Showing results by narrator "Esther Wane" in All Categories

Earth is nothing like Romy expected. A disappointing fact made clear far too many times. Over the last year and a half, her world has shattered again and again, along with her sanity, and now Knot 27 is split in two with no sign of reconciliation. There is no end in sight. When the leader of their rebel movement steps down, the man Romy loves takes over the role of commander-general. They are outnumbered. They are outgunned. Not only are the Mandate Membersas deprived of humanity as ever, butanother lethal player has taken the field.

Silicon Valley is imperializing the planet. With nearly bottomless supplies of cash and ambition, a small group of companies have been gradually seizing symbolic and practical civic leadership in America and worldwide. But Silicon Valley does not answer to the electorate; nor have they been voted into office. And the perils of their influence are only now making themselves known.

When Aurora and her twin brother Aubrey were born, a dark mage cursed them: before their eighteenth birthday, the twins would suffer the torment of eternal sleep. Aurora and Aubrey's parents, being sensible wizards, eviscerated the mage. Unfortunately, dark magic doesn't go quietly. Aurora and Aubrey were left orphans. Raised by three half-faerie guardians, the twins' lives pass unremarkably. Attractive, witty, and in possession of a large fortune, they are the toast of polite society.

In this gothic, virtuoso debut collection, Mike McCormack dispenses nightmares both stylish and macabre. "A Is for Ax" offers alphabetized look at the killing of a parent, while the title story tracks a chilling sibling rivalry. Other works here offer multiple-quiz on the road to Calvary, a door-to-door saleswoman trafficking in strange and menacing feats, and a self-mutilating artist pushing himself to the limit. These sly and dangerous stories show us a young writer who was already a master of wicked formal play, and whose sly takes on life and death remain profoundly unsettling.

Alone in her tower, Princess Oria has spent too long studying her people’s barbarian enemies, the Destrye—and neglected the search for calm that will control her magic and release her to society. Her restlessness makes meditation hopeless and her fragility renders human companionship unbearable. Oria is near giving up. Then the Destrye attack, and her people’s lives depend on her handling of their prince…

In the small Hampshire village of Sowerbridge, Irish labourer Patrick O'Riordan has been arrested for the brutal murder of elderly Lavinia Fanshaw and her live-in nurse, Dorothy Jenkins. As shock turns to fury, the village residents form a united front against Patrick's parents and cousin, who report incidents of vicious threats and violence. But Siobhan Lavenham remains convinced that Patrick has fallen victim to a prejudiced investigation and, putting her own position within the bigoted community in serious jeopardy, stands firmly by his family in defense of the O'Riordan name.

The residents of an apartment block in Central Krakow are trapped in their own building. All windows and doors are sealed, phone lines are down and the internet is off. Seven people, cut off from the world. It quickly turns out that they are participating in a strange game played by the mysterious ‘THEY’. Suspicions are cast, and conflicts break out. Paranoia thickens. Until finally, blood is shed.

Joan, once a singing star of the 1940s and 1950s, now ekes out a lonely, impoverished existence—until a chance encounter promises a comeback concert and an album. Her sister Kathleen is a successful medical researcher who has been offered the directorship of a prestige institute in Los Angeles in her retirement but is facing divorce after her husband's affair. In their old age, Joan and Kathleen draw closer together. Until a figure from Joan's past threatens everything they've built.

I gasp out loud as I step through the door of the beautiful country hotel. My hands fly to my mouth in shock as I see the room is filled with my friends and family, my grown-up daughters and grandchildren at the center, gathered to celebrate my special birthday. Everyone raises their glasses to toast me. I should be enjoying the moment but I'm on edge and I can't relax. Who organized this surprise party? How did they know I was going to be here? Because I didn't come back to Burcott House to drink champagne and dance. Ten years ago, someone was murdered at this hotel.

Child genius and budding inventor Frances is in trouble. Her dreams of scientific glory were dashed when her first big experiment nearly destroyed her whole town. So when a prestigious society invites her to their symposium, Frances sees it as a chance to redeem herself. On the way there, her train is hijacked, and she and her friend Luca flee into the Black Forest. Seeking shelter with a group of orphans, Frances learns the rules of the woods: Never travel alone. Never make a sound. Because something hunts in the shadows, something with glowing eyes and sharp teeth.

When peddler John Durbeyfield learns that he may be a descendant of a noble family, he sends his oldest child, Tess, to “claim kin.” Blindly ushered into harm’s way, the strong-willed yet untinctured peasant girl is not prepared for the blighted course her life will take. Nor for those whose destructive desires will determine her fate, and force Tess to make only the most desperate of choices. From her tragic loss of innocence through betrayal and revenge, Tess’s struggle for survival challenged the era’s mores and the cruel indifference shown women in Victorian society.

In the aftermath of an asteroid impact, Earth’s power grid is damaged nearly beyond recovery. The survival of our world may well depend on energy sources collected from an abandoned undersea settlement beneath the icy surface of Enceladus. Earth-raised Colonel Carter Rhodes, in charge of Earth’s recovery efforts, calls upon Gwen Baré, a Venusian engineer, to regain control of the deserted moon outpost and collect fuel for Earth’s collapsing power grids.

Batrice Reyard has everything she's ever wanted - a fabulous job, an understanding mentor, and the freedom to be herself. Or so she thought.... Suddenly, she's being sent off to visit her ailing grandmother for the sake of keeping up appearances. Her grandmother is the last person she wishes to visit, especially with a collection of strange companions in tow. But she does love an adventure, so she sets off into the woods determined to find some excitement. She never bargained on the excitement finding her.

Brenna Seagrave doesn't want to be a countess. She prefers her life of danger and disguise as a spy for the kingdom of Andar, but the Andari court isn't quite ready for a countess who engages in espionage. Feeling trapped, Brenna accepts an invitation to a mysterious estate, where she hopes to connect with the mother she's never had a chance to know. But nothing is quite as Brenna expects.

Princess Ilani is an outcast, shunned since her seventh birthday for possessing forbidden magic. But when her 12 sisters are trapped by a deception that threatens to tear their father's empire apart, Ilani must come out of hiding and join forces with a devilishly charming foreigner whose motives remain shrouded by secrecy and mistrust.

In an arctic world that's getting colder every day, Lyriana's only hope of survival is to get her little brother Zave and herself to the fabled Orphan's Garden. It’s rumored to be the one place in the world not controlled by deadly Winter Spirits or ruled by the tyrant Giant king. In Orphan’s Garden, healing trees will melt away Winter’s pains, and Lyriana and Zave can live safely in the warmth of Spring. If the garden exists, they must find it. They won’t live much longer without it.

The sorceress Oria has finally come into her own—able to wield the power of her birthright and secure in the marriage she once believed would bring her only misery. But the past she escaped still chases her, and the certainty of war promises to destroy everything she’s fought to have.

With her secrets uncovered and her power-mad brother bent on her execution, Princess Oria has no sanctuary left. Her bid to make herself and her new barbarian husband rulers of walled Bára has failed. She and Lonen have no choice but to flee through the leagues of brutal desert between her home and his—certain death for a sorceress, and only a bit slower than the blade.

Once Princess Oria spun wicked daydreams from the legends of sorceresses kidnapped by the barbarian Destrye. Now, though she’s come willingly, she finds herself in a mirror of the old tales: the king’s foreign trophy of war, starved of magic, surrounded by snowy forest and hostile strangers. But this place has secrets, too—and Oria must learn them quickly if she is to survive.

Princess Oria has one chance to keep her word and stop her brother’s reign of terror: She must become queen. All she has to do is marry first. And marry Lonen, the barbarian king who defeated her city bare weeks ago, who can never join her in a marriage of minds, who can never even touch her—no matter how badly she wants him to.