Rayne has been fighting for her life on a distant planet with no hope of rescue. When help finally arrives, it becomes a mixed blessing, because something is not right in her head. Psychological trauma, rage, and bitterness are the least of her worries as she fights for control over her mind and for her freedom from the forces that seek to contain her.Rayne has been fighting for her life for three years against an alien enemy, on a distant planet, with no hope of rescue. When help finally arrives, it becomes a mixed blessing, because something is not right in her head. Psychological trauma, rage, and bitterness are the least of her worries as she fights for control over her mind. If only that were her only problem. The military suspects she's hiding something, they want it for themselves, and they're willing to do anything to get it. After losing everything, they're seeking to take the last thing Rayne has...her freedom.

Calise Thomas looks through a crowded room. What she isn't expecting to find is Chris. He offers to take her home, but she doesn't leave his side so easily. She insists on joining him and his elite team at their special training grounds in the deep woods of Ohio. Without hesitation, she goes along with Chris to the farthest end of the state. Right away, she meets his mysterious posse.Calise Thomas looks through a crowded room. What she isn't expecting to find is Chris.He offers to take her home, but she doesn't leave his side so easily. She insists on joining him and his elite team at their special training grounds in the deep woods of Ohio. Without hesitation, she goes along with Chris to the farthest end of the state. Right away, she meets his mysterious posse. They start mocking her attendance and tease her for being new. But she trains with them anyway and takes on her role as a Collector.Meanwhile, a mark starts forming on her shoulder, one that matches the rest of her teammates. She's initiated. A magic cloud consumes her for the first time, and she discovers people (like herself) are living in a secluded structure underground, as well as collaborating with 'the outsiders'. The Collectors are one aspect of an entire new world she never knew existed.

Miskatonic University librarian Charles Milburn was Herbert West's assistant and closest friend. He has already revealed much about their association in The Friendship of Mortals. But not everything. This is the part he left out. (Herbert West Series supplement 2)Hobos became the face of the Great Depression for the people who lived on small family farms in the rural areas of our country. These farms were mostly self-sufficient. The farmers practiced living locally long before it became the fad it is becoming today with things like the hundred mile challenge. They raised their own animals, cows, chickens, pigs; grew their own fruits and vegetables; and heated their homes with woods cut from their own woodlots. For many of them, helping others was the natural thing to do when less fortunate strangers came knocking of their door.These short stories share the events that happened to one family in central Nova Scotia told through the eyes of writer's mother as she remembered and related them forty years later. The stories are presented as fiction, but each contains a kernel of truth as its central theme. These are stories I heard so often, that indeed the characters seem like Hobos I Have Known.

A simple short story written about a young man and his digital world. Created for an assignment for university.Evy is out with her horses, Rusty and Twilight, when she comes across a dead moose. Things only get worse when she discovers a very young, now orphaned calf standing over his mother’s body. She is determined to save the calf, but before she can, Twilight, her mustang filly, disappears. Evy sets out to rescue her, only to stumble upon even worse danger: illegal hunters who will do anything to keep their poaching a secret. Will Evy be one of their victims?

A collection of short fiction, including pieces of flash fiction.Andrew and Steven were two troubled teenagers. Outcasts from their family, their classmates, and most of the support groups that are available for kids their age; they endured a very lonely existence. Their world changed when each was sentenced to a boy's reformatory by juvenile courts in different areas of the state. After a short stay at the reform school they were transferred to a diagnostic center where they enjoyed a certain amount of freedom.They attended school there and participated in the periodic social events that were designed help the kids develop interpersonal relationship skills. The Center could not provide the therapy that the boys provided each other.The day Andrew and Steven met, their worlds became one. They had the opportunity to shine and they did, together they were like the brightest star in the sky. But would their star burn out and go dark, or would it become a supernova?

Celebrities worldwide unite in the greatest mission in history of mankindCoral and her sister thought they were playing a game, but you never know what a hurricane will stir up.Coral and Pearl’s vacation is not the same this summer. Their father isn’t with them, and Hurricane Sandy has left the little shore town battered and worn. Coral invents the mermaid game as a distraction until the sisters meet a local boy who knows all about the ocean. It turns out that not even he is prepared for the strange wonders a hurricane can bring up from the deep.

Hal was insufferable, always bragging about himself. Everything was a matter of logic, he claimed and I was not able to refute this. There was a robbery at a motel where we were staying and he and I were suspects. But Hal knew who had stolen the money, he said. It was the mistress! Nonsense, I claimed, no proof. Oh, how I wished he could be proved wrong one time! Had that one time come?Hal was insufferable, always bragging about himself. Everything was a matter of logic, he claimed and I was not able to refute this. There was a robbery at a motel where we were staying and he and I were suspects. But Hal knew who had stolen the money, he said. It was the mistress! Nonsense, I claimed. No evidence. No proof. Oh, how I wished he could be proved wrong one time! Had that one time come?

Terrell Gibbs, a private practice doctor and LGBT activist uses a magical oni mask and scarlet tie to battle injustice in Cleveland, Ohio. Join in on the ground floor as Terrell deals with prejudice against his fellow members of the LGBT community, try and be a positive role model for LGBT youth, and battle corrupt police officers, politicians, and mystical forces. A new pulp hero for the ages!Terrell Gibbs, a private practice doctor and LGBT activist uses a magical oni mask and scarlet tie to battle injustice in Cleveland, Ohio. Join in on the ground floor as Terrell deals with prejudice against his fellow members of the LGBT community, try and be a positive role model for LGBT youth, and battle corrupt police officers, politicians, and mystical forces. A new pulp hero for the ages. The Scarlet Tie by Michael Edwards!

Would you kill an innocent person if it meant saving your life? Find out what Jackson does in this short story inspired by actual events.Jackson has made a series of wrong choices throughout his life, leading him to a back alley in a Boston neighborhood where nobody cares if a kid is murdered. Now, with no one to turn to for help and the life of a stranger in his hands, he must make one more choice. Will Jackson do the right thing for once?A short story inspired by actual events.

The Evonso virus spreads faster eventually becoming air-borne. Taiwo and what remains of the Nigerian military struggle to find a workable vaccine to stop the scourge while another world ending threat looms in the developed worldThe third and final chapter of the highly entertaining zombie apocalypse virus series. In this instalment, the world titters on the brink of destruction. Taiwo and scattered members of what remains of the Nigerian military struggle to find a solution to the Evonso virus problem. The race for the vaccine takes them from Ghana, Cairo, South Africa and Egypt with another world ending threat looming in the Asian Pacific

Big and sweeping, spanning from the refined palaces of Osfrid to the gold dust and untamed forests of Adoria, The Glittering Court tells the story of Adelaide, an Osfridian countess who poses as her servant to escape an arranged marriage and start a new life in Adoria, the New World. But to do that, she must join the Glittering Court. Both a school and a business venture, the Glittering Court is designed to transform impoverished girls into upper-class ladies who appear destined for powerful and wealthy marriages in the New World. Adelaide naturally excels in her training, and even makes a few friends: the fiery former laundress Tamsin and the beautiful Sirminican refugee Mira. She manages to keep her true identity hidden from all but one: the intriguing Cedric Thorn, son of the wealthy proprietor of the Glittering Court. When Adelaide discovers that Cedric is hiding a dangerous secret of his own, together they hatch a scheme to make the best of Adelaide’s deception. Complications soon arise—first as they cross the treacherous seas from Osfrid to Adoria, and then when Adelaide catches the attention of a powerful governor. But no complication will prove quite as daunting as the potent attraction simmering between Adelaide and Cedric. An attraction that, if acted on, would scandalize the Glittering Court and make them both outcasts in wild, vastly uncharted lands…

Yielding to a compulsion he can’t explain, Ted Barton interrupts his vacation in order to visit the town of his birth, Millgate, Virginia. But upon entering the sleepy, isolated little hamlet, Ted is distraught to find that the place bears no resemblance to the one he left behind—and never did. He also discovers that in this Millgate Ted Barton died of scarlet fever when he was nine years old. Perhaps even more troubling is the fact that it is literally impossible to escape. Unable to leave, Ted struggles to find the reason for such disturbing incongruities, but before long, he finds himself in the midst of a struggle between good and evil that stretches far beyond the confines of the valley. 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.

The sixteenth full length Redwall novel sheds light on the Abbey's ancient origins in a thrilling adventure. Loamhedge, the deserted Abbey, has been forgotten for countless seasons. What secrets do it's ruins hold? When it becomes clear that wheelchair-bound Martha might be cured by a formula buried there, two old warriors are inspired by the spirit of Martin the Warrior himself to go on a quest for the ancient Abbey and three young rebels are determined to go with them. Meanwhile. the giant badger Lonna Bowstripe thirsts for vengeance as he relentlessly pursues Raga Bl and his murdering crew of Searats...who are on their way to attack Redwall itself@ The valiant Abbeybeasts must defend their home, but how can they, when their boldest warriors are away on their quest? Will Redwall fall to vermin invaders at last? A rare glimpse into Redwall's history makes this volume a memorable additional to Jacques' epic. Fans will not be disappointed, and new readers will be eager to jump on board.

High adventure from a master storyteller about one boy’s attempt to fend for himself among cruel orphan masters, corrupt magistrates, and conniving thieves. In the seaside town of Melcombe Regis, England, 1724, Oliver Cromwell Pitts wakes to find his father missing and his house flooded by a recent storm. He’s alone in his ruined home with no money and no food. Oliver’s father has left behind a barely legible waterlogged note: he’s gone to London, where Oliver’s sister, Charity, is in trouble. Exploring damage to the town in the storm’s aftermath, Oliver discovers a shipwreck on the beach. Removing anything from a wrecked ship is a hanging offense, but Oliver finds money that could save him, and he can’t resist the temptation to take it. When his crime is discovered, Oliver flees, following the trail of his father and sister. The journey is full of thieves, adventurers, and treachery--and London might be the most dangerous place of all. In the tradition of his Newbery Honor book The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Avi mixes high adventure and short, page-turning chapters with a vivid historical setting featuring a cast of highwaymen, pickpockets, and villainous criminal masterminds. Praise for Catch You Later, Traitor: “As a mystery, historical fiction, and love letter to 1950s Brooklyn, this novel succeeds on every level.” —School Library Journal, starred review “Suspenseful . . . Authentic period details . . . add a colorful backdrop to Pete’s quest as he navigates the murky gray area between truth and fiction. An excellent introduction to the frenzy of the McCarthy era.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “An involving, twisty mystery, grounded by the palpable emotional threat of Pete’s father being taken away. An accomplished historical mystery by one of kid lit’s most reliable craftspeople.” —*Booklist*

With her acclaimed novels Harvest and Life Support, Tess Gerritsen has injected a powerful dose of adrenaline into the medical thriller. Now, in a new blockbuster, Gerritsen melds page-turning suspense with chilling realism as a small-town doctor races to unravel the roots of a violent outbreak -- before it destroys everything she loves. Lapped by he gentle waters of Locust Lake, the small resort town of Tranquility, Maine, seems like the perfect spot for Dr. Claire Elliot to shelter her adolescent son, Noah, from the distractions of the big city and the lingering memory of his father's death. But with the first snap of winter comes shocking news that puts her practise on the line: a teenage boy under her care has committed an appalling act of violence. And as Claire and all of Tranquility soon discover, it is just the start of a chain of lethal outbursts among the town's teenagers. As the rash of disturbing behavior grows, Claire uncovers a horrifying secret: this is not the first time it has happened. Twice a century,the children of Tranquility lash out with deadly violence. Claire suspects that there is a biological cause for the epidemic, and she fears that the placid Locust Lake may conceal an insidious danger. As she races to save Tranquility -- and her son -- from harm, Claire discovers an even greater threat: a shocking conspiracy to manipulate nature, and turn innocents to slaughter.

In a scarred and brutal future, The United Commonwealth teeters on the brink of all-out civil war. The rebel resistance plots against a government that rules with cruelty and cunning. Gifted student and Testing survivor Cia Vale vows to fight. But she can't do it alone. This is the chance to lead that Cia has trained for - but who will follow? Plunging through layers of danger and deception, Cia must risk the lives of those she loves - and gamble on the loyalty of her lethal classmates.

Hollywood marks the fifth episode in Gore Vidal's "Narratives of Empire," his celebrated series of six historical novels that form his extended biography of the United States.         It is 1917, and President Woodrow Wilson is about to lead the country into the Great War in Europe. In California, a new industry is born that will irreversibly transform America. Caroline Sanford, the alluring heroine of Empire, discovers the power of moving pictures to manipulate reality as she vaults to screen stardom under the name of Emma Traxler. Just as Caroline must balance her two lives--West Coast movie star and East Coast newspaper publisher and senator's mistress--so too must America balance its two power centers: Hollywood and Washington.                         Here is history as only Gore Vidal can re-create it: brimming with intrigue and scandal, peopled by the greats of the silver screen and American politics.         "Hollywood shimmers with the illusion of politics and the politics of illusion," wrote the Chicago Sun-Times. "A wonderfully literate and consistently impressive work of fiction that clearly belongs on a shelf with Vidal's best," said The New York Times Book Review.         With a new Introduction by the author. From the Hardcover edition.

Only beloved author Christina Dodd could bring you the explosive paranormal excitement of the Chosen Ones combined with Aleksandr Wilder's story ... and redemption... As a young man, Aleksandr Wilder abandoned his duty--and for that lapse, he was tortured, tormented ... and transformed. Now he prowls the tunnels beneath the city, fighting on the frontline against the forces of hell, never daring to dream that he can live as a man again. After seven years fighting the world's ultimate evil, Chosen One Charisma Fangorn has become a tough, strong warrior without illusions or joy...even her gift of hearing the earthsong has faded. Deaf to her own instincts, she never suspects that a monster lurks in the dark underneath the streets. When Aleksandr finds Charisma under attack, he rescues and cares for her, and hope stirs once more in his heart...and in the world. But in the secret recesses of his soul, he knows the truth. A woman so exceptional could never love a beast...could she?

Paul Bowles had already established himself as an important American composer when, at the age of 38, he published The Sheltering Sky and became widely recognized as one of the most powerful writers of the postwar period. By the time of his death in 1999 he had become a unique and legendary figure in modern literary culture. From his base in Tangier he produced novels, stories, and travel writings in which exquisite surfaces and violent undercurrents mingle. This Library of America volume, containing his first three novels, with its companion Collected Stories and Later Writings, is the first annotated edition of Bowles’s work, offering the full range of his literary achievement: the portrait of an outsider who was one of the essential American writers of the last half century. The Sheltering Sky (1949), which remains Bowles’s most celebrated work, describes the unraveling of a young, sophisticated, and adventuresome married couple as they make their way into the Sahara. In a prose style of meticulous calm and stunning visual precision, Bowles tracks Port and Kit Moresby on a journey through the desert that culminates in death and madness. In Let It Come Down (1952), Bowles plots the doomed trajectory of Nelson Dyar, a New York bank teller who comes to Tangier in search of a different life and ends up giving in to his darkest impulses. Rich in descriptions of the corruption and decadence of the International Zone in the last days before Moroccan independence, Bowles’s second novel is an alternately comic and horrific account of a descent into nihilism. The Spider’s House (1955), the longest and most complex of Bowles’s novels, is set against the end of French rule in Morocco. Its characters—ranging from a Moroccan boy gifted with spiritual healing power to an American writer who regrets the passing of traditional ways—are caught up in the clash between colonial and nationalist factions, and are forced to confront cultural gulfs widened by political violence. Bowles—who once told an interviewer, “I’ve always wanted to get as far as possible from the place where I was born”—charts the collisions between “civilized” exiles and unfamiliar societies that they can never really grasp. In fiction of slowly gathering menace, he achieves effects of horror and dislocation with an elegantly spare style and understated wit.

Rose Asher believes in ghosts. She should, since she has one for a best friend: Logan, her annoying, Netflix-addicted brother, who is forever stuck at fifteen. But Rose is growing up, and when an old friend moves back to Laguna Canyon and appears in her drama class, things get complicated. Jamie Aldridge is charming, confident, and a painful reminder of the life Rose has been missing out on since her brother's death. She watches as Jamie easily rejoins their former friends--a group of magnificently silly theater nerds--while avoiding her so intensely that it must be deliberate. Yet when the two of them unexpectedly cross paths, Rose learns that Jamie has a secret of his own, one that changes everything. Rose finds herself drawn back into her old life--and to Jamie. But she quickly starts to suspect that he isn't telling her the whole truth. All Rose knows is that it's becoming harder to choose between the boy who makes her feel alive and the brother she isn't ready to lose.

BLUE REMEMBERED EARTH is the first volume in a monumental trilogy tracing the Akinya family across more than ten thousand years of future history...out beyond the solar system, into interstellar space and the dawn of galactic society. One hundred and fifty years from now, in a world where Africa is the dominant technological and economic power, and where crime, war, disease and poverty have been banished to history, Geoffrey Akinya wants only one thing: to be left in peace, so that he can continue his studies into the elephants of the Amboseli basin. But Geoffrey's family, the vast Akinya business empire, has other plans. After the death of Eunice, Geoffrey's grandmother, erstwhile space explorer and entrepreneur, something awkward has come to light on the Moon, and Geoffrey is tasked - well, blackmailed, really - to go up there and make sure the family's name stays suitably unblemished. But little does Geoffrey realise - or anyone else in the family, for that matter - what he's about to unravel. Eunice's ashes have already have been scattered in sight of Kilimanjaro. But the secrets she died with are about to come back out into the open, and they could change everything. Or shatter this near-utopia into shards...