the Ore. Powerful crystals of endless energy, they promise to reshape the world into the Eden it once was, but at what cost? When one man gets a shard of the Ore embedded in his chest during an freak accident, he gains unexpected powers - and is set upon a dangerous path where he is hunted by those who control the Ore. As he struggles to unlock his own abilities, he discovers the terrible secret of the Ore...

    Upon this day, the Fire Kingdom’s priests perform their ritual: each newborn’s palm is lacerated, opened with a sacred sword, for Firia’s next ruler will be seen to shed no blood. Alas, this can prove a perilous process. When young Nokhail demonstrates his destiny, a wicked imposter attempts to slay the boy. Soldier Lumio intervenes, escaping with defenseless Noakhail—set for distant Aquadom to hide . . . and gather strength.Seventeen years later, Lumio illuminates Noakhail’s true identity, presenting Distra, his rightful sword. Training side by side, the pair devise a plan to reclaim the throne . . . but this will mean ousting a crooked king, whose warriors are everywhere. Should Noakhail hope to triumph, he’ll be forced to look inside himself and tame explosive power on the expedition homeward bound. His path will cut through all four kingdoms—each replete with danger but, in turn, a chance to grow.Meanwhile, in Aquadom’s royal palace, the water sword has chosen its heir, but envy stands to jeopardize an age of fragile peace. Indeed, a war awaits...

    Only one can win. Their destination: the Night Stadium, a place of makeup and music, fear and adrenaline, blood and romance, celebration and death.Each candidate has his or her own reason for entering the Game. The Council runs the Game. The outcome of the Game is left to fate...in the laps of the gods. The candidates will jump to their deaths in order to win everything, before capacity crowds in the Stadium. The public follows every jump, live on TV and on their mobile screens, choosing their favorite candidates and betting on their lives. The Game’s community also includes geeks, mafia, makeup artists, master chefs, models, musicians, ordinary workers, spies, terrorists, and many others. SG - Suicide Game is the story of the candidates’ journey. It boldly imagines a place where death and denial are interwoven with hope, choices and the innate desire for happiness. Impressive in the totality of its vision, it is an exploration of the best and worst things in our lives, nightmares and especially, our dreams

    The road to revenge is ahead. But the pit stop she makes along the way could reroute her life. Amanda Martin refuses to burn for the crimes of her manipulative ex-boyfriend. After all, he was the one who strong-armed her into committing fraud and left her to shoulder the blame. When an enraged investor sets fire to their office building, she scrambles onto the first bus out of the city. With the authorities hunting for her, she hides out to plot her revenge in the last place anyone would look—the tiny Texas town of Phoenix.But when Amanda uncovers a hidden talent for reporting at the local paper and starts a sweet romance with a charming cop, she starts to question whether she’d be better off building a new life than tearing her ex a new one. Just as she starts settling in, her work at the paper unearths a decades old cold case that threatens to turn the town against her and expose her criminal past. With time running out before the townsfolk discover her true identity, Amanda is faced with an impossible choice—turn her back on a fellow victim of crime or stand her ground and lose her precious freedom. Phoenix is the first book in an enthralling women’s fiction series. If you like compelling characters, nail-biting suspense, and a dash of romance, then you’ll love Kimberly Packard’s small-town mystery.

    About to graduate high school, he has all of life to look forward to with college, parties, and girls.But a giant asteroid changes all that when it threatens to destroy all life on Earth. In only days, Vaughn, his family, and his friends are forced to confront the fact that everything ends. And nothing human can change it.Until the Avatar rises.For humanity, the world is saved when a young hero, Alex Shaw, literally flies into space, to smash the asteroid, Yama, apart. He is given the name, Avatar.But for Vaughn, it is the start of a completely new age. For Alex did not just stop an asteroid. In some strange way, humanity changes, and some, including Vaughn are empowered.Vaughn is soon caught up in the legacy that Alex leaves behind; a legacy that will lead Vaughn Hagen to become either a hero, or a victim to villainous dreams of power. Power that threatens to corrupt even his oldest friends.And ultimately, Vaughn must choose between home and friends in the new Age of Power.

    At the crossroads of destiny and self-determination the two shall collide. At stake, a young man's soul. And the fate of the world.Reeling from a terrible accident that claimed the lives of his parents, Felix arrives at Portland College hoping only to survive the experience. In time, however, with the help of his reality star roommate, and Allison, his friend from home, he immerses himself in the distractions of college life and gradually dares to believe he can put his past behind him.But a fateful storm looms on the horizon: In the nearby woods, two hikers become the latest victims in a series of gruesome murders; a disfigured giant embarks on a vicious cross-country rampage, killing teenagers who fail his ‘test’; an ancient society of assassins tasked with eradicating the wielders of a mysterious source of power awakens after a long silence; and a grassroots movement emerges from the shadows to capture the public’s imagination, its hidden agenda as revolutionary and terrifying as the man who created it. Only one man—the school’s groundskeeper—knows that the seemingly unrelated events are connected, and that an eighteen-year-old boy stands in the center of the storm.

    Lillian Low's homespun values-people come in all flavors just like ice cream-bring joy and humor into the Low house. When restless Joe Low ditches one suburb for another because he wants a do-over, Lillian tells him, "How the hell many do you need? Don't you know that wherever you go, you've got to take yourself with you?" Along for the ride is the colorful, extended Low clan, who turn up to celebrate the arrival of Joe and Lillian's army of kids. They eat, sing, Joe gets plastered, and all too often, scotch-fired arguments lead to some good old-fashioned fistfights. The mayhem that actually started the brawl gets swept under the carpet, and when Curran finally pulls it up, pandemonium emerges from hell with a vengeance. Through the vision of a sensitive young girl with a wickedly funny voice, "Secondhand Scotch" uncorks some harsh realities, but never ceases to warm and entertain.

    A rookie FBI agent in dangerous, uncharted territory. An extraordinary hero for the ages.Odessa Hardwicke's life is derailed when she's forced to turn her gun on her partner, Walt Leppo, a decorated FBI agent who turns suddenly, inexplicably violent while apprehending a rampaging murderer. The shooting, justified by self-defense, shakes the young FBI agent to her core. Devastated, Odessa is placed on desk leave pending a full investigation. But what most troubles Odessa isn't the tragedy itself-it's the shadowy presence she thought she saw fleeing the deceased agent's body after his death. Questioning her future with the FBI and her sanity, Hardwicke accepts a low-level assignment to clear out the belongings of a retired agent in the New York office. What she finds there will put her on the trail of a mysterious figure named John Silence, a man of enormous means who claims to have been alive for centuries, and who is either an unhinged lunatic, or humanity's best and only defense against unspeakable evil.