Positioned beneath a statue of Leto, the goddess of motherhood, the crime is weighted with meaning and, Ellen discovers, remarkably similar to one from a decade past.Ellen's professional duty is to protect the child, but she's not equipped to contend with a killer. As she races to connect the dots, she knows her time is running out. And the stakes are high: if she fails, another mother is sure to make the ultimate sacrifice.

    When Lassie and Murdock's game of "What Won't Murdock eat?" goes wrong, a trip to the emergency vet is in order. And when a crazed snake owner takes the vet hostage, it is up to Henry, Lassie, and Murdock to save the day. But they only have one hour. And the clock is ticking... *Disclaimer: THIS IS ONLY 40 PAGES LONG *Disclaimer about the disclaimer: 40 HILARIOUS PAGES :)

    It takes place during the Olympic Games in London, 2012.

    I'm Dead is New York Times bestselling author Michael A. Stackpole's first Digital-Original novel.Twenty years ago someone stole him away from Capital City. Having been released from captivity he returns to find everything changed. The great heroes of his day, men who could move planets or tear apart criminal syndicates, have all retired. A new breed of hero has sprung up to deal with a perplexingly new brand of villain. It's a world that makes no sense, and a world which, if he persists in playing the hero, will surely see him dead.In Hero Years... I'm Dead mixes action, dark humor, satire and strong characters into a thrilling page-turner. It's superheroes facing challenges both in costume and out, battling a cunning enemy bent on destroying all they have worked so hard to preserve.The Deluxe Edition of In Hero Years... I'm Dead includes a long essay about the story's genesis and the author's process in writing it. It's full of insights about the labors of producing a novel and is a rare chance to look behind the scenes at how a book comes together.

    And it was of himself. As an orc. And of actor and writer Wil Wheaton. As a warrior. In a clown sweater. Astride a unicorn pegasus kitten. What did this singular vision mean? Scalzi didn’t know. But he knew it was clearly too powerful to be ignored.And so, Scalzi contacted artist Jeff Zugale, who used all his skill and art to bring this vision to life. And then Scalzi, Wheaton and Bill Schafer, head of Scalzi and Wheaton’s mutual publisher Subterranean Press, called to the world of writers to answer one question: Seriously, now, what the hell’s going on in that picture?The writers who answered the call were an eclectic group. Patrick Rothfuss, author of the smash-hit fantasy novel The Name of the Wind, and Catherynne Valente, who had leapt to the front ranks of modern fantasy writers with the Hugo-nominated novel Palimpsest, were the first on board. Hugo and Nebula nominee Rachel Swirsky and video game industry legend Stephen Toulouse then offered up their own interpretations. Science fiction and fantasy balladeer John Anealio put the vision to music. New writers Bernadette Durbin and Scott Mattes competed against hundreds of fellow writers to tell their spin on the tale. And, finally, Wil Wheaton and John Scalzi were of course obliged to share their own take on the thing.But to what end? Surely a vision of this magnificence — and the stories it spawned — were meant to do something for the benefit of humanity. And so it was decided the stories of Wil, John and the Unicorn Pegasus Kitten would be bound together in a special electronic chapbook, and that this chapbook, entitled Clash of the Geeks, would be used to help those who suffered from lupus, the autoimmune disease which afflicts 1.5 million Americans and five million people worldwide (including Gretchen Schafer, Bill’s wife).And so it was.And so here it is: Clash of the Geeks, featuring eight stories (and one song) about the warrior Wheaton, the orc Scalzi, and the Unicorn Pegasus Kitten. From us. For you. And for the fight against lupus.

    Anson House, Greyminster, Staircase No. 3. How can Flavia de Luce resist such an urgent plea? After all, examining a dead body sounds like a perfectly splendid way to spend a Sunday. So Flavia hops upon her trusted bicycle, Gladys, whose rubber tires hiss happily along the rainy road, and arrives at her father’s mist-shrouded old school. There, a terrified boy leads her to the loo where, sitting in a bathtub, is what appears to be a statue. But, no: To Flavia’s surprise, the thing is in fact a naked dead man. Save his face, he seems to have been carved out of copper. Never one to shy away from the macabre, Flavia gets to work—only to find that when an investigation begins with a metallic cadaver, ever more curious twists are to be expected.

    With Christmas right around the corner, Sophie’s sister is organizing a Swan Lake flash mob for a tech mogul’s elaborate holiday marriage proposal. But when the prima ballerina turns up dead, Sophie and her sister become prime suspects in the murder, not to mention suspects in the theft of a massive diamond ring. Now Sophie has just twenty-four hours to find out who really killed the Swan Princess or risk losing her sister, her life...or maybe both.

    Thompson on the 1970 Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Kentucky, first appearing in an issue of Scanlan's Monthly in June of that year. Though not known at the time, the article marked the first appearance of gonzo journalism, the style that Thompson came to epitomize through the 1970s.The article's focus is less on the actual race itself—indeed, Thompson and Steadman could not actually see the race from their standpoint—and more on the celebration and depravity that surrounds the event, as well as other events in Louisville (Thompson's home town) in the surrounding days.

    Short Story Originally written for the The Daily Mail newspaper in 1995 and also published as one of two short stories in Sharpe's Christmas.'Sharpe's Ransom', is set in France, after the wars, when old enemies take Sharpe's woman and child hostage.