A debut collection of stories by a poet with a "painter's eye for detail and pianist's touch for sounding the right notes" (Simon Armitage).Moving from remote, sun-scorched towns to the charged hum of Venice Beach, The Burning Ground is a collection of eight stories populated by men haunted by their past and by their dreams, set against the canvas of California, where beauty and bleakness go hand in hand. In "A Thunderstorm in Santa Monica," a man's unmoored lifestyle is reflected back at him after a long flight. In "Black Bear in the Snow," a divorced advertising executive tries to rekindle a relationship with his son. And in the title story, "The Burning Ground," a painter is haunted by memories of his former lover. The stories take familiar roles—the deadbeat dad, the drifting divorcé, the wayward man—and bring them new emotional depth, peeling back the layers to reveal interiors both unexpected and arresting in their complexity.Written with... Views: 44
From Publishers WeeklyShephard's epic gets off to a slow start as feisty bladeswoman Sasha, her master, her princely brothers and Jaryd, a local heir, lecture one another about religious differences amid a hodgepodge of names and invented terms. Jaryd saves Sasha from treachery after a fight, and the consequences accelerate toward war between the overlord Hadryn and the common Udalyn. Soon Sasha finds herself at the head of an army, facing her honest but deeply conflicted father. Rumors of war outside the kingdom point to larger conflicts down the road. Sasha is young, impetuous and contradictory, but impassioned about doing the right thing if she can figure out what it is. Once Shepherd (the Cassandra Kresnov series) finds his stride, the second half of the book crackles with intriguing characters, witty banter and vivid, realistic battles, leaving readers optimistic about the planned sequels. (Oct.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Review"[H]ighly readable. It is an original and fresh heroic fantasy, showcasing a well drawn, well realized world filled with fascinating, three dimensional characters who pulled me in for the ride and carried me away. I got totally sucked into this book, completely against all expectations, which, when you think about it, makes it all the better... Joel Shepherd's first foray into fantasy has paid dividends with this book - it is the first such fantasy I have read in a long time where I finished the last page, put it down and thought, I wonder when the next one will come out. I hope Shepherd revisits Sasha's world soon - there's a lot of story to explore!" -- Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine "The whole book had me hardly able to put it down, and my perpetual human need for sleep continually stood in the way of decent reading time. The vague allusions towards what will come in the sequel...Petrodor has me eager to read more. This is definitely a book you will want to pick up. Not the worlds hardest read, but downright and thoroughly enjoyable." --Fantasy Book Review "Should please fans of, say, George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire novels." --Booklist Views: 44
There is a boy who has fragmented memories from a car accident that he lost his girlfriend in; in these dreams he starts to see a female vampire that pulled him from the wreck and feels such a strong connection that he found her in Europe and now the ancients want to kill both of them for their connection, because it gives him certain powers and gifts they fear. Views: 44
Between Grandmother Mountain and the cold sea, Alaia and her family live off the land. But when one of her brothers goes hunting and never returns, the fragile balance of life is upset. Half-starved and maddened with grief, Alaia's mother follows her visions and goes in search of her lost son. Then a stranger from a rival tribe appears on their hearth seeking shelter. Are his stories of a great wave and a people perished really to be believed? What else could drive a man to travel alone between tribes in the depths of winter? Hopes of resolution come when Alaia's mother returns home as a Go-Between, one able to commune with the spirits. But as all the Auk people come together for their annual Gathering Night, who there will listen to the voice of a woman? "The Gathering Night" is a story of conflict, loss, love, adventure and devastating natural disasters. This utterly enchanting pre-historical novel is set deep in our stone-age past, but resonates as a parable of our troubled planet 8000 years on. Views: 44
Young Gillom Rogers has just given the coup de grace to a famous gunfighter involved in a bloody saloon shootout in 1901 El Paso, Texas. After swiping J.B. Books's matched Remington pistols off his body, Gillom thinks he may be able to ride this spectacle to fame and glory as the last shootist. But Gillom is an eighteen-year-old with lots of growing up to do, and showing off his new pistols quickly gets him into a gunfight he didn't bargain for.Gillom sets out for adventure, determined to become a shootist like his hero, John Bernard Books. On his dangerous journey into manhood, he runs into yellow journalists, a New Mexican horse breaker, and a train robber. When he meets a Hispanic saloon dancer named Anel in the booming copper mining town of Bisbee, Arizona, Gillom Rogers is forced to reconsider what kind of man he really wants to be. Miles Swarthout's The Last Shootist is the sequel to one of the most famous Westerns ever written, and... Views: 44
A killer’s obsession could destroy their second chance for love. A Love on the Edge romance. Only a year ago, Officer Alex Juran and his wife Tess had it all. Love, a solid marriage and a baby on the way. Then in one heartbeat they lost everything. Now, Tess is doing her best to move on. She has a thriving business and while she may be lonely at times, she’s proud of the new life she’s built without Alex. Two days before their divorce is final, Alex is shot in the line of duty and left for dead. He faces a difficult recovery so Tess finds herself postponing the divorce and offering to care for him until he can live alone again. At first, cohabitation is little more than combat. Alex’s incapacitating injuries, the looming divorce, and his inability to remember who shot him have him lashing out at the nearest target: Tess. When someone begins stalking her, he suspects his shooter has returned. Convinced that Tess is in danger, Alex becomes desperate to recover his strength. Because no matter how much she’s hurt him in the past, they’ve been given a second chance—and he’ll do anything to protect his wife. Warning: This book does not come with a box of Kleenex, so please grab one before you start reading. Contains two people struggling to learn to love again along with graphic sex, explicit violence and realistic language. And some very hot cops. Views: 44
A vivid and compelling portrait of a man at odds with himself; and an extended family of friends and lovers trying to take its proper shape. Lawrence Frost has neither father nor siblings, and fits so awkwardly into his worldly mother's life he might have dropped from the sky. Like many such heroes, he grows up happier with plants than people. While he is straightforward, honest, and a doting dad, he can be a difficult, taciturn husband – but he's the last person one would suspect of being a killer. Waking one morning to find himself branded a wife-beater and under suspicion of murder, his small world falls apart as he loses wife, daughter, liberty, livelihood and, almost, his mind. Views: 44
It's the last day of school before Christmas vacation and Alex, Chase, and the rest of Mrs. Walter's fifth-grade class couldn't wish more for the final bell to ring. But the day takes a crazy turn when a mysterious meteorite crashes through the classroom window--and a genie pops out! Bob, as he's called, is willing to grant only one wish for the class to share, and if they can't agree on something before the bell rings in an hour, they'll get nothing at all. What follows is a debate that is at turns thought-provoking and hilarious--and at all times irresistible. Views: 44
Although Jessica and Ian Clarke have been married seven years, they insist the thrill and excitement haven't dimmed. At Jessica's urging, Ian has quit his advertising job to become a struggling writer, and she supports him with her successful San Francisco boutique. Ian's financial dependence on Jessica upsets him more than he admits, and in a moment of bored malaise, Ian's first casual indiscretion will create a nightmare that threatens everything Jessica and Ian have carefully built. What he does changes their lives, and them, perhaps forever, as they struggle to pay the price of his foolhardy affair.From the Paperback edition. Views: 44
