• Home
  • Books for 2009 year

Demon Mistress

We're the D'Artigo Sisters: Half-human, half-Faerie, we're savvy--and sexy--operatives for the Otherworld Intelligence Agency. But our mixed-blood heritage short-circuits our talents at all the wrong times. My sister Camille is a wicked-good witch whose magic is as unpredictable as the weather. My sister Delilah transforms into a tabby cat at the worst possible times. And me? I'm Menolly, acrobat-extraordinaire-turned-vampire. And if the nerds from hell don't get their act together, I'm going to turn their toga party into a bloodbath. . . Life's getting stranger by the minute. First, Iris and I unearth a diary from one of the bartenders at the Wayfarer who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. And when I discover a ghoul in the woods near our home, we know there has to be a necromancer nearby--another sign that something's wrong. But the blood really hits the fang when we discover a secret society bent on winning Shadow Wing's favor. Now it's up to us to stop the chaos they've unleashed on the city, and to prevent the demon they summoned from devouring Delilah's soul. . .
Views: 722

The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg, Volume 4: Trips: 1972-73

The stories here, all of them written between March of 1972 and November of 1973, mark a critical turning point in my career. Those who know the three earlier volumes have traced my evolution from a capable journeyman, very young and as much concerned with paying the rent as he was to advancing the state of the art, into a serious, dedicated craftsman now seeking to leave his mark on science fiction in some significant way. Throughout the decade of the 1960s I had attempted to grow and evolve within the field of writing I loved building on the best that went before me, the work of Theodore Sturgeon and James Blish and Cyril Kornbluth and Jack Vance and Philip K. Dick and half a dozen others whose great stories had been beacons beckoning me onward and then, as I reached my own maturity, now trying to bring science fiction along with me into a new realm of development, hauling it along even farther out of its pulp-magazine origins toward what I regarded as a more resonant and evocative kind of visionary storytelling. Robert Silverberg, from his introduction Table of Contents Introduction In the Group Getting Across Ms. Found in an Abandoned Time Machine The Science Fiction Hall of Fame A Sea of Faces The Dybbuk of Mazel Tov IV Breckenridge and the Continuum Capricorn Games Ship-Sister, Star-Sister This is the Road Trips Born with the Dead D.V. Perrot: Teach Yourself Swahili Schwartz Between the Galaxies In the House of Double Minds
Views: 722

Finding the Lost

They are the Sentinels: three races descended from ancient guardians of mankind, each possessing unique abilities in their battle to protect humanity against their eternal foes–the Synestryn. Now a young woman must put faith in a warrior whose power frightens her even as it draws her in. Andra Madison knows that monsters are real. She’s been fighting them ever since her family was victimized by the Synestryn eight years ago. Now she’s devoted to finding children who’ve been abducted by the Synestryn. When she gets a call about a lost little boy, she tracks him to a warehouse on the outskirts of town, where she’s aided by a trio of human men…or so she thinks. Paul has been searching for centuries for a woman like Andra. To find her, he strikes a bargain with a bloodhunter that could cost him his life. Now his desire for Andra threatens to destroy his much-needed control. Against her wishes, Andra agrees to join Paul on a journey fraught with danger–one that leads directly to the Synestryn.
Views: 720

Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall

One of the most celebrated writers of our time gives us his first cycle of short fiction: five brilliantly etched, interconnected stories in which music is a vivid and essential character. A once-popular singer, desperate to make a comeback, turning from the one certainty in his life . . . A man whose unerring taste in music is the only thing his closest friends value in him . . . A struggling singer-songwriter unwittingly involved in the failing marriage of a couple he’s only just met . . . A gifted, underappreciated jazz musician who lets himself believe that plastic surgery will help his career . . . A young cellist whose tutor promises to “unwrap” his talent . . . Passion or necessity—or the often uneasy combination of the two—determines the place of music in each of these lives. And, in one way or another, music delivers each of them to a moment of reckoning: sometimes comic, sometimes tragic, sometimes just eluding their grasp. An exploration of love, need, and the ineluctable force of the past, Nocturnes reveals these individuals to us with extraordinary precision and subtlety, and with the arresting psychological and emotional detail that has marked all of Kazuo Ishiguro’s acclaimed works of fiction.
Views: 719

Hall of Mirrors

This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.
Views: 718

Matterhorn

A big, powerful saga of men in combat, written over the course of thirty-five years by a highly decorated Vietnam veteran. Intense, powerful, and compelling, Matterhorn is an epic war novel in the tradition of Norman Mailer’s The Naked and the Dead and James Jones’s The Thin Red Line. It is the timeless story of a young Marine lieutenant, Waino Mellas, and his comrades in Bravo Company, who are dropped into the mountain jungle of Vietnam as boys and forced to fight their way into manhood. Standing in their way are not merely the North Vietnamese but also monsoon rain and mud, leeches and tigers, disease and malnutrition. Almost as daunting, it turns out, are the obstacles they discover between each other: racial tension, competing ambitions, and duplicitous superior officers. But when the company finds itself surrounded and outnumbered by a massive enemy regiment, the Marines are thrust into the raw and all-consuming terror of combat. The experience will change them forever. Written over the course of thirty years by a highly decorated Vietnam veteran, Matterhorn is a visceral and spellbinding novel about what it is like to be a young man at war. It is an unforgettable novel that transforms the tragedy of Vietnam into a powerful and universal story of courage, camaraderie, and sacrifice: a parable not only of the war in Vietnam but of all war, and a testament to the redemptive power of literature. A graduate of Yale University and a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, Karl Marlantes served as a Marine in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Navy Cross, the Bronze Star, two Navy Commendation Medals for valor, two Purple Hearts, and ten air medals. This is his first novel. He lives in rural Washington State.
Views: 717

Chasing Brooklyn

Restless souls and empty hearts Brooklyn can't sleep. Her boyfriend, Lucca, died only a year ago, and now her friend Gabe has just died of an overdose. Every time she closes her eyes, Gabe's ghost is there waiting for her. She has no idea what he wants or why it isn't Lucca visiting her dreams. Nico can't stop. He's always running, trying to escape the pain of losing his brother, Lucca. But when Lucca's ghost begins leaving messages, telling Nico to help Brooklyn, emotions come crashing to the surface. As the nightmares escalate and the messages become relentless, Nico reaches out to Brooklyn. But neither of them can admit that they're being haunted. Until they learn to let each other in, not one soul will be able to rest.
Views: 717

Bad Blood

The newest Blood Coven novel-accompanied by edgy repackages of the rest of the series Sunny McDonald is in the ultimate forbidden relationship. Her boyfriend Magnus is a vampire, and the leader of the Blood Coven. And when the Coven decides that Magnus needs a mate to be his co-ruler, Sunny's humanity puts her out of the running. The Coven's chosen candidate is Jane Johnson, a magna cum laude graduate of Oxford University who just happens to look like a vampiric supermodel. Sunny is suspicious of a Rhodes Scholar who can't answer the most basic poli-sci questions, but Magnus brushes it off as petty jealousy. Still, when the Blood Coven goes to Las Vegas for a vampire convention, Sunny and her twin sister Rayne secretly tag along. And Sunny's not going home before she learns the truth about Jane. Because not everything stays in Vegas-especially bad blood.
Views: 716

Is This Heaven?

Michaela Stevens has just died but, she wonders, can a gay lady get to heaven and if so, should it be like this? Should the heavenly host be that way? And is there a place in heaven for so many baked beans? Short story at about 4,500 words - no adult content but some light swearing so I'd rate it at a PG.British humour and spelling.When Tammy Miller is forced to live in Ashville Manor, she quickly learns that nothing is quite as it seems. “A vampire?” Tammy said slowly, not really sure how to make sense of it. He didn't look like anything she had read about. His skin was a little too pale, but so was hers. He didn't have weird looking eyes or fangs. She reached out and pressed her hand on his chest. His heart was beating just like hers. Dante watched her reaction, he knew she was checking him out. Trying to figure out if he was about to jump her and suck her body dry. He wasn't like that, that was just fiction written in books by people who had no idea about real vampires.Her hand moved from his chest and gently touched his hand; his skin wasn't cold. He was definitely living and not dead. Weren't vampires Immortal?? She leaned a little closer. “You're not dead!”
Views: 715

counterpane

Written in the William Goldman("Butch Cassidy") easy to read screenplay format.Tommy a young and lovable genius whose mother died at his birth is prematurely aging. Only a perilous and tearful journey through his depressed fathers sinister world of spy vs. spy may save his life."Do I scare you, Setiana?" His eyes are pinned to mine with the slightest hint of hurt and worry lingering in them."No, no. I just was startled, that's all," which I come to realize is the truth. I sense no fear as I take in every detail of his body and ever so beautiful golden eyes, just amazed with what I am seeing. He is very tall. I would have to guess close to seven feet tall. His skin is a light black color, and he is only wearing a shiny black bikini? Okay, why oh why did I have to look that way.  As I examine his features more I come to realize he has a long reptilian tail. My eyes flow over his gorgeous, built body. Wow, he even has long beautiful nails. Well, more like claws not nails. I slowly look upwards to his wonderful smile, beautiful copper and gold colored eyes with no pupils at all, and amazing long black hair. His hair is so smooth looking. I bet it feels wonderfully soft.  "I have never seen anyone like you before." He turns and talks in his language to someone in the cell directly across from ours. He finally fixes his eyes back onto mine. "What are you? Sorry. Is it rude of me to ask?" I hope I said that low enough that no one else could hear.He smiles, which in a way lifts my heart and spirit. His smile then turns into a small chuckle. "It is not rude to ask when you do not know. I am a Mongoelilien." His smile suddenly shifts into a seductive grin. "It makes me very joyous to see you smile as well, Beautiful."
Views: 715

Breathless

When Katie Kitrell is shipped off to boarding school, it doesn't take her long to become part of the It Crowd. She's smart, she's cute, and she's a swimming prodigy who has a first-class ticket to any Ivy League school of her choice. But what her new friends, roommate, and boyfriend don't know is that Katie is swimming away from the secrets of her past, and from the schizophrenic older brother, Will, who won't let her go. As Katie's star rises, Will descends deeper into insanity. And when he does the unthinkable, it's all Katie can do to keep her head above water. Largely based on the author's own experiences, Breathless is a stunning debut that explores illness and health, love and lust, friends and enemies, and the moneyed world of prep school with a deft, expert hand.
Views: 713

Ablutions

In a famous but declining Hollywood bar works A Barman. Morbidly amused by the decadent decay of his surroundings, he watches the patrons fall into their nightly oblivion, making notes for his novel. In the hope of uncovering their secrets and motives, he establishes tentative friendships with the cast of variously pathological regulars. But as his tenure at the bar continues, he begins to serve himself more often than his customers, and the moments he lives outside the bar become more and more painful: he loses his wife, his way, himself. Trapped by his habits and his loneliness, he realizes he will not survive if he doesn't break free. And so he hatches a terrible, necessary plan of escape and his only chance for redemption. Step into Ablutions and step behind the bar, below rock bottom, and beyond the everyday take on storytelling for a brilliant, new twist on the classic tale of addiction and its consequences.
Views: 713

Succubus Heat

Which should be a good thing. But lately, thanks to her foul mood over breaking up with bestselling writer Seth Mortensen, she's been so wicked that Seattle's uber-demon Jerome, decides to "outsource" Georgina to a rival--and have her spy for him in the process. Being exiled to the frozen north--okay, Vancouver--and leaving Seth in the cozy clutches of his new girlfriend is unpleasant enough. Then Jerome is kidnapped, and all immortals under his control mysteriously lose their powers. One bright spot: with her life-sucking ability gone, there's nothing to keep Georgina from getting down and dirty with Seth--nothing apart from his girlfriend that is. Now, as the supernatural population starts turning on itself, a newly mortal Georgina must rescue her boss and figure out who's been playing them--or all hell will break loose. . .
Views: 713

Skinwalker

Jane Yellowrock is the last of her kind-a skinwalker of Cherokee descent who can turn into any creature she desires and hunts vampires for a living. But now she's been hired by Katherine Fontaneau, one of the oldest vampires in New Orleans and the madam of Katie's Ladies, to hunt a powerful rogue vampire who's killing other vamps. . .
Views: 713

Kitty Raises Hell

Sometimes what happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas. Kitty and Ben flee The City That Never Sleeps, thinking they were finished with the dangers there, but the sadistic cult of lycanthropes and their vampire priestess have laid a curse on Kitty in revenge for her disrupting their rituals. Starting at the next full moon, danger and destruction the form of fire strikes Kitty and the pack of werewolves she's sworn to protect. She enlists the help of a group of TV paranormal investigators - one of whom has real psychic abilities - to help her get to the bottom of the curse that's been laid on her. Rick, the Master vampire of Denver, believes a deeper plot lies behind the curse, and he and Kitty argue about whether or not to accept the help of a professional demon hunter - and vampire - named Roman, who arrives a little too conveniently in the nick of time. Unable to rely on Rick, and unwilling to accept Roman's offer of help for a price, Kitty and her band of allies, including Vegas magician Odysseus Grant and Kitty's own radio audience, mount a trap for the supernatural being behind the curse, a destructive force summoned by the vengeful cult, a supernatural being that none of them ever thought to face.
Views: 712