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A collection of eighteen fantasy and Science Fiction short stories Views: 13
"Never break the circle."For two realities, time is running out.In one world, a lethal virus threatens to destroy all life as scientists and governments scramble to find an antidote. In the other, a forbidden love could forever destroy the ragtag resistance known as The Circle.Thomas can bridge both worlds, but he is quickly realizing that he may not be able to save either.In the mind–bending conclusion to the Circle trilogy, Thomas must find a way to rewrite history as he navigates a whirlwind of emotions and events surrounding a pending apocalypse.The fate of two worlds comes down to one man's choice––and it is a most unlikely choice indeed.Life. Death. Love. Nothing is as it seems. Yet all will forever be transformed by the decisions of one man in the final hours of the Great Pursuit. Views: 13
The Voltar Confederacy has a long-range strategy to invade Earth and use it in their conquest of the Galaxy. However, with the discovery that Earth is being destroyed by incessant pollution, Royal Officer Jettero Heller is sent on a top-secret mission to handle this threat to the planet's life. But why is Lombar Hisst, head of the Apparatus, Voltar's deadly intelligence agency, determined to sabotage the mission and see it fail? Can Heller possibly succeed or will he fall into the web of intergalactic intrigue spun by Hisst and his devious henchman, Soltan Gris? Find out as you embark on this mission full of dynamic characters and packed with plenty of twists, action and emotion. Views: 13
Sable Keech is a walking dead man, and the only one to have been resurrected by nanochanger. Did he succeed because he was infected by the Spatterjay virus, or because he came late to resurrection in a tank of seawater? Tracing the man's last-known seaborne journey, Taylor Bloc wants to know the truth. He also wants so much else — adulation, power, control — and will go to any lengths to achieve them. An ancient hive mind, almost incomprehensible to the human race, has sent an agent to this uncertain world. Does it simply want to obtain the poison 'sprine' that is crucial to immortality — and, if so, maybe Janer must find it and stop it. Meanwhile, still faced with the ennui of immortality, Erlin has her solitude rudely interrupted by a very angry whelkus titanicus, and begins the strangest of journeys. Deep in the ocean the Spatterjay virus has wrought a terrible change that will affect them all. Something dormant for ten years is breaking free, and once again the aftershocks of an ancient war will focus on this watery world. And Sniper, for ten years the Warden of Spatterjay, finally takes delivery of his new drone shell. It's much better than his old one: powerful engines, more lethal weapons, thicker armour. He's going to need them. Views: 13
New York Times bestselling author Peter V. Brett returns to his groundbreaking Demon Cycle series with this enthralling novella—the latest story set in his much-loved fantasy world. Each night, the world is overrun by bloodthirsty demons. For centuries, humanity survived only by hiding behind defensive wards—magical symbols with the power to repel the demons. Now, the rediscovery of long-forgotten combat wards has given them the magic they need to fight back.In Tibbet's Brook, the fighting wards have brought change, but the factions and grudges of a troubled past remain. Selia Square, the woman they call Barren, has long been the force that holds the Brook together. As a terrifying new threat emerges, she rallies her people once again.But Selia has a past of her own. And in a small community the personal and the political can never be divided. If Tibbet's Brook is to survive, Selia must uncover memories she has buried deep—the woman she... Views: 13
Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000263 EndHTML:0000015442 StartFragment:0000003402 EndFragment:0000015406 SourceURL:file://localhost/Users/twk/Desktop/00_2015newversionebooks/The%20Flying%20Scotsman_yarbro_new-id5.5/bookfiles/The%20Flying%20Scotsman_metadata.doc The Flying Scotsman: A Mycroft Holmes Novel Mycroft Holmes 03 By Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and Bill Fawcett (writing as Quinn Fawcett) Price: $4.99 ISBN: Publication: July 2, 2015 Imprint: Event Horizon EBooks/Event Horizon Publishing Group Copyright © 2015 by Bill Fawcett & Associates Original Print Copyright © 1999 by Quinn Fawcett PRINT HISTORY: Tor Forge/October 1999 Print Pages: Description: The Flying Scotsman: A luxury train and the fastest way to travel between London and Edinburgh, has become the secret escape route for a European Prince who has narrowly escaped assassination at a royal wedding—an assassination intended to prevent the finalization of a treaty vital to British interests in Europe. Posing as a journalist, Mycroft Holmes and Paterson Guthrie, Holmes’s assistant in his adventures, board the train to protect the prince during what should have been a quick, safe trip to Scotland. Their journey is interrupted almost immediately by another try at murder. Guthrie spots some familiar faces among his fellow passengers. He and Mycroft have tangled with Scottish laird Sir Cameron Macmillan before. Is he behind the attempted assassinations? Then there’s the beautiful and dangerous Pauline Gatspy. She’s helped Mycroft and Guthrie in the past, but that’s no guarantee that she’s on their side—England’s side—this time. The Flying Scotsman combines the established thrills and chills of the Mycroft Holmes series with the history and high society life of Scotland’s version of the Orient Expresss. FROM THE PERSONAL JOURNAL OF PHILIP TYERS: Word has come from the Admiralty that no attempt was made on the other double; in fact, there is some doubt among the highly placed officers that the ruse was successful, and that there was no attempt made because it was known the man was not HHPO. This could mean that the assassin might have learned of the change in plans that put HHPO aboard the Flying Scotsman, which is a development that can only be viewed with alarm. Between reading the lines of Mosca and fretting about MH, Sutton has voiced concern for something that has me even more dismayed—that there may be two assassins working in concert, with the same intention as our use of doubles: to throw us off the scent of the primary assassin and his target. Sutton is afraid that the assassin may be aboard the Flying Scotsman with MH, G, and HHPO, an idea I can only view with utmost horror. Note: This use of the character of Mycroft Holmes is done with the kind permission of Dame Jean Conan Doyle. The Flying Scotsman of the North Eastern line had a long and illustrious career. Although I have been at pains not to deviate too significantly from its history, even though the story is set in 1896, just after the Railway Race to the North that occurred in 1895, I have used the route taken by the train since 1892, although changes in the route were made before and since then. Changes in the configuration of the train were rare except during the actual speed runs, but the Directors did consent to them more than ten times by 1890, and so I have extended their gracious allowance to the fictional events of this story. Review Quotes: “Authorized by the Conan Doyle Estate—and great fun to boot.” —Seattle Times/Post Intelligencer “Mycroft relies on action, negotiation, and manipulation—rather like John Le Carré’s Smiley. The book is appealing, with a nice dash of actual Victorian political characters and events. It’s fun to read.” —San Jose Mercury News “Any Sherlock Holmes fan will want to read Quinn Fawcett’s homage to the great detective.” —Midwest Book Review “The star is Holmes, and the narrator is his sidekick. But the Holmes is Mycroft, Sherlock’s older, smarter brother; and the narrator is Paterson Erskine Guthrie, not Dr. Watson. Absorbing.” —Publishers Weekly Bio: A professional writer for more than forty years, Yarbro has sold over eighty books, more than seventy works of short fiction, and more than three dozen essays, introductions, and reviews. She also composes serious music. Her first professional writing - in 1961-2 - was as a playwright for a now long-defunct children's theater company. By the mid-60s she had switched to writing stories and hasn't stopped yet. After leaving college in 1963 and until she became a full-time writer in 1970, she worked as a demographic cartographer, and still often drafts maps for her books, and occasionally for the books of other writers. She has a large reference library with books on a wide range of subjects, everything from food and fashion to weapons and trade routes to religion and law. She is constantly adding to it as part of her on-going fascination with history and culture; she reads incessantly, searching for interesting people and places that might provide fodder for stories. In 1997 the Transylvanian Society of Dracula bestowed a literary knighthood on Yarbro, and in 2003 the World Horror Association presented her with a Grand Master award. In 2006 the International Horror Guild enrolled her among their Living Legends, the first woman to be so honored; the Horror Writers Association gave her a Life Achievement Award in 2009. A skeptical occultist for forty years, she has studied everything from alchemy to zoomancy, and in the late 1970s worked occasionally as a professional tarot card reader and palmist at the Magic Cellar in San Francisco. She has two domestic accomplishments: she is a good cook and an experienced seamstress. The rest is catch-as-catch-can. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with two cats: the irrepressible Butterscotch and Crumpet, the Gang of Two. When not busy writing, she enjoys the symphony or opera. Views: 13
The fifth of the six classic Elric novels picks up, as is usual with these books, where the fourth leaves off. Moorcock sets the last pieces of the puzzle into place, introducing us to Zarozinia, the love of Elric's life. Once again, Moorcock takes his already intriguing concepts that he's built up throughout the series and adds a few more twists and turns, to make them even more intriguing than they already were. The book is good, it's readable, and the payoff, in Stormbringer, is astounding. Views: 13
SUMMARY: The Book of the New Sun is unanimously acclaimed as Gene Wolfe's most remarkable work, hailed as "a masterpiece of science fantasy comparable in importance to the major works of Tolkien and Lewis" by "Publishers Weekly," and "one of the most ambitious works of speculative fiction in the twentieth century" by "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction." "Shadow & Claw "brings together the first two books of the tetralogy in one volume: "The Shadow of the Torturer" is the tale of young Severian, an apprentice in the Guild of Torturers on the world called Urth, exiled for committing the ultimate sin of his profession -- showing mercy toward his victim. Ursula K. Le Guin said, "Magic stuff . . . a masterpiece . . . the best science fiction I've read in years!" "The Claw of the Conciliator "continues the saga of Severian, banished from his home, as he undertakes a mythic quest to discover the awesome power of an ancient relic, and learn the truth about his hidden destiny. "Arguably the finest piece of literature American science fiction has yet produced [is] the four-volume Book of the New Sun."--"Chicago Sun-Times" "The Book of the New Sun establishes his preeminence, pure and simple. . . . The Book of the New Sun contains elements of Spenserian allegory, Swiftian satire, Dickensian social consciousness and Wagnerian mythology. Wolfe creates a truly alien social order that the reader comes to experience from within . . . once into it, there is no stopping.""--The New York Times Book Review" Gene Wolfe has been called "the finest writer the science fiction world has yet produced" by "The Washington Post." A former engineer, he has written numerous books and won a variety of awards for his SF writing. "The Book of the New Sun," a series of four novels, is unanimously acclaimed as Wolfe's most memorable work, hailed by "Publishers Weekly" as a "masterpiece of science fantasy comparable in importance to the major works of Tolkien and Lewis"--and by "The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction" as "one of the most ambitious works of speculative fiction in the twentieth century." "Shadow & Claw" collects the first two novels in this Nebula and World Fantasy Award-winning tetralogy: "The Shadow of the Torturer" and "The Claw of the Conciliator." ""The Book of the New Sun" establishes [Wolfe's] pre-eminence, pure and simple . . . "The Book of the New Sun" contains elements of Spenserian allegory, Swiftian satire, Dickensian social consciousness, and Wagnerian mythology. Wolfe creates a truly alien social order that the reader comes to experience from within . . . Once into it, there is no stopping."--"The New York Times Book Review" "Arguably the best piece of literature American science fiction has yet produced."--"Chicago Sun-Times" Views: 13
Two thousand years after Pompeii’s destruction, a thriller of upheaval—volcanic and political—as only SF Grandmaster Frederik Pohl can write it!With a keen eye for the humanity in any situation, science fiction icon Frederik Pohl has crafted a compelling new novel of a not-too-distant future we can only hope is merely science fiction. When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D. it gave so little warning that Pompeiians were caught unawares, and many bodies were preserved in volcanic ash. Two thousand years later, in 2079, Pompeii is a popular theme park eagerly anticipating Il Giubeleo, the Jubilee celebration of the great anniversary. But Vesuvius is still capable of erupting, and even more threatening are terrorists who want to use the occasion to draw attention to their cause by creating a huge disaster. As the fateful day draws near, people from all over the world—workers, tourists, terrorists—caught in the shadow of the volcano will grapple with upheaval both natural and political.At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.From Publishers WeeklyIn a tired, terrorist-plagued 2079 still reeling from the aftereffects of a massive Yellowstone eruption, Brad Sheridan escapes from America's refugee camps by signing up for an overseas indenture. Chance earns him a spot working in Italy's lavish commemoration of the 2,000th anniversary of the destruction of Pompeii. Beneath quiescent Vesuvius, tourists enjoy entertainments real and virtual. Ben's ambition is limited to minor scams and romance, but fate places him near the epicenter of a terrorist plot of unprecedented scale. This seminihilistic novel, reminiscent of Mining the Oort and The Cool War, is not among Pohl's best only because the Grand Master's previous novels have set such a high standard, and it stands as a demonstration of his continuing strengths in the eighth decade of his career. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. Review“SFWA Grand Master Pohl’s latest is a pure delight, miraculously combining wry adventure and compassionate satire.... His tempered, hard-won faith in humanity makes this book especially satisfying.” —Publishers Weekly on The Boy Who Would Live Forever *“Very few books have ever held my attention in such an iron grip right up until the last paragraph, built so irresistibly to such a *satisfying series of blockbuster punch lines, left me so breathless with admiration, achieved such truly cosmic scope.” —Analog on Beyond the Blue Event Horizon Views: 13
Skyland is drying up. Nine ships are set to leave for a new colony. But flying into the Sky is an affront to the heavens and the Sky Reverends will not allow it. Views: 13
