In this unforgettable finale to the Maeve'ra trilogy, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes has crafted a heart-pounding story about destiny, loyalty, and the many shades of betrayal. Malachi Obsidian has been his guild's prophet ever since he was a child. Years ago, he envisioned a future in which his sister, Misha, ruled and the vampires' empire was destroyed. His people have made many questionable decisions to keep their dream alive, and now Misha is finally on the verge of becoming queen of the serpiente, just as Malachi predicted. When a mercenary from the vampires' inner circle proposes a daring plan to bring down the empire of Midnight once and for all, Malachi knows the shameful truth about Misha, but he must feign support for his unstable sister so his prophecy can be fulfilled. He must do it for his family, for his people--and for their freedom. Praise for the Maeve'ra trilogy: "Atwater-Rhodes made a splash with her first novel....

This collection of Ursula K. Le Guin's recent talks, essays, introductions is the best manual we have for exploring the worlds explored in recent fiction; the most useful guide to the country we're visiting, life.

" She is mine to protect, mine to shelter, mine to feed and mine to cover. When she is weak, I shall be her strength. She was stolen from her world by our captors. Now her survival is my responsibility. It is her duty to endure my lust, respect my nest mates and honour our union with offspring. I revere this giver of life, as is the way."~ Venomous One, formerly of Rök, enslaved gladiator"Six things a woman should not have to deal with: 1) More than one barbaric alien lover/life mate. 2) Long term stay on a slave planet where you’re one female amongst thousands of 'needy' males. 3) Killer space pirates. 4) Psychotic mother-in-law. 5) Putting your alien lover/life mates’ species under the threat of annihilation because you ticked off the wrong Slave Chieftain. 6) A marauding overlord with a harem four hundred strong who is determined to make you concubine number four hundred and one. My name is Lumen. I am stranded in a galaxy far, far away and here be huge f***ing aliens."~ Lumen Young, formerly of Earth, lost in spaceAbducted from Earth and transported to a slave planet in an unknown galaxy, Lumen finds herself, shackled, naked and put on display before an alien horde. Told the males will battle for the right to slake their lusts with her body, she would become the slave of slaves.Venomous One, a proud warrior enslaved, has given up hope of returning to his home world and finding a life mate. When a female is tossed into the arena his soul demands he claim her. Winning his mate by Right of Might, he vows to protect Lumen and be a good provider, no matter how ugly her human appearance.Rescued by Venomous’ people, the couple face space pirates, the condemnation of an alien government, galactic war, and a deadlier threat from within the warrior’s own kindred.Warning: violence, profanity and sexual situations with multiple partners.

Infernum. A shadowy, globe-spanning network of operatives run by the mysterious power broker known as Dante. They hold allegiance to no one, existing as rogues on the fringes of society. In this three-book series, meet some of Infernum’s top agents: Angela Lockhart, a spy on a mission of vengeance; Carl Flint, a retired assassin looking for peace; and Dalton Moore, a professional thief drawn into a dangerous game!

SUMMARY:In the second breathtaking volume of Robin Hobb's Liveship Traders trilogy, a new tide of glory and terror sweeps forward the story of the Vestrit clan, their liveship Vivacia, and all who strive to possess her.As the ancient tradition of Bingtown's Old Traders slowly erodes under the cold new order of a corrupt ruler, the Vestrits anxiously await the return of their liveship--a rare magic ship carved from sentient wizardwood, which bonds the ships mystically with those who sail them. And Althea Vestrit waits even more avidly, living only to reclaim the ship as her lost inheritance and captain her on the high seas. But the Vivacia has been seized by the ruthless pirate captain Kennit, who holds Althea's nephew and his father hostage. Althea and her onetime sea mate Brashen resolve to liberate the liveship--but their plan may prove more dangerous than leaving the Vivacia in Kennit's ambitious grasp....From the Paperback edition.

After his family is killed by thieves, sole survivor Trey McAlister is taken in by a nearby Comanche clan. Trey has a gift for magic and the clan’s shaman, Singing Crow, makes him an apprentice. While learning to control his powers, Trey bonds with a young warrior and shape-shifter, Gray Talon. When they are sent out on a quest to find the missing daughter of a dragon, they encounter the same bandits who murdered Trey’s family, as well as a man made of copper who drives Trey to dig deeper into the magics that created him. It doesn’t take them long to discover a rancher near Cheyenne, Wyoming is plotting to build a workforce of copper men—and has captured the dragon’s daughter they’ve been searching for. Trey and Gray Talon must draw on all their knowledge and skills to complete their quest—one that grows more complicated, and more dangerous, with each passing day.

15-year-old Ellie Bumbalow has only ever known three things: magic, chores, and bullying from her sisters. She could not imagine a world outside of those things. That is, until she saves the life of a Cooper.She knew the Coopers and Bumbalows were in a magical blood feud as old as the two families. But when she helps the Cooper boy, she finds much more than enemy - she finds love.

Angela Lockhart swore to never work with Infernum again. But when the search for her husband's killer hits a dead end, she's left with no choice except to once again perform a job in exchange for the information she needs. Her mission: rescue a disgraced scientist who holds the secret to a deadly biological weapon. She's not the only one after him, though. A team of highly skilled assassins is on the job as well, and they'll eliminate anyone who gets in their way!

Tim's younger brother hates him. Their father abuses him. His mother is indifferent to everyone. When Tim discovers the nameless man passed out in the shed, it's the best thing that's happened to him in his fifteen years of life-- better than the time he caught the neighbour's dog. It's an opportunity he won't forget as long as he lives. Too bad the same can't be said for the nameless man.

Aries has lived her entire life aboard mankind's last hope, the New Dawn, a spaceship traveling toward a planet where mankind can begin anew- a planet that won't be reached in Aries' lifetime. As one of the last genetically desirable women in the universe,she must marry her designated genetic match and produce the next generation for this centuries long voyage. But Aries has other plans. When her desperate escape from the New Dawn strands her on a desert planet, Aries discovers rumors about pirates - humans who have escaped her before its demise - are true. Handsome, genetically imperfect Striker possess the freedom Aries' envies, and the two connect on a level she never thought possible. But pursued by her match from above and hunted by the planet's native inhabitants, Aries quickly learns freedom will come at a hefty price. The life of the man she loves.

A nightmare with no end .... In AD2600 the human race is finally beginning to realise its full potential. Hundreds of colonised planets scattered across the galaxy host a multitude of prosperous and wildly diverse cultures. Genetic engineering has pushed evolution far beyond nature\'s boundaries, defeating disease and producing extraordinary spaceborn creatures. Huge fleets of sentient trader starships thrive on the wealth created by the industrialisation of entire star systems. And thoughout inhabited space the Confederation Navy keeps the peace. A true golden age is within our grasp. But now something has gone catastrophically wrong. On a primitive coloney planet a renegade criminal\'s chance encounter with an utterly alien entity unleashes the most primal of all our fears. An extinct race which inhabited the galaxy aeons ago called it \'The Reality Dysfunction\'. It is the nightmare which has prowled beside us since the beginning of history. This is space opera on an epic scale, with dozens of characters, hundreds of planets, universe-spanning plots, and settings that range from wooden huts and muddy villages to sentient starships and newborn suns. It\'s also the first part of a two-volume book that is itself the first book of a series. There\'s no question that there\'s a lot going on here (too much to even begin to detail the plot), but Hamilton handles it all with an ease reminiscent of E. E. \'\'Doc\'\' Smith. The best way to describe it: it\'s big, it\'s good, and luckily there\'s plenty more on the way.

The ultimate maquiladora. Montezuma Strip: First world tech and Third World wages, sprawling from L.A. to East Elpaso Juarez, Guyamas to Phoenix; a thousand gangs, a million locos; and a few wealthy beyond the dreams of god.

In second-century Britain, Macey and a gang of fellow deserters from the Roman army hunt and are hunted by deadly local tribes. Fifteen centuries later, during the English Civil War, Thomas Rowley hides from the ruthless troops who have encircled his village. And in contemporary Britain, Tom, a precocious, love-struck, mentally unstable teenager, struggles to cope with the imminent departure for London of his girlfriend, Jan. Three separate stories, three utterly different lives, distant in time and yet strangely linked to a single place, the mysterious, looming outcrop known as Mow Cop, and a single object, the blunt head of a stone axe: all these come together in Alan Garner's extraordinary Red Shift, a pyrotechnical and deeply moving elaboration on themes of chance and fate, time and eternity, visionary awakening and destructive madness.