Books Tagged With author - american

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Summary: Two thousand years ago, a machine was forged by brilliant minds whose wisdom was outstripped by their thirst for power. Rather than being a mere mechanical calendar, the Antikythera Mechanism in reality harnessed a formidable and frightening power — one that could make or break the world. Men rose up and fought the Mechanism's owners, stopping them from using its psychic force for destruction. They destroyed the device, burying it — and themselves — in the depths of the Aegean sea. But the knowledge to rebuild it remained, and attracted power-hungry individuals who would stop at nothing to control it. When two archaeologists studying the Mechanism are killed, an unlikely team of heroes come to the horrifying realization that it's all starting again — an elderly minister, a student with prophetic dreams, an unassuming secretary and her best friend, a young and idealistic news reporter, and a skeptical university professor are drawn into a web of intrigue and danger. If the Mechanism is rebuilt, it will unleash an unimaginable cataclysm. Only they have the ability to stop it.

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Summary: Drawn by promises of excitement and freedom, how could Callum resist Berlin? It's the end of 1932 and the Weimar capital is the heartbeat of the gay world, where a man like him can find companionship and love, even in the shadow of looming political disaster. Still, Callum feels unseen, until he discovers a place where the dead mix with the living, an organization devoted to studying the supernatural, and a man in each world that could capture his heart... or seal his fate. Haunted Hearts – Everyone deserves a happy ever afterlife! Haunted Hearts is an Own-Voices Paranormal Romance Series about love and the things that go boo in the night. Join us on our romantic journeys over ten books from some of your favorite authors! Be sure to read the entire series so you don’t miss a moment of falling in love, or sometimes falling into a happily ever after-life! Each book is a standalone but why not read them all? Everyone deserves the HEA!

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Summary: Coasters, carousels, an old cemetery, and a sprawling hotel on a stormy lakeside. Visit this haunted tour of scrapbook memories where legendary summers intersect with history and rumor. Told in vignettes that weave stories, newspaper clippings, postcards, and images, Ghastly Tales follows four families through the decades at a lakeside resort and amusement park where everyone eventually returns.

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Summary: This horror collection graphic novel contains the following stories: “And They Lived Long Enough to Bury Their Dead” is a dark fantasy comic zine about a group of Gen X goth/punk folks growing older and processing the deaths of loved ones. A paranormal urban fantasy, it centers around Billie, a nonbinary African-American alternative rocker from Oakland who develops the psychic ability to see and communicate with ghosts. Their nesting partner, Davis, a formerly homeless African-American transgender man, their twin brother Sean, a ghostcat, and the ghost of their mother are other central characters. In the story Billie, Davis, and their Gen X circle of friends are coming to terms with aging, the declining health (and loss) of their parents, and adjusting to a new post-pandemic world. It is an urban fantasy taking place in Oakland and the San Francisco Bay Area “Agrippa” is a dystopic near-future tale that takes place in an unnamed industrialized nation very much like the United States. When foreign creditors demand that the nation repay its considerable international debt or face war it enacts the Dulcetta Reforms, ultra-restrictive laws establishing debtor’s prison, and causing a large number of people – many of them seniors – to go to jail or even face execution if not continuously working to pay off their personal debts to the government. Dr. Tine, an expert in geriatric medicine, is desperately searching for employment at the beginning of our tale, having lost her useful functioning in society as the elders she once treated were rounded up and hauled off to the prison camps. Things were so bad she didn't think they could possibly get any worse. How very wrong she was. Dreamworlds: Beyond Somnalia - the author is plagued by a series of increasing demands from their fictional characters who come to take over the writer's life.

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Summary: "This was a good time for silent reflection, to ask myself how—in all the rumored worlds—I’d arrived here." All she wanted was a secure home, but Maddie’s problems just got bigger. GIANTS’ GATE is a standalone MAGE ERA prequel to the WOODSPELL SERIES and one of the TALES OF ARDONNA. Content Advisory: Contains adult themes and situations and spoilers for River’s Roar

Word Count: Click here to reveal125889 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Alex Philothea, the newly appointed director of the Keepers of the Holy and Noble Maat, is fighting to save the agency her ancestors have led for over two millennia. Operating in deep cover, KHNM shields the mortal realm against the lethal chaos of the Immortals. As Alex battles the Gods over the agency’s existence, she is in a race against time to contain dangerous magical artifacts. If the Gods succeed in shuttering the agency and these ancient objects fall into unworthy hands, humanity will pay a deadly price. Deep in the Netherworld, adventurer Jorge Trinculo unearths a primordial book of magic. It exposes one of KHNM’s darkest secrets. For years, the agency has been erasing the memories of his encounters with the Immortals. As his old life floods back, he realizes all that he has lost. In Jorge’s pursuit of revenge, his future becomes entwined with that of a power-hungry magician. A magician who has waited patiently, for centuries, to possess the forbidden book and wield its lethal magic against the mortal realm.

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Summary: Miss Mona is the sweet old lady who lives on the fourth floor. Or, at least, that's what all her neighbors think. But the true soul underneath the cardigan is much, much darker than anyone would ever suspect. Mona is hiding some very disturbing secrets in her home. After all, everyone has their little obsessions, don’t they? Includes the bonus short story “Spark."

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Summary: A prophecy to a 16-year-old blacksmith’s son sends Trygare kan Ingan from his home in the Cymenean glyns, armed only with his father’s sword. Being GodChosen isn’t easy. The woman he wants doesn’t want him ; the man who should be his best friend thinks him laughable, and everyone ridicules his youth, to say nothing of his glyndweller accent. Slaying a dragon and defending the country from invaders changes their minds, and things are going nicely, but then the gods interfere… Tragedy strikes, sending Trygare to a foreign land where his true destiny lies… …to become the ancestor of a dynasty that will rule his planet for three thousand years.

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Summary: "...an apocalyptic survival story that moves with the speed of a raging river..." This is how the world ends. For one man, this is how it begins. Donald Kerston's life up to now could only be described as a nightmare. But what he wakes up to suddenly becomes much worse. Struggling for his very survival, for the first time he finds friends and a future - only to be confronted with the one thing he didn't ever want to face.  

Word Count: Click here to reveal102,000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Can you hear it? Whispering in the dark. Secrets only the dark knows. Joseph Moore, choir director for the First Baptist Church of Lenora, Nebraska, has secrets of his own. Terrible, lonely secrets. One that involves natural human desire. One that calls forth powers he cannot begin to understand. Both with the potential to destroy him and those he loves. Now the world is changing. The darkness, the shadows, the ghosts, are closing in—and Joseph and his lover, Kevin, are being stalked by a merciless demon, hell-bent on possession. Can you hear it now? There in the dark. It's whispering your name.

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Summary: Flynn Keahi has had a rough year. His nightmares are starting to manifest in reality, but no one believes him. Terrifying creatures are trying to cross out of dreams into the physical realm. Only Flynn can stop them – but doing so might cost him his life. Complicating matters further, one of these creatures cannot help wanting him — in every forbidden way. Will she be able to save him from his fate? Can she even protect him from herself? Book 1 in The Metamorphoses of Flynn Keahi What People Are Saying!   “A twisted descent into arousal, madness and mad arousal, Happiness and Other Diseases pulls no punches as it peels back the layers of the human experience to reveal our soft, creamy centers. Take that how you want, but if you are looking for a disturbing, sexually charged read with solid writing, Sumiko Saulson delivers.” -- Angela Yuriko Smith, Bram Stoker Awards® Nominated author of In Favor of Pain   "If you enjoy unsettling dark paranormal romances that place power dynamics in sexual relationships under the microscope, look no further. Sumiko Saulson gives us body horror, what feels like an insiders look at mental illness and the mental health system, dysfunctional families, semi-obscure mythological characters, and an excellent depiction of how many of us teeter on the fence between sex and death. Happiness and Other Diseases is a sexy, funny, disturbing, and unflinching tale of the insane lengths people will go to in search of love and acceptance." -- Michelle Renee Lane, Bram Stoker Award Nominated author of Invisible Chains   "In this entertaining novel, Saulson incorporates mythology into what might appear to be normal, everyday life. However, characters, Flynn and Charlotte, are far from normal. I enjoyed how Saulson keeps their relationship lively but honest – even sweet, but not in a saccharine way. Buy this book! For sheer enjoyment, it’s a keeper!" – Marge Simon, multiple Bram Stoker winner, HWA Lifetime Achievement Award winner   “It is a very unconventional book that offers a supernatural dimension to the mysterious, sometimes mind-bending world of psychological pathological conditions, psychosis, and disorders.” Justin Boyer, bibliophilesreverie.com

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Summary: We all start as strangers. Why does that make me so nervous? I can't imagine life without Mom, Dad, Bubbe or my friends in Salem. And that's what I'll be living at Hawthorn Academy, the campus between worlds. But Hawthorn Academy's the place to be if I want to join the family business as a veterinarian for magic critters. It's magi only at my new school, so I'm going without my besties. The only person I'll know there is my snarky big brother. At least I've already bonded with a familiar. But my dragonet means I'm destined for above-average power levels. The last thing I want to do is scare people off. You only get one chance at first impressions, after all. But will I make friends or enemies?

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Summary: If ultimate power corrupts, how does one learn to be incorruptible? I’m Aliyah Morgenstern. All of my life, I grew up on tales of my great-grandfather’s magic bringing light and healing to the world. Then, I bonded with my dragonet Ember on my sixteenth birthday, which means I’ll be scary powerful someday. There’s one problem. Mom’s kept secrets that everyone at my new school seems to know. Turns out, I’ve got an infamously criminal uncle and now everyone’s waiting for me to do something evil. After my first horrible day at school I’m convinced I’m going to do something evil. My biggest challenge this year isn’t history, math, Gym, or even the dreaded Magiscience Lab. No, it’s keeping a devastating secret from almost everyone, including my own family. I’m an extramagus. Is evil really my destiny, or can I fight it somehow?

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Summary: The system is broken and if I’m not careful, it’ll break me too. While my peers get excited for college, I brace for disaster. I’ve learned at Hawthorn Academy that danger can happen to anyone. To the jock. To the class clown. To my brother. Now I’m in the line of fire. All known extramagi must have their abilities tested. The way they do it is a horrifying secret. After witnessing one last year, I made a plan to expose the ugly truth. But there’s a mind magus on campus now, threatening me. And he’s totally within his rights to do so. Mr. Fairbanks leads the Board of Trustees, which demoted the headmaster and expelled my brother. Last year’s threat was only a symptom of bigger problems. Half the Trustees play quid pro quo while the rest flex their authority for personal vendettas. Mr. Fairbanks blames me for his daughter’s troubles. Mrs. Onassis says I poisoned her son’s mind. And Mr. Pierce thinks I’m taking advantage of his children. All because extramagi are supposedly evil. But now I suspect we’re scapegoats the influential families pin blame on. They say you make your own future. But can I survive the present first?

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Summary: The only way to stop a threat is to eclipse it. And last year, we discovered an enormous one. Temperance Fairbanks: the most powerful and sadistic water magus ever to set foot on campus. Hawthorn Academy will host a series of extramural challenges. That means we’re hosting shifters, changelings, psychics, and even a vampire. Temperance vowed to hurt them any way she can, and she’s already got help. My roommate Grace has a plan. Social warfare, breaking reputations and hearts, including her own. And she wants me to be her muscle. Last year I almost burned the school down. But this time, I might just be sitting on a powder keg.

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Summary: A boy is in danger when he stumbles upon a crime committed by two prominent men of his town, but finds an unusual ally in the form of a castle ghost. Twelve-year-old Haycorn may know all about ghosts of Ohio, but even he is stunned when he and his friend Budge encounter a ghost in a castle. The boys witness a clandestine meeting there between two men involving a kick-back scheme, putting their lives, and that of Haycorn’s mother, in jeopardy. But the ghost may have other plans for all of them.

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Summary: A baby’s laughter. A mind uncaged. Lance is known as Scourge, the warrior in the black armor, the dog of the warlord Ulfr Blackwolf. He was just a boy when Ulfr found him and molded him into the perfect weapon. He slaughters and pillages on command, merciless and numb, devoid of emotions. Then a baby girl laughs at him during a raid. And everything changes. When Gust, a talented healer, is out deer hunting and stumbles across a magnificent horse bearing a mortally wounded rider, he has no idea that his life is about to change forever. Gust applies all his skills to his patient, determined to save the rider’s life, and is rewarded when the man opens his eyes. As friendship, and more, bloom between warrior and healer, so does the danger over the horizon. Ulfr has not forgotten, and Lance must take his first steps on the long road to redemption.

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Summary: When Robyn's father and brother are killed in the Third Crusade, she is banished from her manor home and branded a traitor by the Sheriff of Nottingham. Disguised as a boy, she joins Little John and the rest of the gang in Sherwood Forest—and soon finds herself their leader. Queen Eleanor suspects Prince John is up to no good, and colluding with Sir Guy and the Sheriff of Nottingham. To learn more, she engages Maid Marian as a spy—and unwittingly reunites Marian with her old childhood friend, Robyn. Together, the women help the queen acquire the funds needed to free King Richard and help Nottinghamshire—and perhaps fall in love along the way.

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Summary: Kaede Hiyashi is sick and tired of living in the shadow of his father, supervillain Doctor Terror. Brilliant but crazy, Doctor Terror sends his son to Corwyn, California, for reasons Kaede can’t imagine. Sent to accompany and protect him is Ash, a genetically modified supersoldier raised and trained by an infamous death cult. Corwyn is lousy with superheroes, led by the obnoxious Dark Justice. Kaede finds himself dancing around Dark Justice as he digs into his father’s mysterious business and teaches his socially awkward—but physically lethal—bodyguard to acclimate to “normal” life. Can these two wacky supervillains figure out what Doctor Terror wants them to do, solve the riddle of the villain known as Black Hand, and keep Dark Justice from raining on their bloody parade? The course of love—and world domination—never did run smooth.

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Summary: The focus of the Heiresses of Russ series, a tribute to iconic author Joanna Russ, was lesbian speculative fiction in short story form, and its mission was to highlight the breadth and quality of what had been published during the past year. There was so much excellent work, in fact, that a single anthology couldn’t possibly contain it all, in so many styles, voices and far reaches of creative minds that the true uniting themes of our book turned out to be variety, and a breaking down of limitations and expectations. The writers in this book portray being lesbian as a vital component of their protagonists, but not to the exclusion of all the variation possible for any characters in speculative fiction. Their plots may or may not hinge on the lesbian factor, but they are also about much more, with the unrestricted inventiveness and well-crafted prose of all good work in the genre.   From Lethe Press A Lambda Literary Award Finalist