Download or read book Axillon99 A LitRPG Novel written by Matthew S. Cox and published by Division Zero Press. This book was released on 2019-09-17 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Death isn’t a big deal in the virtual world of online gaming, but after poking her nose where it doesn’t belong, Dakota Marx finds herself running for her life―and reality doesn’t come with a respawn. At twenty-two, she’s still slinging coffee at an Amazon Cafe despite having a degree in programming. It’s not because she’s unlucky, unmotivated, or even that she fancies herself an underground activist crusading against evil corporations… hunting for a ‘real’ job would take time away from her game. Axillon99 is the world’s most popular multiplayer online experience, with a universe containing billions of planets to explore. Ever since video games broke the screen barrier, plunging players fully into their characters, reality just can’t compete. Cognition Systems International announces a ten million dollar prize to celebrate the release of the next generation Neurona 4 interface helmet. After her crew decides to try chasing the money, Dakota discovers a sinister intent behind the new technology. Going public threatens the lives of her friends, but keeping CSI’s secret could destroy the very fabric of society.

Download or read book My Dad is a Mad Scientist written by Matthew S. Cox and published by Division Zero Press. This book was released on 2022-06-09 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Saving the world isn’t easy. It’s even harder when you’re only nine. Kelly Donovan used to be a nobody. Well, a smart nobody. Skipping ahead a year in school made her the smallest kid in fifth grade and a target for bullies in search of an easy mark. She tried to follow her father’s advice and ignore them, but it didn’t do any good. Escaping into her favorite comic books at least helped her through the day. Who needs friends anyway? Sometimes, dreams find a way to come true, even if nobody asked them to. Aliens bombard the Earth with gigantic glowing red crystals to restore its failing magnetic field. Soon after the seemingly benevolent invasion, Kelly discovers her wildest, happiest fantasy come to life: she has superpowers, along with roughly two percent of the population. Her strong good nature leads her to adopt the heroic persona of Übergirl. However, she has one major problem… Her dad’s turning into a mad scientist. It’s difficult to be a hero, especially when your father’s a bad guy.

Download or read book A Thousand Lifetimes written by Matthew S. Cox and published by Division Zero Press. This book was released on 2019-10-19 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the realm of imagination, characters live out a thousand different lifetimes in hundreds of worlds, offering an escape from the mundane. This book contains a selection of twenty-seven chapter ones from my standalone novels and first-in-series books. Spend a while with agent Kirsten Wren chasing ghosts across the cyberpunk future or Althea as she searches the Badlands for a place to belong. Follow Risa Black into the deepest tunnels of Mars, then go with Mia Gartner an unsuspecting happy owner of a new home who has yet to discover what awaits her inside. Watch little Kelly Donovan, a nine-year-old fan of superheroes, have an awful day at school unaware she'll soon be living her wildest dream. These, and many other stories wait inside.

Download or read book The Menagerie of Jenkins Bailey written by Matthew S. Cox and published by Division Zero Press. This book was released on 2018-05-17 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Twelve year old Piper Bailey wouldn’t trade her friends for any amount of money―unfortunately, when her dad inherits a fortune, she doesn’t have a choice. She’s happy with her little house in Syracuse and hand-me-down clothes twenty years out of style. The unexpected windfall is a blessing for her family, but it comes with a giant house hours away in the woods. Heartbroken at being so far from her tiny social circle, she tries to talk her parents into staying home, but they drag her off to the forest anyway. Piper finds an unexpected friend in a boy who lives in the next house, and the two decide to explore grandpa’s giant mansion. It doesn’t take long for creepy things to start happening. Convinced there’s a malevolent ghost trying to hurt them, she asks her parents for help, but Mom goes from believing Piper is acting out over the unwanted move to being legit crazy. A near-fatal attack from the spirit strands the kids in a hidden underground complex packed with supposedly mythical beasts. Thinking the strange zoo cruel, Piper is determined to free the creatures, but not all the captives are friendly. Some are downright evil.

Download or read book Sophie s Light written by Matthew S. Cox and published by Division Zero Press. This book was released on 2019-07-09 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sophie lives in a most peculiar cottage at the center of the Forgotten Forest, its inside much larger than its outside. You see, the house must be large, for it holds a great troll as well as a little girl. As one might expect, working for such a creature is rather frightening to a seven-year-old, but the endless expanse of black trees outside is even scarier. She’s afraid to make even the slightest sound, for the troll abhors loud children. He’s not terribly fond of quiet children either―unless they’re in his stew. Sophie’s precious light offers comfort in her darkest moments. She can’t remember where it came from, but it’s her only source of hope holding back the gloom that yearns to devour her soul. Trolls are covetous beasts, and when he spots her shiny bauble and steals it, Sophie faces two terrible options: Stay and suffer the wrath of a furious troll, or take her chances in a forest of her deepest fears.

Download or read book Caller 107 written by Matthew S. Cox and published by Division Zero Press. This book was released on 2019-07-09 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Natalie Rausch said she’d die for a chance to meet DJ Crazy Todd, but she didn’t mean to be literal. A bitter divorce shattered her family and turned her into a thirteen-year-old weapon in the hands of two people who want nothing more than to destroy each other. Once an accelerated student looking at early college, Natalie let anger at her parents lead her down a desperate path of self-destruction. No amount of rebellion gets her mom or dad’s attention—or stitches up the hole inside her where love used to be. She still listens to actual radio because her stupid mom won’t let her have an iPhone. Whenever WROK 107.1 ran a contest, she and her best friend would always try to call in, but even that lost its fun. Her wildest attempt to send her parents a message, falling in with a dangerous group of older teens, goes as wrong as possible. Karma comes full circle in the form of her favorite DJ. He gives her a few hours to make up for two years’ worth of mistakes… Or be forever lost.

Download or read book Aliens Ate My Homework written by Matthew S. Cox and published by Division Zero Press. This book was released on 2022-06-09 with total page 415 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kelly Donovan wants to save the Earth from aliens, but her plan has a serious snag—she needs to do it before bedtime. It’s been a few weeks since the Nolmek scattered giant crystals around the world that unintentionally gave some people super powers. They also nearly eliminated war and shared technology to solve famine, drought, and pollution, so pretty much everyone loves them. Alas, the aliens didn’t visit Earth purely out of kindness. They needed a primitive species to enslave. Kelly discovers they’re speeding up their plans, already abducting people from the super-prison right out from under the cops’ noses, the same prison her mad-scientist father is stuck in. She’s desperate to protect him, but unfortunately, no one is willing to believe the Nolmek could be bad guys. Worse, they know she’s on to them. If she can’t find proof of the aliens’ plan, stop the invasion, and be in bed before nine, she faces worse than the enslavement of humanity—she’ll be grounded.

Download or read book Ghost Black written by Matthew S. Cox and published by Division Zero Press. This book was released on 2020-02-27 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everything Risa Black believes is a lie. Her angel is dead, the cause she’s killed for is as false as her metal eyes, and the one man she thought she could trust has deceived her for sixteen years. Smothered by deepening layers of conspiracy, she decides to embark upon the most frightening mission of her life: leaving the Martian Liberation Front. After eight years of trying to free Mars with high explosives, and a reputation as a less-than-sane killer who hears the voices of angels in her head, Risa didn’t expect to walk away clean. Her former bosses won’t let go easy, agents on both sides of the war want her dead, and truth is in short supply. A politically connected enemy threatens to purge the Front of those unwilling to play by their rules. To survive, Risa must become that which she has so long denied being—an assassin. With bombs poised to bury her former life and everyone associated with it deep beneath the surface of Mars, Risa has thirty minutes to make an impossible choice: save the life of her daughter by killing her best friend, or disarm the bombs and let her child die.

Download or read book The End of all Halloweens written by Matthew S. Cox and published by Division Zero Press. This book was released on 2022-06-09 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nine-year-old Kelly Donovan helped save the world from aliens, but now she has an even bigger problem—someone’s trying to ruin Halloween. Life is difficult for the world’s tiniest superhero. Her genius plan to save her parents from supervillainy in one easy step proved impossible… at least not without destroying the Earth. Superpowers, good or bad, aren’t going away any time soon. Mom’s as likely to hug her as trick her into a ridiculous trap, but at least her dad’s mellowed out a bit. Lately, he seems focused more on being weird than evil. Small favors. Kelly’s looking forward to the happy normal of trick-or-treating… until candy starts disappearing. Convinced a mysterious supervillain is responsible, she and her best—only—friend Paige rush to stop all the sweets in the world from evaporating. Alas, with only a week left and zero clues, humanity will likely suffer an even worse fate than enslavement by an alien race: the end of all Halloweens.

Download or read book Emma and the Silk Thieves written by Matthew S. Cox and published by Division Zero Press. This book was released on 2019-07-09 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Once again safe at home, Emma clings to the comfort of family and tries to put the fright of the Banderwigh behind her—but deeds, even good ones, often have consequences. With a new reality of spirits and magic open to her, Emma feels a strong connection to Widowswood. She means to make good on her promise to the Spider Queen, bringing a monthly supply of silk in trade so humans cease their trespass upon the forest. A guild of thieves infiltrates the quiet town, lured by the incredible value of enchanted spidersilk flowing so freely from the forest. At first, they don’t realize the source is a ten-year-old girl, but once they learn, they’ll do anything to control her. Stuck between protecting her family and protecting her forest, Emma draws courage from her grandmother’s stories and makes a choice—that could cost her life.

Download or read book The Eldritch Heart written by Matthew S. Cox and published by Division Zero Press. This book was released on 2019-07-09 with total page 516 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Princess Oona Talomir enjoys the little things that come with her station: a handmaiden, her lavish bedchamber, and scores of fancy dresses―the duty to win a decades’ long war, not so much. Oh, did I mention assassins? Seers foretold the conflict would end by her hand. From the moment she drew her first breath, the neighboring kingdom has been trying to kill her so she could not grow powerful enough to destroy them. Fearing for his daughter’s life, the king has kept her confined to the castle grounds for most of her sixteen years. With the tide of war turning against them, the burden of her crown becomes too much to bear, yet one thing lifts her spirits amid the gloom. Her servant girl, Kitlyn. Alas, in a kingdom obsessed with the god of purity, she is terrified to confess her forbidden love. When her father makes a demand she cannot abide―marry a prince to forge a military alliance―Oona panics. He is handsome and honorable, but he’s not Kitlyn. Unable to admit why she cannot obey, Oona does the only thing she can think of, and runs away. Alone and unprepared in the wilderness, she prays the gods will let Kitlyn find her—before the assassins do.

Download or read book The Cursed Codex written by Matthew S. Cox and published by Division Zero Press. This book was released on 2020-02-09 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fantasy roleplayers often get deep into their games, but thirteen-year-old Keith Croft is about to take it to a new level. He’s been invisible for seven years, smart but not working hard, athletic enough, but too lazy to excel. His parents are sorta cool, but only two weeks into his eighth-grade year, his friends are all busy with sports or projects and can’t hang out. On the way home one day, he stops at a neighbor’s yard sale and discovers a book for Crypts & Creepers that the lonely old woman says belonged to her granddaughter who disappeared without a trace. Days after he convinces his friends to try this bizarre game that doesn’t require electronics, strange noises in his closet wake him. His increasing inability to focus on anything other than a girl who vanished before he was born―and his obsession with her NPC ranger―drives him to dig deeper into the past, searching for what really happened to her. By the time Keith realizes the Gamemaster’s Codex holds something darker than rules within its pages, the curse that claimed the soul of a girl in 1987 has its claws in his group as well. Keith vows his friends will escape―even if he can’t.

Download or read book Emma and the Banderwigh written by Matthew S. Cox and published by Division Zero Press. This book was released on 2019-07-09 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ten-year-old Emma doesn’t believe in faerie tales or monsters that secret children away in the night—until she meets one. She lives in a quiet village at the edge of Widowswood with her parents, her Nan, and her little brother, Tam. Ready to abandon the whimsy of childhood, she finds the boredom of chores comforting and Nan’s fanciful bedtime stories silly. One morning, a wan and weary older girl staggers out of the woods and sets the entire town aflutter with whispers of a child-stealing monster lurking in the forest. Nan tells her of the Banderwigh: a dark soul who feeds on sorrow and drains the life from children’s tears. Darkness comes calling on Emma’s happy home, threatening the reality to which she desperately clings. The impossible becomes more and more real, forcing Emma to reach inside herself for the ability to believe. Her family depends on it.

Download or read book The Far Side of Promise Anthology written by Matthew S. Cox and published by Division Zero Press. This book was released on 2019-07-09 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Far Side of Promise is an anthology of short stories spanning cyberpunk, high fantasy, psychological horror, and science fiction. In the titular story, a jaded deep-space miner sets out on a desperate bid for real food. The boundary between the virtual and real worlds becomes an Ouroboros. Alex Grant always gets what he wants—until he gets what he deserves in The Tower. Many people hide skeletons in their closets, but in The Roommate, Roy talks to his. At age ten, Kirsten Wren’s mother tried to kill her. To survive, she followed a ghost Into the Beneath. In A Queen’s Lament, a young monarch copes with love, betrayal, and demons. In Evergreen, seventeen-year-old Harper and her little sister find themselves alone after nuclear war. Neris dreams constantly of A Ghost Among Fireflies, an unseen force compelling her to visit a dangerous, destroyed world.

Download or read book Emma and the Silverbell Faeries written by Matthew S. Cox and published by Division Zero Press. This book was released on 2019-07-09 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A druid’s work is never done… even if she’s ten years old. With the Silk Thieves no longer a threat to Widowswood, Emma enjoys the solace of home and the peaceful routine of her chores. She is happy to be with her family, but still hasn’t quite forgiven herself for making them worry about her. One afternoon, Neema, the Faerie she freed from the wizard’s lantern, returns seeking her help. Her people are dying, and she’s convinced Emma can save them, and do it in only a few minutes. The plea proves hard to resist, and Emma soon discovers cursed animals are attacking the faeries. Even though some Silverbells have perished, they are hesitant to kill the creatures. Their queen hopes Emma can find a way to save both animals and faeries alike. Far from her family in a strange magical forest, Emma feels too small for the task set before her, but cannot abandon the faeries to their fate—even if it means she may never find her way home.

Download or read book Emma and the Elixir of Madness written by Matthew S. Cox and published by Division Zero Press. This book was released on 2019-07-09 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Emma tries to balance her newfound abilities as a druid with only being ten years old. Chores and having to go inside before dark leaves only a few hours a day to save the forest―or at least her home town. Strange magic plagues the people of Widowswood Village. None of the adults take it seriously, as the effects are short-lived and whimsical. Emma suspects something darker is going on, having listened to Nan’s tales of night pixies who aren’t as nice as the Silverbells. Convinced someone or something wishes ill upon her home, she decides to do what the adults won’t. Amid the chaos, the daughter of a wealthy gem merchant goes missing. Emma’s father and the entire Widowswood Watch spend all their time searching for the abducted girl. Worse, a bully blames Emma for the girl’s disappearance, but after dealing with a banderwigh and the silk thieves, he doesn’t scare her at all—until he turns violent. Emma knows everything is connected, and isn’t about to let a mean-spirited older boy stop her from protecting her home.

Download or read book The Hand of Raziel written by Matthew S. Cox and published by Division Zero Press. This book was released on 2020-02-27 with total page 542 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Risa Black will decide the fate of an entire planet. After all, an angel told her so. Orphaned young, she grows up among the resistance, fighting to give the people of Mars command of their own destiny. Two governments from Earth vie for control of the Red Planet. She wants them gone, regardless of how many explosives it takes. To the outside world, she’s an emotionless, broken marionette. Inside, her father’s fiery end haunts her every waking moment. She never cared for destiny or politics, until the angel Raziel focused her anger. Both friend and foe alike believe her grip on sanity tenuous, but she knows he is real, and pities those who will never feel his divine presence. Whenever her adrenaline wears off, guilt at what her bombs did cuts deep, as does the apathy of the citizens she fights to liberate. The pain worsens after unexpected love cracks open her armored heart, causing her to question the role she plays in the bloody conflict. Torn between duty and desire, she learns change never comes without loss. Even to the Hand of Raziel.