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The circus is ready to roll out for the 1925 tour. Ravi, the high-wire heart throb, is jittery when meeting the company’s newly-hired female dwarf. Hours before departure, his magical perceptions are on fire as he witnesses her involvement in a gory bump off.Ravi is desperate to protect his sweetheart and the rest of the company. Will his Suparna abilities be enough to snuff out the demon?The circus is a blur of commotion with last minute preparations for the spring tour. Ravi, the high-wire heart throb, becomes jittery when he meets the company’s newly-hired female dwarf. Hours before departure, his magical perceptions are on fire as he witnesses her involvement in a gory bump off.The circus manager can’t be found. Ravi is desperate to protect his sweetheart and performing partner, Alice. The train creaks away, beginning the long journey with danger stowed on board. Nicknamed the Great Birdman, Ravi steps forward and exposes his true identity—a real risk during edgy, vigilante times of prohibition. A brave move—but will his Suparna abilities be enough to snuff out this fierce demon?"Moore throws us into an intriguing and vivid word where divine beings scrape by as performers in a depression-era-style circus. The plot is minimal: defeat the villain, get the girl. But the fantasy world is wonderful and I can only hope there might be longer stories to come, in this same setting?" ~Emily Veinglory, POD People Views: 661
READING, WRITING, AND RAISING THE DEAD
When Chess Putnam is ordered by an infamous crime boss—who also happens to be her drug dealer—to use her powers as a witch to solve a grisly murder involving dark magic, she knows she must rise to the challenge. Adding to the intensity: Chess’s boyfriend, Terrible, doesn’t trust her, and Lex, the son of a rival crime lord, is trying to reignite the sparks between him and Chess.
Plus there’s the little matter of Chess’s real job as a ghost hunter for the Church of Real Truth, investigating reports of a haunting at a school in the heart of Downside. Someone seems to be taking a crash course in summoning the dead—and if Chess doesn’t watch her back, she may soon be joining their ranks.
As Chess is drawn into a shadowy world of twisted secrets and dark violence, it soon becomes clear that she’s not going to emerge from its depths without making the ultimate sacrifice. Views: 661
Wiccan Gavenia Kingsgrave’s psychic gift, the ability to talk to the dead, comes with strings attached. As a Shepherd, she escorts them into the hereafter, but not all the souls want to cross over, and some can be downright vicious. When her latest case involves a heart-breaking hit-and-run victim, Gavenia is stressed to the max. The last thing she needs is a no-nonsense private detective on her tail, even if he is a handsome Irishman.
Former homicide detective Douglas O’Fallon possesses his own psychic gift, one he’s denied for years. Hired by a wealthy client to prove that Gavenia’s a con artist, he is sceptical of the witch’s claims she can speak to the dead. If he finds her gift as genuine, then he will be forced to accept his own. When their two cases intersect, opposites attract. But will they be able to set their differences aside long enough to outwit their foes – both the living and the dead? Views: 661
Kim Stanley Robinson, award-winning author of the bestselling Red Mars, Green Mars, and the soon-to-be-published Blue Mars, was called "a literary landscape artist, creating breathtaking vistas" by The Detroit Metro News. Now he confirms his reputation for brilliance and for the unexpected in this luminous short work.
A Short, Sharp Shock
A man tumbles through wild surf, half drowned, to collapse on a moonlit beach. When he regains consciousness, he has no memory of who he is or where he came from. he know only that the woman who washed ashore with him has disappeared sometime in the night, and that he has awakened in a surreal landscape of savage beauty -- a mysterious watery world encircled by a thin spine of land. Aided by strange tribesmen, he will journey to the cove of the spine kings, a brutal race that has enslaved the woman and several of the tribesmen. That is only the beginning of his quest, as he struggles to find her identity in this wondrous and cruel land -- and seeks out the woman whose hold on his imagination is both unfathomable and unshakable.
Haunting and lyrical, filled with uncommon beauty and terrible peril, A Short, Sharp Shock is an ambitious and enthralling story by one of science fiction's most respected talents.
From the Paperback edition. Views: 661
A delightfully entertaining collection of short stories by master fantasy writer Garth Nix, featuring his swashbuckling god-slaying heroes, Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz - plus a never-before published story.Sir Hereward: Knight, artillerist, swordsman. Mercenary for hire. Ill-starred lover.Mister Fitz: Puppet, sorcerer, loremaster. Practitioner of arcane arts now mostly and thankfully forgotten. Former nursemaid to Hereward.Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz: Agents of the Council of the Treaty for the Safety of the World, charged with the location and removal of listed extra-dimensional entities, more commonly known as gods or godlets.Travellers. Adventurers. Godslayers . . .From the award-winning author and bestselling creator of the Old Kingdom series and The Left-handed Booksellers of London. Views: 661
This latest novel from Newbery Honor author Gail Carson Levine about two princesses battling against their fates in the middle of the Trojan War is a must-read for anyone who loves Greek mythology or the Percy Jackson books!Cassandra, a princess of Troy and follower of Apollo, is delighted when the god himself appears to her. Apollo asks to love her in exchange for giving her future sight, and she agrees—but recoils when he kisses her. Enraged, the god transforms his gift into a curse: Cassandra's visions will never be believed. After horrifying images of coming war and death pour into her mind, and with no one to heed her warnings, Cassandra risks her safety again and again to avert the disaster awaiting Troy. But it will take years—and the friendship of an Amazon warrior princess named Rin—for Cassandra to find hope of success in reversing the course of the war. With heroines to cheer for and nail-biting... Views: 661
Harmony of the Othar Saga historical material, Parts 1-12. Blonhaft’s parents find themselves caught in the intricacies of House Triumon as the Houses scramble to confront the Dasyu invasion at Torbod. Join a young Avanian as she begins weaving the webs of intrigue that binds her fate to the House of Northmon.A Crime Noir Short Story. A hellish ride on the Metro train one night in Copenhagen… Written as a tribute to Edgar Allan Poe, with obvious links to his tale William Wilson, this short story leads you into a cold nightmare of rape and mixed identities. Maja calls as I wait for the Metro at the airport station. It’s late. I have just returned from yet another business trip. She says, “There have been a number of violent rapes in Copenhagen the last few weeks. Yesterday, the police published a frame from the surveillance recordings in the Metro. The last rape occurred late Monday night not far from the DR-Byen Metro station. The victim recognized you on the recordings from the surveillance camera.” I hesitate a few seconds, looking into my own eyes in the reflection of the glass walls—then I laugh.Praise for Metro:“It delivers the goods…this is good entertainment.”The Danish Newspaper Politiken.“Tightly composed, it works excellent and—most importantly—it delivers an effective thrill.”The Danish Newspaper Ekstra Bladet.“So horrifying and yet so well written…”The Danish Newspaper Nordjyske. “Subtle, thrilling and creepy…It’s elegant and yet terrifying lascivious ...it has the reader gasping for air.”The Danish Newspaper Helsingor Dagblad. Views: 661
The People's Republic of Haven made a tiny mistake when it announced the execution of Honor Harrington. It seemed safe enough. After all, they knew she was already dead. Unfortunately, they were wrong. Now Honor has escaped from the prison planet called Hell and returned to the Manticoran Alliance with a few friends. Almost half a million of them, to be precise including some who know what really happened when the Committee of Public Safety seized power in the PRH. Honor's return from the dead comes at a critical time, providing a huge, much-needed lift for the Allies' morale, for the war is rapidly entering a decisive phase. Both sides believe that victory lies within their grasp at last, but dangers no one could foresee await them both. New weapons, new strategies, new tactics, spies, diplomacy, and assassination all are coming into deadly focus, and Honor Harrington, the woman the newsies call "the Salamander," once more finds herself at the heart of them all. But this time, the furnace may be too furious for even a salamander to survive. Views: 661
Christmas is coming to Port Hewer and the hotel Penmarrow, where Maisie is suffering a case of the holiday blues far from home this year — until Gavin, a young American businessman staying at the hotel through Christmas, talks her into joining him as his partner in the hotel's ice sculpting competition in a mutual pact to enjoy the holidays to the fullest.Meanwhile, Maisie experiences the village Christmas season vicariously through Sidney, and continues writing her Poe-inspired story with only Sidney aware of her secret novel. She soon learns, however, that criticism and praise go hand in hand when he takes issue with her latest chapters, which puts pressure on their friendship, too.But is that what's really the issue between them? Because handsome Gavin has more than ice sculpting in mind when it comes to Maisie's time, which comes as a surprise to no one who's seen them together. As Maisie faces this sudden romantic dilemma, she... Views: 661
Heartwood Box is a dark, romantic YA suspense novel with an SF edge from New York Times bestselling author Ann Aguirre...In this tiny, terrifying town, the lost are never found.When Araceli Flores Harper is sent to stay with her great-aunt Ottilie in her ramshackle Victorian home, the plan is simple. She'll buckle down and get ready for college. Life won't be exciting, but she'll cope, right?Wrong. From the start, things are very, very wrong. Her great-aunt still leaves food for the husband who went missing twenty years ago, and local businesses are plastered with MISSING posters. There are unexplained lights in the woods and a mysterious lab just beyond the city limits that the locals don't talk about. Ever. When she starts receiving mysterious letters that seem to be coming from the past, she suspects someone of pranking her or trying to drive her out of her mind. To solve these riddles and bring the lost home... Views: 661
Code Name Isaac was sent to find Level P. He doesn't know why or what his is supposed to do when he gets there. Isaac just hopes that he can find someone to give him the right directions.We're ending the year strong with a surprisingly wide variety of story types. But they all center around some significant, and usually life-changing realizations about life, no matter how fantastical it is. And that's why we love science fiction and fantasy: Even though the narrative elements aren't real in our lives, the sentiments, interactions, and life lessons are. It gives us a window in to the human soul, even when the window is decidedly non-human.Fiction Vortex publishes science fiction and fantasy stories every month. Check out FictionVortex.com for more great stories. Views: 660
Craphound had wicked yard-sale karma, for a rotten, filthy alien bastard. He was too good at panning out the single grain of gold in a raging river of uselessness for me not to like him -- respect him, anyway. But then he found the cowboy trunk. It was two months\' rent to me and nothing but some squirrelly alien kitsch-fetish to Craphound. So I did the unthinkable. I violated the Code. I got into a bidding war with a buddy. Never let them tell you that women poison friendships: in my experience, wounds from women-fights heal quickly; fights over garbage leave nothing behind but scorched earth. Craphound spotted the sign -- his karma, plus the goggles in his exoskeleton, gave him the advantage when we were doing 80 kmh on some stretch of back-highway in cottage country. He was riding shotgun while I drove, and we had the radio on to the CBC\'s summer-Saturday programming: eight weekends with eight hours of old radio dramas: "The Shadow," Views: 660
The armies of the Outlanders crushed the highlanders at the battle of Colden Moor–killing their finest warriors and breaking their freeborn spirit. The highlanders are now a conquered people, ruled by the brutal Baron Gottasson.
Prophecies speak of the coming of a new leader, a descendent of Ironhand, mightiest of the highland kings. A leader who will throw off the Outlander yoke. But only one highlander carries the blood of Ironhand: Sigarni, a wild and willful teenage girl who cares for nothing save her own concerns. Until a fateful encounter thrusts her onto a path of rebellion. Now, hunted by the baron’s soldiers and stalked by an evil sorcerer, Sigarni will be forced to fulfill her destiny . . . or perish.
From the Paperback edition. Views: 660
