Martin was born September 20, 1948 in Bayonne, New Jersey. He began writing very young, selling monster stories to other neighborhood children for pennies, dramatic readings included. Later he became a comic book fan and collector in high school, and began to write fiction for comic fanzines (amateur fan magazines). Martin's first professional sale was made in 1970 at age 21: "The Hero," sold to Galaxy, published in February, 1971 issue. Other sales followed. Moving on to Hollywood, Martin signed on as a story editor for Twilight Zone at CBS Television in 1986. In 1987 Martin became an Executive Story Consultant for Beauty and the Beast at CBS. In 1988 he became a Producer for Beauty and the Beast, then in 1989 moved up to Co-Supervising Producer. He was Executive Producer for Doorways, a pilot which he wrote for Columbia Pictures Television, which was filmed during 1992-93. Martin's present home is Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is a member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (he was South-Central Regional Director 1977-1979, and Vice President 1996-1998), and of Writers' Guild of America, West. Volume 1 of "George R. R. Martin: Short Stories" contains the Hugo, Locus Poll and Nebula Award? Winning "Sandkings," and more excellent short science fiction and fantasy.

     A Texas Ranger, relegated to deskwork due to past recklessness, petitions to regain custody of his five-year-old daughter, and his case is assigned to a family court judge who is as attractive as she is ambitious. When a masked gunman barges in during the custody hearing with his sights on the judge, the Ranger reacts instinctually and goes after him. But authorities apprehend the wrong man, and the real gunman remains unknown, at large, and a threat. Will this take-charge lawman jeopardize his chances of custody by going after the would-be assassin? And will this unlikely pair be able to deny the forbidden attraction building between them?

    THE FIRST KILLER HARRY PUT BEHIND BARS IS OUT TO GET HIM. Harry is responsible for the many years Finne spent in prison but now he’s free and ready to pick up where he left off. A MAN LIKE HARRY BETTER WATCH HIS BACK. When Harry wakes up with blood on his hands, and no memory of what he did the night before, he knows everything is only going to get worse . . . *JO NESBO HAS SOLD OVER 40 MILLION BOOKS WORLDWIDE* The phenomenal twelfth instalment in Jo Nesbo’s internationally bestselling crime fiction series.

    After nine long years of trying to grow their family into the perfect dream come true, fated mates, Ryan and Layna, are ready to give up. Not on each other but on their dreams. When they're given the chance to help an abandoned baby temporarily, they're faced with a pain harsher than what they've already been through. The pain of hope. But this little one isn't what any of them expected, and when the fiery truth comes out, hearts are bound to melt.A visit from a shadow of Christmas past, a lost child, and the reunion P. Jameson fans have been asking for, all wrapped up with a shiny bow as we revisit the Ouachitas in Merrily Ever After.

    As the novel opens, Jack's twin brother, a Denver homicide detective, has just killed himself. Or so it seems. But when Jack begins to investigate the phenomenon of police suicides, a disturbing pattern emerges, and soon suspects that a serial murderer is at work - a devious cop killer who's left a coast-to-coast trail of "suicide notes" drawn from the poems of Edgar Allan Poe. It's the story of a lifetime - except that "the Poet" already seems to know that Jack is trailing him. . . Here is definitive proof that Michael Connelly is among the best suspense novelists working today. Blood Work: Thanks to a heart transplant, former FBI agent Terrell McCaleb is enjoying a quiet retirement, renovating the fishing boat he lives on in Los Angeles Harbor. But McCaleb's calm seas turn choppy when a story in the "What Happened To?" column of the LA Times brings him face-to-face with the sister of the woman whose heart now beats in his chest. From her, McCaleb learns a terrible truth: that the donor of his heart was not killed in an accident, as he'd been told, but was murdered. Wracked with guilt over the fact that he's alive because another human being was killed, McCaleb embarks on a private investigation of his donor's murder - a crime as horrific as anything he ever encountered as a serial killer investigator for the FBI.

    So when he finds out that someone very important to him is working on a US container ship in the treacherous seas off the East African coast, he fears the worst.Within days the ship is hijacked by pirates. Taking matters into his own hands, Ben embarks upon the most daring rescue mission of his career … because this is no ordinary hostage situation.There is something on board the ship that’s more precious than life itself – and a bloodthirsty tyrant will kill to possess it.As events spiral out of control, Ben Hope’s skill and resourcefulness will be tested like never before. Ben would die to protect those close to him, but in a hostile environment, against ruthless warriors, even the ultimate sacrifice might not be enough…THE DEVIL’S KINGDOMHeld hostage by a despicable tyrant in the heart of Africa, it’s not looking good for Ben Hope.General Khosa’s lust for blood is matched only by his lust for power – and he wants to use Ben’s superior military skills to turn his rabble of inexperienced boys into an army of lethal soldiers.If Ben refuses, Khosa will kill the person he loves most. If he cooperates, he’ll bring more death and devastation to the world’s most violent, war-torn nation.Either way, Ben will have blood on his hands – unless he can defeat Khosa. It seems an impossible task. But for Ben Hope, anything is possible…

    Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Change of Heart, Nineteen Minutes, Plain Truth, Salem Falls, My Sister's Keeper, Second Glance, Perfect Match, the Pact, Keeping Faith, Songs of the Humpback Whale, Harvesting the Heart, the Tenth Circle, Picture Perfect, Vanishing Acts. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: Change of Heart is a novel by Jodi Picoult published in 2008. Shay Bourne is the first New Hampshire death row prisoner in 69 years. He wants to donate his heart after his execution to the half sister/daughter of his victims who is in need of a heart transplant. Shay Bourne killed June Nealon's daughter and husband. Soon after June had another child named Claire. Claire needed a heart and Shay was put on deathrow and wanted to give his heart to Claire. The jury convicts Shay of two counts of capital murder. The jury then deliberates on the death penalty. After much time, they all agree, with Michael Wright being the last juror to agree on the death penalty. Shay Bourne is transferred to the I-tier at the Concord state prison. Shay is in the cell next to Lucius DuFresne, an artist with HIV who killed his gay lover. During the night Shay tells Lucius the he wants to donate his heart to a little girl that he saw on TV. Michael the juror has become the junior priest at a parish in Concord, New Hampshire. June has long since given birth to her daughter Claire, who is in the hospital awaiting a heart transplant. Although she has had a defibrillator transplanted in her heart prior, it is wearing her out and without a new heart, she is sure to die. Back in the I-tier there is a strange incident with wine flowing through the toilet pipes. Shay's final appeal is denied and his execution date is set, two and a half months away. He fights with Maggie, his lawye...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=1662218

    

    Whether in business or his personal life. Not many people tell him, “No.” Until Kourtney Deen, a striking beauty, refused to sell her business to him so that he could put up a luxury spa and golf course. Business is business that’s what Zac has always believed. He refuses to get caught in the marriage trap like his cousins. However, the day he meets the feisty shop owner face to face, he can’t resist the attraction he has for her. Kourtney refuses to allow herself to get distracted. No matter how tall, grey-eyed and handsome he maybe. That road has already been traveled. Years ago, she made some mistakes and had to make some tough choices. Now, the only two things she cares about are her daughter and the success of her shop. In Zac’s structured life, things have always gone how he planned it, but one unexpected event leads to another. When he discovers that nothing is what it seems and there are secrets, yet revealed, he learns quickly that it is not his wallet he has to lean on, but his heart.

    He meets Marlena, the beautiful young star of the equestrian act, married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. He also meets Rosie, an elephant who seems untrainable until he discovers a way to reach her...2 - AT THE WATER'S EDGEA gripping and poignant love story set in a remote village in the Scottish Highlands at the end of the Second World War.'The only fault I can find with this book is that I've already finished it' Jodi Picoult'Truly enthralling' Scotsman'Breathtaking' Harper's Bazaar1945. After disgracing themselves at a high society party, spoilt young Philadelphia socialites Maddie and Ellis Hyde are cut off from the family without a penny. Ellis decides their salvation will be to hunt down the Loch Ness Monster, a venture his father very publicly failed at. So, oblivious to WW2 raging around them, they make their way to the Scottish Highlands, where Maddie has to face reality and decide just who the real monsters are.3 - APE HOUSE The New York Times bestseller.'If you love animals like I do, it's a must read' Ellen DeGeneres'Had me instantly enraptured' Dallas Morning News'Wildly entertaining' Booklist (starred review)These bonobos are no ordinary apes. Like others of their species, they are capable of reason and carrying on deep relationships - but, unlike most bonobos, they also know American Sign Language.Isabel Duncan, a scientist at the Great Ape Language Lab, doesn't understand people, but animals she gets, especially the bonobos. Isabel feels more comfortable in their world than she's ever felt among humans . . . until she meets John Thigpen, a very married reporter who braves the ever-present animal rights protesters outside the lab to see what's really going on inside.When an explosion tears apart the lab, severly injuring Isabel and 'liberating' the apes to an unknown destination, John's human interest piece turns into the story of a lifetime.

    Ranging from the 19th to the 20th centuries, writers include James Augustine Aloysius Joyce, Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, Richard Edward Connell, Henri Nathaniel Hawthorne, Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Jack London, Henri Ringgold Wilmer Lardner, Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant and Edgar Allan Poe.

    They've been having some serious problems with the white stuff—not snow, but cocaine—and their highly-paid, isolated, somewhat stir-crazy employees have been overdosing at an alarming rate. Kate's job is to identify the dealer and staunch the flow before more people die. It's never that simple, of course.In Play with Fire, Kate and friends stumble across a naked, decaying corpse in the woods. Judged death by misadventure by the Troopers, Kate's sense of justice demands that she launch her own investigation, leading her to ask some very uncomfortable questions of a frontier faith community. Questions that might drive someone to kill…again.In Blood Will Tell, Kate is forced to involve herself in Native politics, attending the annual Federation convention in Anchorage and investigating the deaths of several board members. Opposition to a new development project seems to have been the link tying the victims together, but when Kate poses the question that all detective work begins with—cui bono?—she finds there are more suspects on the list than not.Also included: the two Kate Shugak short stories, "Wreck Rights" and "Cherchez la Femme."

    

    Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.The Eye of the World — When The Two Rivers is attacked by Trollocs—a savage tribe of half-men, half-beasts— five villagers flee that night into a world they barely imagined, with new dangers waiting in the shadows and in the light.The Great Hunt — Long thought only legend, the Horn of Valere is found, a mystical item able to raise the dead heroes of the ages. But then, everything changes when it gets stolen.The Dragon Reborn — Winter has stopped the war—almost—yet men are dying, calling out for the Dragon. But where is he? In the Heart of the Stone lies the next great test of the Dragon reborn.The Shadow Rising — The seals of Shayol Ghul are weak now, and the Dark One reaches out. The Shadow is rising to cover humankind. Against the Shadow rising stands the Dragon Reborn.The Wheel of Time®New Spring: The Novel#1 The Eye of the World#2 The Great Hunt#3 The Dragon Reborn#4 The Shadow Rising#5 The Fires of Heaven#6 Lord of Chaos#7 A Crown of Swords#8 The Path of Daggers#9 Winter's Heart#10 Crossroads of Twilight#11 Knife of DreamsBy Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson#12 The Gathering Storm#13 Towers of Midnight#14 A Memory of Light By Robert Jordan and Teresa Patterson The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time By Robert Jordan, Harriet McDougal, Alan Romanczuk, and Maria Simons The Wheel of Time Companion By Robert Jordan and Amy Romanczuk Patterns of the Wheel: Coloring Art Based on Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

    But when her own five-year-old son, Nathaniel, is traumatized by a sexual assault, Nina and her husband, Caleb, a quiet and methodical stone mason, are shattered, ripped apart by an enraging sense of helplessness in the face of a futile justice system that Nina knows all too well. In a heartbeat, Nina's absolute truths and convictions are turned upside down, and she hurtles toward a plan to exact her own justice for her son—no matter the consequence, whatever the sacrifice. Second GlanceSecond Glance, an eerie and engrossing work, delves into a virtually unknown chapter of American history—Vermont's eugenics project of the 1920s and 30s—to provide a compelling study of the things that come back to haunt us—literally and figuratively. Do we love across time, or in spite of it? My Sister's KeeperMy Sister's Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life, even if that means infringing upon the rights of another? Is it worth trying to discover who you really are, if that quest makes you like yourself less? Should you follow your own heart, or let others lead you? Once again, Jodi Picoult tackles a controversial real-life subject with grace, wisdom, and sensitivity.