Get a look into the past that forged a brutal and brilliant leader.

    With smoke billowing, fires blazing and his people fleeing, Khalid races back to defend his city, and protect his queen. But Khalid is too late to do either. He and his men arrive to find the city in ruins, nothing but a maze of destruction, and Shahrzad is gone. But who could have wrought such devastation? Khalid fears he may already know the answer, the price of choosing love over the people of Rey all too evident.

    She is only protected by her family name and her position as heir to a duchy.When she decides to help a young commoner—a powder mage marked for death, fugitive from the law—she puts her life and family reputation at risk and sets off to deliver her new ward to the safety of Adro while playing cat and mouse with the king’s own mage hunters and their captain, Duke Nikslaus.Occurs 35 years before the events in Promise of Blood.

    Anything. Even marry a mysterious prince she knows nothing about in order to rally the strength to arrange a rescue. During her journey to Torian's foreign castle, Emariya comes face to face with her mother's killers--and a deadly secret.Not only does Emariya possess a powerful but unexpected magical gift passed down through each of her families, the prince she's promised to marry possesses a third, and an ominous prophecy has warned the three gifts must never be combined.If she breaks her promise to marry Torian, she won't be able to save her father and if she keeps it, she may bring a curse upon everything she holds dear. Determining which choice is best won't be easy, but when she meets the gorgeous prince who may desire more than just her heart, she realizes she will have to fight just to have a choice at all.Her heart wants him desperately. Her head begs her to run. If she doesn't want to share her mother's fate, she'll have to find a way to untangle the truth from the lies in time to save herself.Discover the heartbreaking betrayals, fascinating magic and fated love of Cornerstone.

    And that girl’s name was Morrighan.In this prequel novella to the Remnant Chronicles, a girl and a boy from enemy camps meet, fall in love--and set history in motion.

    She is making a name for herself in the world of desserts with her new and unique flavor profiles.But juggling her weird family and trying to keep her magic a secret from her roommates is a daily challenge.And her twin sisters, Starrie and Rainey Skye won't hesitate to bring the trouble right to her door.

    For years she's been longing to go back up there, to once more explore the stars. But there are few opportunities for an aging astronaut, even the famous Lady Astronaut of Mars. When her chance finally comes, it may be too late. Elma must decide whether to stay with her sickening husband in what will surely be the final years of his life, or to have her final adventure and plunge deeper into the well of space.

    I cannot control this. One night, I was attacked in my home. The fire ... it raged out of control. I survived the inferno, but my house burned to the ground - with my parents inside. I was at a loss to explain to the courts what happened, and so they sent me to prison for ten years for manslaughter. Now I'm out on parole, and all I want is to return to my home town and rebuild my life; but the man who attacked me is back to finish the job he started. I can sense the power in me growing. If I can't control it, it will control me and destroy everything - and everyone - I love. Angel's Breath My name is Richard Riley. All I ever wanted was to lead a normal life. When I was younger, I made some bad choices that ended with me in prison. I served my time, and now I am trying to put my life back together. But someone has framed me for a crime I didn't commit. They want me dead, and they're willing to kill my friends and family to get to me. Even as I try to save the people I love, a dark and ancient power grows inside me. I can feel its anger rising. If it gets away from me, it will rip everything in my life apart. Earth Angel My name is Kyle Chase. I had a bright future as a heart surgeon until an accident brought my world crumbling down. Just as I started to get my life back together, I stumbled onto a conspiracy that began thousands of years ago; a secret my family tried to keep hidden from me. Now, the conspirators want me out of the picture. They will stop at nothing to silence me. As I try to uncover my ages-old legacy, I release a dark power that threatens to destroy everyone I love. Angel Tears My name is Serena Rogers. After escaping from a juvenile detention center, all I wanted was to get as far away from home as I could and never look back. Everything changed when I uncovered the dark secret that's been haunting my family since before I was born. I am not who I thought I was. When I encounter an army of revolutionaries, I am faced with an impossible choice: fight them and risk the lives of everyone I love, or join them and lose my soul. Angel of Darkness My name is Frank. I joined the police force to make a difference, but from the first day on the job, everything I've done has made life worse for everyone around me. For twenty-five years, I searched for meaning, to make sense of my life, but I never found any answers. Just when I decide to turn my back on my life's work, I uncover a conspiracy more sinister than anything I ever imagined. As I investigate, I realize that even if I stop the conspirators, the blood of innocents will be on my hands: thousands will die. If I don't stop them, all of mankind will suffer an age of darkness...

    The last thing Alena Kornov wants to do is to go on the date with him. But when her family pressures her, she can’t say no. Now the ice-cream is absent, the pig is running for its life, and we won’t even mention the dead guy…

    If he can accomplish that, maybe his father will finally see him as a worthy son. He's completed the grueling trek from Germania to Tokyo before, but this time is different. Luka never expected to meet Adele Wolfe, another racer posing as her twin brother and with a singular dream--to live life on her own terms.When Luka and Adele form an alliance, an unlikely bond forms, and even possibly love. But only one person can win the Axis Tour....Can everything Luka and Adele built together survive the race?Word count: 24000

    Martin is a giant in the field of fantasy literature and one of the most exciting storytellers of our time. Now he delivers a rare treat for readers: a compendium of his shorter works, collected into two stunning volumes, that offer fascinating insight into his journey from young writer to award-winning master.Gathered here in Volume I are the very best of George R.R. Martin's early works, including never-before-published fan pieces, his Hugo, Nebula, and Bram Stoker Award-winning stories plus the original novella The Ice Dragon, from which Martin's New York Times bestselling children's book of the same title originated. A dazzling array that features extensive author commentary, Dreamsongs, Volume I, is the perfect collection for both Martin devotees and a new generation of fans.Contents:- Introduction by Gardner Dozois One: A Four-Color Fanboy (2003)- Only Kids Are Afraid of the Dark (1967)- The Fortress (2003)- And Death His Legacy (2003)Two: The Filthy Pro (2003)- The Hero (1971)- The Exit to San Breta (1972)- The Second Kind of Loneliness (1972)- With Morning Comes Mistfall (1973)Three: The Light of Distant Stars (2003)- A Song for Lya (1974)- The Stone City (1977)- This Tower of Ashes (1976)- And Seven Times Never Kill Man (1975)- Bitterblooms (1977)- The Way of Cross and Dragon (1979)Four: The Heirs of Turtle Castle (2003)- The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr (1976)- The Ice Dragon (1980)- In the Lost Lands (1982)Five: Hybrids and Horrors (2003)- Meathouse Man (1976)- Remembering Melody (1981)- Sandkings (1979)- Nightflyers (1980)- The Monkey Treatment (1983)- The Pear-Shaped Man (1987)

    Left to their own devices, however, the claws develop robots of their own. II-V, the second variety, remains unknown to the few humans left on Earth. Or does it?Second Variety was adapted into the film Screamers.

    Part of a pre-order incentive for Daughter Of The Siren Queen.

    But he is desperate to return to the Old Kingdom, and at last has the chance.All he has to do is spend a weekend in a country house as a favour for his Uncle Edward, Chief Minister of Ancelstierre. That seems easy enough, till he discovers that the house holds many secrets, and the worst of them is a relic of the Old Kingdom, too far from the Wall for any spark of its magical life to reignite.Unless someone finds a way to unleash its power....

    He runs across a barker with a strange power over the crowd: attractive women leave their men and disappear into an unmarked tent, never to be seen again, and the men wander away, forgetting that they ever had girlfriends or wives. When Granuaile falls under the barker’s influence and enters the tent, Atticus isn’t about to forget it and move on. He and his Irish wolfhound, Oberon, pursue her and discover the horrifying secret to the carnival’s success.