Diabetes in Fiction

Following a scalding row with her mother, fifteen-year-old Holly Sykes slams the door on her old life. But Holly is no typical teenage runaway: a sensitive child once contacted by voices she knew only as ‘the radio people,’ Holly is a lightning rod for psychic phenomena. Now, as she wanders deeper into the English countryside, visions and coincidences reorder her reality until they assume the aura of a nightmare brought to life. For Holly has caught the attention of a cabal of dangerous mystics—and their enemies. But her lost weekend is merely the prelude to a shocking disappearance that leaves her family irrevocably scarred. This unsolved mystery will echo through every decade of Holly’s life, affecting all the people Holly loves—even the ones who are not yet born. A Cambridge scholarship boy grooming himself for wealth and influence, a conflicted father who feels alive only while reporting from occupied Iraq, a middle-aged writer mourning his exile from the bestseller list—all have a part to play in this surreal, invisible war on the margins of our world. From the medieval Swiss Alps to the nineteenth-century Australian bush, from a hotel in Shanghai to a Manhattan townhouse in the near future, their stories come together in moments of everyday grace and extraordinary wonder.

Shane loves her but is afraid of her sickness. They’ve been together for years, but have grown apart. Even though they constantly fight, he clings to her as much as he can, because he’s afraid to let her go. Drew loves her because she seems to understand him. She’s beautiful and open, exciting, and his best friend. But he knows her heart belongs to Shane, no matter what she tries to believe. She isn’t ready for him. Or is she? She is confused and battling with every aspect of her life. Her relationship with her mother is volatile; her father is calmly holding her emotions together; her disease is taking over her body and her life; and her passionate relationships with men are simply stressing her out. Will she put her unpredictable emotions in check before she loses everything?

Celebrities hold zero interest for photographer Jo Wilder. That’s a problem, since snapping pics of the stars is how the pretty paparazza pays the rent. So when Jo attempts to catch a money shot atop the broad shoulders of a helpful bystander, the only thing she notices about the stranger she straddles is that he’s seriously hot. Only later does Jo learn that he’s also Micah Sinclair–one of rock’s notorious bad boys…  Soon Jo is on the verge of getting fired for missing a Micah Sinclair exclusive. Until she’s suddenly being pursued by the heartthrob himself. But how can she be sure the musician’s mind-blowing kisses are the real deal? Her colleagues claim he’s a media whore, gambling on some free PR. But something has Jo hoping Micah’s feeling the same powerful pull that she does. A pull so strong, she can’t resist becoming his latest love, even if it means she might become the media’s latest victim . . .

Temporarily grounded combat pilot Molly Markham didn’t come to Sugar Falls to get serious about a man she barely knows! But when Kaleb Chatterson becomes her unexpected hero, she agrees to date the billionaire software developer to keep their secret from getting out. Except the sexy brainiac—and her pretend boyfriend—is fast turning into the man of her dreams…

Isaac Montgomery is a millionaire, a murderer, and high society’s latest novelty. After all he’s been through, it should take more than a prima ballerina with a cut-glass accent to get under his skin. But when Isaac meets Lizzie Olusegun-Keynes, he doesn’t just lose his cool. He f$*king melts. After a recent diabetes diagnosis, Lizzie is losing control of her body, her career—and, it seems, her desires. She shouldn’t want a man as coarse and cruel as Isaac, but the lust between them burns just as bright as their hatred. And when Lizzie’s beloved brother is threatened, the issue is taken out of her hands. Whether she wants to or not, she will pursue Isaac; her brother’s safety depends on it. There’s just one problem: she’s starting to fall for the brooding, secretly sweet ex-con. The ex-con she must betray.

Rock climbing is now a blood sport. Detective Inspector Nick Dixon’s former climbing partner, Jake Fayter, is dead. Killed in a fall whilst practising a new route on High Rock, Cheddar Gorge. Convinced that Jake would not have made such a simple mistake, Nick Dixon starts digging and uncovers a web of intrigue and criminal activity that will rock the sleepy seaside town of Burnham-on-Sea to its core. As the body count rises, Dixon is forced to break every rule in the book and put his own life on the line to bring the killer out into the open. A fast paced crime thriller that will leave you gasping for breath, AS THE CROW FLIES is a spine tingling introduction for DI Nick Dixon and a spectacular debut novel from crime fiction writer, Damien Boyd.

These stories, all set in nearby towns in the Alabama Black Belt a swath of dark soil that runs west to east through the central part of the state explore the history, culture, and human spirit of the people who live there, and those that came before them and were shaped by the same rich and corrupted geography. In the title story, a teenage girl wants desperately to escape her self-destructive mother and comes to realize the hay-bale art she can see from their house may hold a key to her future, if she can divine it. The novella ‘Playing War’ tells the story of a wife who’s just learned the hunting accident her husband was involved in years earlier was not exactly an accident. ‘Haints at Noon,’ written in the form of a 1930s slave narrative, tells the story of a couple trying to endure that ‘peculiar institution.’ The past and present are joined here in stories that demonstrate the never-ending struggle for understanding and connection.

Dr. Cameran Young knew her assignment wouldn’t be easy. As lead biologist on the Environment Impact Assessment team, her findings would determine the future of a large mining project in the northern Canadian bush. She expected rough conditions and hostile miners–but she didn’t expect to find a dead body her first day on the job. Former SAS Sergeant Daniel Fox forged a career as a helicopter pilot, working as far from the rest of the human race as possible. The thrill of flying makes his civilian life bearable, and he lives by his mantra: don’t get involved. But when he’s charged with transporting the biologist to her research vessel, he can’t help but get involved in the murder investigation–and with Cameran, who awakens emotions he’s desperate to suppress. In the harsh and rugged wilderness, Daniel and Cameran must battle their intense and growing attraction while keeping ahead of a killer who will stop at nothing to silence her…

Life in New York City is fantastic for ambitious investment banker, Paul, his successful artist wife, Candice, and their beautiful and talented daughter, Sally. They are the model of an affluent, high-powered urban couple — until the day the carefully constructed wall of their secrets comes crashing down. Paul and Candice have been venturing into the gray areas of monogamy, and during a passionate escapade, Paul discovers that Candice has been a closet drug addict for the better part of their relationship. Resisting to face his own denial, having to deal with his suddenly weakening health, facing death and grasping at the threads of his failing relationship with his daughter, Paul needs a revelation. When he joins a cutting edge research project on the effects of stress, Paul discovers that there isn’t much of a difference between an addict, like his wife, and himself, who chooses to badly manage his type one diabetes. The New York City Marathon becomes the riveting and unexpected backdrop for the new bright life about to begin. GOOD LIKE THIS is a passionate story about family, commitment, self-discovery, the connection between body and mind, and the difference between "high and happy."

Karen Hollander is a celebrated attorney who recently removed herself from consideration for appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. Her reasons have their roots in 1968—an episode she’s managed to keep secret for more than forty years. Now, with the imminent publication of her memoir, she’s about to let the world in on that shocking secret—as soon as she can track down the answers to a few crucial last questions. As junior-high-school kids back in the early sixties, Karen and her two best friends, Chuck and Alex, roamed suburban Chicago on their bikes looking for intrigue and excitement. Inspired by the exotic romance of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels, they acted out elaborate spy missions pitting themselves against imaginary Cold War villains. As friendship carries them through childhood and on to college—in a polarized late-sixties America riven by war and race as well as sex, drugs, and rock and roll—the bad guys cease to be the creatures of make-believe. Caught up in the fervor of that extraordinary and uncanny time, they find themselves swept into a dangerous new game with the highest possible stakes. Today, only a handful of people are left who know what happened. As Karen reconstructs the past and reconciles the girl she was then with the woman she is now, finally sharing pieces of her secret past with her national-security-cowboy boyfriend and activist granddaughter, the power of memory and history and luck become clear. A resonant coming-of-age story and a thrilling political mystery.