In New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison's most complex and nuanced adventure yet, bounty hunter and witch Rachel Morgan fights a deadly battle—mind, body, and soul Black Magic SanctionRachel Morgan has fought and hunted vampires, werewolves, banshees, demons, and other supernatural dangers as both witch and bounty hunter—and lived to tell the tale. But she's never faced off against her own kind . . . until now. Denounced and shunned for dealing with demons and black magic, her best hope is life imprisonment—at worst, a forced lobotomy and genetic slavery. Only her enemies are strong enough to help her win her freedom, but trust comes hard when it hinges on the unscrupulous tycoon Trent Kalamack, the demon Algaliarept, and an ex-boyfriend turned thief. It takes a witch to catch a witch, but survival bears a heavy price.

From the author of the critically acclaimed novel A Brother's Blood, comes a haunting story about an Irish housekeeper who must discover the truth when her friend, the parish priest, is accused of horrible crimes.Maggie Quinn has had her share of misfortune: Having grown up poor and fatherless in Galway, she was forced to quit school early and find work to support her ailing mother and her own child. But when a tragedy of her own making strikes, it is too much for her to bear. Plagued by feelings of guilt and sorrow and by losing her faith in God, she runs from her past; first by fleeing Ireland for America and later by drowning her sorrows with the bottle. Maggie hits rock bottom when she makes an unsuccessful suicide attempt.While recuperating in a hospital bed, she meets the remarkable Father Jack Devlin. With his compassion and love, Maggie once more finds her faith and a reason to live.For the past eighteen years, Maggie has devoted herself to the man who saved her life. But now Father Jack, the beloved if controversial priest in the small town of Hebron Falls, Massachusetts, is accused of having done terrible things to altar boys many years before. At first Maggie is convinced that the accusations are only lies brought out by Father Jack's enemies. Yet as she sifts through the memories of her life with Father Jack, doubts begin to emerge: Could she have been blind to a darker side of her friend all these yearsAnd when new information surfaces regarding the unsolved murder of a young altar boy with possible links to Father Jack, her faith is once again put to the test. Maggie must search her memory and her heart to help her decide what to believe. The Blind Side of the Heart poignantly captures one woman's struggle to remain loyal to a friend while at the same time she is forced to examine her conscience to arrive at the truth.

Nominated for the 2000 James Tiptree Jr. Memorial AwardIn as gray, industro-technical future of protective shackles and slowed ideas, Jayne wants to be respectable and conform.But conformity means accepting a limited destiny and the hollow entertainments that are brutally enforced as "news".And to be respectable, she must gain back her virginity and give up an eye.Jayne's life is out of control-her reality has teeth and educational drugs and binding tools- and the only cures for her growing dissatisfactionwith a bleak, repressive status quo seem to be madness or legal suicide. Or rebellion.Jayne cannot, will not, be rehabilitated. So instead, she will live her life between lines, illegally encouraging the otherness of the lowly, the renegades, the crazies, the virtual whores, as she dedicates herself to the dangerous cause of outlaw education. There are many pitfalls built into the road Jayne has chosen to walk: failure, betrayal, terror, arrest, cyberia. But her courage and determination could be the catalyst for a new future.

Brazen and given to transgressions, the narrator of this mordantly witty novel is an aloof, tough talking, married Manhattan woman who carries on three affairs simultaneously, blithely breaking seven of the Ten Commandments in her search for a safe place to land. Rootless, bouncing from bed to bed, she knows she is pure of heart. If only she could find where her heart got lost. Irreverent and achingly honest, she points to the small but infinitely deep cracks in our masks, drawing the reader into her world of misadventure -- erotic, comic, and deeply unsettling. Juggling four men -- her husband, "the hit man," "the multimedia artist," and "the love of her life" -- she can't decide whether she is out to prove or disprove the Talmudic wisdom: If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there.

A mysterious and richly evocative novel, The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque tells the story of portraitist Piero Piambo, who is offered a commission unlike any other. The client is Mrs. Charbuque, a wealthy and elusive woman who asks Piambo to paint her portrait, though with one bizarre twist: he may question her at length on any topic, but he may not, under any circumstances, see her. So begins an astonishing journey into Mrs. Charbuque's world and the world of 1893 New York society in this hypnotically compelling literary thriller.

From out of the East they came riding like a merciless plague—destroying kingdom after kingdom and the sovereigns who had previously mocked the warlord Loethar and his barbarian horde. Now only one land remains unconquered—the largest, richest, and most powerful realm of the Denova Set . . .Penraven.The Valisar royals of Penraven face certain death, for the savage tyrant Loethar covets what they alone possess: the fabled Valisar Enchantment, an irresistible power to coerce, which will belong to Loethar once every Valisar has been slain. But the last hope of the besieged kingdom is being sent in secret from his doomed home, in the company of a single warrior. The future of Penraven now rests on the shoulders of the young Crown Prince Leonel who, though untried and untested in the ways of war, must survive brutality and treachery in order to claim the Valisar throne.

The bear is on the prowl in many different guises.He may be the master thief stealing into Graceland, an intense young passenger experimenting in terror, or a psychiatrist haunted by his patient's nightmare.Or maybe he's beautiful, lethal woman in a blood-red scarf.So beware of the this huge, dangerous beast.Because first he will enthrall you.. and then he will strike.

Hailed as "the most gifted American novelist of his generation" (Boston Globe), David Payne introduces us to Ransom Hill, a big-hearted, wild-man lead singer of a legendary indie rock group, who has come to South Carolina determined to save his marriage, his family, and himself. But back at Wando Passo, his wife's inherited family estate, things don't proceed according to plan. There's another man in the picture, and Ran's discovery of a mysterious relic from slave times transports him—and the reader—back into the story of another romantic triangle at Wando Passo that erupted violently at the height of the Civil War. Will the present repeat the past?Filled with fast-paced adventure, lyrical writing, wicked humor, and unforgettable characters, David Payne's Back to Wando Passo propels the two love stories, linked by place through time, to a simultaneous crescendo of betrayal, revenge, and redemption.

AS the twentieth century breathes its very last, with Britpop at its zenith, twenty-seven-year-old A&R man Steven Stelfox is slashing and burning his way through London’s music industry. Blithely crisscrossing the globe in search of the next megahit—fueled by greed and inhuman quantities of cocaine—Stelfox freely indulges in an unending orgy of self-gratification. But the industry is changing fast and the hits are drying up, and the only way he’s going to salvage his sagging career is by taking the idea of “cutthroat” to murderous new levels.

Twelve years have passed since Nehemiah Trust left his hometown of Shibboleth, Alabama. Now a successful aide in Washington DC, Nehemiah is shocked when his brother Billy and high-school girlfriend Trice show up on his doorstep warning that something is stealing the life of what should be their idyllic hometown. Billy and Trice are convinced that only Nehemiah can help. As the three friends join together to save the place they call home, they learn the solution may require a willingness to sacrifice everything.

Sunny Weston always wanted to be perfect . . . and that meant being thin. Now, after what seemed like a million years on the treadmill—and a million miles from the nearest brownie—she finally fits into those slinky black dresses she's been eyeing for years. But being a perfect size doesn't necessarily equal a perfect life. Suddenly Sunny's best friends are all bitter and jealous. She's become a stranger in her own body. And though her longtime work crush, Adrian, is finally her boyfriend, she's totally confused now that charming, daringly dapper Cagney has appeared on the scene. Worst of all, she's worried that the recipe for a happy life might not be low-calorie after all.Maybe it's time for Sunny to discover that the true secret to happiness isn't constantly feeling hollow.

When a Hollywood location scout comes to Applewood, Long Island, and announces that the local elementary school might make the perfect backdrop for an upcoming George Clooney movie, the PTA's decorum crumbles like a cookie from last week's bake sale. Enter Maddie, Ruth, and Lisa, three women who become the glue that holds the project together, forging a bond of friendship stronger than anyone could imagine. And not a moment too soon, as marriage woes, old flames, and scandalously embarrassing family members threaten to tear each of them apart. Is their powerful alliance strong enough to overcome the obstacles to getting the movie made in their townAnd will their friendship be enough to mend their hearts and homesJoin them as they reach for the stars . . . and try to pull off a Hollywood ending of their own. At once tender and hilarious, Secret Confessions of the Applewood PTA is a captivating story that turns suburbia upside down . . . with more humor, heartache, and heat than one PTA can hold.

When it comes to Asian desserts, most Americans think of fortune cookies. But, in fact, the Far East is home to a dazzling array of sweets rich with tropical fruits, crunchy nuts, aromatic spices, and, yes, even chocolate.In The Sweet Spot, renowned pastry chef Pichet Ong presents a collection of one hundred recipes for cakes, cookies, pies, tarts, puddings, ice creams, candies, and more. There are traditional Asian desserts with innovative twists, such as Sesame Balls, Mango Sticky Rice, and Almond Tofu, and classic American favorites, like Spiced Coconut Brownies, Banana Cream Pie, and Cream Puffs, livened up with Asian ingredients and cooking techniques. Eschewing the heavy use of butter and sugar, Ong instead highlights the vibrant flavors of Asia—jasmine, lychee, orange blossom water, passion fruit, yuzu, mangosteen, and sesame, to name just a few. And despite the complexity of flavors and textures, all of the recipes are easy enough to make in home kitchens, requiring minimal effort for maximum results. Dazzle dinner-party guests with elegant showstoppers—Thai Tea White Chocolate Tart, Coconut Cream Pie with Toasted Jasmine Rice Crust—or delight the family with simple weeknight treats—Pomegranate Sherbet, Ginger Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.The Sweet Spot includes lush color photographs of almost all of the finished dishes, and a foreword from legendary restaurateur and chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Savory Asian cuisine has been popular in America for years. Now it's time to embrace the enticing range of exotic desserts.

Colorado rancher Atticus Cody receives word that his wayward younger son, Scott, has committed suicide in Resurrection, Mexico. When Atticus travels south to recover Scott's body, he is puzzled by what he finds there and begins to suspect murder. Illuminating those often obscure chambers of the human heart, Atticus is the story of a father's steadfast and almost unfathomable love for his son, a mystery that Ron Hansen's fiction explores with a passion and intensity no reader will be able to resist.

These were days of uncertainty and peril, of noble deeds and great sacrifice.An exciting time to be young and adventurous . . . but a dangerous time to fall in love.

From USA Today bestselling author Mary Daheim comes her latest Bed-and-Breakfast book featuring innkeeper Judith McMonigle Flynn and her irrepressible cousin Renie in a mystery that takes them on the wrong side of the tracks. . . . Loco MotiveIt's autumn at Hillside Manor B&B, and with the changing leaves come some unexpected guests. There's Judith's son and daughter-in-law, with their two children in tow, a couple with an impossible (and unbelievable?) last name who show up from nowhere, and a pair of giggly young women who don't seem to know where they're going. As Halloween draws nigh, Judith can barely cope with her gala of guests, but at least the worst guest from the first part of the week checks out—almost permanently. Wee Willie Weevil, infamous daredevil and martial-arts movie icon, insisted on performing his dangerous stunts from Judith's roof and left the B&B via an ambulance.Hoping to escape the domestic mayhem, Judith agrees to accompany Renie on a cross-country train trip to Boston with first-class accommodations on the Empire Builder. Judith's bubble bursts when she discovers that Wee Willie and his entourage are fellow travelers. Although confined to a wheelchair, the diminutive stunt man seems capable of derailing the cousins' vacation.Cousin Renie does her best to ease Judith's mind until the train collides with a truckload of sugar beets. Forced to wait for a new engine in a small Montana town in the middle of nowhere, the passengers can do nothing but watch and wait. Even before the train can get back on track, the cousins discover that their sleeper attendant has gone missing. Worse yet, another passenger's final destination is the nearest morgue.Judith and Renie have to move full speed ahead if they want to blow the whistle on the killer before death strikes again. Can the train continue its journeyWill the cousins ever get to BostonStay aboard!

Employ the most advanced pentesting techniques and tools to build highly-secured systems and environments About This Book Learn how to build your own pentesting lab environment to practice advanced techniques Customize your own *s, and learn methods to exploit 32-bit and 64-bit programs Explore a vast variety of stealth techniques to bypass a number of protections when penetration testing Who This Book Is For This book is for anyone who wants to improve their skills in penetration testing. As it follows a step-by-step approach, anyone from a novice to an experienced security tester can learn effective techniques to deal with highly secured environments. Whether you are brand new or a seasoned expert, this book will provide you with the skills you need to successfully create, customize, and plan an advanced penetration test. What You Will Learn A step-by-step methodology to identify and penetrate secured environments Get to know the process to test network services across enterprise architecture when defences are in place Grasp different web application testing methods and how to identify web application protections that are deployed Understand a variety of concepts to exploit software Gain proven post-exploitation techniques to exfiltrate data from the target Get to grips with various stealth techniques to remain undetected and defeat the latest defences Be the first to find out the latest methods to bypass firewalls Follow proven approaches to record and save the data from tests for analysis In Detail The defences continue to improve and become more and more common, but this book will provide you with a number or proven techniques to defeat the latest defences on the networks. The methods and techniques contained will provide you with a powerful arsenal of best practices to increase your penetration testing successes. The processes and methodology will provide you techniques that will enable you to be successful, and the step by step instructions of information gathering and intelligence will allow you to gather the required information on the targets you are testing. The exploitation and post-exploitation sections will supply you with the tools you would need to go as far as the scope of work will allow you. The challenges at the end of each chapter are designed to challenge you and provide real-world situations that will hone and perfect your penetration testing skills. You will start with a review of several well respected penetration testing methodologies, and following this you will learn a step-by-step methodology of professional security testing, including stealth, methods of evasion, and obfuscation to perform your tests and not be detected! The final challenge will allow you to create your own complex layered architecture with defences and protections in place, and provide the ultimate testing range for you to practice the methods shown throughout the book. The challenge is as close to an actual penetration test assignment as you can get! Style and approach The book follows the standard penetration testing stages from start to finish with step-by-step examples. The book thoroughly covers penetration test expectations, proper scoping and planning, as well as enumeration and foot printing

Develop your first interactive 2D platformer game by learning the fundamentals of C# About This Book Get to grips with the fundamentals of *ing in C# with Unity Create an awesome, 2D platformer game from scratch using the principles of object-oriented programming and coding in C# This is a step-by-step guide to learn the fundamentals of C# *ing to develop GameObjects and master the basics of the new UI system in Unity Who This Book Is For The book is targeted at beginner level Unity developers with no programming experience. If you are a Unity developer and you wish to learn how to write C# *s and code by creating games, then this book is for you. What You Will Learn Understand the fundamentals of variables, methods, and code syntax in C# Get to know about techniques to turn your game idea into working project Use loops and collections efficiently in Unity to reduce the amount of code Develop a game using the object-oriented programming principles Generate infinite levels for your game Create and code a good-looking functional UI system for your game Publish and share your game with users In Detail Unity is a cross-platform game engine that is used to develop 2D and 3D video games. Unity 5 is the latest version, released in March 2015, and adds a real-time global illumination to the games, and its powerful new features help to improve a game’s efficiency. This book will get you started with programming behaviors in C# so you can create 2D games in Unity. You will begin by installing Unity and learning about its features, followed by creating a C# *. We will then deal with topics such as unity *ing for you to understand how codes work so you can create and use C# variables and methods. Moving forward, you will find out how to create, store, and retrieve data from collection of objects. You will also develop an understanding of loops and their use, and you’ll perform object-oriented programming. This will help you to turn your idea into a ready-to-code project and set up a Unity project for production. Finally, you will discover how to create the GameManager class to manage the game play loop, generate game levels, and develop a simple UI for the game. By the end of this book, you will have mastered the art of applying C# in Unity. Style and approach This is a step-by-step guide to developing a game from scratch by applying the fundamentals of C# and Unity *ing.

Understand the fundamentals of machine learning with R and build your own dynamic algorithms to tackle complicated real-world problems successfully About This Book Get to grips with the concepts of machine learning through exciting real-world examples Visualize and solve complex problems by using power-packed R constructs and its robust packages for machine learning Learn to build your own machine learning system with this example-based practical guide Who This Book Is For If you are interested in mining useful information from data using state-of-the-art techniques to make data-driven decisions, this is a go-to guide for you. No prior experience with data science is required, although basic knowledge of R is highly desirable. Prior knowledge in machine learning would be helpful but is not necessary. What You Will Learn Utilize the power of R to handle data extraction, manipulation, and exploration techniques Use R to visualize data spread across multiple dimensions and extract useful features Explore the underlying mathematical and logical concepts that drive machine learning algorithms Dive deep into the world of analytics to predict situations correctly Implement R machine learning algorithms from scratch and be amazed to see the algorithms in action Write reusable code and build complete machine learning systems from the ground up Solve interesting real-world problems using machine learning and R as the journey unfolds Harness the power of robust and optimized R packages to work on projects that solve real-world problems in machine learning and data science In Detail Data science and machine learning are some of the top buzzwords in the technical world today. From retail stores to Fortune 500 companies, everyone is working hard to making machine learning give them data-driven insights to grow their business. With powerful data manipulation features, machine learning packages, and an active developer community, R empowers users to build sophisticated machine learning systems to solve real-world data problems. This book takes you on a data-driven journey that starts with the very basics of R and machine learning and gradually builds upon the concepts to work on projects that tackle real-world problems. You’ll begin by getting an understanding of the core concepts and definitions required to appreciate machine learning algorithms and concepts. Building upon the basics, you will then work on three different projects to apply the concepts of machine learning, following current trends and cover major algorithms as well as popular R packages in detail. These projects have been neatly divided into six different chapters covering the worlds of e-commerce, finance, and social-media, which are at the very core of this data-driven revolution. Each of the projects will help you to understand, explore, visualize, and derive insights depending upon the domain and algorithms. Through this book, you will learn to apply the concepts of machine learning to deal with data-related problems and solve them using the powerful yet simple language, R. Style and approach The book is an enticing journey that starts from the very basics to gradually pick up pace as the story unfolds. Each concept is first defined in the larger context of things succinctly, followed by a detailed explanation of their application. Each topic is explained with the help of a project that solves a real real-world problem involving hands-on work thus giving you a deep insight into the world of machine learning.

Discover the power of Drools 6 and Business Rules for developing complex scenarios in your applications About This Book Implement and model different rules using the DRL full syntax Model complex business decisions and domain models in order to automate and improve your operational decisions with the Drools framework A practical, fast-paced, hands-on guide to help you use the different components provided by the Drools Rule Engine Who This Book Is For This book is for Java developers and architects who need to have a deep understanding of how to create or integrate your applications with the Drools Rules Framework. The book assumes that you know the Java language well and also have experience with some widely used frameworks, such as Spring. You should also know the basics of Maven-based applications. What You Will Learn Automate your application’s decisions, such as promotion applying, discount policies, fraud detection, and more. Quickly get started with writing your first rules using the DRL full syntax. Discover the power of the new syntax components of the rule language. Define inferences in your business rules to simplify complex decisions. Write decision tables, templates,domain-specific languages, and scorecards, and learn how to map them to the Drools framework. Harness the full operational power of Drools through all of its configuration points. Use Drools configurations and architectures for different environments and scenarios. In Detail Mastering JBoss Drools 6 will provide you with the knowledge to develop applications involving complex scenarios. You will learn how to use KIE modules to create and execute Business Rules, and how the PHREAK algorithm internally works to drive the Rule Engine decisions. This book will also cover the relationship between Drools and jBPM, which allows you to enrich your applications by using Business Processes. You will be briefly introduced to the concept of complex event processing (Drools CEP) where you will learn how to aggregate and correlate your data based on temporal conditions. You will also learn how to define rules using domain-specific languages, such as spreadsheets, database entries, PMML, and more. Towards the end, this book will take you through the integration of Drools with the Spring and Camel frameworks for more complex applications. Style and approach Approached from a developer’s perspective, the book teaches you all the advanced concepts of Business Rules applicable examples with helpful screenshots, diagrams, tutorials, and examples.

Master the skills required to steer cross-platform applications from drawing board to app store(s) using Xamarin About This Book Develop your Xamarin development skills with this comprehensive guide on various patterns and features so you can create elegant and high-quality applications Create adaptive user interfaces on separate platforms without compromising the user experience and platform identity Implement application lifecycle management concepts to manage and finalize cross-platform projects and efficiently collaborate with others Who This Book Is For This book is ideal for those who want to take their entry–level Xamarin mobile development skills to the next level to become the go-to person within their organization. To fully understand the patterns and concepts described, you should possess a reasonable level of knowledge about the core elements of Xamarin and cross-platform application development with it. What You Will Learn Configure your environment for cross-platform projects with Xamarin Gain memory management skills to avoid memory leaks and premature code cycles while decreasing the memory print of your applications Employ asynchronous and parallel patterns to execute non-interactive and non-blocking processes Create and use SQLite databases for offline scenarios Integrate network resources with cross-platform applications Design and implement eye-catching and reusable UI components without compromising nativity in mobile applications Manage the application lifecycle of cross-platform development projects Distribute Xamarin applications through public or private channels In Detail The main goal of this book is to equip you with the required know-how to successfully analyze, develop, and manage Xamarin cross-platform projects using the most efficient, robust, and scalable implementation patterns. This book starts with general topics such as memory management, asynchronous programming, local storage, and networking, and later moves onto platform-specific features. During this transition, you will learn about key tools to leverage the patterns described, as well as advanced implementation strategies and features. The book also presents User Interface design and implementation concepts on Android and iOS platforms from a Xamarin and cross-platform perspective, with the goal to create a consistent but native UI experience. Finally, we show you the toolset for application lifecycle management to help you prepare the development pipeline to manage and see cross-platform projects through to public or private release. Style and approach This is a comprehensive guide on various Xamarin features and patterns. Each topic is explained and demonstrated with code samples, which are revised in each section in an iterative manner and analyzed with available diagnostic tools to demonstrate the benefits of different patterns.