their control--he by the laws of his world, and she by a raider who seeks revenge against an old enemy. Raider Alecto Kylariz, a member of the mysterious race known as the Roven, seizes Dina on a whim, thinking to use her as bait in his game of cat-and-mouse with his nemesis, a military commander who murdered Kyl's lover long ago. But when Dina becomes too valuable to risk, the game changes. Now Kyl will stop at nothing to keep her from all his enemies, including her ex-lover, Rayn DeStar. Following his deportation to his home world, outlaw Rayn DeStar is on probation, forbidden to leave the planet. But when he learns Dina's been abducted, he trades his future freedom for the chance to go after her and kill her abductor. Rayn and Kyl vow to destroy each other. Dina has spent the past several months on a harsh and lawless world, fighting for survival and finding safety only with Alecto Kylariz, a man not only with tortured dreams and a lust for revenge, but one who harbors a secret so guarded even her telepathic powers can't breach it. Now she's caught between her love for Kyl and for Rayn, the ex-lover she doesn't know anymore. How can she decide who fights for love and who fights only for vengeance?

This book explores the cultural and social roots of violence in China by studying the history of recurrent, massive carnage in one county, Macheng, between the expulsion of the Mongols in the 14th century and the Japanese invasion of 1938.

Paul and Gina Bradley did all they could to create the perfect family. When they discovered they could not have children of their own, they adopted twin girls, intent on giving them a good home. But something was terribly wrong with Angela, one of the twins, and after a terrifying event, Paul and Gina returned five-year-old Angela to St. Sympatica's Orphanage, assured that she would get excellent psychiatric care. Now, sixteen years later, the Bradley family is crumbling. Paul and Gina have drifted apart and are only going through the motions of a marriage for Angela's twin, Rachel. But Rachel is beginning to act like a total stranger, and they begin to wonder if she isn't suffering from the same problems that plagued her sister. When Rachel disappears just after Christmas, Paul and Gina are forced to pull together—for the sake of their family, for their very survival. Because someone has unleashed a vengeful fury on the Bradleys.

Ethan Bar-Lev, Brodie Saunders and Harshul Khanna, we are the three of the most unlikely names to ever make a difference. My friend Brodie wanted me to turn to God. My other friend Harshul wanted me to turn to drugs. I doubt I’ll find my answers in religion or intoxication. We are not a unified civilization. You are one or the other, a drug pusher or a religious preacher, and they despise one another. When emotions have effect on the flesh, it's a tough life. I have my scars, badges of weakness. My nose rains crimson and my eye sockets swell when I become overwhelmed with sadness or other dark feelings. People use drugs to protect them from themselves. It's not hard. Drugs are legal. Or should I say, they might as well be as it's bootlegged in broad day light, sold in the streets, law enforcement turn a blind eye, what else was the government supposed to do? You know it’s amazing how people still hurt the people they love, even when they can see the damage they do...’ I caught my fiancée cheating on me, whilst I was holding a piece of her decorative ornamental bamboo, I should have weaponized it, beaten the unfaithfulness out of her. But I didn't. I soon find myself in the Catacombs, an island set up during the prohibition for soldiers to blow off steam. Now a mysterious celebrity hotspot, I end up there, mourning the loss of my unfaithful wife to be. They say it's heaven on earth, but before I know it I'm swept away into a place outside of society, outside of sanity. Into the world of Crow I fall, the man who crafted heaven on earth, to lure her, to lure her to him.

Ethan Bar-Lev, Brodie Saunders and Harshul Khanna, we are the three of the most unlikely names to ever make a difference. My friend Brodie wanted me to turn to God. My other friend Harshul wanted me to turn to drugs. I doubt I'll find my answers in religion or intoxication. We are not a unified civilization. You are one or the other, a drug pusher or a religious preacher, and they despise one another. When emotions have effect on the flesh, it's a tough life. I have my scars, badges of weakness. My nose rains crimson and my eye sockets swell when I become overwhelmed with sadness or other dark feelings. People use drugs to protect them from themselves. It's not hard. Drugs are legal. Or should I say, they might as well be as it's bootlegged in broad day light, sold in the streets, law enforcement turn a blind eye, what else was the government supposed to do? You know it's amazing how people still hurt the people they love, even when they can see the damage they do...' I caught my fiancée cheating on me, whilst I was holding a piece of her decorative ornamental bamboo, I should have weaponized it, beaten the unfaithfulness out of her. But I didn't. I soon find myself in the Catacombs, an island set up during the prohibition for soldiers to blow off steam. Now a mysterious celebrity hotspot, I end up there, mourning the loss of my unfaithful wife to be. They say it's heaven on earth, but before I know it I'm swept away into a place outside of society, outside of sanity. Into the world of Crow I fall, the man who crafted heaven on earth, to lure her, to lure her to him.

18 stories by University of South Carolina students from Robert Lamb's Fiction Workshop, plus one by the professor.

Four years ago, a dragon filled the sky, the nation of Japan fell, and Japanese people around the world were wiped out. Yahiro, a survivor of the tragic event, works as a salvager who obtains Japanese artwork and artifacts for foreign buyers. Not many are willing or able to brave the ruins, which are crawling with monstrous beasts called Moujuu. But Yahiro’s the best man for the task. After all, thanks to his regenerative abilities, he can’t really die. He’s approached about a job to search for the Kushinada, which is capable of controlling the Moujuu, but it will require delving into the most dangerous parts of the city. This is the story of a dragon girl and a dragon slayer.