Search Worlds Without End

In the aftermath of the great fire, eighteenth-century London is a city of extremes. Squalor and superstition vie with elegance and reason as brilliant architect, Nicholas Dyer, is commissioned to build seven new churches. They are to stand as beacons of the Enlightenment - but Dyer plans to conceal a dark secret at the heart of each one. Two hundred and fifty years later, in the same vast metropolis, a series of murders occur on the sites of those same churches. Detective Nicholas Hawksmoor investigates, but the gruesome crimes make no sense to the modern mind. Combining thriller, ghost story and metaphysical tract, Hawksmoor won the Whitbread Book Award and "Guardian" Fiction Prize in 1985.

Backed by the power of the world's mightiest sorcerers, the forces of the Empire marched on the Kingdom of York. But York had its own wizardry... including the telepathic gift of young Hawk, who could control every kind of bird--and more, see through their eyes. The key to York's survival was an alliance with Sylvan--mysterious forest dwellers who mistrusted all humans--and to win their friendship, Hawk embarked on a quest deep into Empire territory, where only his mastery of his winged comrades could bring him through alive.

When Taverik Zandro impulsively befriended a struggling young fellow merchant, he had no idea of that youth's desperate secret: something of a black sheep himself, he had no desire to become involved in affairs outside of the ordinary. But after that first helping hand, the youth's turbulent past entangles Taverik in a world of high politics and dark magic, and turns his own comfortably materialistic way of life upside down in more ways than one.

When it is proven to him that he has been chosen along with Marco to defend the land against an encroaching evil that seems inexorable, Zandro wants nothing to do with his god-given role. Of course, he has no choice...

The Blue Hawk is powerful, sacred, untameable. Its sacrifice will bring glory to the gods, strength to the nation - and the success of evil plans by sinister priests. But when the gods command Tron, a temple boy, to rescue the bird and overturn the sacrifice, the destiny of the kingdom is placed in his hands. Hunted by temple assassins, Tron and his hawk flee into the blazing desert, where they are helped by an ambitious young king with dark secrets of his own. And soon they find themselves at the heart of a ferocious battle for the future of their world.

from the Ace edition: Roger Two Hawks thought he'd probably bought it when he bailed out of his flaming bomber. His plane had made an eerie shudder just before he jumped, but nothing could have prepared him for what he found on the ground: Men dressed in skins, fighting with knives and arrows, speaking no language he'd ever heard. The War - and with it all the rest of the world he knew - had vanished, and been replaced by a savage struggle for control of a primitive parallel Earth. Two Hawks' technological know-how makes him a valuable prize for his captors - too valuable to be set free ... and too dangerous for the other side to leave alive.

From the MonkeyBrain edition: In this classic of alternate history by grand master Philip Jose Farmer, Native American bomber pilot Roger Two Hawks bails out over enemy territory in WWII, only to find himself on another Earth—one in which the American continents never rose from the waters, and the ancestors of the American Indians remained in Asia and Europe—an Earth embroiled in a world war of its own, with Two Hawks caught in the middle.

originally published as The Gate of Time (Belmont, 1966), the novel was revised, expanded and retitled Two Hawks from Earth (Farmer's preferred title) for the 1979 Ace edition.

Teenaged Holly finds a strange coin which leads her and her friend Chris into strange adventures with the magical people of the Hollow Hills.

In the Barnum system, Malagra was considered to be the most uninviting planet of the m all. In fact, among the engineers and androids of Kip Bundy's set, it was known as the pesthole of the universe. Which made things quite sticky when Kip's rich uncle assigned him to Malagra to make certain top secret reforms. Because Kip was no Hercules, and this task would have balked even that mythical fixer.

But then there were compensations--if you could call them that--a sex-mad photographer, a couple of lovely maidens in distress, and the ardent guerrillas of the Boy Scout Liberation Army. It's Ron Goulart at his whackiest best.

Many Indigenous people believe that one should never whistle at night. This belief takes many forms: for instance, Native Hawaiians believe it summons the Hukai'po, the spirits of ancient warriors, and Native Mexicans say it calls Lechuza, a witch that can transform into an owl. But what all these legends hold in common is the certainty that whistling at night can cause evil spirits to appear--and even follow you home.

These wholly original and shiver-inducing tales introduce readers to ghosts, curses, hauntings, monstrous creatures, complex family legacies, desperate deeds, and chilling acts of revenge. Introduced and contextualized by bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones, these stories are a celebration of Indigenous peoples' survival and imagination, and a glorious reveling in all the things an ill-advised whistle might summon.

Featuring stories by:

Norris Black • Amber Blaeser-Wardzala • Phoenix Boudreau • Cherie Dimaline • Carson Faust • Kelli Jo Ford • Kate Hart • Shane Hawk • Brandon Hobson • Darcie Little Badger • Conley Lyons • Nick Medina • Tiffany Morris • Tommy Orange • Mona Susan Power • Marcie R. Rendon • Waubgeshig Rice • Rebecca Roanhorse • Andrea L. Rogers • Morgan Talty • D.H. Trujillo • Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. • Richard Van Camp • David Heska Wanbli Weiden • Royce Young Wolf • Mathilda Zeller

This short story originally appeared in Interzone, #227 March-April 2010. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Eighth Annual Collection (2011), edited by Gardner Dozois.

This short story originally appeared in Interzone, #237 November-December 2011. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Ninth Annual Collection (2012), edited by Gardner Dozois. The story is included in the collection Fragments of Tomorrow (2016).

A missing God. A library with the secrets to the universe. A woman too busy to notice her heart slipping away.

Carolyn's not so different from the other people around her. She likes guacamole and cigarettes and steak. She knows how to use a phone. Clothes are a bit tricky, but everyone says nice things about her outfit with the Christmas sweater over the gold bicycle shorts.

After all, she was a normal American herself once.

That was a long time ago, of course. Before her parents died. Before she and the others were taken in by the man they called Father.

In the years since then, Carolyn hasn't had a chance to get out much. Instead, she and her adopted siblings have been raised according to Father's ancient customs. They've studied the books in his Library and learned some of the secrets of his power. And sometimes, they've wondered if their cruel tutor might secretly be God.

Now, Father is missing--perhaps even dead--and the Library that holds his secrets stands unguarded. And with it, control over all of creation.

As Carolyn gathers the tools she needs for the battle to come, fierce competitors for this prize align against her, all of them with powers that far exceed her own.

But Carolyn has accounted for this.

And Carolyn has a plan.

The only trouble is that in the war to make a new God, she's forgotten to protect the things that make her human.

Populated by an unforgettable cast of characters and propelled by a plot that will shock you again and again, The Library at Mount Char is at once horrifying and hilarious, mind-blowingly alien and heartbreakingly human, sweepingly visionary and nail-bitingly thrilling--and signals the arrival of a major new voice in fantasy.

America is a Police State Lite. Drones patrol the skies. The Patriot Amendments have gutted civil liberties. The Homeland Police and Patriot Tribunal have exclusive jurisdiction over all legal actions implicating national security.

Enter Blingbling, the last literate member of the sole surviving band of Neanderthals, sent into the world to earn money for his people, who live in hiding on Manhattan's Lower East Side. After he is implicated in a hip-hop murder, shadowy benefactors retain a lawyer, the hard-boiled Raleigh. When a routine DNA swab reveals that he fits no known human genotype, the Homeland Police take notice. If Blingbling's true ancestry is disclosed, his people are in jeopardy. Raleigh finds himself caught in a professional and personal trap that can destroy his client, his career, and much more.

Political satire, courtroom thriller, and speculative fiction, American Neolithic is also a story of loyalty, betrayal, and redemption. Terence Hawkins has written a smart, dark, funny book that is ultimately deeply moving.

Somewhere, deep in the mighty rainforest, is the Kingdom of the Sun Bear. And there, legend has it, are the seven ancient heads of the Punan - and the secret of untold riches.

To find and possess the heads, a man must brave not only the terrifying creatures of the forest, but must also risk the displeasure of the gods and spirits that inhabit it.

Yet, two groups set off in a ferocious rivalry in pursuit of the legend. They disturb the equilibrium of the forest and risk awful consequences. For, it seems, only one creature can benefit from such a quest - Shadow-hawk, the eater of men's souls.

When newscaster Abby Waite is diagnosed with a potentially terminal illness, she decides to do the logical thing... break her twin sister Martha out of prison and hit the road. Their destination is the Waite family cabin in Minnesota where Abby plans a family reunion of sorts. But when you come from a family where your grandfather frequently took control of your body during your youth, where your mother tried to inhabit your mind and suck your youthful energies out of you, and where so many dark secrets--and bodies, even--are buried, such a family meeting promises to be nothing short of complicated.

A great war, a great love, and the mythology that unites them; The Hawkman: A Fairy Tale of the Great War is a lyrical adaptation of a beloved classic.

Set against the shattering events of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, at the tale's heart are an American schoolteacher?dynamic and imaginative?and an Irish musician, homeless and hated?who have survived bloodshed, poverty, and sickness to be thrown together in an English village. Together they quietly hide from the world in a small cottage.

Too soon, reality shatters their serenity, and they must face the parochial community. Unbeknownst to all, a legend is in the making?one that will speak of courage and resilience amidst the forces that brought the couple together even as outside forces threaten to tear them apart.

WFA nominated novelette. It originally appeared as a chapbook. The story can also be found in the anthology Masterpieces of Fantasy and Enchantment (1988), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. It is included in the collection Tales from a Vanished Country (1990).

Hugo and Nebula Award nominated novella. It originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction -> Science Fact, July 1968. The story can also be found in the anthology Analog 8 (1971), edited by John W. Campbell, Jr. It is included in the collection Hawk Among the Sparrows: Three Science Fiction Novellas (1976).

PRISONER'S BASE...

Hawksbill Station, in the gray and utterly barren Cambrian era, was the ideal prison enclave for an authoritarian government too civilized to execute men for subversion, and too cowardly to allow them freedom. A billion years of impassable time was sufficient insulation for even the most dangerous ideas. But this exile was a ticket to despair and madness, with death the only pardon...

Then a newcomer dropped form the one-way time transit device that had deposited them all here---a man who knew nothing of the world he had come from and found out too much of the world he was in...

The stranger bore a threat to the very existence of HAWKSBILL STATION.

Hugo and Nebula Award nominated novella. It originally appeared in Galaxy Magazine, August 1967. The story can also be found in the anthologies Best SF: 1967 (1968), edited by Harry Harrison and Brian W. Aldiss, World's Best Science Fiction: 1968, edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Terry Carr, and Criminal Justice Through Science Fiction (1977), edited by Martin Harry Greenberg, Joseph D. Olander. It is included in the collections The Reality Trip and Other Implausibilities (1972), The Best of Robert Silverberg (1976) and To the Dark Star: 1962-69 (2007). Is is half of Tor Double #26: Press Enter/Hawksbill Station (1990). The novella was eventually expanded to the full novel Hawksbill Station (1968).

This short story originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, March 2005. It can also be found in the anthology Year's Best SF 11 (2006), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer.

Listen to the full story for free at Escapepod.

Collection of related science fiction stories, most of which were originally published in ANALOG magazines, plus one original written for this volume. The stories are set among independent space pilots traveling between the moons and planets of our solar system, using believable near-future technology.

Table of Contents:

• Europa: The Ice Dragon's Song - (1998) - novella
• Jupiter: Pumpkin - (2001) - novelette
• Jupiter: Primrose and Thorn - (1996) - novella
• Mars: Olympus Mons - (1998) - novelette
• Io: The Debt - (2000) - novelette

Nebula Award nominated novella. It originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, March 2001. There are no other known publications available at this time.

Nebula Award nominated novella. It originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, May 1996 and was reprinted in Jim Baen's Universe, February 2009. The story can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fourteenth Annual Collection (1997), edited by Gardner Dozois. It is included in the collection Dancing with Dragons (2001).

When the crew of the Covenant arrives on Meridian, a planet ripe for colonization, Tam, the leader of the mission, finds their hopes of survival threatened by an alien race.

Jacob Underwood is not like other people.

He has Cotard's Syndrome. He believes he is dead. Which makes his job as a hired assassin neutralising 'problems' for DBG, a massive multinational corporation, very simple. He carries out the task – and feels nothing.

Now DBG has such a problem. A key employee, Emily Buchanan, has disappeared, taking with her a fortune and priceless information which could destroy the company. Jacob must track her down. In previous assignments, he had worked with cold logical precision, but this time he has to confront a threat that he first must understand before it destroys him...

Lovers cursed for all eternity: What magic could free them from their evil enchantment?

Based on a thirteenth-century legend of love and witchcraft...

>Captain Etienne Navarre is a man on whose shoulders lie a cruel curse. Punished for loving each other, Navarre must become a wolf by night whilst his lover, Lady Isabeau, takes the form of a hawk by day. Together, with the thief Philippe Gaston, they must try to overthrow the corrupt Bishop and in doing so break the spell.

Life as a knight is not what Vedren Chel imagined. Bound by oath to a dead-end job in the service of a lazy step-uncle, Chel no longer dreams of glory - he dreams of going home.

When invaders throw the kingdom into turmoil, Chel finds opportunity in the chaos: if he escorts a stranded prince to safety, Chel will be released from his oath.

All he has to do is drag the brat from one side of the country to the other, through war and wilderness, chased all the way by ruthless assassins.

With killers on your trail, you need killers watching your back. You need the Black Hawk Company - mercenaries, fighters without equal, a squabbling, scrapping pack of rogues.

A great warrior has returned to lead Galactica against its biggest challenge yet! Commander Cain, living legend of the cosmos, is marshalling his forces for a desperate counterattack against the Cylon marauders led by the ruthless Baltar. yet, the young warriors of the besieged battlestar wonder: is the mystical "Juggernaut" really a military genius--or just an eccentric despot made crazy by the wounds of time?

Adapted from Battlestar Galactica Television episode "War of the Gods, Parts I and II" by Glen A. Larson.

Battlestar Galactica: Warhawk continues the adventures of the "ragtag fleet" fleeing the evil Cylon Emire and its allies through the universe.

In search of Earth, the Galactica crew comes across the Battlestar Pegasus, long thought lost in a conflict with the Cylons years ago. The crew of the Pegasus has established a colony and is preparing for another battle against the Cylons. However, unknown to the colonials, the Cylons are on the verge of entering into an alliance with a new, and deadly, alien race.

Anuire, the great empire rose from the wreckage of gods-death, from the tumbled lands where the pantheon had died to stop one of its own from destroying the world. In the chaos after Deismaar, Roele founded an empire that would span the continent and last a millennium.

As a fierce struggle erupts among rival claimants to the throne of Anuire, the land descends into chaos and anarchy, and war threatens to tear the kingdom apart.

Catseye, P.I.

Name's Gomez. I'm a cat. And yeah, I talk. Because in an age of magic, nothing's quite what it seems. When you combine magic with genetic engineering, predators and crooks take on a thousand different forms. So do the good guys.

Denver was a new town, new turf for an old stray tom like me. I came in search of a fresh start, but what I found was criminal. It all began when Susan Jacobs, an ambitious and beautiful young broadcaster, met up with a car bomb that blew a lot more than her ratings sky high. After what happened in New Mexico, I needed a case like this like I needed a big hairball. But Susan Jacobs had a sexy little calico whose lambent golden eyes had a look in them that made it really hard to just say no....

So together with a Zippo-snapping, studded leather rebel cop named Leventhal, I'm prowling the streets and alleys of the Mile High City among political whack-jobs, religious nuts, media weasels, talking snakes, gutter sorcerers and wizard wannabes, on a cat-and-mouse hunt for a killer.

And when I find out who it is, the fur is really gonna fly...

Evil has come to a distant land high among the snow-capped mountains of Midkemia, as an exterminating army wearing the colors of the Duke of Olasko razes village after village, slaughtering men, women, and children without mercy. And when the carnage is done, only one survivor remains: a young boy named Kieli. A youth no longer, there is now but one road for him to travel: the path of vengeance. And he will not be alone. Under the tutelage of the rescuers who discovered him, Kieli will be molded into a sure and pitiless weapon. And he will accept the destiny that has been chosen for him ... as Talon of the Silver Hawk.

But the prey he so earnestly stalks is hunting him as well. And Talon must swear allegiance to a shadowy cause that already binds his mysterious benefactors -- or his mission, his honor, and his life will be lost forever.

A portent of annihilation awakens the powerful sorcerer Pug in the dead of night—a dread vision warning of a vast and terrible army descending upon the exposed heart of Midkemia. Even the formidable might of the Tsurani Empire will not beat back the alien invaders. And in far Stardock town, two boys—untrained, unready, and barely come of age—will be called upon by the mysterious Conclave of Shadows to confront a sinister plot that implicates even the highest-ranking nobles in the land. For a nightmare of treason, intrigue, and murder is brewing among an ancient Brotherhood of Death—a clan of merciless assassins whose name is spoken only in fearful whispers . . .

On The Path Toward Greatness, Every Hero Makes a Choice

Legends sing of Sir Gawain, one of the most respected warriors of King Arthur's reign and one of the greatest champions of all time. But this is not that story. This is the story of Gwalchmai, middle son of the beautiful, infinitely evil sorceress Morgawse, and gifted student of her dark magical arts. A story of an uncertain man, doubting his ability to follow his elder brother's warrior prowess and seeking to find his own identity by bonding with his frightening and powerful mother. Disappointed in himself and despised by his father, Gwalchmai sets out on a journey that will lead him to the brink of darkness...

A tale of loss, redemption, and adventure, Hawk of May brings new depth and understanding to Sir Gawain, the legend of King Arthur, and the impact of choices made-and the consequences that follow.

They face a hunger that could consume the gods themselves

From the depths of myth an ancient enemy has returned: the Plague People, whose very presence obliterates whole villages; whose terror destroys minds. In their wake, nothing is left of the people, not their places, not their ways.

On the plains, the warriors and the wise of all tribes gather to confront the aggressor. Loud Thunder leads his great war-host south, even as Tecumet and Asman head north with the Sun River army. With Maniye Many Tracks, they plan to forge a new unity between the tribes such as the world has never seen. But will it be enough to stave off an oblivion that might devour even their gods?

Their adversary's presence is like a wound in the world, and wakes all the old terrors and evils from the peoples' stories. But before they can deal with the enemies without, they must conquer their demons within.

Science Fiction or Prophesy?

Werewolves in Connecticut? A liberal-conservative revolution? An underground "dirty tricks" squad who rob from the poor to give to the rich? Scandal in the highest political circles?

Almost before Reporter Noah Kraft knows what he's after - if he ever really learns - he's captured by the ultra-conservative Robin Hood Foundation, meets its superpatriot leader, George Washington II, has a run-in with the Jersey Mafia (which claims it doesn't exist), and finds out what the mystery is behind the name "Hawkshaw".

It's a wild and wacky satire on today's political climate - to its mind-boggling extreme in a radically different United States... thirty-odd years from now.

Fantasy needs a new hero. Meet Gallow—Truesword, Griefbringer, and trouble for anyone who crosses him. The first in a trilogy of fast-paced historical fantasies.

I have been Truesword to my friends, Griefbringer to my enemies. To most of you I am just another Northlander bastard here to take your women and drink your mead, but to those who know me, my name is Gallow. I fought for my king for seven long years. I have served lords and held my shield beside common men. I have fled in defeat and I have tasted victory and I will tell you which is sweeter. Despise me then, for I have slain more of your kin than I can count, though I remember every single face. For my king I will travel to the end of the world. I will find the fabled Crimson Shield so that his legions may carry it to battle, and when Sword and Shield must finally clash, there you will find me. I will not make pacts with devils or bargains with demons for I do not believe in such things, and yet I will see them all around me, in men and in their deeds. Remember me then, for I will not suffer such monsters to live.

Even if they are the ones I serve.

I fought against your people, and I have fought for them. I have killed, and I have murdered. I betrayed my kin and crippled my king. I led countless warriors to their deaths and fought to save one worthless life. I have stood against monsters and men and I cannot always tell the difference.

Fate carried me away from your lands, from the woman and the family I love. Three hellish years but now, finally, I may return. I hope I will find them waiting for me. I hope they will remember me while all others forget. Let my own people believe me dead, lest they hunt me down. Let me return in the dark and in the shadows so no one will know.

But hope is rare and fate is cruel. And if I have to, I will fight.

The last battle for the fate of your country is coming. My kin are out for blood and revenge. Another empire sees a chance to come in and pick up the pieces of our war. Most of your warriors are stuck hiding in the swamps, always aware that they do not have enough numbers to win a straight fight.

And from over the seas, my people bring their most deadly weapons, the Fateguard. Living suits of armour, imbued with mystical and deadly power. The end times have come for your land. I have fought alongside you, I have bled for you, I have made myself a traitor to all I believe in for you. And yet you still do not trust me.

But you have no option.

This will be our last battle, and there is only one place that it can be fought. We must defend our stronghold, no matter how many lives it may cost, no matter how hard it is. For if we do not, there will be no mercy and no relief from the terrors to come.

Good thing I'm on your side.

Nebula Award nominated novella. It originally appeared Analog Science Fiction and Fact, July-August 2004. There are no other known publications available at this time.

HAWK & FISHER. They're the battle-scarred crimebusters of a never-ending urban war... Hawk rules the streets by broad-sword. Fisher cracks down on toughs with the deadly dagger that she wields with unflinching skill.

Their merciless beat is the rough town misnamed Haven - a dark and murderous place overrun with spell-casters, demons, and thieves. Ready money will buy anything in their town... Anything except justice. That requires a magic touch.

Hawk & Fisher, captains of the City Guard of Haven, are assigned to be bodyguards for a Reform candidate during an election campaign. Candidate James Adamant is beset from all sides by enemies - political, personal, and supernatural. Keeping him alive long enough to count the ballots could cost the lives of both Hawk and Fisher, in a deadly game where the winner takes all.

Murders are taking place on Haven's Street of Gods - the gods themselves are being killed. Hawk & Fisher are assigned to work with a Seer, a Sorcerer, and a Swordsman, a peacekeeping team known as the God Squad. Together, their task is to bring the killer to justice before the mounting panic erupts into an all-out War of the Gods, which could destroy the city of Haven.

There's nothing safe about Haven, nor is there justice, truth, or honesty. The only thing stemming the forces of darkness from overtaking the city is the Guard, but even they are susceptible to bribes, threats, and general maliciousness. However, two members of the Guard hope to change that. Hawk and Fisher, the husband and wife team, are the only pure forces of good in Haven. They can't be bought. They can't stand for injustice. But they can kick your ass.

Working on the side of good in Haven means you have to get used to rubbing elbows with lowlifes. But nothing they've faced before has prepared them for this case. The spy they're trailing leads them to a tower of the aristocratic quality. Donning disguises to infiltrate the tower, Hawk and Fisher risk death if they're caught, but they have to catch the spy before valuable secrets are revealed. However, all is not well in the tower. Maniacal and immortal, a Freak is on the loose, murdering anyone in its path. Now Hawk and Fisher must not only stop the monster before it kills more people, but also find the spy without blowing their cover.

Amid top-level peace talks between the Low Kingdoms and Outremer, the streets of Haven are ravaged by a new drug, which brings out the vicious animal instincts of its victims. The distributors always seem to be one step ahead of the City Guard force. Someone may be revealing the Guards' plans. Could Isobel Fisher be the informant? Hawk and Fisher are pulled apart by circumstance as a political truce is threatened and the death toll climbs.

As peace talks proceed between the Low Kingdoms and the country of Outremer, Hawk and Fisher are assigned to work with the Guards SWAT (Special Wizardry And Tactics) team to stop a riot in Haven's largest prison. The riot turns out to be a cover for something much more elaborate and dangerous, involving a renegade sorcerer, a terrorist who will stop at nothing to undermine the peace negotiations, and an ancient magical secret.

The armies of the Outlanders crushed the highlanders at the battle of Colden Moor-killing their finest warriors and breaking their freeborn spirit. The highlanders are now a conquered people, ruled by the brutal Baron Gottasson.

Prophecies speak of the coming of a new leader, a descendent of Ironhand, mightiest of the highland kings. A leader who will throw off the Outlander yoke. But only one highlander carries the blood of Ironhand: Sigarni, a wild and willful teenage girl who cares for nothing save her own concerns. Until a fateful encounter thrusts her onto a path of rebellion. Now, hunted by the baron's soldiers and stalked by an evil sorcerer, Sigarni will be forced to fulfill her destiny... or perish.

While the warlike and merciless Aenir wreak havoc upon the territory outside the mountain stronghold of the clans, Sigarni, the Hawk Queen, arrives in a parallel version of her own universe through a gate in space and time. Taliesen, last of the gatekeepers, has no idea why she has come. But he knows that heroes are needed and grants her passage into the ravaged land.

Only Caswallon-loner, warrior, and thief-realizes the true extent of the danger and the mayhem that his people will come to face. As Taliesen tries to discover Sigarni's purpose, Caswallon must attempt to unite the clans to overcome their greatest peril.

A dazzling new series, a pure adrenaline rush, debuts with Jane Hawk, a remarkable heroine certain to become an icon of suspense

"I very much need to be dead."

These are the chilling words left behind by a man who had everything to live for--but took his own life. In the aftermath, his widow, Jane Hawk, does what all her grief, fear, and fury demand: find the truth, no matter what.

People of talent and accomplishment, people admired and happy and sound of mind, have been committing suicide in surprising numbers. When Jane seeks to learn why, she becomes the most-wanted fugitive in America. Her powerful enemies are protecting a secret so important--so terrifying--that they will exterminate anyone in their way.

But all their power and viciousness may not be enough to stop a woman as clever as they are cold-blooded, as relentless as they are ruthless--and who is driven by a righteous rage they can never comprehend. Because it is born of love.

"No time to delay. Do what you were born to do. Fame will be yours when you do this."

These are the words that ring in the mind of mild-mannered, beloved schoolteacher Cora Gundersun--just before she takes her own life, and many others', in a shocking act of carnage. When the disturbing contents of her secret journal are discovered, it seems certain that she must have been insane. But Jane Hawk knows better.

In the wake of her husband's inexplicable suicide--and the equally mysterious deaths of scores of other exemplary individuals--Jane picks up the trail of a secret cabal of powerful players who think themselves above the law and beyond punishment. But the ruthless people bent on hijacking America's future for their own monstrous ends never banked on a highly trained FBI agent willing to go rogue--and become the nation's most wanted fugitive--in order to derail their insidious plans to gain absolute power with a terrifying technological breakthrough.

Driven by love for her lost husband and by fear for the five-year-old son she has sent into hiding, Jane Hawk has become an unstoppable predator. Those she is hunting will have nowhere to run when her shadow falls across them.

"I could be dead tomorrow. Or something worse than dead."

Jane Hawk knows she may be living on borrowed time. But as long as she's breathing, she'll never cease her one-woman war against the terrifying conspiracy that threatens the freedom--and free will--of millions. Battling the strange epidemic of murder-suicides that claimed Jane's husband, and is escalating across the country, has made the rogue FBI agent a wanted fugitive, relentlessly hunted not only by the government but by the secret cabal behind the plot. Deploying every resource their malign nexus of power and technology commands, Jane's enemies are determined to see her dead... or make her wish she was.

Jane's ruthless pursuers can't stop her from drawing a bead on her prey: a cunning man with connections in high places, a twisted soul of unspeakable depths with an army of professional killers on call. Propelled by her righteous fury and implacable insistence on justice, Jane will make her way from southern Southern California to the snow-swept slopes of Lake Tahoe to confront head-on the lethal forces arrayed against her. But nothing can prepare her for the chilling truth that awaits when she descends the crooked staircase to the dark and dreadful place where her long nightmare was born.

"We're rewriting the play, and the play is this country, the world, the future. We break Jane's heart, we'll also break her will."

She was one of the FBI's top agents until she became the nation's most-wanted fugitive. Now Jane Hawk may be all that stands between a free nation and its enslavement by a powerful secret society's terrifying mind-control technology. She couldn't save her husband, or the others whose lives have been destroyed, but equipped with superior tactical and survival skills--and the fury born of a broken heart and a hunger for justice--Jane has struck major blows against the insidious cabal.

But Jane's enemies are about to hit back hard. If their best operatives can't outrun her, they mean to bring her running to them, using her five-year-old son as bait. Jane knows there's no underestimating their capabilities, but she must battle her way back across the country to the remote shelter where her boy is safely hidden... for now. As she moves resolutely forward, new threats begin to emerge: a growing number of brain-altered victims driven hopelessly, violently insane. With the madness spreading like a virus, the war between Jane and her enemies will become a fight for all their lives--against the lethal terror unleashed from behind the forbidden door.

Since the beginning Jane Hawk has been resolute in her quest to take down the influential architects of an accelerating operation to control every level of society via an army of mind-altered citizens. At first, only Jane stood against the "Arcadian" conspirators, but slowly others have emerged to stand with her, even as there are troubling signs that the "adjusted" people are beginning to spin viciously out of control.

Jane will require all her resources - and more - as she confronts those at the malevolent, impregnable center of power as she wages her final battle against a terrifying conspiracy - for vengeance, for justice, and for humanity's freedom.

Stolen away from their families, they are slaves, women with no names and no futures. Every moment of their days controlled by the avatars of the stone Eyes--Obsidian, Emerald, Raxinan, Ruby, Windcrystal, Sapphire, Sunspar, Tigereye...

And the most powerful of them all, Hawkspar, the eyes of time. Kings and despots come to her to know their futures, and she wades in the river of time, pulls apart its sticky threads, to arrange the world to her satisfaction.

But she too was once a slave, plucked from her home, chosen by the Eyes to live in service to them, as much a slave now as she ever was. And with her sight into past and future, she can see the secrets of the Eyes--and the evil of the Eyes.

Before the death of Hawkspar, another must be chosen by the Eyes--but the avatar has her own plans, and chooses a slave for her courage and rebelliousness, rather than her dedication to the goals of the Eyes.

This slave is put to trial, but time after time, she is protected by forces unseen. Once she has swallowed the bitter liquid and has her eyes pulled from her head and replaced with the Eyes of Hawkspar stone, she can slip into the streams of time... and use time to her own ends -- to free the slaves once and for all, and destroy the Eyes, even if it means destroying herself in the process.

Poison. Treachery. Ancient spirits. Sieges. The Poison Wars begin now, with City of Lies, a fabulous epic fantasy debut by Sam Hawke

I was seven years old the first time my uncle poisoned me...

Outwardly, Jovan is the lifelong friend of the Chancellor's charming, irresponsible Heir. Quiet. Forgettable. In secret, he's a master of poisons and chemicals, trained to protect the Chancellor's family from treachery. When the Chancellor succumbs to an unknown poison and an army lays siege to the city, Jovan and his sister Kalina must protect the Heir and save their city-state.

But treachery lurks in every corner, and the ancient spirits of the land are rising... and angry.

Poison was only the beginning.... The deadly siege of Silasta woke the ancient spirits, and now the city-state must find its place in this new world of magic. But people and politics are always treacherous, and it will take all of Jovan and Kalina's skills as proofer and spy to save their country when witches and assassins turn their sights to domination.

Psychodrome- An intergalactic scavenger hunt that sends its players across the stars in a game player for keeps... a game where the lines between reality and computer-generated fiction blur, and the only sure thing is that there is no sure thing.

Now Arkardy O'Toole has entered Psychodrome. A gambler down on his luck, O'Toole hopes to pick up quick cash- and avoid some nasty characters that he's accidentally crossed. But his past has followed him into the game, and he and his teammates soon find out that if Psychodrome doesn't kill them, reality will...

When humans arrived at Draconis 9, the only life on the planet was docile race of mammals. Humans do what they always do when they arrive on a new planet; they begin to kill things. It turns out the mammals were tasty. Little did the colonists know the animals were actually a race of telepathic shapechangers. Faced with being hunted for food, the shapechangers took the form of humans and began to learn how to face their new predator. The race was docile no longer.

Far above planet Esmeralda whirls an awesome satellite nicknamed The Hoosegow. Headquarters of the Interplanetary Law Service, it is home of the cleverest, most powerful secret agents in the universe. They go where they are needed, bringing law and order, triumphing over evil.

This time, an explosive crisis on dread Empire 99 must be defused. Unfortunately the last agent to try that was sent back in an ashtray. Dare the Service try again? Now their last hope lies with:

Rex: our daredevil of the airways
Chavez: he'd rather make love and war
Sniffer: a robot dog with a foul mouth

Our heroes? You must be kidding...

The Star Hawks, those intrepid guardians of interplanetary low, have a problem. In the name of peace, their chief scientist invented Braintrust, the most powerful computer in the galaxy. But now Braintrust is in the greedy metallic hands of Jigsaw, a cyborg with delusions of grandeur.

Jigsaw wants to rule the world--and two puny humans and a robot dog will nto stop him. Unfortunately, Rex, Chavez and Sniffer are ordered to stop him. They face being out-smarted, beatne up and generally dismembered.

But out adventurous heroes ought to be able to overcome such minor annoyances....

Hermeticus 2 -- a planet so shrouded in secrecy that few in the Federation even know of its existence. When a Romulan spy learns of the world, it becomes the centerpiece of a far-reaching Romulan plan.

On routine patrol neat the border of the Neutral Zone, the Starship Enterprise discovers an advanced Romulan Warbird prototype drifing lifeless in space. Investigating the vessel, Captain Picard is drawn into a plot that threatens the very foundation of the Federation. Now, with time running out, Captain Picard and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise must stop the Romulans before the deadly secret of Hermeticus 2 overwhelms them all.

The U.S.S. Enterprise is assigned to the planet K'Trall -- a planet just coming out rom under the heel of barbarous suppression. When the planet's newly emerging freedom is threatened by a rouge ship attacking Federation shipping, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew put their lives on the line to protect K'Trall from the raids.

But the planet itself holds a deadly secret, one that could lead to a ressurgence of the despotic cruelty they have suffered for centuries. With time running out, Captain Picard must see his way past a maze of deadly deception, with billions of lives hanging in the balance.

The U.S.S. Enterprise is sent to Patria I to discuss that world's application for federation membership. But Captain Kirk and his landing party soon discover that the Patrians have a strict system of laws -- laws that are enforced by a telepathic police force.

In the midst of this startling revelation, the crew finds themselves in the middle of Patrias's growing political unrest. Caught between the Patrian telepathic police force and a deadly group of terrorists, Kirk, Spock and the others must fight for their lives on a world wher their thoughts make them criminals -- and all crimes are punishable by death.

Nebula- and PRISM Award-nominated Novella

It's the early 1900s, and widowed homesteader Imogen Hawkes is running out of time. She must come up with enough money to prevent the bank from foreclosing on her farm. All her hopes are pinned on her horse, Blue Streak, winning the Special Stakes, so that the prize money can save the farm.

But things keep going wrong, and it's soon clear someone is determined to stop her. As race day draws closer, Imogen finds unexpected sources of help... including the new stallion she's purchased from Boston, who's not at all what he seems.

Despite a life spent avoiding it, Imogen learns that magic may be her best ally...

Priscilla Hutchins has been through many experiences.This is the story of her first unforgettable adventure.…

Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins has finally realized her lifelong dream: She's completed a nerve-bending qualification flight for a pilot's license.

Her timing is far from optimal, however. Faster-than-light travel has only recently become a reality, and the World Space Authority is still learning how to manage long-range missions safely. To make matters worse, efforts to prepare two planets for colonization are killing off native life-forms, outraging people on Earth.So there's not a lot of demand for space pilots.

Priscilla thinks her career may be over before it has begun. But her ambition won't be denied, and soon she is on the bridge of an interstellar ship, working for the corporation that is responsible for the terraforming.

Her working conditions include bomb threats, sabotage, clashes with her employers - and a mission to a world, adrift between the stars, that harbors a life-form unlike anything humanity has ever seen. Ultimately, she will be part of a life-and-death struggle that will test both her capabilities and her character....

The Middle Ages. Finally, the Black Plague has passed and for a while it seems evil has been defeated. Europe recovers; prosperity returns, trade resumes, and people slowly recover from the effects of the plague. Then, just as the Church relaxes its guard, war spreads across Europe. Widespread heresies challenge the authority of the Church. Revolts and rebellions threaten to topple the established monarchies and overturn the social order of Europe. And then the plague returns, worse than ever.

Thomas Neville, a neurotic warrior-priest, eventually discovers the cause. The minions of the Devil have been scattered throughout European society during the confusion of the Black Death. His task is to discover the identities of these shapeshifters so that the Church can move against them, but it is a dangerous task. These are master shapeshifters, perfect at their craft, and Neville can never be certain of who he should trust.

She had rejected her noble birthright and embraced the freedom only a man could claim. She was Romilly who lived among the beasts of hill and forest and communicated with them, who tried humanity and turned it down for its evils and jealousies. She had the MacAran Gift, the rare Iaran that conferred mastery over hawk and horse.

The dreamers walk among us... and so do the dreamed. Those who dream cannot stop dreaming - they can only try to control it. Those who are dreamed cannot have their own lives - they will sleep forever if their dreamers die.
And then there are those who are drawn to the dreamers. To use them. To trap them. To kill them before their dreams destroy us all.

Ronan Lynch is a dreamer. He can pull both curiosities and catastrophes out of his dreams and into his compromised reality.

Jordan Hennessy is a thief. The closer she comes to the dream object she is after, the more inextricably she becomes tied to it.

Carmen Farooq-Lane is a hunter. Her brother was a dreamer... and a killer. She has seen what dreaming can do to a person. And she has seen the damage that dreamers can do. But that is nothing compared to the destruction that is about to be unleashed....

WHAT LIES AHEAD IS ALREADY HERE...

America is a difficult place to live below the surface. But Gabriel and Michael Corrigan are trying to do just that. Since childhood, the brothers have been shaped by the stories that their father has told them about the world in which they live. After his mysterious disappearance, they have been living 'off the grid' - that is, invisible to the intrusive surveillance networks that monitor our modern lives.

But no-one is as invisible as they would like to believe. Nathan Boone, a mercenary, has been tasked to hunt down the brothers. The only person who stands between them and certain death is Maya, a tough young woman playing at leading a normal life. But her background is anything but normal. She has been trained to fight and survive at whatever cost. When she is summoned to protect the brothers, she must leave everything behind if she is to succeed...

Fear stalks our lives. In the press. On the television. Over the airwaves. Across the internet. Everywhere we go, someone somewhere is always watching. Waiting for the mistake that will reveal secrets, truths, lies, the real story or what they want to believe.No longer is anonymity a given right.

We are being controlled without our knowledge and we don't appear to care. Daily we sacrifice little freedoms that will never be returned. We are all victims.

They are some who will fight to the death to protect those freedoms. They will not allow the forces of commerce and ideology to dictate their lives. They are off the grid. Gabriel Corrigan is one such man. The system doesn't like it. It says that you cannot opt out, that you have to participate. And it will do whatever it takes to return Gabriel to the fold - alive or dead. He can run but he can't hide - forever...

In a world that exists in the shadow of our own, the conflict between the Brethren and the Travellers reaches its devastating climax...

Struggling to protect the legacy of his Traveller father, Gabriel faces troubling questions and relentless threats from enemies old and new.

His brother Michael, now firmly allied with the sinister Brethren, pursues his ambition to wrest power from their leader, whatever it takes.

And Maya, the Harlequin warrior pledged to protect Gabriel at all costs, is forced to make a choice that will change her life forever...

With the Lion's Gate space port taken by the enemy, Jaghatai Khan of the White Scars prepares a brazen gambit, but one of his former brothers rises to take up arms against him.

The Inner Walls are breached.

Traitor vanguards tear towards the heart of the Palace, sensing victory. Desperate gambits are attempted: an unwilling saint is released into the ruins, as well as an enthusiastic sinner. A black sword rises, forged from spite, ready to create a legend. But amid the slaughter, Jaghatai Khan, Warhawk of Chogoris, prepares to launch the most audacious strike of the conflict. His goal is nothing less than the liberation of the Lion's Gate space port. Cut off from any help, he stakes everything on one desperate counter-offensive, launched against an old enemy who has been made far greater than he ever was before. As the White Scars ride out against the newly crowned lords of life and death, they know that defeat for them dooms not only the Legion, but Terra itself.

It was a time out of legend, an early age in the history of the worlds of Keltia, when a youth named Arthur dared to regain the throne for the royal House of Don from the usurper Ederyn. The greatest of druids and sworn enemy to all who defied his will, Ederyn swore when he seized power that he would crush the House of Don -- by cutting the people off from their greatest strength, the ancient arts of druids, warriors, and bards. Still, some had managed to keep the secret knowledge alive...preparing for a time of destiny when their skills -- and the penetrating genius of one called Arthur -- would be called upon to strike out against their oppressor.

A pestilence has fallen across the land. Run and hide. Seek shelter. Do not panic. The infected WILL find you.

When Great Britain is hit by a devastating epidemic, four old friends must cross a chaotic, war-torn England to reach their families. But between them and home, the country is teeming with those afflicted by the virus - cannibalistic, mutated monsters whose only desires are to infect and feed.

THE LAST PLAGUE is here.

Great Britain has fallen to the Plague and the war is lost. The few people left alive scavenge in the desolation of a ruined country. A lone man wanders the ravaged land, looting houses for food and hiding from the monstrous infected. Guilt-ridden for failing to save his family, there is nothing left for him but memories of the old world - until hope is whispered in a radio transmission promising safety and shelter from across the North Sea. He joins a group of desperate survivors and heads for the coast in search of transport and salvation. His last chance to make amends. But will they survive the journey, hunted by the infected and the desperate men who stalk the land? Will they find sanctuary at... THE LAST OUTPOST?

Her name is Florence, and she did not cry when the world ended.

Two years after Great Britain is devastated by an alien virus, a young girl and her ex-military guardian are drawn back to the mainland for reasons only known to the dark gift inside her head. It's a gift neither she nor the old soldier trusts entirely, but their only hope is to obey its call into the wastelands.

But is her ability a curse or a blessing?

And will it lead them to salvation or death?

Kings become outcasts and lovers become foes in The Faithless Hawk, the thrilling sequel to Margaret Owen's The Merciful Crow.

As the new chieftain of the Crows, Fie knows better than to expect a royal to keep his word. Still she's hopeful that Prince Jasimir will fulfill his oath to protect her fellow Crows. But then black smoke fills the sky, signaling the death of King Surimir and the beginning of Queen Rhusana's merciless bid for the throne.

With the witch queen using the deadly plague to unite the nation of Sabor against Crows?and add numbers to her monstrous army?Fie and her band are forced to go into hiding, leaving the country to be ravaged by the plague. However, they're all running out of time before the Crows starve in exile and Sabor is lost forever.

A desperate Fie calls on old allies to help take Rhusana down from within her own walls. But inside the royal palace, the only difference between a conqueror and a thief is an army. To survive, Fie must unravel not only Rhusana's plot, but ancient secrets of the Crows?secrets that could save her people, or set the world ablaze.

The world is in turmoil. In the east the savage Merduks, followers of the Prophet Ahrimuz, have captured the holy city of Aekir. The western kingdoms are too distracted by internecine bickering to intervene and the Chruch seems more obsessed with rooting out heresy. It is an age where men go to the stake for the taint of magic in their blood, where gunpowder and cannon co-exit with werewolves and sorcerers. It is the turning point when two get reilgions will fight to the death and the common folk will struggle to merely survive.

This is an omnibus edition comprised of:

• Hawkwood's Voyage (1995)
• The Heretic Kings (1996)

THE WESTERN WORLD IS BURNING...

Even as cities and cathedrals are tumbling, their defenders crucified by the invading Merduks, the Faithful war among themselves, purging heretics and magical folk and adding to the flames.

For Richard Hawkwood and his crew, a desperate venture to carry refugees to the uncharted land across the Great Western Ocean offers the only chance of escape from the Inceptines' pyres. The King's cousin, Lord Murad, has an ancient log book telling of a free, unspoiled land...

When young Wynter Moorehawke returns to court with her dying father, but she finds her old home shadowed with fear. The king has become a violent despot, terrorizing those he once loved. His son and heir Alberon has fled into exile and now there are whispers everywhere of rebellion. Meanwhile, Alberon's half-brother Razi has been elevated to his throne. He struggles to meet his King's demands while remaining loyal to his beloved brother and to his friend-Wynter. Now, she must choose- her father or her dreams, her friend or her king, her duty... or her love.

Every tyrant who ever threatened the Kingdom is gathering to Alberon's table, and the forest is alive with spies, wolves, and bandits. Within these crowded shadows, Protector Lady Wynter Moorehawke travels alone and unprotected, determined that she shall find the rebel prince and heal the rift that has come between the King and his legitimate heir. But who is an ally and who is a foe?

In this, the second volume of The Moorehawke Trilogy, old friends and even older enemies ensure that Wynter is never certain of who she can trust.

Wynter Moorehawke has braved bandits and Loup-Garous to find her way to Alberon-the exiled, rebel prince. But now that she's there, she will learn firsthand that politics is a deadly mistress. With the king and his heir on the edge of war and alliances made with deadly enemies, the Kingdom is torn not just by civil war - but strife between the various factions as well. Wynter knows that no one has the answer to the problems that plague the Kingdom - and she knows that their differences will not just tear apart her friends - but the Kingdom as well.

Magic Is Alive, Science Is Afoot....

Trying to discover time travel, absent-minded genius Dr. Marvin Brewster accidentally transports himself to a parallel universe where magic really works... a land that resembles medieval England, but is populated by leprechauns, virgin-hating unicorns, coffee drinking beatnik vampire elves, rapping Rastafarian grunge dwarves, philosophically musing dragons, ambulatory vegetation, bumbling outlaws, gorgeous brigand queens, cursed were-princes and evil wizards.

In a world where science is unknown, Brewster's knowledge results in his being mistaken for a sorcerer... but the real sorcerers have a powerful, exclusive guild, and Brewster's not a member.

As he searches for his missing time machine, Brewster sees no harm in the locals thinking he's a wizard, but the Grand Director of the Sorcerer's Guild is out to find this interloper and learn the secret of the strange device that he arrived in....

The Voice in the Ether...

Trying to discover time travel, scientific genius Dr. Marvin Brewster accidentally transports himself to a parallel universe that suspiciously resembles the setting of a fantasy novel... a strange, medieval world where magic really works, unicorns hate virgins and smell terrible, elves drink human blood and play guitars, dwarves wear dreadlocks and flannel plaids, talking dragons dream our universe, and sorcerers are powerful enough to detect the presence of the narrator and attempt to take over the plot.

Trapped without his time machine, which has mysteriously disappeared, Brewster enlists the aid of the residents of Brigand's Roost to help him find it, in exchange for bringing some progress to their village in the form of solar power, showers, prescription lenses, a wondrous, alchemical concoction he calls "soap," and a strange, lightweight metal called "aluminum."

However, any science that is sufficiently advanced would seem like magic to those who didn't understand it, and the Sorcerers and Adepts Guild takes a dim view of anyone who practices magic without paying their dues....

Trying to discover time travel, genius scientist Dr. Marvin Brewster accidentally transports himself to a parallel universe where magic really works and reality is ... a little different. His knowledge of science causes him to be mistaken for a sorcerer, something he exploits in his efforts to survive and find his missing time machine, which is the only way that he can get back home.

However, what Brewster doesn't know is that his time machine has fallen into the hands of Warrick Morgannan, the powerful Grand Director of the Sorcerers and Adepts Guild, and using magic in his attempts to learn how the machine works, Warrick keeps putting people into the machine and making them disappear ... only to reappear in our world, where a British tabloid reporter stumbles on what may be the biggest story of his life.

Frustrated in his efforts to learn the secret of the time machine, Warrick turns his magic on the Narrator, the disembodied "voice in the ether" that only he can hear, determined to find a way to interfere with the Narrator's mysterious ability to control events...

The Heart of Princess Osra is part of Anthony Hope's trilogy of novels set in the fictional country of Ruritania and which spawned the genre of Ruritanian romance. This collection of linked short stories is a prequel: it was written immediately after the success of The Prisoner of Zenda and was published in 1896, but is set in the 1730s, well over a century before the events of Zenda and its sequel, Rupert of Hentzau. The stories deal with the love life of Princess Osra, younger sister of Rudolf III, the shared ancestor of Rudolf Rassendyll, the English gentleman who acts as political decoy in The Prisoner of Zenda, and Rudolph V of the House of Elphberg, the absolute monarch of that Germanic kingdom.

The Prisoner of Zenda (1894), by Anthony Hope, is an adventure novel in which the King of Ruritania is drugged on the eve of his coronation and thus is unable to attend the ceremony. Political forces within the realm are such that, in order for the king to retain the crown, his coronation must proceed. Fortuitously, an English gentleman on holiday in Ruritania who resembles the monarch is persuaded to act as his political decoy in an effort to save the unstable political situation of the interregnum.

The name of the villain in The Prisoner of Zenda, Rupert of Hentzau, is the title of the sequel novel, Rupert of Hentzau (1898), published four years later and included in some editions of The Prisoner of Zenda. The popularity of the novels inspired the Ruritanian romance genre of literature, film, and theatre that features stories set in a fictional country, usually in Central Europe and Eastern Europe, such as Ruritania, the Central European realm that named the genre.

The novel has been adapted many times, mainly for film but also stage, musical, operetta, radio, and television. Probably the best-known version is the 1937 Hollywood movie. The dashingly villainous Rupert of Hentzau has been interpreted by such matinee idols as Ramon Novarro (1922), Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (1937), and James Mason (1952).

Rupert of Hentzau is a sequel by Anthony Hope to The Prisoner of Zenda.

The story is set within a framing narrative told by a supporting character from The Prisoner of Zenda. The frame implies that the events related in both books took place in the late 1870s and early 1880s. This story commences three years after the conclusion of Zenda, and deals with the same fictional country somewhere in Germanic Middle Europe, the kingdom of Ruritania. Most of the same characters recur: Rudolf Elphberg, the dissolute absolute monarch of Ruritania; Rudolf Rassendyll, the English gentleman who had acted as his political decoy, being his distant cousin and look alike; Flavia, the princess, now queen; Rupert of Hentzau, the dashing well-born villain; Fritz von Tarlenheim, the loyal courtier; Colonel Sapt, the King's Bodyguard; Lieutenant von Bernenstein, the loyal soldier.

When Kelric, a scion of the imperial family of Skolia, crash-lands his fighter on the off-limits planet of Coba, he figures it will be only a short time before he makes his way home. But he fails to account for the powerful matriarchy of Coba, the mistresses of the great estates who do not want the Empire to know about their recent cultural advances.

First they take him prisoner.

Then, one by one, the most powerful women on the planet fall in love with him!

The conclusion to Lila Bowen's widely-acclaimed dark fantasy series, which New York Times bestselling author Kevin Hearne described as 'thrilling, delightfully written, and important.'

Rhett Walker is looking for peace, the memories of all he's lost haunting his dreams. And now the Shadow tugs him West, back to where his journey began.

With the lawless Rangers on his heels and monster attacks surging, Rhett is surrounded on all sides. This time it's not all about horses and land. This time, it feels personal. Because the newest monster on the horizon just may be wearing the face of someone from Rhett's past.

To save the Durango territory, Rhett must accept the Shadow's call and fulfill his destiny.

Wyrdrune is a student wizard with a penchant for botching spells when he meets Kira, a street-wise cutie, at an auction for the mysterious and powerful Euphrates rune stones. But he has no idea, when he tries to steal them, that the stones have already chosen him for a great adventure.

Student wizard Wyrdrunne and street-wise Kira share a telepathic dream that calls them to England to save Camelot's last survivor. United with a shady French witch, a 300-pound fairy and a feisty English punk, this unlikely team must prevail over the awesome, ancient power stalking London.

In this sequel to the popular Wizard of Whitechapel, Wydrune the Warlock must stop the Dark Ones who are turning Hollywood into a fantasy land of eternal horror. Accompanied by his strange band of friends, Wydrune searches for a murderous devil plaguing Tinseltown.

Women are turning up dead again, with necromantic runes carved into their chests. But this time it's at Rue Morgue, in Paris, the very backyard of one of the Living Triangle's allies. Now Wyrdrune, Kira, Modred, Billy and Jaqueline must find the Dark Ones responsible before they accrue enough likfe energy to resist the runestones. And hopefully, along the way they'll clear the name of an innocent man accuesd of the crimes.

Tokyo, Japan, the twenty-third century: a thriving metropolis, powered by a blend of technology and magic. But some inhuman entity is murdering women in the Land of the Rising Sun, and Inspector Akiro Katayama, sorcerer agent in charge of crimes involving magic, has just one clue to work with--a dragon's scale.

Enlisting the aid of Japan's greatest wizard and a streetwise homicide detective, Katayama tries desperately to solve the case--but he has no idea of the awesome power he is dealing with. The only ones who understand the threat are four people who have been chosen by an ancient spell to stop it... Wyrdrune, a bumbling young warlock; Kira, a beautiful cat burglar; Billy Slade, an English punk possessed by the spirit of Merlin; and the immortal Modred, son of the legendary King Arthur. Only they know the identity of the beautiful necromancer behind the killings--but can they stop her before she unleashes the most deadly spell of all?

It starts again--murdered girls, their souls sucked from their bodies... DARKNESS IN SANTA FE The Pueblo Indians called it the Dancing Ground of the Sun, but now an evil force from the dawn of time threatens to turn this peaceful city into a place of eternal darkness. With the coming of the Second Thaumaturgic Age magic has returned to the city, and it is here that adept Paul Ramirez hopes to pass on the old knowledge he has gained from the legendary Merlin Ambrosius. Soon, however, he'll find himself tracking down a vicious killer--and in league with a beautiful burglar, a dropout warlock, a cockney punk possessed by spirits, and a tough-talking one-eyed cat named Gomez. He'll need all the help he can get ... on a Santa Fe trail of necromancy fast turning into a blood-soaked Festival of the Damned!

During a bloody confrontation with necro-mancers, the mystic runestones merge their life forces into a single sorcerous being--a wizard of incredible powers. Now Wyrdrune, Kira, and the wizard of tomorrow must battle a horror of unbelievable evil.

Here, at last, is the story of how the Wizard series began, when Merlin returns to become the Wizard of 4th Street and lead the world out of the second dark age by bringing back magic.

In Simon Hawke's brilliant conclusion to his bestselling "Wizard of 4th Street" series, the necromancers are free after 2,000 years of imprisonment. Aided by Sebastian Makepeace, an eccentric and mysterious professor, and Billy Slade, the reincarnation of the wizard Merlin, three unlikely avatars and the U.S. military take on the murderous cult of Talon--the strongest and most evil necromancers known as the Dark Ones.

In the 27th Century, international disputes are resolved through time travel, "clocking" soldiers from the future into conflicts of the past. It seemed like an elegant idea: wartime industries drove the economy without actually putting nations through the physical ravages of war. And since the past already happened, history could not be changed. So went the theory. What could possibly go wrong?

Lucas Priest found out the hard way. Enlisting in the U.S. Army Temporal Corps seemed like an adventure compared to his boring corporate job, but after marching with the Roman legions against Hannibal, fighting Custer's 7th Cavalry with Crazy Horse, and raiding with Attila's savage Huns, he could have used a little boredom. And it was about to get much worse.

History, it turned out, could be changed, and a plot to kidnap and impersonate King Richard the Lion-hearted was discovered barely in the nick of time. But could it be stopped before a madman changed the course of history? Two elite commando teams had tried and failed in their attempts. Now Priest was drafted to take part in a third.

The team was tasked to infiltrate the past with impersonations of their own to prevent a timestream split. But it would be hard enough passing themselves off as Sir Ivanhoe, Robin Hood, and Little John without having to assassinate a king....

Using time travel to fight wars seemed like the perfect way to solve the international disputes of the 27th Century: all the economic advantages of warfare without any of the devastation taking place in your own time. Multinational corporations and governments geared up for the effort, secure in the knowledge that since the past already happened, it could not be changed, so history was safe. Or was it? When it was discovered that history could, indeed, be changed as a result of interference from the future, it seemed too late to stop the Time Wars, so a special unit was created to "adjust" for historical disruptions and preserve the continuity of the timestream. But as if going back into the past on missions to preserve the future wasn't challenging enough, now the elite First Division of the U.S. Army Temporal Corps faced a new and much more dangerous threat. A peaceful protest group had spun off a militant offshoot called the Timekeepers, radicals who believed the only way to stop the war machine was to create massive historical disruptions. A covert agent of Temporal Intelligence gave his life to warn of a terrorist plot by the Timekeepers, so Capt. Lucas Priest and Pfc. Finn Delaney are clocked back to 17th Century France, so they can join up with agents of the T.I.A. already in place to find out what the Timekeepers have planned. Their target could be Cardinal Richelieu, but it will be hard enough trying to figure out who their target is and how to stop them in a scenario where almost anyone could be a ringer, including a young Gascon named D'Artagnan and three of the King's flamboyant musketeers.

In the 27th Century, time travel allows international disputes to be settled by "clocking" soldiers from the future into conflicts of the past to do battle in the Time Wars. The politicians and the corporate leaders who created an entire international economy based on the idea of "an end to war in our time" believed that the past was absolute: it had already happened, therefore it could not be changed. Unfortunately, they were wrong.

The greater the number of people who traveled back into the past, the greater were the odds of temporal contamination, changing history in ways that could disastrously affect the future. Major Lucas Priest, a veteran of the elite First Division of the Temporal Army Corps, was tasked to "adjust" the blunder of a Temporal Intelligence agent who had accidentally caused the death of Sir Percy Blakeney, the wealthy English adventurer who saved French royalists from the guillotine. Now, someone else had to become the famous "Scarlet Pimpernel" and carry on that work.

Trying to adjust key historical events during the bloody and tumultuous French Revolution would be challenging enough. The trouble was, rogue covert agents from Temporal Intelligence were already on the scene, and they had their own agenda....

The year was 1891, and Ruritania was a small, seemingly insignificant Balkan country that was about to crown a new king. But a conspiracy headed by his own half brother resulted in the would-be king being kidnapped and held in Zenda Castle, an impregnable medieval fortress. While two factions secretly battled for control in Ruritania, an even more dangerous conspiracy was launched from the far future; one that was about to make a tiny Balkan country the focal point for plot to change the course of history.

Her name was Sophia Falco, codename: Falcon, a veteran crosstime field agent of the TIA. She was smart, beautiful, and absolutely deadly. She was also a terrorist, a member of the infamous Timekeepers who had submitted to cybernetic conditioning that created a false persona under which she had enlisted in the Temporal Army Corps, and from there, joined Temporal Intelligence, at which point her true personality was triggered and the woman who had once been Col. Moses Forrester's lover was reborn as his most lethal enemy. And the weapon she was going to use against him was the son he had abandoned in another time.

The elite commando team of Lucas Priest, Andre Cross and Finn Delaney have another historical adjustment mission to perform: save the rightful king of Ruritania and stop the Timekeepers before they can bring about a temporal disaster. And to do so, their commander, Moses Forrester, must journey back into the past with them to destroy the woman he once loved... and murder his own son.

The fifth of Simon Hawk's brilliant Time Wars series returns to print and brings the legendary submarine Nautilus back with it. Aboard her is none other than Jules Verne himself in an adventure that pits the Time Commandos against a ruthless fanatic who hijacks a 20th-century Soviet nuclear sub and time-trips it back to the era of the clipper ship, there to hatch a plot that will plunge all of Time itself into an endless war. Nonstop action and fascinating ideas make this a worthy addition to the series and a must read for Time Wars fans.

The year was 1897. The Khyber Pass echoed with the sounds of war. Soldiers from Britain, India, and Afghanistan were immersed in a bloody conflict.

Enter the Time Commandos. Their mission: To foil a plot that has set timelines on a collision course. Only they can save the timestream from disruption -- with a little help from a war correspondent named Winston Churchill...and a waterboy called Gunga Din.

Traveling with Jason on his mighty vessel, The Argos, in search of the Golden Fleece, Time Commandos Forrester, Cross and Delaney encounter some legendary figures from the past--Hercules, Theseus, Orpheus--and some unlikely surprises.

A plague of vampires and werewolves falls on Victoria's England in the late 1800s--but there's nother supernatural about these creatures. Thery're genetically engineered monsters from the far future, dropped into the past as a devilish tactic in the Time Wars!

It's a mystery more baffling than any penned by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle--a cosmic riddle to stagger the imagination of the great H. G. Wells. Soon the creators of Sherlock Holmes and The Time Machine join forces with the Time Commandos to combat an ageless evil which strains the very fabric of the universe!

The Time Commandos face a new generation of General Drakov's bio-engineered humanoids - but just how deadly could these tiny enemies be? Just six inches tall, the Lilliputian warriors are armed with laser rifles and a vast technology that threatens the existence of two universes!

In eighteenth-century London, Doctor Lemuel Gulliver's tale of the deadly little people is disbelieved by all but that mad author, Jonathan Swift...and the observers of the Temporal Intelligence Agency. now the Time Commandos wage a vicious battle that rages across a thousand years!

Boston 1765. The freedom-fighting Sons of Liberty are under attack by a Tory secret society called the Hellfire Club. the club's leader- the headless horseman- is a ghostly creature.

Cleopatra. Queen of the Nile ... mistress to Julius Caesar... lover of Marc Antony... and terrorist saboteur?

The Time Commandos travel to ancient Rome to unravel the mystery of a strange prophecy -- one that not only tells Caesar to -Beware the ides of March," but also foretells the exact manner of his death and the names of his assassins.

The Eternal City is full of intrigue, plots, and conspiracies... but agents from the parallel universe have introduced a new element of treachery -- a plan to prevent Caesar's murder and change the course of history. Is the seductive Queen of Egypt their unwitting pawn -- or their cunning leader? To save the future, the Emperor must die... and the Time Commandos may have to do the job themselves!

The Time Commandos travel back in time to the American Frontier to investigate the disappearance of three missing agents.

Press Enter:

Victor Apfel, a troubled war vet, gets an odd, pre-recorded phone message, instructing him to go inside the house next door. He opens the door to find his neighbor shot through the head. But is it suicide - or murder? And is it possible that a computer is to blame?

Hawksbill Station:

In the mid-21st century, time travel is used to send political prisoners to Hawksbill Station, a prison camp in the late Cambrian Era. When the latest arrival suspiciously deflects questions about his crimes and knowledge of 'Up Front', the inmates decide to find out his secret.

Years ago, Vlad Taltos came to make his way as a human amidst the impossibly tall, fantastically long-lived natives of the Dragaeran Empire. He joined the Jhereg, the Dragaeran House (of which there are seventeen) that handles the Empire's vices: gambling, rackets, organized crime. He became a professional assassin. He was good at it.

But that was then, before Vlad and the Jhereg became mortal enemies.

For years, Vlad has run from one end of the Empire to the other, avoiding the Jhereg assassins who pursue him. Now, finally, he's back in the imperial capital where his family and friends are. He means to stay there this time. Whatever happens. And whatever it takes.

In The Fifth Sacred Thing, readers fell in love with Maya Greenwood, the 98-year-old writer who led Northern California's successful 21st century rebellion against a racist, totalitarian regime of the South. Walking to Mercury takes readers back to the 20th century and powerfully dramatizes the forces that shaped this extraordinary woman.The book opens and closes with the middle-aged Maya struggling with a profound personal and spiritual crisis. The culminating factor has been her mother's death, and now Maya embarks on a trek in the Himalayas, intending to sprinkle her mother's ashes at the base of Mt. Everest and finally lay to rest her tumultuous past. At rest stops in tiny Tibetan villages, she reads diary pages her lover Johanna has tucked into her bag--the diary Johanna kept throughout their shared youth during the Vietnam era.

In vivid flashbacks to those radical days, we accompany the young Maya as she awakens to the summer of love, joins the anti-war movement, and enters into a relationship with the abusive, alcoholic Rio. She finally gathers the strength to break free and seek her own true path, which takes her from the streets of Manhattan to the mountains of Mexico. Eventually she emerges, stronger and wiser, infused with the wisdom of the earth and the spirit of the goddess. Traveling through the landscape of memories helps Maya reclaim her past and foreshadows the miraculous events readers of The Fifth Sacred Thing know her to be capable of in the future.

An epic tale of freedom and slavery, love and war, and the potential futures of humankind tells of a twenty-first century California clan caught between two clashing worlds, one based on tolerance, the other on repression.

Drew Ferran, Lyssia's last remaining Wolf and the rightful heir to the kingdom's throne, is held prisoner by an evil Lizardlord. But rebellion's always a possibility when Drew's around, and with the help of his cohorts, he overthrows the slavers and embarks on a quest to find the long-lost tribe of Hawklords so they can join his war against the evil Catlords. This third book in the Wereworld series features even more heart-pounding action, wild characters, and epic struggle between good and evil.

Spurred on by a recurring dream, Tirtha accompanied by a falconer, embarks on a dangerous journey to her ancestral home, aware that she is bound by a spell to fulfill a mission whose purpose is unknown to her.