Elizabeth Horodowich, one of the leading historians of the city, tells the whole story, showing that Venice, alongside Florence and Rome, was one of the great Renaissance capitals. The book will also investigate the history of Venice as a multicultural trading city where Christians, Jews, and Muslims lived together at the crossroads between East and West. The narrative runs all the way to the present to the current problems with the sinking island.

    All she wants to do is drink beer by the pool, play mischievous pranks on the humans, and get her hot neighbor in the sack. It’s a relaxing break from her infernal home as long as she manages to avoid the angels, who won’t hesitate to execute her on sight. But when her naughty hellhound lands her in trouble with the local werewolf pack, Sam is blackmailed into helping track and catch a killer. The steps she must take to appease the werewolves will put her right in the crosshairs of the angels. And with angels, there is no second chance. *SATAN'S SWORD* Samantha Martin is an imp, bound by an angel who allows her to live among the humans . . . as long as she follows his rules. It’s never easy for an imp to follow the rules, especially now that Sam’s brother, Dar, has found himself in hot water. He needs her help to retrieve an artifact from the vampires, or the powerful demon he owes a favor to will enslave and torture him for centuries. It should be a simple courier job, but with demons nothing is simple. Sam reluctantly attempts to help her brother, trying not antagonize the vampires or the demon gunning for him, all while chafing to comply with the restrictions her angel has placed on her as a bound demon. *ELVEN BLOOD* Samantha Martin is an imp, a lesser demon from Hel. She has been living under the radar, posing as a human for the last 40 years, but now that she’s bound to an angel and holds the title of Iblis her life is. . .complicated. Sam has become buried in angelic bureaucracy, saddled with a succubus house guest, and is fighting off a never-ending slew of demon hit-men. The powerful demon, Haagenti, won’t rest until she’s dragged back to Hel for “punishment”, and he has put a substantial price on her head – a price that threatens not only her, but the human she’s grown to love. When an elven lord offers to take care of Haagenti in return for tracking down and killing a demon half-breed , Sam thinks she’s found the solution to her most pressing problem. But finding and retrieving this hybrid monster isn't proving easy and time is running out.

    One hundred billion of them, to be precise.In a world where everybody dies but nobody leaves, Myron Vale is the rare individual who completely straddles both sides of the great divide. In fact, he may just be the only one. His strange ability the result of a gunshot to the head while serving as a Portland police officer, a few years later he recovers to forge a new life as private investigator catering to both the living and the dead. His big problem? He can't tell them apart.In this short story prequel to Ghost Detective, the first novel featuring Myron Vale, a house call to an old farmhouse finds Vale investigating the most unlikely of haunted places — a breadbox. What lies inside? It's not at all what Vale expects.Includes an author's note explaining the origin of the story (which lead to the novel), as well as the opening chapter of Ghost Detective.

    especially effervescent Daisy." ~BooklistIt's the 1920s and Daisy Gum Majesty is doing her part to support her family as a medium by holding séances and interpreting tarot cards for the rich and famous.STRONG SPIRITS: When the wealthy Mrs. Kincaid comes to Daisy to help solve her husband's disappearance, Detective Sam Rotondo isn't fooled by Daisy's choice of "vocation". Then Daisy reads Sam's cards... and the tables turn on them both.FINE SPIRITS: When Daisy is approached by Mrs. Bissel about exorcizing a ghost from her basement, Daisy is tempted to back out until Mrs. B puts up one of her famous dachshund puppies as payment. Hoping Mrs. Bissel’s basement ghost is not a skunk, Daisy begins snooping only to discover the matter is much larger than anyone imagined.HIGH SPIRITS: Daisy’s talent as a "medium" has caught the attention of dangerous mobster Vicenzo Maggiori, who wants to get in touch with his dead godfather. Then Daisy’s troubles are doubled when Detective Sam Rotondo tells her she must channel the spirits for Maggiori and pass the information to him in exchange for his silence.AWARDS:Romantic Times Top PickReviewer's Choice Awards, finalistTHE DAISY GUMM MAJESTY MYSTERIES, in series orderStrong SpiritsFine SpiritsHigh SpiritsHungry SpiritsGenteel SpiritsAncient SpiritsDark SpiritsSpirits OnstageUnsettled SpiritsBruised SpiritsSpirits UnitedSpirits UnearthedShaken Spirits

    As a medium, the prospect of tackling a haunted house is less daunting than seeing Max Baron again. Throughout their passionate college relationship, he promised to love her forever. Then, without explanation, he abandoned her on graduation day.Max never intended to break Claire's heart—a cruel ultimatum forced him to disappear from her life. While he's shocked to find her in Gull Harbor, he isn't surprised by the bitter resentment she feels for him...or the fiery attraction that remains between them.Claire is determined to rid her temporary home of its aggressive ghost, but Max soon realizes she's facing a danger beyond the paranormal. When Claire risks everything to help a desperate spirit, Max must race to save her—before another tragedy tears them apart forever.

    Exasperated by her tyrannical family, Vicky escapes from rationing and austerity Britain and flees to the south of France.But she’s not there just for the glorious food, wine and sunshine: she has an inheritance to claim, and a mystery to solve. Can she find her wartime husband, Philippe d’Icère? Is he alive or dead? A hero or a traitor?  An imposter, or a true Frenchman? Do the answers lie in the Languedoc village of St Aphrodise, where danger lurks in the ancient streets?How can she be sure who’s a loyal friend and who a bitter enemy? Vicky seems destined to fail—or will she, in the end, find out the truth about Philippe?

    Whidden started out at sea in 1834, at the age of twelve, and did not retire until 1870. This is his account of over a quarter-century spent on the high seas. Orphaned at five, nothing held Whidden back from embarking on sea life seven years later. Serving as an apprentice, he quickly proved his worth, and earned himself a mate’s position by his early twenties. Graduating to third, second and first office, he ended his career in command of, and having part-ownership of his own vessel. This memoir, Ocean Life in the Old Sailing Ship Days, records a series of real events, from his childhood impressions of rough and ready seamen, to his thrilling and brutal experiences of war. His travels saw him spanning the world, with stops at major ports such as Honolulu, Buenos Aires, Calcutta, and Liverpool. His life spans the changes in the shipping industry over the 19th and into the 20th century. During the Civil War, Whidden was heavily involved in profitable island trading in the Bahamas to elude Confederate sailors. However, shortly after the close of the war, in 1870, Whidden left sailing as he found it being overtaken by foreign interests. John D. Whidden (1832-1911) wrote Ocean Life in the Old Sailing Days in 1908, partly as a memoir, but also to offer a snippet of the “old sailing ship days” before major changes occurred to its business environment, fundamentally changing its nature. It is a classic account of a different way of life, which will appeal to both sailing enthusiasts and historians alike.

    But far from the battlefields, Allied scientists are struggling.Intelligence reports put them a distant second behind the Germans in a competition that could determine the outcome of the war: the race to build the world's first nuclear weapon.For the Allies' top scientists, the race is deeply personal. J. Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi, and Samuel Goudsmit have known Hitler's chief atomic scientist, Werner Heisenberg, for years. A brilliant, world-renowned physicist and once a good friend, he's anti-Nazi but also a loyal German.Fear that he's put country first and is building a bomb haunts Oppenheimer and Fermi all through their months and years developing the Allied bomb. That same anxiety drives Goudsmit, now a top Allied intelligence officer, to risk his life as he attempts to track down Heisenberg and the site of Hitler's suspected atom bomb program.

    Bury's history is indispensable to anyone who seeks to understand the connection between the barbarian migrations of the third to the ninth century and the framework of modern Europe.

    He did extensive work on the history of the Vijayanagara Empire, particularly the fall of Hampi, the empire's capital. He translated The Vijayanagar Empire as Seen by Domingo Paes and Fernao Nuniz - described as an eyewitness account of Portuguese travellers to India in the 16th century and report on the Vijayanagar Empire. His other works include: Analytical History of India (1870), Eclipses of the Moon in India (1878), Antiquarian Remains in Presidency of Madras (1882), A Sketch of the Dynasties of S. India (1883), South Indian Chronological Tables (1889) and The Indian Calendar (with S. B. Dikshit) (1896).

    She quits her high-pressure job for something that will allow her more leisure time. She gets rid of the huge family home and moves into a fabulous condo that’s smaller and easier to manage. She’s pretty much got the rest of her life figured out. All she has to do is sit back, relax, and let the pieces fall into place.But her real life never gets the memo. First, her son moves back in with her—along with his girlfriend. Her dream job falls through, leaving her unemployed. Her mother, whom she hadn’t spoken to in years, can no longer live alone and has to move into her basement. And her only daughter is planning the smallest and simplest wedding in the history of all weddings, much to Kate’s dismay.Kate thinks that she and Jake, her former college love who has reemerged on an online dating site, of all places, can build something real, and that maybe her happy ending is in front of her at last. But the arrival of Edward, her daughter’s future father-in-law, presents Kate with an unexpected choice. It looks like real happiness may require a slight change of plan.

    Spanning six decades, these three novels follow a man and his family as they struggle to adapt to life in a new world. From the death of Queen Victoria through the swinging sixties, this acclaimed saga is an unforgettable story of a farming family and a vanishing way of life.  Long Summer Day: Lt. Paul Craddock returns to England after the Boer War to resume civilian life. His father has died, leaving Craddock heir to a scrap-metal business. But instead of continuing the family business, he purchases an auctioned-off thirteen-hundred-acre estate, Shallowford, where he will be changed by his love for two women: fiercely independent Grace Lovell and lovely, demure Claire Derwent.  Post of Honour: Through hard work and love of the land, Craddock has transformed his sprawling estate and enjoys a peaceful country life with his wife and three children. But war has begun its inevitable march across England, and this remote corner of Devon cannot escape its destruction. As the Great War ends and another threatens to erupt, Craddock’s faith and the strength he derives from his family must sustain him and his village through trying, tumultuous times.  The Green Gauntlet: Though Craddock’s village has endured despite the sorrows of war, he has new perils to face. Emerging property laws threaten his livelihood, dividing his family over the future of his beloved Shallowford. For his sons and daughter, the fifties and sixties will be a time of discovery and change that will resonate in the lives of their own children.

    On the first day that Chagak’s womanhood is acknowledged within her Aleut tribe, she unexpectedly finds herself betrothed to Seal Stalker, the most promising young hunter in the village. A bright future lies ahead of Chagak—but in one violent moment, she loses her entire way of life. Left with her infant brother, Pup, and only a birdskin parka for warmth, Chagak sets out across the icy waters on a quest for survival and revenge.In My Sister the Moon, Gray Bird wanted only sons. His daughter, Kiin, would have been killed at birth to make way for a male heir if not for the tribal chief, Kayugh, who claimed the infant as a future wife for one of his two young sons. Sixteen years later, Kiin is caught between the two brothers: one to whom she is promised, the other whom she desires. But the evil spawned by her own family takes her far from her people to a place where savage cruelties, love, and fate will strengthen and change her, and lead her to her ultimate destiny.And in Brother Wind, in the tribe of the First Men, courageous, beautiful Kiin, an accomplished ivory carver, is finally content with her hard-won life, which includes twin sons and a loving warrior husband. When she is suddenly pulled back into her nightmarish former existence as slave to the Raven, shaman of the Walrus People, her husband’s brother, Samiq, vows to bring her back to their tribe. Across the land, Kukutux, the wife of a Whale Hunter, finds the loss of her husband and the hostility of her clan too much to bear. The lives of Kiin, Samiq, and Kukutux, and the paths of their tribesmen will converge in a final dramatic confrontation that tests the strength of their hearts and spirits against the cruelty of man, nature, and fate.

    But something has gone horribly wrong . . . .On the first day of school, in a new city, Sarah Sachs experiences the shock of her life when she sees a car drive right through a strange boy. Did she really see it, or was it a figment of her imagination?The boy? Matt Barnes, son of the world-famous physicist, Dr. Nathan Barnes.The figment? Not so imaginary. A powerful new technology that could be behind Dr. Barnes's disappearance. Sarah becomes swept up in Matt Barnes's life as she helps him search for his father. They uncover an unusual device in a secret laboratory--a device that throws them far from the modern city of Ottawa into the forest-matted land of the 1600's. In this strange New World, they must contend with wild animals and somehow survive a war between the Algonquin and Iroquois nations. But eventually they'll have to make a decision that might change the world as we know it. Should they meddle with time?

      Meet Miss Maud Silver, a retired governess and “little old lady who nobody notices, but who in turn notices everything” (Paula Gosling, author of the Jack Stryker mystery series).  The Clock Strikes Twelve: A wealthy British family convenes in their manor house for New Year’s Eve. But when their industrialist patriarch dies, it’s up to prim Miss Silver to determine who rang in the new year with murder . . .  The Key: A German Jewish scientist working for the British war effort is murdered, and his new formula has been stolen. Now Miss Silver must find the killer or risk an explosive disaster . . .  She Came Back: Three years after everyone thought she died in France, Lady Anne Jocelyn returns to England. The lady may be who she claims to be, or perhaps she’s a fraud—or even a Nazi spy. Only Miss Silver will be able to divine the truth.