Books Tagged With author - american

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Summary: In the "Old World," a gifted race known as the Laxens evolved, bringing new creativity and innovation to a primitive world. The group lived together with people for centuries in relative peace, until the year that Eine was born and a mysterious order called the Indigo took over a thriving trade center and began to hunt down all the Laxens. Seventeen years later, Eine -- a half-Laxen in hiding -- scrapes together a meager existence in the alleys of the once great city of Thela, where the oppressed people are terrorized by giant guards and cut off entirely from the outside world. Stoic Eine barely dreams of a different kind of existence until she stumbles across someone else hiding out: a nameless but charismatic soldier sent as a spy from a foreign city, where politicians and scholars are investigating the Indigo’s power. Together they join Noname’s fatherly companion in an escape under the Thelan walls and travel to the beautiful but aging city of Enahala, where the ruling order must decide how best to prevent the Indigo’s destruction from spreading beyond Thela. Along the way, Eine discovers that the world holds wonders of which she’s never dreamed, including technology, legends, romance, and a power she never suspected was hers, one that will be the Indigo’s downfall.

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Summary: An unprecedented heat and humidity has fallen upon the city of Bridges. People are dying. Crops are failing. And the Inventors can't find the cause. With all she's learned in our previous chapter, Jacqui has what she needs to unravel the conspiracy against the Four Families. The plans that her old nemesis Jack Diamond has set into motion are all that stands in her way. She's ready to stop him. Warning: Bad language, alcoholism, mental illness, animal abuse/death, smoking, gun violence, rioting, infidelity, sexual situations. This series centers a crime family and is intended for adults. This is the eleventh chapter of a 13-part serial novel: * The Jacq of Spades * The Queen of Diamonds * The Ace of Clubs * The King of Hearts * The Ten of Spades * The Five of Diamonds * The Two of Hearts * The Three of Spades * The Knave of Hearts * The Four of Clubs * The Jack of Diamonds <-- you are here * Book 12 coming March 2026 * Book 13 scheduled for March 2028

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Summary: The once-beautiful domed neo-Victorian city of Bridges is split between four crime families in an uneasy cease-fire. Social disparity increasing and its steam-driven infrastructure failing, a new faction is on the rise: the Red Dogs. Jacqueline Spadros has a dream life: a wealthy husband, a powerful family. But her life is not what it seems. Kidnapped from her mother's brothel and forced to marry, the murder of her best friend Air ten years before haunts her nightmares. She finds moments of freedom in a small-time private eye business, which she hides in fear of her sadistic father-in-law. Air's little brother disappears off his back porch and the Red Dogs are framed for it. With the help of a mysterious gentleman investigator hired by the Red Dogs to learn the truth, Jacqui pushes her abilities to their limits in hope of rescuing the child before the kidnapper disposes of him.

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Summary: Fabren Lacalian never foresaw consequences like this. Teaming with his master for a vengeful prank, the half-human magician forged a false prophecy to embarrass the wizards who belittled them. But after his teacher is murdered by a sinister pretender claiming to be the heir they foretold, the terrified apprentice flees for his life as the sole custodian of the truth. Riddled with guilt and hunted by assassins, Fabren finds an unlikely ally in an archivist who believes wholeheartedly in the escalating lie. And with only his meager keyhole magic to protect them from the vile usurper’s minions, the sham seer may be the author of everyone’s destruction. Can Fabren end the madness before the realm falls to its doom? The Keyhole Wizard is the thrilling first book in The Doorway to Magic high fantasy series. If you like underdog heroes, dire stakes, and unique systems of sorcery, then you’ll love Susan and John Ruff’s dive into destiny.

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Summary: What if the person who hated you most was the only one who could save you? Thousands of gentlemen have gone bankrupt in Bridges and trouble brews between the Diamond and Spadros crime families. Yet the city is united in its desire to exact vengeance for those murdered in the zeppelin disaster. Penniless and alone, private eye Jacqueline Spadros confronts the lowest point of her life. Seen as an accomplice in the financial crisis and accused of a crime she didn't commit, Jacqui faces trial in front of a hostile jury - and could receive the death penalty. Jacqui knows she's been framed by the illusive Red Dog Gang. But will the jury believe her?

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Summary: Read Aidee Ladnier's 2016 Prism Award Winning novella The Klockwerk Kraken, paired for the first time with its sequel Spindrift Gifts and a special never before published epilogue. When the right space pilot walks into his bar, a desperate bartender uses all his wiles (and tentacles) to talk the man into business and his bed--but the spacer is still enslaved by his past and isn't sure he can deal with a two-armed lover, much less one with six. As the supply shipments stop coming, Teo Houdin needs all his tentacles to keep his waystation bar open. Facing a riot by thirsty miners stranded in the backwater of the galaxy, Teo helps a greenie space pilot buy a ship in return for a regular haul of liquor. But he longs for the courage to invite the enigmatic spacer to fill his lonely bed as well. Still smarting from his newly implanted navigational ports, Jimenez knows owning his own ship will prevent him from ever being bought and sold again. For a former slave, transporting cargo through the emptiness of space sounds like paradise, but after meeting the compassionate and sexy Teo, his heart feels empty, too. At the edge of the galaxy's spiral arm, can Teo convince Jimenez that the heart has its own tentacles and theirs should be entwined forever?

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Summary: She barely survived the last round. As the Red Dog Gang closes in on her Family, can she survive the next? After the devastating events of our last chapter, all private eye and mafia wife Jacqueline Spadros wants is to get her life back. Then a missing person she thought she'd never track down falls into her lap. Jacqui is thrown into a series of events which not only puts her and everyone around her into danger, but changes her life forever. Warning: on-screen murder, major consent issues, smoking, language, infidelity, betrayal, description of injury, gore, on-screen suicide, child injury This is chapter 9 of a 13-part serial novel. Please read these books in order: * The Jacq of Spades * The Queen of Diamonds * The Ace of Clubs * The King of Hearts * The Ten of Spades * The Five of Diamonds * The Two of Hearts * The Three of Spades * The Knave of Hearts <-- you are here Book 10 coming October 2023

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Summary: Sera is the last runner from Earth, bringing badly needed supplies to the Tharassas Colony across a twenty-five year gulf between the planets. Jas works on a hencha farm to make ends meet, harvesting berries from the semi-sentient plants. Neither one that knows their lives—and worlds—are about to change forever.

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Summary: The chase is on for the soul of San Francisco! Norton, Iria, and Madge's grand plan has fallen through at every turn. Now they find themselves scrambling to improvise in a battle across time against a new and unexpected foe! Jaunt across the centuries by these scrappy heroes' sides as they dive headlong into eras both familiar and strange to each. With allies old and new, they must weave a magic spell on the fly to save their beloved city from the clutches of Mammon--and from something even worse!

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Summary: Eighteen years after the Chromodec Uprising in Children of the Stars, the world is a very different place. Kaelen Ra-Evon lands on Earth, a planet where aliens exist and refugees are fast-tracked to citizenship in many countries. Her tale encompasses the age-old notions of loss, love, and found family. Kaelen tries to navigate her new life on Earth, as well as a romance with genius CEO, Lea Lockheed-Tuck, all while honoring her family's legacy as the last of her house. She's wary of the Chromodec Office of Restraint and Protection, a US agency tasked with policing people of power regardless of their race or planet of origin. In an attempt to protect the woman she loves, Kaelen becomes a vigilante: Scion. She won't let laws or the CORP stop her from doing what's right.

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Summary: An airship captain battles spies, disturbing visions, and more as she races to find treasure in this swashbuckling high fantasy series conclusion. When a legendary craton is discovered, newly appointed airship captain Isabelle desZephyrs and her trusted musketeer Jean-Claude travel on a perilous mission to recover its fabled treasure for l’Empire Céleste. Bust Isabelle’s leadership quickly becomes jeopardized. The dark, magical abilities she inherited give her increasingly disturbing and disruptive hallucinations. Disasters are compounded when a spy sabotages the ship, and Jean-Claude is lost to the expedition. Separated, Isabelle and Jean-Claude must each overcome a growing number of enemies—from the past, from the court, and from their own minds—and gather trustworthy friends before a rival expedition unlocks an ancient secret for their own nefarious ends.

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Summary: The South is being invaded…by vampires. That’s nothing new, but Vlad Chemare isn’t some angst-filled paranormal hero longing for his soulmate, nor does he sparkle like stardust in the night. He’s up-to-date, travels by jet, and is seeking revenge. Armed with an unlimited credit card and a Kevlar vest, Vlad’s out for blood—specifically, Baslo Rigla’s—for burying him alive as punishment for leading a revolt back in the 15th century. With the vampires of Georgia and their American defiance of tyranny rallied around him, he not only has his army but the local werewolf population volunteers as his K-9 Corps. As the fight begins, with the city of Savannah the battleground and the entire world the prize, Vlad is faced with something he didn’t expect…his feelings for mortal Meredith Swanson. Will his love for Meredith get in the way? After all, a woman’s just a woman, but revenge is a dish best served cold, and six hundred years can make for some pretty chilly morsels.

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Summary: While Sacrum Umbra showed us the darkness of our own shadow, and In Ventre Tuo the guts of our inner monster, The Lesser Apocrypha is still another beast altogether. Meant to gather together the stranger stories, it contains some of the more surreal and ephemeral stories, the ones that just are without much rhyme or reason. Stories like an odd moment in the park, the strange child who won't stop haunting you, an alien invasion that gets very personal, an AI born of a lolcat, monsters in the woods, and a spell gone terribly wrong.

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Summary: As the heir to the throne, Royal Connate Olivienne Dracore cannot escape having a Shield team protecting her wherever she goes. But with the addition of Shield Commander Castellan Tosh, she has a team that doesn’t just guard her person but also aids in her job as a historical adventurist. She knows without a doubt that together they can unravel the Divine Mystery of who the Makers were and why they created the great temples. With the conclusion of their last mission, Olivienne acquired the map needed to find the mysterious third great temple of Psiere. And there is no one better to accompany than her beloved Cmdr. Tosh. But before they can leave to brave the dangers of the unknown, first they must brave their own oathing ceremony. They will need each other for the coming mission because as with all things related to the Makers, mystery often begets mystery and danger is always just a wrong step away. Especially when the prize is something that could change Psiere forever.

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Summary: A young magic user who wants desperately to live. A jaded recluse who has forgotten what living means. They’re each other’s only chance. Toby’s wild magic is killing him. The mage guilds have given up on him, and it’s only a matter of time before he dies in a spectacular, catastrophic bang. His only hope is an exiled wizard who lives in seclusion—and is rumored to have lost his mind. The years alone on his hilltop estate have not been good for Darius Valstad. After the magical accident that disfigured him and nearly drowned Pittsburgh, he drifts through his days, a wraith trapped in memories and depression. Until a stricken young man collapses on his driveway, one who claims Darius is his last chance. For the first time in fifteen years, Darius must make a choice—leave this wild mage to his fate or take him in and try to teach him, which may kill them both. The old Darius, brash and commanding, wouldn’t have hesitated. Darius the exile isn’t sure he can find the energy to try.

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Summary: They say, “Never work with androids or children.” Quirk had one job to do, deliver papers to a Milan mafia boss, before leaving Earth for his home in the asteroids. But that was before being tailed, poisoned—oh, yes—and hijacked into raising foulmouthed fourteen-year-old convent girl Angelika Moratti, aka Moth, who'd rather see him asphyxiate in space. Fleeing assassins, Quirk, Moth and her syRen® android S-0778 ride the space elevator to the Moon, where Quirk hires on to hunt an ex-terra-former who somehow used an android to murder his doctor. But which android of the two hundred under Lunaville’s dome? The trail of bodies grows, time is running out; the only way they can save the dome and the two thousand souls beneath it is to solve The Mandroid Murders. Genres: Science Fiction / Thriller / Mystery / Adventure / LGBT and Non Binary Market: Adult

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Summary: Winner of the 2013 PRISM Award for Futuristic Romance When Earth Central Command tells you to travel 24 light-years to a long-term assignment you never asked for, you go. High school teacher Marianne Woolsey has no choice but leave her hometown in rural Iowa to spend 26 years teaching the daughter of an alien ruler so humanlike that she has to keep telling herself that he is just her boss. Handsome, deadly, and far older than he looks, the Sural finds himself drawn to the tutor he requested from Earth. He cannot reveal anything to her that he wants to conceal from the spacefaring races of the Interstellar Trade Alliance, but he cannot stay away from her. As their friendship grows, so does his conviction that she is hiding something from him. This first novel in the Tales of Tolari Space series explores what can happen when you put an unsuspecting human on a planet of empaths.

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Summary: I escape into a twisted wilderness with a stolen relic protecting me from madness. Behind me is the mysterious stalker from across the plains. He’s caught up to us. My sisters are out there somewhere out, and my unborn is here with me. Struggling to tell guardians from beguilers on a warped battlefield, I worry for all our fates. Somehow, I must bear the terrifying risk of bargaining with Surfacers in ways which ensure enslavement back home. No Red Sister can give up her mission when compelled by her Queen to see it through. Surrounded by allies and enemies alike seeking to influence the only free Davrin Elf on the Surface, I must relearn my limits when confronted by those who have none. The true scope of Etaski's saga arises in The Mark of Gold. Tangible peril meets cryptic visions, forcing a driven few to redefine what it takes to break the shackles of compulsion and forge them as bonds of loyalty. Sister Seekers is dark epic fantasy for adults with an ever-broadening scope. The saga genre-hops a bit so things never get stale. Found Family is a core theme throughout. Perfect for fans of entwined plots, challenging themes, immersive worldbuilding, and elements of erotic horror. Sexuality and inner conflict play into character growth with nuanced intrigue, intense action, and fantastical magic.

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Summary: Josephine Mann is down to her last five dollars and in desperate need of a job when a chance encounter with Professor Alistair Conn completely upends her life. Soon she (and her cat) have steady employment, a new home, and a string of adventures that quite takes her breath away! Steampunk meets Dime-Novel in this first volume of The Conn-Mann Chronicles series. Thrill to the escape from an airship disaster. Take part in the battle aboard a moving train. Travel by steam car and mechano-velocipede to thwart the villain and reclaim the professor's automaton, The Marvelous Mechanical Man. And as a special bonus, read an excerpt from one of Jo's favorite dime-novels at the beginning of each chapter. Told from the first-person perspective of the very forward-thinking Jo, you will meet a collection of quirky characters that will charm and delight you.

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Summary: Faelen, cousin to the prince and son of a diplomat, has finally come home to Tournai after years away. The pull to return was almost tangible, and the sense of rightness at being back is absolute. He wants nothing more than to put down roots and build a life among family while pursuing his linguistic studies. Becoming involved in magic meant to protect Tournai isn’t part of his plans…and falling in love is even more unexpected and unfamiliar, but he finds himself doing just that as his friendship with Maxen deepens into something more. Maxen, second son of a wealthy merchant family, longs to leave Tournai and visit everywhere he can. All his life, he’s found places on maps and dreamed, planning out routes to get to them. For now, he’s tied to Tournai’s capital city by family obligations and his position in their shipping business. Someday, though, he’ll be able to travel. His sudden attraction to Faelen shocks him, but their friendship soon becomes a necessary part of his life. Love, however, has no place in his plans, especially not love for a royal cousin with secrets who wants nothing more than to stay in one place. For Faelen and Maxen to build something real between them, they must resolve their differences, but when magic goes awry and all Faelen’s secrets are revealed, will Maxen remain at his side?