Wiki Coffin plays many parts on the U.S. Exploring Expedition---sailor, linguist, navigator, and, as half-Maori, cultural go-between. But then the brig Swallow reaches the coast of Patagonia, an area infamous for its rough gauchos and revolutionary spirit, and he must take on his other role, that of agent of U.S. law and order. A New England whaler shows up, desperate to find the devious trader who has cheated him of a thousand dollars and a schooner. Wiki is assigned to find the missing ship, only to follow a trail of clues to a dead body, half-buried in a hill of salt, its skull picked clean by vultures. The adventure unravels in the impoverished village of El Carmen de Patagones, where the threat of French invasion is imminent, and business is at a standstill under the orders of General de Rosas, the tyrant of Buenos Aires. Wiki must risk both life and reputation in pursuit of a vicious and determined killer who has set his sights on another target: the U.S. Exploring Expedition itself.
The explosion was heard twenty miles away. It killed boatmen and wrecked the exotic villa of Lawrence Alma-Tadema, the fashionable St John's Wood artist. But what caused the 1874 Regent's Park explosion? Fenian bombs? Sabotage by rival railways or other firms? Or was it something personal? And whose was the other body found in the canal? An artist's model? The missing King's Cross barmaid? Or another victim of the so-called Thames murderer? As he struggles to find the answers, Scotland Yard's Sergeant Ernest Best straddles the conflicting worlds of art, wealth and privilege and that of the poverty-stricken London boatman in an intriguing mystery that will change his life forever. The first book in the Detective Sergeant Best series.
THE MANGLED SPOON is about what happens when evil finds a home in the Catholic Church. Cello-playing psychiatrist Marcus Rukeyser has a problem: Miss Jane, his newest patient is catatonic. Discovered foraging for food in a dumpster clutching a curiously damaged antique spoon, Rukeyser learns she's connected to three dead or missing nuns from a prominent Chicago parish. With only two weeks until she's committed to a state mental institution, authorities make it clear they'll go to any lengths to prevent him from uncovering the ugly truth—including destroying his career, his home and potentially his life. This novel by author Joan Mauch is by turns frightening and thought provoking. "Magnificent! A plot so creepy you'll swear you feel the spiderwebs, and a heroine so compelling you'll wish you were her best friend. Don't miss this sure to be best-seller by Joan Mauch." —Shane Gericke, best-selling author of TORN APART
CAT: Street Punk, Psion, Telepath, Survivor. . . Kidnapped by an interstellar corporation and dragged to Earth, Cat is forced to use his skills to protect those he most hates, those who most hate him . . . . The taMings. A cyber-augmented, DNA-incestuous clan of such wealth and power that their family arguments change the destiny of worlds. Now one taMing is a killer's target. But which? And who would dare? Seeking answers, Cat finds lies and savagery, passion and atrocity--trails that lead from crystal valleys to clubs for silver-skinned beauties. From the homicidal enclaves of drug kings to a fanatic's pulpit. From the halls of the Assembly to a cyberspace hell. Seeking assassins, Cat discovers a mystery that could cost him his future. His sanity. His life. Because Cat is no longer a bodyguard . . . He's bait. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Joan Slonczewski's A Door into Ocean is the novel upon which the author's reputation as an important SF writer principally rests. A ground-breaking work both of feminist SF and of world-building hard SF, it concerns the Sharers of Shora, a nation of women on a distant moon in the far future who are pacifists, highly advanced in biological sciences, and who reproduce by parthenogenesis--there are no males--and tells of the conflicts that erupt when a neighboring civilization decides to develop their ocean world, and send in an army. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Mandi Meredith Briggs is forty-two and her biological clock is ticking. After being deserted just before her wedding date ten years earlier, she is wary of men and romance. Humiliated, she moved back home to live with her opinionated mom and nana in Bedford, New Hampshire. Mandi takes a part-time secretarial job at the local Presbyterian church, only to fall madly in love with the handsome minister, Kenyon Carver. But there’s a fly in the ointment! Kenyon is married, and Mandi would never do anything to hurt his marriage. But Kenyon’s wife has just run off with the church organist, a woman, leaving her lonesome hubby behind. Then another man enters the picture. Handsome hunk Aaron Grant’s wife has just died. Suddenly two men are available and both want her. Mandi is secretly a writer of erotic romances and wonders how Kenyon’s congregation would deal with that. While wondering which man to choose, “the casserole brigade” is hotly pursuing Aaron. Add in Elvissa Preston, a female Elvis impersonator who’s so bad that she’s good, and you have a hilarious romantic novel full of fun and sexy possibilities.
The Unmaking of a Dancer sheds a blistering light on the raw, fiercely competitive and often vicious world of ballet: the truth behind the fiction of Black Swan. It's the story of Joan Brady's life in her own words. Ballet was the first thing Brady was good at; she really was good, too, performing professionally with the San Francisco Ballet at the tender age of fourteen. A bonus was that lessons and performances kept her away from her unpredictable father and formidable mother. But nobody can stay away for good, and when she finally made it into the New York City Ballet, her mother delivered a career-destroying blow. And yet with the help of the love of her life, Dexter Masters, she found another way of living and the chance for a family of her own.
A young dancer's last hope--a bone marrow transplant--has failed. A homeless man, in the final stages of AIDS, refuses to speak. A newly retired woman has just received a terminal diagnosis and is wailing in despair. What can we learn about death, dying, and the human spirit as we journey with a hospital chaplain into sickrooms like these? Soul Support tells true stories of people coming to terms--or not--with their final days. It offers intimate, behind-the-scenes accounts of the many ways patients, their families and friends, and hospital staff all deal with death and dying. It speaks to readers reflecting on their own mortality or the life-threatening illness of a loved one, and tells of the sometimes-astonishing events that can occur when people are in their last hours of life. The book tells not only their stories, but also the chaplain's. It relates how she listened and learned and stumbled and grew. Soul Support speaks to believers and nonbelievers alike, providing information, inspiration, and hope.
Tyler, Hailey and Megan didn't plan on time traveling again. Their only intent was to prevent their cousins from finding the old trunk and dagger in the attic, but they were too late. They arrived in the attic just in time to be catapulted, along with their cousins Austin and Lauren, back to the year 1914. The young time travelers found themselves thrust into the middle of spies, deception, secret dark tunnels and the legendary D.C. Phantom Black Cat.
Hope Hope Butler is about to watch the man of her dreams, Jake Whitelaw, marry another woman--unless she finds the courage to stand up and fight for him. Faith Faith has always been more concerned with the happinessof others than with her own, and if she isn't careful, she's going to let a good man slip through her fingers. Charity Adopted at a young age, Charity Burnette never really had a home, and she's not one for putting down roots--even if it means shutting out the man who'd love to call her his wife. When the three sisters come together unexpectedly at Hawk's Pride Ranch, the sparks fly. But each woman is about to learn something about herself…about family…and about the love of a good man.
Shortly after graduating from university, beautiful Kara Olavssen feels she has to get away from her British homeland to leave behind a broken love affair that refuses to heal. She finds solace in a new way of living in California working with a segment of society so long ignored and misunderstood. Confident in the challenges that face her, Kara undertakes ambitious goals with gratifying far reaching results. She has settled very well into her adopted country. After another visit to parents, while Kara is sitting at Heathrow Airport, returning to California, she reflects on the past. What has lead up to a marriage proposal suddenly made by Jon, someone who has been in her life forever? Nagging doubts still remain between them of issues that were not resolved. A three months ultimatum is given by Jon to make a final decision his pledge to her is irrevocable. By accepting, Kara would have to give up everything she has worked so hard to achieve. But, is this the man she has been waiting for? Why then, just a few weeks later, does a chance encounter with a man she vows has no place in her life threaten to change her destiny?
On a sunny August afternoon in 1852, on the northern coast of Lake Erie, two dozen bodies from the ill-fated Atlantic Paddle Steamer shipwreck washed ashore and were rapidly retrieved from their watery graves by pioneer farmers homesteading on the Long Point peninsula. Some passenger did survive to tell their stories. While the Long Point families were most receptive to guiding and supporting some of these survivors with what was left of their tattered lives, they never could have imagined how their own lives would be so intimately affected by these destitute survivors. For Mary O'Malley and her three small children, her quest to discover the fate of her missing husband would take a devastating and surprising turn. Fellow passengers, Toby Ryan, a restless 19 year old Irish immigrant had stored up enough hate, revenge and anger to keep him afloat for as long as it took, the deadly consequences of his own unfinished business hanging precariously in the balance.
“In a time when religious liberty is on trial, This Is How It Begins is an extraordinarily pertinent novel dripping in suspense and powerful scenes of political discourse . . . a must read . . .” —Foreword (starred review) “Beautifully written . . . an ambitious and moving debut novel.” —Lily King, the New York Times best-selling author of Writers & Lovers A woman bearing a thorny secret. A man fighting for religious freedom. A battle neither saw coming. Massachusetts, 2009. Ludka Zeilonka is relishing her emeritus status. With the horrors of World War II willfully buried in her past, the eighty-five year-old art professor doesn’t want to accept that there’s escalating cultural unrest in her adoptive country. But when her gay grandson is fired for allegedly silencing Christian kids in his classroom, she and her influential family are thrust into the center of a political firestorm. Warren Meck is worried about his sons. Leading a statewide effort to protect free speech in public schools for Christian kids, the popular radio host is on the cusp of taking his fight to the State House. But when his carefully orchestrated campaign turns unexpectedly violent, he’s alarmed by suspicions that someone within his inner circle might be responsible. As the increasingly vicious conflict plays out on the public stage, Ludka wrestles with resurfacing memories . . . and the exposure of a well-guarded secret. And when Meck identifies the culprit behind the violence, he faces an unbearable choice that could jeopardize his family's future. Can these two come to grips with unwelcome truths in time to make a stand in the final political showdown? This Is How It Begins is an emotionally gripping literary novel. If you like even-handed stories about hot-button social issues, rich character development, and thought-provoking narratives, then you'll love Joan Dempsey's captivating page-turner.
HAWK'S WAY COLLECTION VOLUME 4 Re-experience these three fan-favourite stories from #1 New York Times bestsellingauthor Joan Johnston MAC When the beautiful Jewel Whitelaw approaches Mac Macready with a shocking proposal,he's got no choice but to accept… COLT Jennifer Wright's fairy-tale life changes dramatically in a single instant. But herfiance's best friend, Major Colt Whitelaw, could be the one to mend her heart. SISTERS Is there a happily ever after in store for Hope, Faith, and Charity as theirfamily gathers in Hawk's Pride? Originally published in 1997, 1998, and 2002
A girl’s disappearance in Australia induces a family reckoning in this “dark and lovely work . . . full of elegance and mystery” (The New York Times Book Review). A two-time winner of Australia’s prestigious The Age Book of the Year Award, Joan London’s debut novel, Gilgamesh, a New York Times Notable Book, was published to rapturous acclaim both in her native Australia and in the United States. Now, London delivers The Good Parents, a “completely absorbing” tale of mother love and the harrowing moment when a daughter spreads her wings and vanishes from her parents’ orbit (The Boston Globe). Maya de Jong is a shy, sweet, eighteen-year-old country girl who moves to Melbourne and begins an affair with her older, married boss. When Maya’s parents, Toni and Jacob, arrive for a visit, Maya is gone, and no one knows where. Maya, for reasons of her own, leaves haunting clues in late-night calls to her brother at home, carefully—and puzzlingly—avoiding detection by the two people who love her most. Ultimately, to find her daughter Toni will have to revisit a part of her own past that she thought she had shut off forever—the closest she ever came to being a lost girl herself. The Good Parents is a stunning portrait of familial love, delusions and compromises, and how far we can drift apart in the moments between the words we speak. Enthralling, unsettling, and riveting, this “arresting novel . . . explains the attraction of bad love for young women attempting to break free” (The Independent).
From the author of "Princess Juniper of the Anju" comes a magical story about a boy's love for his dying father and his journey to the mythic Train of Lost Things, where beloved lost objects are rescued and protected until they can be returned.
Treating her search for a husband as a research project, socially inept Dr. Wanda Walling creates a marriage matrix listing the qualities she wants in a husband. All candidates will be evaluated by how many boxes are ticked off. Then Wanda meets handsome Detective Jack Pendleton, who excites and delights her but doesn't meet any of her requirements, and he has a phobia about marriage. Jack is enthralled by Wanda and wants her any way he can get her. Even though he is appalled that she is hubby hunting, he still wants to bed her. Can he convince her to have a fling with him when he doesn't check off any boxes in the matrix? Will Wanda be diverted from her goal by a sexy detective?
Hawk's Way Bachelors Will three incredibly strong and stubbon men of the land rethink their bachelor ways when love comes a-calling? The Rancher and the Runaway Bride When lovestruck virgin Tate Whitelaw becomes brawny Adam Philips's adoring woman, her bossy brothers arrive with shotguns in hand! The Cowboy and the Princess Will the fiery discord between breathtaking beauty Belinda Prescott and ill-tempered cowboy Faron Whitelaw catch them off guard…? The Wrangler and the Rich Girl Tempting Texas debutante Candy Baylor makes potently masculine horse breeder Garth Whitelaw an offer he can't possibly refuse!
While the Xiantu quietly invade the port city of Bain, Tyreen's attention is on the snow mountain that has appeared near the Perrestian town of Angate. The creatures within it will kill everyone in the town if not destroyed. Lord Jareth sends Tam and Crystu, along with a small force of Sorcerers, Warriors, and Soldiers to save the town, but there is a deadly conspiracy at work in Angate which threatens all of them. Meanwhile, Seldar and Trerin, on their way to Bein, begin to realise that something is very wrong in the Kingdom of Light... Volume 2 of the epic fantasy series Guardians of Reyth.
A science fiction adventure-thriller by Hugo Award-winner Joan D. Vinge. Cat, the popular anti-hero of Psion and Catspaw, tries to go home to a planet inhabited by Hydrans, the telepathic humanoid aliens from whom he gets his own mind-powers. Love, danger, and controversy all follow him as he tries to mine "dreamfall," the physical embodiment of thoughts that accumulate in bizarre, fascinating deposits, like a mineral, but with far greater complexities, on the planet.
This book is a result of one of the years of Bible study and discussion at Jupiter First Church. Plowing through the events of the Old Testament Davids life, the author began to think how interesting it might be to transfer the personality and life of this biblical character to the modern world. If David were a politician, hoping to become president of the United States, would he still be the brightest and best? Would he be able to hold on to his beliefs and ethics in the face of the pleasures and perils of accumulated power? How could the events of his life in biblical days be updated to fit the modern world? This book is the result. The reader acquainted with the Old Testament story will recognize many names and events; to others it will remain primarily the tale of an ambitious young man and his journey.
Down-home and delicious recipes from southern Appalachia, plus photos and tidbits on the region’s history and culture. There are many cookbooks about Southern cooking, but precious few celebrate the southern Appalachian food that has sustained mountain folk past and present. Thankfully, we now have Joan E. Aller’s Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly. Featuring more than 150 recipes for down-home, soul-satisfying dishes, this is more than just a cookbook. Complete with passages on the history, places, and people of southern Appalachia, along with lush full-color photography of the food and scenery of the southern Appalachian Mountains, Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly serves as both a cookbook and a guided tour of the local lore, traditions, and culture of this uniquely American region. “For all foodies and lovers of hearty food that feeds both body and soul, Joan Aller unearths a mother lode of southern Appalachian sustenance.” —Appalachian News
Note: This book is an updated version of the author’s novel Royal Bride. One of the last acts performed by the post–Waterloo Congress of Vienna is the granting to Jura the status of a free and independent state. To safeguard against domination by its giant neighbor, Austria, Prince Augustus allies himself to Britain by taking an English wife. That wife was supposed to be the eldest granddaughter of Princess Mariana, but when she runs away with someone else, the youngest daughter, Charity, is pressed into service as a substitute. Charity has always hero-worshipped Gus, who has spent the last ten years leading guerilla fighters against Napoleon’s troops, but she is not prepared for the responsibility of her new position. The novel is about the growing love between Charity and Gus, as together they encounter political intrigues and dangerous plots against Jura and the rule of Prince Augustus.
In We Who Live Apart, Joan Connor returns to the dark New England of her earlier collection and the wry characters who inhabit it: a hunter who has spent too much time listening to the woods, a ferryman whose emotional seclusion leads to a doomed longing for a summer girl, a carnival diviner whose cards foretell her desertion, a corpse who, out of sheer meanness, will not stay below ground. Although childlessness, divorce, and alcoholism are recurrent motifs that underscore the estrangement of many characters, the moods of the stories are rarely bleak. Humor figures in often, as do elements of the folktale and the supernatural. Despite the stylistic variety in these stories, there is a shared vision of isolation in which characters, wittingly and unwittingly, ensure their separateness and even come to treasure it. As the narrator says in "The Anecdote of the Island," "After a year of debate, it conduces to this: I watch you leave as you once watched me. Our cars separate at the base of a hill. You diminish to a speck in my rearview mirror. When I look for you, I stare into my own eyes looking for you. And I begin to think that what you want is not love but the hope for love. Its remoteness. Its shadow self. You linger in dark places." Indeed, many of these characters linger in dark places, but without giving in to despair. In "October," a recovering alcoholic surprises herself and begins to risk the beginnings of reconnection. And in "Women's Problems," a character coping with the loss of her lover, and then her mother, manages to transmute loss to gain with the triumphant realization that she has become her mother and that, indeed, "Worse things could happen." For these characters, their apartness is as often a choice as a consequence, but the choice has a consequence. When Bluebeard's wife escapes her murderous husband and her fairy-tale narrative in "Bluebeard's First Wife," she finds that "Ordinariness sat upon [her] shoulders like a weather-eroded gargoyle." Whether these characters isolate themselves or find themselves isolated by nets of personal and communal history, they move to wisdom rather than despondency. Connor displays a keen ear for language and a mastery of prose rhythms and dialogue. Her writing, which is often lyrical in the best sense, amply repays the effort of rereading and reflection, and the variety of narrative techniques sustains the reader's interest.
John, an unmotivated seven year old is taken back in time by an adult angel. She tries to teach him the true meaning of life. He returns from his many adventures and tells his family about the angel, but none of them believe him. A child angel wants to be his guardian and comes to visit him. The child angel must get John to tell him about every adventure the adult angel took him through, but John is too lazy to tell him. John puts the job off on his sister and brother, but first he has to convince them there is an angel wanting to hear the stories. John wonders why his family, who professes to believe in angels and goes to church, can't believe that he has seen two angels. The baby angel, Joshua, gives John the gift to communicate with all animals, but his family thinks he is making it up. Meanwhile the family is planning a grand vacation with their father who is in on furlong. The family pets are to go also, that is, if they can get stubborn Rambo, their huge dog, to get his shots for the trip. At the vet, Rambo runs into the woods. Meow, the cat, and Baby, the small dog, along with John follow him. They end up at John's grand-parents' farm where they get into all kinds of humorous mischief. When Joshua shows up again, he promises John if someone will tell him the story, he will take all of the children and animals to another dimension where they will have a spectacular vacation climax.
The 25th Anniversary Edition of the first "Cat" novel by bestselling author Joan D. Vinge. Psion is action-adventure cyberpunk at its highest level When first published, readers young and old eagerly devoured the tale of a street-hardened survivor named Cat, a half-human, half-alien orphan telepath. Named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, Cat's story has been continued by Hugo-award winning and international best-selling author Joan D. Vinge with the very popular Catspaw and Dreamfall. Now, 25 years later, this special anniversary edition of Psion contains a new introduction by the author and "Psiren," a story never before included in any trade edition of Psion. This tough, gritty tale of an outsider whose only chance for redemption is as an undercover agent for an interstellar government that by turns punishes and helps him, is as fresh and powerful today as it was in 1982. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
When the Earl of Althorpe dies, his daughter Julia is horrified to learn that the new earl is an American. Her father has left their estate, Stoverton, burdened with enormous debt and the only good news about the new earl is that he’s a millionaire. Julia’s hope is that he will bail out the estate and go back home to America, leaving her to run Stoverton, as she always has. Evan Marshall, the new earl, has no use for the British and certainly does not want to be an English earl. However, he finds not only has he inherited enormous debts, but he is now the guardian of two girls—Julia and her younger sister Maria. On the advice of his aunt, he agrees to give Julia a London Season so she can catch a husband and take care of Maria. Then he’ll be able to go home to America, where he belongs. Nothing goes according to either of these very determined people’s plans.
This anthology of short crime fiction from the Ladies' Killing Circle takes a spirited look at baby boomers as they go from young, hairy and hip to old, bald and bad. The children of the sixties are are up to no good in another wicked anthology from this prolific collective of writers.
Well, that's a nasty thing to have on your breakfast-tray, I'm sure,' Mrs Cloud said. 'What do you want with that?' 'My husband gave it to me long ago. He taught me to use it; I've just been trying my hand. I'm a good shot still.' 'Well I never! Where have you been shooting may I ask?' 'Down at the bottom of the garden.' 'Fancy.' Mrs Cloud clicked her tongue in the same way that she clicked it when she was shocked by something she saw at the cinema. 'Well, I never. What next, I wonder.' 'So do I,' Margaret said grimly.
Through the village, at the dark crossroads, there was a small car parked in an unused lane by the roadside, without its lights. Sebastian got out of Kate's car; some few minutes later, when he was quite sure no other car was approaching, he walked across. Bending over so that his mouth was not far from the driver's ear, he murmured, 'Do you by any chance smoke this brand of cigarette?' Immediately the driver's hand came out and Sebastian laid the chamois-leather roll in it. There was a casual 'Thanks,' and the little car backed out into the road and shot away ... That was how it all began.
The first SF novel in more than ten years from the scientist and author of A Door into Ocean. A girl goes to college in orbit, in a future transformed by technology, global warming, and invasive species.
Roy Unithorne despised his wife ... Roy knew he was destined for a better life. It was Amy. Ugly Amy who kept him back. She must be disposed of finally and for ever; he set about making plans for the disposal slowly and systematically, making allowances, as he thought, for X - the Unknown Factor. And there was Mrs Shiplake. She was also beginning to interfere with his plans. She too must be got rid of. After all - two murders were as easy as one.
THE OBSERVER THRILLER OF THE MONTH For generations the Freyls have ruled Springfield, Illinois, capital of a state of great lakes and rivers. Now convicted killer David Marion threatens their invincibility, and he threatens it from within their own ranks. Water: it's blue gold, and the price on world markets is soaring. When Springfield gets a new mayor, it finds its supply under threat, not only from corporations out for the money but from a disease that appears from nowhere, that nobody can identify and nobody can treat. None of this interests David Marion until his own past surfaces and he finds himself caught between multinational leviathans at war over America's heartland. Praise for The Blue Death and Joan Brady 'Thrills and spills…terrifying... compelling…an intelligent, refreshingly different take on the thriller' Observer 'Gripping' The Sun 'There are shades of Chinatown and Bonfire of the Vanities about Brady's third thriller...sharp and fierce and clever, full of horrid little details and appalled by the arrogance of domination and the weakness of submission. Impressive' Guardian 'A truly extraordinary novel with a fascinating mix of ingredients...compulsive' Shotsmag 'A writer of enormous ability and harrowing power' Mail on Sunday
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