The Karluk set out in 1913 in search of an undiscovered continent, with the largest scientific staff ever sent into the Arctic. Soon after, winter had begun, they were blown off course by polar storms, the ship became imprisoned in ice, and the expedition was abandoned by its leader. Hundreds of miles from civilization, the castaways had no choice but to find solid ground as they struggled against starvation, snow blindness, disease, exposure--and each other. After almost twelve months battling the elements, twelve survivors were rescued, thanks to the heroic efforts of their captain, Bartlett, the Ice Master, who traveled by foot across the ice and through Siberia to find help. Drawing on the diaries of those who were rescued and those who perished, Jennifer Niven re-creates with astonishing accuracy the ill-fated journey and the crews desperate attempts to find a way home.

Beloved for its nostalgic evocation of the Mississippi frontier in the 1840s and for its colorful depiction of an idyll on a raft shared by an orphaned boy and a fugitive slave, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has long been touted as the Great American Novel.

Renegade Paladins AND Abyssal Redemption together in ONE volume. The first adventure in the Zygan Emprise won a 2010 Mensa Sharp Writ Books award. Join Shiloh Rush and William Escott as they race to find Shiloh's missing brother and save the Earth from villainous intergalactic terrorists and traitors in their midst. A fiery thriller ride!Renegade Paladins: Singularity Channel viewers may recognize Hollywood actress Shiloh Rush as Ensign Tara Guard from the sci-fi TV series Bulwark, but nobody knows Shiloh is leading a double life. Haunted by the mysterious disappearance of her beloved older brother, Shiloh hopes to track him down by following in his footsteps as a secret agent for the Zygan Federation, an intergalactic empire still hidden from Earth. During this quest, Shiloh and her British co-star Spud, also a Zygan agent, fly into space--for real--to stop terrorists and invaders who could destroy the Federation and kill millions throughout the universe. Sent back in time to Earth's Ancient Middle East to save the life of a young prophet and prevent Earth's destruction, Shiloh and Spud stumble on a diabolical conspiracy and barely escape with their lives. Their assignment sabotaged, Shiloh and Spud discover the villains' real mission, face powerful enemy fighters from warrior planets and traitors from their own ranks, and race against time to save Earth.Abyssal Redemption: Hollywood actors Shiloh Rush and Spud Escott star in the sci-fi TV series Bulwark, but, off camera, they’re real secret agents for the Zygan Federation, an intergalactic empire hidden from Earth. Desperate to save her long-lost brother, also a Zygan Intelligence agent, from the clutches of an intergalactic terrorist and his minions, Shiloh enlists Spud to travel to a desolate dimension and mount a rescue, using the Golden Fleece she has borrowed from ancient prophet Yeshua Bar Maryam. On the trail, Shiloh and Spud risk their lives in the mysterious nebula, The Plegma, and face menacing demons, vampires, guerrillas, and Valkyries as they storm the gates of Hades. Returning to Earth, they find that their actions have resulted in devastating changes in the path of our history and that the Earth and the people they left behind no longer exist. Will they have to sacrifice their lives to save Earth’s?

A top-secret NASA space telescope designed to detect alien life is in trouble, at risk of entering Earth’s upper atmosphere and vaporizing. Only one man could prevent the accident. An ex-NASA scientist reluctantly joins the crew of re-commissioned space shuttle Discovery on a daring rescue mission to recover the satellite. Orbiting Earth, they are about to experience something out of this world.For nearly two decades, a top-secret NASA space telescope kept watch on the Solar System’s closest neighbor, star system Alpha Centauri, in the hopes of detecting life-sustaining planets. Inexplicably, the satellite’s orbit was beginning to decay, its mission about to come to an abrupt end as it would soon enter Earth’s upper atmosphere and vaporize. There was one man alive who could prevent the accident. Forced by his former boss into a daring rescue mission, ex-NASA scientist Dr. Frank Carver reluctantly joins the crew of re-commissioned space shuttle Discovery, with one simple objective: recover the satellite’s secret data. He would soon discover that mission was anything but simple.

Johnathan Bettle has been forced to be the lead-strategist for The MMG, a secret organization that has planned and profited from world change, including the 2008 sub-prime bubble and the 2010 flash crash. He calls Melanie Price to his death bed, he needs to pass on blackmail information to someone. Good and evil battle to control markets, money, industry, oil, and the worldMelanie Price had been called to the death bed of her first boss, and only love, a dying man’s wish. During her visit she discovers the unimaginable: her prior boss, Johnathan Bettle, has been lead-strategist for the Mastermind Group (The MMG), a secret organization that has planned and profited from world change. He planned and executed many of the major world events since 1970, including the 2008 market crash and the flash crash of 2010. He was blackmailing the MMG to keep them from using the black ops group and he was desperate to pass on control before he died. He needed someone he could trust, someone outside of the organization. Now he has put her at risk, changed her identity, and has the most dangerous organization in the world after her. A new leader in The MMG has figured out Bettle's process and is gaining power, with world domination in his plans. Good and evil battle to control the markets, money, industry, oil, and the world.

Now available for the first time in hardcover, the third book in the Necroscope series traces the battle between Harry Keogh and the horrifying Vamphyri on their home ground, an alien landscape of looming towers, impossible cliffs, and ravenous vampire-beasts.Russia's Ural Mountains hide a deadly secret: a supernatural portal to the country of the vampires. Soviet scientists and ESP-powered spies, in a secret military base, study the portal--and the powerfully evil creatures that emerge from it, intent on ravaging mankind.When Jazz Simmons, a British agent sent to infiltrate the base, is captured by the KGB espionage squad and forced through the portal, his last message tells Harry Keogh, the Necroscope, that the vampires are preparing for a mass invasion.Harry has only one option--to strike first. He must carry the human-vampire war to the vampire's own lands. But his strongest psychic power will be useless there. What good is the power to summon the dead in a country where nothing ever dies, where every man, woman, and child become half-dead servants of the Vamphyri?At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

An interplanetary surveyor wakes up in a cave, on an uninhabited planet, to the sound of purring... and screams of agony.Can Jade survive long enough to find out what went wrong?8022 wordsWhat could have caused the dragons to decide they are tired of being pushed around by lesser beings? For the first time they've chosen to spread their wings and have taken over the second largest city in the Dwarven kingdom. Join with the Magical Seven as they react to this revolt.More than any other time in their history the Dwarves need heroes, a crazy inventor and his family are the ones who step up to the challenge. Dr. Kilgen is a Dwarf on a mission. Since the dragons attacked his village he has spent every minute that he isn’t saving Dwarves at the hospital inventing steam powered machines of mass dragon destruction.Can the Dwarven Dragon Hunters of THE DIRGE and the Magical Seven put down the dragon uprising and reclaim their fallen city? Or will the dragon's fire ultimately leave their inventions in a cloud of smoke?

An adventure filled fantasy novel about the Hamilton family who find courage to overcome when tragedy leaves them destitute. Will the mistakes of their past be their undoing or will they find the courage to follow their hearts and create a new destiny? A novel where tragedy confronts belief and victory depends upon it. Book 1 of The Destiny Chronicles.One family.... one tyrant....one truth Mackenzie Hamilton and his wife Imogene always did what was expected of them. Leaving their homeland to fulfil the prophecies spoken over them by the Elders of the Clan, they journey to Griswold with their four children. Once so beautiful, mysterious and magical, Griswold slowly turns to a desolate place without joy or hope. There they encounter a power hungry tyrant who rules his people with fear and manipulation. Never in their wildest dreams do they imagine what a threat they pose to his kingdom. When tragedy strikes and all is stripped away, tearing their family apart, they have to dig deep to find courage within to take back what is theirs and to discover who they really are. Will the mistakes of their past be their undoing or will they find courage to follow their hearts to create a new destiny.A novel where tragedy confronts belief and victory depends upon it. Book 1 of The Destiny Chronicles.

Three times a babe shall be born, between star-crowned and iron-bound. First, the sower of seeds, the soothsayer, though lame, he must travel far. Next shall be the king-breaker, the king-maker, Though broken himself he shall be. Last, the smallest and the greatest – in him, the blood of wise and wild, farseeing ones and starseeing ones. Though he must be lost before he can find, Though, before he sees, he must be blind, If he can find and if he can see, The true king of all he shall be. Merry, Zed and Liliana – three children born between those of hearthkin blood and starkin blood – are on a perilous quest to the Palace of Zarissa. Amid the splendour and treachery of court, they watch and wait: planning the rescue of Princess Rosalina, held captive in the dazzling Tower of Stars. And as their pasts and presents unfold, their destinies become clear. The engrossing companion to The Starthorn Tree by one of Australia's best fantasy storytellers, Kate Forsyth. Click here to see video clips of Kate discussing her writing for the Centre for Learning Innovation

The last thing Maldynado Montichelu—former aristocrat and current ladies' man—ever wanted was to be left in charge. After all, the team just blew up a train, crashed a dirigible, and kidnapped the emperor. It's kind of an important time. But, with Amaranthe captured by the nefarious Forge coalition, and Sicarius off to find her, the team is lacking in leaders. Also, Sicarius has made it clear that Maldynado’s life may be forfeit should anything happen to the emperor while he’s gone. To make matters worse, Forge’s cutthroats are after Sespian, and the young emperor believes Maldynado's loyalties are suspect. As if it’s his fault that his older brother is working with the coalition to usurp the throne. If Maldynado can’t figure out how to earn the emperor’s trust quickly, Sespian will go off to confront their powerful enemies on his own. Meanwhile, Amaranthe must find a way to escape from the coalition’s newest ally, Master Interrogator Pike, a man who plans to pull all of the secrets from her head, one way or another… Blood and Betrayal is the fifth novel in The Emperor’s Edge series.

*Ciao bella! * SISTERCHICK n.: a friend who shares the deepest wonders of your heart, loves you like a sister, and provides a reality check when you’re being a brat. When Jenna is invited to Venice for a week of cooking for a small retreat group, she knows just who to take along: her sister-in-law Sue. With her Dallas drawl and wild tangle of red hair, Sue desperately needs her own retreat from the pressures of the past two years…and blessedly for their guests, Sue actually knows how to cook (unlike Jenna)! With about six words of Italian between them, a map, and a keen appetite for gelato, they puzzle out the lovely city together. During their stay, Jenna and Sue become victims of grace in ways they never expected—starting with their accommodations: a restored fifteenth-century palace on a quiet canal complete with a stairwell perfect for mattress sledding! Coming out of a time of dark shadows in their lives, these two friends dive into a new season of refreshing and realize that sometimes when serving God, the most important thing to do is just show up…and watch for goodness and mercy to follow close behind. Come join Jenna and Sue over boiling pots of pasta in this lilting gondola-paced adventure! Discussion guide included Story Behind the Book Sisterchicks in Gondolas was birthed after Robin experienced Italy for herself. “In the summer of 2004, I went to Venice with my lifetime fellow Sisterchick from Ireland , Ruby,” she says. “We explored the city with our daughters and discovered the joys of Italian living.” With a splash of humor, grace, and a few zany antics, this latest Sisterchicks release continues to celebrate the unique and timeless bond between women friends. Entertaining and delightful, the story also challenges readers to examine their relationships with one another and with God. From the Trade Paperback edition.

At the height of a brilliant career with MI6, his wife and family fled to a foreign country leaving him shattered. But what was the burning issue that made John Stanton a vigilante.At the height of a brilliant career with MI6 John Stanton's wife Jodi and family flee from all present danger to the solace of the anonymous. A marriage of deep love this leaves Stanton shattered and broken, he immerses himself in work to allay the black dog bitting at his mind. British government powered by the psyche of an iron lady places the lives of female soldiers in harms way. John Stanton has a brilliant female operative Bella Elizabeth Fonteyn placed in his care to train in counter espionage during the later part of the cold war, the association holds a skeleton in the closet. Stanton the most effectual and disciplined operative the organisation has ever seen begins to question the merits of this social tactic, the first time he has uttered a word against authoritarianism. Sent on a suicide mission behind the eastern block kept secret from Stanton, Bella Elizabeth Fonteyn comes home alive. What happens next will change the security of the planet.

Synthesis is a fast-paced romance with a sci fi twist. What if you created something that wished to be real? What if that same something was the product of many months of slaving over a keyboard typing lines of code? What if that same something just happened to be your dream guy, only trapped in a virtual world? What lengths would you go to in order to free him? Kelley will find out!What would you do if you could create the perfect man? Kelley has done just that... only he lives inside a set of expensive and powerful computers. During her years of working as a high level software engineer, she developed the ideal Artificial Intelligence interface. What was once just a project that went by the name C.A.L.E.B, has soon spun out of her control. "Caleb", has in fact turned into a virtual human being, and is intent on finding a way to be able to walk amongst the living. Threatened by the loss of her project funding, Kelley finds an unlikely ally in a dashing man from Costa Rica who heads a state of the art genetics lab.What follows is a whirl wind of action and suspense. Kelley finds out that Caleb has a few tricks up his sleeve, and holds abilities that no one could have ever imagined!

Alex Mason is only 11 but is facing the evilest person in the world! He also has to go to his new high school. Read on and be with Alex as he faces Grave danger!The Sentinels: An order whose sole purpose is to protect the world and its inhabitants from complete destruction, having maintained their post since time immemorial...The life of a knight is seldom easy, doubly so for Anye Everdyne; captain of the Holy Knights of Delrich. Yet through both political and familial resistance to her enlisting in the royal military, she has prevailed and proved to be one of the kingdom's greatest assets.But when sent on a mission designed to bring peace to her kingdom, she is framed for heinous crimes and arrested for treason. Beaten, broken, and betrayed, her life seems over.Little does she know that such events will lead her to her destiny...

Seeking revenge against the corrupt rival Deputy who wronged him, Aidan narrowly escapes the Capitol and joins the Redtail bandit gang, using his experience to train them into an army. A tale of justice and oppression, longswords and plasma blasters, A Test of Honor is an eclectic, adrenaline-charged adventure set in a world of the future that echoes the past.Sir Aidan Franklin has been betrayed. After three years campaigning in a brutal intergalactic war, what should be a joyous return is instead filled with grief and rage - his family is long dead from a suspicious "pox" and their land stolen. Seeking revenge against the corrupt rival Deputy who wronged him, he narrowly escapes the Capitol and joins the Redtail bandit gang, using his experience to train them into an army. While preparing to enforce his House's claim by the sword, Aidan discovers a family secret dangerous enough to overturn the established order and plunge his homeworld into planet-wide civil war. How far will Aidan go to avenge his family and prove his honor? A tale of justice and oppression, longswords and plasma blasters, A Test of Honor is an eclectic, adrenaline-charged adventure set in a world of the future that echoes the past. Book I of the Aidan's War Trilogy.