When the Armistice between France and England came to an end in 1803, Napoleon interned ten thousand British tourists who were in France at that time. Most of these tourists had committed no crime and had simply been travelling when captured.Many, to save being arrested went into hiding, among them the widow and daughter of Sir Edward Waltham, who had died that winter.A year later, plunged into poverty and the seedier side of Paris life, beautiful Vernita Waltham is keeping her sick mother precariously alive on the money she obtains from making exquisitely embroidered lingerie for a famous shop that supplies Napoleon's sister, Her Imperial Highness Princess Pauline Borghese.Vernita discovers the shop is cheating and desperate to raise money for food and medicine, decides to approach the Princess directly with a negligee she has just finished, disguised as a petite bourgeoisie.Extravagant and self-obsessed, Princess Pauline is enchanted with Vernita's skills as a... Views: 25
Is an artist born, or rather, created by experience? From the moment in childhood when he is forced to take drastic action to defend his adoptive mother from a violent assault the only maternal figure that he has ever known it is evident that the life of Joseph Sully-Jacques is to be no ordinary life, and one marked by sorrow and adversity.Unable to cope with or even recognize the residual effects of his trauma in adolescence, Joseph retreats into an increasingly abstract world, one in which he must confront what he calls his visions.” And when he hears of the death of his natural mother, this brings to the surface memories he had hoped were buried deep within him, and precipitates the form of various crises to come, particularly as he discovers and makes use of the artistic abilities revealed to his family during his psychiatric evaluation.After many more hardships, the young man does find meaning to the absurdities of life, ironically i... Views: 25
MM, Paranormal, HistoricalThe Fitzwarren Inheritance containing:
The Psychic's Tale by Quinton, ChrisThe Soldier's Tale by Scott, RJThe Lord's Tale by Brown, Sue“I curse you, and your children’s children, that you shall all live out your allotted years, and that those years shall be filled with grief and loss and betrayal, even as you have betrayed and bereaved me.”Four hundred years ago in rural England, a mob burned two men to death, but not before one of them, Jonathan Curtess, hurled a dreadful curse at the mob's leader, Sir Belvedere Fitzwarren. The curse has followed the family through the centuries, bringing grief and loss to each generation.Corporal Daniel Francis has returned to his childhood home in England to heal; the only one of his unit that survived a roadside bomb. His reasons for skipping medication are based on a stubborn refusal to become an addict, and he is overwhelmed with survivor's guilt.Phil Fitzwarren is surrounded by death and tragedy as a result of the curse imposed on his family by Jonathan Curtess. The estate is riddled with debt, his parents and brother killed and his young nephew and much-wanted heir to what is left of the Fitzwarren estate fights for his life after being born prematurely. Views: 25
Erotica/Romance. 81615 words long. Views: 25
Mary Russell's WarOn the day the Great War began, August 4, 1914, fourteen year-old Mary Russell opened a new diary and wrote the words:I was fourteen when I first heard about the War. Fourteen years and 214 days, with my nose (as usual) in a book as I walked down the stairs. At least, that's how Mother says I shall remember it. And Father agrees, that War will be both long and hard, for all the European countries and the Empire...A hundred years later, Laurie R. King, Miss Russell's literary agent, began to publish the account of this youthful writer in her own blog. (King is credited with having written the Russell memoirs, just as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was credited for being the author of the Sherlock Holmes stories penned by Dr Watson.)Young Miss Russell's weekly entries begin in San Francisco and take her to Boston, London, and Sussex during the early months of War. They serve as a chronicle not only of the European conflict, but of her own catastrophic turmoil. Since the... Views: 25
THE KNIGHTS DE WARE: From a long line of legendary warriors come three brothers to carry on the rich and powerful de Ware legacy: Duncan the Champion...Holden the Warrior...Garth the Hero... MY HERO: Raised in the shadow of his warrior brothers, Sir Garth de Ware has retreated to a life of peace in the Church, seeking refuge from the unbridled desire that nearly destroyed him as a youth. But a beautiful healer from his past—newly widowed Lady Cynthia le Wyte—is not about to let the daring hero she remembers brood away in a monastery. She sweeps into Garth’s humdrum life, reawakening his passions and challenging his vows of silence and celibacy. And ultimately, Garth is forced to choose between his holy calling and the calling of his heart. Views: 25
When Lucessa Sarcona awakes from a recurring dream, she has no idea her life is about to be turned upside down. A stranger, familiar to her dreams, shows up in the flesh, and Lucessa knows she's either crazy or experiencing something not of this world. A war ensues between three demigod brothers. One, trained to rule Erebos, is violently replaced. One forced to return to his homeland and lead the dream-gods of the Oneiroi. And one is charged with the impossible task of protecting Lucessa. How is she linked to the Oneiroi? Why do two brothers seek to keep her hidden and protected? And how does another plan to use her against the two demigods who love her? Will Lucessa's dream man have the courage to claim her as his own or will he bow to the command of another, forsaking the one he loves? Only in Her Dreams is a modern spin on a Greek legend--the new direction of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance, moving from angels, demons, vampires, and witches and toward the realm of demigods. Views: 25
At the Afterlife Academy of Exceptionally Dark Arts, Lily Fielding is a measly trainee who dreams of one day becoming a Savior—those who visit vampire-infested high schools and put down the undead with their deadly crossbows. When Lily and her classmates Alice and Cara begin their latest assignment, it seems like just another run-of-the-mill gig: they're to simply spot the Vamplayer—part vampire, part player—identify the popular girl he's set his sights on, and befriend her before the Vamplayer can turn her to do his bidding. Before long, however, the Vamplayer sets his sights on Lily's friends, and she is left to face the threat alone while protecting her friends from the dark forces she has sworn to resist. Views: 25
Amazon.com ReviewUrsula K. Le Guin is one of science fiction's greatest writers. She is also an acclaimed author of powerful and perceptive nonfiction, fantasy, and literary fiction. She has received many honors, including six Nebula and five Hugo Awards, the National Book Award, the Pushcart Prize, the Newbery, the Pilgrim, the Tiptree, and citations by the American Library Association. She has written over a dozen highly regarded novels and story collections. Her SF masterworks are The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), The Dispossessed (1974), and The Lathe of Heaven (1971).George Orr has dreams that come true--dreams that change reality. He dreams that the aunt who is sexually harassing him is killed in a car crash, and wakes to find that she died in a wreck six weeks ago, in another part of the country. But a far darker dream drives George into the care of a psychotherapist--a dream researcher who doesn't share George's ambivalence about altering reality.The Lathe of Heaven is set in the sort of worlds that one would associate with Philip K. Dick, but Ms. Le Guin's treatment of the material, her plot and characterization and concerns, are more akin to the humanistic, ethically engaged, psychologically nuanced fiction of Theodore Sturgeon. The Lathe of Heaven is an insightful and chilling examination of total power, of war and injustice and other age-old problems, of changing the world, of playing God. --Cynthia WardReview"When I read The Lathe of Heaven as a young man, my mind was boggled; now when I read it, more than twenty-five years later, it breaks my heart. Only a great work of literature can bridge - so thrillingly - that impossible span." - Michael Chabon"A rare and powerful synthesis of poetry and science, reason and emotion." -- The New York Times"Gracefully developed...extremely inventive.... What science fiction is supposed to do." -- Newsweek"Profound. Beautifully wrought...[Le Guin's] perceptions of such matters as geopolitics, race, socialized medicine, and the patient-shrink relationship are razor sharp and more than a little cutting." -- National Review Views: 25
