Mysterious Realities

Considered one of Twain's most important short works, The Mysterious Stranger tells the story of the devil coming to a medieval village in the persona of a beautiful, lovable, yet exasperatingly amoral young man. Befriending a small group of boys, Satan exhibits strange charm, compassion, and indifference as the tale comes to a surprising comclusion.

A cold-blooded killer, a sweet old couple, and an Amtrak train. When these three elements meet, strange things happen. Ruthless murderer and misanthrope Ed Hill, has been on a killing rampage across the United States for decades. The police and FBI have not been able to catch him, and fear that no one ever will. But when Ed meets a peculiar elderly Hindu couple on a train, his luck begins to change in ways he could not ever imagine.

Mile 81 meets “N.” in this novella collaboration between Stephen King and Joe Hill—also made into a Netflix film! As USA TODAY said of Stephen King’s Mile 81: “Park and scream. Could there be any better place to set a horror story than an abandoned rest stop?” In the Tall Grass...

In this collection are volumes four through seven of the Crucible Shard, the completed LitRPG adventure that mixes fantasy, gaming, and humor in an often brutal combination.

Discover the mind-bending world of "Prophecy: A Message to Humanity." On January 25, 2013, my reality took a surreal turn, challenging all logical expectations. Everything changed when I caught a glimpse of a man who could only be me from another time. This encounter shattered my perception of reality, leading me into a new paradigm of observations. Amidst this strange journey, my attention was captivated by a mysterious French girl. She sat a few tables away, furiously scribbling on a napkin. Why was she so engrossed in this peculiar act? The plot thickens when a conversation unfolds ...

Sadie woke up and her mother was making pancakes. Her father was at the table. Her mouse was talking. Everything she had been searching for since moving to Obscurum was suddenly, inexplicably right in front of her. There's just one problem. None of it is real. Jozibus Angelheart has a time machine. He has used it 852 times. He has rewritten history, stopped wars, and quietly built a world that runs exactly the way he wants it to. He thinks this makes him a hero. Walls melt. Buildings vanish. Entire pieces of reality dissolve as centuries of timeline tampering finally reach a breaking point....

In cities all around the world, people whisper about staircases that were never built—steps that appear in malls, schools, subway stations, and forgotten corners of the urban landscape. Some lead upward into blinding light. Others descend into impossible darkness. A few circle back to doors that shouldn’t exist. And many… lead to places no person should ever find. The Staircases That Go Nowhere gathers forty chilling urban legends inspired by these mysterious structures: • stairwells that grow taller every night • mall steps that whisper your name • emergency exits that open ...

When a single moment fractures the boundary between past and present, one man discovers that time doesn’t just move forward—it circles back for what it’s owed. Elias Ward has spent years trying to outrun the night that stole everything from him. But when a deserted coastal highway begins showing him visions—glimpses of a life he never lived, a love he never claimed, and a tragedy he was never meant to survive—Elias is forced to confront a truth more unsettling than memory. The road is alive. And it remembers him. Drawn into a shifting landscape where yesterday bleeds into tomorrow...

In a world where the sky is gray, the rivers are empty, and the cities lie in ruins, Brielle is a lonely wanderer, scavenging through the desolation in search of something—anything—that resembles hope. Haunted by fragmented memories of the life he once knew, he trudges through the endless beige of humanity’s collapse. But his solitude is shattered when he meets Cali, a mysterious young woman who sees impossible threads of light leading toward the “blue”—a color, a place, an idea that might hold the key to salvation. Their journey takes them through the remnants of society, where...

Destiny for Sale The possibilities are endless—but every choice has a price. Tomas is on a losing streak—his job, his girlfriend, even his dog are gone. Then he meets the mysterious Basia, and everything changes. Through her, Tomas receives an extraordinary offer: What if you could take a break from yourself? A new life. A new identity. A chance to be someone else. At first, the possibilities feel limitless. But every new identity has rules—and breaking them has consequences. When sudden losses and hidden dangers close in, Tomas must confront the truth: what does Elliot Cole, the ...

In July 1954, a mysterious man appeared at Tokyo Airport carrying a passport from a country that did not exist. He called it Taured. Impeccably dressed, calm, and articulate, he insisted that his homeland had thrived for centuries, yet every official map showed only Andorra in its place. Within his suitcase were documents, currency, and bank checks that seemed genuine, yet defied reality. Before authorities could uncover the truth, he vanished without a trace, leaving only unanswered questions and a growing sense of unease. Decades later, the mystery of the Taured Man reignites as Saito, a ...

Haunted by mysterious visitors, a young man embarks on a lifelong quest to unravel their enigmatic presence, thrusting himself into a journey that challenges his understanding of reality and sanity. His relentless pursuit takes him across the realms of parapsychology and quantum mechanics as he grapples with the haunting question of their purpose in his life. After years of uncertainty, the elusive visitors finally disclose their identity and unveil a profound mission for him. As this revelation unfolds, his existence transforms dramatically, steering him toward a destiny he could never ...

Der Siegeszug der klassischen Physik hat die Welt entzaubert. Die Realität, so die gängige Auffassung, wird von Naturgesetzen geregelt, die letztlich alles erklären können. Doch dieses Bild ist falsch. Viele grundlegende Fragen sind noch immer unbeantwortet. Und die neuesten Erkenntnisse der Quantentheorie weisen sogar darauf hin, dass es eine Realität jenseits von unserer Vorstellung von Raum und Zeit gibt.

Between Cade and Rae is an ancient wall so huge its edges are lost to memory. There’s no way through. But one precious stone brings them together to share their horrors of the past, and dreams of the future, and to shake their notions of what is false…and what is true. Wallflowers is an ethereal, alternate-reality short story that will get you thinking about the battles we choose to fight, and those we don’t, and the power of breaking through barriers for a better tomorrow.

Read by the author, Harry Cliff. 'As fascinating as its title suggests . . . Cliff recounts with vivid clarity the stories of some of the most striking oddnesses that have lit up the landscape of modern physics.' – Philip Pullman Newly discovered strangenesses could transform our understanding...

Read by the author, Harry Cliff. 'As fascinating as its title suggests . . . Cliff recounts with vivid clarity the stories of some of the most striking oddnesses that have lit up the landscape of modern physics.' – Philip Pullman Newly discovered strangenesses could transform our understanding...

This book is a combination of three previously published "Time Merchant Cafe" books: Now Open/Still Open/Dark Brew. Destiny, Fate, Free Will—are our lives predestined, and is free will merely an illusion? This collection of interwoven short stories delves into life-changing choices that can alter the course of one’s destiny. Each narrative revolves around the same enigmatic place—a mysterious café run by the Immortal Waiter. When the Time Merchant Café appears, it finds people at their most vulnerable, even if they don’t know it. The Waiter, a timeless figure with his own hidden ...

Bill has just stepped off the path of life to find himself caught up in some kind of experience that touches to his very soul. In this unexplainable realm Bill will make life changing decisions. Can he believe the mysterious person or the moment that he is in? The situation comes upon him quickly. Can Bill cope, and what kind of person will he be when he exits? Bill has just stepped off the road of reality and entered a realm far from the comprehension of the mind; he has entered an unimaginable place, a realm where rational thinking is sweep aside, where the mind is set free to explore the...