Small Potato

The things we want are so very rarely the things we need. Clifton Heights, a modest Adirondack town, offers many unique attractions. Arcane Delights sells both paperbacks and hard-to-find limited editions. The Skylark Diner serves the best home-cooked meals around, with friendly service and a smile. Every August, Mr. Jingo’s County Fair visits, to the delight of children and adults. In essence, Clifton Heights is the quintessential small American town. Everyone knows everyone else, and everyone is treated like family. It is quiet, simple, and peaceful. But shadows linger here. Flitting in dark corners, from the corner of the eye. If you walk down Main Street after dark, the slight scrape of shoes on asphalt whispers you're not alone, but when you look over your shoulder, no one is there. The moon shines high and bright in the night sky, but instead of throwing light, it only seems to make the shadows lengthen. Children disappear. Teens run away. Hunters get lost in the woods with frightening regularity. Husbands go mad, and wives vanish in the dead of night. And still, when the sun rises in the morning, you are greeted by townspeople with warm waves and friendly smiles, and the shivers pass as everything seems fresh and new... Until night falls once more. Handy's Pawn and Thrift sits several blocks down from Arcane Delights. Like any thrift store, its wares range from the mundane to the bizarre. By daylight, it seems just another slice of small town Americana. But in its window hangs a sign which reads: We Have Things You Need. And when a lonely traveling salesman comes looking for something he desperately wants, after normal visiting hours, after night has fallen, he will face a harsh truth among the shelves of Handy’s Pawn and Thrift: the things we want are rarely the things we need. ©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

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

The financially disadvantaged student I was sponsoring secretly went behind my back and sold my small island, which was worth two billion dollars. I was furious and confronted her, but she publicly slandered me in front of the entire school. She exclaimed, "I saw you doing unspeakable things with eighteen men on that island! You're still young and you can't keep making mistakes like this. I sold the island for your own good!" I was so enraged that I kicked her to the ground and prepared to call the police, but my brother stopped me. He and my fiancé stood in front of the student, protecting her. They accused me of being violent and in need of medical treatment. Before I could resist, they joined forces and threw me into a psychiatric hospital, where I died that night from food poisoning. When I opened my eyes again, I had returned to the day I discovered the island had been sold.

A small accident that happened to Rajata in the courtyard of Prambanan Temple brought him to meet Kalyana, a woman who was finishing her novel because she would soon go abroad with Armand, her future husband. The encounter, which they thought was fleeting, turned out to be continued when Kalyana, hurt by Armand’s actions, invited Rajata to accompany him to visit Yeh Pulu, Bali. Rajata, who was trying to forget his love for a girl from his high school days, accepted the invitation. In Yeh Pulu, a local elder gave Kalyana a startling vision of an incident from several centuries ago. Intrigued by what really happened at that time, they decided to ask for a favor from Harso, Kalyana’s old friend who worked at CERN, Switzerland. Unexpectedly, their investigation, which relied on a sophisticated computer named Lidia lead them into an amazing adventure, an adventure that opens new perspectives to their understanding about history, and triggered them to learn from history in facing the future.

Hunter had to take his father's position unexpectedly. He wasn't ready for that.. neither Adriel. Chaos started. Things happened. When Neal picked up the small shiny thing out of curiosity, he didn't know it will lead him to a world he wasn't aware of.

“That’s my husband, Sandra!” I shouted, my voice trembling with a mix of fury and heartbreak. “What is going on? Tell me you planned this! You’ve wanted him from the start, haven’t you?” My composure shattered. The heat of my emotions burned through me, and all I wanted was for this night, the night I had dreamed of, to unfold as planned. “I’m sorry, Delilah,” Sandra stammered, her voice quivering with guilt. “I was just as shocked as you. But Farrell is my mate. How could I have known the moon goddess would do this? I didn’t choose this. But it’s clear now, the moon goddess has rejected you as the Luna of our pack.” <<<<<<<<<<<< Delilah’s life shattered on the night of their mating ritual. Farrell, the man who promised her the world, discovered his true mate, her best friend, Sandra. Farrell was supposed to mark Delilah that night, making her the Luna of the pack. Instead, Delilah was cast out, her dreams reduced to ashes. Lost and heartbroken, Delilah sought solace in a moment of vulnerability, a one-night stand with a powerful Lycan King. To his shock, she turned out to be his true mate. But Delilah’s story is far from over. Who is she, really? What secrets does her destiny hold? As layers of mystery unravel, Delilah’s life takes an unexpected turn, uncovering truths that could change everything. Dive into this gripping love triangle filled with suspense, supernatural powers, magic, war, and jaw-dropping revelations. This is a tale that will keep you on the edge of your seat. She has pinned all her hopes on her marriage. Being a human and marrying the Alpha of a powerful pack was no small feat..

The air between them became hotter as she bit her lip, trying to stop herself from smiling so much. The closet was dark and stuffy, so small that their bodies were almost touching, her heart thumped like crazy. "D-Derek" She called out as he hummed in response, holding unto his sides for some unknown reason. "Will you be my boyfriend?" She blurted out, closing her eyes so she wouldn't see his reaction, he groaned, it almost broke her heart but when she looked down, she saw his shirt was now soaked. Blood trailing down his abdomen which made her gasp, slamming open the closet door. "Somebody call an ambulance!" She yelled as the guy she had just asked out dropped limp to the ground like a pack of soggy spaghetti. *A Nigerian themed novel* |16+

When my son was born, I noticed a small, round birthmark on his arm. But the weird thing? By the time I opened my eyes again after giving birth, it was gone. I figured maybe I'd imagined it. That is, until the baby shower. My brother-in-law's son, born the same day as mine, had the exact same birthmark. Clear as day. That's when it hit me. I didn't say a word, though. Not then. I waited. Eighteen years later, at my son's college acceptance party, my brother-in-law stood up and dropped the truth bomb: the "amazing" kid I'd raised was theirs. I just smiled and invited him and his wife to take their "rightful" seats at the table.

The sleepy English locality of Middletown is about to get even sleepier, as a strange malady starts to affect the population. It spreads quickly, causing the authorities to quarantine this small city, and seek out the only person who might be able to help: Doctor Andrew Strauss. However, Strauss has a secret, one that has linked him to this place all his life, one that has linked him to a particular person there, though he doesn’t yet know who. But he’s not the only one hiding things – and as he ventures into Middletown to collect samples with an army escort, a mixture of UK and US troops, cracks soon begin to appear in the operation. Especially when his team comes up against the most terrifying threat humankind has ever known.

26-years-old Stacy Cyrus is living her life in a very normal way: working in a small newspaper company; feeding her stray cat occasionally; indulging herself reading books; going to the nearest cafe for Strawberry cakes. Until one her best friend, Mikaela pleads with her to help in her job in a royal suite. All she needs to do is wear a nice dress, put on makeup and wait until Mikaela comes. But she hasn't signed up for a handsome, tall man to appear in the room in a tuxedo and demanding her to strip.