Books by Doug Bayliss (Billy and Mia Mysteries) (YA books for various ages)
(The series link for the Billy and Mia Mysteries is in the comments of the post for Book 7-The Night Lift)
Book 1: Pinewood Ravine: Curse of the Lost Treasure: This story comes in 2 versions, original + expanded & remastered Second Edition.When Billy’s family moves to a quiet mountain town, he believes adventure belongs to the past. But when he reunites with Mia, his childhood friend, they stumble upon a forgotten railcar and an old map leading deep into the woods. What begins as a search for a legendary treasure soon becomes a journey into the heart of the mountain, and into the meaning of true courage.
Book 2: Mystery of Kraken Bay: The Wreck of the Sea Hawk: An ancient curse. A legendary shipwreck. A bond forged in the depths of mystery. With the help of their new friend Ethan, they navigate dangerous tunnels, solve cryptic riddles, and face challenges that test their courage, trust, and sacrifice. Along the way, Mia learns a shocking truth about her heritage, tying her fate to the treasure—and its powerful guardian.
Book 3: When the Ferry Didn’t Run: When a ferry crossing is cancelled, and a storm closes in, Billy and Mia find themselves navigating a dangerous riverbank instead of heading home. What begins as a delay turns into a quiet test of judgment when they realize someone else may be in harm’s way; walking away might be the easier choice.
Book 4: Across the Street: When Billy and Mia sneak out one night, they don’t expect trouble. They’re drawn by music drifting from a tavern and the thrill of being out after dark. But when an argument spills into the street and turns violent, what they witness can’t be undone—or forgotten.
Book 5: The Orchard on Briar Lane: When Billy and Mia take a shortcut through the old orchard on Briar Lane, they expect nothing more than a quicker way home. Instead, the quiet feels heavier than it should, the ground is uneven beneath their feet, and familiar paths no longer make sense.
Book 6: Cedar Creek Secrets: A quiet creek. A burned boathouse. A mystery that refuses to stay hidden. Billy and Mia love spending their days by Cedar Creek, skipping stones and watching the water move. But when a fire destroys the old boathouse, they uncover a secret tied to a stolen property, and a dangerous choice no kid should have to make.
Book 7: The Night Lift: This book was featured in Part 21.
Stories by Zak D Mitchell (Available for free on Substack)
Night at the Simulation Center – This short suspenseful horror story features Zane, a Simulation Tech staying late and alone at work. What could go wrong with only weird manikins to maintain?
The Woman in the box – How hard is it to unbox a manikin? Julie soon finds out, could she be going crazy, seeing things, hearing things? Enjoy this horror filled short story and find out…
Books by Ian Garner (The Summerhost Saga)
Book 1: Sins of the Cinder Prophet: Anshul has spent his life being feared for his horns, crimson skin, and gift for flame. Traveling with an owlkin wizard, a half-orc barbarian, and a halfling thief isn't exactly safe, but it's the closest thing he's ever had to a family. Now hunted by monsters, pursued by the rogue mage known as the Cinder Prophet, and racing to rescue a kidnapped dwarf, Anshul and his companions must decide whether they're merely adventurers...or the last hope the world has left.
Book 2: Pact of the Nightmare Queen: One of their own is still missing, an ancient darkness is awakening, and every spell Anshul casts brings the fire inside him closer to consuming him. The search for answers leads the company into a forgotten mountain settlement where the dead still whisper, impossible bargains shape the living, and Ziarius, the Nightmare Queen, offers salvation wrapped in ruin in this epic fantasy adventure filled with dangerous magic, unforgettable companions, impossible choices, found family, and world-ending stakes.
Books by Asher Vayne (Duck You! Series + more)
Duck You! Glitch Please!: Meet Kai, a sleep deprived developer who just wants his code to compile so he can finally get some rest. Instead, one disastrous typo hurls him directly into Aether…the broken, unfinished fantasy video game. Stripped of traditional admin tools, Kai's only weapon is a Voice-to-Text ( heavily auto corrected) magic system. Every spell is one typo away from absolute disaster. From accidentally turning a legendary sword into a giant, heavy pumpkin, to slapping city guards with a summoned bass, Kai make do with typos, hacks to survive.
Duck You! Mind the Glitch: After shattering the partition wall between dimensions in Book 1, sleep deprived developer Kai accidentally merges Aether with Earth. Welcome to Reality 2.0, where fantasy mobs leak onto the M25 motorway, ULEZ emission charges are literal microtransactions, and reality runs on a corrupted legacy system called Physics 1.0.
Misery Inc.: A hilarious, satirical fantasy in form of a novella that explores what happens when monsters navigate the horrors of a 9 to 5 office job.
Keeper of the Infinite Archive: Bart Sanders wakes as the new Keeper of the Infinite Archive, a ruined cosmic library floating in the void.His only help is a bowtie wearing skeleton, an illiterate thief, an insulting flying book, and a set of library rules (even weird ones like no necromancing the dough) powerful enough to stop even S-tier magic. Getting overdue books back is not a normal job. It means traveling to strange worlds, fighting monsters, and sometimes repossessing an entire kingdom from an angry king just to pay a late fee.
Books by Jimmy James
Black Rain Armageddon – It starts with black rain. Then people start turning into monsters. Cars become weapons. A pub becomes a battlefield. A truck transforms into a giant robot. And somewhere in the chaos, an ordinary bloke whose life revolves around cake and video games, discovers that his cosplay costume has become very, very real. But this isn't just another apocalypse. Something alien has crashed into the hinterland, unleashing malfunctioning nanobots capable of turning human thoughts into flesh-and-blood reality.
Arse of the Wombat & Other Subtropical Yarns – Five embellished tales from the stranger end of rural and suburban Queensland, where mates, monsters, martial artists, UFOs, dingoes and absolute boofheads collide.
Moon Peach & More Dodgy Yarns – Five dodgy yarns. One gloriously unhinged trip into the Australian absurd. Welcome to Moon Peach & More Dodgy Yarns — a collection of tall tales, gym-room horrors, questionable life choices, bizarre encounters and the sort of bullcrap that somehow becomes funnier the more seriously it is told.
Alien Drive-in – With no money and nowhere else to go, two young mates set off from the heart of a Queensland coastal town with one goal: walk to the drive-in theatre on the outskirts of town and find a way inside. Along the way, the narrator remembers the people, places and strange experiences that shaped his youth. Some memories are funny, some disturbing, and some that perhaps should have been forgotten. But somewhere beyond the edge of town, something changes.
Books by James W. Breaux
Bicycle Police of New Amsterdam: Book 1 – In the pressurized domes of New Amsterdam on Mars, the drowning refugees of the old Netherlands have exported their ancestral culture, their stubborn survival grit, and their primary mode of transport: the bicycle. But when idealistic, demoted Detective Emma Hosford and her deceptively slouching partner Daan Markus investigate a rash of high-end e-bike thefts, they stumble into a multi-million-credit conspiracy that goes all the way to the Mayor’s office. Armed with hidden tactical AI (a sardonic, overclocked Stillwater Foundation god-program named Susanoo) and custom propellant sidearms, this "basement" bicycle unit must descend into the lawless, underground of the Red Planet.
Stillwaters of Kenji Tanaka – This is part of a larger story arc and exists between the Fall of Linhaishu (the link for this blog is in the post) and the Bicycle Police of Amsterdam. One man’s meticulous routine is about to be shattered by a legacy he never asked to lead.
Kenji Tanaka is a man of "standard procedures." A retired salaryman living in the shadows of corporate Tokyo, he has spent forty years mastering the art of being invisible. But a sudden stroke of fortune, a winning lottery ticket, acts as a catalyst for a transformation he didn't know he was ready for. Guided by the "ghosts" of his revealed ancestors and a lineage of master strategists, Kenji abandons the city to reclaim his ancestral soil in the rugged Hida Mountains.