One of today's bestselling and most critically acclaimed writers of science fiction and fantasy, C. J. Cherryh has been entertaining readers for more than thirty years with beautifully imagined, complex novels of intrigue and adventure. With Hammerfall she began an entirely new universe -- her first in three decades -- and an enthralling tale of mystery and survival on a desert world devastated by nanotechnology. Now she returns to the captivating universe of The Gene Wars in a brilliant, visionary story that reaches from the desert to the stars.

Deep in an abandoned, shattered castle, an old man of the Old Magic muttered almost forgotten words. His purpose -- to create out of the insubstance of the air, from a shimmering of light and a fluttering of shadows. that most wonderous of spells, a Shaping. A Shaping in the form of a, young man who will be sent east on the road the old was to old to travel. To right the wrongs of a long-forgotten wizard war, and call new wars into being. Here is the long-awaited major new novel from one of the brightest stars in the fantasy and science fiction firmament.C.J.Cherryh's haunting story of the wizard Mauryl, kingmaker for a thousand years of Men, and Tristen, fated to sow distrust between a prince and his father being. A tale as deep as legend and a intimate as love, it tells of a battle beyond Time, in which all Destiny turns on the wheel of an old man's ambition, a young man's innocence, and the unkept promised of a king to come.

Sixteen years have passed since the dramatic events of Fortress of Dragons, and Cefwyn, king at last, must rebuild his devastated kingdom. The embattled ruler is aided by his powerful friend Tristen Sihhe and two surprising allies in a struggle he must win: his two young sons. Elfwyn Aswydd, the bastard son of Cefwyn and the sorceress Tarien Aswydd, has spent years unaware of his parentage, yet now it is his time to emerge and claim the gifted birthright he's been denied for so long. But a dark, sinister magic has crept close to the young man and seized hold of the kingdom. Nothing is as it seems, and the bonds of family strain against the powerful forces that would see them undone. It is up to an embattled four—Elfwyn; his half brother, Aewyn Marhanen; Cefwyn; and Tristen—to unmask and destroy the dark forces that threaten to unhinge the king's peaceful and fragile reign.

A young woman finds $200,000 in cash in a cardboard box delivered to her door. A man inherits a fortune from a father who died "penniless." Amy Parkens and Ryan Duffy have never met, but they are about to, as each discovers that found money can be a godsend--or a nightmare. Amy Parkens is a struggling single mother forced to abandon a career in astronomy for a practical computer job. She feels condemned to long hours, low pay, and no time to spend with her daughter. Then an unmarked package arrives. There's no card, no note, no return address. Someone has simply sent her a small fortune. Amy has no idea who--or why. She only knows her dead-end life has changed forever. Though she longs to keep the cash, Amy fears a mistake, a setup, or even a possible connection to her mother's mysterious suicide twenty years earlier. She has to find the source. But when she tries to look her gift horse in the mouth, someone snatches the money away--quickly, violently. Ryan Duffy is a decent, responsible man, a small-town physician from the plains of southeastern Colorado. Like Amy, Ryan has recently found unexpected wealth. His father's estate is worth more than Ryan could ever have imagined--millions more. Truth is, Dad was a hardworking electrician for forty-years. But in his attic, he hid a fortune. The Duffy family has been guarding this secret. Was it extortion, burglary, or some other shocking crimeAnd now that Ryan has the money, what should he doPainful as it is, Ryan is drawn to his father's dark past. Amy, on the same desperate quest for answers, soon crosses Ryan's path. Their search takes them through a labyrinth of deception and blackmail, leading to a man of unfathomable power. Yet the past is not what it appears. Heinous crimes touched their families years ago. Amy and Ryan must solve a treacherous puzzle to learn why the true victims never came forward, why the real wrongdoers went unpunished, and why certain people would kill to keep their secrets.

A strange and compelling unkillable woman decides to leave home, and the story begins. Fleur Pillager takes her mother's name, Four Souls, for strength and walks from her Ojibwe reservation to the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. She is seeking restitution from and revenge on the lumber baron who has stripped her reservation. But revenge is never simple, and she quickly finds her intentions complicated by her own dangerous compassion for the man who wronged her. The two narrators of Four Souls are from utterly different worlds. Nanapush, a "smart man and a fool," is both Fleur's savior and her conscience. He tells Fleur's story and tells his own. He would like a calm and discriminating love with his sweetheart, Margaret. He is old and would like to face death with his love beside him. Instead the two find themselves battling out their last years. When the childhood nemesis of Nanapush appears and casts his eye toward Margaret, Nanapush acts out an absurd revenge of his own and nearly ends up destroying everything. The other narrator, Polly Elizabeth Gheen, is a pretentious and vulnerable upper-crust fringe element, a hanger-on in a wealthy Minneapolis family, a woman aware of her precarious hold on those around her. To her own great surprise the entrance of Fleur Pillager into her household and her life effects a transformation she could never have predicted. In the world of interconnected novels by Louise Erdrich, Four Souls is most closely linked to Tracks. All these works continue and elaborate the intricate story of life on a reservation peopled by saints and false saints, heroes and sinners, clever fools and tenacious women. Four Souls reminds us of the deep spirituality and the ordinary humanity of this world, and is as beautiful and lyrical as anything Louise Erdrich has written.

The past's blood stains the presentThe opportunity of a lifetime awaits archaeologist EmmaFielding in the Berkshire foothills of Western Massachusetts: the chance to study the eighteenth-century diary of Margaret Chandler, the accused witch and murderess whose home Emma excavated only months before. However, the three other Shrewsbury Foundation fellows she must share the premises with are a disturbingly odd bunch, and before too long one of them is dead.But Emma can find no solace in the bleak beauty of thesurrounding wilderness, for there are dark secrets encoded in Madam Chandler's writings, and shocking parallels between an ancient slaying and the strange, brutal demise of her colleague.When the killer strikes again, Emma realizes her own life isat stake. And suddenly there is no choice left: she is driven to investigate bloody crimes past and present -- before her own death becomes a footnote in a chilling, three-centuries-old story.

It's a tough life for witch Rachel Morgan, sexy, independent bounty hunter, prowling the darkest shadows of downtown Cincinnati for criminal creatures of the night.She can handle the leather-clad vamps and even tangle with a cunning demon or two. But a serial killer who feeds on the experts in the most dangerous kind of black magic is definitely pressing the limits.Confronting an ancient, implacable evil is more than just child's play -- and this time, Rachel will be lucky to escape with her very soul.

With her sharp wit and riveting style, Leslie Carroll plunges us deep into the world of the overscheduled children of New York, and the oversexed, over-lipoed, overpaid people who raise them -or pay their nannies!What happens when a trophy wife gets turned in for someone even younger, blonder, and prettierClaire Marsh doesn't take it lying down. She may have lost both husband and housekeeper in the horrible divorce, but even if she's not able to keep living in the manner to which she's accustomed, she'll do what it takes so that her daughter will with a little help from her slightly wild, slightly out-of-control sister MiMi.

Fall has fallen upon Judith McMonigle Flynn, leaving her Hillside Manor nearly devoid of guests. And what better cure for the off-season blahs than a brief bout of BB sifting for a friend amid the quiet rustic splendor of secluded Chavez IslandJudith and cousin Renie both are more than ready for some relaxation. But their peace goes to pieces when Renie conks an odious interloping blowhard on the noggin with a heavy china dish-and, moments later, the woozy lout takes a fatal tumble down an inconvenient staircase. Judith suspects that death by dinnerware was not the real cause of this fellow's demise. But to prove her cantankerous cuz innocent, she'll have to uncover the real killer from among the motley island crew. And that could pile a lot more nastiness on Judith's plate than the harried bed-and-breakfast hostess can consume in one sitting!

From the mega-bestselling author of Beaches , a new novel, available in mass market for the first time, once again celebrating female relationships. Two very different women fulfil a childhood promise to take care of one another no matter what.Dahlia Green is a struggling songwriter in Los Angeles who has fallen on hard times. She's had few of her songs recorded, but lately there's been a long pause between sales and she's starting to believe she'll never sell another song. As a child Dahlia and her cousin Annie wrote duets together as child play. Then Annie was diagnosed with schizophrenia and for all of her adult life has cycled in and out of mental hospitals where no one ever goes to visit her. Now twenty-five years later Dahlia has a chance to shine again by selling a song she and Annie wrote. So she tracks Annie in an institution and brings her home in hopes of convincing her to sign away her rights to the tune. But what starts out as a scheme to get ahead and exploit her cousin results in Dahlia putting someone else's needs above her own for the first time in her life. She fulfils a childhood promise made long ago to take care of one another no matter what.

Written in the classic noir tradition of Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep , Straits of Fortune is a fast-paced and sometimes deadly adventure set in America's sexiest city. Ex-cop Jack Vaughn, the best thing to happen to crime fiction since Chandler's Philip Marlowe hung up his holster, moved from the gritty streets of New York to Miami to work as a personal trainer. The sun, sand, and tanned bodies of Miami are a welcome distraction from the haunting memory of another cop's death in New York. But when he becomes involved with millionaire businessman Colonel Patterson, he realizes his newfound peace is short-lived.The Colonel offers Jack a hundred grand to do a seemingly simple favor. But getting involved with the Colonel also means getting involved with his daughter, the exotic wild child Vivian, who once broke Jack's heart. Jack had sworn to forget her, but this memorable cast of characters lures him back into their double-dealing circle.The deeper he gets, the more Jack finds himself entangled in an ever-expanding web of lies, lust, and violence. A dark, hard-boiled look at the dangerous underbelly of glamorous Miami, Straits of Fortune is an unforgettable debut novel.

Some marriages are made in heaven . . . Some are not.What happens when "the happiest day of your life" turns into a nightmareForget the drunken best man or the bridesmaid dresses from the '80s . . . none of these wedding day disasters can compare to a cursed bride determined to make it down the aisle, or a vampire who is about to disrupt your wedding.Join New York Times bestselling authors Maggie Shayne and Jeaniene Frost, USA Today bestseller Kathryn Smith, as well as Terri Garey in four unforgettable tales of unholy matrimony . . . where the grooms are dark, dangerous, and mostly dead, and to love and cherish till death takes on a whole new meaning.

Bed-and-breakfast hostess Judith McMonigle and her policeman beau Joe Flynn hgave finally gotten hitched-and they're off on a sunny honeymoon to beautiful Buccaneer Beach.But an unfortunate confrontation with a dune buggy run amok puts hubby Joe in hospital traction-leaving his beleaguered blushing bride stranded in paradise with a bad case of ennui by the sea. Luckily irrepressible cousin Renie has selflessly agreed to keep Judith company. And when the landlady of their cozy, costly cottage by the shore turns up dead in their living room, the cousins suddenly have a murderous mystery to keep them afloat. Rumors of a fortune in buried pirate gold add spice to their adventure. But digging up both a treasure and a killer is dirty business-and Judith and Renie might end up digging their own graves.

Van Gogh-ing...going...gone! Poor Judith McMonigle Flynn! All she wants is a much-needed break from the rigors of running Hillside Manor. But she and cousin Renie have barely set foot in their family's backwoods vacation cottage...and already they're having a brush with the local law. It appears someone has painted their neighbor, world-renowned artist Riley Tobias, permanently out of the picture. And the artful slayer has managed to frame luckless Judith for the crime! But the model amateur sleuth isn't about to sit still for this , as she and her cuz canvas the countryside in search of a killer. Judith is certain the culprit can be found in the rogues' gallery of oily agents, malicious mistresses, and crafty critics who inhabited the defunct da Vinci's surrealistic world. But the cousins could be painting themselves into a dangerous corner with this unofficial investigation...and setting themselves up for another fatal art attack.Poor Judith McMonigle Flynn! All she wants is a much-needed break from the rigors of running Hillside Manor. But she and cousin Renie have barely set foot in their family's backwoods vacation cottage...and already they're having a brush with the local law. It appears someone has painted their neighbor, world-renowned artist Riley Tobias, permanently out of the picture. And the artful slayer has managed to frame luckless Judith for the crime! But the model amateur sleuth isn't about to sit still for this, as she and her cuz canvas the countryside in search of a killer. Judith is certain the culprit can be found in the rogues' gallery of oily agents, malicious mistresses, and crafty critics who inhabited the defunct da Vinci's surrealistic world. But the cousins could be painting themselves into a dangerous corner with this unofficial investigation...and setting themselves up for another fatal art attack.Poor Judith McMonigle Flynn! All she wants is a much-needed break from the rigors of running Hillside Manor. But she and cousin Renie have barely set foot in their family's backwoods vacation cottage...and already they're having a brush with the local law. It appears someone has painted their neighbor, world-renowned artist Riley Tobias, permanently out of the picture. And the artful slayer has managed to frame luckless Judith for the crime! But the model amateur sleuth isn't about to sit still for this, as she and her cuz canvas the countryside in search of a killer. Judith is certain the culprit can be found in the rogues' gallery of oily agents, malicious mistresses, and crafty critics who inhabited the defunct da Vinci's surrealistic world. But the cousins could be painting themselves into a dangerous corner with this unofficial investigation...and setting themselves up for another fatal art attack.

Michael "Mad Dog" Hertzog lived for soldiering but he wasn't willing to die following the orders of bureaucrats and incompetents. Now he and his private army of warriors-for-hire are doing war Dog's way. Hertzog's right hand man has vanished . . . along with $30 million of Mad Dog's money. The evidence says a trusted British merc has gone rogue, but there may be a different, more virulent form of treachery at work here. There are answers waiting aboard a train racing east from Moscow, carrying Russian gangsters, stolen Siberian diamonds, a shadow team of Iranian agents . . . and a pair of nuclear warheads. Suddenly the stakes have gotten perilously high for Mad Dog, his team, and the world . . . as time ticks rapidly away on a terrifying plot to bathe the Middle East in nuclear fire.

Forty is fabulous for Tessa Craig. Heck, she has it all—a glamorous job as a political speechwriter, a Manhattan duplex, and a handsome boyfriend, Congressman David Weyburn, whose integrity, charisma, and good looks have made him his party's rising star. But her fabulosity fizzles when scandal strikes, and Tessa watches helplessly as her seemingly happy love life and successful career collapse like a house of cards. Tessa realizes it's time to embark on a new journey, one she should have made a long time ago. It's a trip that takes her to the Emerald Isle and back, leading her heart in unimagined directions. She makes new friends, unexpectedly adopts a new family (or do they adopt her?), and discovers unanticipated love with silver-tongued, green-eyed, aspiring pub owner, Jamie Doyle. And, most importantly, Tessa makes that uphill climb over the rainbow to find the ultimate pot of gold: Herself.

At the age of eight Brian Lackey is found bleeding under the crawl space of his house, having endured something so traumatic that he cannot remember an entire five hour period of time. During the following years he slowly recalls details from that night, but these fragments are not enough to explain what happened to him, and he begins to believe that he may have been the victim of an alien encounter. Neil McCormick is fully aware of the events from that summer of 1981. Wise beyond his years, curious about his developing sexuality, Neil found what he perceived to be love and guidance from his baseball coach. Now, ten years later, he is a teenage hustler, a terrorist of sorts, unaware of the dangerous path his life is taking. His recklessness is governed by idealized memories of his coach, memories that unexpectedly change when Brian comes to Neil for help and, ultimately, the truth.

When the garishly grotesque clan of wealthy carpet-sweeper magnate Otto Broadie sweeps down upon Judith McMonigle's Hillside Manor Inn, it looks like there'll be a wild night of drinking, dining, and fortune-telling in the offing. But when their soothsayer-for-hire Madame Gushenka drops dead after someone douses her tea leaves with bug killer, harried hostess Judith and her irrepressible cousin Renie are left to clean up the mess. One of the Brodie bunch would dearly love to sweep the Madame's murder under the rug, however, and that might mean eliminating the nosy Ms. McMonigle as well. But with the help of her one-time beau, policeman Joe Flynn, Judith is determined to rattle the dust off some closeted family skeletons, in order to coax a killer out of hiding before coffee is served.

A poet and biographer, Jay Parini is also a novelist whose fiction has been acclaimed as "dazzli/ng," (Los Angeles Times) "achingly beautiful," (Washington Post) and "a subtle masterpiece" (John Bayley in the Times Literary Supplement). In his new novel, The Apprentice Lover, Parini evokes the gorgeous Mediterranean island of Capri during the summer of 1970 as the setting for a sensuous, deeply affecting story of a young American's coming into his own and reconciling himself with his past. When Alex Massolini's brother is killed in Vietnam, he drops out of Columbia University and leaves his conservative family behind for Capri to become secretary to Rupert Grant, a famous British novelist and poet, who dominates the island like a latter-day Prospero. Alex soon finds himself ensnared in a web of love affairs, friendships, and rivalries within the eccentric community that inhabits the idyllic beauty of the isolated Italian island. Among that group are the selfish, cunning, and brilliant Rupert Grant; his wife Vera, a charming and sophisticated social manipulator; the elusive Holly and the mysterious Marisa, who act as Grant's research assistants; the young philosophy student from the Sorbonne, Patrice LaRue; and Father Aurelio, who is desperate for parishioners. The Apprentice Lover traces a young American's enchantment and disenchantment-with his American past, with his new European mentor, and with the various characters on an island famous for its characters. As Alex stumbles upon intrigues and secrets, he tries to balance what others demand of him with his own nascent desires. His apprenticeship in love, literature, and life unfolds with a combination of Mediterranean clarity, wry humor, wit, and emotional power that only a master of fiction could orchestrate.

In this wicked, laugh-out-loud debut novel, five miserable souls struggle to make their mark on Hollywood, the city of the soulless. Rachel Burt, starry-eyed and clueless, has left behind tiny Sugarland, Texas, and her position as Starbucks employee of the month, to pursue her dreams of becoming a screenwriter. The madness begins when she eagerly accepts a position as assistant to Victoria Rush, an aging television diva with "a little pill-popping problem that two tours of duty at Betty Ford couldn't remedy." Rachel learns the ropes from Michaela Marsh, a never-say-die, plastic-surgery perfect "midget Tai-Bo Barbie." Michaela has spent years (and years and years: she is -- gasp -- over thirty!) trying to break into Hollywood, which has given her a healthy respect for the casting couch; but even sleeping with her slimy agent hasn't landed her a meaty role, and the last pilot she almost got, some ten years ago, went to that little nobody, Lisa Kudrow. Jeb, who operates on pure rage, has been fired from more assistant jobs than he cares to count, and he currently teeters on the edge of insanity under Randall Blume, one of the sleaziest agents in Hollywood. Kecia Christy, a no-nonsense Pisces pining for love and addicted to Krispy Kremes, works for Travis Trask, the hottest teen heartthrob since "that other white boy, Leo." More interested in smoking prizewinning pot with his bonehead buddies than in his next movie, Travis is always looking for the next good party -- until his ex-con brother shows up at the front door. Griffin's intelligence and ambition fail to shield him from endless humiliation at the hands of Johnny Treadway, a crass A-list manager with pec and cheek implants and a perpetual tan, courtesy of the Tropical Rays tanning bed he keeps in his office. Johnny takes all the credit while Griffin does all the real work, and Griffin has begun to suspect that selling his soul might not be worth that overdue promotion after all. Once a week, Rachel, Michaela, Jeb, Griffin, and Kecia meet at a dark, unhip watering hole to commiserate. Soon enough, however, the system spits them out, and they must learn to survive through sheer determination, hard-won industry savvy, and luck. At turns hilarious, poignant, and sinfully gossipy, The Assistants will keep you glued to your seat until the final page is turned.

The statistics are staggering. Thirteen million Americanshave been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes; another 5.2 million don't know that they have it. During the past thirty years the diabetes rate has tripled, and each year about 200,000 people die from complications of the disease. The Centers for Disease Control project that one out of every three children born in the year 2000 will develop the disease. But Type 2 diabetes is largely preventable. Find out how you can avoid becoming a statistic. As a respected physician and pioneer in the field of complementary medicine, Dr. Robert C. Atkins recognized early on that diabetes and obesity are twin epidemics, and that the way to reverse both is to permanently change the way people eat. Yet much of the mainstream medical establishment continues to advocate the treatment of diabetes with insulin and other drugs, while recommending a diet high in carbohydrates including sugar which raises your blood sugar. What you'll learn from reading Atkins Diabetes Revolution is that rather than correcting your metabolism, such a diet can actually increase your risk of developing diabetes -- and heart disease. The Atkins Blood Sugar Control Program (ABSCP) helps you identify the metabolic signposts that indicate trouble long before the onset of Type 2 diabetes so you can stop it in its tracks. If you already have the disease, the ABSCP offers you and your physician a strategy for weight management and blood-sugar control, while minimizing your exposure to drugs. Atkins Diabetes Revolution presents a comprehensive lifestyle program, including diet, exercise, and nutrient supplementation. The book also contains meal plans, recipes, a fitness routine, and case studies. This groundbreaking book, a fitting tribute to Dr. Atkins, tackles one of the greatest health challenges you and your family may ever face.