Pawns forced to break a stalemated war, many humans became unwilling hosts to the alien race known only as "Sukkers"; a select few received genetic alterations from the "Ancients" and became super-human with incredible abilities to hold back the Drone armies. Millennia have passed, yet the War still rages. Alluvia did not start it, but the Descendants of the Ancients must finish it somehow.Untold ages ago, two races were at war. The battles raged unchecked, driving them across the universe. Eventually, they reached equilibrium; neither side could gain over the other. When they came across a poor, stone-aged planet that would eventually be called Alluvia, one side chose to alter the terms of the war.The human inhabitants of Alluvia little dreamed of events beyond their skies until the day some of their own were taken by those whom they would call "Sukkers," turning the once-ordinary men, women, and children into Drones, pawns used in the great war. The ravages caused by Drones seemed to decide the outcome of the war until the other side also took some of the humans. The small group chosen by those known only as the Ancients were not made mindless. Genetically altered with the DNA of the Ancients, they became "super-humans", endowed with incredible abilities and able to hold back the Drone armies of the Sukkers.The Ancients disappeared long ago, and the Sukkers still claim hosts at will. Alluvia has grown since that long-ago time, with countries, cultures, religions, and wars of its own. Their own technology rises, looking to rival and supplant that left by the Ancients to their Descendants. And The War still rages.No one remembers why the Ancients fought; no one really cares. Alluvia did not start it, but it is left to them, to the Descendants of the Ancients, to finish it somehow.

Everything that falls, quietly or crashing, no matter how far, or how fast…lands. The pieces are in place. The War is coming.Strange Fruit: Prologue is five shorts that set the stage for a story about fallen angels, malicious demons, and the humans stuck in the middle.The Fates know the world is more than what it seems; the supernatural: vampires, witches, werewolves, and the things that lurk in the dark, have for centuries woven themselves into the fabric of all that is Normal. But that is changing. Three teenagers, who can see the future, know something is coming, that a power is gathering in their quiet city of Starfield, and not even they can predict what that means.When Ephraim, a young man who is violently protective of his twin brother, and just a little bit crazy, finds an angel missing a wing collapsed in an alleyway, his act of kindness sets off a chain of events that endangers everything he loves, and may bring about the Apocalypse.

The bestselling author of The Christmas Box now provides readers with an inspirational message which reminds them about the gifts they pass on to their children. Timepiece traces the poignant love story of MaryAnne and David Parkin as they struggle to learn the lessons of love, loyalty, and forgiveness in the face of tragedy. At the heart of the book is an unforgettable story of hope, and the source of wisdom MaryAnne shared with Richard in The Christmas Box.

A Dozen unforgettable stories by "one of the most original writers at work today" (Wyatt Mason, The New York Times Book Review). Slippery figures in anomalous situations - ghosts, spies, bodyguards, criminals - haunt these stories by Javier Marías, "the most subtle and gifted writer in contemporary Spanish literature" (The Boston Globe)