Showing results by author "Matthew S. Cox" in All Categories

Alexis Silver was ahead of her time, a woman too smart to fit into society at the turn of the century. She gave up her dreams of higher education for love, marrying young. But her husband, and the life she wanted, perished in World War I, soon after. Heartbroken and restless, she booked passage on a cruise along the West Coast in search of adventure, but adventure found her.

Sarah Wright has experienced no shortage of stressful situations since becoming a vampire, but she’s about to face the most terrifying one yet - being the adult in the room. Nine months into undeath, Sarah’s found her stride. She’s comfortable in her fangs, managing family and school, and relatively content. Treating her parents to a weeklong vacation in Iceland sounded like an awesome idea back in December, but the reality of being responsible for her siblings while they’re away is terrifying.

Something stirs in the murk of the Volga River, something big, emerging at night to sow mayhem and death along the banks. And Since Solstice Winters is already stranded at ground zero, she agrees to help, even though coping with giant lizards is far from her skill set as an intrepid reporter for a paranormal tabloid. Yay for being the only elf in the world. After narrowly escaping the Ordo Sanguinem Aeternam, she winds up sharing a flat halfway across the world from home with the enigmatic Cristiano, an agent of the secretive organization she may have obligated herself to join.

At 22, 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.

Detective Madeline Wimsey tends to stand out with her wild red hair, pentacle amulets, and offbeat methods, but she has a tool few other cops use - magic. After a man turns up dead in a grisly satanic rite, her fellow detectives are quick to crack jokes. Since they can't tell a pentacle from a pentagram, Maddy's happy to get the case. She suspects the ritual to be the work of amateurs, a theory that pans out when they track down the pack of clueless high school students who made the shrine in the woods. But then Maddy learns that the Devil's Eye is watching her....

Monarchs often face the consequences of a predecessor’s actions - but death is asking too much. Kitlyn and Oona never wanted power, only to love each other...a potentially deadly desire in a kingdom obsessed with a twisted notion of purity. After years hiding the truth, even from themselves, they sit on the throne together as queens. It only took bringing an end to a horrible war - and the direct intervention of a goddess - for the citizens to accept a marriage between two young women.

It started with the insects. Before society realized the danger, the Earth had inexorably begun a transformation into a place where life could not survive. A small group found shelter in the Arc, an underground refuge safe from the toxins ravaging the surface. After centuries of darkness, humanity’s second chance is running out - and Raven Wilder knows it. Her job fixing the machinery in the Arc makes her aware of how close everything is to breaking down. When her six-year-old begins showing signs of oxygen deprivation, Raven refuses to go quietly into oblivion.

Sarah Wright has a job to die for. She never asked for it, never even filled out an application. To be fair, she didn’t ask to die either. Ever since she woke up as a vampire, she only wanted to unlive in as ordinary a way as possible. Alas, the realities of undeath and awakening to the greater existence of the supernatural made certain demands of the family. Now Sarah runs errands for the vampire boss of Seattle. It isn’t such a bad gig when she’s not being shot at, chased, clawed up, thrown around, or scrambling to keep her family safe.

Nothing has complicated Sarah Wright’s life as much as losing it. Discovering vampires and other supernatural creatures are real took the sting out of being murdered by her ex-boyfriend. She’s enjoying her new reality, even if taking a knife to the heart was the sanest thing to happen to her since. Not quite a year into being an immortal, Sarah’s embraced the supernatural world hidden beneath the veneer of modern society.

Sarah has finally adjusted to unlife, at last comfortable with herself. Her college classes are going well even if she isn’t fully committed to her current major. Her one frustration is her boyfriend always being too busy to spend time with her, but college is temporary. Love is forever. Or, so they say - her definition of "forever" is a little different now. Worry about her love life pales next to the constant paranormal weirdness invading her personal space.

Sarah Wright has gone through a lifetime of mess in a mere five months, but her most difficult challenge yet is making it through Thanksgiving without spilling blood. It isn’t only her extended family tempting her to sprout claws. A vampire hunter has arrived in Seattle, his sights set on Professor Heath.

Most brides have some anxiety over their wedding, but not too many have to worry a dead person might spoil it. Detective Maddy Wimsey is looking forward to her handfasting to Caius. Mostly. She’s simultaneously on edge and can’t wait. About the only thing capable of going wrong is her catching a homicide investigation complicated enough to push back the date.

Sarah Wright faces many challenges typical to any college student: tons of work, second-guessing her major, and trying to find time between classes to drink blood. She’s adjusted to her new vampiric self. It’s fun being immortal, despite a mostly nocturnal schedule cutting into her time for friends and family.

Mermaid Alexis Silver can tolerate only so many years living primarily on dry land before it’s time for a nice long swim. While she loves her work as a private investigator, a few nail-biter jobs in a row calls for some time off. She leaves everything behind - literally - and dives into the ocean, planning to take a month off cruising around Central America.

Five months after becoming a Vampire, Sarah Wright’s unlife has gone back to relative normal - until demons start coming out of the woodwork. Before graduating high school last June, she never imagined she’d wind up staying at home with her parents and siblings. Now she savors every minute she has with them. Her friends juggle school and jobs, leaving precious little time to hang out with her mostly nocturnal schedule. A vampire’s hours aren’t exactly awesome for spending time with tween-age siblings either, but the family has adjusted to her undeath.

Sarah Wright doesn’t think something as minor as death should get in the way of her future. With the worst summer of her life behind her, it’s time to start focusing on her education. An immortal vampire - even if she is still new at it - pursuing a degree may or may not be a waste of time, but it at least it’s a way to keep up an illusion of sanity. Soon after classes start, a mysterious presence trapped at the school attaches itself to Sarah, and her hopes for a normal college year evaporate. Sensing a lost soul in need, she decides to help.

An inexplicable change has happened to the fabric of the universe, evidently driving some dark masters insane. An Ohio-class nuclear missile sub is about the worst place imaginable for a werewolf to have an existential crisis. Though mermaids aren't well equipped to fight other supernaturals, Alex isn't about to let nukes hit the US. Even if it kills her.

Alexis Silver has always defied convention: In the 1920s, she tried to attend college. Oh, by the way, she’s also a mermaid. When a well-to-do woman hires her to find her missing adventurer brother, Alexis feels like she’s landed straight in the middle of the sort of action movie they just don’t make anymore. The man’s trail leads all over the globe, but she suspects he’s not dead - yet. An international mining conglomerate evidently wants whatever the missing explorer has found, and they’re more than willing to kill anyone who gets in their way. Even mermaids.

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.

Cops sometimes rely on hunches to guide them, but Detective Maddy Wimsey takes it a step further: Magic. August opens with the bad omen of a suicide that she suspects is more than it appears. However, before she can even start to find evidence that won't get her a date with a shrink, an even worse case walks in the door. A local nurse claims she suspects one of her co-workers of murdering patients. Unfortunately, the woman has even less evidence than Maddy's belief that a spirit is throwing people off tall buildings. However, something about the story rings too true to brush aside.