Let three complete books in one take you on a dazzling journey into science fiction's most famous future history: Known Space! WORLD OF PTAVVS Kzanol was a thrint from a distant galaxy. He had been trapped on Earth in a time-stasis field for two billion years. Now he was on the loose, and telepath Larry Greenberg knew everything he was thinking. Thrints lived to plunder and enslave lesser planets . . . and the planet Kzanol had in mind was Earth! A GIFT FROM EARTH Shrouded in lethal mists, the world named Mount Lookitthat was never meant for humans. Life existed only on one plateau, unreachable except from space. But still the planet had been colonized, and the settlers struggled to survive under a ruthless dictatorship on a rebellion-proof world . . . until fate dealt them a wild card named Matthew Keller, whose secret talent might just be their only hope! TALES OF KNOWN SPACE A classic collection of stories that traces humankind's expansion and colonization throughout the galaxy from the twentieth century to the thirty-first . . . AND MORE: Larry Niven's latest thoughts on the evolution--both creative and "historical"--of known space, as well as an updated Timeline of Known Space and a complete Niven bibliography! Contents: Introduction: My Universe and Welcome Back! The Coldest Place Becalmed in Hell Wait It Out Eye of an Octopus How the Heroes Die The Jigsaw Man World of Ptavvs At the Bottom of a Hole Intent to Deceive Cloak of Anarchy The Warriors Madness Has Its Place A Gift From Earth There Is a Tide Safe at Any Speed Afterthoughts Bibliography: The Worlds of Larry Niven

Children become cats and birds, a once-invisible young woman pieces herself back together, and the identity of a mysterious baseball mascot is uncovered--all within this eclectic collection from master storyteller Avi. By turns chilling, ethereal, and surreal, these thought-provoking tales are sure to engage anyone who has ever wondered what it would be like to become someone--or something--else.

Leah Nazir is an Insighter. Reincarnation is her business. But while her clients' pasts are a mess, Leah's is nothing short of tragedy. She's been murdered. A lot. If left to that bitch, destiny, it'll happen again. Leah wants to know who's been following her through time, and who's been stalking her in the present... P.I. Archer Drake has been hired by Leah's mother to keep an eye on her. But the more time he spends watching, the more he finds himself infatuated. Before long, he even finds himself agreeing to help find the person who wants her dead. Over and over again. Now going full-on "rewind," Leah hopes it can stave off the inevitable. After all, she's grown fond of this life - and even fonder of nerdy Archer. But changing her pattern means finding out who her killer is today. And as Leah fears, that could be anyone she has come to know and trust. Anyone.

SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR, JOE HILL! A collection of four chilling novels, ingeniously wrought gems of terror from the brilliantly imaginative, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fireman, Joe Hill. "One of America's finest horror writers" (Time magazine), Joe Hill has been hailed among legendary talents such as Peter Straub, Neil Gaiman, and Jonathan Latham. In Strange Weather, this "compelling chronicler of human nature's continual war between good and evil," (Providence Journal-Bulletin) who "pushes genre conventions to new extremes" (New York Times Book Review) deftly expose the darkness that lies just beneath the surface of everyday life. "Snapshot" is the disturbing story of a Silicon Valley adolescent who finds himself threatened by "The Phoenician," a tattooed thug who possesses a Polaroid Instant Camera that erases memories, snap by snap. A young man takes to the skies to experience his first parachute jump. . . and winds up a castaway on an impossibly solid cloud, a Prospero's island of roiling vapor that seems animated by a mind of its own in "Aloft." On a seemingly ordinary day in Boulder, Colorado, the clouds open up in a downpour of nails--splinters of bright crystal that shred the skin of anyone not safely under cover. "Rain" explores this escalating apocalyptic event, as the deluge of nails spreads out across the country and around the world. In "Loaded," a mall security guard in a coastal Florida town courageously stops a mass shooting and becomes a hero to the modern gun rights movement. But under the glare of the spotlights, his story begins to unravel, taking his sanity with it. When an out-of-control summer blaze approaches the town, he will reach for the gun again and embark on one last day of reckoning. Masterfully exploring classic literary themes through the prism of the supernatural, Strange Weather is a stellar collection from an artist who is "quite simply the best horror writer of our generation" (Michael Kortya).

Stay tonight. Stay forever. When Audrey Casella arrives for an unplanned stay at the grand Hotel Ruby, she’s grateful for the detour. Just months after their mother’s death, Audrey and her brother, Daniel, are on their way to live with their grandmother, dumped on the doorstep of a DNA-matched stranger because their father is drowning in his grief. Audrey and her family only plan to stay the night, but life in the Ruby can be intoxicating, extending their stay as it provides endless distractions—including handsome guest Elias Lange, who sends Audrey’s pulse racing. However, the hotel proves to be as strange as it is beautiful. Nightly fancy affairs in the ballroom are invitation only, and Audrey seems to be the one guest who doesn’t have an invite. Instead, she joins the hotel staff on the rooftop, catching whispers about the hotel’s dark past. The more Audrey learns about the new people she’s met, the more her curiosity grows. She’s torn in different directions—the pull of her past with its overwhelming loss, the promise of a future that holds little joy, and an in-between life in a place that is so much more than it seems… Welcome to the Ruby.

Nola and Tina are both girls with problems. They don't know each other yet, though they will; each is a Creator, with the magical ability to turn dreams into reality. That would be a powerful gift--if either knew that she had it. And this world is hard on dreamers. Nola is trapped in a terrible, abusive relationship with a man she once loved, and Tina is an orphan who makes her living on the street. All their dreams are slowly being ground into dust. That's a tragedy no matter who it happens to. But when the great dreamers stop dreaming, whole universes of imagination can be lost. And the land of Nola and Tina's dreams is fighting back. Into their miserable everyday world soars Espirit, a winged unicorn dark as the space between the stars. he is the vessel of Nola's dreams, come to aid her in her battle, with sordid reality. Following after him comes Prince Michael, whose quest it is to find the human dreamers who can save his land from ruin. And suddenly, Nola realizes that the last thing she wants is to keep both feet firmly on the ground...

What's tasty, good for you, and only takes sixty seconds to make? Oatmeal. And it's making the Yeerks more than a little crazy. Now Rachel, the other Animorphs, and Ax have a new weapon against the Yeerks. Sounds good, right?

The Psalms of Mortality are a thematically organized collection of aphorisms that border poetry in literature style. The chapters are rich in metaphors and powerfully expressive in the existential- and psychological thoughts on liberty, elevation of self-worth, love and value of life, while placing strong critique on cultural values that suppress psychological- and social freedom.The Psalms of Mortality are a thematically organized collection of aphorisms that border poetry in literature style. The chapters are rich in metaphors and powerfully expressive in the existential- and psychological thoughts on liberty, elevation of self-worth, love and value of life, while placing strong critique on cultural values that suppress psychological- and social freedom. The theme of the story follows a mythological figure, Chronos Art, who has prayed from an unknown god to never be immortal, holy, enlightened or saintly, and to be granted freely to wander through all the kingdoms of thought. The Psalms of Mortality is completely psychological, where all the reality of the story takes place.

Eldon, Salena and a few others are invited by the Celestions to observe a metanova, a very rare stellar event. As a result of being there, they experience 'unusual effects' that will change their lives forever.A folk tale and myth which explains the origin of the land crab found in Khasi and Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya, India. It is retold in a lighter vein to enhance readers' experience. The story revolves around a Jackal, a Crow and the uncommon Land Crab. This story is part of folklore and mytholology of the Khasi ethnic race which include the Khynriam, Pnar, Vaar, Bhooi, Maharam and Lyngngam ethnic groups.

After the apocalypse, what would you fight to save?Decades after the apocalypse, a heretical group of intellectuals, hell-bent preserving civilization and fighting the advance of a new dark age, inadvertently spark a war with a country in the grips of famine, and encounter supernatural forces that may destroy what remains of the Old World forever.The End cost humanity six billion lives. Almost every person on Earth vanished when the lights went out, computers turned to dust, and planes fell from the sky. Only scattered survivors remained, surrounded by a world empty and quiet. Now, forty years on, civilisation is failing. The ways of the Old World have been forgotten, and those who knew its wonders are ageing. All that stands between the British Isles and a new Dark Age is the mission of New Canterbury, desperate to save books, art, and the knowledge needed to begin again. Famine has devastated the land and refugees wander in their thousands. Anger is growing against the city and the demands of its sacred mission. In the wild lands surrounding New Canterbury, dark secrets fester, supernatural forces have awoken, and somewhere an army is on the move, hell-bent on ending the Old World forever. The End was just the beginning.

**A love as bright as the stars and enduring as stone...** Katie James is unlucky in love—so unlucky she's been reduced to kissing the marble statue in her own garden. But her luck changes when the statue warms to life in her arms—and turns out to be a hunk straight out of any woman's fantasy! Well, almost...Jorlan en Sarr hails from a distant planet, and, like all the other men Katie's known, he comes with a lot of baggage. **A cursed warrior with a lover's magic touch...** Entombed in his stony skin for centuries, Jorlan has been waiting for a maiden fair to break the spell. Yet this statuesque beauty with the will of an Amazon and kisses like flame is a far cry from the obedient damsels of Imperia. And though Jorlan is tempted to abandon all for the sake of Katie, unless he can convince her to give him her heart in two weeks' time, he'll be turned back to stone. And she'll be lost to him forever.

This is a stunning collection of short stories by acclaimed fantasy writer Neil Gaiman. His distinctive genius has been championed by writers as diverse as Norman Mailer and Stephen King. With The Sandman Neil Gaiman created one of the most sophisticated, intelligent, and influential graphic novel series of our time. Now after the recent success of his latest novel Anansi Boys, Gaiman has produced Fragile Things, his second collection of short fiction. These stories will dazzle your senses, haunt your imagination, and move you to the very depths of your soul. This extraordinary compilation reveals one of the world's most gifted storytellers at the height of his powers.

The normal part of Lorelei MacAlister’s life didn’t just slip away quietly the day Jared Kovach came to town. Nope. The normal part of her life shattered. It exploded. It burst into a gazillion shards of fleeting light. It went out with a bang. Goodbye normal. Hello dark and eerie. While her best friend, Brooklyn, is focusing all of her energy on helping Lorelei hone her abilities, Lorelei is dealing with the reality that Satan’s second in command has taken up residence inside her body. Oh, and the fact that she has a crush on the Angel of Death. But what a beautiful death it is. If those weren’t bad enough, something sinister has come to town and it wants nothing more than to hear Lorelei’s dying breath as it strangles it out of her. Thank goodness the gang has a supernatural champion. But what happens when the only being who can save them switches sides midstream? How can a group of misfits capture one of the most powerful beings ever created? And will they find out how to bring Jared back to them before it’s too late? http://us.macmillan.com/deathdoomandd...

Charlotte Miller has always scoffed at talk of a curse on her family's woolen mill, which holds her beloved small town together. But after her father's death, the bad luck piles up: departing workers, impossible debts, an overbearing uncle. Then a stranger named Jack Spinner offers a tempting proposition: He can turn straw into gold thread, for the small price of her mother's ring. As Charlotte is drawn deeper into her bargains with Spinner-and a romance with the local banker-she must unravel the truth of the curse on the mill and save the community she's always called home.