Two short stories about wizards. In "Illusions," a young wizard on his first assignment discovers that most things aren't what they seem to be on the surface. In "Concentrating on the Job," a wizardess deals with a curse and her fatal attraction to her client.A new thriller from award-winning best-selling author Robert Stanek! The first book in the series, The Pieces of the Puzzle, was an instant Top 10 Paid Mystery Bestseller and a #1 Paid Fiction Bestseller in Audio. Now former NSA agent turned rogue operative Scott Madison Evers is back in an all new action thriller. Still a man on the outside looking in, Scott Evers is working security onboard the Sea Shepherd, an Island class vessel performing fishery protection patrols in the Mediterranean Sea. No, Scott Evers hasn't become an environmentalist. He's about as far from the pie-in-the-sky happy people he has sworn to protect as any person could ever be. But he's got a job to do. Namely, to keep the yuppies from doing stupid things that will get them killed. With tensions heating up in the Mediterranean Sea and with terrorists afoot, Scott's an instant away from everything going as terribly wrong as he fears. When the dust clears, his world will never be the same again. About the Author Robert Stanek is a dad, husband and author. Robert Stanek finished his first novel in 1986 and has been writing several books a year ever since. Today, he has over 150 published books, which have been read by millions of people around the world. Robert Stanek's books have received many awards for excellence and outstanding contributions to the writing community. Dubbed 'A Face Behind the Future' in the 1990's by The Olympian, he's been helping to shape the future of the written word for nearly two decades. In his fiction writing, Robert Stanek transports readers to imagined worlds, including stories that take place in Ruin Mist and a BIG little place called Bugville. When Robert Stanek brought Ruin Mist to audio in 2005, the books catapulted to #1 on Audible for FOURTEEN consecutive weeks and then stayed on the Kids & YA Top 10 for the next THREE YEARS. Robert Stanek and his books have been featured in and/or recommended by: The OlympianThe Journal of Electronic DefenseThe Publisher's Weekly Cover StoryThe Parenting MagazineVOYABookWireChildren's WriterChildren's BookshelfLibrary JournalSchool Library JournalThe News Tribune Wondering where to start reading Robert Stanek's work? Consider "The Best of Robert Stanek" list from OverDrive's "ContentWire for Libraries"...#1 The Pieces of the Puzzle#2 Keeper Martin's Tale#3 Bugville Collection #1: Visit Mom and Dad At Work, Go to School, Have a Sleepover, Visit Garden Box Farms#4 The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches#5 In the Service of Dragons#6 Journey Beyond the Beyond#7 Stormjammers: The Extraordinary Story of EW Operations in the Gulf War#8 Bugville Critters: Every Number Counts#9 Absolutes & Other Stories#10 Exploring Ruin Mist: Special Edition for "The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches" and "In the Service of Dragons"

Samantha Grey is in deep trouble—someone is stalking her and he's getting closer every day. Desperate to escape, she goes to the one place she knows she can't be followed—the Kindred Mother Ship. But she needs a job to stay aboard and the only one available in her field is...strange to say the least. When Sammi interviews with her new boss, she can tell that Commander Roark is an Alpha male who will be a challenge to work with. But she has no idea that he will demand her complete submission...or that she will give it willingly.Commander Roark knows that he wants Sammi the moment he sees her. She's an Elite—her lush curves call to his deepest desires. But a bad experience with a human woman in the past has made him wary of love. He and Sammi grow closer and closer but when she reveals an unthinkable truth, he sends her away, vowing to never love again.Heartbroken, Sammi flees back to Earth...and straight into danger. Can Roark rescue her from a...

Strange things at Alfann have Tessa and the crew heading out on a long run to hide from Masterson Ops. Where better to hide, then, than a return to Lacot and the pirates? This time, however, Brianna brings her whole coven to play. Book Eleven of the Last Stand, a shiny, new space western science fiction adventure series full of bright characters, messy worlds, and all manner of ethical conundrums. Start first with Lost Dreams and then continue on and pick up the rest of this series!

Sometimes destiny needs a little push.... Eighty-year-old Calliope Fenwick's best friend since grade school is living in misery at the hands of her abusive husband. Calliope will do anything - anything - to help her.... And sometimes destiny needs a swift kick.... Noah Madill, a homicide detective investigating a series of grisly murders, is suffering through a divorce he doesn't wantSometimes destiny needs a little push.... Eighty-year-old Calliope Fenwick's best friend since grade school is living in misery at the hands of her abusive husband. Calliope will do anything - anything - to help her.... And sometimes destiny needs a swift kick.... Noah Madill, a homicide detective investigating a series of grisly murders, is suffering through a divorce he doesn't want but initiated... Or sometimes destiny needs a helping hand... And Calliope and her friends of The Saving Grace Brigade figure a way to give fate the push it needs, which indirectly sets off a string of events that ends with two deaths, one expected.

Queen Elizabeth I never ruled. England and Scotland never unified. It's 1841 and the two nations are once more at war. If 16-year-old English Princess Myrtle marries Scottish Prince James she can seal a truce. But the slightest misstep could throw the two countries back into war ... This glorious fusion of steampunk and alternate history introduces readers to the world of The Clockwork War.Queen Elizabeth I never ruled.England and Scotland never unified.It's 1841 the two countries are once more at war. 16-year-old English Princess Myrtle holds the fate of two nations in her hands. She can bring about a truce by marrying Scottish Prince James. Since he is just a boy of 14, she has two years to unlearn everything she thought she knew about Scotland and fall in love with the country that will be her home, and the boy destined to become her husband.The son of a Scottish Duke, Callum McAllister joins the court to teach Mrytle about Scotland and change her reluctant mind about her future. But when war has been simmering for centuries, two years is a long time. The smallest misstep could bring chaos and return the countries to war. Myrtle must tread carefully to ensure nothing goes wrong.This delightful steampunk story introduces readers to the world of the clockwork war, a glorious fusion of steampunk and alternate history.

A Winter Book
Selected Stories by Tove Jansson_ Translated from the Swedish by Kingsley Hart, Silvester Mazzarella and David McDuff.

INTRODUCED BY ALI SMITH Following the widely acclaimed and bestselling The Summer Book, here is a Winter Book collection of some of Tove Jansson's best loved and most famous stories. Drawn from youth and older age, and spanning most of the twentieth century, this newly translated selection provides a thrilling showcase of the great Finnish writer's prose, scattered with insights and home truths. It has been selected and is introduced by Ali Smith.

The Winter Book features 13 stories from Tove Jansson's first book for adults, The Sculptor's Daughter (1968) plus 7 of her most cherished later stories (from 1971 to 1996), translated into English and published here for the first time. With afterwords by Philip Pullman, Frank Cottrell Boyce and Esther Freud.

Exiled and shamed Grace rises above her new station in life to become a hero.Branded a witch and exiled after a dishonorable display at the king’s annual tournament, quiet Grace Hilren is forced to uproot her life of luxury as a lord’s daughter and move to the slums of the port city, Glenbard. But Grace carries a secret. Though trained to be a fine lady, she also learned to handle a sword and has made it her mission to eradicate evil and injustice where she finds it. Even in exile, Grace continues her work under the given name of Death Dealer. Her nightly deeds bring her to the notice of the self-proclaimed King of Thieves, Marcus. When the king’s power is threatened by a rival named Mac, the Death Dealer unwittingly becomes a pawn in the struggle between thieves for control of the lower city. The game becomes dangerous as Grace realizes she may not be able to best this usurper.

Short fantasy story about a boy who disappears while sailing across a goldfish pond on an old barn door.How far would you have to be pushed to take another life? What is the cost of having to make such a decision, even if it is to defend yourself? A woman in an abusive relationship confronts these questions in a final act of defiance.A short sample - For some reason all she could hear was ringing in her ears. She could not understand why she smelled fireworks in the living room or why her arms were so heavy. Through a haze she could see him look at her with a look of shock, a growing stain spreading across the faded shirt she had given him for a birthday years ago. His lips formed two words before he fell face first on the floor. “I’m sorry.” As she looked at him on the floor she realized that the growing pool coming from under his body was his blood. She watched as the blood slowly spread across the floor like a lava flow threatening to burn all in its path. Reality seeped in further as she saw that a small pistol was in her hands even as she could not recall how it got there. A small voice in her head told her to leave and run but she could not. The world turned into shades of gray, everything in black and white. Everything but the crimson pool slowly spreading across the floor."A moving story that I enjoyed reading. I found it quite sad, but it mirrors countless real lives, so makes one sit back and think long and hard about the world we live in and our choices.""Was drawn in from beginning to end. I hate reading short stories for this reason, I WANTED MORE, wonderfully told. True gift he has with words.""Wonderful story. It's an age old tale retold in a fascinating and surprising way. The writer has a true gift for storytelling. I was spellbound from the beginning to the end.""I enjoyed reading I'm Sorry. A insightful yet emotional take of a young girl who fell onto an abusive relationship. Reading this short story was like viewing a abusive relationship right from the inside instead of hearing about one."

Asmara is one of the most powerful mages in the world. Or, she would be if she could use her magic. She is a shadow mage, a wielder of rare and unusual magic, with the power to peer into the souls of others, to change them, to destroy them. And yet to use it comes at a high price, as shadow mages who use their power rarely make it past their twentieth year. On the plus side, it means she can charge a high price for her services as a mercenary.After resisting her magic for twenty years, war breaks out between Mance-Jolune and the neighbouring land of Lakasha. Tension between the two lands is nothing new, but this time, something is different. The Lakashan's somehow have trained shadow mages, and are using shadow magic in war for the first time. Asmara is suddenly of great interest to the King and all his spies, and refusing to use her deadly magic is no longer an option.