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Aristophanes is inconsolable—his rival playwrights are hogging all the local attention, a pesky young wannabe poet won’t leave him alone, his actors can’t remember their lines, and his own festival sponsor seems to be conspiring against him, withholding direly needed funds for set design and, most importantly, giant phallus props. O woe, how can his latest comedy convince Athenian citizens to vote down another ten years of war against Sparta if they’re too busy scoffing at the diminutive phalluses? And why does everyone in the city-state seem to be losing their minds?
Wallowing in one inconvenience after another, Aristophanes is unaware that the Spartan and Athenian generals have unleashed Laet, the spirit of foolishness and bad decisions, to inspire chaos and war-mongering in Athens. To counteract Laet’s influence, Athena sends Bremusa, an Amazon warrior, and Metris, an endearingly airheaded nymph (their first choice was her mother Metricia, but she grew tired of all the fighting and changed back into a river).
Dashing between fantastical scenes of moody and meddlesome gods, ever-applicable political debates in the senate, backstage scrambling for the play, and glimpses of life in Ancient Greece, Martin Millar delivers another witty and comical romp for readers of all ages. Views: 523
A short story set in The Draconis Memoria universe created by New York Times Bestselling Author Anthony Ryan.In this prequel story to The Waking Fire, newly graduated Blood-blessed Ethelynne Drystone accompanies the Sandrunners Indepdent Contractor Company on a dangerous mission to the Arradsian Interior, intent on finding the lair of the legendary White Drake. Views: 523
He's back. Sir Apropos of Nothing, the best reviewed anti-hero in modern fantasy makes his triumphant return and gets a severe "Tong Lashing" for his troubles.
Yes, the hero who reviewers have described as "Swiftian" -- Locus, "Schopenhauerian" -- Kirkus and "Cyclopian" -- Kirkus again -- and many other big words, has survived the events in his previous outing, The Woad to Wuin, events that would have killed a lesser man. Which is impressive considering it's hard to find a lesser man than Apropos: A con man, a knave, a scalawag...and those are his finer points.
This time out, Apropos finds himself out to sea...literally. Yes, our rogue knight winds up adrift in hostile waters after a "friendly" game of chance with a wizard turns ludicrously deadly. But once again Death is thwarted (or perhaps it simply wants nothing to do with him) as Apropos winds up a stranger in a strange land. A land called "Chinpan," populated by people who speak a different language and live by a code of honor, neither of which Apropos can comprehend.
And yet in Chinpan, Apropos slowly begins to examine his life and question whether he can aspire to true greatness. To become more than the hard-bitten cynic he's always been. He may yet be able to find a happy ending among a gentle people who are willing to accept him, faults and all. And he acquires a teacher who may even be able to set him on a road to true enlightenment.
But events conspire to pull Apropos in unexpected and dangerous directions. For his presence in Chinpan does not go unnoticed. What does the mysterious criminal organization known as the Forked Tong want with him? How do their plans tie in or conflict with the criminal Skang Kei family, and their enigmatic leader, Skang Kei Ho? What of the Mingol hordes? And what will be the fate of the Chin clan, including Double Chin, Cleft Chin, Kit Chin, and little Kit Chinette?
By turns hilarious and tragic, Tong Lashing leaves no signature moment of adventure unpummeled. Mysterious shadow warriors, demented rulers, martial arts lessons, ritual suicide...all that fun stuff and much more in this, the latest (and last?) adventure of Sir Apropos of Nothing. Views: 523
Life manifests as an ovegrown, petulant baby, whilst melancholy flirts dangerously with an identity crisis.Michael Tomatoes, artist, sculptor and manic-depressive, is a man at pains to discover the nature of self, even if that means being someone else. A tool of fate, he sticks his fingers in the electric socket of life and wonders about suffering and loss. Is his obsession with numbers the result of a robotic condition, metal under the skin, or a paranoic attempt to decipher the intricacies of a more mundane and human predicament? That is: breathing, sucking in and blowing out all those other selves that compose a reality at once familiar and strange. Views: 523
The West Virginia town of Grantville, torn from the twentieth century and hurled back into seventeenth century Europe has allied with Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, in the United States of Europe. So, when Gustavus invades Poland, managing to unite all the squabbling Polish factions into repelling the common enemy, the time-lost Americans have to worry about getting dragged into the fight along with the Swedish forces.
But Mike Stearns has another problem. He was Prime Minister of the USE until he lost an election, and now he’s one of Gustavus’s generals; and he has demonstrated that he’s very good at being a general. And he’s about to really need all his military aptitude. Gretchen , who never saw a revolution she didn’t like, has been arrested in Saxony, and is likely to be executed. The revolutionary groups which she has been working with are not about to let that happen, and suddenly there’s rioting in the streets. Saxony’s ruthless General Baner is determined to suppress the uprising by the time-honored “kill them all and let God sort them out” method, which only adds fuel to the fire. So Gustavus orders Mike Stearns to go to Saxony and restore order. But he makes one mistake.
He didn’t tell Mike to take his troops along on the mission. But he didn’t tell him not to, either . . . Views: 523
When half-human Cal Leandros wakes up on a beach littered with the slaughtered remains if a variety of hideous creatures, he's not that concerned. In fact, he can't remember anything-including who he is.
And that's just the way his deadly enemies like it... Views: 523
When ten-year-old Peter moves into his grandfather’s creepy old mansion, bad, baaaaad things start to happen.Like finding a dead man in the garden patch.Who’s still alive.Peter must journey deep into the woods to discover the secret horror that has plagued his family for centuries…and now threatens to kill them all.The first book in the YA horror series, PETER AND THE MONSTERS!When ten-year-old Peter moves into his grandfather’s creepy old mansion, bad, baaaaad things start to happen.Like finding a dead man in the garden patch.Who’s still alive.With the help of the troublemaking kid next door, Peter journeys deep into the woods to discover the secret horror that has plagued his family for centuries…and now threatens to kill them all.The first book in the YA horror series, PETER AND THE MONSTERS! Views: 523
Will Carewe had a good job, a beautiful wife, and the prospect of immortality lay before him. But ... if he were to take the shot to become immortal, he'd be giving up his virility. And would, Athene, lovely Athene with the sensuous body, want to stay married to a man like that?But suddenly that problem was solved: a new variety of the drug had been developed, one that would leave him a fully functioning man. Carewe rejoiced in his luck, took the shot, and ...And suddenly his life, which had seemed so rosy just yesterday, was developing into a nightmare. Athene became distrustful of him, friends shied away, and someone seemed to be trying to kill him.He was the biggest target on Earth: the immortal man who'd given up nothing for it. Nothing, perhaps, except his life. Views: 523
Imajica is an epic beyond compare: vast in conception, obsessively detailed in execution, and apocalyptic in its resolution. At its heart lies the sensualist and master art forger, Gentle, whose life unravels when he encounters Judith Odell, whose power to influence the destinies of men is vaster than she knows, and Pie 'oh' pah, an alien assassin who comes from a hidden dimension.
That dimension is one of five in the great system called Imajica. They are worlds that are utterly unlike our own, but are ruled, peopled, and haunted by species whose lives are intricately connected with ours. As Gentle, Judith, and Pie 'oh' pah travel the Imajica, they uncover a trail of crimes and intimate betrayals, leading them to a revelation so startling that it changes reality forever. Views: 523
On assignment in the Philippines, archaeologist Annja Creed meets with a contact to verify some information. Easy enough. But when the man doesn't turn out to be whom he said he was, Annja finds herself handcuffed, blindfolded and kidnapped. And to make matters worse, she's a prisoner of the dreaded Abu Sayyaf, a notorious terrorist group. Desperate to escape, Annja is able to flee after slaying one of her captors. But she soon gets lost in the hostile jungle, which is rumored to be haunted by the spirits of Moro warriors who fought off conquistadors with their blades. As she tries to stay a step ahead of the terrorists and not-so-dead spirits with a taste for human flesh, Annja's not sure she'll leave the jungle alive.... Views: 522
A cold case adds an extra chill to the holiday season as bestselling author Anne Perry whisks readers to an English country house for a Christmas of secrets, soul-searching, and forgiveness.As beautiful as it may be, their friends' country home is not where Lady Vespasia wishes to spend Christmas with her new husband, Victor Narraway. She'd rather pass a relaxing holiday at home with him—especially because Victor, former head of the London Special Branch, seems to be hiding some undercover dealings with the other guests who have gathered in the spacious home.As tensions grow among the couples, the young and beautiful Iris Watson-Watt becomes the center of several men's focus. Unbeknownst to Vespasia, Iris carries a message for Victor that may help unmask a British traitor. As Victor plots his moves, he is reminded of a similar case from twenty years before, when a young Frenchwoman also carried a clandestine message—one that resulted in her murder, still... Views: 522
More information to be announced soon on this forthcoming title from Penguin USA Views: 522
Come celebrate Halloween in ways both spooky and fun in this collection of sixteen short stories spun by talented new voices in science fiction and fantasy.Come celebrate Halloween in ways both spooky and fun in this collection of sixteen short stories spun by talented new voices in science fiction and fantasy. Insecurity Complex, by Jade KerrionEmpty Glass, by P.L. BlairThe Red Card, by Sheenah FreitasChanceus, by L’Poni Baldwin My Soul To Take, by L.M. BoelzThe Nest, by Linell JeppsenThe Medusa Touch, by Sam KatesSkinshade, by T. Jackson KingLittle Girls Squealing in the Yard, by Lalo LaFleurTender Moments, by Massimo MarinoBlood Relation, by Patrick OttusoGrandma to the Rescue, by Sharon L ReddyThe Power of Spirit, by Ch'kara SilverWolfDominique, by Edwin StarkIn Space No One Can Hear You Scream, by Lisa WilliamsonSpoils of Earth, by Michael Youngblood Views: 522
