Showing results by author "A.C.E." in All Categories

Amber Gryce believes in magic the way anyone does: as a thing of the past, marked now only by the long reign of an ancient queen sworn to live until her stolen son is returned to her. Such stories are romantic but distant for Amber, surrounded by family and wealth. But like magic, wealth can disappear. Left destitute, Amber's family retreats to a forest holding far from their city home, where Amber's love of roses leads her into the heart of enchantment

Mercenaries are gamblers - they fight for pay but they die without honor. To sell yourself as a soldier in someone else's war makes no sense unless your side wins. No one becomes a mercenary except desperate men, natural killers, and someone like Earl Dumarest. Earl sold himself because he had a quest and he always needed money to continue his search for the way home, home to Earth, a world whose existence nobody believed.

Are you looking for non-religious kids' Christmas stories? If so, you will enjoy our collection: Kids' Christmas Book with Santa Claus and Non-Religious Stories: Xmas Holiday Story Books for Children. Note that these are public domain works that were originally written by the indicated authors. All of the stories have been modernized and re-written for the 21st century.

In this richly diverse volume, Joseph M. Beilein Jr., and Matthew C. Hulbert assemble a team of both rising and eminent scholars to examine guerrilla warfare in the South during the Civil War. Together, they discuss irregular combat as practiced by various communities in multiple contexts, including how it was used by Native Americans, the factors that motivated raiders in the border states, and the women who participated as messengers, informants, collaborators, and combatants.

Twelve-year-old Janie Rutland somewhat grudgingly befriends Reggie Rankin - the weird new kid at school - and finally has someone to investigate her curious sightings in the abandoned house next door. When they find there's an impossible world in danger of total destruction, they face a choice. Do they have what it takes to save it? An eccentric fellowship gathers as they embark on a perilous quest in a race against time and their own fears.

Ash isn't a gambling man, but a night at the casino might persuade him otherwise. And when his gorgeous best friend, Danny, makes a request to find out what sex with another man is like, Ash sees his luck changing for good. This fantastic short story is expertly narrated by Jon Curtis.

As a small-town librarian, Sarah has her hands full with projects that range from running an in-library day care to planning her best friend's wedding. Romance is a complication she doesn't need...until he walks in.

All Vera wants is to survive her wedding day and fade into the rhythms of a normal life. No easy task for a quarter-mage like her. But her worst fears come to pass when her faulty magic once again lets her down—only this time, she's branded a criminal.

Hannah and Ezekiel dig deeper into the corruption of the Noble Quarter, and the sick truth of Adrien’s master plan becomes clear. They need to call upon the diverse group of those loyal to the cause in order to stop the Chancellor’s reign of terror--before any more innocents die by his hand. Meanwhile, Karl and Parker enlist a powerful ally to help them battle against the Prophet’s lies, and Gregory prepares for something far more dangerous than battle--a formal ball at his parent’s house.

Wolf shifter and fashion designer Zane Bellamy has a secret: he's "face-blind," unable to recognize people easily no matter how often he's seen them. Victoria Hawthorne has a secret, too, but if she's learned anything from teaching first graders, it's that the best way to keep a secret is to not tell anybody. She and Zane have that in common . . . but absolutely nothing else. Haute couture collides with ordinary life when Vicki wins a dress design by Zane himself. 

The planet was without a star of its own. It was from another galaxy. It was uninhabited and it was sentient. In its own way it might have been the most powerful single intelligent entity in the universe. But it knew nothing about humanity. So when it picked up the survivors of a wrecked space-liner, it was confronted by mysteries. What were men? What were women? What was emotion? What, especially, was love?

When Tidus Antirrhinum dies alongside his entire family, he discovers the end is not so simple. Instead of moving on to the Gilded Halls, Tidus discovers he has the ability to reset time and change his fate. He has the chance to save his family. But things don't go as planned. When his brother still dies, Tidus realizes there is only one way for him to succeed. He must kill himself and try again. Honor your gifts. Tidus Antirrhinum has a gift not granted to most, the ability to get a second chance. Or a third. Or a fourth.

This is something 20-year-old Tianna Collins quickly learns after she reunites with Niobe Freeman, after being in hiding for 14 years. Niobe holds the secrets to a past she cannot remember, and offers her the keys to a brighter future. When Tianna finally lives the life she had always dreamt of, the Gods who turned her world upside down discover that she’s still alive. Tianna discovers the dreadful truth about her parent’s deaths, and a prophecy that will determine the very fate of the planet.

Abby Donovan’s decade-long dream of partnership at her prestigious Chicago law firm is just months from fruition. But it’s all about to change because of one misstep. One step onto a late-night train headed in the wrong direction. Headed into Chicago’s west side, where gangs and violence and drugs fill the streets. In this engaging debut, E.C. Diskin, a former Chicago attorney, takes us on a fast-paced thrill ride with a believable and flawed heroine. Listeners will relate to her, fear for her, and get a glimpse inside Chicago’s best and worst.

Recently widowed after nearly fifty years of marriage, Gary Muldoon had given up on adventure. Then shaman Joanne Walker climbed into the back seat of his cab, and since then, Gary has trifled with gods, met mystics, slain zombies and ridden with the Wild Hunt.

The name "Geronimo" came to Corine Sombrun insistently in a trance during her apprenticeship to a Mongolian shaman. That message and the need to understand its meaning brought her to the home of the legendary Apache leader's great-grandson, Harlyn Geronimo, himself a medicine man on the Mescalero Apache reservation in New Mexico.

So when Dr. Lisette Chen discovers her staff have uploaded their consciousnesses into the massive MMO, Viridian Gate Online, she reluctantly takes a chance and logs in. Her goal? Discover why her colleagues abandoned her when she needed them the most. In a blink, she finds herself in a fantastical world where her healing skills—both as a doctor and a Priestess of Gaia—are sorely needed. 

Ancient rivals, worst of friends, best of enemies: dragonlord Janx and master vampire Eliseo Daisani are the threads upon which a tapestry of lives and loves are woven across the centuries. From the coldest Russian nights to the heat of Chicago's greatest fire, nothing brings the immortal adversaries together - or tears them apart - like a woman. And there is always a woman....

After the Etlu Games, Tianna chooses to live a normal life. She falls in love, and everything is perfect until her world is turned upside down and she's forced into returning to the life she was destined. She learns that the specially assigned task force can't locate the Project M soldiers, and there is an enemy with unfathomable abilities who is preventing any progress. Tianna accepts the mission, but how do you stop an unidentified enemy, who can shape-shift into anyone they kill and can change into any liquid or gas?

In this debut collection from C. S. E. Cooney, a swan princess hunted for her bones, a broken musician and his silver pipe, and a rat named Maurice bring justice to a town under fell enchantment. A gang of courageous kids confront both a plague-destroyed world and an afterlife infested with clowns but robbed of laughter. In an island city, the murder of a child unites two lovers, but vengeance will part them. Only human sacrifice will save a city trapped in ice and darkness.