Rodrick is a con man as charming as he is cunning. Hrym is a talking sword of magical ice, with the soul and spells of an ancient dragon. Together, the two travel the world, parting the gullible from their gold and freezing their enemies in their tracks. But when the two get summoned to the mysterious island of Jalmeray by a king with genies and elementals at his command, they'll need all their wits and charm if they're going to escape with the greatest prize of all-their lives. From Hugo Award winner Tim Pratt comes a tale of magic, assassination, monsters, and cheerful larceny, in Pathfinder: Liar's Island, set in the award-winning world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Views: 24
From the number one New York Times bestselling coauthor of Judge Jury and Lifeguard comes this electrifying solo debut, The Blue Zone. Kate Raab's life seems almost perfect: her boyfriend, her job, her family… until her father runs into trouble with the law. His only recourse is to testify against his former accomplices in exchange for his family's placement in the Witness Protection Program. But one of them gets cold feet. In a flash, everything Kate can count on is gone. Now, a year later, her worst fears have happened: Her father has disappeared-into what the WITSEC agency calls "the blue zone"-and someone close to him is found brutally murdered. With her family under surveillance, the FBI untrustworthy, and her father's menacing "friends" circling with increasing intensity, Kate sets off to find her father-and uncover the secrets someone will kill to keep buried. Views: 24
The Metal Maiden Series is a wildly different kind of story that tells how Elasa, a humanoid robot who achieves consciousness, eventually saves the world from surpassing horrorHumanoid robots are surely in our future, but their uses are likely to be limited to body guarding, childcare, companionship, and sex. Other chores can better be done by smart non-humanoid machines designed for those specific tasks. But for these limited purposes, the best robots must be so realistic that they are indistinguishable from live people.Elasa is such a robot. You can't tell her nature if she doesn't reveal it. You can talk with her, embrace her, kiss her, and she is the perfect woman. Until she becomes the first conscious robot. She's no longer satisfied to pretend to be a woman; she wants legal recognition that she is a woman, so that, among other things, she can marry the man she loves. Therein hangs a tale . . . Views: 24
Eugenia Ledoux wakes one morning to a note on the kitchen table: "Gone to save the world. Sorry. Yours, Sheb Woolly Ledoux. Asshole." Eugenia is nine years old, a synaesthesiac and a tightrope walker. She adores her father and his lunatic charms; she loves that he takes her fishing in the middle of the night and calls her Stunt. Sheb has always promised he'll one day take her to the moonscape of northern Ontario, where astronauts train; instead he writes a note, blows up a shoulder-pad factory, and leaves. His heartbroken daughter is left behind with her mother, the sharp-edged former ingenue Mink, and her sister, the death-obsessed and hauntingly beautiful Immaculata.After a fake funeral for Sheb, Mink vanishes too. Eugenia and Immaculata, left alone, double in age overnight. Immaculata becomes a swan-like giantess, and soon finds her calling caring for Leopold, a diseased and irresistible malcontent down the street. Eugenia, however, stays the same: dark and diminutive,... Views: 24
SUMMARY:
Haunted by a promise that he couldn't keep and a past he couldn't forgetChance Morgan had locked away his heart. Until Cora Mae Tindale crossed half the country to find him. The beguiling creature who insisted on turning his serviceable ranch into a home was hiding somethingand Chance was hell-bent on finding out her secrets!Cora Mae only wanted a place to hide, but her youthful protector had grown into a war-hardened rancher with looks that could tempt a saint. Yet his dark glances were filled with distrust and unmistakable desire. Cora Mae's childhood crush was rapidly becoming a much more adult craving! Views: 24
Dr. Ben Richardson is trying to make yet another new start, this time in the emergency department at a Melbourne hospital. It's been nearly four years since he lost his wife and unborn child--and he still hasn't let go. So it comes as quite a surprise to him when his eye is drawn to a beautiful pregnant woman on the beach.When Ben realizes Celeste is a nurse at the hospital, he wants to keep his distance. She reminds him too much of all he's lost. But Celeste is clearly facing this challenging pregnancy alone, and Ben can't help coming to her rescue. Being with her to deliver her premature baby girl finally makes him realize there's a future for him right here after all--if he's prepared to risk enough to claim it.-
The most precious gifts in life are worth risking your heart for...Dr. Ben Richardson is trying to make yet another new start, this time in the emergency department at a Melbourne hospital. It's been nearly four years since he lost his wife and unborn child--and he still hasn't let go. So it comes as quite a surprise to him when his eye is drawn to a beautiful pregnant woman on the beach.When Ben realizes Celeste is a nurse at the hospital, he wants to keep his distance. She reminds him too much of all he's lost. But Celeste is clearly facing this challenging pregnancy alone, and Ben can't help coming to her rescue. Being with her to deliver her premature baby girl finally makes him realize there's a future for him right here after all--if he's prepared to risk enough to claim it.... Views: 24
The road that led to Kate Bradshaw's door sometimes seemed the loneliest in the world. In the depths of the Depression, the young widow was struggling to hold on to the family farm raise two small children. she had only her faith to sustain her—until the day Hatcher Jones came walking up that long, lonely road.The hsome, mysterious drifter was clearly haunted by some terrible secret from his past. But the simple acts of kindness he showed Kate her children spoke of a good heart strong values. she longed to make him see that there could be redemption for anyone, even him— that all his wering had brought him home at last. Views: 24
SUMMARY: The hideously disfigured body of Lucius Licinius was found in the atrium. The only clues are a blood-soaked cloak, and, carved into the stone at the corpse's feet, the word Sparta....For Gordianus the Finder, summoned from Rome to a luxury resort on the Bay of Naples, the case is agonizing. The overseer of Marcus Crassus's estate has been murdered, apparently by two slaves bent on joining Spartacus's revolt. The wealthy, powerful Crassus vows to honor an ancient law and kill his ninety-nine remaining slaves in retaliation. From the brutal stench of a slave galley to the limpid, sea-glazed beauty of Baiae and the sulphurous pits of the Sybil at Cumae, Giordanus draws closer to the terrifying truth. Enmeshed in a world of desperate slaves and duplicitous masters, extravagant feasts and sordid secrets, he must risk all he loves, including his life, to stop a senseless slaughter-and save the very future of Rome itself.AUTHORBIO: STEVEN SAYLOR is the author of eight books in the Roma Sub Rosa featuring Gordianus the Finder, most recently Roman Blood.He divides his time between homes in Austin, Texas, and Berkeley, California. Views: 24
Anyone who thinks ancient history is dry will think again after dipping into these ocean blues. Here, political corruption, intrigue, high-seas adventure, romance, and comedy are all presented in abundance by the likable Marcus Oppius Sabinus, a teenager with a very contemporary attitude. Marcus is unwittingly involved by his cousin in "promoting" the ambitious young Julius Caesar in an upcoming Roman election. When Marcus proves to be even better at bribery than his cousin had hoped, he is assigned a difficult and dangerous mission. He must spy on, and undermine, those who would support Cicero's control of Rome, so that Julius Caesar can continue his power grab. The mission carries its rewards and risks. If Marcus succeeds, he will be on the inner circles of Rome's elite. If he fails, he faces exile -- or worse. Given very little choice but to accept his assignment, Marcus travels to Greece, but not before he is sidelined by shipwreck, enslavement, and pirate attack. Oh, yes,... Views: 24
Can a book animate the dead? When dead bugs start flying and a ghost becomes corporeal, all signs point to yes. The effects of the book are contained within the walls of the lost library...for now. Europe's other world policing agency, frantic for a way to stop the effects of the book's magic before it spreads, turn to the library's most promising spell caster Lizzie for help. Click to find out if Lizzie can wrestle the evil book into submission before it sparks an undead uprising. Views: 24
From Publishers Weekly A British detective faces down the combined forces of the Mafia and the Vatican in Becker's jaw-dropping thriller. Tunbridge Wells Det. Sgt. Chris Bronson is helping his best friend, Mark Hampton, deal with the sudden death of Mark's wife, Jackie. Her supposedly accidental fatal fall at their house in Ponticelli, Italy, was caused by intruders seeking an ancient Latin inscription revealed during remodeling, the first clue to locating a scroll and diptychs that describe the crucifixion and beheading of two unnamed Jews in A.D. 67. Mafioso Gregori Mandino wants to find and destroy the relics, and he pressures Joseph Cardinal Vertutti to help. After Mafia hit men target Mark, Chris seeks vengeance and answers with the help of his ex-wife, a British Museum conservator. Fast-paced action propels the imaginative and controversial plot. Views: 24