Legend held that whoever possessed it would rule the destinies of nations. Renaissance Italy, where intrigues were as intricate as carved cathedral doors and affairs of state were ruled by affairs of the bedchamber ... where the rustling richness of silk hid the quick glint of deadly stilettos, and poison vied with port as the favored drink to offer guests.... From the spellbinding pen of Iris Johansen comes her most lush, dramatic, and emotionally touching romance yet--the captivating story of the lovely and indomitable slave Sanchia and the man who bought her on a back street in Florence.... Passionate, powerful condottiere Lionello Andreas would love Sanchia and endanger her with equal wild abandon as he sought to win back the prize possession of his family--the Wind Dancer.

Harlan Ellison's masterwork of myth and terror as he seduces all innocence on a mind-freezing odyssey into the darkest reaches of mortal terror and the most dazzling heights of Olympian hell in his finest collection. Deathbird Stories is a collection of 19 of Harlan Ellison's best stories, including Edgar and Hugo winners, originally published between 1960 and 1974. The collection contains some of Ellison's best stories from earlier collections and is judged by some to be his most consistently high quality collection of short fiction. The theme of the collection can be loosely defined as God, or Gods. Sometimes they're dead or dying, some of them are as brand-new as today's technology. Unlike some of Ellison's collections, the introductory notes to each story can be as short as a phrase and rarely run more than a sentence or two. One story took a Locus Poll Award, the two final ones both garnered Hugo Awards and Locus Poll awards, and the final one also received a Jupiter Award from the Instructors of Science Fiction in Higher Education (discontinued in 1979). When the collection was published in Britain, it won the 1979 British Science Fiction Award for Short Fiction. His stories will rivet you to the floor and change your heartbeat...as unforgettable a chamber of horror, fantasy and reality as you'll ever experience. -Gallery "Brutally and flamboyantly shocking, frequently brilliant, and always irresistibly mesmerizing." -Richmond Times-Dispatch

My name is Gemma Lucas and everything in my life is falling apart. Lost Souls are roaming the world, possessing people and the fey have made it their mission to torture the innocent. Death and suffering is becoming a way of life and no matter what I do, things keep tearing Alex and me apart. What’s worse is that every time I look into the future, all I see is a nearing finality for us. And I’m worried that maybe this time I won’t be able to change it.

Welcome to humanity’s new war: silent, high stakes, and unseen. This is a life-or-death mission for ONI’s black-ops team, Kilo-Five, which is tasked with preventing the ruthless Elites, once the military leaders of the Covenant, from regrouping and threatening humankind again. What began as a routine dirty-tricks operation?keeping the Elites busy with their own insurrection?turns into a desperate bid to extract one member of Kilo-Five from the seething heart of an alien civil war. But troubles never come singly for Kilo-Five. Colonial terrorism is once again surfacing on one of the worlds that survived the war against the Covenant, and the man behind it is much more than just a name to Spartan-010. Meanwhile, the treasure trove of Forerunner technology recovered from the shield world of Onyx is being put to work while a kidnapped Elite plots vengeance on the humans he fears will bring his people to the brink of destruction.

The CIA, the FBI, the KGB, Interpol—not one of the world's premier intelligence organizations knows quite what to make of Evan Michael Tanner. Is he a spy, a mercenary, a footloose adventurer, or simply a screwball sucker for hopeless causes? (Actually he's a little bit of all of the above. Plus he never sleeps. Ever. ) One thing's for sure: Tanner's a true romantic, which is why he can't refuse a distraught mother who begs him to rescue her lost, pure-as-driven-snow daughter. Phaedra Harrow (nee Deborah Horowitz) once shared Tanner's apartment but not his bed. And now the virginal beauty's been abducted by white slavers in the Afghan wilderness. Finding Phaedra will be difficult enough. Bringing her back alive and unmolested may be impossible. And first Tanner will have to swim the English Channel, survive trigger-happy Russian terrorists . . . and maybe pull off a timely assassination or two.

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. This text refers to the Bibliobazaar edition.

INTO THE INCANDESCENT FOLDS OF THE FLAPPING FIRE-GOD Their sacrifice was imminent! The crew of the spaceship Nomad had traveled to Titan, a moon of Jupiter. They were called the Vagabonds of Space. Carr Parker, his beautiful new wife Ora, her scientist father Detis -- and Car's best friend, the Martian called Mado. They had come to Titan to explore -- but sinister and strange vibrations from the rings of Saturn had turned its civilized peoples into utter savages. And the savages captured the Vagabonds of Space, and meant to kill him along with Nazu, a Titan who'd somehow remained sane. Their only hope? A dead man! EXCITING INTERPLANETARY SPACE ADVENTURE FROM THE GOLDEN AGE OF SCIENCE FICTION! --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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A new Christian gives a police statement regarding his friend's suicide.Allen Tiernon is a new Christian and wanted to tell his atheist friend about his new faith. Unfortunately, the discussion went tragically wrong and Allen finds himself having to discuss his ultimate failure in a statement to the police. This is a short story.

New York Times-bestselling author Garwood weaves magnificent stories of passion, adventure, and intrigue. Now she raises the heat and spices up the action with a sexy, smart, daring new heroine and a smoldering thriller.

YA M/M Romance (Previously published as two short stories, Sunshine and Buttercups, and Not Letting Go)When Josh finds out his dad has cancer, he needs someone to hold his world together. The only person who can do that is his boyfriend, Bradley. But can their relationship survive the emotional fallout when Josh's dad dies?YA M/M Romance (Previously published as two short stories, Sunshine and Buttercups, and Not Letting Go)Part One - Sunshine and Buttercups (5k words)Josh Roberts knows something's wrong. His parents are making frequent trips to the hospital, he's excluded from their conversations, and worst of all, there's a leaflet in the kitchen all about cancer treatments. He's scared he's going to lose his dad.The only thing holding Josh's world together is his relationship with his best friend, Bradley. But if Bradley finds out about Josh's true feelings for him, will that friendship be threatened, too?Part Two - Not Letting Go (7k words)When someone dies, how are you supposed to behave? Josh Roberts has no idea. Losing his dad has left him deeply confused. He loved his dad, so why isn't he crying? All Josh can think about is spending time with his boyfriend, Bradley. He can't wait to go to uni, when he and Bradley will finally get to be alone.Bradley wants nothing more than to give love and support to his grieving boyfriend. But Josh's expectations of a life together next year are putting a lot of pressure on him. He's not going to get good enough grades for uni, especially if whenever they are in Josh's room they don't get round to any real studying. Why can't Josh understand that?

Kyrin is forced by Daemionis to stay in Paragoy Dimension, but only after he sends her on a dangerous mission to retrieve the coveted seal of Carathis. While away, she befriends a creature that threatens to disrupt the peaceful life in the Valharan Castle.Book 2 in the Dimensions Saga.Kyrin is forced by Daemionis to stay in Paragoy Dimension, but only after he sends her on a dangerous mission to retrieve the coveted seal of Carathis. While away, she befriends a creature that threatens to disrupt the peaceful life in the Valharan Castle.Finn realizes that the Knights of Valhara have a grudge against the known evil, and he sets out to make sure Kyrin is treated as a noble. He starts to realize it’s going to be a harder task than he first though, but feels indebted to her.Alric struggles to understand why Kyrin stays with Daemionis. He and Sithias try to find a way to keep her in Paragoy, when they become afraid that she’s about to shift out permanently. More nobles bring more conflict, and Alric’s afraid it may be more than Kyrin can handle.

A two-week vacation with the promise of relaxation lures Grace to Wolf Lake, a posh watering hole high in the mountains. Strange tales, even stranger animal deaths, and a handsome cabin neighbor lead her to believe that something is amiss around the placid waters of Wolf Lake.The moon is a harsh mistress for those with the curse, as Grace Stevens is about to find out.A two-week vacation with the promise of relaxation lures Grace to Wolf Lake, a posh watering hole high in the mountains. Strange tales, even stranger animal deaths, and a handsome cabin neighbor lead her to believe that something is amiss around the placid waters of Wolf Lake.

Nancy tries to find out who is trying to sabotage the International High School Track and Field Games before it is too late.

This is the story of two prodigal sons. Henry returns from a self-imposed exile in America to an unforeseen inheritance of wealth and land in England and to his mother. His friend Cato is struggling with two passions, one for a God who may or may not exist, the other for a petty criminal who may or may not be capable of salvation. Cato's father and sister Colette wait anxiously to welcome Cato back to sanity.

Arthur Meadows fell into a downward spiral and lost everything after the voices and visions started.His average day consisted of bumming money on the street, and trying to forget his tattered life.But not every person he meets is all that they seem, and a seemingly chance encounter leads to a very different end to the day.This is a Spin-off story from my Novelette 'The Crazies'The Life and Times of Dread takes place in the world of the year 2114 where the United States has now been in a carefully negotiated Nuclear world war for over 50 years. The bursting populations of the Earth are herded into giant mega-cities, which sometimes become targets of nuclear destruction once they are nice and full. Dread lives in the Northern Bronx of New York on the ground level, and is a member of the Bronx gang called The Beatles. After the Beatles leader Clark Kent takes a liking to Christopher Robin Dread, (probably because his middle name is Robin,) Dread finds himself now the sidekick of a guy who wears a super hero outfit and thinks he's Batman. Dread is trained to swing around the infrastructure of the New York Mega-city and assists Batman with his obsession of fighting crime. The team of crime fighters soon find themselves over their heads when they uncover a plot by Washington DC to plant bombs in the New York Mega-City. Washington DC intends to blow New York up and blame the Asian Block Nations of an unauthorized nuclear strike in clear violation of the rules of nuclear war. This graphic novel by Davol White was written back in the early 1990’s, years before bombs went off in New York and were blamed on Asian nations.

CAN HE PROVE SHE’S INNOCENT?Sydney Raferty Lord claims her husband died on their wedding day. No body. No proof that she ever married him. When his body is found in the woods, Sydney claims this is not the Kenneth Lord she married! Kenneth’s friend Benno DeMartino, undeniably attracted to the supposed widow, aims to find the murderer and help prove Sydney innocent.In the Victorian tradition, SteampunX is a serial novel released monthly.It’s 1875 on the Columbian calendar. Anowarakowa, the New World, has been at peace for a century. By treaty and vigilance the land has been divided among the English Colonies in the Northeast, New France in the South, the Aztecs in the West, and the League of Ten Hundred Nations in the Midwest.The shadow of slavery hangs over New France. The man called Thunder arrives to avert a war he fears may erupt. Little does he know the war began long ago in the hearts of the noirs that work the land. Trapped between the justice of the oppressed and the whims of a dangerous ally, Thunder and his teenage companions struggle to do what's right for themselves and for the Nations.

Sam is a quiet and lonely boy who had the misfortune to be born a few years before World War II. Finding shelter from German bomber planes is almost a daily part of his life now but he wonders when his luck will run out...The world's #1 (if not only) Big-Data Detective returns in yet another extremely unlikely (if not impossible) adventure. This time things that should never move are apparently moving, and hidden dangers are lurking just beneath the surface. Part Freakonomics, part Sherlock Holmes, part Doctor Who, part Errol Flynn, but 100% completely absurd, with a complicated reverse-polyamorous situation thrown into the mix, The Outlier series continues with "The Outlier #2, Migrants" another Dillon Sharif Tall Tale.

Ultraviolet is genre-bending paranormal YA about a 17-year-old girl named Alison whois a synesthete (she hears color, sees sound, etc), a tetrachromat (she can see into the ultraviolet part of the spectrum), and possibly a murderer. Her only hope is a fraud, a liar, and maybe an alien. Or so she says.