Sand and Secrets

There are creatures lurking in our world. Obscure creatures long relegated to myth and legend. They have been sighted by a lucky—or unlucky—few, some have even been photographed, but their existence remains unproven and unrecognized by the scientific community.

These creatures, long thought gone, have somehow survived; creatures from our nightmares haunting the dark places. They swim in our lakes and bays, they soar the night skies, they hunt in the woods. Some are from our past, some from other worlds, and others have always been with us—watching us, fearing us, hunting us.

These are the cryptids, and Systema Paradoxa tells their tales.

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Academia can be ruthless. Academia in Russia... can be perilous.

An internship overseas at a Moscow university becomes so much more when Ella Trigiani is invited on an expedition to the Gobi Desert. Torn between her mammalian studies and the opportunity for real fieldwork experience, she joins the search for an elusive and deadly creature most consider the stuff of legends.

Led by what may or may not be love, driven by what is definitely ambition, will Ella thrive or become one more secret lost beneath the sands?

Robert Greenberger is a writer and editor. A lifelong fan of comic books, comic strips, science fiction, and Star Trek, he drifted towards writing and editing, encouraged by his father and inspired by Superman’s alter ego, Clark Kent.

While at SUNY-Binghamton, Greenberger wrote and edited for the college newspaper, Pipe Dream. Upon graduation, he worked for Starlog Press and while there, created Comics Scene, the first nationally distributed magazine to focus on comic books, comic strips, and animation.
In 1984, he joined DC Comics as an Assistant Editor and went on to be an Editor before moving to Administration as Manager-Editorial Operations. He joined Gist Communications as a Producer before moving to Marvel Comics as its Director-Publishing Operations.

Greenberger rejoined DC in May 2002 as a Senior Editor-Collected Editions. He helped grow that department, introducing new formats and improving the editions’ editorial content. In 2006, he joined Weekly World News as its Managing Editor until the paper’s untimely demise. He then freelanced for an extensive client base including Platinum Studios, scifi.com, DC, and Marvel. He helped revitalize Famous Monsters of Filmland and served as News Editor at ComicMix.com.
He is a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America and the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers. His novelization of Hellboy II: The Golden Army won the IAMTW’s Scribe Award in 2009.

In 2012, he received his Master of Science in Education from the University of Bridgeport and relocated to Maryland where he has taught High School English in Baltimore County. He completed his Master of Arts degree in Creative Writing & Literature for Educators at Fairleigh Dickinson University in 2016.

With others, he co-founded Crazy 8 Press, a digital press hub where he continues to write. His dozens of books, short stories, and essays cover the gamut from young adult nonfiction to original fiction. His most recent works include Chartwell Books’ 100 Greatest Moments series, The Dreadstar Handbook, and editing Thrilling Adventure Yarns.

Bob teaches High School English at St. Vincent Pallotti High School in Laurel, MD. He and his wife Deborah reside in Howard County, Maryland. Find him at www.bobgreenberger.com or @bobgreenberger.