Stories by @penguininja

The Client

In a weedy clearing on the outskirts of Memphis, two boys watch a shiny Lincoln pull up to the curb...Eleven-year-old Mark Sway and his younger brother were sharing a forbidden cigarette when a chance encounter with a suicidal lawyer left Mark knowing a bloody and explosive secret: the whereabouts of the most sought-after dead body in America. Now Mark is caught between a legal system gone mad and a mob killer desperate to cover up his crime. And his only ally is a woman named Reggie Love, who has been a lawyer for all of four years. Prosecutors are willing to break all the rules to make Mark talk. The mob will stop at nothing to keep him quiet. And Reggie will do anything to protect her client --even take a last, desperate gamble that could win Mark his freedom... or cost them both their lives

The Penny Pony

Cathy and Roger found the pony in a junk shop. They wanted a live pony more than anything else in the world, but this one looked as if it might toss its head at any moment, and when it was pushed it moved up and down in a kind of rusty canter.

Acid Row

Acid Row is a crime-infested housing project that exists by its own laws. When news comes that a child has been kidnapped, the frustration and anger that has been seething on the streets of Acid Row is ignited. And no one will be safe.

Francie

Seventeen-year-old Francie Nelson is charming, saucy, and spoiled. Her father thinks it would be a good idea for her to see how other people live—in this case, the other people are the English. So she packs up and, with heels dragging the whole way, travels to what looks, at first, like the land of gloom. Her British fog lifts when she meets some boys. If only she didn’t feel so dumb and dumpy in Fairfields’ school uniform! But, like her English hosts, she keeps a stiff upper lip. It’s all she can do to control that lip when a school chum named Jennifer refers to her as a “Yank.” With the help of a friend she meets on a cruise, Francie adjusts in a tough boarding school where she faces prejudice, anxiety, and loneliness. She begins to experience more and more ups, until at last, she realizes she has grown emotionally, and has transformed herself.

Untamed Desire

Mark Holland was the most dangerously exciting man Asante James had ever met. From the moment they touched, his lean hard body filled her with desire, and all of her cried out for the ultimate embrace. But he was more than just the man whose touch she craved. Mark was also the man who could destroy her father's career. Conflicting loyalties meant an aching heart. Yet Asante knew that, whatever the consequences, Mark had to be told the soul-wrenching secret that was keeping them apart....

Screwball

Patrick was good at everything he tried. Like was good at - well, collecting junk. There was no point in Mike's attempting to compete, until he learned about the Soap Box Derby. Maybe that was something he could win - and maybe then the kids would stop calling him 'Screwball.'

Dance Upon the Air

When Nell Channing arrives on charming Three Sisters Island, she believes that she's finally found refuge from her abusive husband--and from the terrifying life she fled so desperately eight months ago... But even in this quiet, peaceful place, Nell never feels entirely at ease. Careful to conceal her true identity, she takes a job as a cook at the local bookstore cafe--and begins to explore her feelings for the island sheriff, Zack Todd. But there is a part of herself she can never reveal to him--for she must continue to guard her secrets if she wants to keep the past at bay. One careless word, one misplaced confidence, and the new life she's created so carefully could shatter completely. Just as Nell starts to wonder if she'll ever be able to break free of her fear, she realizes that the island suffers under a terrible curse--one that can only be broken by the descendants of the Three Sisters, the witches who settled the island back in 1692. And now, with the help of two other strong, gifted women--and with the nightmares of the past haunting her every step--she must find the power to save her home, her love...and herself..

Golden Eyes

A brilliant new vampire epic of immortal secrets and unearthly seduction. Gestern Hall, transported stone by stone from Europe in the 1800s, is home to the most prominent family in Oldenberg, Oregon. In its hallways, an ageless man stalks silently, consumed by an everlasting hunger; outside its walls, the town begins to succumb to the family's evil legacy.

The Hollow

When Abbey's best friend, Kristen vanishes at the bridge near Sleepy Hollow Cemetary, everyone else is all too quick to except Kristen is dead...and rumors fly that her death was no accident. Abbey goes through the motions of motions of mourning her best friend, but privately, she refuses to believe Kristen is really gone. Then she meets Caspian, the gorgeous and mysterious boy who shows up out of nowhere at Kristen's funeral and keeps reappearing in Abbey's life. Caspian clearly has secrets of his own, but he's the only person who makes Abbey feel normal again...but also special. Just when Abbey starts to feel that she might survive all this, she learns a secret that makes her question everything she thought she knew about her best friend. How could Kristen have kept silent about so much? As Abbey struggles to understand Kristen's betrayal, she uncovers a frightening truth that nearly unravels her - one that will challenge her emerging love for Caspian, as well as her own sanity.

Point In Time

As a successful Hollywood executive, Mariah is on the lookout for the perfect screenplay, and while scouting locations in Pittsburgh, she thinks she has it. With an old-fashioned setting and Thorn, a hero to die for, she knows it will make a great movie. But something will have to be done about the ending--Thorn is too great a character to die. Then a visit to a historic park sent Mariah back in time--to frontier Fort Pitt, where she is rescued by a very real Thorn.

The Blackmail Bargain

A gold-digging home-wrecker isn't Curt McIntosh's ideal woman. But it seems that's exactly what he's got with Peta Grey.For Curt there is only one way to stop her...blackmail! In reality, Peta is a penniless virgin trying to survive. She accepts Curt's ultimatum, and agrees to act as his mistress. But the terms of the deal aren't clear. Peta thought their relationship was purely business.So why has she just woken up naked in Curt's bed?

New Home South

Ray has lost his parents in a car crash. Desperately unhappy, he is shipped with friends to his aunt in Tasmania. But life aboard is exciting, and slowly he learns to adjust himself to his new life, especially when he teams up with Anti, a boy from Finland.

The 5th Horseman

It is a wild race against time as Lieutenant Lindsay Boxer and the newest member of the Women's Murder Club, attorney Yuki Castellano, lead an investigation into a string of mysterious patient deaths--and reveal a hospital administration determined to shield its reputation at all costs. And while the hospital wages an explosive court battle that grips the entire nation, the Women's Murder Club hunts for a merciless killer among its esteemed medical staff.

Lord Foul's Bane

He called himself Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever because he dared not believe in the strange alternate world in which he suddenly found himself. Yet the Land tempted him. He had been sick; now he seemed better than ever before. Through no fault of his own, he had been outcast, unclean, a pariah. Now he was regarded as a reincarnation of the Land's greatest hero--Berek Halfhand--armed with the mystic power of White Gold. That power alone could protect the Lords of the Land from the ancient evil of Despiser, Lord Foul. Only...Covenant had no idea of how the power could be used!

Jorvik Calling

Soul Riders tells the heroic tale of four young girls who have been chosen by destiny to save the world from the ancient demon: Garnok and his band of dangerous Dark Riders. Lisa is a teenage girl who is still coming to terms with the tragic loss of her mother in a riding accident and has sworn never to go near a horse again until she met Starshine, a mysterious blue-maned steed who comes to her in dreams. New on the island of Jorvik, Lisa befriends Alex, Linda, and Anne. Under the guidance of mystical druids, they discover they each have a special bond to their horses that gives them magical powers. While trying to balance school, family, and friendships they have to figure out what it means to be a Soul Rider. They are attacked by the Dark Riders and the mysterious Mr. Sands discover that their horses are in danger. Instead of relying on their combined strength, they decide to split up on their quest to find answers and learn to fight back against their enemies. However, will it be too late before they realize their mistake?

The High Game

The High Game so-called because intelligence work seemed to rank so high above all other professions. But somehow it could be a very low game, as British Intelligence agent John Blaikie discovered. His secret meeting with an American genius of counter-espionage began and ended with the man dead in his arms, a knife hilt-deep in his back. Blaikie's subsequent escape, helped by the hot-blooded Polish girl Valda, introduced him to even more hair-raising moves in this Game without rules...

Sheltering Rain

Estranged from her mother since she ran away from her rural Irish home as a young woman, Kate swore a future oath that she’d always be a friend to her daughter, Sabine. But history has a way of repeating itself, and Kate now faces an ever-widening chasm between herself and her daughter. With Sabine about to make her own journey to Ireland to see the grandmother Kate abandoned, Kate is left wondering how they ever made it here, and what she can do to close the gap between them. For Joy, seeing her granddaughter is a dream come true. After the painful separation from Kate, she’s looking forward to having time with Sabine. Yet almost as soon as the young woman arrives, the lack of common ground between them deflates her enthusiasm. And when Sabine’s impetuous, inquisitive nature forces Joy to face long-buried secrets from her past, she realizes that perhaps it’s time to finally heal old wounds.

Daddy

Who has the key to a $350 million fortune the Nazis have sent their most brilliant operative to find? Thomas, an 11-year old boy with the mind of a genius, the cunning of a fox, and the chance of a snowball in Hell to escape...unless he is helped by one man. An American who doesn't even know he exists.

Archive 81

After Daniel Powell goes missing following employment by the Housing Historical Committee of New York State, his friend Mark Sollinger receives hundreds of hours of audio of his archiving there. The audio, released by Mark in the form of the podcast, documents Dan's listening to an extensive collection of cassette tapes, containing interviews from a high-rise apartment building in 1994.

Firstlife

Tenley “Ten” Lockwood has spent the past thirteen months locked inside the Prynne Asylum. She’s earned her rep as the craziest of crazies, but that doesn’t stop the torture. Ten can leave, but only if she allows her parents to choose where she’ll live—after she dies. There is an eternal truth most of the world has come to accept: Firstlife is merely a dress rehearsal, and real life begins after death. In the Everlife, two realms are in power: Troika and Myriad, longtime enemies and deadly rivals. Both will do anything to recruit Ten, including sending their top Laborers to lure her to their side. Soon, Ten finds herself on the run, caught in a wild tug-of-war between the boy she’s falling for and the realm she wants to support. Who will she choose? Can she stay alive long enough to make a decision?