Fiction Suspense Adventure Humor

In this collection of 19 short stories, Craig Nybo invites you to visit the lives of mostly unfortunate souls as they face the most terrifying moments of their existences. With everything from vampire hunting to zombie bashing, from steampunk death devices to shifty soul brokers, Nybo brings his own sense of perspective and, of course, his sense of humor to this collection of departures from reality. Terrifying Lies contains Nybo's acclaimed story, "The Mechanic", along with 18 other tales of the macabre.

It has been said that somewhere in the world you have an exact double. This rocket-ride of a novel ignites with the sudden cry of "Ai! Pedrito!", as Naval Lieutenant Tom Smith discovers that his exact look-alike is the notorious South American revolutionary and spy, Pedrito Miraflores. Inspired by a real incident in the life of L. Ron Hubbard, Ai! Pedrito! is a fun-to-listen-to, compelling novel of what can sometimes happen when intelligence goes wrong.

At 44, Eve Mozell has a wonderful husband and a creative job. She also has a temperamental teenage son, two headstrong sisters, and a demented old father. As she deals with her family's frequent crises, her days overflow with lengthy phone calls. She is never far from a dial tone. But as her father begins to die, Eve is tempted to disconnect and to sort out her feelings for this difficult man.

Not an easy listen. Intellectual. Literary. If you're looking for something vapid, move on. This is a humorous story of insanity in the high-energy high-fashion world of the future. Marla Gershe is going nuts and she's taking the Textile Planet with her.

A red-letter day had turned bizarre as a lady in her mid-30s, Ritz Laggard, had been murdered in the most grotesque manner right at the venue of a high-powered business meeting. Inspector Brown is assigned the case file to unravel the killer and has an inkling it was state-sponsored. Meanwhile, when Stewart Larzio narrowly escaped death by the whiskers, in the same typical scenario as Ritz Laggard, it dawned on Inspector Brown that a serial killer was on the loose as he found a connection between both scenes in the same city of Bloomington.

What if you could become a black belt in only 72 hours? Klutzy video game designer Brian Baldwin takes a temp job at defense contractor Kirkman Enterprises, where he volunteers to be the Beta Test subject for Cyber Fighter: A revolutionary new AI-powered military training program, designed to train recruits in 72 hours via a VR Interface and neuromuscular stimulation.

The Patch of the Odin Soldier marks the return to action of the intrepid and irrepressible Lincoln Blackthorne. Rambo, Woody Allen, and Indiana Jones all rolled into one, he’s a reluctant adventurer and soldier of fortune who masquerades as a mild-mannered New Jersey tailor. Although he’d rather be home taking the measure of a new suit, there’s always some new high-tech, high-powered criminal ready to take measure of him.

To his neighbors in the sleepy hamlet of Inverness, New Jersey, Lincoln Blackthorne is a tailor. Far from major population centers, highways, airports, or trains, Inverness is just about the last place you’d expect to find an international soldier of fortune and treasure hunter. But that’s exactly what Blackthorne is - one of the best - and he’s about to embark on his most dangerous journey: the quest for a priceless work of art, a deadly magical talisman, an object of dire arcane power.

Cross Roads: Pick a Path tells the journey of a young man by the name of Arrun Durai. Arrun had his life all figured out. A beautiful girl, the picture-perfect family, and his favorite job. Although, life wouldn't be all that great without challenges. His greatest form of challenge came following the death of a loved one, which ultimately sent his life into a spiral of events. Take a dive into finding out how a common software engineer from Toronto, Canada, ended up being a part of a notorious criminal organization in Chennai, India.

The housing market is depressed. But not as depressed as anyone who spends a night at 668 Langford Place. The decaying mansion next door - number 666 - will soon see the return of Bog-Muggoth, an ancient, evil demon that makes the Amityville Horror seem like Casper the Friendly Ghost. But Bog-Muggoth isn’t making his haunted house call alone. Other vile gods from beyond time and space will be joining in the festivities to make the world their oyster - and leave it an empty shell.

All secret agents need to look out for William Nye, now known as Agent X. His recruitment was simple and his legend is brilliant but un-earned. Somehow, he thinks he's the best there is and we all know how pride goeth before a fall. The master of SF hilarity and biting social satire creates a spy world that has gathered praise from the greats of the genre.

When assigned to determine the cause of brewing tensions in the exclusive seaside city of Ruen, Oscar Teabag-Dooven discovers that it's on the brink of tearing itself apart. Things become complicated when it appears those responsible are in charge of running the place.

When Palmer Stoat notices the black pickup truck following him on the highway, he fears his precious Range Rover is about to be carjacked. But Twilly Spree, the man tailing Stoat, has vengeance, not sport-utility vehicles, on his mind. Idealistic, independently wealthy and pathologically short-tempered, Twilly has dedicated himself to saving Florida's wilderness from runaway destruction. He favors unambiguous political statements -- such as torching Jet-Skis or blowing up banks -- that leave his human targets shaken but re-educated.

Jerry has a traumatic past that leaves him subject to psychotic hallucinations and depressive episodes. When he stands accused of stealing a priceless Van Gogh painting, he goes underground, where he develops an unwilling relationship with a woman who believes that the voices she hears are from God.

In Improbable Fortunes, Jeffrey Price takes us on a wild ride into Vanadium, a dusty, down-on-its-heels mining town in Southwest Colorado where it would be fair to assume that nothing has ever happened. But you'd be wrong. As it turns out, quite a lot has happened, starting with a suspicious mudslide that destroys the town's Main Street and a cowboy, Buster McCaffrey, arrested for the death of one of the richest men in America, Marvin Mallomar.

Somewhere in Arizona’s Chocolate Mountains lie the Big Maria Mine and a wealth of gold lost for 100 years. There’s only one problem: Those mountains are now the home of the US Army Proving Ground, the world’s largest active artillery range. But for Harry, Ricky, and Frank, three down-at-the-heels guys with few dollars but plenty of dreams, the gold offers each of them a chance for a new life. Are scuba diving through an underwater ghost town; facing down a hungry mountain lion; doing the hesitation waltz across a minefield; matching wits with potheads, pit bulls, and bikers; and braving the might of Uncle Sam’s full arsenal worth it?

When Oscar stumbles across an arrogant bard named the Dodosette and the beautiful cat Vaasi-Vee, he unearths a plot to plunge the world into darkness. After some begging, a lot of snow and an industrial-sized vat of soup, the three animals argue all the way to the infamous land of Vra to do something about it. They did not, however, anticipate having to fight invisible Rottweilers, smash kitchens to pieces, lick frozen cars or fund taxi drivers' sisters' eye operations.

Meet Daniel Chesterfield, a six foot seven inch foul mouthed straight arrow with a trite sense of humor and deep love and respect for law, order, and justice. Trading in his detective shield in Palm Beach County, Florida for a Sheriff’s badge in the rural town of Cowbell, Montana, Dan is assigned to take over the Bear Creek County Sheriff’s Office Sub-Station.

When Peter Smith’s classmate snaps a picture of him during a late night run at the track, Peter thinks he might be in trouble. When she posts that photo - along with the caption “See the Pretty Boy Run” - Peter knows he’s in trouble. But when hostiles drop through the ceiling of his sixth-period chem class, Peter’s pretty sure his trouble just became a national emergency. Because he’s not really Peter Smith. He’s Jake Morrow, former foster kid turned CIA operative.

There’s no such thing as an uneventful summer at Camp Sweetwater. Now that the Vampire Devils beneath the lake have been awakened, the camp is in big trouble. The first victims? Tez and Corryn’s counselors, Gavin and Scary Mary. The camp director insists that the missing counselors are just quitting and going home, but Tez and Corryn don’t believe it. They know something much more evil is afoot. With the help of their cabinmates, Tez and Corryn set out to investigate the disappearances. But what they find is a horror closer than the bottom of the lake....