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Midnight in Austenland

When Charlotte Kinder treats herself to a two-week vacation at Austenland, she happily leaves behind her ex-husband and his delightful new wife, her ever-grateful children, and all the rest of her real life in America. She dons a bonnet and stays at a country manor house that provides an immersive Austen experience, complete with gentleman actors who cater to the guests' Austen fantasies. Everyone at Pembrook Park is playing a role, but increasingly, Charlotte isn't sure where roles end and reality begins. And as the parlor games turn a little bit menacing, she finds she needs more than a good corset to keep herself safe. Is the brooding Mr. Mallery as sinister as he seems? What is Miss Gardenside's mysterious ailment? Was that an actual dead body in the secret attic room? And-perhaps of the most lasting importance-could the stirrings in Charlotte's heart be a sign of real-life love? The follow-up to reader favorite Austenland provides the same perfectly plotted pleasures, with a feisty new heroine, plenty of fresh and frightening twists, and the possibility of a romance that might just go beyond the proper bounds of Austen's world. How could it not turn out right in the end?
Views: 1 036

Dare Quest - The Red Planet

When Anthony dares Edward to capture a Martian the two brothers vanish from their home and find themselves on a spaceship that is hurtling towards Mars. Will they manage to escape from the spacecraft before it burns up in the Martian atmosphere? What perils await them on the mysterious Red Planet? Can YOU survive the Dare Quest challenge?“I'm not sure I understand. Witches and vampires don't associate with each other. I guess in a way we are terrified of each other. Vampires tend to hide their magic because even the weakest witch in a fight could completely incapacitate the strongest vampire. If we can lure them into our magic before they are able to cast they lose their magic either through death of becoming a vampire.”“No they don't, it just becomes foreign to them. I can sense the different kinds of magic, and have yet to find anyone who could hide their magic from me.”“Sam that's not possible. I can sense another vampire but a witch is difficult at best for me and the other creatures that have magic I can't sense at all.”“Maybe you can't but I can. You don't believe me take me out somewhere and let me prove it to you. The magic calls to me, it wants me. I can tell you are holding your magic hidden right now. You're one of the strongest vampires I've ever come across, even stronger than Mac or Chuck who were both born vampires.”“Sam you don't have any magic, there isn't a witch alive I can't sense, and you have no magic.”“I have no magic Chris? I'm a natural born witch. My oldest sister is the most powerful witch to lead White Rose coven in a thousand years and her strength in the elemental magic is as nothing compared to mine. You think you have blood magic? How do you think it is no vampire can hide from me? I can command the blood magic the same as the elemental magic. I am White Rose! I am White Lotus! I am magic!”Chris stepped back with a look of shock and fear both in his eyes as I drew in my magic and he felt the enormity of it all. I felt all the magic flowing through me and asked again if he loved me.“How much do you love me Chris? Which is more important to you, your life, or your magic? Is it me you love or the magic I command?”“I never asked for the magic, a magic that has marked me for the remainder of my life. A magic that is so much a part of the lives of those I care most about. If the cost of sharing in your love is the magic that I have, take it I never asked for it in the first place. I only ever wanted the woman that completes me as a man.”“For all my life I was thought to be a man, but at no time was that true. I've been hidden away for a special time, a time which is still not here. You see father of blood the daughter of elements cannot be revealed until the time is ripe for her unveiling.”Kathy and Nicole both came running in fear in their eyes that something had happened to their mother of choice.I fell in a heap on the floor no idea what happened. Chris was bent over me helping me try to stand a worried look on his face.
Views: 1 036

Boy Toy

Josh Mendel has a secret. Unfortunately, everyone knows what it is. Five years ago, Josh’s life changed. Drastically. And everyone in his school, his town—seems like the world—thinks they understand. But they don’t—they can’t. And now, about to graduate from high school, Josh is still trying to sort through the pieces. First there’s Rachel, the girl he thought he’d lost years ago. She’s back, and she’s determined to be part of his life, whether he wants her there or not.Then there are college decisions to make, and the toughest baseball game of his life coming up, and a coach who won’t stop pushing Josh all the way to the brink. And then there’s Eve. Her return brings with it all the memories of Josh’s past. It’s time for Josh to face the truth about what happened. If only he knew what the truth was...
Views: 1 032

Flesh & Bone

Reeling from the tragic events of Dust & Decay, Benny Imura and his friends plunge deep into the zombie-infested wastelands of the great Rot & Ruin. Benny, Nix, Lilah and Chong journey through a fierce wilderness that was once America, searching for the jet they saw in the skies months ago. If that jet exists then humanity itself must have survived…somewhere. Finding it is their best hope for having a future and a life worth living. But the Ruin is far more dangerous than any of them can imagine. They are hunted by fierce animals escaped from zoos and circuses. They must raid zombie-infested towns for food and medical supplies. They discover the very real truth in the old saying: In the Rot & Ruin…everything wants to kill you. And what is happening to the zombies? Swarms of them are coming from the east, devouring everything in their paths. These zoms are different. Faster, smarter, infinitely more dangerous. Has the zombie plague mutated, or is there something far more sinister behind this new invasion of the living dead? In Flesh & Bone, Benny Imura, Nix Riley, Lou Chong and Lilah the Lost Girl are pitted against dangers greater than anything they've ever faced. To survive, each of them must rise to become the warriors Tom trained them to be.
Views: 1 029

The Adventure of the Greenbriar Ghost

Sherlock Holmes has investigated some strange cases in his celebrated career, but none stranger than when a woman claims that she has received vital clues to an unsolved murder from the ghost of her own murdered daughter. Based on an actual 19th century legal case, join Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson as they journey to America to solve the Adventure of the Greenbriar Ghost!
Views: 1 006

Hunter Huntsman's Story

Join Hunter Huntsman, son of the heroic Huntsman, for a day in the woods. What happens when he has to hide his real feelings about hunting in the forest-and about a forest maiden, too? Read all about it in this exclusive Ever After High short story by Newbery Honor author Shannon Hale.
Views: 997

Minecraft: The Island

Minecraft: The Island by Max Brooks, #1 New York Times bestselling author of World War Z, is the first official Minecraft novel. In the tradition of iconic stories like Robinson Crusoe and Treasure Island, Minecraft: The Island will tell the story of a new hero stranded in the world of Minecraft, who must survive the harsh, unfamiliar environment and unravel the secrets of the island. From the Hardcover edition.
Views: 990

Insistence of Vision

What may we become? How will we endure? The future is a daunting realm, filled with real and imagined perils. So enter it prepared! Here are vivid tales about possible tomorrows, from the keen eye and colorful pen of David Brin, a modern master of speculative fiction. Visit a chillingly plausible tomorrow, when prisoners may be sent to asteroidal gulags. Or might prisons vanish and felons roam, seeing only what society allows? Suppose, amid lavish success, we gain the superpower to fly! Will we even appreciate it or will we find new reasons to complain? In "Mars Opposition," you'll experience an alien invasion like no other, confronting humanity with a stark and terrible choice followed by several more tales of conquest from beyond, each of them wildly different. On the other hand, might fantastically potent new beings emerge out of ourselves, as revealed in "Chrysalis ? Featuring guest appearances by Gregory Benford, Jules Verne, and Galileo, this adventure takes you beyond the very singularity in Stones of Significance, pondering what could happen after humans are like gods. And Reality Check asks one of you readers just one of you to wake up! Tomorrow awaits. We can face it and prevail. So long as our stance is brave INSISTENCE OF VISION."
Views: 988

Lior and the Sea

This rare and sought-after Middle Kingdoms novelette was published for the first time in the Tor Fantasy tribute anthology Moonsinger's Friends: In Honor of André Norton, and has been out of print for twenty-five years. It now appears here in ebook format for the first time. Lior is the Rodmistress of a small north-coast fishing village in Darthen. Her work brings her up against the Sea on a daily basis. But one day a desperate challenge that Lior issues to the Sea itself in the face of a deadly ocean storm produces a change in the relationship that not even a Rodmistress can easily cope with. Soon Lior must choose between the safety and security of the life she's always known and the terrifying power and possibility offered her by what was once just a force of nature, but has now become something much more personal... Reader's advisory: This story contains mature themes and situations.
Views: 986

The Unfairest of Them All

It's the aftermath of Legacy Day, the day when the students at Ever After High are supposed to pledge to follow in their fairytale parents' footsteps, and everyone is in a huff and a puff! Raven Queen, daughter of the Evil Queen, has refused to sign the Storybook of Legends, rejecting her story--and putting everyone else's in jeopardy. The Royal Apple White doesn't want to think Raven is being a rebellious pain, but Raven's choice means Apple might never get the poisoned apple, Prince Charming, and a kingdom to rule. Behind Apple stands the Royals, those who want to play by the book and embrace their stories. The Rebels, supporters of Raven, believe in breaking free from destiny and writing their own stories. But when the chaos and rivalry land wonderlandiful Madeline Hatter in trouble, Raven and Apple must bring the Royals and the Rebels together to shut the book on their feud before it threatens to end all of their Happily Ever Afters once and for all. Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...Who's the Unfairest of Them All? Don't miss Book #1, Ever After High: The Storybook of Legends!
Views: 985

Brightness Reef

David Brin's Uplift novels--Sundiver, Hugo award winner The Uplift War, and Hugo and Nebula winner Startide Rising--are among the most thrilling and extraordinary science fiction tales ever written.  Now David Brin returns to this future universe for a new Uplift trilogy, packed with adventure, passion and wit. The planet Jijo is forbidden to settlers, its ecology protected by guardians of the Five Galaxies.  But over the centuries it has been resettled, populated by refugees of six intelligent races.  Together they have woven a new society in the wilderness, drawn together by their fear of Judgment Day, when the Five Galaxies will discover their illegal colony.  Then a strange starship arrives on Jijo.  Does it bring the long-dreaded judgment, or worse--a band of criminals willing to destroy the six races of Jijo in order to cover their own crimes?
Views: 976

Uptown Local and Other Interventions

Uptown Local features eleven long and short works from the last decade and beyond, including: In The Company of Heroes -- A billionaire "living the dream" goes on a desperate quest for the one thing he needs to make his life perfect: a very special comic book... The Rizzoli Bag -- A sad young man in a Roman cafe is offered a once-in-a-lifetime bargain... Out of the Frying Pan -- The life of a part-time witch working in a shopping mall is turned upside down in a day... The Queen and the Thief and the Dragon -- A (fairy) tale of the True West, and a young monarch's solution to a thorny diplomatic problem... Bears -- An ancient sorrow (with a modern twist) wanders through the tumult of a pre-Lenten street carnival... The Fix -- In the dark guts of Rome's Colosseum, a slave boy with an impossible dream becomes entangled in the machinations of immortals... Herself -- In the heart of Dublin, something is killing the People of the Hills -- and it's going to take Ireland's only superhero to stop it... Hopper Painting -- Desolation and redemption in a midnight diner... The Back Door -- Two terrorists meet in Zurich to carry out a very unusual heist with a confederate who's more dangerous than they imagine... ...And of course, the title story, beloved and sought after for a quarter century by Young Wizards fans, and finally available in an ebook -- along with the only other Young Wizards short story, Theobroma.
Views: 971

The King of Plagues

Saturday 09:11 Hours: A blast rocks a London hospital and thousands are dead or injured… 10:09 Hours: Joe Ledger arrives on scene to investigate. The horror is unlike anything he has ever seen. Compelled by grief and rage, Joe rejoins the DMS and within hours is attacked by a hit-team of assassins and sent on a suicide mission into a viral hot zone during an Ebola outbreak. Soon Joe Ledger and the Department of Military Sciences begin tearing down the veils of deception to uncover a vast and powerful secret society using weaponized versions of the Ten Plagues of Egypt to destabilize world economies and profit from the resulting chaos. Millions will die unless Joe Ledger meets the this powerful new enemy on their own terms as he fights terror with terror.
Views: 970

Polly: Memories of an East End Girl

Born in 1911 into a close-knit family, Mary Rebecca Chambers spent her formative years in the heart of the East End, in a truly multicultural community. This vivid account of life is told with passion and humour and is full of stories of the special community atmosphere that was London's East End through two world wars and the Great Depression. Mary was a natural storyteller and this is a compilation of her heart-warming stories, arranged in chronolgoical order, to tell the tale of life as she witnessed it, through adversity and danger, excitement and fun. The captivating anecdotes, poignant and entertaining, are suffused by the sights, sounds and smells of the East End in the first half of the twentieth century. This is a wonderful evocation of a bygone age and her affectionate memories will entrance anyone who reads them.
Views: 969