Deirdre Gower’s aunt, the Duchess of Charney, had trapped Lord Belami into offering for her niece. Deirdre had accepted in order to escape having to marry someone she disliked. But now, at Beaulac for the New Year’s holiday, both participants were ready to renege on the engagement—until solving the mystery of the duchess’s stolen diamond threw them together. Regency Romance by Joan Smith; originally published by Fawcett Views: 24
Barr courched down to get out of the sea spray. The rock bulking over his head was wet and slick in the darkness, cold. But it was a measure of protection against the wind and the spray that lashed up from the shallow bay. Views: 24
In childhood there is no distinction between boy, bird, mammal, or fish. A Twelvemonth and a Day is about change and growth, the fluctuating patterns in the worklife of a fishing and farming community throughout the cycle of a year, and about the year itself, the life of nature. It tells of how that symbolic year-and-a-day can be destroyed by forces we cannot seem to control—ignorance and greed, profit and loss, the wider forces of politics that damage communities and individuals. It is both a lament for a past time and a celebration of its vanished values."With its Bible-sized characters, its feeling for workaday rhythms and the cycle of seasons, its tall and grisly tales of storms and wrecks, whales and sharks, witches and fetches, drowning and exhumations, it does convey a sense of that fatalistic awe which the sea inspired in those deeply devout fishing communities." —Times Literary Supplement"A magical memory of childhood ... powerful, vivid,... Views: 24
Sunshine, the brilliant blue Pacific, and the Golden Gate Bridge overhung with fog. The perfect backdrop for romance? Well…in San Francisco, good weather is easy to find; straight men are not. A San Francisco woman needs stamina, patience, cunning, and a plentiful supply of humor. Annie Tannenbaum—beautiful, blonde, divorced but hardly defeated—turns the relentless pursuit of Mr. Right to profit. She’s already gotten an advance on Meeting Cute, her book describing how perfect couples get together, for which she’s busy collecting data from the “personals” column, not to mention looking for responses to the personal ad she’s placed for herself.Annie and her best friend Samantha—who looks as if she belongs on the cover of Vogue—love to commiserate over lunch, over dinner, over a forbidden dessert in the city’s trendy watering holes. But Samantha is hot on the trail of a very different kind of man as well. As the leading crime reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, she is following the gruesome path of the sadistic rapist and murderer who is terrorizing women in San Francisco. The pursuit of love and the hunt for a killer become strangely intertwined as Samantha and Annie work together to trap the most frightening sex murderer since Thomas Harris’ The Red Dragon. They get close—perhaps too close—to finding him.“Impersonal Attractions is slick, smart-mouthed, totally contemporary, and utterly beguiling. Sarah Shankman has a magic eye and ear for the urban idiom, a devilish sense of suspense, and a welcome gift for the absurd.”Anne Rivers Siddons, author of Fox’s Earth and The House Next Door“Dynamite! A whirlwind thriller—more than just a page-turner. The pages turn themselves! [Impersonal Attractions] reads like the Grand Prix. Way to go, Sarah Shankman!”William Diehl, author of Chameleon and Sharky’s Machine Views: 23
When the nation’s political elite descends on a small Northern California town, murder follows—and only Vejay Haskell can get to the bottom of the shocking crimeEach year the Bohemian Club—a clique of powerful conservatives whose ranks include Nixon, Reagan, and Kissinger—gathers for a confidential meeting in the backwoods town of Henderson, California. Though their activities are shrouded in secrecy, Henderson meter-reader Vejay Haskell is about to get an all-too-close inside look. Searching the countryside for a coworker’s missing niece, she finds the beautiful gymnast lying dead in the bottom of a sewer drain. The sheriff calls it an accident, but Vejay suspects the girl’s death was connected to the Bohemian Club’s unquenchable desire for drugs, booze, and prostitutes. Finding the killer will mean going head to head with the nation’s fiercest politicians. But compared to the Vietnam vets, pot growers, and backcountry crackpots she normally deals with, the Bohemians don’t frighten Vejay one bit.This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author’s personal collection. Views: 23
RISKY BUSINESS(SR #359)Three weeks on the scenic Oregon coast at the Tropicana Royale was Carolyn Kenniwick's dream come true. It was time to leave her gift shop behind and make a change. New clothes, a new hairdo, and a new attitude were going to make for vacation fun that was long overdue.It was also time for Kenneth Clay, the famous writer, to vacation. But registering at the Tropicana under his real name, Clay Kenniwick, found him with an unexpected roommate--Carolyn! Neither wanted to give up this vacation, so somehow they would work it out. . . . Maybe this provocative living arrangement was all the vacation they needed. Views: 23
When Althea was hired as assistant to the demanding, brillant entrepreneur Ward Kingman, she knew that neither power, money, nor incredibly masculine good looks would turn her head. Althea could control her feelings where men were concerned. She was cool, aloof - untouchable. But Ward's appeal was elemental. His appraising dark eyes and sudden embrace posed a dangerous threat, evoking sensations in Althea that alarmed her. Althea would have fled Kingman Enterprises, but her job was too important. Yet how much longer could she maintain her cool with Ward in hot pursuit. Views: 22
After unknown buyers purchase Winterest a seventeenth-century stone mansion believed to be haunted, the neighboring residents receive and invitation to a tea party and find themselves caught in a whirlwind of supernatural vengeance and violence Views: 22
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Second Annual Collection for 1984 pub in 1985This collection is the second installment in the popular and long-running "The Year's Best Science Fiction" series:Fantastic Science Fiction!The Year's Best -- And Biggest CollectionHere's the cream of the crop: short stories, novelettes, novellas by science fiction writers already famous and awarded for their high-quality work in science fiction. Dozois's Year's Best, like any successful representative of a large constituency, sometimes suffers from blandness and inconsistency. As usual, it's oversized?23 stories, nearly 600 pages?and includes a variety of types of SF as well as near-horror, fantasy and humor. Five of the stories are final nominees for Nebulas, and two new "Hainish" stories by Ursula LeGuin were nominated for Tiptree Awards; "The Matter of Segrri" won. No story here is less than competent and professional; but, with a few exceptions, there is a voiceless sameness in the writing, practically a house style, that over so many pages grows tedious. (Nearly half the stories, by page count, come from the Dozois-edited Asimov's Science Fiction.) A number are flawed ("hard" SF stories about "aliens" that think just like humans) or unremarkable, but these are outweighed by many fine pieces and by standouts such as LeGuin's "Forgiveness Day," perhaps the best story in the book; Eliot Fintushel's "New Wave"-like "Ylem"; William Sanders's "Going After Old Man Alabama" and Terry Bisson's "The Hole in the Hole," both of which are winning and funny; Katherine Kerr's chilling "Asylum"; and Michael Bishop's grand and humane "Cri de Coeur." Dozois's intelligently and ably put-together anthology does its stated job as well as any one book or editor could. Even with competition, it would still be the best of the Best. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. Summation: 1984 • Gardner Dozois Salvador • Lucius Shepard Promises to Keep • Jack McDevitt Bloodchild • Octavia E. Butler Blued Moon • Connie Willis A Message to the King of Brobdingnag • Richard Cowper The Affair • Robert Silverberg PRESS ENTER [] • John Varley New Rose Hotel • William Gibson The Map • Gene Wolfe Interlocking Pieces • Molly GlossTrojan Horse • Michael Swanwick Bad Medicine • Jack DannAt the Embassy Club • Elizabeth A. Lynn Pursuit of Excellence • Rena Yount The Kindly Isle • Frederik Pohl Rock On • Pat Cadigan Sunken Gardens [Mechanist-Shapers] • Bruce SterlingTrinity • Nancy Kress The Trouble with the Cotton People • Ursula K. Le Guin Twilight Time • Lewis ShinerBlack Coral • Lucius Shepard Friend • James Patrick Kelly & John Kessel Foreign Skins • Tanith LeeCompany in the WingsA Cabin on the Coast • Gene Wolfe The Lucky Strike • Kim Stanley Robinson Honorable Mentions: 1984 • Gardner Dozois • Views: 22
“A Prize Plot.” -San Francisco Examiner “A bright, light, cleverly written tale.” -Cincinnati Post Things were going lousy for ex-reporter Paul Mcdonald: No money, no girl friend, no bright new career as a mystery novelist … and then along came PI Jack Birnbaum with an offer. He’d detect, and Paul would write the client reports. It wasn’t much, but it would keep Spot the cat in Kitty Queen tidbits. And then this: “That stuff’ll kill you.” “What? Your coffee?” Jack was just doctoring his second cup. “No. All that sweetener. You’re poisoning yourself.” “We’ve all gotta go sometime.” Jack went right about then. His eyes rolled back and he let go of the cup. Coffee sloshed all over my rug. His big body fell forward in the chair. A day that begins with a body in your living room really ought to get better, but next comes burglary and after that, assault-by-cop. And Paul’s got a feeling that’s just the beginning. There must have been something someone didn't want him to know in one of those client reports. But what? These were the facts: I was thirty-eight. I’d spent fifteen years on one major metropolitan daily or another. I’d written six unpublished detective novels. Unpublished in spite of my name. John D. MacDonald did it daily. Ross Macdonald did it deeper. Gregory Mcdonald did it with dash. Wrote thrillers and got them published. But not Paul Mcdonald. I just wrote them, supporting my habit with clients like Jack. I had about two hundred bucks to last me the rest of my life. My only client was dead. The market for mysteries was terrible. I didn’t get out enough. The only thing I’d ever done successfully was write newspaper stories. And I was sitting on a great story. A story he can sell, if he can catch the murderer before the murderer catches him. Birnbaum's last report concerned a kidnapped child, so Paul begins there. The trail leads him to the laboratory of a Nobel laureate geneticist, and then to City Hall, where an extremely nasty surprise awaits. But there’s an upside—lovely witness Sardis Kincannon. Nothing like falling in love while you’re running for your life! “One more blithe San Fran outing with a likeable journalist-sleuth by the name of Paul Mcdonald … Smith improves with each story and this is her best to date.” -Kirkus Reviews The San Francisco Bay Area shines here, as does the author's wit and humor. Fans of CASTLE, MURDER SHE WROTE, even ELLERY QUEEN will enjoy this fast-paced and funny take on the mystery-writer-as-detective. Views: 21
Read this classic romance by USA Today bestselling author Carole Mortimer, now available for the first time in e-book! The tycoon's conquest At first Aaron Grantley can't see why his best friend was so distracted by someone like Charly Allenby. But soon he can't imagine any man not losing his head over her! Charly feels as if she's been run over by a steamroller. Aaron is presumptuous, overbearing, impossible to reason with—and hopelessly attractive! The fire in his eyes at her resistance is intense, but Charly has first-hand experience with men who love a challenge. Can she risk surrendering her heart again? Originally published in 1985 Views: 21
"Sprawling epics are supposed to offer pageantry and exotic locales...Because Janet Dailey is a well-known romance writer, one might expect love and sex. THE GREAT ALONE comes through on all counts." — The New York Times Book Review Best-selling and beloved author Janet Dailey captures the heart of the last American frontier in this rousing, passionate tale of splendid adventures and unforgettable loves. Through seven generations and two-hundred years, the Tarakanov family will carve civilizations out of an untamed wilderness. In the 18th century, she is forced to choose between her beloved Cossack, Andrei, and the future of the Aleut tribe. Zachar, fated to love the gorgeous, dangerous Raven of the rival Tinglets, will betray his tribe's greatest secret. Marisha runs away with a handsome Klondike prospector, but finds her fortune as Glory... Views: 21
In the auspicious annals of crime, chicanery, and counterespionage, one name towers above all the rest—Slippery Jim diGriz, the famous outlaw known and feared as the Stainles Steel Rat! Now the uncanny, untold origins of the 25th century—s most canny criminal are at last revealed. This thrilling volume in the saga of James diGriz explores his humble beginnings as a petty criminal on the backward planet of Bit O’Heaven, and his rapid rise to the most wanted man on a dozen worlds. And it contains the never-before-told story of the fabled archcriminal known as The Bishop, who tutored young Jim in the higher arts of crime and gave him his legendary nickname. A rousing, rolicking, often touching tale, A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born is a stirring portrait of a man who learned to laugh at the laws that bind ordinary men. Views: 20
