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In the Shadow of Dragons (Aftermagic Book 1)

IN THE SHADOW OF DRAGONS Magic wasn’t real — until the dragons happened. Since then, our world has never been the same. Now, magic is an insidious infection leaving some people untouched, others scarred, and more slowly transforming into mythological creatures. But once a year, on the anniversary of dragons, a worldwide Eclipse and an intense surge of magic puts everyone at risk for Changing completely — with deadly results. The Bishop Corporation was a small, unremarkable drug company until they released HeMo, a drug that combats the magic infection and prevents people from turning into monsters. Most of the time. Now a rising global power, BiCo patrols the population to detect and detain those who show Magesign — and the elite BiCo Knights ride forth to slay the monsters and protect the people from themselves. But not everyone believes in BiCo’s benevolent stranglehold on magic. The Darkspawn, a small group of rebels, fight to destroy HeMo and allow magic to take hold naturally. For better or worse. When BiCo sends Teague Harlow, one of their Knights, to join the Darkspawn as a spy, she soon uncovers dark secrets — but not those she was sent to find. Because BiCo’s rule isn’t the beneficial security blanket they claim to provide. And the real danger may lie in the drug that’s supposed to save the world. * * * * * * * * * MEET THE MAIN CHARACTERS Dr. Naomi Talbot runs a HeMo clinic in Casper, Wyoming. Like most people, Naomi tries to carry on with normal life, save for the one day a year when normal is impossible. But her tentative grasp on ‘normal’ is shattered when a colleague who vanished years ago contacts her with a cryptic message: The world is headed for permanent darkness, and only the Darkspawn can stop it… Teague Harlow is one of the elite, a Knight who works directly with BiCo CEO Julian Bishop. She refuses the spotlight, preferring to remain in the shadows. This makes her the perfect candidate for Julian’s bold new campaign against the resistance: Join the Darkspawn as a spy and discover their hidden location in the Badlands, so the Knights can wipe them out in a single blow… Noah Delaney was an investment banker before magic invaded the world and BiCo destroyed everything he loved. Now the reluctant leader of the Darkspawn, his life consists of hiding in the desert from BiCo patrols, destroying HeMo shipments, and saving as many Changers as possible. But their passive resistance movement is thrust into active rebellion when Noah has a vision involving the key to toppling Julian Bishop’s rule. One that requires a direct attack on the Knights … and risks obliterating the world.
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The Hamlet Fire

For decades the small, quiet town of Hamlet, North Carolina, thrived thanks to the railroad. But by the 1980s, it had become post-industrial backwater, a magnet for businesses looking for cheap labor with little or almost no official oversight. One of these businesses was Imperial Foods, which paid its workers a dollar or so above the minimum wage to stand in pools of freezing water for hours on end, scraping fat off frozen chicken breasts, and fined them if they went to the bathroom too many times during a shift. Then on the morning of September 3, 1991—the day after Labor Day—this factory that had never been inspected caught fire. Twenty-five workers—mostly single mothers, many of whom were black—perished behind locked doors.Eighty years after the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, industrial disasters were supposed to have been a thing of the past. After spending several years talking to the survivors of the fire, award-winning historian Bryant Simon has...
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Mr. Singh Among the Fugitives

R.U. Singh has always known he is destined to live the life of an English country squire. After a few false starts, in Bombay, Thunder Bay, and Toronto, he settles into a comfortable existence as a small-town Ontario lawyer, much solicited for the diversity he lends committees and conclaves. But—lest he forget—he is accepted only at the whim of his woman in white, a commanding university administrator, and by her whim can also fall. Mr. Singh Among the Fugitives sends up the multicultural aspirations of Canadian identity, pokes fun at our glitterati, and, tongue firmly in cheek, issues a warning: be careful who you pretend to be.
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Wings of the Wind

After her Canaanite family is killed by the Hebrews, Alanah disguises herself as a warrior and enters the battle to avenge her loved ones. She never intended to survive. When Tobiah, a Hebrew warrior, finds her unconscious among the dead, he faces an impossible dilemma: The only way to protect this wounded woman—the enemy of his people—is to marry her.
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Epic Space

Epic Space is a hilarious take on contemporary culture as viewed through the twisted prism of 'Martin', amoral architectural consultant with a penchant for a long lunch and powerful friends, including members of the Cabinet and HRH the Prince of Wales. Written in weekly diary form, Martin's world is a mad and woozy version of our own: one in which Martin and his friend, the nanofuturologist Beansy, can invent Kryptogel – a new building material developed using 'hard air'. It's a world where the property wing of the Church of England builds buy-to-let almshouses while 'bouncy mega-mosques' have helium-stiffened minarets. An arts correspondent is sacked by a Sunday newspaper and replaced with his own overdressed architectural dachshund. Soot becomes a valuable stock market commodity. A hipster skyscraper is called the Blard. And an ambitious plan is hatched to turn the North around so that it faces south. Big questions are asked: Is Texture The New...
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Nothing Lasts Forever

This is the story of a Kanaka, a Samoan warrior caught up in the illegal practice of Blackbirding to acquire pacific islanders as unpaid workers.Mel Milo is the son of the king of Samoa. His life of privilege came to a sudden end when he was taken aboard a slave ship bound for the cane fields in the Great Southern Land: Australia.His mother had educated him in reading, writing, and arithmetic, against the wishes of his father, who taught the heir to his throne the traditional ways of Samoa.He was later bought by a sheep farmer, who treated Mel as a son. His devoted friend, a young Aborigine, shared many adventures, while a temperamental ghost liked to stir the pot.His European education opened unexpected doors to a life of respectability and fulfillment. His greatest joy was his wife and family.He was one of the lucky ones.
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