Psychological Science

A virus nearly wiped out the human race. In order to survive, people are segregated into three tiers. Those with the best genetic viability get the most resources, and Kate and Eric are lucky enough to end up in Tier One.

Twenty years ago, three young women disappeared, never to be found. The rumour to this day is that their bodies are still hidden deep within the murky Loch Aven. When Eleanor, Clio and Michaela find themselves rained out of a camping trip in the Scottish countryside, they have no option but to book the mysterious house nestled on the banks of the lake. But little do they know that history has a way of repeating itself. As secrets in the tightknit community begin to surface, and Michaela suddenly disappears, it becomes clear that something sinister is at play.

It’s the hottest winter on record, but Raymond’s demanding, bedridden mother doesn’t mind. She likes it warm. Lately, however, control over the thermostat has become a nasty struggle. And each morning that she’s still alive is a suffocating new challenge for Raymond. How high can the mercury climb before he boils over?

When Michael "Blue" Whitley -- a former party boy turned up-and-coming Brooklyn chef -- returns with three friends to the remote Canadian commune of his birth, he discovers that his entire life has been a carefully orchestrated lie. He is in fact someone else altogether, a replacement for a local child who disappeared twenty-five years earlier. He is something not quite human.

In 1993 at a top secret facility conducting telekinetic research, something dangerous escaped. Now the government wants it back. Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, is a quiet little tourist town where nothing exciting ever happens. All of that changes when a young woman is found brutally murdered and a local boy vanishes without a trace.

Eight years after a virus has left half of the population of the world mentally unstable, a man named Ethan Chase enters into a program to become a "Sitter", or caretaker, to two "Unstables". One of which, is a girl, a "Mirror", who believes that she leaves for Paris every Sunday and returns on Tuesday and often mimics and repeats the actions of those around her. The other, a highly functioning "Amnesiac" named Noah who is at one moment lucid and the next completely incoherent.

Actor and sex worker Nats is experienced at putting on a show. However, her new gig supplying intimate whispers for growgirls takes her to a place darker and lonelier than she could have ever imagined. The lab-grown dolls can respond to pleasure or pain; their synthetic heads contain only the simplest AI to prevent any pesky robo sex doll uprisings. But just because growgirls don’t have a brain, doesn’t mean they don’t have a voice...

Prisoner 43-1-12 contends with the voices of her past, present, and future in the war-altered world of Illirium. From a ranch outside a rural town, to a prison formed from city ruins, and a wilderness marked by supernatural encounters, There Was Music explores the struggle between identity and the cost of survival, the power of music, and the hope of healing.

Lost in the rubble of a society long dead, a small group of survivors forages for what supplies are left to be found. Their explorations will lead to a fatal confrontation as their paths cross with one young man with a death wish. The story of what drove him to that place on that day is one that will change their outlook forever on their increasingly bleak existence on the landscape of a newly alien world.

Seven strange stand-alone tales involving unusual people caught in disturbing circumstances are presented in this collection.

A wealthy and ruthless South American drug lord is eliminating the competition with designer drugs, murder, and shamanistic powers. He is a Brujo Negro, a practitioner of ancient black arts. His chemists are creating the ultimate addicting drug; a single dose and you are addicted forever. One man, Dr. Lucas Forge, a former forensic psychologist, scout/sniper, and now an 'off-the-books' Spec Ops operative, and his team of multi-talented Spec Ops agents are the only ones who stand in his way.

Two women thousands of miles apart. One a scientist stranded on an island with an untrustworthy male colleague and a hostile alien stalking them. The other - a thief wrongfully imprisoned for murder - lives in fear of assault by a corrupt prison guard. Neither can overcome the invaders that threaten their survival without solving the mystery of the link that binds them.

This short novel is an accompaniment to my second book, From Whence They Came. It coincides with the time period as to when that story takes place, though from an entirely different perspective. By listening both pieces of fiction a more complete picture is revealed. Jimmy, the main character, is an entitled 30-something whose mundane life is suddenly swept up into a secret organization that is directly linked to the aliens and their world changing course of events.

"Celephaïs", extrait : "En rêve, Kuranes contempla la cité dans la vallée. La côte s'étendant derrière le pic neigeux qui domine la mer, et les galères aux couleurs gaies qui sortent du port pour aller vers les régions lointaines où le ciel et la mer se rejoignent. Ce fut également en rêve qu'il acquit ce nom de Kuranes, car lorsqu'il s'éveilla, il constata qu'on l'appelait autrement.

Pauly Hart’s novella Superior Respondent deals with elements in storytelling that you are familiar with, but have never been introduced to in such a fashion. A full scaled thriller condensed into a short is often hard to accomplish but this story does it at a breakneck pace with smart simplicity.

With the promise of divorcing Pavia, the Council of Lords elects Alric as King of Gambria. But promises are often broken and Pavia finally realizes her life’s ambition - she is now Queen of Gambria. Viewing Duncan as a threat, she demands Duncan disband the Templars. When Duncan refuses, she enlists other commanderie Lords to punish him. While her forces assemble to deal with Duncan, Pavia turns her attention to Alexis, for she has not forgotten the public embarrassment the Berserker gave her as well as the theft of the Kingdom’s tarrac.

Dr. Peter Andresen is a broken man. Once a highly respected psychiatrist, he lives alone, suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder that he steadfastly denies. As the story begins, Peter walks alone on a deserted beach. He doesn't know where he is or what he's doing until he encounters a beautiful young woman named Holly Be. She knows his story and it is her assigned mission to restore meaning to his life. But she fails to maintain the emotional distance required to prevent them from falling in love.

Inspired by Ivan the Terrible’s “Memorial Book of the Disgraced” and his own spiritual crisis, Alyosha has been trying to record the memories of people in his life who "died before their time, leaving nothing behind except in my memory". In hospital, however, he changes tack and decides to dedicate his Memorial Book to the memories of the elderly patients in his ward, described to him as alumni of the early-Soviet Institute for Natural Genius. This plan, however, is hijacked by one patient who tells him a story that reaches even further back into the past of the Russian Revolution.

Rachel fends for herself in a country brought to its knees by climate change. Since Jason left two years ago, she only ventures beyond the safety of her storm wall when food supplies dwindle. Her one contact with the outside world is through Noah, who runs the market. Hoping he might be the answer to her isolation, she proposes a date. When another man turns up in Noah's place, she is intrigued and repelled in equal measure.

"When we are happy, we are always good," says Lord Henry, "but when we are good, we are not always happy." Lord Henry’s lazy, clever words lead the young Dorian Gray into a world where it is better to be beautiful than to be good; a world where anything can be forgiven - even murder - if it can make people laugh at a dinner party. Oxford Bookworms Library reader for learners of English, adapted from the Oscar Wilde original by Jill Nevile.