Forging an uneasy alliance with the newcomers, Jerek agrees to share the wealth. But a creature guards the mountain’s treasures, aided by an elderly elf. This creature of night wants more than blood; it wants Mira, a little girl with blackest eyes and a terrible power lurking in her veins.GUARDIAN OF THE MOUNTAIN, a novella by David Dalglish.Nature has given claws to the darkness…

    While Seth is mostly used to life in the land of Morgenheim, he’s struggling with the responsibilities that come with being a high level member in the guild.While completing a quest as a favor to his friend Pahan, Seth inadvertently catches the attention of Djinia, goddess of adventurers, and is given a seemingly impossible quest that will require the help of the Adventurers’ Guild and their primary rivals, the Transportation Guild.When the two groups aren’t sabotaging each other, their combined might overcomes numerous dungeons with surprising ease… That is until they catch sight of a thin spire stretching high into the sky at the center of a mysterious desert.Note: This novel contains game-like elements similar to those found in tabletop RPGs or MMO videogames, commonly referred to as litRPG or gamelit.

    7 billion.Others ... unknown.When 14-year-old Charlie Blake wakes up sweating and gasping for air in the middle of the night, he knows it is happening again. This time he witnesses a brutal murder. He's afraid to tell anyone. No one would believe him ... because it was a dream. Just like the one he had four years ago - the day before his dad died.Charlie doesn't know why this is happening. He would give anything to have an ordinary life. The problem: he doesn't belong in the world he knows as home.He belongs with the others.

    Hardened by grief and desperate to survive, she hones a new skill set…and the daggers that go along with it.Armand is heir to the wealthiest clan in the Araneae Nation. His entire life is as mapped as his heritage. Tradition dictates his every decision, and the one choice he ever made for himself cost him the woman he loved.When Nicolette is offered a contract she can’t refuse, she returns to Erania with deadly intentions. Her secrets are safe behind the façade she created. Or they would be if Armand would stop chipping at the cracks in her veneer. One kiss ignites an old flame, and suddenly their history is in danger of repeating. Armand falls for Nicolette’s charade, but she can’t let a second chance at happiness distract her from her mission. Someone in the Araneidae nest is marked for death, and Nicolette aims to deliver.Warning: This story contains one heroine bent on revenge and one hero determined to atone for his sins. Also included are venom kisses, poison hangovers, pointy objects and questionable taste in condiments. Expect fireworks, near-death experiences and one surprise ten years in the making.

    Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose…it’s life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins.The last queen standing gets the crown.

    He will remain until she makes three wishes.Jinn is anxious to return home, but Viola is terrified of wishing, afraid she will not wish for the right thing, the thing that will make her truly happy. As the two spend time together, the lines between master and servant begin to blur, and soon Jinn can't deny that he's falling for Viola. But it's only after Viola makes her first wish that she realizes she's in love with Jinn as well . . . and that if she wishes twice more, he will disappear from her life—and her world—forever.Jackson Pearce spins a magical tale about star-crossed lovers, what it means to belong . . . and how important it is to be careful what you wish for.

    As recently as the 17th century, a farm-hand encountered them upon a Welsh hillside and was almost 'danced to death', and a century later, babies were still being stolen and replaced with 'changelings'. Even the finest brains are not immune to metahominid influence. When Sherlock Holmes' brilliant creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle fell victim, they made him believe that photographs of cut-out paper figures were images of real fairies. In short, the metahominids - traditionally called fairies - used Conan Doyle's fame and reputation to prove they do not exist.Within their traditional haunts of hill fort, woodland and barrow, these creatures are dangerous enough; but now, like urban foxes, they are abandoning the countryside to infest our city spaces. They prey upon us within our own territory - and modern life offers us no protection. Our unwillingness to believe in these 'other men' leaves us wide open to attack. They ramp up the trance music in our clubs, leaving us unable to resist dancing to certain tracks, and woe betide the young mother who suddenly realises her baby isn’t hers… no one will believe her. Thus they move amongst us, still destroying lives as they always have done, yet now, suddenly, in greater numbers than ever before…As this centuries old, covert war heats up, it falls to a shambling figure known only as 'D', and his pitifully underfunded department, to keep us safe - and ignorant of the nightmares that lurk, hidden in the every day world that we call 'reality'. A contemporary British fantasy, The Last Changeling reveals the hidden story behind present day real people, historical figures, and true events.

    They call us Sounds. They are our Echoes. And they think that they must die when we do. Is this why children are disappearing from the Sound realm? Because someone wants their Echo to die? Twelve-year-old Will Cleary tries to escape the frightening answer. But dangers sweep him into that magical, see-through land. And there, in a fortress filled with castaway children, a two-hundred-year-old riddle lies buried. The most important boy in Echoland will help Will solve it, with a handful of other teens. For the fate of Echoland, and of the Sound realm, depends on the answer. An answer hidden in an ancient book… Deep in a frozen lake of gems… Beyond a buried door… At the foot of the greatest Crystillery of all. But many men and monsters, crystal balls and spying eyes, will try to stop the brave teens. ~ 2018 Pacific Book Awards Winner ~ ~ 2018 Purple Dragonfly 2nd Place Winner ~ ~ 2018 Los Angeles Book Festival Runner-up ~ ~ 2018 Readers' Favorite 4th place (Honorable Mention) ~~ 2018 New York Book Festival Honorable Mention ~ ~ 2018 San Francisco Book Festival Honorable Mention ~ THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN disappear from our world. No one sees the kidnapping; or if they do, they forget. But one toddler returns after a week, riding a wolf, with a falcon circling over him.That boy is Will Cleary.Will tries to live a normal life. But his twin sister is still missing, and their parents never stop searching for her. Then just before his thirteenth birthday, Will's pets reveal a secret to him. (Though how it happens will remain a secret, until you read the book.) A hidden world lies beneath our feet, a land filled with see-through trees and lucent people. They call us Sounds, and they are our Echoes; for each one of them is a reflection of one of us. It is a sparkling, beautiful place, a winter wonderland. But there is evil there, a terrible law, the Law of Death.When a Sound dies in our world, his Echo is executed in Echoland. And there are those who reverse the order of things, to achieve their wicked ends. They hunt the Sound of the Echo they want to kill. Then the first death leads to the second as surely as lightning leads to thunder.Is that what happened to the missing children in Will's realm? Did someone want to murder their Echoes? Or are these Sounds still alive, trapped somewhere in Echoland? Will tries to escape the frightening answer. But dangers sweep him into that magical, see-through land. And there, in a fortress filled with castaway children, a two-hundred-year-old riddle lies buried. The most important boy in Echoland will help Will solve it, with a handful of other kids. For the fate of Echoland, and of the Sound realm, depends on the answer.An answer hidden in an ancient book…Deep in a frozen lake of gems…Beyond a buried door…At the foot of the greatest Crystillery of all.But many men and monsters, crystal balls and spying eyes, will try to stop the brave teens. For how see-through your skin is is all-important in Echoland. And when this ancient hate will end, the realm of the Echoes will change forever.

    With nothing to lose, Natalie heads for the hills, or, in this case, the mountains. Turns out the cottage comes with a big family secret—Natalie is from a long line of witches. She quickly discovers that living in a new town isn't easy, especially when lightning strikes whenever she loses her temper!  When an orphaned eleven-year-old stands accused of murder, Natalie’s social worker instincts compel her to solve the case and clear the child, even if it means digging into painful secrets the town considers long buried. Secrets that paint a target on her back. Between her crazy family, magic lessons, investigating a murder, and the sexy witch detective hell-bent on keeping her in line, Natalie’s not sure which one will be the death of her first--her newfound abilities or the killer.

    Even if he could escape, the Church Knights and their witchfinder would be hot on his heels while his burgeoning power threatens to tear him apart from within.There is no hope . . . none, but a secretive order, themselves persecuted almost to destruction. If Gair can escape, if he can master his own growing, dangerous abilities, if he can find the Guardians of the Veil, then maybe he will be safe. Or maybe he'll discover that his fight has only just begun.

    After clashing with a powerful Guildmaster and his ruthless Bloodwitch bodyguard, the friends are forced to flee their home.Safi must avoid capture at all costs as she's a rare Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lies. Many would kill for her magic, so Safi must keep it hidden - lest she be used in the struggle between empires. And Iseult's true powers are hidden even from herself.In a chance encounter at Court, Safi meets Prince Merik and makes him a reluctant ally. However, his help may not slow down the Bloodwitch now hot on the girls' heels. All Safi and Iseult want is their freedom, but danger lies ahead. With war coming, treaties breaking and a magical contagion sweeping the land, the friends will have to fight emperors and mercenaries alike. For some will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.

    To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven elemental magic trials. If she fails, she will be executed...unless the trials kill her first.One thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a fairy tale to Eliana Ferracora. A bounty hunter for the Undying Empire, Eliana believes herself untouchable--until her mother vanishes. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain and discovers that the evil at the empire's heart is more terrible than she ever imagined.As Rielle and Eliana fight in a cosmic war that spans millennia, their stories intersect, and the shocking connections between them ultimately determine the fate of their world--and of each other.

    It falls to Chance’s friends to pick up the slack. In Mage Enough, Lucas is confronted with the consequences of helping Chance during an earlier adventure, and must delve into the vampire subculture of New Essex in order to find a missing priest. As he uncovers another, greater threat, he also discovers that he’s capable of far more than he ever thought possible. In Freedom, Shade learns that there is much more to the world behind the Veil than she ever suspected. When Lucas shows up needing her help for a newfound friend, she’s more than willing to assist. But they quickly discover that he’s taken something that the vampires will go to any lengths to get back. In trying to keep those around her safe, she will discover what it truly means to live free, and how far she’ll go to safeguard that right. In Those Who Can, Dr. Corwyn discovers how far the conspiracy Lucas and Shade have uncovered goes, and how much the Conclave doesn’t know. Drafted back into a role he had given up years ago, he must figure out how the Sentinels have changed over the years, and if he can do the job now. As he struggles to find his way in his old/new role, he finds an even bigger conspiracy, and the hint of something familiar.

    Lynas had uncovered a terrible secret, something that threatened to devour the entire city. He tried to warn the Arcanum, the sorcerers who rule the city. He failed. Lynas was skinned alive and Walker felt every cut. Now nothing will stop him from finding the murderer. Magi, mortals, daemons, and even the gods - Walker will burn them all if he has to. After all, it wouldn't be the first time he's killed a god...

    Beam Piper's groundbreaking parallel world's SF novel, Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen, and the sequel, Great Kings' War by John F. Carr and Roland Green. The Paratime Police patrol an infinity of alternate earths. Their prime directive is to protect the Paratime Secret thereby keeping this infinity of worlds from mixing and destroying each other, or from learning the parasitical Home Time Line is secretly looting their resources.When Penn. State Policeman Calvin Morrison is accidentally dropped off from a cross-time conveyer onto Styphon's House Subsector, he threatens both the Paratime Secret and leadership of the gunpowder theocracy, who owe their power to their secret knowledge of the "fireseed" formula. In just a few weeks, by the use of his knowledge of military strategy, Kalvan saves the small princedom of Hostigos from an invasion orchestrated by Styphon's House.Kalvan Kingmaker opens right after Kalvan's decisive victory over the Holy Host of Styphon. With Great King Kaiphranos of Hos-Harphax in mourning over his eldest son's death, the time is ripe for the Army of Hostigos to invade Harphax and topple the Iron Throne. At the holy city of Balph, the Inner Circle is reeling. Archpriest Roxthar, a rare true believer in Styphon, is conducting a full-blown inquisition of Styphon's corrupt upper priesthood. Once his reformation is complete, Roxthar's next job will to rebuild the Holy Host and defeat and destroy the Usurper Kalvan.Meanwhile, there is a great migration of nomads across the Sea of Grass; they are the wild card. As the nomads pour across the Great Middle River, pushing the clans and tribes that live there into the Great Kingdoms, the big question soon becomes: Will Styphon's House be buried by the human wave, or will they use the nomads in their war to the death with Kalvan and Hos-Hostigos?