Old Fantasy

For 12 years, I had managed to separate my personal life from my professional life, becoming one of the best reconstructionists in the world - and proving to myself that I could do so on my own merits. Then I’d been forced into contact with my family, reuniting with someone I thought I’d lost forever, and rescuing my best friend. Now I had to savor what little time I had left before the contract with the Conclave came due and my future was wrenched from my control. Except there was one last case to solve. One last set of puzzle pieces to collect, then assemble again.

I never got involved in the dirt and the details of an investigation. I never let my preconceptions muddy a reconstruction. And I steadfastly refrained from ever allowing my past to dictate my future. At least until the one person I couldn’t lose went missing. Because then I’d relive every dark moment of my childhood, confront every heartbreak, and even sell my soul if that was what it took to get her back. Because I couldn’t accept a future - not even a promised one of immortality and unbridled power - that didn’t include one of the only two people I’d ever truly loved.

We had run. We had adapted. And when our magic came back, we changed course again. Hiding instead of running, knowing that we needed to remain hidden from the Collective. Knowing that our lives, our freedom, depended on it. Then the sorcerer showed up, drained and disoriented. And when my past came quickly following him, I had to make another choice. Fight or flight. Continue to deny the power that resided in my blood, in my DNA. Remain perpetually caught between being Amp5 and Emma Johnson. Or face my demons.

Farley is an old prepper who is stuck in the city when a solar storm sets off an electromagnetic pulse event, taking the grid down worldwide.... Our hero stays in the city, facing societal breakdown, for 10 weeks - until it is evident he must escape and bug out somewhere. The problem is he has a only half tank of gas and no means to get any more. His destination requires more fuel than that, and he finds himself stuck on the side of a dirt road heading toward a lake cabin he once stayed in.

The world is getting older. The world is getting younger. The United States is dead. The Democratic Unity killed it. After catastrophic wars and the Meltdown, the Unity rules from its East Coast citadel, leaving the outlands to savages and its strangely altered plants. Providing free health care, employment, computer-less surfing, and recreational drugs at quite reasonable prices, the Unity mandates retirement at 40 before fatigue and error contaminate a culture of youth, innovation, and vigor.

Having fled the defeat at the Green Gulch, Darius and Jerico, believing themselves the last two paladins of their kind, must separate once more in order to survive. While Jerico rushes to the aid of Lord Arthur and the siege at his Castle of Caves, Darius travels east, determined to remove the bounty on his head. But on his way, he encounters a young priest following an older way of faith, whose desire for their return will risk destruction upon all the North. Sacrifice must be made in blood.

Tras haber vivido una vida relativamente tranquila en la Tierra y el mismo día en que cumplen setenta y cinco años, 1,022 ancianos se enrolan en las Fuerzas de Defensa Coloniales, el ejército que lucha por la supervivencia de la humanidad en el universo. La vida en la Tierra transcurre sin demasiados contratiempos. Sin embargo, en el universo se está librando una guerra sin cuartel por los últimos planetas todavía deshabitados de la galaxia.

Bad magic and good witches don't mix, but I make it work. Spellbooks are a witch's best friend, especially when they're passed down from your beloved dead Grandma. So, when an anonymous caller is interested in buying mine, my answer is nope, not ever, go away. Problem is, they won't take no for an answer. With suspicious newcomers in town and the increasing odds someone thinks my spellbook is full of dark magic, I find myself with no shortage of motives or suspects. Good thing I'm dating Ian, the world's sexiest paranormal problems expert.

Young Malila Chiu, once a hero of the Unity, emerges from the jungle to deliver a dire message to a beleaguered America: the Deep Scorch, a polyarchy of sentient plants, declares itself to be a potent ally - or a dangerous foe. Familiar and distrustful of the Scorch for much of his long life, Jesse Johnstone stays by Malila’s side for the sake of their love. The grand architect of the war, Unity General Eustace Jourdaine, recovering from grievous injuries, rallies to lead his troops into battle in the hopes of winning a new empire - but for whom?

هل تخيلت مرةً أن تستمع إلى جدّة يابانية تروي القصص الشعبية والموروثة هناك؟! هذا الكتاب سيمنحك فرصةً ذهبية فهو مجموعة من قصص أيام زمان اليابانية الموجهة في معظمها للأطفال لكنها لا تموت في نفس الكبار أيضًا.

Ancient rivals, worst of friends, best of enemies: dragonlord Janx and master vampire Eliseo Daisani are the threads upon which a tapestry of lives and loves are woven across the centuries. From the coldest Russian nights to the heat of Chicago's greatest fire, nothing brings the immortal adversaries together - or tears them apart - like a woman. And there is always a woman....

The first lesson Eilean MacAlistair learned in blacksmithing: First, you harden, and then you temper. Otherwise, your metal will break. The same is true with life. A few years back, Eilean didn’t temper herself, and she broke someone. Badly. Hospital badly. Her family had to flee Scotland because of her, but now they’ve returned, and 17-year-old Eilean’s life feels like a forge with the temperature rising around her. Mamó is sick, her family is straining at the seams, and magic is real!

Miles Kim, cyborg and relic of a war fading from memory, is on the last train ride of his life. When a gang of bandits attacks the train, Miles and 100 passengers find themselves trapped in in a standoff in the middle of the desert. But there’s more to the robbery than meets the eye. An unknown entity has set its sights on the Seraph Express and her passengers. As people start dying, Miles realizes that any rescue will be too late, and no one will make it out alive.

The information in this book on various aspects of train sets and related subjects is organized into 15 chapters of about 500-600 words each. I hope that it will interest those who have a young family or who are interested in trains and model train sets.

Twelve-year old Lia Park just wants to fit in. Her parents work with a mysterious organization that makes them ridiculously overprotective. Lia’s every move has been scrutinized since she was born, and she’d love to have the option of doing something exciting for once. So when she gets invited to the biggest birthday party of the year—and her parents say she can’t go—Lia sneaks out. But her first act of rebellion not only breaks her parents’ rules, but also an ancient protection spell, allowing an evil diviner spirit to kidnap and ransom her parents for a powerful jewel.

These captivating stories are not only an excellent source of entertainment, but also a valuable tool for children to improve their creative writing skills and develop a love of books. And for younger children, they make perfect bedtime listening, sure to ignite their imagination and spark their curiosity.

Sir Callan Clanmor of Glenarchy has lost himself in war to forget a wife he does not love and douse the pain of love for another who can never be his. But as events unfold around him he is forced to confront both his memories and pain... The Old Woman of the Stones is a romantic fantasy novelette set in a fictional world comparable to fifteenth-century Scotland with mythic elements based in Scottish folklore.

This is a tale of witches and wishes, tales and trees, stepmothers, spells and a girl who sleeps in the ashes by the fire.... But it's not the one you know.

Orphaned by a devastating house fire, Ida's past is shrouded in mystery. Her only lifeline is her friendship with her closest friend, Darci. But when Ida is attacked by an Ashen, her world shatters, thrusting her into an extraordinary place called Sanctuary. Within Sanctuary's protective walls, long-buried secrets and truths are revealed that redefine her world. As loyalties blur, bonds shift, and unlikely alliances form, Ida confronts the demons of her past.

Farley is doing his best trying not to dance with death after a solar storm has taken the electrical grid down worldwide, but it seems avoiding danger for him is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The old prepper knows it is not death, but dying, which is terrible. Life for him is either a daring adventure of foraging and trading, or nothing. The great thing about the dead is that they make space and leave stuff behind.