Brandon Sanderson is one of the most significant fantasists to enter the field in a good many years. His ambitious, multi-volume epics (Mistborn, The Stormlight Archive) and his stellar continuation of Robert Jordan\'s Wheel of Time series have earned both critical acclaim and a substantial popular following. In Legion, a distinctly contemporary novella filled with suspense, humor, and an endless flow of invention, Sanderson reveals a startling new facet of his singular narrative talent.Stephen Leeds, AKA \'Legion,\' is a man whose unique mental condition allows him to generate a multitude of personae: hallucinatory entities with a wide variety of personal characteristics and a vast array of highly specialized skills. As the story begins, Leeds and his \'aspects\' are drawn into the search for the missing Balubal Razon, inventor of a camera whose astonishing properties could alter our understanding of human history and change the very structure of society. The action ranges from the familiar environs of America to the ancient, divided city of Jerusalem. Along the way, Sanderson touches on a formidable assortment of complex questions: the nature of time, the mysteries of the human mind, the potential uses of technology, and the volatile connection between politics and faith. Resonant, intelligent, and thoroughly absorbing, Legion is a provocative entertainment from a writer of great originality and seemingly limitless gifts. Views: 954
In book two of Linda L. Zern's series "ZippityZern's Uncommon Nonsense" better known as "the blue book," the author continues to observe, deduce, and comment on life and living. Topics include the proper way to freak out over discovering porn in a teenage boy's room, teaching the young and impressionable the fine art of toilet plunging, and the proper use of paranoia as a parenting tool.The Atlans were a strange tribe. Most societies were ruled by a man or ruling family who claimed to be descended from - or at least chosen by - a God. But if one learned about the Atlan religion, their claim was that every member of their race was a direct descendent of their Gods. Or rather, three of their gods gave life to the three original Atlans, and the fourth god raised them until they could fend for themselves. And although descended from gods, the Atlans claimed their gods would rather see them dead than prosperous. Except for the fourth god, who occasionally managed to give them a bit of help when they needed some. Through the generations, that fourth god - Dinnae - was the only god the Atlans ever prayed to, but sparsely, lest their parent gods overhear. Views: 953
During a summer party at the family farm in the English countryside, sixteen-year-old Laurel Nicolson has escaped to her childhood tree house and is happily dreaming of the future. She spies a stranger coming up the long road to the farm and watches as her mother speaks to him. Before the afternoon is over, Laurel will witness a shocking crime. A crime that challenges everything she knows about her family and especially her mother, Dorothy—her vivacious, loving, nearly perfect mother.
Now, fifty years later, Laurel is a successful and well-regarded actress living in London. The family is gathering at Greenacres farm for Dorothy’s ninetieth birthday. Realizing that this may be her last chance, Laurel searches for answers to the questions that still haunt her from that long-ago day, answers that can only be found in Dorothy’s past.
Dorothy’s story takes the reader from pre–WWII England through the blitz, to the ’60s and beyond. It is the secret history of three strangers from vastly different worlds—Dorothy, Vivien, and Jimmy—who meet by chance in wartime London and whose lives are forever entwined. The Secret Keeper explores longings and dreams and the unexpected consequences they sometimes bring. It is an unforgettable story of lovers and friends, deception and passion that is told—in Morton’s signature style—against a backdrop of events that changed the world. Views: 953
Don't Close Your Eyes.
Sophie Cavanaugh is not going to let her freak of a cousin's strange psychiatric condition ruin high school for them both. Not after all the work she's put into cultivating the right look, and friends, and reputation. But then, Sophie sees something so frightening she lets out a blood-curdling scream--and finds herself stuck in a bizarre parallel world where nothing is safe and deadly creatures lurk just out of sight, waiting for her to close her eyes and sleep...forever.
Could this world be real? Or does insanity run in the family...? Views: 952
The shocking techno-thriller that cements Daniel Suarez’s status as the heir to Michael Crichton and Tom Clancy—a terrifying, breathtaking, and all-too-plausible vision of the world’s near future.
Unmanned weaponized drones already exist—they’re widely used by America in our war efforts in the Middle East. In Kill Decision, bestselling author Daniel Suarez takes that fact and the real science behind it one step further, with frightening results.
Linda McKinney is a myrmecologist, a scientist who studies the social structure of ants. Her academic career has left her entirely unprepared for the day her sophisticated research is conscripted by unknown forces to help run an unmanned—and thanks to her research, automated—drone army. Odin is the secretive Special Ops soldier with a unique insight into the faceless enemy who has begun to attack the American homeland with drones programmed to seek, identify, and execute targets without human intervention.
Together, McKinney and Odin must slow this advance long enough for the world to recognize its destructive power, because for thousands of years the “kill decision” during battle has remained in the hands of humans—and off-loading that responsibility to machines will bring unintended, possibly irreversible, consequences. But as forces even McKinney and Odin don’t understand begin to gather, and death rains down from above, it may already be too late to save humankind from destruction at the hands of our own technology. Views: 952
Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart--he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone--but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees. This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them. Views: 952
With customary charm and deftness, Alexander McCall Smith gives us another instalment in this popular series, now running in its eighth season in The Scotsman. Will Big Lou find true love at last? Will Bertie's healthy snacks go down well at his school fair? And has Bruce Anderson really won the lottery? It s time to catch up with the delightful goings-on in 44 Scotland Street! Views: 952
Sam Parker is a vampire with a gift so strong and substantial that she is invited to partake in a test for a place in the Grand High Master Vampire’s private army. She finds that not only has the army never included a woman, but it has never included a Sventé vampire; a breed that is regarded by the super strong Pagori breed and the hypnotically beautiful Keja breed to be too tame and human-like. Most refuse to take her seriously, especially a Pagori commander named Jared who she craves in spite of herself.
The Grand High Master, however, sees her potential and offers her the position of Jared’s co-commander to help train the newest squad in time for the impending attack on his home. Sam has to demonstrate to Jared and the squad of chauvinists why it is incredibly foolish to underestimate a wilful, temperamental, borderline-homicidal Sventé female.
Warning: This novel contains an iron-willed female vampire with an energy whip, a sexist male vampire who is determined to have her, explicit vampy sex, and a romance story with real bite. Views: 951
“Exhilarating and enchanting . . . brims with a casual wisdom about life.”—*Chicago Tribune*
In 2009, New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James took a leap that many people dream about: She sold her house, took a sabbatical from her job as a Shakespeare professor, and moved her family to Paris. This memoir chronicles her joyful year in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Eloisa revels in the ordinary pleasures of life—discovering corner museums that tourists overlook, chronicling Frenchwomen’s sartorial triumphs, walking from one end of Paris to another. She copes with her Italian husband’s notions of quality time; her two hilarious children, ages eleven and fifteen, as they navigate schools—not to mention puberty—in a foreign language; and her mother-in-law’s raised eyebrow in the kitchen (even as she overfeeds Milo, the family dog). Paris in Love invites the reader into the life of a most enchanting family, framed by la ville de l’amour.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
“In this delightful charm-bracelet of a memoir, [Eloisa James shares] her adventures as an American suddenly immersed in all things French—food, clothes, joie de vivre.”—People
“Enchanting . . . gives the reader a sense of being immersed along with James in Paris for a year . . . you see the rain, taste the food, observe the people.”—USA Today
“This delectable confection, which includes recipes, is more than a visit to a glorious city: it is also a tour of a family, a marriage, and a love that has no borders. Très magnifique!”—Library Journal (starred review) Views: 951
A girl.
A coma.
A life she can't remember.
When Emma Walker wakes up in the hospital with no knowledge of how she got there, she learns that she's been in a coma for six months. Strangers show up and claim to be her parents, but she can't remember them. She can't remember anyone. Not her friends, not even her boyfriend. Even though she can't remember, everyone wants her to just pick up where she left off, but what she learns about the 'old her' makes her start to wish she'd never woken up. Her boyfriend breaks up with the new girl he's dating to be with her, her parents want her to start planning for college, her friends want their leader back, and her physical therapist with the hazel eyes keeps his distance to save his position at the hospital.
Will she ever feel like she recognizes the girl in the mirror? Views: 950
Playwright Kevin F. Darley struggles with both poor reviews and writer’s block. He begins a dalliance with the spirit absinthe and meets – and falls immediately in love with – an enigmatic young woman from his homeland. She inspires and enlivens him, but the man who knows Kevin better than any other cannot help but be wary of the profound and disturbing change that he sees in his friend.In late Victorian London, playwright Kevin Francis Darley struggles with both poor reviews and writer’s block. He begins a dalliance with the mystical spirit absinthe and meets – and falls immediately in love with – an enigmatic young woman from his homeland. She inspires and enlivens him, but the man who knows Kevin better than any other cannot help but be wary of the profound and disturbing change that he sees in his friend.A Gothic short story; 5,400 words. Views: 950
Kojak is not your average computer. He was designed by David - a brilliant scientist. And 13 year old Andy considers Kojak to be his best mate. One afternoon in the year 2057, Andy types in a command sequence & activates one of David’s inventions which Kojak has secretly been working on. It’s the start of a series of history changing adventures. A time travel series with miscellany for teens.Andy and David are poles apart. They are from different eras, they have different physiques & different friends. Yet their lives are about to become inexplicably intertwined.December 2022 - An errant team of scientists reverse the earth's magnetic poles generating worldwide natural disasters. Six billion people die. Twenty year old David - a brilliant inventor - & his custom built computer Kojak survive what comes to be called The Event.December 2057 - Thirteen year old Andy lives in Zone 1 (formerly Perth, Western Australia), 35 years after-the-Event (AE). People wear radiation suits due to particle bombardment. Water's restricted. No one gardens. Most before-the-Event (BE) knowledge has been lost (computers were wiped out & few books remain). Andy wears a family heirloom - a PC pendant named Kojak. A team of scientists (The Watchers) strictly control scientific pursuits. Interacting with survivalists is discouraged because they know about banned technologies.Andy's parents (Leo & Mani) are Watchers. The family travel to Zone 5 (formerly the Kimberley, Western Australia) to investigate survivalists' weather modification activities.Andy's family head off to locate the survivalists. Andy stays near the camp metal-detecting. He discovers a hologram disguising an amazing garden & meets a survivalist named David. He learns that David designed the original Kojak prototype.Next day Andy secretly meets David again, but Leo & Mani discover them. David recognizes Mani as his daughter. While the adults catch up, Andy hangs out in David's workshop. He & Kojak activate David's time-travel invention & reappear in Karratha in 2022.Andy's love for books draws him to the library to research forgotten technologies which might improve AE life in 2057. A student (David) helps him use the internet, & later they head back to David's place. Andy realizes David is his grandfather (back when he was 20). He also discovers that the Event will happen in 40 hours.David is spending Christmas at his research station & decides to take Andy with him. Because he knows the future, Andy convinces David to take a fuel-oil press with him & also seeds - hinting he may be "desperate for food" in the days ahead.Upon arrival at the research station, Andy discovers the incomplete time-travel transporter module in David's workshop & realizes it's the same workshop where his adventure began. Next day Kojak tells Andy to hide in the unfinished invention. During the Event, a plasma ball energizes the transporter module. Andy reappears in 2057 with the press - which will revolution everyone's AE lives. That evening he starts planning his next history changing trip - to the Svalbard heirloom seed vault (Book 2).Andy & David are poles apart, but they discover they have a lot in common. They both desire to make the future a better place. Readers with an interest in alternative fuels, seed banks & inventions will resonate with this low-key sci-fi book. Like the other books in the Rebelutionaries series, the characters in this series are out to rebel against society's low expectations of teens and young adults. Content for homeschoolers includes low-key sex-education themes. Views: 950
The scene is the Salkehatchie Swamp in South Carolina. Cyndi Cooper, a young GeeChee girl, tending Jeff Ireland’s Alzheimer stricken wife lets her escape into the swamp to die. Jeff tells Oats Schonfeld he wants revenge. Oats, head of the local Cobb Club and former KKK leader kills Cyndi. Deputy Sheriff Caley Givens, investigates and uncovers Oats' murder of two 1968 civil rights workers also.The scene is the Salkehatchie Swamp in South Carolina, where Cyndi Cooper, a young GeeChee girl, who is tending Jeff Ireland’s Alzheimer stricken wife lets her escape into the swamp where she dies. Jeff tells Oats Schoenfelt he wants revenge on Cyndi. Oats, head of the local Cobb Club and former KKK leader kills Cyndi. Deputy Sheriff Caley Givens, investigates the crime and also uncovers a cold case murder of two 1968 civil rights workers by Oats. Bubba Vandi, a SLED Special Agent comes in to assist Caley in the investigation, only to become a victim of attempted murder and is dumped into the swamp himself. The light hearted adventures of the Cobb Club members such as Big Al, Skeeter, and Honey Boy will entertain you through the book. Written from the point of view of bigotry and prejudices, this book is a must read. Views: 949
A few million heads are missing in Heaven. Strange scratches and signs appear all over the place. God and St Peter are forced to investigate some decidedly odd doings on the third planet and come up against Clootie, the old man of the village... Hold on to your aureoles!A 30 minute 5 character play about a possible near future scenario where the UK is riven by civil strife and there are plans for an overthrow of the Government by the military and an expulsion of all Muslims. However, to do this the military must first raise tension levels to the point of hatred towards the Muslim population and they do this by undertaking an unprecedented action.The play is very current and though the scenario is set sometime in the near future it is by no means futuristic. Many of the issues in the work resonate right now and it is hoped that the words of the play will act as both a story and a performance piece. Views: 949
When Jimmy Flanagan returns from war with one arm missing, he's one of the lucky ones. First, because he returned alive. Second, because an experimental program allows him to be fitted with an advanced, high–tech artificial arm. Now he's free of the Army, he has a new arm that's better than the one he lost on the battlefield, and his girl has been waiting for him. He should be a happy man....Kayla Covington is a Private Eye for all occasions on the alien world of Pheros. She is the one you hire to find what you have lost, to glean information on a rival to use against them, or to discreetly remove something that could cause embarrassment. She thought she had seen and heard it all, that was until she was hired to infiltrate a secret society to uncover their secrets and steal their prized artifact. Now the only question that she cares about is, will she make it out of this alive? Views: 948
