An unforgettable story of love, acceptance, and tradition. When Maude Chambliss first arrives at Retreat, the seasonal home of her husband's aristocratic family, she is a nineteen-year-old bride fresh from South Carolina's Low Country. Among the patrician men and women who reside in the summer colony on the coast of Maine, her gypsy-like beauty and impulsive behavior immediately brand her an outsider. She, as well as everyone else, is certain she will never fit in. And of course, she doesn't...at first. But over the many summers she spends there, Maude comes to cherish life in the colony, as she does the people who share it with her. There is her husband Peter, consumed with a darkness of spirit; her adored but dangerously fragile children; her domineering mother-in-law, who teaches her that it is the women who posses the strength to keep the colony intact; and Maine native Micah Willis, who is ultimately Maude's truest friend. This brilliant novel, rich with...

/MEGA-BOOKS In this new adventure, Nancy's friend Colleen is preparing to jump her beloved horse, Nightingale, in the Midwest International Horse Show. The prize-winning filly is worth a cool $200,000, and that kind of cash can breed plenty of greed, ambition, and danger. Soon Nancy has her hands full trying to stop a mysterious culpri

It is 1888 and Queen Victoria has remarried, taking as her new consort Vlad Tepes, the Wallachian Prince infamously known as Count Dracula. Peppered with familiar characters from Victorian history and fiction, the novel follows vampire Geneviève Dieudonné and Charles Beauregard of the Diogenes Club as they strive to solve the mystery of the Ripper murders. Anno Dracula is a rich and panoramic tale, combining horror, politics, mystery and romance to create a unique and compelling alternate history. Acclaimed novelist Kim Newman explores the darkest depths of a reinvented Victorian London. This brand-new edition of the bestselling novel contains unique bonus material, including a new afterword from Kim Newman, annotations, articles and alternate endings to the original novel.

Product DescriptionOrdered to spend a year's servitude on the human plane, Zdim the demon, a mild-mannered scholar of logic and philosophy, becomes the city of Ir's last chance when a barbarian armada threatens to attack. Reprint.

"Early in my working life I had discovered that salesmanship consisted not of providing people with what they needed, but with that was essential to their dreams. I was confident that our dining-room suite, complete with carpets, curtains and an artificial fireplace, would shortly be snapped up by people occupying oven-hot semis in the newer and, as yet, treeless, housing estates on the island. The possibility of winter is essential to the happiness of people living in the tropics." Hernie Perera runs the furniture department in Benson's, the largest store in Singapore. In his spare time, he writes stories. Suddenly, his comfortable life is shattered. His father is found to have terminal cancer, he loses his job, and his lover joins the 'Children of the Book', a Christian sect committed to overthrowing an oppressive government. An old acquaintance and government official promises Hernie literary success in exchange for information on the 'Children of the Book'. He must now...

What do you do when memories from a past life threaten to upend your present? When Mark Albert meets Michael Ramsey at an exhibition, he is drawn to the man. What he doesn't expect is for Ramsey to be a centuries old vampire or for himself to be the reincarnation of Mathew Ferran, a vampire hunter. The last thing he wants is memories of a past life to disrupt his well ordered life. As memories of the reluctant alliance between Mathew and Ramsey surface, Mark finds himself meeting vampires from his past life, some who are glad to see him, and some who are not. With the lure of the past drawing Mark back to Ramsey over and over again, will he choose to rekindle the once buried past or leave it behind for a different future?

Seduced by the Secret Circle, a coven of young witches whose power has controlled New Salem for three hundred years, Cassie falls hopelessly in love with the leader's boyfriend and falls prey to dark powers.

An 87th Precinct novel - Certain that someone is trying to kill her, Emma Bowles turns to another killer for protection, and only a dedicated cop trapped in a defective legal system can save her

In his latest novel, Julian Barnes, author of Talking It Over and A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters, trains his laser-bright prose on the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe. Stoyo Petkanov, the deposed Party leader, is placed on trial for crimes that range from corruption to political murder. Petkanov's guilt -- and the righteousness of his opponents -- would seem to be self-evident. But, as brilliantly imagined by Barnes, the trial of this cunning and unrepentant dictator illuminates the shadowy frontier between the rusted myths of the Communist past and a capitalist future in which everything is up for grabs. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Our world has long been protected by "The Ring" - a benevolent secret society of witches and conjurers dedicated to the continuance and well-being of humankind. Now, in the face of impending climatic disaster, the Ring has uncovered a conspiracy potentially more destructive than any it has ever had to contend with. For eons, the mages of a neighboring universe have been looting the Earth of ideas, innovations and technologies - all the while manipulating events and creating devastating catastrophes for their own edification. And unless the brazen piracy is halted, our planet is certainly doomed. Aboard a modified city omnibus, a raiding party of adepts is dispatched to Arth, the stronghold of the interfering Pentarchy - a world ruled by magic, ritual and unbending tradition. And while the Inner Ring on Earth battles spies, traitors and the terrifying sendings of an evil, would-be queen, a motley group of commandoes launches a cynical attack on the virtue of the great citadel of Arth - determined to conquer the mighty fortress through internal dissension, psychological sabotage and kamikaze sex. But ultimately the destiny of two separate universes is in the hands of a trio of unlikely champions: a dotty old Earth woman, caretaker to many cats and a bizarre, simianlike familiar...a rebellious heir to the Pentarchy, whose birthright enables him to perform astonishing feats...and Zillah, a beautiful but troubled young mother who unknowingly possesses the wildest, strangest, and most powerful magic of all. A Sudden Wild Magic is a breathtakingly original, consistently delightful blend of fantasy and SF - a surprising, funny and warmly human adventure of wars, worlds and otherworlds that signals the dazzling emergence of a major new talent in the literary field of the fantastic.

From WikipediaThe Skystone is a historical fiction novel written by Jack Whyte, which was first published in 1992. The story is told by a Roman Officer called Publius Varrus, who is an expert blacksmith as well as a soldier. In the early fifth century, amid the violent struggles between the people of Britain and the invading Saxons, Picts and Scots, he and his former General, Caius Britannicus, forge the government and military system that will become known as the Round Table, and initiate a chain of events that will lead to the coronation of the High King known as Arthur. Read more - Shopping-Enabled Wikipedia on Amazon In the article: Plot summary | Characters | Style | Historical Discussions | Reconciling the legendFrom Library JournalDuring the days of the decaying Roman Empire, the legions of Britain struggle to preserve the ancient principles of loyalty and discipline-virtues embodied in the Roman general Caius Britannicus and his friend Publius Varrus, an ex-soldier turned ironsmith. Whyte re-creates the turbulence and uncertainty that marked fifth-century Britain and provides a possible origin for one of the greatest artifacts of Arthurian myth-the legendary sword Excalibur. Strong characters and fastidious attention to detail make this a good choice for most libraries and a sure draw for fans of the Arthurian cycle.Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

An English Catholic fanatic is on his way to England with Spanish gold and a plan to murder Queen Elizabeth I.Simon Ames knows that if England is conquered by Spain, he and all his family will be taken by the Inquisition, tortured until they confess and then burned at the stake – for being Jews. That's why he works for the Puritan Sir Francis Walsingham, the Elizabethan M.When Ames is beaten up in an alleyway off Fleet Street, David Becket, an ex-soldier with an ugly past, kills the attacker and rescues him. But is Becket in league with the assassin himself?Tom O'Bedlam dances around London with his angels and devils and the Queen Moon. He's a lunatic, too mad to explain his dreadful secret – that he knows who the assassin is and when he will strike.Through the mean streets of a dirty and dangerous 16th century London, across thatched rooftops and under London Bridge with its freight of houses and shops, Becket, Ames and Tom fight to find...

Judith Hampton was as beautiful as she was proud, as purposeful as she was loyal. The dear Scottish friend of her childhood was about to give birth, and Judith had promised to be at her side. But there was another, private reason for the journey from her bleak English home to the Highlands to meet the father she had never known, the Laird Maclean. Nothing prepared her for the sight of the Scottish barbarian who was to escort her into his land...Iain Maitland, Laird of his clan, a man more powerfully compelling than any she had ever encountered. In a spirited clash of wills and customs, Judith revelled in the melting bliss of Iain's searching kisses, his passionate caresses. Perplexed by her sprightly defiance, bemused by her tender nature, Iain felt his soul growing into the light and warmth of her love. Surely nothing would wrench her from the affection and trust of Iain and his clan...not even the truth about her father, a devastating secret that could shatter the boldest alliance, and the most glorious of loves.