When Holly and her friend Archie are in LA (flown out there by the billionaire Brant Buchanan) they bump into a character from Holly's past. Petal Moses is in the middle of making the film version of her autobiography. While filming in the heart of the Californian desert, the director catches something 'dragonlike' on camera. However, before it can be properly examined, the roll of film goes missing. Realising this is a case for Dirk, Holly immediately calls him up. In no time at all, the dragon detective is up to his neck once more in a dangerous investigation involving some Californian Desert Dragons who spit poison rather than breathe fire. Views: 59
The seventh in the Honor SeriesAll Cameron Roberts and Blair Powell want is a small intimate wedding, but the paparazzi and a domestic terrorist have other plans.First Daughter Blair Powell and her lover Cameron Roberts, newly appointed deputy director of the Homeland Security Office, escape to a ski chalet in the Rockies after a harrowing attack by members of a domestic terrorism organization. Under orders from the White House, Blair reluctantly allows a member of the "enemy camp," investigative reporter Dana Barnett, to join her inner circle in the hopes of limiting her media exposure. Dana isn't any happier about being pulled from her coverage of the escalating conflict in the Middle East to write a society "fluff piece," although the presence of beautiful Dr. Emory Constantine does make the assignment a little more enticing.With the nation under attack, the world on the verge of war, and their personal lives the focus of intense public scrutiny, Cam and Blair come... Views: 59
An international sensation— with more than 1 million copies sold in Germany, and rights snapped up in 26 countries— Wetlands is the sexually and anatomically explicit novel that is changing the conversation about female identity and sexuality around the world. Helen Memel is an outspoken, contradictory eighteen-year-old, whose childlike stubbornness is offset by a precocious sexual confidence. She begins her story from a hospital bed, where she’ s slowly recovering from an operation and lamenting her parents’ divorce. To distract and console herself, Helen ruminates on her past sexual and physical adventures in increasingly uncomfortable detail; what ensues is “ a headlong dash through every crevice and byproduct, physical and psychological, of its narrator’ s body and mind.” (The New York Times) Fantastically sexual, Helen is constantly blurring the line between celebration, provocation, and dysfunction in her relationship with her body. Punky alienated teenager, young woman reclaiming her body from the tyranny of repressive hygiene (women mustn’ t smell, excrete, desire), bratty smartass, vulnerable, lonely daughter, shock merchant and pleasure-seeker— Helen is all of these things and more, and her frequent attempts to assert her maturity ultimately prove just how fragile, confused, and young she truly is. In the tradition of The Sexual Life of Catherine M and Melissa P.’ s 100 Strokes of the Brush Before Bed, Charlotte Roche exposes the double bind of female sexuality, delivering a compulsively readable and fearlessly intimate manifesto on sex, hygiene, and the repercussions of family trauma. Views: 59
Ralf is a software prodigy. He works in the US government office that updates the software in the population's boosts—networked supercomputers contained in a chip implanted within the brains of 99 percent of the world's population. Invented by Chinese researchers in 2032, the boost is credited with leading humanity to its most significant cognitive leap since the discovery of fire. Days before a national upgrade, Ralf notices that the update includes an open surveillance gate—meaning that Americans, who had negotiated high levels of privacy with the Chinese manufacturers, will now be subjected to the invasive Chinese standard. Ralf attempts to hack the boost, but is caught by agents working for Washington's preeminent lobbyist. His boost is ripped from his head, and Ralf barely escapes with his life.Pursued by the lobbyist's mercenary cadre, Ralf flees to the US–Mexico border, where there are others like him—"wild" humans on the fringes of... Views: 59
Gypsy Elliott has found a hiding place from a man stalking her and her family, seeking revenge for a crime she can't remember committing. Her haven is a Michigan logging camp where she is the kingbee (chief) cook. When she is asked to put a logger with a broken leg to work in her kitchen, she wants to say no. She realizes Patrick Lassiter isn't like other loggers, but she is not sure why he is there. Patrick tells no one that he's a private investigator hired by the owner of the logging company. He faked an injury to stay in camp and enjoys its excitement until he discovers the man he seeks may be after Gypsy. Complicating an investigation by falling in love is stupid, but he can't resist pretty Gypsy. Then he discovers the reason why getting involved is wrong: He has to choose between doing his job and saving Gypsy's life from someone who will do anything for love. Views: 59
Jack Vance is one of the most remarkable talents to ever grace the world of science fiction. His unique, stylish voice has been beloved by generations of readers. One of his enduring classics is his Mazirian the Magician (previously titled The Dying Earth), and its sequels—a fascinating, baroque tale set on a far-future Earth, under a giant red sun that is soon to go out forever.In Cugel: the Skybreak Spatterlight , Cugel the Clever is still seeking revenge on the magician Iucounu, whom he blames for his exile and all his troubles. But revenge is hard to come by, and the adventures on the way are so very diverting....At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied. Views: 59
A form of subtle vigilantism threatens to undermine the justice system and is eroding community trust in law enforcement.This book describes a pervasive and destructive problem afflicting our current justice system, one that is eroding community confidence in law enforcement. The authors call it "shadow vigilantism"—a vicious cycle in which ordinary people, as well as criminal justice officials, are so fed up with the system's failures that they distort and subvert the system to force it to do the justice that it seems so reluctant to do on its own. The effects of this lack of trust are pervasive and pernicious: citizens refuse to report a crime or help investigators; jurors refuse to indict or convict; and officials manipulate a system that is perceived to be unreliable. This downward spiral eventually undermines the moral authority of law enforcement and creates widening rifts in the community. The authors examine many examples of how the community has... Views: 59
When President Linda Travis is told of the human-alien conspiracy that secretly controls her government, she does something none of her predecessors dared to do: she runs. During the chase that ensues, Linda is forced to face fully the converging crises of energy, economy, and environment that threaten the entire world, and to confront deep assumptions about the nature of reality itself. Views: 59
