Diane cuts a deal.Rafe’s academic troubles grow worse, but he finds comfort in surprising places. When Micah plunges into mathematical calculations that threaten to expose trade secrets long held close by Kaab's people, Kaab must do some quick thinking of her own. Meanwhile, Diane seeks to involve the house Balam in her intrigues, and the river yields up a mystery of its own. This episode is brought to you by Joel Derfner, who dials up the heat in our play of passions. “Heavenly Bodies” continues the 13-part serial, Tremontaine , presented by Serial Box. This prequel to the cult classic Swordspoint is brought to you by the collaborative effort of a team of writers under the creative direction of Ellen Kushner herself. Join the dance of swordplay and scandal, week after week, on Serial Box.com. And don’t forget to share the love! If you’re enjoying Tremontaine, help us get the word out by liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter and Tumblr, and telling your friends about us! We’d also love to hear what you think so please give us a review! “Sharp blades and even sharper wits abound! Delicious new adventures await fans in this welcome return to the world of Swordspoint.” – Jacqueline Carey, New York Times Bestselling author of the Kushiel’s Legacy series“Lovely! Beneath a froth of silk and lace Tremontaine is finely muscled, rippling with skill and promise.” – Nicola Griffith, author of Hild“More Tremontaine stories? YESPLEASE. Tremontaine stories by some of my favorite, excellent writers? HELLA YESPLEASE. I can't wait to read them all! ”– N. K. Jemisin, author of The Fifth Kingdom “A pure delight full of sparkling characters that match equally dazzling wits and swords. If you've visited the world of Swordspoint before, you'll be delighted to return; if it's your first time, you'll be welcomed in style. I can't wait to read more myself!”– Naomi Novaik, author of Uprooted

    Nameless, but inspired by Elizabethan London, 18th century Paris, 1980s New York, and many others great cities both real and fictional, the setting of Tremontaine comes alive behind the colorful figures of Micah, Rafe Fenton, Ixkaab Balam, and of course: Diane, the Duchess of Tremontaine, a character well-met in the original series, but whose history has remained a mystery until now.

    In a city that never was, sex, scandal, and swordplay combine in a melodrama of manners that returns readers to the beloved world of Ellen Kushner’s Swordspoint! A Duchess whose beauty is matched only by her cunning; a passionate young Scholar with dreams beyond his reach; a Foreign spy in a playground of swordplay and secrets; and a Genius on the brink of scientific revolution—when long-buried lies threaten to come to light, the stakes are high, and more than lives may be lost. Mind your manners and enjoy the chocolate in a dance of sparkling wit and political intrigue.Duchess Diane Tremontaine, the crowning gem of her city’s high class, sits in her manor’s window on The Hill and looks over her domain with eyes that cut and a mind that schemes. Far below, and far away from the glitz of wealth, a poor country farm girl named Micah looks only toward her family, the harvest, and the complex web of math that entrances her. At the Docks, the newly arrived Ixkaab Balam surveys the same city from the deck of her family’s merchant vessel and sees a land to manipulate for fortune and fun. And at the University, a passionate scholar named Rafe bristles at the classism constraining his ambitions and dreams of revolution.“Arrivals” begins the 13-part serial, Tremontaine , presented by Serial Box. This prequel to the cult classic Swordspoint is brought to you by the collaborative effort of a team of writers under the creative direction of Ellen Kushner herself. Join the dance of swordplay and scandal, week after week, on Serial Box.com. And don’t forget to share the love! If you’re enjoying Tremontaine, help us get the word out by liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter and Tumblr, and telling your friends about us! We’d also love to hear what you think so please give us a review! “Sharp blades and even sharper wits abound! Delicious new adventures await fans in this welcome return to the world of Swordspoint.” – Jacqueline Carey, New York Times Bestselling author of the Kushiel’s Legacy series“Lovely! Beneath a froth of silk and lace Tremontaine is finely muscled, rippling with skill and promise.” – Nicola Griffith, author of Hild“More Tremontaine stories? YESPLEASE. Tremontaine stories by some of my favorite, excellent writers? HELLA YESPLEASE. I can't wait to read them all! ”– N. K. Jemisin, author of The Fifth Kingdom “A pure delight full of sparkling characters that match equally dazzling wits and swords. If you've visited the world of Swordspoint before, you'll be delighted to return; if it's your first time, you'll be welcomed in style. I can't wait to read more myself!”– Naomi Novaik, author of Uprooted

    Papers with secrets that could spell death. Crispin needs to get them back before anyone finds out what he's been doing, or what his magic can do.Crispin tracks his quarry down to waste paper dealer Ned Hall. He needs help, and Ned can’t resist Crispin’s pleading—and appealing—looks. But can the waste-man and the magician prevent a disaster and save Crispin’s skin?A 16,000 word story set in the Charm of Magpies world, and a prequel to the novel Rag and Bone (March 2016). This story was first published as part of the Charmed & Dangerous anthology.Cover design by Catherine Dair.

    Tantalized by the man’s unfinished tale, Alok will do anything to hear its completion. So Alok agrees, at the stranger’s behest, to transcribe a collection of battered notebooks, weathered parchments, and once-living skins. From these documents spills the chronicle of a race of people at once more than human yet kin to beasts, ruled by instincts and desires blood-deep and ages-old. The tale features a rough wanderer in seventeenth-century Mughal India who finds himself irrevocably drawn to a defiant woman—and destined to be torn asunder by two clashing worlds. With every passing chapter of beauty and brutality, Alok’s interest in the stranger grows and evolves into something darker and more urgent.

    Though he struggles to escape, John is drawn steadily closer to a fate he shares with Kyle—to wake the destroyer god, the Rifter, and shatter a world.

    It takes place between the events of Stormhaven and Necropolis. When a child goes missing in Widdershins, ex-Pinkerton detective Griffin Flaherty fears sinister forces are at work in the town. Together, he and his lover Percival Endicott Whyborne must track down the child and put an end to a murderous plot, before any more young souls are lost.

    As they continue their expedition across Australia, Ariq is determined to stay close to Zenobia and figure out what kind of game she’s playing—even as his admiration for the enigmatic woman starts to override his suspicion.For Zenobia, revealing her identity to a man who once made his living outside of the law is out of the question—even though Ariq’s dashing looks and blunt manner are distractingly appealing.But before anyone’s secrets or desires can be exposed, an unexpected attack threatens to destroy them all…

    In an example of art echoing life, Tony landed a job as production assistant for the syndicated TV show Darkest Night, a series about a vampire detective. And except for his unrequited crush on the show's handsome costar, Lee Nicholas, Tony was pretty content.Until everything started to fall apart on the set.It began with shadows­­--shadows where they didn't belong, that almost had an existence of their own. Tony tried to ignore it--until he found Nikki Waugh's body, and felt the shadow's touch, and a stunt crash went wrong for no discernible reason--and Tony knew that he had to find out what was threatening everyone on the set.

    This is true.Other true things about hippos: they are savage, they are fast, and their jaws can snap a man in two.This was a terrible plan.Contained within this volume is an 1890s America that might have been: a bayou overrun by feral hippos and mercenary hippo wranglers from around the globe. It is the story of Winslow Houndstooth and his crew. It is the story of their fortunes. It is the story of his revenge.

    Tourists flock to the cities within the city: the Magic City of the World’s Fair on an island created of artifice and illusion; the forbidden city of Chinatown, a separate, alien world of exotic food and nightclubs that offer “authentic” experiences, straight from the pages of the pulps; and the twilight world of forbidden love, where outcasts from conventional society can meet.Six women find their lives as tangled with each other’s as they are with the city they call home. They discover love and danger on the borders where mystery, science, and art intersect.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

    Now she’s returned to her mother’s imperial court, haunted not only by memories of her first romance, but by worrying magical echoes of a fire that devastated Ephteria’s royal palace.Thanh’s new role as a diplomat places her once again in the path of her first love, the powerful and magnetic Eldris of Ephteria, who knows exactly what she wants: romance from Thanh and much more from Thanh’s home. Eldris won’t take no for an answer, on either front. But the fire that burned down one palace is tempting Thanh with the possibility of making her own dangerous decisions.Can Thanh find the freedom to shape her country’s fate—and her own?

    S. Malerich's The Factory Witches of Lowell is a riveting historical fantasy about witches going on strike in the historical mill-town of Lowell, Massachusetts.Faced with abominable working conditions, unsympathetic owners, and hard-hearted managers, the mill girls of Lowell have had enough. They're going on strike, and they have a secret weapon on their side: a little witchcraft to ensure that no one leaves the picket line.For the young women of Lowell, Massachusetts, freedom means fair wages for fair work, decent room and board, and a chance to escape the cotton mills before lint stops up their lungs. When the Boston owners decide to raise the workers’ rent, the girls go on strike. Their ringleader is Judith Whittier, a newcomer to Lowell but not to class warfare. Judith has already seen one strike fold and she doesn’t intend to see it again. Fortunately Hannah, her best friend in the boardinghouse—and maybe first love?—has a gift for the dying art of witchcraft.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

    AVA First Officer Paul Cronin should know—he’s a gay pilot in a profession that reeks of testosterone. The pilots are macho. The mechanics are macho. Heck, even the baggage handlers are macho. It seems like the only men on the airline who aren’t strutting around talking cars and football are the flight attendants.With his scheduled flight grounded, Paul finds himself torn between a rendezvous with a handsome flight attendant and a new assignment on Flight 511. He discovers the replacement flight is a quick trip to Bermuda that will allow his date to proceed as planned, and it seems as if his weekend is falling right into place, despite the passengers’ apprehensions over crossing the Bermuda Triangle. Skeptic that he is, Paul finds it difficult to soothe the passengers’ fears. The Bermuda Triangle is just a sensationalistic name that a journalist invented for a commonly-traveled stretch of the Atlantic. Of course, airline employees wouldn’t entertain that sort of superstition…so why is the rest of Flight 511’s crew acting so strange?

    The radical One State Party—nicknamed the Ospies—is gaining popular support to unite Gedda's four municipal governments under an ironclad, socially conservative vision.Not everyone agrees with the Ospies' philosophy, including master spy Cyril DePaul and his lover Aristide Makricosta, smuggler and emcee at the popular Bumble Bee Cabaret. When Cyril's cover is blown on a mission, however, he must become a turncoat in exchange for his life. Returning to Amberlough under the Ospies' watchful eye, Cyril enters a complex game of deception. One of his concerns is safeguarding Aristide, who refuses to let anyone—the crooked city police or the homophobic Ospies—dictate his life.Enter streetwise Cordelia Lehane, top dancer at the Bee and Aristide’s runner, who could be the key to Cyril’s plans—if she can be trusted. As the twinkling lights of nightclub marquees yield to the rising flames of a fascist revolution, these three will struggle to survive using whatever means—and people—necessary. Including each other.