Shades of Reality : A Collection of Dark Fiction

Visit exotic places. Meet strange new creatures.  Do your best to kill them before they kill you.

On December 5th, scientists at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland ran a short test on the newly completed Large Hadron Collider. For that brief period, protons swarmed back and forth along the seventeen miles of carefully constructed tunnel and slammed into each other with devastating force, generating power the likes of which had not been seen since the moment of the Big Bang.

Just a few short hours.  That was all it took for our world to be invaded by hideous creatures from somewhere beyond.

My name is Captain Memphis Stone, commander of the HELLstalkers, the armed response unit hastily assembled to face this growing threat.

This is the story of the men and women under my command, those who stand in the gap and shed their blood to protect the rest of humanity from creatures that we never imagined we'd ever face, not even in our darkest dreams.

Welcome to the front lines.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Joseph Nassise is the author of more than a dozen novels, including the internationally bestselling TEMPLAR CHRONICLES series, the JEREMIAH HUNT trilogy, and the GREAT UNDEAD WAR series. He has also written several books in the popular Rogue Angel action-adventure series.

He is a multiple Bram Stoker Award and International Horror Guild Award nominee and his work has been translated into half a dozen languages to date. He has written for both the comic and role-playing game industries and also served two terms as president of the Horror Writers Association, the world's largest organization of professional horror and dark fantasy writers.

For more information about Joe's work, visit him on the web at josephnassise.com.

Jon F. Merz is the author of roughly two dozen novels including seven novels in the critically-acclaimed Lawson Vampire series, eleven installments in the Rogue Angel action/adventure series from Gold Eagle/Harlequin, and numerous standalone thrillers like PARALLAX, DANGER-CLOSE, and VICARIOUS.

He's also a partner at New Ronin Entertainment, a Massachusetts-based company developing feature films, television, and multimedia projects like THE FIXER TV series.

For more information about Jon's work, visit him on the web at jonfmerz.net.

A novel in the internationally bestselling Templar Chronicles urban fantasy series

When Knight Commander Cade Williams discovers that his wife, Gabrielle, is not truly dead, but held in some kind of arcane stasis between the lands of the living and the lands of the dead, he vows that nothing will stop him from freeing her soul from the prison surrounding her.

But his vow is tested right from the start when an old friend calls on him to help protect the city of Boston from the ancient scourge that threatens to destroy it, leaving Cade with a heart-breaking choice: Do his duty and save the innocent lives he has sworn to protect or forsake them all in order to rescue the one for whom he would brave the walls of hell itself?

The men of the Echo Team are back for another action-packed Templar adventure!

Three years ago an archaeological expedition led by Vatican scholar Juan Vargas discovered something unusual on the shores of the Dead Sea. Early the next morning, Father Vargas, and the artifact he uncovered, disappeared without a trace.

Until now.

An injured and badly dehydrated Father Vargas wanders out of the New Mexican desert, telling a wild story about a secret research installation and bloodthirsty demons hunting men through its halls. When word of his survival reaches the Vatican and those in charge of the Templar Order, the Echo Team is called in to deal with the situation. Their orders - investigate the facility, determine exactly what happened there, and deal with any infernal presence that might exist.

But the being they encounter there beneath the desert sands has found a way to break the bonds of Hell itself and doesn't plan on going back easily. This time, their foe might prove to be too much for even Cade and the men of Echo Team.

A former SWAT officer turns modern Templar Knight in this exciting new urban fantasy series for fans of Jim Butcher, Rob Thurman, and Patricia Briggs! 

Boston SWAT officer Cade Williams doesn't believe in the supernatural until a chance meeting with a fallen angel leaves his wife dead and him holding on to life by the thinnest of margins.  When he is discharged from the hospital, scarred body and soul, he discovers the encounter has left him with a few otherworldly talents of his own.

Several years later, Knight Commander Cade Williams runs the elite Templar combat unit known as the Echo Team, which puts him in the perfect position to search for the creature he's come to know as the Adversary.  His efforts yield little success, however, until a cabal of necromancers attempts to seize an ancient Templar artifact for their own nefarious purposes and gives him the first real lead he's had in ages.  Now it's time for Cade to face his demons - human and otherwise.

PRAISE FOR THE HERETIC:

"First-rate, stylish work from Mr. Nassise, with a steady escalation of the story's speed that makes it almost literally breath-taking." -- Clive Barker

"This book bobs and weaves like the young Muhammed Ali, keeping us off-guard and entertained with its every surprising move." -- Peter Straub

"A breakneck-paced thriller that delivers on the thrills and tosses in more than a few more chills." -- Kelley Armstrong

Not much later, a mud-covered station wagon (which is strange because there hadn’t been any rain in New England for over a week) veers into the Mile 81 rest area, ignoring the sign that says “closed, no services.” The driver’s door opens but nobody gets out.

Doug Clayton, an insurance man from Bangor, is driving his Prius to a conference in Portland. On the backseat are his briefcase and suitcase and in the passenger bucket is a King James Bible, what Doug calls “the ultimate insurance manual,” but it isn’t going to save Doug when he decides to be the Good Samaritan and help the guy in the broken down wagon. He pulls up behind it, puts on his four-ways, and then notices that the wagon has no plates.

Ten minutes later, Julianne Vernon, pulling a horse trailer, spots the Prius and the wagon, and pulls over. Julianne finds Doug Clayton’s cracked cell phone near the wagon door – and gets too close herself. By the time Pete Simmons wakes up from his vodka nap, there are a half a dozen cars at the Mile 81 rest stop. Two kids – Rachel and Blake Lussier – and one horse named Deedee are the only living left. Unless you maybe count the wagon.