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Paul-024 is back, and ready to let the other trailblazers in on the journey they are all beginning...if they can keep from blacking out long enough for him to explain it all. Views: 451
Eight's OriginNever before seen peek into Number Eight’s past.I've reached the point where i don't know how long Ive been alone anymore.It might drive some people crazy, living like this, but the quiet keeps me company.I try to linger only on the ones that make me happy and skip over the ones that are painful, but sometimes its hard to know which are which.I've learned that some memories surprise you and reveal a sharp edge just when you least expect it.In the beginning there were nine of us. We are called the Garde. I know from the scars on my ankle that there are only six of us left. Three are dead. I also know that someday, somehow, I will rejoin the others.I am Number Eight.Just like always. I know that I can't stay here forever, but I also know that I'm not ready to leave yet.Trust is dangerous.For some reason,I feel like I've known this man all my life.The weight of regret and loneliness and despair that I have been carrying with me for somany months lifts from my shoulders, and suddenly I'm laughing It takes strength.It takes knowledge and focus and trust.More than anything, it takes faith. Views: 451
Death preserved forever in drops of maple syrup - a name just out of reach - a bear's growl - a door that leads to... nowhere, and a man who walks through it. These are the stories of things: some just this side of reality, some just that side of... somewhere else.Shy librarian Sabrina has had her heart set on Robert, her hunky, reserved colleague, for months. Now she's taking matters into her own hands. . . and anywhere else she can manage. But once she's had her way with him, will she end up with the love match she craves even more than his luscious body? A short, H-O-T contemporary romance, Pearls of Passion is 6,000 words (about 15 pages).Review:"An excellent short story, where a long-simmering attraction finally explodes in a sexy encounter at the library! I loved the setting, the high heat level, and the promise that these characters have a great romance ahead of them. Chantilly White delivers, with enough characterization and heated lovemaking to make any reader breathless."-Anthea Lawson Views: 451
Bastion was supposed to mean safety. It was supposed to mean a break from fighting for their lives and a chance to talk to someone who might actually know what’s going on. Access to their gold and some beer would have been nice, too.
They got none of those things. When Tina and James arrive in the capital, they find a city on fire in more ways than one. Players and non-players hunt each other in the streets, while the king who controls the city’s all-powerful artifact cowers from the chaos in his castle. Desperate to warn somebody about the Once King’s coming invasion, James wants to try to talk to the king anyway, while Tina just wants to meet the royal portal keepers who might be able to send them home.
It shouldn’t be hard to get an army of the world’s best-geared players through one city, but when they discover that the captain of the Royal Knights has been massacring low-level players in revenge disguised as justice, James and Tina will have to decide which is more important: the lives of their fellow gamers, or the stability of their new world’s last great city. Both choices deserve a champion, but with the Once King’s armies closing in, taking the wrong side may doom everyone to an eternity as slaves to the Ghostfire. Views: 451
{Note: This volume is now included in "The High Duties of Pacia: The Complete Saga" which is currently available for 'Reader Sets the Price' so download that for free if you like.}Long ago in a time known as the Anziên age, people lived in a complex and vibrant society which reached levels of technology and genetic engineering unimaginable to anyone now alive. Then 3,500 years ago, the Anziên era ended abruptly and traumatically. The only bright spot came in a land called Pàçia. Physically separated from the rest of the world by high mountains, the gentle nature of the Pàçian people also set them apart from all others. They built the beautiful city Abbelôn and chose the wisest and most benevolent among them to lead the way on the path of tranquility and harmony. These leaders had no power or authority. They did not rule; they fulfilled duties. They made the world a better place but their strength gradually weakened with time, and three and a half millennia is a very long time.Outside Pàçia, the population grew and cities arose. The Great Cities were ruled by powerful despots who increasingly ignored lessons of peace and goodwill. Worse, new enemies invaded part of the land. But were they really ‘new’ or were they terrors returned from a forgotten past?In this environment, the story begins.*Twelve years ago, brutal men called the Zafiri invaded Pàçia with a massive army, capturing the beautiful city Abbelôn and crushing the gentle people there. Now the rest of the world is threatened by more war and destruction. Then an extraordinary young woman named Sistére Graice crosses paths with a man unlike any she has met before. Her ‘effect,’ her ability to control everyone else, has no power over him. Known only as Holder, the man has no memory, not even of his own identity. Graice’s mentor Sybille hires him as a guide for a journey she and Graice must make, partly so they can keep him close until they discover his secret. As they travel, Graice tries to help Holder recover his memory. While he is in a drugged sleep, she ‘sees’ into his mind and discovers small fragments of past events, all involving a beautiful golden-haired woman. When he wakes, Holder still does not remember these scenes but Graice has learned much about him.In the backwaters of the land meanwhile, a boy age thirteen travels with his aunt, his only living relative, hiding from enemy spies by moving constantly and using false names and disguises. He knows nothing about his parents or his family name and its history. Later, the aunt gives him an amulet and implies he will wear it someday. It’s an Emblem of High Duty, she says.A girl named Caelia, also thirteen, hides from the same enemy in a cavern where her father searches for secrets of the Anziên civilization. Named after a legendary heroine from antiquity, Caelia is unusually bright and mature for her age and her shining red-gold hair sets her apart. Everyone in the community loves Caelia but even the girl herself does not know why. When she wants to leave the cave on an adventure, everybody objects but no one can say no to her. She gets her way and departs with a trading expedition.Along their separate paths, Graice and Holder are attacked by a monstrous creature; outlaws kidnap Caelia; and enemy soldiers close in on the boy. Not only do all survive but the encounters also reveal hidden secrets. The story continues in Part II. Views: 451
The year is 2203, and the ruler of the Universe is chosen according to the random laws of a strange game under the control of Quizmaster Verrick. But when Ted Bentley, a research technician recently dismissed from his job, signs on to work for Verrick, he has no idea that Leon Cartwright is about to become the new Quizmaster. Nor does he know that he’s about to play an integral part in the plot to assassinate Cartwright so that Verrick can resume leadership of a universe not nearly as random as it appears.
Winner of both the Hugo and John W. Campbell awards for best novel, widely regarded as the premiere science fiction writer of his day, and the object of cult-like adoration from his legions of fans, Philip K. Dick has come to be seen in a literary light that defies classification in much the same way as Borges and Calvino. With breathtaking insight, he utilizes vividly unfamiliar worlds to evoke the hauntingly and hilariously familiar in our society and ourselves.
From the Trade Paperback edition. Views: 451
PASSION REBORN
In one vicious night, Kirby Brown’s world is torn apart. Her best friend is dead, killed by a madman who is now after Kirby, and she has no idea why. When the police prove incapable of protecting Kirby, she has no choice but to trust a mysterious stranger. And while she finds herself inexplicably drawn to him, she fears the strange abilities he wields.
An investigator for the Damask Circle, Doyle Fitzgerald, has come to Melbourne, Australia, to hunt down a killer. What he doesn’t expect to find is a cadre of witches capable of controlling the elements, a sorceress determined to take that power for herself, and a broken woman who is more than she seems. Doyle is certain that the reason behind the bloodshed lies in Kirby’s past—a past she has no wish to remember. Because Doyle isn’t the only one with magic in his soul: Kirby’s special gifts have the strength to destroy the world. Views: 451
There was not enough room for an appendix in The Heart of the Staff, the Complete Series, so here it is as the separate publication, The Heart of the Staff, the Complete Appendix.There was not enough room for an appendix in The Heart of the Staff, the Complete Series, so here it is as the separate publication, The Heart of the Staff, the Complete Appendix. Here you will find every character, creature and hamlet listed and described as well as every special word and foreign phrase defined and translated. Views: 451
Assassin. Soldier. Arrow. That is who Vasic is, who he will always be. His soul drenched in blood, his conscience heavy with the weight of all he’s done, he exists in the shadows, far from the hope his people can almost touch—if only they do not first drown in the murderous insanity of a lethal contagion. To stop the wave of death, Vasic must complete the simplest and most difficult mission of his life.
For if the Psy race is to survive, the empaths must wake…
Having rebuilt her life after medical “treatment” that violated her mind and sought to stifle her abilities, Ivy should have run from the black-clad Arrow with eyes of winter frost. But Ivy Jane has never done what she should. Now, she'll fight for her people, and for this Arrow who stands as her living shield, yet believes he is beyond redemption. But as the world turns to screaming crimson, even Ivy’s fierce will may not be enough to save Vasic from the cold darkness… Views: 451
When he's down, kick for the head and groin. Avoid cops. Play it cool There aren't many rules in the primer for gang kids, but they all count. They're all easily understood because they use a simple and sound philosophy it's a stinking life, so get your kicks while you can. The gang is home, take what you want, tell them nothing and don't get caught. Two gangs of juvenile delinquents run riot in New York City. They constantly try to outdo each other with their clothes, weapons, language and lack of morals. They are not just kids playing at war they mean business. The only person who can infiltrate the gang is someone they can trust, someone like themselves. Someone who knows how to handle a knife and a gun Views: 451
A wonderful time-slip novel full of secrets, family relationships and quiet magic, from the award-winning author of the bestselling and much-loved novels Crow Country, Cicada Summer and The January Stars.Thirteen-year-old Rowan is helping her older sister Ash paint her bedroom when she discovers a mysterious ring that transports them both back in time to 1999. To a party being held in the very same house!While Ash dances, Rowan unwittingly disrupts the laws of time, and when she wakes up back in the present day, her sister is missing, and - even worse - everyone in their family seems to be forgetting she ever existed.With the help of her magical neighbour Verity, Rowan must find the courage to travel back through the history of the house. But can she find everything she needs to rescue Ash before her sister disappears forever?A warm and beautifully told time-slip novel, brimming with secrets, gentle magic and the strong bonds of family,... Views: 451
The wanderer-monk Paul is trapped in a nightmare of dragons, demons, and spectacular lusts as the shimmering Animation curtain storms across the worldscape, changing fantasy into hideous reality. Views: 450
