Some people have a fate, and some a destiny. Taylor's preference would have been a humble destiny, one with friends, family and good works. But fate has chosen to give her a darker path, regardless of her choices.Great. Another novel of dystopian freaking fiction?Not really...In a moving tale about a world trying to regain its humanity, master storytellers Dan McNeill and Kevin Morton tell the story of a band of misfits out to save the world. River's Rising is the thrilling first episode of the four part World Down series - the series that proves not all dystopian fiction needs to be entirely dystopian.Three years after a decimating virus has left mankind on the brink of extinction, two brothers must move past their hatred of each in order to survive. But in this new world, surviving means having a little faith - faith in each other, faith in themselves and faith in what can't be seen. Perhaps most importantly of all, faith means being able to follow their third brother. Their older brother. The one with Down syndrome. Their brother Po has a gift.When they realize what that gift is, it will lead them into a journey of discovery where the stakes couldn't be higher. On one side are the Elected - five god-like beings with super-human powers whose plans for global dominion seem next to certain. Opposing them is suicide.On the other side are the mythical 19 - travelers with their own powers who haven't been seen in years. Tales of their exploits during the dark early days of the outbreak are told in whispers. Hope that the 19 will ever be found is growing dim.But Po and his gift may turn that all around.World Down: Episode 1 - River's Rising. Finally, dystopian fiction without dour characters or kids with crossbows. Finally, dystopian fiction that's fun.

Danald has been lost but now, at last, Rhia has found him...or has she? And what of Omron, the evil wizard who hates them both? Who of the three will live to see the morning?James Spicer is a 12 year old boy in his first year of secondary school. Everyone thinks James is weird, even his parents worry because he draws and paints such dark pictures. James has a fertile imagination and loves to create paintings of werewolves, vampires, dragons, witches, and all kinds of unbelievable creatures. At school James is bullied and labelled as one of the weirdo kids. The only person who doesn’t think James is weird is his grandpa and he died two years earlier.James is desperate to fit in but his incredible imagination involving dark creatures is not easily accepted by anyone. Daily he faces bullying at school. After one particularly dreadful day James catches his shadow stealing the light from behind his eyes. James is pulled through his bathroom mirror into an incredible fantasy underworld. There James’ journey takes him through fantastical realms of strange creatures, culminating in his meeting the King of Shadows. James’ quest is successful and he returns with a new found confidence and readiness to face life’s challenges. However once again he comes face to face by the bullies. This time, however, James is equipped with his newly honed skills to deal with his problems.

Will a night at the Opera be more than Elliot can handle...? Why does the Three Winds dojo charge for membership, despite almost criminal subsidies from its sponsoring families? And just what is Harlem's Deck? The plot thickens as the adventure continues...Will a night at the Opera be more than Elliot can handle...? Why does the Three Winds dojo charge for membership, despite almost criminal subsidies from its sponsoring families? And just what is Harlem's Deck? The plot thickens as the adventure continues...(...Back cover write up...)The city of Neppon drifts through the shallows, where the walls circling the mortal realm are thin. Here the daemons gather out of the surrounding night, drawn by its promise of candle flame warmth.As the election for the city's mayoral office approaches, one man stands head and shoulders above the other candidates. His reputation? A bastion for everything that is good and honest, in a world beset from all sides by horrors. But Jaret Roscan carries a secret. A secret that could bring ruin to his political career, and chaos to his beloved city.One person carries the key to his salvation. The question is, will they come forward in his hour of need?Harlem's Deck; a story in instalments. Keep your hand close to your chest...

Notch has finally achieved his lifelong dream of tracking down the legend of Herobrine. His journey leads him to the temple that had been given to Herobrine in his honor. Notch is thrilled to discover treasures but his actions lead to unleashing the terrible force of Herobrine out onto the Overworld. Will Notch be able to figure out the mystery of Herobrine and put him to rest?(The Unofficial Minecraft Adventure Short Stories)GENRE: Children's Adventure Notch has finally achieved his lifelong dream of tracking down the legend of Herobrine. His journey leads him to the temple that had been given to Herobrine in his honor. Notch is thrilled to discover treasures but his actions lead to unleashing the terrible force of Herobrine out onto the Overworld. Will Notch be able to figure out the mystery of Herobrine and put him to rest? Author's Note: This short story is for your reading pleasure. The characters in this "Minecraft Adventure Series" such as Steve, Endermen or Herobrine...etc are based on the Minecraft Game coming from Minecraft ®/TM & © 2009-2013 Mojang / Notch

A collection of mostly free verse poems written throughout the author’s adolescence and young adulthood. This is the familiar story of striving for progression, while continuously digressing. It is an attempt to show the struggle that we all face in growing: we move on, but not always forward, and not always in a straight line.A collection of mostly free verse poems written throughout the author’s adolescence and young adulthood. This is the familiar story of striving for progression, while continuously digressing. It is an attempt to show the struggle that we all face in growing: we move on, but not always forward, and not always in a straight line. In these pages are stories of unrequited love and sadness, as well as hopefulness, found truly only in One Source.~~“A nice book of no-nonsense poetry. Some of it was really quite emotional. I liked this collection!”– 4 stars “Nice poetry book” by BookLover

“Maybe, when I’m qualified, I’ll be in a better position to change the system.”Living their prescriptive lives in City 01, Aurelia and her best friend Marnee are learning how to be the best Med students they could possibly be, but it’s a journey that will test their strength, judgement and morals in a world that, as they grow older, seems increasingly unfair.From when, i lost my heart, - can't remember. Everyday in the morning ,opening my eyes - i see with surprise, How sun shows touching the corner of the sky! And, make a lonely day... Everyday, sun give me the last touch of warm - before sunset, And there's a flow of warm wind in heart. Comming night - Cold, so cold flat Here... I want to live, want to live Again hearing sweatest song Now, like sunset, a deep dark touching my eye Consequencely losing, i am losing My today , tomorrow and also before and after. Oneday light comes with a surprise For which my heart frozen, With losing my picked light See, there's a cold kiss also. How can i get closer with sorrows ? how can i live with a sunbathe? And, welcome a gala day? Now, a deep ocen near my end And, yellow leaf gathered in past memorise...

The Reclaimers are the most potent warriors the world has ever seen. Orphans raised as warrior-monks, they are utterly devoted to their god Hatra. When a despotic King demolishes her temples and holy sites, the Reclaimers march for Karuk, a holy tomb which the King has marked for destruction. The King brings with him a vast army, but the Reclaimers have their orders. Defend Karuk.The Reclaimers are the most potent warriors the world has ever seen. They are orphans raised as warrior-monks, utterly devoted to their god Hatra, determined to reclaim the lands of the barbarians for those who worship her.When the mad, despotic King Khalim starts demolishing her temples and holy sites, for he hates Hatra and is in thrall to the dark pantheon of Old Gods, the Reclaimers march for Karuk. This otherwise insignificant desert village is home to the tombs of long-dead martyrs who died for their faith. King Khalim has marked it for destruction, and brings with him a vast army to demolish Karuk and snuff out the Hatran faith altogether.The Reclaimers have their orders. Defend Karuk.Can the Reclaimers hold back this vast legion, and save their religion from extinction? It will be a grave test indeed. A test of the sword. A test of courage. A test of faith.

A tale of how Mairie won back her man and her happiness, knowing, with certainty, they would be together forever.The last thing on prince Xander's mind was becoming king. He'd much rather explore the world, make new discoveries. Unfortunately, he gets his wish in ways he hadn't imagined. Upon Saphora's return, he finds himself infatuated with the idea of visiting Earth. And so he does. But what he finds is unexpected. Seems like someone's found use for Saphora even in her absence. And it looks like people are lining up to get a taste of it. But what does that mean for Earth? With him being called back for the war on Athena, what will Xander do to save his newly beloved planet?

The mightiest party ever formed aims to bring everlasting peace to Cierta. Arkheld the Paladin, Seida the elf, Jarlex the necromancer, and Mekt the dwarf must sneak into the demon lord's beast infested castle, protect the seal around it ,and destroy the foul fiend once and for all. Can they fight through a horde of monsters, survive the night, and break free from the glowing castle?The kingdom of demons has lasted many years. Encased by a barrier, the beasts may not exit and wreak havoc upon the goodly folk of Cierta. Every ten years, the barrier weakens and an elite team of four must be sent to stop the demons from breaking it entirely. Along with this, they are tasked with finding and killing the elusive demon lord. Arkheld must find the paladin's strength within him, call out to his god, and guide his companions to victory.

The blockbuster film Inception meets Lisa McMann's Wake trilogy in this dark paranormal thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Aprilynne Pike. This supernatural young adult novel is perfect for fans of Kelley Armstrong, Alyson Noël, Richelle Mead, and Kimberly Derting. Charlotte Westing has a gift. She is an Oracle and has the ability to tell the future. But it doesn't do her much good. Instead of using their miraculous power, modern day Oracles are told to fight their visions––to refrain from interfering. And Charlotte knows the price of breaking the rules. She sees it every day in her wheelchair-bound mother and the absence of her father. But when a premonition of a classmate's death is too strong for her to ignore, Charlotte is forced to make an impossible decision: continue following the rules or risk everything—even her sanity—to stop the serial killer who is stalking her town.

The essays, reviews, memoirs and other writings collected here for the first time conjure up one of the great critical imaginations of our time. Grouped into four sections (Art and Poetry; Autobiography and Travel; Literature; and Religion, Politics and Philosophy), they demonstrate the wide range of Muriel SparkOCOs knowledge and interests, and throw into relief the people, places and ideas that inspired her throughout her life as a working writer. The book includes perceptive essays on literary figures including the Bront1/2s, Robert Frost, T. S. Eliot and Robert Louis Stevenson; engaging accounts of visits to John Masefield, Edith Sitwell, and Louis MacNeiceOCOs home (in the absence of its owner); and reflections on the sermons of Cardinal Newman and the Old Testament book of Job as perennially rich sources of spiritual nourishment. The novelistOCOs eye for the telling detail is evident in portraits of the cities ? Venice, Rome, Ravenna, Istanbul ? which Muriel Spark visited or in which she made her home. As Penelope Jardine puts it in her preface, this book ?tells many thingsOCO.T"

Award-winning novelist Rodman Philbrick challenges the boundaries of time and place in this exciting fantasy. "Harry Potter fans will recognize the misfit hero in a strange, new world." - Booklist Arthur Woodbury is tired of being called fat. So he's purchased a special product that's supposed to help him lose weight. But when he puts on the helmet like the instructions say, his world vanishes before his very eyes. Now he is trapped in REM World, a place where nothing is as it seems. And it's not enough just to find his way home. By entering REM World, Arthur accidentally released a terrible creature into the real world. It's Nothing, and it's going to eat away everything in the world until all that remains is itself. Arthur's never been the heroic kind - but now it's up to him to save the world.

Oblivion is a sweet, sweet place. No pain. No disturbing thoughts of the past. No guilt from my recent actions. Deep down, there is still a part of me that knows how screwed up I am. I don’t see a way out, not now. Tria’s gone, and the possibility of her forgiving me in my current state is exactly zero. I know I have to pull myself together, accept my responsibilities, and try to make amends, but I have no idea where to start. No job. No apartment. I’m living on the streets with the other junkies. As little as I had to offer Tria before, I have nothing to give her now. The only way out is to come clean and tell Tria the truth about my past, but the idea of reliving the memoires is so painful, I can’t think about it long enough to figure out a solution. I’ve hit rock bottom, and I don’t even know which way is up any more.

WAS SHE A SWEET SOUTHERN CHARMER? OR A COLD-BLOODED KILLER? For their wedding portrait, petite Pat Taylor and handsome Tom Allanson posed as Rhett and Scarlett. Both came from fine Southern families, and dreamed of the Tara-like plantation where they would grow roses, raise horses, and move in the genteel circles of Atlanta society. Less than two months later, their dream exploded in terror and murder: their beautiful home mysteriously burned to the ground and Tom was convicted of the brutal slaying of his mother and father. Pat's only brother had died in a puzzling suicide, her grandparents-in-law were poisoned with arsenic, and no one -- from her wealthy employers to her own children -- was safe when Pat Allanson didn't get her way. It took Georgia lawmen more than two decades to stop her for good -- if indeed they have. In this fascinating account, Ann Rule delivers a tour de force: a whirlwind of misguided love, denial, guilt, and passions out of control; a series of brilliantly manipulated crimes; the bizarre and horrifying tale of two families brought to ruin; and, at the center of it all, the heartless, supremely selfish sociopath whose evil hid behind soft words and gentle manners, but who destroyed -- without mercy -- those who loved her.

This powerful new novel by the bestselling author of Black and Blue, One True Thing, Object Lessons, and A Short Guide to a Happy Life begins when a teenage couple drives up, late at night, headlights out, to Blessings, the estate owned by Lydia Blessing. They leave a box and drive away, and in this instant, the world of Blessings is changed forever. Richly written, deeply moving, beautifully crafted, Blessings tells the story of Skip Cuddy, caretaker of the estate, who finds a baby asleep in that box and decides he wants to keep her, and of matriarch Lydia Blessing, who, for her own reasons, decides to help him. The secrets of the past, how they affect the decisions and lives of people in the present; what makes a person, a life, legitimate or illegitimate, and who decides; the unique resources people find in themselves and in a community—these are at the center of this wonderful novel of love, redemption, and personal change by the writer about whom The Washington Post Book World said, “Quindlen knows that all the things we ever will be can be found in some forgotten fragment of family.” From the Hardcover edition.

One last chance for love. It’s been a year since Eden last spoke to Tyler. A year since he left her all alone after nearly destroying their family. But Eden picked herself up and headed to Chicago for college where she found a new boyfriend—someone who doesn’t run when things get tough. She’s finally moved on from Tyler…right? Despite their breakup, Tyler’s determined to rekindle what they once had. He’s restarted his life in Eden’s hometown of Portland, and he wants her in it. But when a tragedy draws them together, Eden must search her heart and decide if Tyler is worth the risk once and for all.

The conquistador Hernán Cortés is hell-bent on conquering Mexico for the Aztecs’ gold. Having destroyed the Maya at Potonchan, Cortés now marches on Tenochtitlan, the Golden City of the Aztecs, wrapped in the aura of a returning, vengeful god. His small force of just five hundred men will have to defeat the psychotic emperor Moctezuma and the armies of hundreds of thousands he commands. Cortés expects that the warlike Tlascalans, hereditary enemies of the Aztecs, will join him, but instead finds himself locked in a deadly struggle and a fight for his life. Even as Cortés risks all in the bloody campaign against the Tlascalans, he plays mind games with Moctezuma, aiming to dismantle the Aztec emperor’s confidence and defeat him psychologically before ever having to face him on the battlefield. The supernatural and compelling rich history combine in this tale of love, brutal courage and triumphs. War God: Return of the Plumed Serpent is a story of staggering magnificence. Graham Hancock on Facebook: www.facebook.com/Author.GrahamHancock Graham Hancock on Twitter: @Graham__Hancock Graham Hancock's website: www.grahamhancock.com

When Peter Carey offered to take his son to Japan, 12-year-old Charley stipulated no temples or museums. He wanted to see manga, anime, and cool, weird stuff. His father said yes. Out of that bargain comes this enchanting tour of the mansion of Japanese culture, as entered through its garish, brightly lit back door. Guided–and at times judged–by an ineffably strange boy named Takashi, the Careys meet manga artists and anime directors, the meticulous impersonators called “visualists,” and solitary, nerdish otaku. Throughout, the Booker Prize-winning novelist makes observations that are intriguing even when–as his hosts keep politely reminding him–they turn out to be wrong. Funny, surprising, distinguished by its wonderfully nuanced portrait of a father and son thousands of miles from home, Wrong About Japan is a delight. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the deadliest one of all? It's an antique mirror that can reveal secrets...or tarnish the truth. And for struggling artist Laura Sutherland, buying it is only the first step into a dark maze of lies, manipulation—and murder. It brings Peter Kilbourne into her life and makes her the prime suspect in his fatal stabbing. Determined to clear her name—and uncover Peter's reason for wanting the mirror back—Laura will breach the iron gates of the Kilbourne estate. There she will find that each family member has something to hide. Which one of them looks in the mirror and sees the reflection of a killer? And which one will choose Laura to be the next to die? From the Paperback edition.

Urien's Voyage is an allegorical account of a sea voyage. From the stagnant, teeming waters of the Sargasso to the frozen Arctic, Gide charts in prose the fantastic journey of the Orion and the sexual and moral transformations of those aboard. The temptations, suffering, and surroundings of Urien and his companions are described with an extraordinary profusion of detail, yet the pilgrims can never be sure of the reality of their experiences. The eponymous Urien is, we now know, the young Andre Gide himself. Written under the spell of the great French Symbolist poet Mallarme, the novel is an illustration of both the techniques and the aesthetic credo of the Symbolist movement. Although written early in the career of this key French thinker and Nobel Prize-Winner, Urien's Voyage is now regarded as a significant work, articulating the powerful tension between sexuality and morality that would preoccupy Gide in his better-known later novels.

When the twenty-first century drew to a close the whole human race began to revert to conditions closely approximating savagery. The low-lands were unbearable. Thick jungles of rank growth covered the ground. The air was depressing and enervating. Men could live there, but it was a sickly, fever-ridden existence. The whole population of the earth desired the high lands and as the low country became more unbearable, men forgot their two centuries of peace. Murray Leinster, called the dean of modern science-fiction, was writing amazing super-science adventures in the early twenties before there ever was such a thing. His short stories, novelettes, and serial novels have appeared in most of the major American magazines, both slick and pulp, and many have been reprinted all over the world. He has made a distinguished name for himself in the fields of adventure, historical, western, sea, and suspense stories.