Stefan Rudnicki
Louis L'Amour said the West was no place for the frightened or the mean. It was a "big country needing big men and women to live in it." The two stories in this collection provide a good sample of the kinds of people he had in mind.
"Ride, You Tonto Raiders"
Matt Sabre is a young and experienced gunfighter—but not a trouble seeker. However, when Billy Curtin calls him a liar and goes for his gun, Matt has no choice but to draw
...Twenty years ago, John Costello's life as he knew it ended. He and his beautiful girlfriend, Nadia, became victims of the deranged ''Hammer of God'' killer who terrorized Jersey City throughout the summer of 1984. This murderer went after young courting couples in an attempt to ''save their souls.'' Nadia was killed by the first blow of the hammer. John survived, but was physically and psychologically scarred to an extent that few people could
...Though there are signs of foul play, BIA investigator Emmett Quanah Parker and FBI special agent Anna Turnipseed aren't looking for a killer—the remains dug out of a riverbank by an illegal fossil hunter are fourteen thousand years old. Parker and Turnipseed are sent to Central Oregon as official witnesses to the examination of John Day Man, as he is dubbed, for the bones have quickly provoked a controversy that threatens to erupt into violence:
...44) Enchantment
The moment ten-year-old Ivan stumbled upon the clearing in the Carpathian forest, his life was forever changed. Atop a pedestal encircled by fallen leaves, a beautiful princess lay still as death, but a malevolent presence nearby sent Ivan scrambling for safety.
Years later, Ivan is an American graduate student, engaged to be married. Yet he cannot forget that long-ago day in the forest nor convince himself it was merely a frightened boy's
...45) Prentice Alvin
Orson Scott Card's Tales of Alvin Maker have created a moving fantasy world from the dream of America and the simple magics of the people who settled her. Here is a world where folk magic is as much a part of life as hard work and religion, and where the red man and the white still have hope for living in peace with the land and each other. It is a fantasy unique to literature, yet as inevitable as breathing. It is a work that will live forever
...The legendary Johnny Cash's remarkable story is captured in this exclusive authorized biography.
"The Master of Life's been good to me. He has given me strength to face past illnesses, and victory in the face of defeat. He has given me life and joy where others saw oblivion...Life and love go on. Let the music play."—Johnny Cash
One of the most influential figures in American music and pop culture, Johnny Cash is an icon to people
...47) Soulbound
A deathbed promise
Arlyn's quest is simple: Find her father and let him know her mother is dead. After all, Arlyn had promised her mother she'd go. The problem? Her father's people are myths and legends, and he doesn't even live on Earth. But despite a long journey through the mysterious mists of the Veil, finding him turns out to be the easy part.
A dream long buried
After five hundred years, Kai has given up on finding his soulbonded.
...49) Sundered
A life in shambles
Lyr might be a powerful elven lord in charge of thousands, but his personal life is a disaster. Just the month before, a daughter he'd never known existed arrived from Earth, giving him news of his lost love's death. Since then, he has been betrayed, captured, and almost murdered. And though his enemy was defeated, Lyr's wounds never seem to heal. He certainly doesn't need more conflict.
A perilous journey
Amid
...50) Gatefather
The much-anticipated third installment in Card's New York Times bestselling Mithermages series
Danny North is the first Gate Mage to be born on Earth in nearly two thousand years, or at least the first to survive and claim his power, for families of Westil in exile on Earth have a treaty that requires the death of any suspected Gate Mage. The wars between the families had been terrible, until at last they realized it was their own
...Are you chained to your addiction to smoking? Drinking? Sugar? Drugs? Food? Prescription painkillers? Caffeine? Internet porn? Gambling? Sex?
When you are chained by an addiction, it can ruin your life, devastate your family, destroy your relationships, derail your career, lower your grades, and make you physically ill.
Do you want to break free from your addictions?
If so, you need to optimize your brain. The brain plays a central
...Ender's Shadow explores the stars in this all-new novel...
At the end of Shadow of the Giant, Bean flees to the stars with three of his children—the three who share the engineered genes that gave him both hyper-intelligence and a short, cruel physical life. The time dilation granted by the speed of their travel gives Earth's scientists generations to seek a cure, to no avail. In time, they are forgotten—a fading ansible signal
54) Seventh Son
Using the lore and the folk magic of the men and women who settled a continent, and the beliefs of the tribes who were here before them, Card has created an alternate frontier America; a world where a particular kind of magic really works and where that magic has colored the entire history of the colonies. Charms and beseechings, hexes and potions, all have a place in the lives of the people of this world. "Knacks" abound: dowsers find water, sparks
...55) Xenocide
In Lusitania, Ender found a world where humans and pequininos and the Hive Queen could all live together; where three very different intelligent species could find common ground at last. But Lusitania also harbors the descolada, a virus that kills all humans it infects, but which the pequininos require in order to become adults. The Startways Congress so fears the effects of the descolada, should it escape from Lusitania, that they have ordered
...The Miernik Dossier is the dazzling first novel, recently reissued, by master spy novelist Charles McCarry. In this riveting, imaginative tale, five international agents embark on a road trip in a Cadillac from Switzerland to the Sudan. Among them are Paul Christopher, an American operative; Kalash el Khatar, the seven-foot-tall Muslim prince; Ilona Bentley, the beautiful half-English, half-Hungarian girlfriend of the British national, Nigel Collins;
...57) Alvin journeyman
Alvin is a Maker, the first to be born in a century. Now a grown man and a journeyman smith, Alvin has returned to his family in the town of Vigor Church. He will share in their isolation, work as a blacksmith, and try to teach anyone who wishes to learn the knack of being a Maker. For Alvin has had a vision of the Crystal City he will build, and he knows that he cannot build it alone. But he has left behind in Hatrack River enemies as well as
...58) Red Prophet
In the first tale of Alvin Maker, Seventh Son, Orson Scott Card introduced his readers to a very familiar—but just slightly different—pioneer America where magic works. Hex signs are powerful, good and evil presences roam the land, and many people have special talents. In this thrilling sequel, Alvin Maker is awakening to many mysteries: his own strange powers, the magic of the American frontier, and the special virtues of its chosen
...Will the price of fame be worth the cost?
Filmmakers Chase Ryan and Keith Ellison have completed their first feature film, and Hollywood is buzzing with the news. In the wake of that excitement, the producers acquire rights to a novel that has all the ingredients they want for their next project. At the same time they cross paths with a well-connected player who introduces them to the right people, and suddenly every studio
...60) The Last Shadow
Orson Scott Card's The Last Shadow is the long-awaited conclusion to both the original Ender series and the Ender's Shadow series, as the children of Ender and Bean solve the great problem of the Ender Universe—the deadly virus they call the descolada, which is incurable and will kill all of humanity if it is allowed to escape from Lusitania.
One planet.
Three sapient species living peacefully together.
And one deadly