Showing results by author "RIANO D. MCFARLAND" in All Categories

After inheriting a 400-year-old family estate from her aunt, Patrice Lafleur returns to her childhood home on the outskirts of Shreveport, Louisiana, to find that not much has changed. Of course, still waters run deep, and the long-forgotten memories lurking beneath the surface of Patrice’s childhood are there to greet her when she walks through the front door 20 years later.

When you’re 11 years old, it’s tough convincing people to take you seriously. When you’re an 11-year-old savant, It’s exponentially more difficult. Since Jake’s inability to connect with others had made him somewhat of an outcast for most of his life, he’d learned to divert his energy into his artistic talent, creating mesmerizing images capable of literally paralyzing anyone who should gaze upon them.

When Andrew Ingram walks his longtime friend and confidant Jeanie home after a celebratory dinner, he has no idea that his life is about to change in unimaginable ways. After having created an innovative new automotive gaming platform, he was riding high on the wings of success when a deadly explosion ripped not only his best friend but also his eyesight away from him.

With the ascension of T’Aer Bolun Dakkar, a new king now rules the northwestern dragon kingdom. In the unseen world of dragons, even kings must prove themselves worthy, and the appearance of challengers is inevitable. As Jake and T’Aer Bolun Dakkar work tirelessly to address problems plaguing both dragon and human civilizations, dragoneers and eco-terrorists seek to derail their efforts at every turn.

When Terrance picks up a rideshare client at Logan International Airport in Boston, he has no idea how pivotal a moment in his life it will be. Within minutes of their introductions, the stranger offers Terrance the fulfillment of his dreams in less than one month. All he asks in return is that Terrance agrees to open and distribute the contents of one box per day, for 21 days. Although it would appear to be such a simple task, the dynamic quickly changes when he's faced with the decision of fulfilling his own dreams, or the dreams of otherwise total strangers.

When an unusual chain of drownings occurs in Upper Mystic Lake, two families are pitted against one another as they attempt to lay the blame for the loss of their only begotten children, at the feet of the other family. The Shakespearian tragedy forces everyone to reassess their own culpability as well as their way forward, while attempting to find closure.

Most of the successful private prospectors who’d struck it rich during the California and Nevada gold rushes during the mid- to late-1800s, had journeyed westward with a specific plan from which they never deviated. Upon achieving their pre-defined goals, they packed up and returned to their original homes in distant regions of the United States. There were also plenty of others, who’d been unable to pull the plug after striking it rich, believing their lucky streak to be a never-ending one.

In 1955, the Soviet Union introduced the Moscow Water Dog in a canine show to great acclaim. However, in real world situations, they fell far short of the expectations Russian cynologists had set for them, and in 1979, the Moscow Water Dog project was shut down. Supposedly the last of the breed died out in 1990, but did they?

Long before even dragons roamed the planet, the spores of the borlamites were biding their time in the heat and darkness of deep Earth. They were waiting for the surface to cool and the seeds of life to take hold and turn a barren rock into a pearl among planets in our galaxy. As they prepared to emerge from beneath Earth’s tectonic plates and turn the bio-matter of the dead and dying, into food for the budding flora and fauna, their birth was interrupted by an asteroid strike. The planetary conditions suddenly changed, and the borlamites continued to sleep.

In a family that has everything, one tends to forget that some things are beyond even their control. After fate sends the family an unmistakable message, Christopher suddenly finds himself on the receiving end of a financial avalanche, yet fully incapable of managing or even understanding the full magnitude of it. In a world beset with vipers and jackals, he would be as helpless as a sheep led to slaughter in handling the family’s substantial financial assets.

Following 10 years of service under four different presidents, the legend of Marshal Oliver Blackstone has grown far beyond his district headquarters in Santa Fe. Throughout the new US territories between Texas and California, law-abiding citizens respect him, while outlaws and wayward fugitives are wise to avoid coming face-to-face with him. After drawing the ire of a wealthy Russian immigrant, he discovers that a $100,000 bounty has been placed on his head, collectible by the first gunman able to take down the marshal and claim it.

When Barney, a clever little dachshund, looks for a place to escape the chaos created as movers load the family's belongings into a moving truck, he discovers a box of warm laundry fresh from the dryer, and burrows himself comfortably inside it. After a refreshing snooze, he awakens to find that his makeshift doggy bed has been loaded onto the truck, and he is already on the way to Denver, Colorado. Although the rest of the family intended to follow the moving truck, when they were unable to locate Barney, they remained in Pueblo, Colorado.

Following seventy thousand years of undisturbed slumber, the vessel of a planetary empire that had followed its own predetermined path to destruction eons earlier had finally reawakened, bringing with her the potential to change everything. Embodying all that was benevolent and beautiful from innumerable long-forgotten cultures, this lifeform in suspended animation also possessed the power necessary to prevent her gifts from being corrupted by those who will eternally thirst for dominion over others.

After two years serving as a US marshal, policing the country’s newest and largest district, Oliver Blackstone’s reputation as a lawman was stellar, and those who’d originally doubted his ability to get the job done were now squarely in his corner.

The Search for Broken Sky is a story of unconditional love, uncompromising friendship, and unassailable loyalty between a young Native American woman, her faithful dog, and a horse of legendary intelligence, grace, and beauty. As their expedition takes them north toward Montana, they are unaware of the predator stalking them from the cover of night, and the showdown they will face on the search for Broken Sky.

Bandit’s love for everyone close to him is matched only by his unquestioning respect for Malcolm—the alpha of the Abernathy Pack. Your acceptance into the pack hinges solely on the alpha’s approval or disapproval, and the last place you want to find yourself is at odds with the pack’s fearless gatekeeper. Bandit’s autobi-dography is an endearing tale of love, dedication, and unwavering loyalty by man’s best friend, and an enemy’s worst nightmare!

Odin is a love story that chronicles the relationship between Katherine, a successful although self-centered executive, and the puppy she literally snatched from deaths icy grip. After being rescued by her in a dramatic fashion, Odin comes to see her safety and wellbeing as the central purpose of his existence. Although the line between the savior and the saved may become blurred at times, their unconditional love and affection for one another remain clear and unimpeachable, even in the face of certain death.

Following an emergency landing in an experimental spacecraft on an uncharted planet in an unknown solar system, Major Åt will embark upon a journey that tests the very limits of his patience and tenacity. During his mission to acquire the materials needed to repair the ship’s propulsion system, he soon discovers that some things, even when they are abundantly available, are not necessarily easy to procure.

When a United States marshal retires their badge and hangs up their gun, more often than not, their only remaining desire is to ride off into a distant horizon and live out the remainder of their lives in peace and solitude. When Oliver Blackstone sailed from Galveston, Texas, to Boston, Massachusetts, it was also his deepest wish. After bringing an untold number of the Western Frontier's most dangerous criminals to justice and sending more than 100 of them to face judgment in the hereafter, he'd been dubbed "The Deadliest Man Alive" by renowned frontier journalist J.C. Cavanaugh.

For millennia, dragons and humans have shared the Earth. For most of that time, it has been a peaceful coexistence, primarily because contemporary human civilizations considered dragons to be nothing more than fairytales created from the fanciful imaginings of cave-dwelling hunter-gatherers. In truth, they have always been an integral part of a healthy planetary biosphere, and without them, Earth's environmental balance would have collapsed long ago.