When his father was called to duty and his mother made an invalid by a plague, Niko learned to survive by his wits. He stole what he needed to stay alive and fought to keep what he stole. Until he got arrested. On the eve of his majority birthday, Niko got laid off from his job and found out the son of the local crime lord had been selling his mom drugs and forcing her to “entertain” his friends. Facing jail time—and almost certain death—for beating the crime lord’s son nearly to death, Niko is forced to join the military to get off world. The terms of his enlistment are such that he can’t quit, so he hopes to fly under the radar and serve his time in a do-nothing job. That’s his plan, anyway. But plans have a way of getting disrupted, and when the Devil is calling the tune, sometimes all you can do is sing along.

     After the unfortunate events that took place in Britain, Jacob Hunter is no longer certain of many things, but this ill-fated truth is one he understands implicitly. Having spent months battling his addiction to the all-powerful blue orb, a device capable of traveling through time but equally adept at breaking a man’s mind, Jacob has finally succumbed to it. Once aided by loyal companions and the woman he loves, Jacob has abandoned everyone he has ever trusted, his mind warped by the orb’s influence. However, recently given new clues concerning the orb’s potential, Jacob departs for Rome, where he now knows a second orb lay hidden, waiting to be reunited with the orb he already possesses. Accompanied only by Rome’s manipulative empress, Agrippina the Younger, the pair journey to Rome where they hope to discover the secret to the orb’s power, but a destructive truth lies behind what they seek, one he may not be fully prepared to combat… But Jacob is not the only one about to embark on a daring quest. Having been abandoned and left without direction in the hinterlands of ancient Britain, Jacob’s sister, Diana, must find it in herself to rally Jacob’s jilted friends and corral an enraged Helena, the woman he loves, who carries her own mysterious secret after her life was miraculously saved at the brink of death. Unprepared for the responsibility suddenly thrust on her by Jacob's disappearance, Diana understands that she and her friends must find him before it's too late. Clouded and perverted though his mind may be, she knows her brother all too well. Jacob, tormented and driven beyond rationality, is prepared to sacrifice everything to find the lost orb. Including his life...

    A pretender who has outdone the master. Fifty planets. The dead are screaming for vengeance and only Rivka and her team can hear their cries. The Singularity. The Magistrate and her crew.How many more must die before the killer can be brought to justice?The battle of wits has begun, and only one can survive. Win or die trying.Rivka has to dig deeper than ever before into her investigative skills to figure out who’s next and how to stop the one masquerading as…Jack the Ripper.Magistrate Rivka Anoa is the legal eagle you want on your side. No better friend. No worse enemy.Get it today.Judge, Jury, & Executioner is within the Kurtherian Gambit Universe, but you don’t need to read those to enjoy these. Start with You Have Been Judged and enjoy the stories of Rivka and her team. Just lock in your seatbelt, grab your favorite drink, and be ready for your socks to be blown off.

    Depicting international intrigue and a view of the near future that is simultaneously hopeful and chilling, it is well worth reading. The near-future setting allows for easy extrapolation of current technological and commercial practice, as well as political alignments, making the context of the novel more easily accessible. John Sandford and Ctein’s novel details the accidental discovery of extra-solar space travelers in orbit around Saturn and the responses of major world governments – those of the United States and China – thereto. The two powers deploy their full spacefaring resources to meet and learn from the travelers, each hoping to secure advantage over the rest of the world thereby. The United States ultimately triumphs, although not without cost, and not without ramifications for future generations in the Sol system and beyond. The novel offers its readers an enjoyable romp through the near future of Earth. While it may at times seem to drag against minutiae or against open philosophizing, it also contains much action and intrigue, offering a vision of what may be to come. This companion includes the following: • Book Review • Story Setting Analysis • Story elements you may have missed as we decipher the novel • Summary of the text, with some analytical comments interspersed • Thought Provoking /or Discussion Questions for both Readers & Book Clubs • Discussion & Analysis of Themes, Symbols… • And Much More! This Analysis fills the gap, making you understand more while enhancing your reading experience.

    89 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more – everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Diamond Age, or, Young Lady's Illustrated Primer.

    A ladies’ man, a rogue, a rebel, a gambler, a drinker, and a fighter. His ship is reputed to be the fastest vessel in the galaxy, and it traversed the Strait of Jiltar in record time. He is a living legend. And I am going to rob him blind. Because that’s what I do: I steal spaceships for fun and profit.