Books Tagged With author - american

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Summary: Eight neighbors. Two strangers. One traitor. Near death, young mercenary, Kannen, stumbles toward the lone oasis in an alpine snowstorm. The villagers in this mountain hamlet uncover her secret on a makeshift gurney: an unconscious man with a peculiar jewel in his chest. A darkness pursues her into the mountains, and one among them may have invited it here. As the sun goes down, a fight for survival commences. Kannen learns that the village and its inhabitants harbor terrors of their own. Some of these threaten to sabotage. Others may prove useful. They will have to put their differences aside and work as one if they are to uncover the traitor and live through the night.

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Summary: Real estate is hell - sometimes literally! Wedged between real estate speculators, startup bros, and gentrified neighborhoods, it’s gotten hard to get by in San Francisco and it’s getting even harder all the time. Now two witches have decided the time has come to do something about it. Using all their arcane skills, Iria – tall, dark, and genderqueer – and their partner and mentor, Madge – the granddaughter of Chinese immigrants and a powerful magician – have summoned back to the world of the living one of San Francisco’s greatest eccentric heroes: Joshua Norton, self-declared Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico. In the 19th century he issued imperial proclamations intended to combat prejudice and advance the interests of the destitute and downtrodden. Binding him to themselves and to the city, Iria and Madge need Norton’s charisma and tireless dedication to the city to help them save the city from a demon of greed. With an exciting combination of spell-slinging and derring-do, Norton and his modern-day patrons embark on a series of adventures across San Francisco’s past and present in search of the keys to the city: objects from its past they can use in the present to save the city’s future from a demon of greed and his tireless efforts to rob San Francisco of its soul forever!

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Summary: In the Hybrid Nation, the only thing worse than showing weakness is being born a little too human. Jode is a throwback, given up by his parents and raised in an institute that was never meant to serve his needs. All he wants is to get free and find his mother, and when Rowla Arl shows up to study the children in the facility, he sees his chance. Jode tries to convince the wolf to help him, but Rowla has her own agenda. And her own secrets. The kid’s atypical blood might hold the answers to her genetic problems, too. But if she wants to unlock the kid’s DNA, Rowla’s going to have to convince him to trust her, to drop everything, and to take a chance so big it could shake the whole Hybrid Nation. They’re going to have to work together to keep Jode out of enemy hands, to keep his DNA away from a psychotic monkey, and to keep the biggest secret in Hybrid Nation history from destroying them both.

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Summary: With great burrito comes great responsibility. Pete's food truck at the University of New Mexico isn't going well. Seniors dare freshman to eat his burritos. Frats use them for pledges and pranks. Rumors fly around campus that they are chupacabra ground up with rat. Pete needs a change, and it comes in the form of a physics experiment gone awry. After being sucked into the past, he stumbles across an ingredient that goes great in one of his creations. First, there was Marty McFly. Then there was Bill and Ted. And now Pete--

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Summary: A hijacked spaceship... kidnapped colonists... their destiny changed forever Award-winning first book of the Titan trilogy follows a family whose torn loyalties threaten doom on a strange world that real-life science has only begun to explore. What if you awoke on a shadowy moon where water freezes as hard as granite and lakes fill with liquid methane? On Titan, a bizarre cult seeks utopia, but what will be different on this distant world? Real readers say: Dynamic story - Engaging characters - Feel like you were there - Devoured this book Discover a riveting mix of science and society on Saturn's deadly frozen moon. If you love gripping science fiction with twists and turns, you won't want to put it down.kk

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Summary: Forty years after landing on Lida, the colony still isn't finished. Agetha has survived many more battles than she anticipated when she first landed on her new home planet. She's older and wiser, has gained family and lost loved ones. And yet her reward for four decades of service is to be pushed to the colony’s outer edges with the other aging Generationals. But that was only the beginning of her adventure. The biomass has spent years studying the intruders who landed on its surface, carving a new home from its very essence. Never satisfied in its attempt to communicate with this new and invasive species, finally it has found a way to express its intentions. The colonists may never be the same. Discover the fate of the colony in the second book of The Biomass Conflux trilogy!

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Summary: Home, a place where we belong and are safe and loved. Home, the house in which we grew up, a neighborhood, a culture, even a country. Home is a state of mind, it is a place of the heart, and in the heart. Finding home, coming home, and bringing home the one we love is a journey, a journey that can be a dangerous adventure. For the lovers in these stories, adventures can include quests and fighting dragons and demons, past and present, physical as well as mental and emotional. Rocket launchers need to be dodged, the Wild Hunt needs to be outrun. For some of the lovers here, home has been lost, or they have been forced to leave, as is too common for LGBT+ youth. In this collection queer positive speculative fiction stories, explore the idea of what and where home is in the lives of these lovers. Will they survive their quests, defeat their monsters? Will they find a place to call home?  

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Summary: Once upon a time, before the hunts, dragons were plentiful in the world. Now they exist only in legend…except in the land of Ivria. Without the Dragon Talent, Sascha has long been told his only value is his ability to make the best match possible, whether as concubine or husband. He has always done what his family  expects of him, cultivating grace and beauty, and when his parents make a match for him, Sascha goes without protest. He never anticipates being contractually bound to a cruel man embroiled in a plot to overthrow the king of Ivria. Or being confronted by the king himself, a man with whom Sascha is disturbed to find himself fascinated. With help from the few people he can trust absolutely, King Lysander is working carefully to uncover the members of a conspiracy to overthrow him and expose the existence of dragons to the world. Apprehending one traitor only complicates the situation further, not the least of which because of the man’s beautiful, intriguing concubine. Who may be involved in the plot and whom Lysander is immediately attracted to. As danger looms, Sascha and Lysander grow closer, but can Lysander trust Sascha with his life and heart? And can Sascha be strong enough to love the dragon king?

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Summary: By the year 2060, mankind is on the verge of bringing Terra to her knees. The population has exploded, and land for cattle and crops has been sacrificed for housing and employment for the more than fifteen billion souls now living on the planet. Synthetic food is created in plants, and the remaining animals are kept in zoos and game preserves of the wealthy. In an effort to insure the survival of mankind, spaceships are sent to explore Terra’s nearest neighbors, Mars and Venus, but will it be too little too late? The four men who took the MRM to Mars have high hopes, until on their return home they travel through a magnetic field that crashes them… somewhere. As they explore the unknown world with its dangers, Doc, Nick, Hank, and Ed will struggle to come to terms with their new reality and find their own paths to happiness.

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Summary: Todd Ruger is a sentry, a very good one, some might say the best. He was eleven when he and Nick were bound as master and slave. Todd spent the years Nick lived in the slave village waiting for the day Nick could leave and they’d be together, bit by bit building a life for both of them. He took his role of master seriously. It was his responsibility to provide for Nick, protect him and along the way he learned to love him. Todd loved Nick deeply and completely. They were more than a pair of sentries. Todd and Nick were friends, lovers, mates. Eighteen months ago, Nick left the small village where he’d spent his entire life being raised and trained as a slave. Blessed with a unique skill set, Nick became a sentry. He took his place beside his master, Todd Ruger, defending society against the many paranormal threats that abound. They became more than master and slave, they became mates. Nick had found a home with Todd and together they became a family. Eventually, Nick’s special abilities and skills attract the attention of the second most powerful man in New Colorado Protectorate’s government, Vice Chancellor Clarke. Or, maybe certain people knew of Nick all along and just now had cause to use him. He believes Nick might be the answer to explaining Chancellor Shaffer’s sudden, unusual behavior. Forced to go undercover at the Chancellor’s Estate, Todd and Nick discover an ancient and deadly creature preying on residents of the estate. The same creature that is radically effecting Chancellor Shaffer. A creature only Nick can see in its true form. It hunts using specialized skills and has Todd and Nick in its crosshairs. Even if they defeat the creature and survive, they still face the possibility of being torn from each other when their lives are thrown into chaos by the thing they’re hunting.

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Summary: Witches, ghouls, and mind readers—oh my! Murder and mystery abound in this supernatural novel. Vega Bloodmire has no problem with the label “villainous witch,” though she draws the line at being called a self-centered hag. Life isn’t easy being twenty-two, drop-dead gorgeous, and the most fashionable witch in all the land—especially while working as an intern teacher at a magical boarding school. Just when Vega thinks she has student teaching figured out, she is framed for murder. Worse yet, she fears she might have revealed her darkest secret—one so awful she will be shunned by Witchkin society even if she can prove her innocence. Vega needs to find the true culprit behind this crime in order to save her reputation—and her life. Enjoy this spin-off series from the world of Womby’s School for Wayward Witches. This book starts with Vega Bloodmire’s life before working at Womby’s when she was a new and inexperienced teacher at Encantado Charter Academy. It is the first book in the series of stand-alone novels. These mysteries are meant to be read in any order. Clean, cozy, no sex or swearing, PG 13—perfectly fine for teens or grandmas who like paranormal mysteries at magical boarding academies.

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Summary:

Withrow Surrett, the most sarcastic vampire for a country mile, makes an annual Appalachian pilgrimage to keep tabs on nocturnal colleagues and his last living friend from mortal days. What should be a quiet week among familiar faces quickly fills with undead rednecks, folk magic, murder, a rookie detective and Withrow's own psychotic cousin who insists on trying to help. Because even vampires have cousins, and Southern ones especially so.

As Withrow chases the phantoms of conspiracy and paranoia across moonlit forests, abandoned factories, shadowy back roads and seedy bars - all the quiet little places humans fear to tread - Withrow also struggles with who he wants to be. Can a monster find a place among family and friends?

Fans of The Black Knight Chronicles, The Tome of Bill, and Fred, the Vampire Accountant will love this series!

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Summary: Bioinformatics whiz Victor Eastmore at long last gains control over his frightening mirror resonance syndrome, but he still believes his grandfather was murdered. Victor’s best hope for finding justice lies in New Venice, a tourist town in the Louisiana Territories where his family’s company is exploring new treatment options for so-called “Broken Mirrors” and the stim addicts who experience similar symptoms–blank outs, synesthesia, and euphoria. Only by confronting Samuel Miller, the MRS “patient zero” who was responsible for the Carmichael Massacre, can Victor learn the truth. To do that, Samuel must first be weaned off Personil, the drug that keeps his mirror resonance syndrome in check. Can Victor learn the data egg’s darkest secrets without unleashing a violent madman? Meanwhile, a cult dedicated to the sanctity and purity of human life disrupts New Venice with protests and vandalism. When they take an interest in stopping BioScan from medicating MRS patients, including Samuel Miller, Victor finds himself with unlikely allies and divided loyalties. As pressure builds for the nations of the American Union to pass new legislation to control Broken Mirrors, Victor must become an effective advocate for people with MRS or risk being institutionalized along with them. A fast-paced sequel to Broken Mirror, Tortured Echoes continues the sci-fi detective saga of Resonant Earth. In this installment, fans of Broken Mirror will finally get answers to their questions: Why was Jefferson Eastmore killed? How did it happen? Who was responsible? Revisit the world of self-driving cars, stunsticks, brainhackers, and herbalism with Victor, Elena, Ozie, Tosh, and Karine, and several new figures that might help Victor chart a new course for his future, or condemn him to madness.

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Summary: "Today I swam through MOMA. Leon says it was a waste, encasing the art, then flooding the museum—frivolous and elitist. I say it was a gesture of optimism, a triumph of technology and political will." Want to thrill to the possibilities of a hopeful future? We asked a bunch of sci-fi writers to spin tales of a better future, imagining ways in which the world might become a better place. From a swim through an underwater museum to a joyous dance at a futuristic concert, from the eco-friendly aftermath of an alien invasion and retreat to the refurbishing of an old climate-ravaged home in New Vancouver, these fourteen short sci-fi stories will to restore your faith in the future. A world transformed is a world we can all hope for. Book three in the Writers Save the World short story anthologies. If you enjoy this book, check out Fix the World and Save the World.

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Summary: Tucker has spent his entire life as an interstellar trash man. But ever since his mother died, he’s been alone, and certainly lonely. So when he discovers the derelict ship he scooped up has an occupant—a beautiful young man named Ronan—Tucker is thrilled. Ronan is royalty and running from his tyrannical mother, determined to keep a powerful object out of her hands. But when he strikes a deal with the adorable Tucker, he wonders if it’s time to stop running.

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Summary: NO ONE FIGHTS DIRTIER THAN AN ARCHAEOLOGIST ​Foul-mouthed Dr. Nel Bently has every archaeologist’s dream: a pristine site, new crew, and a private patron to fund her passion for dirt. With her trowel barely into the dry earth of Chile’s coast, however, Nel learns their work is being sabotaged. The local activists Los Pobladores take issue with anyone brave or stubborn enough to set boots on their land. Nel refuses to give up the site that will make her career to vandals and looters, but she must protect both her friends and her life’s work. With a benefactor playing chess with their lives, radiocarbon dates that are downright supernatural, and angry militants who may actually have a point, Nel is ready to fight dirty.

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Summary: The helpless Noble I was once is no more. I am Red Sister Sirana, watching my city from the shadows. Once silent and disposable, I've found a place among the Sisterhood of Sivaraus, coarse, crude, and stirring to my blood. In crimson uniform I walk among sensual consorts, studious wizards, and sadistic Priestesses. I am an initiate with true influence in my underground city, a power both freeing and addicting. Everyone keeps secrets which bind them up if they jerk on the web too hard, and none are more vulnerable than novices wielding new power. Should my own secret come to the surface, I know I can't survive alone. I won't give up what I've found. Neither will the Sisterhood. Sivaraus will always need new Red Sisters, no matter what strangeness we bring with us. In Treasure Revealed, A.S. Etaski weaves threads of intrigue and action in this second tale of the Sister Seekers, where a new fighter tastes her potential in new connections that she must dare to strengthen by choice. 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: True love only happens once in a lifetime, right? Nixy Vogel found wedded bliss, only to be widowed soon after. Her job of matching others with their forever-loves gives her focus, and joy. And now some smoking hot alien wants to put Silverstar out of business? She should be furious; instead, her shuttered heart burns for him. Waiting several lifetimes for “the one.” The ancient mate-matching tradition of Kai Firewing’s clan could end unless the Silverstar Agency is exposed as a fraud. Simple enough to do…until his rival lights a fire in his heart as only the soul mate of an immortal phoenix can. Will Nixy embrace her second chance before it—and Kai—goes up in flames? Welcome to the Silverstar Agency, specializing in intergalactic love matches for those over fifty.

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Summary: Condrie the tavern maid befriends a man on the run only to discover he is a firebird disguised in human form. Together they must elude the tyrant king's relentless forces while seeking the truth of who massacred other firebirds enslaved to the king.

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Summary: Being too close to the truth got Jon Xiong's mother killed. While searching for answers, a murderous cult shows up at his door. A secretive organization called the Tuners comes to his aide and teaches him about his rare ability to travel between worlds called tuning. He grapples with his new superpower and is stuck between those who would maintain order in the multiverse and those who would destroy it. Jon must avoid the same gruesome fate as his mom and figure out what happened to his family.