From the national bestselling author of The Serpent and the Pearl comes the continuing saga of the ruthless family that holds all of Rome in its grasp, and the three outsiders thrust into their twisted web of blood and deceit . . . As the cherished concubine of the Borgia Pope Alexander VI, Giulia Farnese has Rome at her feet. But after narrowly escaping a sinister captor, she realizes that the danger she faces is far from over—and now, it threatens from within. The Holy City of Rome is still under Alexander’s thrall, but enemies of the Borgias are starting to circle. In need of trusted allies, Giulia turns to her sharp-tongued bodyguard, Leonello, and her fiery cook and confidante, Carmelina. Caught in the deadly world of the Renaissance’s most notorious family, Giulia, Leonello, and Carmelina must decide if they will flee the dangerous dream of power. But as the shadows of murder and corruption rise through the Vatican, they must learn who to trust when every face wears a mask . . .

On June 1, 1956, the New York Times broke a story that captured the imagination of the world. Another Dead Sea Scroll had been found, describing unimaginable treasures buried in the hills east of Jerusalem and under the holy city itself. But the scroll's code had to be broken, and experts from all sides warned that any effort by Israel to rebuild the Temple with the treasure would undoubtedly trigger a war of biblical proportions. Fifty years later, the world is about to be shocked again. New York Times best-selling author Joel C. Rosenberg takes you on his most exciting and heart-pounding ride yet—as a new democratic Iraq rises, so, too, a new evil, and White House advisors Jon Bennett and Erin McCoy find themselves facing a terrifying threat triggered by an ancient mystery. “Rosenberg has become one of the most entertaining and thought-provoking novelists of our day. Regardless of your political views, you've got to read this stuff.” —Rush Limbaugh, New York Times best-selling author

"We must be bound to one another then. Bound by hell-forged chains and fate-haunted circumstance. Well, then - let it be thus so - and men will have cause to tremble and flee when they hear the names of Elric of Melnibone and Stormbringer, his sword. We are two of a kind - produced by an age which has deserted us. Let us give this age cause to hate us." Imrryr, the dreaming city; Yyrkoon, the hated usurper; Cymoril, the beloved... all had fallen to the fury and unearthly power of the albino prince and his terrible sword. An Elric faced at last the fate that was to be his in this haunted era - that he must go forth, sword and man as one, and havoc and horror would be forever at his forefront until he found his Purpose that was yet obscured to him.

A creepy, campy new mystery series Welcome to Nightshade, California—a small town full of secrets. It’s home to the psychic Giordano sisters, who have a way of getting mixed up in mysteries. During their investigations, they run across everything from pom-pom- shaking vampires to shape-shifting boyfriends to a clue-spewing jukebox. With their psychic powers and some sisterly support, they can crack any case! There’s a gorgeous new guy at Nightshade High: Duke Sherrad, a fortune-teller claiming to have descended from Gypsies. Even though she’s psychic herself, Daisy is skeptical of Duke’s powers. But when a teacher who was the subject of one of his predictions ends up dead, she begins to wonder if Duke is the real deal after all. Maybe if Daisy can track down the teacher’s killer, she can find out the truth. The only trouble is, all signs point to the murderer being of the furry persuasion. Is Daisy any match for a werewolf? Maybe she is . . . in more ways than she bargained for!

Draven de Montague, Earl of Ravenswood, would never have entered the home of his most hated adversary had not the King himself ordered Draven to take in his foe's daughter for a year, to forge bonds of peace between their two feuding houses. Yet here is a lass whose spirit and loveliness could tempt Draven to betray his sworn vow never to let another close to his heart. Emily knows the searing heat of her passion could burn down stubborn Draven's defenses -- but will his surrender ignite a blaze so hot it consumes them both?

In a bid for more power, the Shadow Queen of Haradis has unleashed a malignant force into the world. Her son Brishen, younger prince of the Kai royal house, suddenly finds himself ruler of a kingdom blighted by a diseased darkness and on the brink of war. His human wife Ildiko must decide if she will give up the man she loves in order to secure his throne. Three enemy kingdoms must unite to save each other, and a one-eyed, reluctant king must raise an army of the dead to defeat an army of the damned.A tale of alliance and sacrifice.

All marriages have a breaking point. All families have wounds. All wars have a cost. . . . Like many couples, Michael and Jolene Zarkades have to face the pressures of everyday life--children, careers, bills, chores--even as their twelve-year marriage is falling apart. Then an unexpected deployment sends Jolene deep into harm’s way and leaves defense attorney Michael at home, unaccustomed to being a single parent to their two girls. As a mother, it agonizes Jolene to leave her family, but as a soldier she has always understood the true meaning of duty. In her letters home, she paints a rose-colored version of her life on the front lines, shielding her family from the truth. But war will change Jolene in ways that none of them could have foreseen. When tragedy strikes, Michael must face his darkest fear and fight a battle of his own--for everything that matters to his family. At once a profoundly honest look at modern marriage and a dramatic exploration of the toll war takes on an ordinary American family, Home Front is a story of love, loss, heroism, honor, and ultimately, hope.

This wonderful story 'Bill the Minder' follows the adventures of 15-year-old Bill and his cousins, Boadicea and Chad. In the process of their adventures they meet multitude weird and wonder characters such as The Ancient Marina, The Triplets, The Doctor, The Real Soldier and The Lost Grocer. They encounter various unique problems on their way which they solve the use of fantastic machines crafted by Bill. This classic story is accompanied by 16 incredible colour illustrations many black and white woodcuts by W. Heath Robinson an English cartoonist and illustrator, best known for drawings of ridiculously complicated machines – for achieving deceptively simple objectives. Such was (and is) his fame, that the term 'Heath Robinson' entered the English language during the First World War, as a description of any unnecessarily complex and implausible contrivance. This book was originally published in 1912 and was later televised as a series during the 1980s. We are republishing it here as part of our 'Pook Press' imprint, celebrating the golden age of illustration in children's literature.

How would you react if a tall handsome stranger walked up to you on new-years eve and asked for a kiss? Anneli stood alone on a bridge overlooking the Melbourne skyline, waiting to welcome in 1974. Wade walked up and asked her for a kiss. They weren’t looking for love, however, something special happened in the closing minutes of 1973.Kiss on the bridge is set in Australia when Cyclone Tracy made landfall on 25th December 1974 at 9:55am desecrating Darwin. Wade met Anneli Vandenberg just short of twelve months prior to the devastation. After an extensive search and thorough planning, he receives a message informing him of Anneli’s intended marriage to a man she has never met. The clock is ticking. He needed to arrive in Darwin and find her before it was too late. The only thing he didn’t anticipate was colliding with a cyclone. He’s in the race of his life to get Anneli safely back to Melbourne. Her angry stepfather has other ideas. Kiss on the bridge and other novels are available in print form at amazon create space.

In the era of The Hundred Kingdoms, a time of war and unrest, a legendary friendship is forged between king and keeper which will lead to a new destiny for Darkover.

A Norawest Smith story.Norawest Smith is taken by the haunters of Vongg, strange alien vampires than cross the boundaries between worlds and dimensions in this strange city. They have other victims, too, as they hunt for the hot blood of human women.A Gender Switch Adventure.Have you ever loved someone and didn’t even know it? That’s the dilemma facing Felix Essien when he wakes from a coma to find he is married to the most beautiful and sensual woman he’s ever known. He cannot remember her or their wedding. He who had sworn never to get married or to give his heart to another. Yet he feels an intense bond with her that he intends to explore fully.Ebony can’t believe her good fortune when her paper husband wakes not remembering the temporary marriage arrangement with no intimacies he’d proposed but is now the adoring husband she’s always dreamt of. She plans to make the most of the passion blossoming between them. However would he still feel that way when he regains his memory and realises she’s been keeping secrets and their marriage is not what he thinks it is.

As spirit man, Aruk has been called upon to use his gifts to solve many problems. With guidance from the ancestors and the spirit world he has great wisdom and gives good advice.But the first true crime his tribe has ever encountered will put him -- put them all -- to the test.Without the power of the world's five elemental crystals, the world of Vida will fall into darkness. Only the prophecy of the Light Bringer can restore peace to Vida.In this first novelette of a five part series, Regina Lepue finds herself taken hostage by a nameless vandal, who claims the world's Crystals of Balance are in peril. Can she believe this ruthless killer, or is there something deeper to his story?

Now that Carmen has almost recovered from her injuries caused by a car accident, Carmen and Ulrike can begin and enjoy their relationship in earnest. Taxi - Trials is the second book in the Taxi series.Now that Carmen has almost recovered from her injuries caused by a car accident, Carmen and Ulrike can begin and enjoy their relationship in earnest. On the occasion of Carmen’s mother’s birthday, Ulrike is about to meet Carmen’s family for the first time, including Carmen’s brother José, whose reckless driving, in Ulrike’s opinion, landed Carmen in hospital. Both women are rather apprehensive about this meeting, however, the afternoon with the family yields some unexpected results for both of them.Taxi - Trials is the second book in the Taxi series.

A hunt for raiding barbarians turns upon the hunters.His squad mates slain, Sergeant Guthrie Hackett finds himself alone in the winter wilderness on the border between his homeland and a nation of barbarians. He discovers the Dartague have a new leader, a wyrd woman who is behind the border assault. Worse yet for the sergeant, he has fallen under the attention of an ice witch.A hunt for raiding barbarians turns upon the hunters.But far worse is to come for the sleepy villages of northern Ursia and the soldiers who protect the villagers. The Dartague barbarians have had enough of the Ursians encroaching upon their mountainous borders, and the raids are but a feint to draw out soldiers while a much larger attack is in the works.His squad mates slain, Sergeant Guthrie Hackett finds himself alone in the winter wilderness on the border between his homeland and the nation of barbarians. He discovers the Dartague have a new leader, a wyrd woman who is behind the border assault. Worse yet for the sergeant, he has fallen under the attention of an ice witch, an inhuman creature with secret goals of her own.Seeking to survive, Hackett tries to make it back to his own countrymen, only to find there is relatively little safety for him anywhere in the northern regions.----------------------------------Now availableMage Hunter: Blooded SnowMage Hunter: Sundered ShieldsMage Hunter: Bared BladesMage Hunter: Hammered IronMage Hunter: Changeless Fate

Rich ex-trophy wife uses hypnosis to make her young boyfriend interesting, but it backfires when he goes crazy with each suggestion.Helen, a long while in the past, was a proud trophy wife with a rich husband. Now, he's gone, and she's left with an almost aged body and a need for companionship. She has Kenny, a young mad with a body, but she wants more. She wants a brain. So, she hires a controversial hypnotist to instill some interesting traits into her boyfriend. Unfortunately for her, Kenny is super-susceptible to hypnosis, and every suggestion becomes a fanatical interest to the point of insanity. All she wants is a young body with something to say. Is that so bad?

A father drives into the desert with his young son, a small family on an exciting road trip to any police officer or petrol station attendant that looks their way. But this father isn’t the pleasant soul he acts for strangers. And it’s not suitcases weighing down the back of his sedan.Car boot loaded with his wares, Naos Tana leaves his Oshi Daini apartment at dawn, setting a gruelling pace for the Sato Area. With him, he drags his son. No apparent care for the boy, or “rat” as Tana calls him, he is brought only as a disguise, to mask a business trip of malicious intent as a harmless holiday. The rat is good-natured despite frequent humiliation and mistreatment, and is continually crushed by his father’s scorn, at a loss as to why he cares for his car, but not his son. When the rat sneaks from their inn room and unlocks his father’s car in the dead of night, the horrific nature of Tana’s business enterprises is exposed. Caught and with no one to turn to, the rat endures the remainder of the trip in terror, under threat of dire punishment for going near his father’s products. But even such misery fails to blunt the rat's curiosity when Tana unwillingly acquires a stirring bundle at the conclusion of his business transaction.Set in the Four Free Areas, a technologically advanced world where Gods watch from rivers and fantastical arts are practiced by wizards and priests, The Rat is the third instalment of the short story cycle Treading Twisted Lines with Darren, Maddi, and Kai.

When Echo Mareau and her unique horse, Shimmer, follow their reckless brothers into a nearby village, the last thing Echo expects to see is Brecker shaking hands with a doon-a handshake that painfully and irreversibly binds a person to that shadow dweller. Fighting suffocating fear, self-doubt, and a myriad of evil enemies, Echo must find a way to save her brother and her home from the darkness.Echo Mareau and her brother, Brecker haven't been seeing eye-to-eye. Training together to be defenders of their home, they've fought before; but this time is different. Echo never believed Brecker would connect with a doon, a powerful, dark being that painfully and irreversibly binds a person with a shake of the hand. What's worse, Echo finds out the doon is Belzac, an ancient, dark being who once tried to rule Thildin Valley, home to Echo's family, the elves, and the special horses Echo's dad has cared for all of her life. Echo and her unique horse, Shimmer, must face impossible choices, formidable foes, lung-crushing fears, and the shadows that linger in their own hearts in order to save those they love. With self-loathing, doubt, and bitterness in her heart, Echo may not be able to find the key to victory before it is too late.

Rachel has no trouble believing in spirits. It's the living she has a tough time believing in.Rachel has no trouble believing in spirits. It's the living she has a tough time believing in.The man she's in love with? Taken. The job she loved? Gone. Her neighbours? They're taping religious tracts to her door. Then an amateur witch accidentally summons the area's ancestral Viking spirits -- who promptly bring their thousand-year war to the remote Newfoundland fishing village. If Rachel's going to have any hope of sending the spirits to their peace, she'll have to stop drooling over unattainable men and trust her 93-year-old neighbour to help her stand against the spirits before their supernatural war engulfs them all.

A hitherto unknown cycle of high solar activity has led to the collapse of civilisation on Earth. As countries become engulfed by the flames of apocalyptic chaos, primal fear turns humans back into wild animals and the cities into concrete jungles where the rule of force is replacing the rule of law.Two million years ago, the evolution of the brain took man out of the animal world by endowing an unremarkable branch of the Tree of Life with fantastic capabilities for processing and exchanging information. Subsequent generations call it the human intellect.A short time later, mankind left its cradle, Africa, and established itself on every continent except Antarctica. Fragile in body, but with the gift of a highly developed intellect, the members of this race easily forced out the apex predators and took their place, in spite of their powerful claws and huge tusks.Having won first place in the food chain in most of the occupied ecological niches, this life form declared itself the crowning glory of creation, assuming the whole route travelled by evolution on the planet had stopped when its own race had been born. However, evolution never for a minute stopped affecting all of life, including man.Thirty thousand years ago, the weight of the human brain achieved its historical maximum. Since then it has steadily become smaller, and by the end of the second millennium A.D., the total loss of cerebral material was 300 grams. In the 21st century, this reduction suddenly approached crisis point...