Showing results by author "Matthew S. Cox" in All Categories

Princess Oona Talomir enjoys the little things that come with her station: a handmaiden, her lavish bedchamber, and scores of fancy dresses - the duty to win a decades-long war, not so much. Oh, did I mention assassins? Seers foretold the conflict would end by her hand. From the moment she drew her first breath, the neighboring kingdom has been trying to kill her so she could not grow powerful enough to destroy them. The burden of her crown becomes too much to bear, yet one thing lifts her spirits amid the gloom. Her servant girl, Kitlyn. Alas, in a kingdom obsessed with the god of purity, she is terrified to confess her forbidden love.

Two weeks after waking up as a vampire, Sarah Wright is starting to feel comfortable in her fangs. She’s doing okay, if you don’t count wicked mood swings, crushing guilt, and a pervasive sense of existential dread. On the upside, her family is adjusting to the new normal of supernatural in stride, and she’s even testing the waters with a new guy.

Sarah Wright woke up a few times after parties in strange places - but the morgue's a first. At 18, she's eager for a taste of independence, moving out of state to attend college. A change of scenery is extra-needed due to a bad breakup with her boyfriend, Scott. However, soon after escaping the body cooler, she makes two startling realizations: vampires are real and she is one. There's nothing quite like an untimely death to ruin plans. California's sunny beaches aren't the best place for vampires to chill, and worse, she winds up stuck in Seattle, living with her parents.

Samantha Moon's newest friend turns out to be a supernatural the world has never seen before, not for real - a zombie, or at least something similar. The young woman isn't rotting or mindless, but no self-respecting dark master would want such a shell. Fearing this poor woman is the spearhead of the apocalypse, Sam rushes to find the source of the infection before humanity is doomed.

Sarah Wright knows she’s in for a rough week when a ghost asking for help is the least frightening thing with which she has to deal. A month after waking up as a vampire, unlife is feeling pretty sweet. Her mood swings are easing off, she’s got a decent boyfriend, and best of all, the parents let her slide on being lazy. They understand it’s a little awkward to keep a job when daylight can kill her. Oh, and the whole magical powers thing is pretty cool, too. But after two weeks of quiet, her new normal blooms into a chaotic mess.

Alexis Silver was ahead of her time, a woman too smart to fit into society at the turn of the century. She gave up her dreams of higher education for love, marrying young. But her husband, and the life she wanted, perished in World War I, soon after. Heartbroken and restless, she booked passage on a cruise along the West Coast in search of adventure, but adventure found her.

In the wake of a 20-year war, the people of Lucernia struggle to believe their former enemies aren’t demon-loving savages. However, that’s easy compared to the more alarming change: accepting their nation now has two queens. Many citizens in a land devoted to the God of Purity view the love between Kitlyn and Oona as unnatural, but the young women have earned guarded acceptance in the wake of their heroic deeds. Alas, unrest stirs in the shadows. Worse, Oona thinks the Talomir family line is cursed. All who have worn the crown before her have met with untimely deaths.

Sarah Wright has experienced no shortage of stressful situations since becoming a vampire, but she’s about to face the most terrifying one yet - being the adult in the room. Nine months into undeath, Sarah’s found her stride. She’s comfortable in her fangs, managing family and school, and relatively content. Treating her parents to a weeklong vacation in Iceland sounded like an awesome idea back in December, but the reality of being responsible for her siblings while they’re away is terrifying.

Deputy Marshal Zebadiah Clemens can't die. After the Civil War came to a close, Zeb decided to head west to raise cattle and a family. No sooner did he step off the train in Texas, a stray bullet knocked him senseless. Believing he'd somehow cheated death, he gave up on his peaceful plans and became a lawman. After migrating farther west into New Mexico, he expected to find the usual run-of-the-mill outlaws - not a strange woman watching him from the edge of his dreams. He might be imagining it all - or still unconscious with a head wound - but with his luck, it's probably real.

Brooklyn Amari knew not to get in a car with a stranger. When a man tried to lure her - she killed him. As if taking a life at the tender age of ten wasn’t bad enough, her childhood home burned to the ground two years later. She doesn’t remember how she survived, but she’s felt a pull toward the conflagration ever since. After a troubled patch in her teens, she’s become a respectable firefighter, rushing again and again into the inferno that almost killed her.

At long last, Samantha Moon’s learned the truth behind her vampire sire and why he turned her. But with that comes a revelation about an ancient evil that preys on innocent young witches. Turns out Sam has a unique connection to the fiend, but it might not be enough to help her find the monster. Of course, it’s not like she doesn’t have all the time in the world. That changes when the Red Rider abducts a 10-year-old girl, intending to devour her unusually strong magic.

On the way home one day, 13-year-old Keith Croft stops at a neighbor’s yard sale and discovers a book for Crypts & Creepers that the lonely old woman says belonged to her granddaughter who disappeared without a trace. Days after he convinces his friends to try this bizarre game that doesn’t require electronics, strange noises in his closet wake him. His increasing inability to focus on anything other than a girl who vanished before he was born - and his obsession with her NPC ranger - drives him to dig deeper into the past, searching for what really happened to her.

The universe holds various immutable constants: death, gravity, taxes...and the Wright family road trip. Every summer, Dad plans a vacation-by-car somewhere across the country. Lameness has increased each year, but Sarah blames that on growing older. She thought dying might get her out of going, but her father’s not about to let something that trivial put an end to the tradition. Of course, as a vampire, Sarah can’t seem to go anywhere without attracting the weird...and the deadly.

Sarah has finally adjusted to unlife, at last comfortable with herself. Her college classes are going well even if she isn’t fully committed to her current major. Her one frustration is her boyfriend always being too busy to spend time with her, but college is temporary. Love is forever. Or, so they say - her definition of "forever" is a little different now. Worry about her love life pales next to the constant paranormal weirdness invading her personal space.

Something stirs in the murk of the Volga River, something big, emerging at night to sow mayhem and death along the banks. And Since Solstice Winters is already stranded at ground zero, she agrees to help, even though coping with giant lizards is far from her skill set as an intrepid reporter for a paranormal tabloid. Yay for being the only elf in the world. After narrowly escaping the Ordo Sanguinem Aeternam, she winds up sharing a flat halfway across the world from home with the enigmatic Cristiano, an agent of the secretive organization she may have obligated herself to join.

From the moment Elizabeth escaped her mind prison, Sam and her friends braced for the worst. With the Dark Masters' plan now set in motion, only two things are known for sure: The plan is big, and it's going to be horrible. After tracking the dark masters down to the remote jungles of Venezuela, Sam and her crew rush to prevent the apocalypse they're certain is brewing. Not only are they facing a new type of vampire, but Sam is thrust into a maze of alternate realities where she is forced to face an enemy far more dangerous than an ancient sorceress: Herself.

Chaos erupts in Silver Mesa when a group of outlaws decides to rob the town's only bank. The seemingly ordinary crime captures Zebadiah Clemens' full attention thanks to the lead bank robber abducting the young daughter of the stagecoach manager. But unlike the sheriff, his authority doesn't stop at the edge of town. In his pursuit, Zeb discovers a small ranching community with a rather unique problem: A dead man seems to be killing people. Zeb's not about to let the crazy supernatural stuff get in the way of finding the missing girl, but no situation is ever as simple as it seems....

The trail to the missing brother leads her to bizarre people wielding ancient, unspeakable powers. Indeed, the very fabric of reality strains to hold back the evil they attempt to unleash on the unsuspecting residents of Anaheim Hills, California.

Samantha Moon would go to the ends of the Earth to stop Elizabeth.... Or into another world entirely. Fourteen years ago, her life forever changed, entwined with the darkest of dark vampires.

Samantha Moon isn’t prepared to handle the scariest moment of her life - her daughter’s turning 18. Facing the truth her children are powerful in their own right is the door to a scary new reality, worse than her dread of what Elizabeth is planning. The dark masters are still out there, but it almost feels trivial compared to having an empty house...at least until the phone rings....