Stories by @mblack

Bernie Gunther / Berlin Noir

Summer, 1928. Berlin, a city where nothing is verboten. In the night streets, political gangs wander, looking for fights. Daylight reveals a beleaguered populace barely recovering from the postwar inflation, often jobless, reeling from the reparations imposed by the victors. At central police HQ, the Murder Commission has its hands full. A killer is on the loose, and though he scatters many clues, each is a dead end. It's almost as if he is taunting the cops. Meanwhile, the press is having a field day. This is what Bernie Gunther finds on his first day with the Murder Commisson. He's been taken on because the people at the top have noticed him--they think he has the makings of a first-rate detective. But not just yet. Right now, he has to listen and learn.

The Love Hypothesis

The Love Hypothesis follows Olive, a PhD student who wants to prove to her best friend that she has moved on and is dating. With no way to prove it, she kisses the first man she sees, which ends up being none other than Dr. Carlsen, known as one of the most unapproachable and critical professors.

Stalking Jack the Ripper

Seventeen-year-old Audrey Rose Wadsworth was born a lord's daughter, with a life of wealth and privilege stretched out before her. But between the social teas and silk dress fittings, she leads a forbidden secret life. Against her stern father's wishes and society's expectations, Audrey often slips away to her uncle's laboratory to study the gruesome practice of forensic medicine. When her work on a string of savagely killed corpses drags Audrey into the investigation of a serial murderer, her search for answers brings her close to her own sheltered world.

Fabbricante di Lacrime

Within the walls of the Grave, the orphanage where Nica grew up, stories and legends have always been told by candlelight. The most famous is that of the maker of tears, a mysterious craftsman with eyes as clear as glass, guilty of forging all the fears and anxieties that inhabit the hearts of men. But at seventeen, the time has come for Nica to leave the grim tales of her childhood behind. In fact, her biggest dream is about to come true. The Milligans have begun their adoption procedures and are ready to give her the family she has always wanted. In the new house, however, Nica is not alone. Together with her, Rigel is also taken away from the Grave, a restless and mysterious orphan, the last person in the world that Nica would want as her adoptive brother. Rigel is intelligent, shrewd, plays the piano like an enchanting demon and is endowed with a beauty that can bewitch, but his angelic aspect conceals a dark disposition. Even though Nica and Rigel are united by a common past of pain and deprivation, coexistence between them seems impossible. Especially when the legend creeps back into their lives and the tearmaker suddenly becomes real, closer and closer. Yet Nica, sweet and courageous, is willing to do anything to defend her dream, because only if she has the courage to face the nightmares that torment her, she will finally be able to hover free of her like the butterfly whose name she bears.

A Shadow in the Ember

Born shrouded in the veil of the Primals, a Maiden as the Fates promised, Seraphena Mierel’s future has never been hers. Chosen before birth to uphold the desperate deal her ancestor struck to save his people, Sera must leave behind her life and offer herself to the Primal of Death as his Consort. However, Sera’s real destiny is the most closely guarded secret in all of Lasania—she’s not the well protected Maiden but an assassin with one mission—one target. Make the Primal of Death fall in love, become his weakness, and then…end him. If she fails, she dooms her kingdom to a slow demise at the hands of the Rot. Sera has always known what she is. Chosen. Consort. Assassin. Weapon. A specter never fully formed yet drenched in blood. A monster. Until him. Until the Primal of Death’s unexpected words and deeds chase away the darkness gathering inside her. And his seductive touch ignites a passion she’s never allowed herself to feel and cannot feel for him. But Sera has never had a choice. Either way, her life is forfeit—it always has been, as she has been forever touched by Life and Death.

The War of Two Queens

Casteel Da’Neer knows all too well that very few are as cunning or vicious as the Blood Queen, but no one, not even him, could’ve prepared for the staggering revelations. The magnitude of what the Blood Queen has done is almost unthinkable.

A Court of Wings and Ruin

Feyre has returned to the Spring Court, determined to gather information on Tamlin's maneuverings and the invading plans of King of Hybern & his forces who threaten to bring Prythian to its knees. But to do so, she must play a deadly game of deceit – and one slip may spell doom not only for Feyre, but for her world as well. As war bears down upon them all, Feyre must decide who to trust amongst the dazzling and lethal High Lords and hunt for allies in some unexpected places.