Francis Bret Harte (August 25, 1836 – May 5, 1902) was an American author and poet, best remembered for his short fiction featuring miners, gamblers, and other romantic figures of the California Gold Rush. In a career spanning more than four decades, he wrote poetry, fiction, plays, lectures, book reviews, editorials, and magazine sketches in addition to fiction. As he moved from California to the eastern U.S. to Europe, he incorporated new subjects and characters into his stories, but his Gold Rush tales have been most often reprinted, adapted, and admired.

After killing a coven member, Evie finds herself in a world of trouble. Trouble, Caleb, the alpha, is eager to help her with. She is trying her damnedest to stay away from him, because of the feelings she can't explain and the danger she can't outrun. Second in the series, follows after Deceptions.Twin SoulsSeventeen year old Alexis finds herself on the eve of her eighteenth birthday. What generally means a step into adulthood instead opens its way to a terrifying truth about not only her family, but herself. She comes from a long line of vampire hunters, and her real dad wants her to carry on the family quest. At the same time, she is falling for a new boy at school who has his own secret. He is a vampire. Alexis is forced to make a decision from which there is no turning back. - Will she deny this newly discovered heritage, or embrace it.This novel is approximately 64,000 words in length - 322 pages long.More by K.A. PoeTwin Souls (Nevermore, Book 1)Hybrid (Nevermore, Book 2)Sacrifice (Nevermore, Book 3)Destiny (Nevermore, Book 4)Darius - Episode One (Through the Rift)PraiseLike a beautifully composed piano composition, Twin Souls connects with readers - presenting a vampire novel that makes them question who the real monsters are.-Booknut 101It can be difficult to write about vampires after twilight since it became such a big hit so everyone who have read the books will compare them to other books in the same genre unless you come up with something unique. I really think Poe did that here!-Cecilia, Rather Barefoot than BooklessI had to stop reading halfway through to check and make sure there would be a sequel as I didn't want this to be the end of Alexis's story! Thankfully there will be one coming soon. I can't wait to read it too!-Angieleigh, Once Upon a Book

In a quiet English seaside village Sue and her colleagues at the Parish Council think life is fun but boring, until they are shocked out of complacency when murder is discovered literally under their noses. The arrival of police and reporters alarms the unlikely new Parish Clerk, who has good reason to seek obscurity. Worse is to come, as a 200-year-old crime produces modern consequences.The Parish Council of a pretty seaside village are struggling to keep their little corner of England thriving and autonomous. Wrapped up in the mundane and often hilarious business of organizing village life, Sue Cheam and her colleagues at the Council are shocked out of their complacency when horrifying secrets are uncovered beneath the respectable surface.James Goswell begins to wonder if Pebbleton is the best place to be Parish Clerk, if you want to live a long and healthy life. And he has already taken drastic steps to guarantee that……As the police begin to investigate, the self-interest of powerful men two centuries ago brings consequences that make a mockery of the Council’s finest hour. But someone in this century knows the facts, and means to keep them hidden at all costs. Amid the chaos and suspicion, is it possible for romance to blossom? And will Sue ever finish the filing before the chocolate biscuits run out?

To rendezvous with her archeologist fiance in Jordan, Barbara Vaughn must first pass through the Mandelbaum Gate--which divides strife-torn Jerusalem. A half-jewish convert to Catholicism, an Englishwoman of strong and stubborn convictions, Barbara will not be dissuaded from her ill-timed pilgrimage despite a very real threat of bodily harm and the fearful admonishments of staid British diplomat Freddy Hamilton.

Jessica is home alone when a man breaks into her house. Now, she must find a way out and run for her life.It is Christmas 1914. As Europe descends further into the Great War, Christopher Flyte is sent home in disgrace from his school. He returns to the sleepy English village of Alton. It is here that he meets the mysterious traveler, Bailey - a master storyteller who fills the boy's head with stories of King Arthur's time. The more Christopher hears, the more he suspects that Bailey's stories are more than just simple myths. Soon, Christoper is a pawn in a game that has been playing out for centuries....

A love story about Carolyn, her mother Elizabeth, and her grandmother Julia.The Shade a Vampire has left in my family is still hunting me, making my life a restless chase. It’s not only my job, I have a personal vendetta to carry out against vampires. They are the reason my sister is on a wheelchair and our mother gone. And I'm not a forgiving girl. Vampires start integrating among humans, but even with laws adapting to the new society, many problems arise. I solve them. I kill problems. In the span of less than two weeks I manage to turn my entire world upside down. This time I have been chosen to take care of some human turned into vampire, but that will not be as easy as it seemed. I have somehow gotten involved in a war against the ancients ones, too dangerous and powerful enemies to fight by myself. And before I could even think about it I find myself allied with a very unlikely team. At the end of it all, they’re the ones that save me. I’ve been fooling myself for years. It turns out I was the rescue mission all along.

Jimmy Slade is a broken old man looking to solve the eighteen-year old murder of his ten-year old son.Kiethara is a descendant from a long line of powerful guardians who have been charged to protect a magical forest since the dawn of time. She prematurely took the place of her mother—the previous guardian—after she was defeated by a man known as Gandador; now, young Kiethara is forced into a position of power and danger. The Spirit of Aaron, the forest's first guardian, awakens to train her legendary powers, all the while hiding unknown truths and secrets of her past. When Gandador returns to destroy the reign of the guardians and rule the forest himself, he brings into the forest a whole new world, and Kiethara must keep in check her overwhelming emotions and experiences in order to control her magic and save the forest.Wickedly dark yet extremely moving, The Guardians of the Forest explores the burdens of responsibility and the prospects of failure. Kiethara must protect the world's source of power while developing her own, but guarding it becomes difficult when she finds herself kidnapped and taken out of the forest she is bound to protect. This YA novel draws true-to-form parallels with a normal fifteen-year-olds life. Readers experience how Kiethara bears the weight of an entire world on her shoulders in a humorously sarcastic tone, relying on the friends she makes and the love she discovers to ease the fear of failure to deliver what she has been born to accomplish.

/MEGA-BOOKS Nancy's weekend at the former estate home of the late, great mystery writer Dorothea Burden turns out to be much more than an innocent exercise in fictional felonies when several jewel-encrusted figurines are stolen and the author's long-time edit

Pilot is a contemporary Sci-fi story that merges elements of military conspiracy, technology and an ancient Guild of Families who can secretly navigate channels in the oceans to cross space. They have built a secret merchant society stretching through a multitude of universes, but the world is changing and soon their secrecy will be at an end.All she wanted was a cup of coffee. What she ended up with was getting knocked out and interogated by the military. They knew she owned an imports store. They also knew she was a member of the powerful Calabrese family, one of the families that made up the Guild. Elena was once a pilot, capable of taking a sailing vessel from the oceans of earth and into ancient channels that reach across space and into other worlds. After being gone for five years she is suddenly thrust back into the world of Guild politics she had left behind, walking a thin line between mafia like laws and the militaries desire to control Guild technology.

Qui-Gon Jinn's past is not at rest. How can he forge a bond with young Obi-Wan Kenobi while he is haunted by the betrayal of his first apprentice--Xanatos? Xanatos was also a promising student . . . until the dark side of the Force intervened. Qui-Gon thought he was gone forever. But now Xanatos is back. And he wants revenge.

Nicolette Cooper returns to Half Moon Bay seven years after running away from her abusive family home to discover that her high school sweetheart, Daniel Hayes, still lives in the area. As their romance rekindles, they are visited by a powerful spirit which grants them abilities and responsibilities - and a limited window of time to learn to use those abilities to avert cataclysmic consequences.Nicolette Cooper, a refugee from the Los Angeles sex industry, returns to her hometown, Half Moon Bay, hoping to rebuild her life after seven grueling years away.Nicolette is surprised to find chemistry with her high school sweetheart, Daniel Hayes, an ex–Army Ranger. Their relationship rekindles as they begin a rocky second courtship. Their courtship is interrupted when they are visited by a powerful spirit which drafts them into a primal conflict of good vs evil, granting them power along with a vision of a post-apocalyptic landscape should they fail in their duties. Both of them are marked as new Celestial Advocates — beings who protect the mundane world from the Hidden World.Only Nicolette and Daniel — granted abilities they must quickly discover and learn to master — stand between the people of Half Moon Bay and the ancient powers now vying for ascendancy.

A secret war, a corrupt corporation, and vampires... just don't ever call them that.Alex was just twelve years old when she learned monsters are real. Now, nearly a decade later, she and her team of fighters are locked in a secret war with Odin, the ancient faction of wealthy elites genetically engineering these monsters – the Chimeras. But Alex never knew why Chimeras were created, until she meets Zeke. He is Odin's true target, him and his kind. They are of legends and myths. They are the First. But are they friend or foe? There's only one thing Alex knows for sure… don't ever call them vampires.

The Good News Series Study Guide is a companion to the Christian Fiction, Good News Series by Audrey McKay. This guide offers explanations and descriptions of terms and characters presented in the series. The Good News Series consists of the following books:Enough Good NewsNo WeaponBlind JusticeLong NightEven MeThird Watch* - coming winter 2012Kingdom Force* - TBACan a shy artist gain the upper hand in a face-off against her domineering twin?Will paint cans fly as two teams from vastly different backgrounds butt heads?Will a fun-loving volunteer find the courage to carve his own path?Follow three teens as they grapple with issues of love, loss, friendship, identity, and harbored prejudices in a race against time to complete their artwork in the 2nd Annual National High School Fresco Painting Competition.

Events after Breaking Dawn. Edward had said in Breaking Dawn that the Volturi would come after the Cullens. Aro uses Alice's weakness against her. Conclusion matches the beginning of Twilight where Genesis is quoted regarding the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.Ydnas is a novel of ideas in the form of fantasy fiction. In the vast and decadent city of Kondrastibar, the social Balance has been preserved by Theo-Anarchy for centuries. Countless churches and gods form the organizing principles for a decentralized society composed of thousands of largely independent neighborhoods. As the book begins, Kor, who runs an orphanage, rescues a young girl, Ydnas, from a slave auction. She brings Ydnas to the orphanage, where they are assisted by a priest from the local Church of Irony. But it is soon evident that Ydnas is no ordinary girl, and the immensely powerful and ambitious Lord of Evil suspects she may be the Girl that the Prophecies predict will upset the old Balance. The reader follows the adventures of many different characters, including Amazons, a crime lord, soul harvesters, and a Kelosian monk whose religion requires him to steal from the rich to give to the poor. Through its multiple plot lines, the novel explores ideas about religion, society, nonviolence, and money before coming to its stunning conclusion.

Thea Campbell goes out for revenge when the one person who is simultaneously the most likely and least likely candidate for thief steals her horse. But Thea is wrong. As close to dead wrong as she ever wishes to get.INSIDE — Is Victoria Rowell Headed Back to Y&R? Did Missy Reeves Go Too Far? Inside Report! Plus: Reaction From the Daytime Community! Is A Y&R Spin-off In The Works? Exclusive: Inside the Sony/CBS Cast and Crew Meeting On Set This Past Week! Update on Hogan Sheffer’s Y&R Status! Eileen Davidson Back to Y&R? Latest Deets on THE GROVE! New Contract Role on B&B! GH’s Kirsten Storms Speaks! ABC Releases Quarterly Earnings Report! Last Week's Reviews, Unbelievable Blind Items, and Next Week's Cheat Sheet!

In beautiful, evocative prose, Gide's short novel explores such themes as love, blindness, honor, and mortality.

The cat in this story is Einar, known as a Master in the world of the contract killer. The mouse is James Marsh, a businessman with a wife and a child and, you'd expect, no skills to outwit a professional killer. But James Marsh isn't quite what you expect. In his spare time he does a spot of the old hitman stuff himself - as you do. So maybe the mouse can outwit the cat in this story.The cat in this story is Einar, known as a Master in the world of the contract killer. The mouse is James Marsh, a businessman with a wife and a child and, you'd expect, no skills to outwit a professional killer. But James Marsh isn't quite what you expect. In his spare time he does a spot of the old hitman stuff himself - as you do. So maybe the mouse can outwit the cat in this story. And, if he can stay alive, he might just find out who put a killer on his tail.(previously published as THE EXECUTION GAME)

It’s hard to live with some people, and harder to live without them. This story is based on a real family I meet some years ago. Their plight touched me, not least of all that of the older brother. Because the family tried to protect him, he seemed farthest removed from the unfolding tragedy. But there was no protecting him from the fact that sometimes, unfortunately, love hurts.I'm a prisoner here. But even if I could escape...would I be strong enough to leave?Ethan Williams radiated confidence. His darkly handsome good looks and ocean-blue eyes mesmerized me. But it was the way he looked at me that drew me in. He wasn't looking at my past or at my scars, but the real me behind all that baggage I was trying so hard to leave behind.But Ethan had secrets--dark, ugly secrets. I was trapped in the middle of the ocean in a dangerous tangle. The problem was, I was happy to be trapped forever...if it meant I could have him.Warning: Swept Away is a 4-part serial romantic suspense. Parts 1-3 end with cliffhangers, and part 4 completes the series. This story is messy and twisted and very, very sexy. It is not for people under 18.

Before Farrel Tarse defeated Beskar Aarl in "The Duel" he was once an apprentice to the Master Wizard Varn Maun. Farrel is secretly in love with Lord Ulan's daughter so when she is kidnapped by goblin raiders he sets out to rescue her.Follow Farrel on his next adventure and at the same time learn more about the world of Umijia in this next story in the Visions of Magic series.Before Farrel Tarse defeated Beskar Aarl in "The Duel" he was once an apprentice to the Master Wizard Varn Maun. Farrel is secretly in love with Lord Ulan's daughter so when she is kidnapped by goblins raiders Farrel sets out to rescue her.Follow Farrel on his next adventure and at the same time learn more tantalising background about the world of Umijia in this next story in the Visions of Magic series.