Black Gem Novels & Stories

Richard Franklin has left his Midwestern roots behind to live on the coast of Maine with his family. But in the autumn of the year 2000, he must return to his Illinois birthplace on a sorrowful journey. His wife Michelle has been killed in New England by a hit-and-run driver who is never found, so back home he comes with her cremated remains, to fulfill a final wish and on her birthday scatter her ashes in the park along the river in Blackwater Valley—simply Blackwater Val to locals—the small town where they both grew up and fell in love. With him he brings his six-year-old daughter Katie who still grieves for her lost mother: Katie, who can sometimes guess who’s going to be on the phone before it rings. Who can stop all the clocks in the house, and break up clouds in the sky with her mind, and heal sicknesses, and who sometimes sees things that aren’t there...people who are no longer alive. All gifts she inherited from her mother. Only something isn’t quite right in the Val. Sinkholes are opening up, revealing the plague pits the sleepy hamlet was built over in the 1830s, when malaria and cholera outbreaks ran riot. Mysterious bird and fish die-offs begin to occur, and Katie can see ghosts of the dead gathering all around. But what she can’t see is the charred, centuries-old malevolence which has been waiting for her, and wants her for its very own. Or the pale Sallow Man who haunts the town’s nighttime streets...or the river witch—another Blackwater Val, of sorts—each of whom will be drawn one by one into the nightmarish bloodletting about to take place. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

In Kieran Chase's eyes, I was not his wife. I was a non-performing asset waiting to be liquidated. When I got sick and asked for help, he became impatient. He said, "This is a minor problem. You can handle it on your own. No need to tell anyone." When I broke down in tears, he reprimanded me. "Losing emotional control shows weakness. It exposes the fragility of our alliance. I'll have the PR team teach you emotional management." Even when I called for help after a car accident, he hung up. "Nothing about you is important enough to interrupt a transaction worth hundreds of millions." I spent seven days in the ICU fighting for my life. On my first day home, I found Kieran leaning over another woman, his voice suddenly soft and coaxing as he convinced her to take her medicine. He opened his mouth to explain. I smiled bitterly and handed him the papers I'd prepared long ago. My tone mirrored his perfectly. "Mr. Chase, regarding our marriage project, the return on investment is unacceptably low after comprehensive evaluation. I'm formally proposing we terminate our cooperation. "Here's the divorce agreement. Sign it."

Lydia Darnell died after betrayal. She was framed by her family, abandoned by her husband, and discarded like trash. But death wasn’t the end. She wakes up three months before her murder with one chilling resolve. Once bitten, twice shy. This time, she would never take the fall for her sister’s crimes. She would not stoop low to beg for her cold billionaire husband’s attention. Lydia sets out to dismantle the gilded cage they had used to imprison her. And she certainly will never let the so-called “gratitude” be used as a leash. Adrian Blackwell watches in stunned silence until the wife he ignored becomes the woman he can’t live without. Now that he is obsessed with her, he would do anything to win her back. But Lydia’s done playing victim. Her revenge is quiet, lethal, and flawless without an iota of empathy. Along comes Lucas Costello, a kind architect who shows her what real love looks like. And Adrian realizes too late that the woman he had been hell-bent on destroying is the only one who ever truly loved him. He wants her back again, but some second chances, they come too late.

Perfect is boring. What's life without our secrets? It's what makes us who we are. But, Janelle doesn't know that. She has a perfect life. She's the best fashion designer . She has the sweetest parents, the best Nanny, her friends are to die for and the love of her life is one of the city's most eligible bachelors. But did everything have to fall apart when she least expected it? Perfect isn't normal, after all.

Aria is an orphan living with her uncle, when she turns eighteen, she realizes it was her turn to enter into the family pattern but in her case she was engaged to the Mafia enforcer of an opposing group, Viktor of the Blacktop, the most powerful Russian group in New York. He's rumored to be cold, cruel and doesn't have feelings, his brother who is the capo is a mad man and more importantly, she isn't a virgin as everyone thought, what then happens if Viktor realizes he isn't getting what he bargains for.

It was only suppose to be an arrangement... Vanessa Ford is gorgeous, beautiful and intelligent. Her quiet and uneventful life takes an unexpected turn when she is given an opportunity to interview Lucas. Lucas Joe Alvarado is her best friend's older brother. He is gorgeous, beautiful, tall and mysterious, and a billionaire every girls dream man. She has always had a crush on him but he always only saw her as his little sister's best friend. But then an interview with him takes an unexpected turn, he wants her, she wants him. The only problem is he doesn't want a relationship and she can't bet on not falling for him.

Five years ago, Amberleigh Dubois was plucked from a slum and given a job in the exclusive Cobra Club. At the Cobra Club all your fantasies can come true for the right price.She's grateful for her position as one of the club's goddesses in The Circus Room. One night Amberleigh is working the Rainbow Room, trying to entice men to her level of the club where they can live out their sexual dreams. A VIP makes an offer she can't refuse. He's handsome, and the richest man in Omega City. And Grayson Godwin is also in desperate need of an heir. It seems too good to be true, two million dollars to have his child. Like a dream job to live in a swanky highrise, have sex with a hot billionaire, and get paid. No strings attached. But it seems the billionaire playboy has something to hide... **Enhanced version with extra content only available here***

When Ava walked into that bar, she only wanted to forget. Forget the man who left her for money. Forget the wedding she was never meant to attend. But one drink, one stranger, and one reckless night changed everything. She woke up in a stranger’s bed only to find out he wasn’t a stranger at all. He was Adrian Blackwell, her CEO. Cold, powerful, and dangerously irresistible. Adrian swore he didn’t do love. He didn’t chase. He didn’t lose control. Until Ava. Now he wants her body, soul, and every breath she takes. But loving Adrian means walking a thin line between passion and danger… because the man who owns her heart might also be the one who ruins her.

It was a bad idea. She knew it but she had no choice. After finding herself penniless after the death of her parents who nevertheless had a good fortune, Rose had no other idea than to loot the trunk of her old house to pay for her little sister's treatment. Anyway, it wasn't a theft because nobody knows about this safe... The house was empty because it was for sale, she was going to sneak in and she would never set foot there again. It was a perfect idea... When she entered the house, she suspected that there was someone but she persisted and continued... -Who are you? What are you doing at my house? She was so relieved that no one had touched her money so she hadn't even heard the footsteps... She turned to see a man...a man with a mask covering half his face. .. Frightened, she did not expect that this night could change her life... -I'll let you take your trunk and I'll offer you double more so that you serve as my escort, for one night... Rose could not understand such a proposal. However, she had no choice...

BLURB: Elena Rivers only wanted to survive senior year quietly but one wrong seat next to Ryan Blackwood, the school’s most feared and untouchable boy, changed everything. He’s dangerous, untamed and hiding secrets darker than his tattoos. Elena is soon pulled into obsession, lies, and forbidden attraction that could destroy them both because loving Ryan Blackwood isn’t just risky… It's deadly!