Zoo City


Lauren Beukes - 2010
    But when a little old lady turns up dead and the cops confiscate her last paycheck, she’s forced to take on her least favourite kind of job – missing persons.Being hired by reclusive music producer Odi Huron to find a teenybop pop star should be her ticket out of Zoo City, the festering slum where the criminal underclass and their animal companions live in the shadow of hell’s undertow.Instead, it catapults Zinzi deeper into the maw of a city twisted by crime and magic, where she’ll be forced to confront the dark secrets of former lives – including her own.

Ticker


Lisa Mantchev - 2014
    But soon it’s discovered that Warwick killed dozens of people as he strove to perfect another improved Ticker for Penny, and he’s put on trial for mass murder. On the last day of Warwick’s trial, the Farthings’ factory is bombed, Penny’s parents disappear, and Penny and her brother, Nic, receive a ransom note demanding all of their Augmentation research if they want to see their parents again. Is someone trying to destroy the Farthings...or is the motive more sinister?Desperate to reunite their family and rescue their research, Penny and her brother recruit fiery baker Violet Nesselrode, gentleman-about-town Sebastian Stirling, and Marcus Kingsley, a young army general who has his own reasons for wanting to lift the veil between this world and the next. Wagers are placed, friends are lost, romance stages an ambush, and time is running out for the girl with the clockwork heart.

Powder Monkey (Fox Book 1)


Adam Hardy - 2016
    If anyone did manage to escape his imagined attack long enough to attempt to swim ashore, Fox would push him under. His attitude was understandable, for he was still angered and aching from a whipping. He was only eleven years old and a powder monkey, one of the lowest forms of life afloat. Such was the beginning of Fox's career in the Royal Navy.In a short time, however, he would rise through the ranks. He would survive the brutality of bigger men and demanding officers. He would acquit himself bravely amidst the crashing chaos of cannonfire and hand-to-hand combat. He would battle the French, the Spanish, the Americans ... any enemy who dared to risk his wake.He would become the toughest bastard who ever walked the rolling deck of a fighting ship!Adam Hardy was a pen name used by Kenneth Bulmer (1921-2005). A prolific writer, Bulmer wrote over 160 novels and innumerable short stories, both under his real name and various pen names. He is best known for science fiction, including his long-running Dray Prescot series of planetary romances, but he wrote in many genres.

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom


Cory Doctorow - 2003
    He's lived long enough to see the cure for death and the end of scarcity, to learn ten languages and compose three symphonies...and to realize his boyhood dream of taking up residence in Disney World.Disney World! The greatest artistic achievement of the long-ago twentieth century. Now in the keeping of a network of "ad-hocs" who keep the classic attractions running as they always have, enhanced with only the smallest high-tech touches.Now, though, the "ad hocs" are under attack. A new group has taken over the Hall of the Presidents, and is replacing its venerable audioanimatronics with new, immersive direct-to-brain interfaces that give guests the illusion of being Washington, Lincoln, and all the others. For Jules, this is an attack on the artistic purity of Disney World itself. Worse: it appears this new group has had Jules killed. This upsets him. (It's only his fourth death and revival, after all.) Now it's war....

Son of Anger: A fast-paced Viking Saga filled with action and adventure


Donovan Cook - 2020
    This tale of vengeance is nothing short of exciting." Reedsy ReviewUlf is like a storm, slowly building up its power, he grows more dangerous with each passing moment. And like all storms, he will eventually break. When he does, he will destroy everything in his path.Ulf is one of a long line of famous Norse warriors. His ancestor Tyr was no ordinary man, but the Norse God of War. Ulf, however, knows nothing about being a warrior.Everything changes when a stranger arrives on Ulf’s small farm in Vikenfjord. The only family he’s ever known are slaughtered and the one reminder of his father is stolen -- Ulf’s father’s sword, Ormstunga. Ulf’s destiny is decided.Are the gods punishing him? All Ulf knows is that he has to avenge his family. He sets off on an adventure that will take him across oceans, into the eye of danger, on a quest to reclaim his family’s honour.The gods are roused. One warrior can answer to them. The Son of Anger.

Mail Order Bride And Her Children's Hope (A Western Historical Romance Book)


Florence Linnington - 2019
     Emily decides to leave everything behind and start over in the west as a mail order bride. Her new husband, Levi, has children too, which makes Emily think that he will understand her and that things will go smoothly. But she couldn’t have been more wrong. Levi has been doing everything alone for several years since his wife died. He never wanted to marry again but he knows his children need a mother and he has been struggling with the burden of being a single parent. When Emily and Levi finally met, they realize they cannot see eye to eye on anything when it comes to the children, and it almost seems that everything and everyone is working to keep them apart. The newly merged family has become a disaster in waiting… especially in the harsher conditions of the west. How will Emily and Levi learn to work together and save both of their families? Or will they give up and leave their families more broken than they were in the beginning?

Aztec


Gary Jennings - 1980
    Told in the words of one of the most robust and memorable characters in modern fiction, Mixtli-Dark Cloud, Aztec reveals the very depths of Aztec civilization from the peak and feather-banner splendor of the Aztec Capital of Tenochtitlan to the arrival of Hernán Cortes and his conquistadores, and their destruction of the Aztec empire. The story of Mixtli is the story of the Aztecs themselves---a compelling, epic tale of heroic dignity and a colossal civilization's rise and fall.

Surrender the Heart


MaryLu Tyndall - 2010
    Without the money, her mother can't receive medical care and her sister will be destitute. But Noah Brenin needs to sail his cargo to England before the war commences in order to prove his worth to his father and make enough money so he won't have to marry at all.Defying his father's wishes, Noah loathes the idea of marrying a woman he finds plain and pompous. Marianne wants nothing to do with the rogue who taunted her as a child, yet she must convince him otherwise or her mother will die. But when Noah walks out on their engagement party, Marianne chases him down and ends up on his merchantman out at sea. The situation worsens when Noah's ship encounters a British man-of-war and the couple are impressed into the British navy. While a young lad's prophecy of destiny looms over them both, Marianne and Noah are forced to face their darkest fears as they desperately try to find a way to escape and fulfill their destinies-destinies that could change the course of the war and history forever.

Fires of Alexandria


Thomas K. Carpenter - 2011
    One hundred years later, Heron of Alexandria--the city's most renowned inventor and creator of Temple miracles--receives coin from a mysterious patron to investigate the crime. Desperate to be free of the debts incurred by her twin brother, she accepts and sets in motion a chain of events that will shake the Roman Empire and change the course of history forever.

The Lions of Al-Rassan


Guy Gavriel Kay - 1995
    The Asharite empire has splintered into decadent city-states led by warring petty kings. King Almalik of Cartada is on the ascendancy, aided always by his friend and advisor, the notorious Ammar ibn Khairan — poet, diplomat, soldier — until a summer afternoon of savage brutality changes their relationship forever.Meanwhile, in the north, the conquered Jaddites' most celebrated — and feared — military leader, Rodrigo Belmonte, driven into exile, leads his mercenary company south.In the dangerous lands of Al-Rassan, these two men from different worlds meet and serve — for a time — the same master. Sharing their interwoven fate — and increasingly torn by her feelings — is Jehane, the accomplished court physician, whose own skills play an increasing role as Al-Rassan is swept to the brink of holy war, and beyond.Hauntingly evocative of medieval Spain, The Lions of Al-Rassan is both a brilliant adventure and a deeply compelling story of love, divided loyalties, and what happens to men and women when hardening beliefs begin to remake — or destroy — a world.

Damnation Alley


Roger Zelazny - 1968
    He's also expendable - at least in the eyes of the Secretary of Traffic for the Nation of California. Tanner doesn't care much for those eyes. You'd also never mistake Hell Tanner for a humanitarian. Facing life in prison for his various crimes, he's given a choice; rot away his remaining years in a tiny jail cell, or drive cross-country and deliver a case of antiserum to the plague-ridden people of Boston, Massachusetts...if anyone is still alive there to receive it, that is. The chance of a full pardon does wonders for getting his attention. And don't mistake this mission of mercy for any kind of normal road trip - not when there are radioactive storms, hordes of carniverous beasts, and giant, mutated scorpions to be found along every deadly mile between Los Angeles and the East Coast. But then, this is no normal part of America, you see. This is DAMNATION ALLEY...

Fall to Earth


Ken Britz - 2017
    A super-soldier experiment. Will cutting-edge technology change the world or destroy it?Indiana Beckham’s lifelong goal has just been cut down. Banned from competing in Olympic fencing, she jumps at the chance to join a research project that could make her the best. But to unlock the promise of her unlimited potential, Indiana must endure a risky, life-altering transformation…Lieutenant Arthur MacGabran has a mission: advance humanity in a single generation. Eager to prove his neuro-technology, he ignores the dangers and recruits his first live test subject. But when Indiana’s enchanted abilities turn deadly, he’ll have to keep a shocking secret to fuel his twisted dream…As Indiana harnesses her super-skills, the project and its subjects teeter on the edge of termination.Will the fencer’s attempt to better herself end up destroying her instead?Fall to Earth is the first book in the action-packed Pillars of Fire and Light military sci-fi series. If you like high-stakes technology, intriguing characters, and super-human soldiers, then you’ll love Ken Britz’s thrilling novel.

Last Man To Die


Michael Dobbs - 1991
    Now reissued in a new cover style. Spring 1945. The final weeks of the war. One man holds the secret that will decide the fate of post-war Europe: Peter Hencke, an unlikely hero, a German prisoner-of-war on the run.Refusing to wait for peace and the freedom it will finally bring, Hencke is fired by a personal mission that drives him to risk everything in his lonely, treacherous journey across wartime Britain, back through the battle-torn remnants of the Third Reich – to the very heart of encircled Berlin.One man faced by the mightiest armies ever assembled, pursued by the most powerful and ruthless men in Europe – and helped and loved by two of the most extraordinary women. The secret of Peter Hencke will be hidden until the very last moments of the war.

The Doomsday Vault


Steven Harper - 2011
    At 21, her age and her unladylike interest in automatons have sealed her fate as an undesirable marriage prospect. But a devastating plague sends Alice off in a direction beyond the pale—towards a clandestine organization, mad inventors, life-altering secrets, and into the arms of an intrepid fiddle-playing airship pilot.

The Ocean's Daughter


Corinne Beenfield - 2020
    Helen Danner is sure she will drown in it. The Nazis have taken everything from her. Laughter, light, love—they’d been so much a part of her life. Now in a home once filled with family, only her own lonely footsteps echo. Rejected from becoming a host parent during the mass child evacuation, her heart shatters once again. Thousands of children are fleeing to Wales by boat, seeking safety, comfort…and love. All she wants is one. But she’ll need to convince Stuart Adams, the handsome officer who rejected her application. When a mysterious child comes into her life, peculiar things happen that neither she nor Officer Adams can explain. As they learn more about the girl—and the strange tie she has to a world that wants her back—Helen forms a dangerous attachment to her. Can Helen risk loving the girl, knowing that losing her might destroy her completely?