God’s will be done. After eleven years as a priest living by these words, Father Antonio Molinari never imagined who would teach his strongest lesson of faith―a vampire. As a member of a secret order within the Vatican, he investigates and debunks supernatural events. A case of possession brings him to the French countryside, where two local clergy offer him the chance of a lifetime. They claim to have captured a vampire, and beg his expertise in helping them study the fiend. When their monster turns out to be a little girl, cursed to spend eternity hiding from the sun, he cannot bring himself to destroy her. The priests, mistaking his compassion for diabolism, panic, and his efforts to protect an innocent child prove fatal. He awakes caught between light and darkness. Hunted by the Church he once served as well as the fiends he once destroyed, Father Molinari clings to his faith there is still room for him in God’s plan. But God is quiet, and the darkness tempting.
Monarchs often face the consequences of a predecessor’s actions—but death is asking too much. Kitlyn and Oona never wanted power, only to love each other… a potentially deadly desire in a kingdom obsessed with a twisted notion of purity. After years hiding the truth, even from themselves, they sit on the throne together as queens. It only took bringing an end to a horrible war—and the direct intervention of a goddess—for the citizens to accept a marriage between two young women. Earning the respect of two kingdoms affords them the opportunity of learning how to lead, but goodwill won’t last forever in the face of complacency. Their resolve is tested as beasts long thought mythical are spotted around the kingdom, threatening the citizens. The sightings take an ominous turn when a stranger wielding unknown powers strolls into the throne room. Worse , the ancient curse still stalks Kitlyn. A cryptic message from a ghost offers her only chance to survive… if she dares risk the safety of the kingdom to spare her own life.
Risa Black will decide the fate of an entire planet. After all, an angel told her so. Orphaned young, she grows up among the resistance, fighting to give the people of Mars command of their own destiny. Two governments from Earth vie for control of the Red Planet. She wants them gone, regardless of how many explosives it takes. To the outside world, she’s an emotionless, broken marionette. Inside, her father’s fiery end haunts her every waking moment. She never cared for destiny or politics, until the angel Raziel focused her anger. Both friend and foe alike believe her grip on sanity tenuous, but she knows he is real, and pities those who will never feel his divine presence. Whenever her adrenaline wears off, guilt at what her bombs did cuts deep, as does the apathy of the citizens she fights to liberate. The pain worsens after unexpected love cracks open her armored heart, causing her to question the role she plays in the bloody conflict. Torn between duty and desire, she learns change never comes without loss. Even to the Hand of Raziel.
A druid’s work is never done… even if she’s ten years old. With the Silk Thieves no longer a threat to Widowswood, Emma enjoys the solace of home and the peaceful routine of her chores. She is happy to be with her family, but still hasn’t quite forgiven herself for making them worry about her. One afternoon, Neema, the Faerie she freed from the wizard’s lantern, returns seeking her help. Her people are dying, and she’s convinced Emma can save them, and do it in only a few minutes. The plea proves hard to resist, and Emma soon discovers cursed animals are attacking the faeries. Even though some Silverbells have perished, they are hesitant to kill the creatures. Their queen hopes Emma can find a way to save both animals and faeries alike. Far from her family in a strange magical forest, Emma feels too small for the task set before her, but cannot abandon the faeries to their fate—even if it means she may never find her way home.
Emma planned to have a nice fun day playing with her sister and friend... not going halfway across the world. For most of her ten years, Emma always felt apart from other children in the village, always trying to be responsible, helpful, and mature. When Ambril Starling, the closest person she has to a real friend, invites her over to play, Emma is excited at the chance to simply have fun for a while. Alas, Ambril’s family is incredibly wealthy, leading to a rather inconveniently timed abduction attempt interrupting their play date. While hiding from thieves, the girls stumble across an enchanted jewelry box that accidentally saves them from being kidnapped—only to put them in much, much bigger trouble. Trouble that might even kill them.
In the aftermath of World War Three, the most famous face in the world belongs to a nine year old girl. Maya Oman is the daughter of the woman who controls what’s left of civilization, the CEO of Ascendant Pharmaceuticals Corporation. Her smile is as ubiquitous as air, selling everything from vital medicine to vanity drugs with risky side effects. Lifelike android clones reside in over a dozen homes, shielding her from the violent resentment of a population straining under her mother’s boot heel. Ascendant’s power comes from Xenodril, a drug capable of reversing the effects of Fade, a disease some claim came from aliens or from the governments that predate the war. Only Ascendant sells it, and at a price only Citizens can afford. The rest are left to die. Maya’s earliest memories are of living alone in a penthouse apartment, desperate for the attention of a mother who never visits. Forbidden to go out except to record advertising video, her only friend has been the ‘net. When she is taken for ransom by a group of mercenaries with nothing left to lose, she discovers her life may not be what she thought it was—or wants.
Sometimes, the best thing a girl has to look forward to is killing someone. When she learned the truth behind her father’s death, Risa Black thought she’d given up on revenge. After an unknown enemy takes the life of someone dear to her, revenge is all that keeps her going. While hunting for the assassins, she uncovers a web of espionage and deceit that destroys her sense of everything she knew. Her idealism tarnished, her drive to free Mars from Earth gives way to something more personal: the need to protect a child. It soon becomes clear she’s in over her head. Consumed by the sorrow of loss, she accepts a mission from the Martian Liberation Front, not caring it’s a one-way ticket. Desperate to uncover the truth hidden behind all the lies, she hopes to find answers in a place that should not exist: Araphel. The home of the angel Raziel.
The Far Side of Promise is an anthology of short stories spanning cyberpunk, high fantasy, psychological horror, and science fiction. In the titular story, a jaded deep-space miner sets out on a desperate bid for real food. The boundary between the virtual and real worlds becomes an Ouroboros. Alex Grant always gets what he wants—until he gets what he deserves in The Tower. Many people hide skeletons in their closets, but in The Roommate, Roy talks to his. At age ten, Kirsten Wren’s mother tried to kill her. To survive, she followed a ghost Into the Beneath. In A Queen’s Lament, a young monarch copes with love, betrayal, and demons. In Evergreen, seventeen-year-old Harper and her little sister find themselves alone after nuclear war. Neris dreams constantly of A Ghost Among Fireflies, an unseen force compelling her to visit a dangerous, destroyed world.
Everything Risa Black believes is a lie. Her angel is dead, the cause she’s killed for is as false as her metal eyes, and the one man she thought she could trust has deceived her for sixteen years. Smothered by deepening layers of conspiracy, she decides to embark upon the most frightening mission of her life: leaving the Martian Liberation Front. After eight years of trying to free Mars with high explosives, and a reputation as a less-than-sane killer who hears the voices of angels in her head, Risa didn’t expect to walk away clean. Her former bosses won’t let go easy, agents on both sides of the war want her dead, and truth is in short supply. A politically connected enemy threatens to purge the Front of those unwilling to play by their rules. To survive, Risa must become that which she has so long denied being—an assassin. With bombs poised to bury her former life and everyone associated with it deep beneath the surface of Mars, Risa has thirty minutes to make an impossible choice: save the life of her daughter by killing her best friend, or disarm the bombs and let her child die.
She saw it coming. She knew it would happen―but no one believed her. Almost a year after tragedy shattered her family, sixteen-year-old Paige Thomas can’t break free from her guilt. Her mother ignores her, doting on her annoying little sister, while her father is a barely-functioning shell. He hopes a move to the quiet little town of Shadesboro PA will help them heal, but Paige doesn’t believe in happiness anymore. On her first day at school, a chance encounter with a bullied eighth grader reawakens a gift Paige had forgotten, and ingratiates her into a pack of local outcasts. For weeks, they’ve been trying to cast a ritual to fulfill their innermost desires, but all they’ve done is waste time. After witnessing Paige touch the Ouija board and trigger a paranormal event, the girls are convinced another try with their new fifth member will finally work. Once the darkness is unleashed, it’s not long before they learn it will give them exactly what they asked for―whether they want it or not.
Ten-year-old Emma doesn’t believe in faerie tales or monsters that secret children away in the night—until she meets one. She lives in a quiet village at the edge of Widowswood with her parents, her Nan, and her little brother, Tam. Ready to abandon the whimsy of childhood, she finds the boredom of chores comforting and Nan’s fanciful bedtime stories silly. One morning, a wan and weary older girl staggers out of the woods and sets the entire town aflutter with whispers of a child-stealing monster lurking in the forest. Nan tells her of the Banderwigh: a dark soul who feeds on sorrow and drains the life from children’s tears. Darkness comes calling on Emma’s happy home, threatening the reality to which she desperately clings. The impossible becomes more and more real, forcing Emma to reach inside herself for the ability to believe. Her family depends on it.
Nine-year-old Kelly Donovan helped save the world from aliens, but now she has an even bigger problem—someone’s trying to ruin Halloween. Life is difficult for the world’s tiniest superhero. Her genius plan to save her parents from supervillainy in one easy step proved impossible… at least not without destroying the Earth. Superpowers, good or bad, aren’t going away any time soon. Mom’s as likely to hug her as trick her into a ridiculous trap, but at least her dad’s mellowed out a bit. Lately, he seems focused more on being weird than evil. Small favors. Kelly’s looking forward to the happy normal of trick-or-treating… until candy starts disappearing. Convinced a mysterious supervillain is responsible, she and her best—only—friend Paige rush to stop all the sweets in the world from evaporating. Alas, with only a week left and zero clues, humanity will likely suffer an even worse fate than enslavement by an alien race: the end of all Halloweens.
Saving the world isn’t easy. It’s even harder when you’re only nine. Kelly Donovan used to be a nobody. Well, a smart nobody. Skipping ahead a year in school made her the smallest kid in fifth grade and a target for bullies in search of an easy mark. She tried to follow her father’s advice and ignore them, but it didn’t do any good. Escaping into her favorite comic books at least helped her through the day. Who needs friends anyway? Sometimes, dreams find a way to come true, even if nobody asked them to. Aliens bombard the Earth with gigantic glowing red crystals to restore its failing magnetic field. Soon after the seemingly benevolent invasion, Kelly discovers her wildest, happiest fantasy come to life: she has superpowers, along with roughly two percent of the population. Her strong good nature leads her to adopt the heroic persona of Übergirl. However, she has one major problem… Her dad’s turning into a mad scientist. It’s difficult to be a hero, especially when your father’s a bad guy.
Ten-year-old Emma has battled dark creatures and protected her home from errant magic, but an unexpected letter brings her scariest trial yet―attending a wedding in Calebrin. Da’s younger sister has invited them for her ceremony, but Emma dreads the huge city, its strange people, uncomfortable fancy clothes, and worst of all: shoes. Her anxiety builds when Nan refuses to go, filling her head with worries about what could be wrong with her father’s side of the family. On Emma’s first night in Calebrin, spectral crying wakes her. She creeps out of bed to discover a forlorn spirit wandering the halls, who seems to be trying to warn Emma of danger. Alas, Da’s prim and proper mother has a low opinion of druids, and an even lower opinion of Mama. His younger brother takes particular delight in tormenting Emma, and her efforts to assist the spirit only annoy him more. She suspects something far darker than an arrogant uncle lurks in the giant manor house where her father grew up. No longer afraid, Emma tries to help the ghost—before she becomes one herself.
The most up-to-date, comprehensive resource on silviculture that covers the range of topics and issues facing today’s foresters and resource professionals The tenth edition of the classic work, The Practice of Silviculture: Applied Forest Ecology, includes the most current information and the results of research on the many issues that are relevant to forests and forestry. The text covers such timely topics as biofuels and intensive timber production, ecosystem and landscape scale management of public lands, ecosystem services, surface drinking water supplies, urban and community greenspace, forest carbon, fire and climate, and much more. In recent years, silvicultural systems have become more sophisticated and complex in application, particularly with a focus on multi-aged silviculture. There have been paradigm shifts toward managing for more complex structures and age-classes for integrated and complementary values including wildlife, water and open space recreation. Extensively revised and updated, this new edition covers a wide range of topics and challenges relevant to the forester or resource professional today. This full-color text offers the most expansive book on silviculture and: Includes a revised and expanded text with clear language and explanations Covers the many cutting-edge resource issues that are relevant to forests and forestry Contains boxes within each chapter to provide greater detail on particular silvicultural treatments and examples of their use Features a completely updated bibliography plus new photographs, tables and figures The Practice of Silviculture: Applied Forest Ecology, Tenth Edition is an invaluable resource for students and professionals in forestry and natural resource management.
Princess Oona Talomir enjoys the little things that come with her station: a handmaiden, her lavish bedchamber, and scores of fancy dresses―the duty to win a decades’ long war, not so much. Oh, did I mention assassins? Seers foretold the conflict would end by her hand. From the moment she drew her first breath, the neighboring kingdom has been trying to kill her so she could not grow powerful enough to destroy them. Fearing for his daughter’s life, the king has kept her confined to the castle grounds for most of her sixteen years. With the tide of war turning against them, the burden of her crown becomes too much to bear, yet one thing lifts her spirits amid the gloom. Her servant girl, Kitlyn. Alas, in a kingdom obsessed with the god of purity, she is terrified to confess her forbidden love. When her father makes a demand she cannot abide―marry a prince to forge a military alliance―Oona panics. He is handsome and honorable, but he’s not Kitlyn. Unable to admit why she cannot obey, Oona does the only thing she can think of, and runs away. Alone and unprepared in the wilderness, she prays the gods will let Kitlyn find her—before the assassins do.
Natalie Rausch said she’d die for a chance to meet DJ Crazy Todd, but she didn’t mean to be literal. A bitter divorce shattered her family and turned her into a thirteen-year-old weapon in the hands of two people who want nothing more than to destroy each other. Once an accelerated student looking at early college, Natalie let anger at her parents lead her down a desperate path of self-destruction. No amount of rebellion gets her mom or dad’s attention—or stitches up the hole inside her where love used to be. She still listens to actual radio because her stupid mom won’t let her have an iPhone. Whenever WROK 107.1 ran a contest, she and her best friend would always try to call in, but even that lost its fun. Her wildest attempt to send her parents a message, falling in with a dangerous group of older teens, goes as wrong as possible. Karma comes full circle in the form of her favorite DJ. He gives her a few hours to make up for two years’ worth of mistakes… Or be forever lost.
There’s only one thing Übergirl loves—almost—as much as helping people: Star Prince comics. Before the Nolmek accidentally made superheroes real, Kelly Donovan often escaped into the pages of her favorite comic series to forget about bullies and her parents always complaining about their jobs. Star Prince and Ms. Omni might be fictional, but they saved her as much as any living hero could. When Dad surprises her with a copy of the latest and greatest video game set in the Star Prince Universe, Kelly dives right in, too excited to think. Alas, diving in turns out to be far more literal than she expected. Übergirl and her best friend Paige—a.k.a Will-O-Wisp—end up stranded inside the MegaStation, helpless to interfere while Dad puts together a most nefarious plan. If the girls cannot defeat the virtual Dr. Infinity in time to escape, her father’s orbital machine will rain down an unimaginable horror on innocent people… adding pineapple to every pizza on Earth.
Once again safe at home, Emma clings to the comfort of family and tries to put the fright of the Banderwigh behind her—but deeds, even good ones, often have consequences. With a new reality of spirits and magic open to her, Emma feels a strong connection to Widowswood. She means to make good on her promise to the Spider Queen, bringing a monthly supply of silk in trade so humans cease their trespass upon the forest. A guild of thieves infiltrates the quiet town, lured by the incredible value of enchanted spidersilk flowing so freely from the forest. At first, they don’t realize the source is a ten-year-old girl, but once they learn, they’ll do anything to control her. Stuck between protecting her family and protecting her forest, Emma draws courage from her grandmother’s stories and makes a choice—that could cost her life.
In the wake of a twenty-year war, the people of Lucernia struggle to believe their former enemies aren’t demon-loving savages. However, that’s easy compared to the more alarming change: accepting their nation now has two queens. Many citizens in a land devoted to the God of Purity view the love between Kitlyn and Oona as unnatural, but the young women have earned guarded acceptance in the wake of their heroic deeds. Alas, unrest stirs in the shadows. Worse, Oona thinks the Talomir family line is cursed. All who have worn the crown before her have met with untimely deaths. Much work lies ahead for the new queens in helping the kingdom recover from a conflict older than its rulers. The people are restless and hurting, trust in the crown is tenuous, and the king of Evermoor demands reparations. That two women should love each other may be the last little piece to hurl the nation into rebellion. Mysterious forces attacking towns close to the border with Evermoor stoke tensions even further, threatening a relapse to war. Their crowns not even warm, Kitlyn and Oona set off to find the source of the raids and stabilize the nation… hoping to stay ahead of an ancient curse.
Fantasy roleplayers often get deep into their games, but thirteen-year-old Keith Croft is about to take it to a new level. He’s been invisible for seven years, smart but not working hard, athletic enough, but too lazy to excel. His parents are sorta cool, but only two weeks into his eighth-grade year, his friends are all busy with sports or projects and can’t hang out. On the way home one day, he stops at a neighbor’s yard sale and discovers a book for Crypts & Creepers that the lonely old woman says belonged to her granddaughter who disappeared without a trace. Days after he convinces his friends to try this bizarre game that doesn’t require electronics, strange noises in his closet wake him. His increasing inability to focus on anything other than a girl who vanished before he was born―and his obsession with her NPC ranger―drives him to dig deeper into the past, searching for what really happened to her. By the time Keith realizes the Gamemaster’s Codex holds something darker than rules within its pages, the curse that claimed the soul of a girl in 1987 has its claws in his group as well. Keith vows his friends will escape―even if he can’t.
Kelly Donovan wants to save the Earth from aliens, but her plan has a serious snag—she needs to do it before bedtime. It’s been a few weeks since the Nolmek scattered giant crystals around the world that unintentionally gave some people super powers. They also nearly eliminated war and shared technology to solve famine, drought, and pollution, so pretty much everyone loves them. Alas, the aliens didn’t visit Earth purely out of kindness. They needed a primitive species to enslave. Kelly discovers they’re speeding up their plans, already abducting people from the super-prison right out from under the cops’ noses, the same prison her mad-scientist father is stuck in. She’s desperate to protect him, but unfortunately, no one is willing to believe the Nolmek could be bad guys. Worse, they know she’s on to them. If she can’t find proof of the aliens’ plan, stop the invasion, and be in bed before nine, she faces worse than the enslavement of humanity—she’ll be grounded.
Emma tries to balance her newfound abilities as a druid with only being ten years old. Chores and having to go inside before dark leaves only a few hours a day to save the forest―or at least her home town. Strange magic plagues the people of Widowswood Village. None of the adults take it seriously, as the effects are short-lived and whimsical. Emma suspects something darker is going on, having listened to Nan’s tales of night pixies who aren’t as nice as the Silverbells. Convinced someone or something wishes ill upon her home, she decides to do what the adults won’t. Amid the chaos, the daughter of a wealthy gem merchant goes missing. Emma’s father and the entire Widowswood Watch spend all their time searching for the abducted girl. Worse, a bully blames Emma for the girl’s disappearance, but after dealing with a banderwigh and the silk thieves, he doesn’t scare her at all—until he turns violent. Emma knows everything is connected, and isn’t about to let a mean-spirited older boy stop her from protecting her home.
Two weeks after Maya tried to save the world, little has changed. Little, except for a nine-year-old’s building fear that her ex-mother’s revenge waits around every corner. When her face appeared on every still-working video monitor along the Eastern Seaboard, streaming her plea and her evidence all over the planet, she thought they’d won. Alas, her fairy tale dream died. The Authority didn’t become noble overnight. Her ex-mother didn’t face punishment for her crimes. The lack of any retribution, or even any effort on the part of the Brigade to hide her, only fans the flames of her worry. To make matters worse, her best friend Sarah is hiding a painful secret. Maya’s fears come to fruition in the middle of the night. In a hail of gunfire, she and Sarah flee into the dangerous streets of the Habitation District, rife with dosers, street gangs, corrupt Authority officers, chased by an unknown enemy worse than Ascendant. They don’t want to kidnap her―they want her dead.
Twelve year old Piper Bailey wouldn’t trade her friends for any amount of money―unfortunately, when her dad inherits a fortune, she doesn’t have a choice. She’s happy with her little house in Syracuse and hand-me-down clothes twenty years out of style. The unexpected windfall is a blessing for her family, but it comes with a giant house hours away in the woods. Heartbroken at being so far from her tiny social circle, she tries to talk her parents into staying home, but they drag her off to the forest anyway. Piper finds an unexpected friend in a boy who lives in the next house, and the two decide to explore grandpa’s giant mansion. It doesn’t take long for creepy things to start happening. Convinced there’s a malevolent ghost trying to hurt them, she asks her parents for help, but Mom goes from believing Piper is acting out over the unwanted move to being legit crazy. A near-fatal attack from the spirit strands the kids in a hidden underground complex packed with supposedly mythical beasts. Thinking the strange zoo cruel, Piper is determined to free the creatures, but not all the captives are friendly. Some are downright evil.
This book "" Autobiography of Matthew Scott, Jumbo's Keeper; Also Jumbo's Biography, "" has been considered important throughout the human history. It has been out of print for decades.So that this work is never forgotten we have made efforts in its preservation by republishing this book in a modern format for present and future generations. This whole book has been reformatted, retyped and designed. These books are not made of scanned copies and hence the text is clear and readable.
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