The Confederation, a multi-planetary post-singularity society, desperately wants to know how to achieve transcendence into an Elder Race. Their scouts encounter Darius, a lost colony world whose inhabitants have apparently discarded the technology that brought them to the planet, in order to adopt a virtually feudal culture. But the scouts are shocked when they discover that the controlling elite, in each of the major centres of population, exhibit abilities that defy the accepted laws of physics. Although the population appear to believe their leaders to be capable of performing sorcery, the Confederation concludes they must in fact be using a technology sufficiently advanced to seem like magic. Is it a technology left behind by long-gone Elders, or an indication of an advanced race trying to control the colony – perhaps one of a number of such races who are intent on meddling in human affairs? Either way, the need to understand and utilise such a technology leads the Confederation Security Council to launch an urgent mission to investigate Darius. Suitable specialists are swiftly enlisted to create a team, including both scientists and AIs, but all under military control. Protocol dictates that stealthy infiltration should precede initial contact, but the lack of sufficient prior observation and analysis will make it harder for the team to establish a credible cover story. Although their ship can remain in a hidden orbit, the research team will be on their own once they land, especially as Confederation technology seems to be unreliable or even inoperative on the planet’s surface. But they will soon discover that the people on Darius are not all the simple folk that they seem. This is the first book in the exciting new epic Inverse Shadows universe from best-selling science fiction author Christopher Nuttall. Views: 33
In 1975, thirteen-year-old Ruby Mae Vickers disappears in Alvin, Alabama. Leah Teal, new detective of Alvin, is assigned to the case. After three months, Ruby Mae finally turns up dead beneath a willow beside a swamp. Twelve years later, another little girl goes missing. Then another. Leah is sure these incidents are connected to the one she failed to solve a dozen years ago. The job of finding them again falls to Leah. She's not prepared for the memories it drags up. Then Leah's own daughter joins the list of missing girls. Told from the point of view of Leah's eleven-year-old son Abe, this is a tense and moving story of one woman's search for the truth and justice as she struggles against a past that won't let her go.ReviewSet in fictional Alvin, Ala., in 1987, Canadian author Hiebert's first novel courts comparison to the classic To Kill a Mockingbird, with its similar themes of justice and racism and its cast of characters--essentially Mockingbird's key players with the sexes reversed. But the book manages to soar as a moving achievement in its own right. Tensions are already rife in the Teal household as headstrong 14-year-old Carry discovers boys, ditches 11-year-old brother Abe (the narrator), and constantly battles equally determined mom Leah Teal, a widowed police officer. Then 14-year-old Mary Ann Dailey disappears on her way home from school. Leah plunges into the investigation--as well as resurgent guilt over her failure in 1975 to find the kidnapper of another girl, who eventually turned up under a willow with her throat slit. Abe--precocious in some ways but still childish enough to enjoy rock-balancing competitions with his best friend, Dewey--struggles to make sense of the dark forces dividing his town, as well as the mysterious ways the wider world works. In Hiebert's sure hands, psychological insight and restrained lyricism combine to create a coming-of-age tale as devastating as it is indelible. Agent: Adrienne Rosado, Nancy Yost Literary Associates. (July) --Publishers Weekly About the AuthorMICHAEL HIEBERT is a critically acclaimed, award-winning writer of novels and short stories. His work has been published worldwide and has received many awards. He lives in British Columbia, Canada. Views: 33
Tim Carhardt is drifting through life with one goal—survival. Jamie Maxwell believes she can become, no, will become the first female winner of the cup. But life isn't always as easy as it seems. What happens when dreams and faith hit the wall? In the trademark page-turner style used by Chris Fabry in the Left Behind: The Kids series, these fast-paced books will keep even reluctant readers on the edge of their seats. Go behind the scenes of America's most-watched sport to see what it's like inside a 200-mph racecar as engines rev and lives collide. Views: 33
Moira is able to see something few others see: the aura that
surrounds people. What she doesn't understand is what it all means. And
then she meets Arianna, who definitely knows what it means.
Arianna recognizes Moira's unique gifts, and she isn't going to let them go to waste, regardless of Moira's consent. Familiar is best read any time after reading Fox Run. Views: 33
Summer has wanted one thing her whole life and that's Jackson but he doesn't feel the same. Her father the alpha has decided that Jackson will mate with Summer's sister Autumn but a worse match was never made as far as Summer is concerned. He has also decided that Summer will make for good bait to draw in another pack as an alliance. She cannot stay and watch her sister and Jackson mate and she refuses to give up her happiness for the good of the pack. Summer sets out on her own to find her own life and a mate for herself. She stumbles into a new territory and a new pack that needs an alpha. Jackson is alpha, but should she call him and give up her location and possibly her freedom? Can she live with him so close but oh so far again? If only he felt the same way about her. Views: 33
A powerful and elegant debut novel about love, memory, exile, and war. One snowy December morning in an old European city, an American man leaves his shabby hotel to meet a local woman who has agreed to help him search for an apartment to rent. THE APARTMENT follows the couple across a blurry, illogical, and frozen city into a past the man is hoping to forget, and leaves them at the doorstep of an uncertain future-their cityscape punctuated by the man's lingering memories of time spent in Iraq and the life he abandoned in the United States. Contained within the details of this day is a complex meditation on America's relationship with the rest of the world, an unflinching glimpse at the permanence of guilt and despair, and an exploration into our desire to cure violence with violence. A novel about how our relationships to others-and most importantly to ourselves-alters how we see the world, THE APARTMENT perfectly captures the peculiarity and excitement of being a stranger in a strange city. Written in an affecting and intimate tone that gradually expands in scope, intensity, poetry, and drama, Greg Baxter's clear-eyed first novel tells the intriguing story of these two people on this single day. Both beguiling and raw in its observations and language, THE APARTMENT is a crisp novel with enormous range that offers profound and unexpected wisdom. ** Views: 33
Former Marine sniper and current NSA agent Jack Stone has a new face to go with his new identity. But he still has the same tortured memories—which include the woman he let get away years ago, when they were teenagers. Now his new assignment in Miami will put him so close to the woman he’s never been able to forget, he could reach out and touch her—if only she weren’t under suspicion. When Sophie Moreno uncovers evidence linking the medical supply company she works for with arms smuggling—and worse—she doesn’t know who to turn to. After a shocking betrayal, she realizes the only person she can trust is a mysterious new person in the company—a man with hauntingly familiar eyes. As Sophie questions her intense attraction to this man and Jack struggles not to blow his cover, the two of them must race against the clock to stop terrorists from killing scores of people—starting with them. Views: 33
From the author of Sins of the Angels and Sins of the Son comes the newest novel in the “electric, thrilling and extremely intelligent” (Ex Libris) Grigori Legacy series. Heaven and Hell are on the brink of war as Lucifer builds his Nephilim army and waits for his new agenda to become a reality — that of having a Nephilimchild of his own bloodline to lead his forces to cataclysmic victory. With rumors of the pending war rampant on Earth, Alex fights to save humanity from its own panic – leaving little time for her fledgling relationship with Seth, the man with heavenly origins who has captured her heart. But when Nephilim children begin to disappear, along with Alex’s own vulnerable niece, the inevitable war between Heaven and Hell becomes as personal as sin. Heaven has its own plans to fight the coming apocalypse, but first it needs Seth back. Asked to betray the man she loves, Alex must turn for help to the soulmate she thought she’d given up — the Archangel Aramael, who may be her last chance to save her family and humanity from the ashes of Lucifer’s Armageddon. Views: 33
New York Times bestselling author and stand-up comedian Michael Ian Black delivers a frank and funny memoir about confronting his genetic legacy as he hits his forties.Whether it’s family history, religion, aging, or his parents, Michael Ian Black always has something to say in the dry, irreverent voice that has captured a fan base of millions. When a medical diagnosis forces him to realize he’s not getting any younger, he reexamines his life as a middle-aged guy—of course, in the deadpan wit and self-deprecating vignettes that have become trademarks of his humor. The alt-comedy take on getting older, Navel Gazing is a funny-because-it’s-true memoir about looking around when you’re forty and realizing that life is about more than receding hairlines and proving one’s manliness on Twitter—it’s about laughing at yourself. Views: 33
