Duel at Strolling Ponds is the second installment in The Tales of Katsume Shogoro, masterless samurai, and last surviving member of his family. Shogoro’s quest is to restore his clan’s lost honor, and undo the shame that burdens his soul.Duel at Strolling Ponds is the second installment in The Tales of Katsume Shogoro, masterless samurai, and last surviving member of his family. Shogoro’s quest is to restore his clan’s lost honor, and undo the shame that burdens his soul.Picking up where A Ronin’s Honor left off, Shogoro receives a reply from his nemesis, Matsuo Kaname, regarding his challenge to a warrior’s duel. A date and time is set for the fateful meeting. The location is the Strolling Ponds Garden.Elsewhere, an army of unknown size and intent marches towards Shinano Province.

Some poems I had sitting on my desk. I decided to put them out there for you to see.How far would you go to achieve happiness? What if it meant letting go of everything you'd once believed in? Piper Allen is looking to spread her wings and unfortunately, her podunk hometown in Missouri is stunting her spiritual growth. Moving to Dallas to finish up college with her two friends, Stephanie and Nicole, she hopes to challenge herself to reach new heights. Her bohemian ways allow her to float through relationships frequently and with ease; when there are no strings attached, there is no chance of being hurt. Texas rancher, Moye McKenzie, is a no nonsense, good ol' boy, who doesn't play games where matters of the heart are concerned. When this straight-shooter walks into Piper's life, sparks fly and tempers flare. Wanting to give her the life she deserves, Moye has to show her that getting hurt can happen whether you're holding onto the reins or not. If she could just let go, Piper might be surprised to find she's someone's dream girl.

A young Pentagon Intelligence Analyst discovers a terror plot against the United States. Working with agencies to stop it, she becomes attracted to a young Army officer. Together, they try to stop the attack.A young Army officer becomes severely depressed and quits the military after experiencing a horrible event as a counter terrorist operator and can’t rationalize ever leading soldiers in action again. He seeks obscurity as a civilian, taking menial jobs with no plans for his future. Then, a nuclear terror threat in the United States forces him back into service, supporting law enforcement as an advisor about an old adversary. He meets an attractive young intelligence analyst assisting the FBI. The emergency that brings them together also creates a barrier to any personal relationship. When the danger escalates further, they may never have any chance to be together.

Transmissions tells the stories of nine interconnected people all faced with having to come to terms with the consequences of their actions.'Transmissions' tells the stories of nine interconnected people all faced with having to come to terms with the consequences of their actions.Wrong choices have been made, futures altered, but all nine seek one thing: Love.These are the sorrowful tales of love in a world that is jaded and bitter.Broken souls on ball of dirt spinning alone in the darkness.It is always darker on the Otherside.

Seven-year-old Jake has to deal with his fragmenting family after his older sister disappears.Spending the Holy Communion money is a memorable part of the Communion experience. Can you remember how you spent yours? Kathleen's Mum and Dad are taking Kathleen for a special day in town to pick up the items she has decided to buy. But, as you may know, Kathleen has two annoying little brothers. Kathleen's aunties have been left in charge of her little brothers, Tommy and Teddy, while she goes into town to spend her Holy Communion money. Unfortunately Auntie Dee and Auntie Di do not know much about children. When Tommy and Teddy are quiet the aunties do not realise that silence means trouble.

Tuck and Avers accept a request to take a message to a far away nation. On the way they encounter a steampunk filled world that sends them in another direction.The 2nd installment of the Miserable Planet. Avers recovers from her scuffle with Tuck just in time to start a new adventure into a new world. An encounter with a cooky scientist's laboratory lead to a hodgepodge escape with clanky flying machines. Who is this scientist and why are they are the run? You'll have to look inside. The land of sci fi turns into a land of steampunk. Tuck and Avers accept a request to take a message to a far away nation. On the way they encounter a steampunk filled world that sends them in another direction.

The Castle Keeper vignettes provide a glimpse into the time between Shadows in the Stone and Scattered Stones. You’ll have already met many of the characters, but some you will meet in Scattered Stones.These vignettes are not complete stories, only 300 words of a moment. Volume 01 contains the first twelve in a series of vignettes to be written.Almost five years has passed since Isla of Maura was kidnapped and Bronwyn Darrow left Maskil in search of her. In many ways, not much has happened; the inhabitants of the Land of Ath-o’Lea have continued their daily routine. But if you look deeper into the individual lives you’ll see much has changed in little ways.The Castle Keeper vignettes provide a glimpse into the time between Shadows in the Stone and Scattered Stones. You’ll have already met many of the characters, but some you will meet in Scattered Stones.These vignettes are not complete stories, only 300 words of a moment. Volume 01 contains the first twelve in a series of vignettes to be written.

These two stories offer a free introduction to “The Adventures of Roland McCray”, a collection of stories that see every moment as its own adventure, rather than adventure stories in the action-packed thriller sense. In "Butterflies", Roland discovers that not everything as it seems, and in "Poke it with a Stick", Roland learns to cherish what he has even when it isn’t what he wantedThese two stories were previously published as part of “The Adventures of Roland McCray”, a collection of stories that see every moment as its own adventure, rather than adventure stories in the non-stop, action-packed thriller sense. They follow the life of Roland McCray from age eight to eighteen. These stories draw you into the unique and often innocent worldview as seen through the eyes of Roland McCray as his attempts to understand the culture and religion he encounters growing up in the south. Roland tries to see meaning in the world around him and to apply his values of honesty and thoughtful caring to his experiences.Although Roland learns new things in every story, taken as a collection, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.Roland McCray's story is one of life and religion growing up in the south. Young Roland hears the Parable of the sower in church and that those who are willing to listen will know the truth, that the desire for worldly riches are the thorns that choke our lives. He seeks a path through those brambles and thorns, a tunnel though the briar patch of life. This tale of one young boy's search for a moral life is told with rich visual detail, in a classic Americana style reminiscent of Mark Twain. It is suitable for readers aged 10 and up, and each story has a moral lesson for children plus the finer nuances of Roland's actions and observations can be appreciated by anyone older. Roland McCray's story is, in some small way, everyone's story. More "The Adventures of Roland McCray" books are available at your favorite eBook retailers including print and audiobook editions and can also be ordered through some offline book stores and libraries. In "Butterflies", Roland discovers that not everything is as it seems and he begins appreciate the freedoms he has and to empathize with those who don't have the things he'd assumed everyone else had as well. "I turned back to Laurel. ”Hey, I got it!" I told her. "You can show it to your mom if you want to but you can't let it go; I'm keeping this one." Laurel was on her knees in the grass, facing the other way. She got to her feet and began brushing dirt and grass from her clothes. "Thought you could fly there for a minute, didn't you?" I asked her. She turned around, cocked her head to the side and grimaced like she sometimes did. I felt the jar slip from my fingers and thump onto the ground, roll to a stop against a grass clump, but I forgot about the swallowtail. I couldn't look at the jar or what I'd trapped inside." In "Poke it with a Stick", Roland learns to accept what he has, and that it is valuable even if not exactly what he wanted. "Butch saw it first; because he was taller than the rest of us, he could see farther through the weeds that grew between the path and the road on the other side. He was the biggest kid in our group of four and we didn't know his real name. Maybe that was his name. But, it didn't matter anyway, because he always took up for the rest of us. And Butch wasn't afraid of anything. All I could see was a patch of brown and white. It looked like an old blanket or something. Butch stomped a path through the weeds and briars to get a closer look and Johnny followed him."It stinks," I said and stayed back on the path. Whatever was over there really smelled horrible. "Poke it with a stick," Johnny said."

The complete erotic romance series Moon Lovers (BBW Werewolf Romance) available here in one single package.  Tasha Taylor finds her dream boy is closer to a fantasy nightmare when gang members target her for their wicked intentions. **All titles are available separately.** Moon Lovers #1: Tasha Taylor was an average woman with an above-average waistline, but one night all that (except the waistline) changes when she's attacked in the laundry room.  Her savior is a large shadow with glowing golden eyes, and her new enemies are a group of hanky-wearing thugs who want to go through her to get at her hero.  Now she has to juggle assassination attempts, crooked cops, the attentions of her reclusive apartment manager, Greg Garrison, and a growing desire for cut meats. Can she keep herself alive long enough to find out who saved her?  What does the gang really want with her?  Will she ever have time to use that Thigh Master? Moon Lovers #2: Tasha climbs out of her ordeal with the gang only to dive back into the deep end of trouble.  She's targeted by the gang and her greatest ally is her friendly, if a little bumbling, apartment manager, Greg.  Unfortunately, Greg has theories about the police that don't make her feel warm and cozy, and after another encounter with the gang she suspects he's right. How will Tasha get herself out of this mess?  Will the gang drag her away into the dark streets, never to be seen again?  Or will her hero come to her rescue in a cute pair of tight leather pants? Moon Lovers #3: Another night, another hairy situation for Tasha as the plot throws a curve ball of furry proportions.  She has a more deadly run-in with the gang and comes out only by the skin of her teeth, or rather, someone else's long, pointy teeth.  Her hero has returned, larger than life and twice as unbelievable.  She learns his secret and has to decide who to trust. Can her humor keep her sanity, or will her jokes run out just when she needs a good laugh? Moon Lovers #4: Tasha finally comes face to face with the leader of the gang that's been harassing her, and all she wants to do is an about-face back to her apartment.  Fortunately, her hero comes to her rescue and carries her off to safety, but not without some collateral damage for both the bad guys and themselves.  Now she's stuck with her hairy hero who has more than sleep in mind for them both. Will Tasha be able to fend off his advances?  Are they finally finished with the hanky gang?  Where in the world are they? Moon Lovers #5: Though the city is far behind them, Tasha and her lover still have trouble nipping at their heals.  The gang isn't about to let them get away without a fight, and the predators find themselves the prey as they take a beat up truck down the country roads in search of safety.  Their plans are cut short when they're confronted by one of their old enemies who has more than just old stories to swap when bullets fly. Can the pair of lovers make it out of the gunfire unscathed?  Will the gang ever leave them alone?  Will their teeth rattle apart before the clanky truck gets them out of trouble? Moon Lovers #6: Tasha and her furry lover are sick and tired of being rundown and run over by their hanky-wearing foes, so they turn the tables and take everyone for a spin in the final installment of the Moon Lovers serial.  Mysteries arise when they confront Servino, and they learn a new werewolf is in town.

Kristin Burns has lived her life by the philosophy "Don't think, just shoot"--pictures, that is. Struggling to make ends meet, she works full-time as the nanny for the fabulously wealthy Turnbull family, looking after their two wonderful children and waiting for her glamorous life as a New York photographer to begin. When her photographs are considered by an elite Manhattan art gallery, it seems she might finally get the chance that will start her career. But Kristin has a major distraction: forbidden love. The man of her dreams is almost hers for keeps. Breathless with an inexhaustible passion and the excitement of being within reach of her goals, Kristen ignores all signs of catastrophe brewing. Fear exists for a reason. And Kristin can only dismiss the warnings for so long. Searching desperately for the truth through the lens of her camera, she can only hope that it's not too late. This novel of psychological suspense is a stunning achievement for thriller master James Patterson, "one of the bestselling writers in history" (New York Sun).

The next high-octane thriller in the FBI series featuring Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock from # 1 New York Times–bestselling author Catherine Coulter. When Special Agent Lacey Sherlock foils a terrorist attack at JFK airport, she thinks her job is done and turns the reins over to the New York FBI. But stopping the grenade-carrying crazy was only the beginning. Another plot unfolds nearly simultaneously with a bomb at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The terrorist at JFK refuses to speak to anyone but Sherlock. She heads back with counterterrorist Special Agent Cal McLain to try to get him to talk.  Meanwhile, Savich—with the help of Agent Griffin Hammersmith—has his hands full trying to track an elusive murderer who looks like a Hollywood Dracula. When Dracula’s attempts to kill Savich collide with Sherlock’s terrorist case, very strange things happen. Who is really behind the bombing attack at St. Patrick’s? How does Savich’s mysterious killer fit into Sherlock’s terrorism investigation? Savich and Sherlock race against the clock, as more lives are in danger with every passing minute.

Featuring his world-famous masterpiece, "Death in Venice," this new collection of Nobel laureate Thomas Mann's stories and novellas reveals his artistic evolution. In this new, widely acclaimed translation that restores the controversial passages that were cut out of the original English version, "Death in Venice" tells about a ruinous quest for love and beauty amid degenerating splendor. Gustav von Aschenbach, a successful but lonely author, travels to the Queen of the Adriatic in search of an elusive spiritual fulfillment that turns into his erotic doom. Spellbound by a beautiful Polish boy, he finds himself fettered to this hypnotic city of sun-drenched sensuality and eerie physical decay. Also included in this volume are eleven other stories by Mann: "Tonio Kroger," "Gladius Dei," "The Blood of the Walsungs," "The Will for Happiness," "Little Herr Friedmann," "Tobias Mindernickel," "Little Lizzy," "Tristan," "The Starvelings," "The Wunderkind," and "Harsh Hour." All of the stories collected here display Mann's inimitable use of irony, his subtle characterizations, and superb, complex plots.

Charged with sensuality and passion, Pablo Neruda's love poems are the most celebrated of the Nobel Prize winner's oeuvre, captivating readers with earthbound images and reveling in a fiery re-imagining of the world. Mostly written on the island paradise of Capri (the idyllic setting of the Oscar-winning movie Il Postino), Love Poems embraces the seascapes surrounding the poet and his love Matilde Urrutia, their waves and shores saturated with a new, yearning eroticism. *And when you appear all the rivers sound in my body, bells shake the sky, and a hymn fills the world.* © 1973 by Neruda & Walsh

Jacqueline Carey is back with an amazing adventure not seen since her New York Times bestselling Kushiel’s Legacy series. Lush and sensual, Starless introduces us to an epic world where exiled gods live among us, and a hero whose journey will resonate long after the last page is turned. Let your mind be like the eye of the hawk…Destined from birth to serve as protector of the princess Zariya, Khai is trained in the arts of killing and stealth by a warrior sect in the deep desert; yet there is one profound truth that has been withheld from him. In the court of the Sun-Blessed, Khai must learn to navigate deadly intrigue and his own conflicted identity…but in the far reaches of the western seas, the dark god Miasmus is rising, intent on nothing less than wholesale destruction. If Khai is to keep his soul’s twin Zariya alive, their only hope lies with an unlikely crew of prophecy-seekers on a journey that will take them farther beneath the starless skies than anyone can imagine.

The missing dead call to Violet. They want to be found. Violet can sense the echoes of those who've been murdered and the matching imprint that clings to their killers. Only those closest to her know what she is capable of, but when she discovers the body of a young boy she also draws the attention of the FBI, threatening her entire way of life. As Violet works to keep her morbid ability a secret, she unwittingly becomes the object of a dangerous obsession. Normally, she'd turn to her best friend, Jay, except now that they are officially a couple, the rules of their relationship seem to have changed. And with Jay spending more and more time with his new friend Mike, Violet is left with too much time on her hands as she wonders where things went wrong. But when she fills the void by digging into Mike's tragic family history, she stumbles upon a dark truth that could put everyone in danger.

Generally recognized as one of Knut Hamsun's greatest works, Victoria was originally published in 1898. The novel is a seemingly simple, touching idyll of young love. But its simplicity is deceptive, for the story is imbued with a passionate lyricism and that brooding melancholy that pervades much of Hamsun's writing. The star-crossed young lovers are Johannes, the miller's son, and Victoria, the daughter of the lord of the manor. Their moment of ecstasy is as brief and transitory as their desire, and they prove perversely cruel to each other. Born in 1859 in Norway, Knut Hamsun was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1920.

Flat-Out Love is a warm and witty novel of family love and dysfunction, deep heartache and raw vulnerability, with a bit of mystery and one whopping, knock-you-to-your-knees romance. It's not what you know - or when you see - that matters. It's about a journey. Something is seriously off in the Watkins home. And Julie Seagle, college freshman, small-town Ohio transplant, and the newest resident of this Boston house, is determined to get to the bottom of it. When Julie's off-campus housing falls through, her mother's old college roommate, Erin Watkins, invites her to move in. The parents, Erin and Roger, are welcoming, but emotionally distant and academically driven to eccentric extremes. The middle child, Matt, is an MIT tech geek with a sweet side ... and the social skills of a spool of USB cable. The youngest, Celeste, is a frighteningly bright but freakishly fastidious 13-year-old who hauls around a life-sized cardboard cutout of her oldest brother almost everywhere she goes. And there's that oldest brother, Finn: funny, gorgeous, smart, sensitive, almost emotionally available. Geographically? Definitely unavailable. That's because Finn is traveling the world and surfacing only for random Facebook chats, e-mails, and status updates. Before long, through late-night exchanges of disembodied text, he begins to stir something tender and silly and maybe even a little bit sexy in Julie's suddenly lonesome soul. To Julie, the emotionally scrambled members of the Watkins family add up to something that ... well ... doesn't quite add up. Not until she forces a buried secret to the surface, eliciting a dramatic confrontation that threatens to tear the fragile Watkins family apart, does she get her answer. Flat-Out Love comes complete with emails, Facebook status updates, and instant messages.

"Cory Doctorow’s novella ‘Chicken Little’ [..] does an excellent job of updating and commenting on some of the themes that informed Pohl & Kornbluth’s classic novel 'The Space Merchants'. Doctorow’s updated high-tech take on Pohl’s take on Jonathan Swift’s 'struldbrugs,' creatures who have immortality but not eternal youth, continuing to age through their extended lives, is particularly ingenious. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this one show up on an award ballot next year." Gardner Dozois, Locus Magazine A story with a product designer, jetpacks and an immortal quadrillionaire living in a vat. "Chicken Little" also appears in the collection "With a Little Help". ABOUT THE AUTHOR Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist, journalist and blogger -- the co-editor of Boing Boing and the author of Tor Teens/HarperCollins UK novels like "For The Win" and the bestselling "Little Brother". He is the former European director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and co-founded the UK Open Rights Group. Born in Toronto, Canada, he now lives in London. Franco Brambilla is an award-winning Italian illustrator devoted to sci-fi.

Piers Anthony delivers another tale set in the bestselling world of Xanth, filled with magic, surprises, adventure, and a few puns. Here s what the author has to say about his new book: "Five Portraits"is a kind of sequel to"Board Stiff"in that it picks up where the other leaves off, with the same characters. Apart from that, it s one of my favorites within the series. There s something about Astrid Basilisk that appeals to me: a very pretty girl whose very glance is deadly, yet she s a nice person whose selfless effort to save five difficult children from future Xanth is thoroughly worthy. I also like the theme of the power of unlikely friendship. Not just Xanth, but Mundania, too, would be better if there were more such friendships. "

Almost a year after the death of his wife, former high-tech executive Ian finds a letter that will change his life. It contains Kate's final wish-a plea for him to take their ten-year-old daughter, Mattie, on a trip across Asia, through the countries they had always planned to visit. Eager to honor the woman they loved, Ian and Mattie embark on an epic journey, leaving notes to Kate in "wishing trees" along the way, and encountering miracles large and small. And as they begin to find their way back to each other, they discover that healing is possible and love endures-lessons that Kate hoped to show them all along...

Can you believe it? Everyone in the eighth grade of my school has to write an autobiography. So I've been looking through photo albums and trying to remember the past—the good and the bad. Like when I was five and got to be in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. And when I was eight and Laine and I got in BIG trouble. I've been writing about my life before diabetes, before the divorce, and even before Stoneybrook and the BSC. In fact, everything right up until this minute. So this is my life—welcome to it!