In the meantime, they’re each working to clean up the strange town of Moonhaven with its Alice in Wonderland themes and its oddball inhabitants, trying to solve a few murders and find out what happened to Haley’s missing family. If only Haley’s grandmother—the one who brought her back from the dead—wouldn’t always seem to be the guilty party. Just what is she planning, anyway? A Mad Hatter's game of Musical Chairs?

    She can't grow wings because is she under a death promise to a local king. So she takes service at his castle as the Least Jester, hoping to earn her wings and learns a great deal about cupcakes, tea daemons, and Earth dragons along the way. This a short comedic fairy tail, coming in at just under 5000 words (or about 10 pages). In it Gail gets up to her usual silly tricks, tea saturated prose, and food driven biting wit.First published in Sword and Sorceress 22, 2007

    As he approaches to help, he discovers that the lady is a Temple divine, servant to the five gods of this world. Her avowed god is The Bastard, "master of all disasters out of season", and with her dying breath she bequeaths her mysterious powers to Penric. From that moment on, Penric's life is irreversibly changed, and his life is in danger from those who envy or fear him.Set in the fantasy world of the author's acclaimed novels THE CURSE OF CHALION, PALADIN OF SOULS and THE HALLOWED HUNT, this novella has the depth of characterization and emotional complexity that distinguishes all Bujold's work.

    Memory-blind himself, he can’t feel those wounds. Clara can, and she prefers them irretrievable. Until her sister, Beatrice, ultrasensitive to memory, raises one that could change Clara’s mind. For Gui, the past is gone. For Clara and Beatrice, deciding what to remember reaches to the heart of their shared history.

    In the past, only one female has fit the profile. Until now ... Fifteen-year-old Amáne finds herself witness to the hatching of a dragon egg. The painful linking rite creates a bond between the two that cannot be broken. She and her dragon, Eshshah, become the only dragon and rider in a kingdom that once abounded with the beautiful creatures and their riders. Amáne and Eshshah are thrown into a conflict that they do not yet understand. One thing is for certain — the fate of the kingdom rests upon their shoulders...

    More frequent and powerful than ordinary storms, young Elowyn, a weaver’s daughter living in the outskirts of the city, senses something disturbing and unnatural about them. She soon realizes that the storms are but a warning sign of much more frightening things yet to come. Terrifying wolf-like creatures emerge from the depths of the wilderness at the bidding of a dark master. His name found only among the crumbling pages of ancient texts, the re-appearance of Alazoth and his Hounds is a dark omen for the people of Tyroc and beyond. Only legends remain of the heroes and prophets whose blood was shed ages ago to banish him into the abyss, which should have remained his prison for all time. How he has been released is a mystery, but all the old stories agree that death and destruction are sure to follow. With the Hounds inching closer each day, the city of Tyroc caught up in religious and political turmoil, and her home life no less turbulent, Elowyn has nothing left to rely on but her meager courage and a budding faith in Aviad, the Creator. She and her sister, Morganne, set out on a remarkable journey that challenges everything they have ever known about themselves, the world, and the path that Aviad has laid out for them.

    If she knew who he was, she might act differently. But to her, Sid is just a reminder of a past she’d rather forget.Sid won’t leave Aspen alone, because she’s the one girl that might be able to help save him and the rest of the dragons.He hadn’t planned on falling love…

    And yet, given the level of secret knowledge she now posses, she is reduced to waiting to reveal her new academic discovery until royal decrees can be lifted and a fraught political situation avoided. In her idle frustration, Isabella vents her spleen upon the shoddy research published by lesser men with swollen heads in local journals. Enjoy the following collection of letters, found in a trunk of mislaid scholarly documents left behind when she removed to Linshire for the season.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

    Born into a necromancer family, he and his twin brother Lex exhibited uncommon magical potential at an early age that led their father to expect great things—from them both. That is until Lex’s blood gift fails to manifest. Or so everyone believes. For the past five years, Ian has been keeping a secret. A secret that—if it got out—would see his brother shunned, or worse. Lex does have a blood gift, but not every gift is a blessing, and not every recipient can manage the talent in his blood. As Lex’s sanity begins to slip, Ian knows the responsibility to raise his family’s fortunes is on his shoulders, and his alone. When he is offered an apprenticeship with one of the most influential men in the necromancer community, Lex convinces Ian that the connection would offer their family even more if Ian were to marry his elderly mentor’s “spinster” niece. Ian’s plan takes an unexpected turn when he discovers that Isabelle is not a spinster. She’s a young, beautiful, intelligent woman who, unfortunately, wants nothing to do with him. Now Ian must find a way to win her over before Lex attempts to elevate their family, his way. BONUS – Included in this ebook is the short story, Lords of the Dead (Total word count for both the novella and the short story is over 52,000 words.)

    In this fascinating look at a modern-day world where dragons truly exist, the Newbery Medal-winning author of The Hero and the Crown takes readers into a controversial nature preserve, which about 200 of the worlds few remaining dragons call home.

    A murder most malicious. A dragon condemned to death. Desperate to escape a forced marriage, seventeen-year-old Princess Alba disguises herself to join the all-male Dragon Mage Academy. Her plans go wrong when a dragon accused of murder forms a telepathic link: the deepest possible bond between dragon and rider. And it can only mean one thing: If the dragon is executed, Alba will die. With her fate intertwined with that of the condemned dragon, Alba must prove its innocence to save both their lives. But can she achieve this before the Academy’s rigorous regime breaks Alba’s spirit? If you like Eragon and Dragon Riders of Pern, you will love this page-turning fantasy adventure!

    All too often these go unreported—perhaps because the adventurers in question fail to return to the main narrative due to death or other distractions, and sometimes because the chronicler of the events decide to edit out that part of that particular history for reasons of their own (historians are never infallible)—but occasionally we get another window into our heroes' world. In Juice Like Wounds we once again get to meet Lundy, and some of her companions. Lundy's main adventure is detailed in In an Absent Dream (which is nominated for a Hugo Award, this year!) and you should definitely read that. Before or after this tale is up to you. Remember: side quests are fun. For the reader, at least...

    But a tiny spark starts a fury of changes and she finds herself running from everything she's ever known. Hunted by council for practicing dark magic, she is certain she's been wrongfully accused. She flees, and is forced to rely on strangers for protection. But the farther she strays from home, the more her magic and forgotten memories return and she begins to suspect all is not as it seems.

    Nesbit, Diana Wynne Jones, Gahan Wilson, and other literary luminaries. Sales of Unnatural Creatures benefit 826DC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students in their creative and expository writing, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.

    Then a vision from the Eldunarí, unexpected visitors and an exciting Urgal legend offer a much-needed distraction and a new perspective.This volume features three original stories set in Alagaësia, interspersed with scenes from Eragon's own unfolding adventure. Included is an excerpt from the memoir of the unforgettable witch and fortune-teller Angela the herbalist, penned by Angela Paolini, the inspiration for the character, herself!Relish the incomparable imagination of Christopher Paolini in this thrilling new collection of stories based in the world of the Inheritance Cycle.