Kim Stanley Robinson, award-winning author of the bestselling Red Mars, Green Mars, and the soon-to-be-published Blue Mars, was called "a literary landscape artist, creating breathtaking vistas" by The Detroit Metro News. Now he confirms his reputation for brilliance and for the unexpected in this luminous short work. A Short, Sharp Shock A man tumbles through wild surf, half drowned, to collapse on a moonlit beach. When he regains consciousness, he has no memory of who he is or where he came from. he know only that the woman who washed ashore with him has disappeared sometime in the night, and that he has awakened in a surreal landscape of savage beauty -- a mysterious watery world encircled by a thin spine of land. Aided by strange tribesmen, he will journey to the cove of the spine kings, a brutal race that has enslaved the woman and several of the tribesmen. That is only the beginning of his quest, as he struggles to find her identity in this wondrous and cruel land -- and seeks out the woman whose hold on his imagination is both unfathomable and unshakable. Haunting and lyrical, filled with uncommon beauty and terrible peril, A Short, Sharp Shock is an ambitious and enthralling story by one of science fiction's most respected talents. From the Paperback edition.

There are some who say that the Lady Fortune has a wheel, and all men are fixed upon it. The wheel turns, and the men rise, or fall, with the turning of the wheel. Birle has agreed to be wed to the huntsman Muir as an escape from the drudgery of life at her father's inn -- but the moment she looks into the bellflower blue eyes of the man she comes upon stealing one of her father's boats, Birle knows she cannot marry Muir. Even after she discovers the mysterious stranger is Orien, a Lord and as unreachable to an innkeeper's daughter as a star, Birle is determined to travel with him as far as he will allow. Their travels take Birle to a world far from home, a world where Lords may become slaves, where Princes rule by fear, and where Fortune's Wheel turns more swiftly and dangerously than Birle could have imagined. Newberry Medalist Cynthia Voigt's second novel of the Kingdom, set two generations later than Jackaroo, is a memorable combination of thrilling adventure and heart-stopping romance.

"A Tor book"--T.p. verso

A prolific author who never fails to be entertaining, Durrell brings us up to date on his Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust. Ever since he was six years old, Durrell knew he wanted to have his own zoo. How he accomplished that--and became a respected naturalist in the process--will delight readers. Demonstrating a talent for presenting strong conservation issues in a humorous and captivating way, Durrell covers not only the development of his private zoo but the associated education activities as well (including a school for conservationists from foreign countries). Dedicated to the idea that zoos need not be a "sterile Victorian menagerie", he has earned the respect of colleagues worldwide in showing how zoos can be a vital force in the conservation and reintroduction of threatened species to their native environments. Readers will also enjoy such amusing incidents as a visit from Princess Anne and the chimps that came to dinner. A title to put on your reading list for a lighthearted romp through the animal kingdom.

Jean M. Auel’s enthralling Earth’s Children® series has become a literary phenomenon, beloved by readers around the world. In a brilliant novel as vividly authentic and entertaining as those that came before, Jean M. Auel returns us to the earliest days of humankind and to the captivating adventures of the courageous woman called Ayla. With her companion, Jondalar, Ayla sets out on her most dangerous and daring journey--away from the welcoming hearths of the Mammoth Hunters and into the unknown. Their odyssey spans a beautiful but sparsely populated and treacherous continent, the windswept grasslands of Ice Age Europe, casting the pair among strangers. Some will be intrigued by Ayla and Jondalar, with their many innovative skills, including the taming of wild horses and a wolf; others will avoid them, threatened by what they cannot understand; and some will threaten them. But Ayla, with no memory of her own people, and Jondalar, with a hunger to return to his, are impelled by their own deep drives to continue their trek across the spectacular heart of an unmapped world to find that place they can both call home.

June 1815: The Duke of Wellington, the Prince of Orange, and Napoleon will meet on the battlefield...and decide the fate of EuropeWith the emperor Napoleon at its head, and enormous French army is marching toward Brussels. The British and their allies are also converging on Brussels - in preparation for a grand society ball. And it is up to Richard Sharpe to convince the Prince of Orange, the inexperienced commander of Wellington's Dutch troops, to act before it is too late. But Sharpe's warning cannot stop the tide of battle, and the British suffer heavy losses on the road to Waterloo. Wellington has few reserves of men and ammunition; the Prussian army has not arrived, and the French advance wields tremendous firepower and determinaiton. Victory seems impossible...

Her wild spirit made him crave her... Her firebrand—hair blazed as glorious as a sunrise. Her long limbs promised the sweet mysteries of the night. Rhiannon, King Alfred’s favorite niece, was enraged when her uncle sealed an alliance of war by pledging her to Eric, the towering golden-haired prince whose blue eyes penetrated her with a glacial stare. But the more she fought the marriage . . . the man . . . the more she became inflamed by the fire that lay beneath his Viking ice. His passion pierced her heart... His broad shoulders as hard as the steel of his sword, Eric bowed to no man. The only battle he feared losing was with Rhiannon. For she had reached into the savage recesses of his heart. No campaign on the field, no treason from within, would he fight as fiercely–or with such desire . . . as the war he waged to possess what was his. From the Paperback edition.

From the dazzling ballrooms of glittering London society to magnificent, cursed estate in the distant wilds of Yorkshire, comes the deliciously wicked story of a thoroughly unconventional courtship—and a thrilling midnight rendezvous that could only lead to love... At four and twenty Victoria Huntington thought herself quite adept at fending off fortune hunters... until she came under siege from Lucas Colebrook, the darkly disturbing new Earl of Stonevale. Amidst the brightly plumed birds of the town, Lucas was a hawk. And when he held out the lure of moonlit rides and wild, reckless midnight escapades, Victoria found herself powerless to resist. But becoming Stonevale's companion in adventure was far more dangerous undertaking than Victoria could ever imagine. For the attractive Earl would use her every weakness to woo her, to win her, and ultimately to wed her. And soon the amber-eyed lady would find herself ensconced in a crumbling mansion deep in the English countryside... where the real reason for her hasty marriage becomes all too apparent...and where the ghosts of her dark-stained past are waiting to rise up in a terrifying plot that will threaten her life, her honor, and the only man she could ever love. From the Paperback edition.

They're watching. They've wiretapped the apartment. They've got their daughter. They told them they'd hurt her if they spoke about it. They told them, "Don't say a word . . ." Or else . . .

From the point of view of 2050, you're history Theological warfare. Elvis on an epic time-travel journey - the Presliad. Buddhavision - a network bigger than God (and more powerful, too). Nasty nuclear leftovers. Naughty sex habits. Dalai Dan (the 153rd reincarnation of the Lama of that ilk) and Barry, the talkative Time Sprout. Even with all this excitement, you wouldn't think a backwater planet like Earth makes much of a splash in the galatic pond. But the soap opera called The Earthers is making big video bucks in the intergalactic ratings race. And alien TV execs know exactly what the old earth drama needs to make the off-world audience sit up and stare: a spectacular Armageddon-type finale. With a cast of millions - including you! DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL - IT'S GONNA BE A HELLUVA SHOW!

Ellen Guppy is the reluctant heroine of Ethel Wilson's final novel, Love and Salt Water. Saddened by a painful childhood, Ellen has adopted a skeptical independence and learned too well to hold her heart in reserve. But, as the novel unfolds, Ellen undergoes something of a sea-change; learning to accept love along with the sorrow that is rarely far from love.First published in 1956, Love and Salt Water is a mature and, at times, disturbing synthesis of Ethel Wilson's major themes: the independence of human lives, the strange alchemy of chance, and the healing illumination of love.From the Paperback edition.

When a series of thumps below announced the contact's entry into the airlock, Galvanix swung his seat around and stood uneasily. Proximity to violence made him deeply uneasy, and the contact almost certainly had a violent past.The airlock hatch puffed open. A heavily suited figure, wearing armor scalloped like a carapace, stepped through and stood regarding them. As it raised arms to remove the helmet, Galvanix and Danziger saw with shock that the figure appeared female.A face black as oil appeared beneath the helmet, earplug wires trailing through cropped woolly hair. The woman looked back at them in impassive appraisal.Danziger spoke first. “You're ‘City Boy'?” he asked incredulously.The woman produced a metal disk and slapped it against the bulkhead, where it stuck. "This is armed, and will detonate if I don't send it frequent signals. I am here to complete a mission, and shall not be stopped by anything as small as a person. Turn and face your consoles, now."

Within Reason is a delightful classic romance from New York Times bestseller Carla Neggers— the second in the highly entertaining Mill Brook Trilogy. Charity Bradford and Adam Stiles grew up together in the small town of Mill Brook, Vermont, but they couldn't be more different. He stayed. She ran off to Tennessee and blew her money on a horse. Except nothing in Char's life is that simple. She knows she needs a friend...even if it's sexy, determined Adam, a man who can see right through her. And she through him. "Neggers' prose is seductive and evocative, the humor wry and engaging, the story's rhythm easy and alluring." USA Today Happy Ever After on That Night on Thistle Lane Also available in the Mill Brook Trilogy: Finders Keepers #1 That Stubborn Yankee #3