Mostrando resultados por autor "Dell Sweet" en Todas las categorías

The dust swirled around my worn boots, a miniature desert storm kicked up by the frantic thump of my own heart. The air hung thick and heavy, the scent of dry earth and something else… something metallic and sickeningly sweet, clinging to the back of my throat. It was the smell of blood. Old blood. New blood. The kind that stains the soul as deeply as it stains the earth. I’d been clean for six months, six agonizing months of sweat-soaked nights and gnawing cravings, a testament to a willpower I never knew I possessed. Six months of staring at the cracked pavement, avoiding the shadowed...

The schematics for the neural network were a symphony of complexity, a testament to the intricate beauty and terrifying potential of the human mind. Emily, hunched over her console, felt a profound connection to the data streams flowing before her. Each line of code, each simulated pathway, represented a step closer to her ultimate goal: the creation of a consciousness untethered by the frailties of the flesh, a mind capable of processing the universe at speeds that would leave organic brains gasping in its wake. This was not merely about overcoming the limitations of biology; it was about ...

The humid New York City night air hung heavy, thick with the scent of exhaust fumes and desperation. It clung to the skin like a second, grimy layer, a miasma composed of stale hot dogs, overflowing dumpsters, and the perpetual hum of a city that never slept. Under the flickering neon glow of a forgotten alleyway, a fractured mosaic of sickly green and searing red, Jenna and Marcus watched the transaction unfold. It was a performance they had rehearsed a thousand times in their minds, a delicate ballet of risk and reward, but the reality was always more visceral, more charged with an almost...

In my younger days I lived my life like there was no tomorrow. I wasn't thinking about what to do when the check came due, when life changed, when I crossed someone or they crossed me. I wish I had grown up different, but my time on the streets and the lessons that taught me. And my time working for bad people after that just set me up for the mistakes that would nearly end my life more than once. Even people who were supposed to care about me did their best to sacrifice me when the time came to pay the check. Luckily, for me, some things and some people got in the way and stopped some of ...

The True: True stories from a small town are true stories from that place. From my childhood up through my adulthood. Some heartfelt, some heart rending, some the horrible truth of the life I lived at that time... (Based on a true story from my life. Names have been changed, but truthfully almost all of them are dead now so it doesn't matter.) The feeling of being thrown from the car, the jarring impact, the dizzying disorientation – these were moments etched indelibly into my memory. The world seemed to spin wildly, colors blurring, sounds distorting, creating a distorted kaleidoscope of...

Michael Watson is the captain of an inner galaxy cruiser: He Purchased Star Dancer right out of school and has spent the last twenty years running people and supplies to outposts within the confines of the Solar System and the established bases on the Moon, Mars and Saturn's moons. The times are changing though and the big money is in the longer out of system runs. To do that he'll need a crew and a bigger ship, but he has the ambition and the rest just might fall into place. A new navigator, the beautiful Petra starts him thinking in a new direction and not just about Star Cruising. Maybe ...

The air hung thick and greasy, a miasma of stale beer, cheap whiskey, and desperation clinging to the shadowed corners of the bar. Smoke, thick enough to choke a horse, curled lazily from ashtrays overflowing with crushed butts, painting the dimly lit space in a hazy, sepia-toned gloom. Robbie sat hunched over a sticky tabletop, the flickering neon sign outside casting long, distorted shadows that danced across his face. He nervously tapped a chipped mug against the scarred wood, the sound sharp and brittle in the oppressive silence. Across from him, Marva nursed a drink, her eyes darting ...

The air hung thick and heavy, a humid blanket clinging to the skin even in the pre-dawn chill. The city, normally a cacophony of distant sirens and rumbling traffic, was unusually quiet, punctuated only by the rhythmic tremor that vibrated through the very foundations of the buildings. It wasn't a major quake, not yet, just a series of unsettling shudders, a prelude to something far more destructive. This was the kind of morning that scraped against the nerves, a low hum of anxiety that tightened chests and made even the most hardened criminals pause. In a cramped, dimly lit apartment above...

Her worn boots crunched on shards of broken glass and twisted metal, remnants of a world that had once teemed with life. Buildings, skeletal remains of their former glory, clawed at the sky, their empty windows like hollowed-out eyes staring blankly at the desolate landscape. She moved with the slow, deliberate grace of someone who had learned to conserve energy, every movement measured, every step calculated. Survival was a delicate dance, a precarious balance between hope and despair. Elara clutched the worn leather satchel close to her chest, its contents her lifeline: a handful of dried...

Earth's Survivors Collection Two contains the complete text from books three and four of the Earth's Survivors series, The Nation and Home In The Valley. It also includes bonus material, a complete major character bibliography, plus information from the series and the future plans for the series. Save when you buy both books at once and get more of what you want. Earth's Survivors follows survivors of a worldwide catastrophe. A meteorite that was supposed to miss the earth completely, hits and becomes the cap to a series of events that destroy the world as we know it. Police, fire, ...

Andrea Zurita was a young woman, there seemed no reason for her sudden illness and death, but there were things that should be done and so the local Mirukus, shaman had come. A few words, prayers, the shaman was a transplanted Haitian: They understood most of what he said, but not everything. He had left and they had prepared her for burial. She was washed and dressed in a plain white cotton dress. The second day came and the family came to call, leaving their wishes where she lay in her grandmother's home. The third day came and the burial was coming. Cousins, men who worked in a ...

The United States of America is no more. The police are gone. The government dead. The military vanquished and the remaining people left alive after the plagues and disasters are on their own. Some have come together for protection and to increase their chances of survival. The Nation, as they call themselves is one of those groups living in the former forever wildlands area spread between the former states of Kentucky and Tennessee. The Nation makes it first major foray out into the Wastelands to search for weapons and supplies. Mike leads them, and the trip is fraught with savagery and ...

Crime Time is a collection of nine crime stories from author Dell Sweet. From short stories to near novel length... ... When a man tells you he has the moral flexibility to include murder in his life if he deems it necessary this is probably not a man you should be hanging out with. Jeff Johnson had reminded himself of this fact about Robert Biel more than once, yet every day he found himself hanging around, giving him lifts to do job searches, parole, where ever he needed to go: Even hanging around with him at night... Nine stories that are hard edged, entertaining and good, fast rides ...

Laura and Joe live lonely lives, but they are dreamers. When they close their eyes they dream travel through space and time, to other worlds with little more than a thought, but dreaming comes with a purpose. They have both fought that purpose, but when they meet each other in the dream world, that meeting creates a longing that neither can deny. A purpose, a destiny both must choose to follow.Laura Kast: Laura is a dreamer: When she was a little girl she knew she was destined to dream. She fought it and that fight nearly killed her, She found herself on the streets, drug addicted, away ...

I had come back to spend time with Laura. I could not tell her my real reasons. That I was afraid of leading the Dream Killer to her. Or I was not sure even whether I was coming back in the end, so I had wanted to see her one more time. She asked me about the Bear Killer who had been my Uncle and so I told her as we sat in the quiet of the evening and talked... I thought a moment, gathered my thoughts, and then began to speak to Laura. "I Knew Benjamin from my father's side of the family. My grandmother was Blackfoot. She came from Canada with my father and my uncles and aunts. My father ...

Earth Date 2096-08-25 16:52:58 Star Dancer Michael He got a good look at Petra as he flagged her through the air-locks: All fresh air; your basic space bug-Earth bug delousing unit. People had at one time believed that space was sterile. A few serious contaminations early in the century had stopped that. Of course the delousing process rendered you sterile. It was the same, male or female. The price you paid, so you banked your eggs or your sperm and didn't give it any more thought. Space travel, constant radioactive exposure, caused all sorts of birth defects. It only made sense. She was ...

For the last two days Michael had found himself thinking in an new direction. All the old stuff we depended on is gone and that's okay. He didn't care at all if he never saw space again. In fact he'd rather not go back to it and even if there was a way to fix it all he didn't want to go back to Earth: He was positive in fact that they could never go back; none of them. He was positive he wouldn't be able to live that way again anyway… Not after this. Less than two years ago his entire life, his entire focus was wrapped up in the old way. Hadn't he been waiting for the countdown to go on ...

Gizzel, you take too many chances, I told myself. Too many. But my hand continued to rub Bear's head and scratch under his jaw, allowing my racing heart to slow. Catching my breath. Wondering what came next. I was new to this. I had never been this far before. I didn't know what came next. “Easy... Easy, Boy.” I lowered my hand to the dog's head and patted affectionately, trying to calm him. He whined low in his throat and looked around at the darkness that closed in on us. We were in a garage that much I could tell. Just a nondescript, average run-of-the-mill garage. I had had this ...

As Joe and Laura fall deeper into the Dreamer's Worlds they learn more about why they have been drawn there. They search to learn more about the legend of Sparrow Spirit, a young girl who has been trapped within stone for ten thousand years, but learning changes nothing. Their purpose is clear, they must act: They must free Sparrow spirit, even though it could claim their mortal lives...Laura Kast: Laura is a dreamer: When she was a little girl she knew she was destined to dream. She fought it and that fight nearly killed her, She found herself on the streets, drug addicted, away from the ...

The hand was mangled. It looked chewed, a finger missing, maybe an accident with a dog, his mind supplied. Accidents with dogs happened. He watched the little boy stumble along. The arm a grotesque parody of a real arm, swinging freely from its shoulder socket. Their eyes met a moment later, but it was already too late for the little boy. Roux had used his hands to prop his knees so he could stand. A second of standing had told him he could walk, and a single limping step had told him he could walk well enough. It had probably been the standing, his mind supplied now. His feet scraping on ...