This is a debut short story. What happens when new, intense love mixes with jealousy and insecurity? Michelle has met the man of her dreams and wants him all to herself. Will she get what she wants and will it give her the happiness she craves?War is hell, according to William Tecumseh Sherman. That was then. Now, war is a game played by established rules, by mutual agreement, by gentlemen, and only when all other means of problem resolution have failed. Suffering, real human misery, can be reduced or even eliminated when war is kept within boundaries. War is now a much more attractive prospect, in this satire. It even makes an odd kind of economic sense, as production equates with prosperity. War is disruptive to the natural environment, and that’s always a concern too. All we are saying, is give war a chance. A short story.

A Roman adventure, set at the end of the Roman Republic - a page-turning rollercoaster of love battle and adventure.82 bc; on the streets of Rome a young thief, Aulus Veridius Scapula, survives by house-breaking and living off his wits. Captured by a retired Legionary Prefect, Quintus Cerealis, he is forced into the Legions. His journeys take him to Pontus, to love, loss, battle and adventure. Will he unlock the secrets hidden in the amulet? only the Gods can tell.A Roman adventure set in the Caucasus region.

In this Bridges of Madison County for teens, Michelle Zink weaves a magnetic tale about summer love that stays with you long after the seasons change. Rose Darrow never wanted to spend her life working on her family’s farm. But when her family is rocked by an unexpected tragedy she has no choice but to put her plans for the future—and dreams of escaping her small town—on hold. Bodhi Lowell left home as a kid and hasn’t looked back. Years of working farm jobs has given him the one thing he wants most: freedom to travel without answering to anyone. He’s already looking past his job at Darrow Farm and plans on leaving in September—until he meets Rose. Neither Rose nor Bodhi can deny the sparks flying between them, but with the end of summer looming, they must decide if it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all....

Can love survive a shattering loss? A grief-stricken widower learns to open his heart again in LaVyrle Spencer's touching and emotionally charged new novel. Late summer, Browerville, Minnesota, 1950: Life is just about perfect for Eddie Olczak. A devoted husband and father, a man of unshakable faith, he derives intense pleasure from the life he's built with his beloved wife, Krystyna, and their two daughters, and is the dedicated handyman for St. Joseph's, the Catholic church that is the cornerstone of Browerville life. But when a tragic accident cuts Krystyna's life short, Eddie is sure his heart is broken forever. Krystyna was everything to him--his true companion. As friends and relatives rally around the family in the dark days and weeks that follow, there is one person who is unable to express what the loss of Krystyna means to her. Sister Regina, the girls' teacher at St. Joseph's school, has always felt a special affinity for the family. Yet her religious vows prevent her from becoming too close to them, even in their time of need. In the past, Sister Regina had bristled under the constraints of the order, but always reaffirmed her commitment through prayer and contemplation. Now the strict rules of the Benedictine sisterhood, which once gave her life a sense of meaning, chafe at her more insistently. Time passes, and Sister Regina and Eddie Olczak continue to cross paths. Deep inside, they realize there is something between them--more than a kinship, a connection that somehow goes beyond their shared love of Krystyna and the girls. Thrilled--and secretly frightened--they both must summon the courage to look within their hearts and make their own choices. Powerful, moving, and deeply affecting, Then Came Heaven is a celebration of love and tenderness, a book LaVyrle Spencer's fans are sure to cherish long after the last page is turned.

A river divides Cottonbloom in two: the upscale enclave on the Mississippi side and the rundown, rough and tumble side in Louisiana. They're worlds apart—but nothing can build a bridge like love... Cade Fournette never had it easy Cottonbloom. He stuck around long enough to raise his orphaned siblings and then hightailed it out West—and never looked back. Even though he's made a success of himself in Seattle, Cade never lost the toughness and the angry edge that helped him survive down South. His only weak spot: the girl he left behind... Monroe Kirby came from the wealthy side of town, but that didn't protect her from her mother's drinking—or her mother's boyfriend. It was Cade who did that, on a long-ago hot September night, before he disappeared...along with a piece of her heart. Now Monroe is a physical therapist who can fight for herself, and it's Cade who could use some conditioning when he makes an unexpected return...

The epic conclusion to the bestselling Tales of the Otori—"one of the most thrilling new series of our time." -The Times (London) A dazzling epic of warfare and sacrifice, passionate revenge, treacherous betrayal, and unconquerable love, The Harsh Cry of the Heron takes the storytelling achievement of Lian Hearn's fantastic medieval Japanese world to startling new heights of drama and action. Fifteen years of peace and prosperity under the rule of Lord Otori Takeo and his wife Kaede is threatened by a rogue network of assassins, the resurgence of old rivalries, the arrival of foreigners bearing new weapons and religion, and an unfulfilled prophecy that Lord Takeo will die at the hand of a member of his own family. The Harsh Cry of the Heron is the rich and stirring finale to a series whose imaginative vision has enthralled millions of readers worldwide, and an extraordinary novel that stands as a thrilling achievement in its own right.

This gripping debut of the Kate Martinelli mystery series won the Edgar Awardfor Best First Mystery, generating wide critical acclaim and moving Laurie R.King into the upper tier of the genre. As "A Grave Talent" begins, The unthinkable has happened in a small community outside of San Francisco. A string of shocking murders has occurred, each victim an innocent child. For Detective Kate Martinelli, just promoted to Homicide and paired with a seasoned cop who's less than thrilled to be handed a green partner, it's going to be a difficult case. Then the detectives receive what appears to be a case-breaking lead: it seems that one of the residents of this odd, close-knit colony is Vaun Adams, arguably the century's greatest painter of women, a man, as it turns out, with a sinister secret. For behind the brushes and canvases also stands a notorious felon once convicted of strangling a little girl. What really happened on that day of savage violence eighteen years ago? To bring a murderer to justice, Kate must delve into the artist's dark past -- even if she knows it means losing everything she holds dear.

This is a collection of parodies by the author of The Name of the Rose and Foucault's Pendulum. Professor Anouk Ooma of Prince Joseph's Land University addresses his colleagues on recent archaeological findings that shed light on the poetry of Italy before the Explosion, Columbus' landing in the New World is covered by TV reporters and structural analysis of the art of striptease as performed by Lilly Niagara of the Crazy Horse.

"An entertaining story that plays like 2001 A Space Odyssey in reverse. Martians, an interplanetary cold war, asteroids, and devolution await.""An entertaining story that plays like 2001 A Space Odyssey in reverse. Martians, an interplanetary cold war, asteroids, and devolution await."

A FAMILIAR FOE. A BATTLE FOR THE HEART OF A COUNTRY AT WAR WITH ITSELF.South Africa, 1899 - the smouldering hostility between the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State and the British colonies of the Cape and Natal is about to burst into flame. War is coming and no one can prevent it. Colonel Penrod Ballantyne, hero of Abu Klea and Omdurman, is sent to Mafeking, 'the place of stones', to recruit and train men for the fighting ahead. Amber, his wife, the successful novelist, accompanies him - eager to see more of the country her husband is about to risk his life for. But when war is declared, Amber must flee with their baby son and pray for her husband's survival against impossible odds.Eight hundred miles to the south, in Cape Town, Ryder Courtney - adventurer, maverick, industrialist - is using his wealth and connections to bankroll the British war effort. His artist wife Saffron, frustrated by stuffy Cairo society, has joined him with their three children....

Thousands of years have passed, but Calu can't forget who he is or how he came to be this way. Nor can he forget the beautiful goddess he did all of this for.Thousands of years have passed, but Calu can't forget who he is or how he came to be this way. Nor can he forget the beautiful goddess he did all of this for. Ides explores the backstory of Bethania and the mysterious wolf eyed hunter.

Holland and Niles Perry are identical thirteen-year-old twins. They are close, close enough, almost, to read each other’s thoughts, but they couldn’t be more different. Holland is bold and mischievous, a bad influence, while Niles is kind and eager to please, the sort of boy who makes parents proud. The Perrys live in the bucolic New England town their family settled centuries ago, and as it happens, the extended clan has gathered at its ancestral farm this summer to mourn the death of the twins’ father in a most unfortunate accident. Mrs. Perry still hasn’t recovered from the shock of her husband’s gruesome end and stays sequestered in her room, leaving her sons to roam free. As the summer goes on, though, and Holland’s pranks become increasingly sinister, Niles finds he can no longer make excuses for his brother’s actions. Thomas Tryon’s best-selling novel about a homegrown monster is an eerie examination of the darkness that dwells within everyone. It is a landmark of psychological horror that is a worthy descendent of the books of James Hogg, Robert Louis Stevenson, Shirley Jackson, and Patricia Highsmith.