Story By Brian Paone
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Brian Paone

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The Post-War Dream
Updated at Jan 30, 2023, 19:51
War broke his spirit. Can a young marine find healing in a world he’ll never see the same way again?The South Atlantic Ocean, 1982. Royal Marine Fletcher Layne never expected to see combat when he enlisted, despite his father’s vehement protests. Yet when he is deployed to the tiny Falklands Islands, he figures Argentina wouldn’t dare challenge the islands’ mighty British sovereignty. But all hell breaks loose over the territorial dispute, and he’s devastated when a bullet misses him and kills a young comrade.Returning home with a heavy heart plagued by guilt, Fletcher resents any celebration of his heroism and his parent’s disapproval. And as the traumatized survivor wrestles with two imagined voices of nagging conscience, he fears not even the gentle touch of a kind nurse will get him through to a peaceful tomorrow.Can he gain ground over his anguish before the darkness drags him down forever?
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Moonlight City Drive Trilogy
Updated at Dec 13, 2022, 00:06
All three Moonlight City Drive novels in a single box set!A private eye is hot on the tail of a Jack the Ripper-style killer in 1940’s Las Vegas. Unbeknownst to them, a three-hundred-year-old witch and her army of ghouls are pulling the puppet strings, manipulating the killer and the detective. When the detective gets wind of her and her motives, he must decide to either team up with the witch to take down the killer or team up with the killer to take down the witch. It wasn't personal, until the witch takes his granddaughter under her wing to make her the next prodigy and leader of the ghouls. Who will survive and who won’t get out alive?
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Moonlight City Drive 2
Updated at Jan 18, 2022, 20:34
Family. The Job. The Thrill of a Sequel. It’ll Take a Miracle to Survive.Detective Smith thought his golden years would be easy now that he had retired from killing dames of the night. But the life he left behind isn’t through with him … yet. The black-veiled witch Anya and her army of ghouls make different plans when Smith’s hotshot replacement fails to appease Anya and botches her century-old tradition of cleansing the streets of its deviants and filth.Anya sets her sights on a new protégé—Smith’s teenage granddaughter, Melissa.In this sequel to Moonlight City Drive, good is pitted against evil, granddaughters pitted against grandfathers, witches pitted against detectives, ghouls pitted against prostitutes, drug dealers pitted against police officers, vultures pitted against a book of spells.No one gets out alive.
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Moonlight City Drive
Updated at Jan 18, 2022, 20:29
Family. The Job. The Thrill of the Kill. No one gets out alive. George Covington loved three things: his family, his job, and the dames he killed every night. Detective Smith hated three things: his family, his job, and the scumbags who killed dames every night. The only thing they had in common was the witch from Salem who pulled the puppet strings from the shadows. As the witch resurrected George’s victims to build herself an army of ghouls, Detective Smith had to make the most important decision of his life—help a killer to take down the witch, or help the witch to take down a killer. One option could leave the detective with an endless trail of corpses, forever marring his dignity and staining the city’s golden reputation. The other option could reward evil with the immortality it craved, unleashing an unstoppable rampage on the world and in the afterlife. Whose side will Detective Smith take? Or can he play each side long enough, without getting killed, to rid the streets of both the killer and the witch forever?
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Moonlight City Drive 3
Updated at Sep 15, 2021, 05:37
Family. The Job. The Thrill of a Trilogy. It’ll Take a Miracle to Survive. The black-veiled witch Anya and her army of ghouls aren’t used to being hunted—especially by her prodigies. In the final installment of the Moonlight City Drive trilogy, all the players are forced into a final showdown. Killers vs Detectives. Warlocks vs Vultures. Teenagers vs Witches. Psychics vs Ghouls. Everyone knows it’s the end of the road, and the city is certainly alive tonight. Melissa Smith, the granddaughter of the infamous Wharf Killer, wrestles with either following in her grandfather’s footsteps and continue to eradicate the dames of the night or redeem herself and use her powers for good. Returning to Las Vegas to revisit where the beginning of her family’s involvement in the witch’s mission occurred, Melissa will have to kill or relinquish her prominent status within the Mushroom Cult. Whichever her decision, she will need the help of innocent bystanders and invested mystics and commit to her destiny or finally end Anya’s reign. Who will get out alive?
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A Flash of Words 2
Updated at Apr 7, 2021, 20:35
From Scout Media comes A Flash of Words 2: The Games, the seventh volume in an ongoing short story anthology series featuring authors from all over the world, and the second in which the stories are exclusively flash-fiction pieces.   In this installation, no limits were set on genre; however, the authors had to incorporate a game into the plotline, from chess, to hide and seek, to Monopoly, to poker, and even Super Mario Bros. Within these moments of competition and not always good sportsmanship, these flash-fiction length stories will warm your heart, send shivers down your spine, and tickle your funny bone.   Whether to be enlightened, entertained, or momentarily immersed in another world, these selections convey the true spirit of flash fiction.
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Yours Truly, 2095
Updated at Apr 13, 2020, 18:28
Is it a love triangle if time travel is involved?​​​​​​​Jeff Blue made important decisions every day—what clothes to wear, what to eat for breakfast, and what book to teach his high school English class. What he never expected was to choose between repairing his failing marriage in 1981 or start anew with J0 in 2095—an unexpected and flawless copy of his wife. One hundred and fourteen years in the future is nothing like Jeff imagined, and waking up there comes with its own list of questions. But while returning to his time should be atop his list, he finds it hard to resist the new-and-improved version of his wife. J0 is a clean slate. A chance to have things just the way he wants, to have things as they were before their daughter’s so-called accident. However, staring at J0 reminds him of the woman he left in 1981, whom he had vowed for better or for worse. Armed with a one-way ticket to the moon, Jeff must race against the clock to seize his last chance to return home to his time in 1981. A time without hover cars, Justice Computers, TeleSkins—a time without J0. But is that what he really wants?
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