The Magic World is an influential collection of twelve short stories by E. Nesbit. It was first published in book form in 1912 by Macmillan and Co. Ltd., with illustrations by H. R. Millar and Gerald Spencer Pryse. The stories, previously printed in magazines (like Blackie's Children's Annual), are typical of Nesbit's arch, ironic, clever fantasies for children. --This text refers to the Paperback edition. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

With Lee in Virginia: A Story of the American Civil War By G. A. Henty

The irrespressible Anastasia Krupnick returns for her sixth adventure in which she investigates career possibilities.

A fledgling shapeshifter falls in love with a girl suffering from a critical heart condition and he desperately seeks the power to save her.Set apart from other eighteen year olds, Ana Hughes knows she is different. A life threatening heart condition smothers her future and she yearns to feel normal. Her hopes are pinned on a fresh start in a remote town far from her native Colorado. Among the locker filled hallways in Clark Bend High, Ana keeps to the shadows, not wanting to draw attention to her violet tinged lips and wilted silhouette. And she almost succeeds, until she meets Chance Morgan.Struggling to keep up appearances, she soon suspects Chance is hiding something as well. His animal-like senses, miraculous healing ability and peculiar reaction to her Thunderbird necklace compels Ana to question if there's more to the stories about his Navajo ancestry. Without any other explanation, she fears he is playing tricks on her. But the truth may prove too much for Ana's delicate heart...

The 1912 Waihi Strike tested the resolve of the worker, the town and the government. None could have forseen its devastating effects or the tragedy that would propel the strike into the annals of history. The story follows Archie and Mary struggling to find love against a turbulent industrial dispute. Battles were fought and lost, love won and lost, men died. The strike was never called off.At a time of worldwide revolt against an oppressed and exploited working class, the 1912 Waihi Strike tested the resolve of Mary and Archie, warring unions, the town and the government. None could have forseen the tragedy that would propel the strike into the annals of history.Mary grew up on the Hauraki gold fields having emigrated from Scotland with her family. As the daughter of a mine manager she enjoys a charmed life and teaches piano, sure that music would be the one thing that defines her.Archie Wright came to Waihi to be near his brother after his wife died in childbirth. With two small children to provide for he accepted a job as a stationary engine driver, a position well below the mine manager job he left in Ballarat.When the engine drivers form a separate union Archie does not join them and the action leads to the longest strike in New Zealand’s history.Amongst the turmoil Mary and Archie fight for the rights of the strikers, he as a union representative and she as a Scarlet Runner. But their message is not well received and the government clamps down heavily on the strikers by sending more and more police to the town as the strike drags on.Archie finds himself opposing his brother and Mary causes grievous upset by defying her father. Her family becomes the target of mischief making which has unintended and fatal consequences and which forces Mary to question her loyalties. Mary has a conviction that in her eyes equals that of her mother, Emily, who fought for temperance and won. Emily’s legacy sits heavily on Mary and she sees the strike as her platform for social change. She is a sponge for Archie’s socialist philosophy and with her Scarlet Runner accomplices ensures the aims of the strike gain sympathy from men and women alike.

Trick or Treat contains 101 festive holiday poems all about my favorite time of year… October, costumes, candy and the thrills of trick or treating. From costumes to candy and everything in between, enjoy them all… this Halloween!IntroductionAll September and October long, I’ve been writing short, sweet, occasionally funny, sometimes creepy Halloween poems. Turns out, the ones I enjoy the most are all about costumes, candy, plastic pumpkins, tricks and treats! So I decided –why not write an entire volume of family friendly poetry all about… trick or treating?So… here it is! Trick or Treat contains 101 festive holiday poems all about my favorite time of year… October, costumes, candy and the thrills of trick or treating. And, well, I just can’t help myself, so here’s an extra one to send you off:From costumes to candy and Everything in between, Enjoy them all… This Halloween!Happy Holidays,Rusty Fischer

Lucius Grenville at last persuades Captain Lacey to join him in an expedition to Egypt, to visit various ancient sites. Lacey is excited to go, though torn about leaving his new family. He discovers, though, that the burgeoning market for antiquities has made Egypt’s ancient history open for plunder, bringing forth ruthless men who will not stop short of murder for the sake of a fortune.

The President's daughter has been kidnapped by the elusive and lethal Ghost Cell. Quest and Angela are in hot pursuit with vicious winds and blinding rain thwarting them at every turn. It's a desperate high stakes chase. But who is chasing whom? Are Q and Angela the hunters or the hunted?

The lonely scientist and the inventor, Sina, is the worst among his friends, he is lazy and funny since he has never been recognized for creating something, he wants to fight Sharkaban the new king who overtook the world, but Sina has no idea, until the day he receives an important letter from a stranger.In another world an underworld, not so far away, or so far below us, lying in union are very strange and perplexing happenings. One world has un-matched beauty, serenity and peacefulness. Most of the inhabitants who live in this underworld reside in inviting and quaint villages, built upon rolling hills and dales, interspersed with tall green grasses, fields of over-sized yellow and orange daises found growing amongst, inviting slow-moving, peaceable streams. Soft, gentle winds blow up from the south regularly pushing large puffy clouds slowly by, all keeping time with the heartbeat of the friendly elves, diminutive fairies, workingmen, unicorns and brownies that live there. In the other darker underworld is found an evil and unclean world filled with, watery fire-bogs, vast and swift-moving rivers, filled with infected and brooding waters. Surrounding this wasteland lay high un-passable mountain ranges, and deep wide canyons, all cloaked above by shadowy skies filled with godless flying creatures. Living within this craven world are; pocket-sized evil fairies, giant black forest trolls, stone trolls, and malovent elf's, living amongst wicked hobgoblins. There are revolting witches, foul-tempered swamp ogres, and life-stealing water-serpents. All of which are ruled by an army of very mean-spirited, and fatted, bug-eyed toads, called...Undertoads. Long so long ago, in this under-land, a dark spell had been cast upon them all by a very powerful black-hearted king. His name is Túngarar Spadefoot. He is the King of the Undertoads. Found inside of this impure world stands an impervious and foreboding black tower. It is made of unbending black-pearl granite. And held entrenched within this bedeviled and wicked tower is the Tower Keeper. She was once the noble and powerful queen of the Kingdom of Gwynedd. This queen alone nurtured and created the Toad King, giving him his unlimited powers to rule the land for all the good of the residents who resided there, but the Toad King as his power grew realized the unlimited powers that he held. Unclean thoughts were allowed to enter his weak mind. He twisted his power against his people and turned towards the fiendish and depraved, he veered towards the worst side of power; he craved more of it. Unlimited power in the hands of the weaker amongst us always has the chance of turning towards the evil side. The Toad King raped the lands to the north, of the Kingdom of Gwynedd. This area became known as Northumberland where all things turned towards the evil side of man and beast. The land died, the skies, the water, and the creatures that lived there became as sinful and revolting as there malovent leader. As the years passed by, loneliness and solitude engulfed the former queen, thus destroying her mind and infecting it with even more hatred. She became consumed by odium, and hate, now seeking only revenge and more power, so she could one day revenge her great loss to Túngarar Spadefoot, the Toad King. She now lays in a state of constant torment and anguish because she waits in haste for the innocent, and the unknowing to someday, wander into her lair. For on this one day, on this most fortunate of days, she hopes to be unceremoniously un-locked from the powerful and dark magic that holds her steadfast in place. The dark city is called Elphame. The White Queen; is an Ice Queen. Her name is Elphen, she is the Ignoble. She is a land draug, an after-walker. Do these worlds exist? Is this all believable, possible, likely or plausible? Does it only happen in fairy tales, legends, myths, long-winded tales or tall-fables? But in the Kingdom of Gwynedd, and in the underworld of Northumberland, and to a young redheaded boy, with an impish smile and bright red freckles, it is a story he never wants to remember, and one he can never forget. He, by the slimmest of margins, lived to tell the true story of this strange underworld, and the eventual outcome of Northumberland.

This short story follows John and his newly zombie-fied wife, as they take a trip to the CDC in search of a cure. However, things don't go as planned. Included is a bonus flash fiction piece that you can really sink your teeth into.John Smith came to Kylemore Abbey, the home of the Benedictine sisters, to watch things grow. He tended the gardens, the flower boxes, the rusty hinges and pathways. He did not share the faith of the Benedictine sisters. He had not come to this remote estate seeking absolution or comfort. And yet, what he sought was just as precious.

When his young goat Little Bear wanders off into the mountains, orphaned shepherd boy Tye is thrown into an adventure of dangerous robbers, haunted storms and vicious pirates. Only the mysterious and powerful Hamric seems to know where he is going and more importantly, who he really is....Identity thief Alyson Reid barely escaped the police raid on the Broadway Walk hotel with her life. With her accounts empty, her tools destroyed, and the Houston police hunting her as a murderer she sets out across the city with a single objective: To clear her name. Meanwhile, HPD detective Martin Clark continues the search for Tomas Dekare's killer. Following a trail of a scattered trail of contradictory clues, Martin and Chief Detective Richard Parks edge closer to the truth and come to realize that there is more to their investigation than they had thought. Day Two continues the story of A Ballad of Wayward Spectres; a serialized cyberpunk thriller in four parts.

This novella introduces two of the main characters in my full-length novel THE OMEGA SEQUENCE. The novel is a stand-alone work so the novella is extraneous to a full and complete understanding of it. I hope you enjoy this introductory NOVELLA!Nelson KingThis novella introduces two of the main characters in my full-length novel THE OMEGA SEQUENCE. The novel is a stand-alone work so the novella is extraneous to a full and complete understanding of it. I am offering this novella in the hopes I might capture your imagination, and perhaps your interest in my website and travel blog.Regards,Nelson King

When Princess Geetu dares Anthony and Edward to go on a boat journey with none other than Queen Cleopatra and Julius Caesar the three children are flung through space and time. They emerge near ancient Rome. Yet can they overcome the perils that face them and, most of all, can they overcome Death itself? Can YOU survive the Dare Quest challenge?Canadian super spies Agent Diamond and Charming Guy are back, this time to try to save New Year's Day. The evil genius Dr. Sinister has stolen the Psycho-Cab-O-Meter, a device for psychically summoning taxicabs, and has re-engineered it so the cabs will never come. It's up to Diamond, Guy, eccentric inventor Ardrich Tentgong and Vancouver detective Lt. Hui to infiltrate the New Year's Eve cocktail party where the device will be tested and put a stop to Dr. Sinister's nefarious plans. Will they be able to blend in with the regular guests? Will they be able to foil the plans of enemy agents? And most importantly of all, will Dr. Sinister's online 'Biology for Artists' course allow him to create giant telekinetic, telepathic jellyfish that will float about the city in bubbles of water, terrorizing the locals?

** *Death Stalks Them All...* ** Kere is the second most infamous member of the shadow organization known as Sentella. An explosive engineer who strikes terror into the hearts of the League, the bounty on his head is truly staggering. No one knows his true identity. The daughter of a traitor, Zarya Starska grew up hard on the back streets of hell- her family hunted to the brink of extinction. But Zarya dreams of a different life and a different world. A world where the harsh hand of the Caronese emperor doesn’t destroy his subjects. As a Resistance leader, her goal is to topple the government that needlessly ruined the lives of her family and comrades-in-arms. In this deadly quest, the only person she can trust is a mysterious man known only as Kere. ** *By The Light Of Day...* ** Kere has a dark secret and a brutal past. As he aids the Resistance, he’s actually working to bring down his own family- the Cruels- so named for the viciousness in their blood that runs so deep, no other name would do. Born and bred from one of the oldest and noblest families in the United Systems, Kere’s real name is Darling Cruel. And the one thing he wants most is to see his uncle, who stole the crown by murdering his father, pay for his crimes. ** *If You Tell A Lie Long Enough, It Becomes The Truth...* ** In order to protect his mother from execution, Darling’s entire life has been built on a lie that he dare not breathe a contrary word about. His hands tied by his uncle’s cruelty. No one has ever seen the real him. No one except Zarya. She’s the only person he’s ever fully trusted with the truth. But when she betrays him by allowing a weapon he designed solely for her to be used against him, all bets are off. ** *The Hero Is Now The Monster...* ** Betrayed to the deepest level, Darling becomes an enemy even worse than his uncle. His goal is not only to reign, but to kill every Resistance member he can find. He won’t rest until all of them are dead and that includes Zarya. ** *The Twisted Hand Of Fate...* ** Zarya is the only hope to reach the heart of the man her people once considered their ally. A man who hates her with a fury so great that she knows it’s just a matter of time before he kills her. But if she can find the part of him that once trusted her, the part of him that once loved her, she might be able to save not only her own life, but those of her people. It’s an impossible mission. Too bad she doesn’t play the odds.

Inventing the Enemy covers a wide range of topics on which Umberto Eco has written and lectured for the past ten years, from a disquisition on the theme that runs through his most recent novel, The Prague Cemetery—every country needs an enemy, and if it doesn’t have one, must invent it—to a discussion of ideas that have inspired his earlier novels. Along the way, he takes us on an exploration of lost islands, mythical realms, and the medieval world. Eco also sheds light on the indignant reviews of James Joyce’s Ulysses by fascist journalists of the 1920s and 1930s, and provides a lively examination of Saint Thomas Aquinas’s notions about the soul of an unborn child, censorship, violence, and WikiLeaks. These are essays full of passion, curiosity, and obsessions by one of the world’s most esteemed scholars and critically acclaimed, best-selling novelists.

Jack Morgan investigates the disappearance of the biggest superstar couple in Hollywood. Thom and Jennifer Harlow are the perfect couple, with three perfect children. They may be two of the biggest movie stars in the world, but they're also great parents, philanthropists and just all-round good people. When they disappear without a word from their ranch, facts are hard to find. They live behind such a high wall of security and image control that even world-renowned investigator Jack Morgan can't get to the truth. But as Jack keeps probing, secrets sprout thick and fast - and the world's golden couple may emerge as hiding behind a world of desperation and deception that the wildest reality show couldn't begin to unveil. Murder is only the opening scene.

People commonly view evolution as a process of competition between individuals—known as “survival of the fittest”—with the individual representing the “unit of selection.” Richard Dawkins offers a controversial reinterpretation of that idea in The Extended Phenotype, now being reissued to coincide with the publication of the second edition of his highly-acclaimed The Selfish Gene. He proposes that we look at evolution as a battle between genes instead of between whole organisms. We can then view changes in phenotypes—the end products of genes, like eye color or leaf shape, which are usually considered to increase the fitness of an individual—as serving the evolutionary interests of genes. Dawkins makes a convincing case that considering one’s body, personality, and environment as a field of combat in a kind of “arms race” between genes fighting to express themselves on a strand of DNA can clarify and extend the idea of survival of the fittest. This influential and controversial book illuminates the complex world of genetics in an engaging, lively manner.

Lady Ludlow is absolute mistress of Hanbury Court and a resolute opponent of anything that might disturb the class system into which she was born. She will keep no servant who can read and write and insists that the lower orders have no rights, but only duties. But the winds of change are blowing through the village of Hanbury. The vicar, Mr. Gray, wishes to start a Sunday school for religious reasons; Mr. Horner wants to educate the citizens for economic reasons. But Lady Ludlow is not as rigid as one may think.

Louie Cogburn had spent three days holed up in his apartment, staring at his computer screen. His pounding headache was unbearable - it felt like spikes drilling into his brain. And it was getting worse. Finally, when someone knocked at his door, Louie picked up a baseball bat, opened up the door, and started swinging.... The first cop on the scene fired his stunner twice. Louie died instantly. Detective Eve Dallas has taken over the investigation, but there's nothing to explain the man's sudden rage or death. The only clue is a bizarre message left on his computer screen: ABSOLUTE PURITY ACHIEVED And when a second man dies under near-identical circumstances, Eve starts racking her brain for answers and the courage to face the impossible...that this might be a computer virus able to spread from machine to man....

Unspoken truths will be revealed—and they will change everything—in this dazzling final chapter of the Shadow Falls: After Dark trilogy! Della Tsang is facing the toughest fight of her life—and the most personal. In her new role as an elite paranormal investigator, she’s assigned a twenty-year-old murder case…and the accused killer is none other than her own father. Making matters worse, since she was reborn, she’s been bound to the mysterious and infuriatingly gorgeous Chase Tallman—a vampire with his own hidden agenda. Della still feels betrayed by all the secrets he’s kept from her, but she’ll need his help to find out the truth about her father. But what about Steve, the hunky shape-shifter who she can’t seem to forget? The quest for answers will lead them into the darkest, ugliest supernatural gangs in town…and into the scariest reaches of their hearts.