What value is freedom when you can’t even ride a dragon? The Complete Story...

As the life of a slave goes, Kantees doesn't have it too bad. Being responsible for a racing dragon means her existence is more than just drudgery and fear, even if her life is at the whim of her masters and their rules.

But when her dragon wakes her in the middle of the night Kantees is forced to make a life-or-death decision that breaks her masters’ rules and means her own life is forfeit.

Escaping on the back of dragons, with a hodgepodge of unwelcome associates, she attempts to right a wrong that can never be fixed. Until, ultimately, she must put her own life on the line to keep the freedom she has stolen for herself.

The Dragons of Esternes Epic fantasy series in one volume.

BONE POINT
GINA MAZZIO RN MEDICAL THRILLER SERIES
Veterans are being murdered.

This is #8 in the fast-paced Gina Mazzio RN medical thriller series
BONE POINT will not disappoint

Long-time fans will rejoice—now we know love does conquer all. Gina is pregnant—this after doctors said it would never happen.
But five months into her high-risk pregnancy, Gina's veteran brother, who suffers from PTSD, vanishes.
Why has he abandoned everyone and everything?
Although under bed-rest orders, Gina takes off to find him.

What she discovers is that Vinnie's been swallowed up in a derelict, soon-to-close VA psychiatric hospital with a corrupt administration involved in greed, malevolence, and murder.
Vinnie could be the next to die.

This action-packed, shocking, take-no-prisoners tale of medical suspense is definitely not for the faint-hearted. But fans of the more hard-boiled medical thrillers (and also of Patricia Cornwell) will eat it up; as will lovers of strong women detectives, hospital mysteries, and all medical fiction, especially fans of Tess Gerritsen.

Advance praise for BONE POINT:

"The Lambs are real masters of taut action and edge-of-the-seat suspense. Bone Point is another outstanding entry in this exciting series of medical thrillers."
—Margaret Lucke, author of Snow Angel

Praise for the previous Gina Mazzio Books:

"Deftly plotted and artfully executed, Bone Pit is a compelling read that provides a shocking look at the world of contemporary medicine and Big Pharma."
—Sheldon Siegel, New York Times best-selling author

"SIN & BONE is a chilling, gripping thriller by a talented writing couple."
—Marcia Muller & Bill Pronzini, MWA Grand Masters

"BONE DRY ... a medical thriller not for the squeamish."
—Publishers Weekly

From The Authors:
Writing about RN Gina Mazzio and her boyfriend, RN Harry Lucke, has been a fun experience. It's also a privilege to tell about characters who dedicate their lives to helping others. Many of the people our protagonists work with (as in real life) spend each and every day, perhaps not with murder, but certainly in pain, distress, and danger. We hope most of our books bring the positive recognition that nurses deserve.

BETTE GOLDEN LAMB, a registered nurse, has developed parallel careers as a painter, sculptor, and ceramist. Her art works can be found in a number of galleries and private collections. In addition to co-authored books with J. J. , she has had three other books published: THE ORGAN HARVESTERS and THE ORGAN HARVESTERS BOOK II and THE RUSSIAN GIRL.

J. J. LAMB is a career writer - journalism, short stories, and novels. In addition to fiction co-authored with Bette, he is the creator of the Zachariah Tobias Rolfe III private eye series, the latest of which, NO PAT HANDS, was nominated for a Shamus Award.

The LAMBS live in Northern California and are members of International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime.

BONE POINT is the eighth book in the Gina Mazzio RN medical thriller series, which includes BONE DRY, SIN & BONE, BONE PIT, BONE OF CONTENTION, BONE DUST, BONE CRACK, and BONE SLICE.
Also, SISTERS IN SILENCE, HEIR TODAY..., and THE KILLING VOTE were co-authored novels.
The Lambs also have three action-packed boxsets: Bone Set I, Bone Set II, and Smorgasbord of Suspense.

No matter what you see, no matter what you’ve heard, assume nothing.

Adam and Sophie Warner and their three-year-old daughter are vacationing in Washington State’s Hood Canal for Memorial Day weekend. It’s the perfect getaway to unplug—and to calm an uneasy marriage. But on Adam’s first day out on the water, he sees Sophie abducted by a stranger. A hundred yards from shore, Adam can’t save her. And Sophie disappears.

In a nearby cabin is another couple, Kristen and Connor Moss. Unfortunately, beyond what they’ve heard in the news, they’re in the dark when it comes to Sophie’s disappearance. For Adam, at least there’s comfort in knowing that Mason County detective Lee Husemann is an old friend of his. She’ll do everything she can to help. She must.

But as Adam’s paranoia about his missing wife escalates, Lee puts together the pieces of a puzzle. The lives of the two couples are converging in unpredictable ways, and the picture is unsettling. Lee suspects that not everyone is telling the truth about what they know—or they have yet to reveal all the lies they’ve hidden from the strangers they married.

Get the first three thrillers in the action-packed series.

They used her daughter as bait. They messed with the wrong mother.

Meet Sei. She abandoned her life as a deadly assassin to try to find peace—but when contacted by a source claiming to have information about the daughter she thought she’d lost, Sei finds herself taking on one last mission. Can she unravel the truth before time runs out?

What Amazon readers are saying:

★★★★★ I never thought I would be cheering on an assassin, but it's hard to not love this character.

★★★★★ I had fun trying to guess Sei's next move. I was never correct.

★★★★★ Hard to imagine how this author created a character so clever, intelligent and gifted. And a woman, no less.

★★★★★ Assassins may not be the best people in the world, but Sei makes you root for the best for her.

★★★★★ Drama, mystery, and a hard punch from the beginning.

★★★★★ One of the best books I've read on Kindle.

★★★★★ Characterization is fantastic; story is very engaging, and excellent plot.

★★★★★ I love a book that reads like I've just watched an action movie.

★★★★★ Definitely a killing machine but with a moral compass.

★★★★★ A multifaceted character that draws sympathy.

★★★★★ Love, Love, Love this series.

★★★★★ I usually don't read books about assassins, but I'm looking forward to reading the rest.

★★★★★ I can't help but admire and root for the petite female Asian assassin.

★★★★★ Read it in 1 day!

Buy the box set, and start a series you won't ever want to put down.

‘I was gripped immediately’ Katerina Diamond, Sunday Times bestseller

How much do you know about the couple next door?

When Emily and Ben move in next door to Dr Burman and his wife Alisha, they are keen to get to know their new neighbours. Outgoing and sociable, Emily tries to befriend the doctor’s wife, but Alisha is strangely subdued, barely leaving the house, and terrified of answering the phone.

When Emily goes missing a few weeks later, Ben is plunged into a panic. His wife has left him a note, but can she really have abandoned him for another man? Or has Emily’s curiosity about the couple next door led her straight into danger?

A gripping, sinister thriller with a twist you won’t see coming from the international bestseller Lisa Stone.

A #1 AMAZON BESTSELLER

A macabre poem scrawled in blood. A girl with a secret. And a ruthless killer who'll stop at nothing to find her. 

"Thrilling, emotional, and depraved, with twists and turns you don't see coming."
~Kristen Mae, bestselling author of Red Water

"Fearless, smart writing and a plot that will stick with you."
~Beth Teliho, award-winning author of Order of Seven

STARVATION TAKES MANY FORMS

Ash Park, a run-down suburb of Detroit, might not be the most idyllic place to live, but for Hannah Montgomery, it's safe. At least, it feels that way until a serial killer starts dicing up women from the shelter where she volunteers. 

Hannah manages to convince herself the killings have nothing to do with her brutal past—but then her boyfriend is murdered in the same ruthless manner as the others. And the police think she may have had something to do with it.

The cops are right about one thing: Hannah is responsible. Because she knows who the killer is. Now she must face the fact that she brought a monster with her to Ash Park--and his appetite for blood is insatiable.

Everyone's hungry for something. 

Some are more famished than others.

Dark, gritty, and raw, Famished is an emotional roller coaster and an electrifying debut from bestselling author Meghan O'Flynn. If you like Chelsea Cain, James Patterson, or Caroline Kepnes, you'll LOVE Famished, the first book in the Ash Park series.

Decker was a specialized hunter for a CIA Shadow Organization, working deep undercover to track down and capture ruthless international mercenaries and fugitives. Then a daring mission takes a lethal turn, leaving innocents dead in its wake, and Ethan’s wife a prime target of a ruthless assassin. To save her, and because he can no longer justify his actions, Ethan exiles himself to a remote desert in New Mexico, a prisoner of his own guilt and grief.

Then one searing day, a former member of Decker’s covert team arrives at his door, shepherding two children. She entrusts them to his protection and leaves without explanation.

Suddenly, the race is on to reach his ex-wife before the deadly assassin finds her, and to unlock the mystery behind the two children—who have become pawns in a dark conspiracy so evil that even this former spy cannot imagine the peril that lies directly in his path.

This is the first full-length book in the BLIND RUN series.

Also from Patricia Lewin, the Erin Baker Thriller Series.
OUT OF REACH
OUT OF TIME
OUT OF THE WOODS (Coming Soon)

Short Stories by Patricia Lewin
HELEN TOLD ME
AWAY (A Blind Run Short Story)
HIDE (A Blind Run Short Story) - Coming Soon

FOUR HEART-STOPPING POLICE PROCEDURALS AT A KILLER PRICE!

This bundle of Kimberly Amato’s complete Jasmine Steele detective series is made-to-order for fans of hard-boiled police procedurals and badass female sleuths… not to mention bargains! Those who can't get enough of the exciting new wave of hard-boiled women sleuths, created by writers like Megan Abbott, Laura Lippmann, Lisa Lutz, and Vicki Hendricks will love Amato’s take-no-prisoners style, her unflinching attention to harrowing detail, and her tough-as-nails but soft-hearted detective.

Lovers of traditional mysteries will appreciate the web of fierce loyalty tempered with fearful caution that links Jazz’s tiny but hardy support system—both at work and at home. In every tale, Amato manages to mix all the excitement of an action thriller with the swirling emotions of a mainstream psychological novel.

STEELE RESOLVE

"Don't think you're untouchable…you or your son." Then a dial tone...

Home is no haven with that that kind of caller on the line. Shrewd, hardened New York homicide detective Jasmine (Jazz) Steele’s just come back from a grisly crime scene involving the body of a brutally-beaten young girl, the second she's investigated this week. That was horrendous, but with these eight words, ending ominously in “your son,” Jazz’s immediate fear is for her nephew Chase, who’s already been through hell in his seven short years. In Kimberly Amato’s hard-boiled yet deeply emotional police procedural, no one is spared tough breaks and turbulent anguish. A lesser cop than Jazz would barely be able to cope.

MELTING STEELE

In Jasmine Steele’s heartbreaking new case, an entire family's been viciously murdered. Hard-boiled alert: author Kimberly Amato pulls no punches. The mother's throat was slit while trying to call for help and the father was shot in the chest, then gruesomely sliced up while still alive, like a scene from a horror film. Also found, the body of their young son, about Jazz’s son’s age, left in the closet with a snapped neck.  But it's the remaining clues to a missing fourth victim--a teenage daughter named Kaley--that leave her reeling. Kaley's seemingly disappeared without a trace.

Soon Jazz discovers that the family had plenty of disturbing skeletons in its closet. Skeletons possibly warranting hiring a hit man on the Internet.

BREAKING STEELE

Gory video game violence comes home to roost when two store managers are brutally murdered in the back room of their gaming shop just before peek holiday season. The corporation that owns the store is doing everything it can to keep the matter quiet—but they won’t succeed if detective Jasmine Steele cracks the case. A fast-paced police procedural that’s as gripping as it is eerily personal. And this one comes with a captivating (although, as Jazz might say, a slightly “nerdy”) bonus: a heaping dose of the fascinating ins and outs of video game subculture. Which is far more murderous than the average reader would suspect.

COLD STEELE

Jazz gets a rude awakening when a 3-year-old cold case comes back hot. New York City’s “Carnation Killer,” a serial rapist and murderer, leaves his fifth calling card on a woman named Emilia Smith. The calling card? A heart-shaped carving into the woman’s chest and a single white carnation.

Emilia’s last night alive was spent at a college bar that sparks Jasmine’ least happy memory – the very same establishment that served as a backdrop to her own early adult years, a past defiled and traumatized by a dangerous man. Just as Jazz is finally happy in her personal and professional lives, her bone-chilling trauma comes rushing back. And the Carnation Killer is still out there.

MURDER IN PROVENCE – with a riveting second act in Paris.

It’s An American in Paris meets Wait Until Dark, wherein author Tracy Whiting serves up a refreshing international cozy mystery series with heroine Havilah Gaie at the helm—an American professor turned female sleuth-abroad who calls to mind “an academic version of Pam Grier’s characters: smart, quick on their feet, loyal with a keen sense of purpose.” There’s plenty of heart-racing intrigue, fistfuls of posh French culture—including elegant fashion and irresistible cuisine—and, not to worry, a dashing male love-interest—who happens to be a French agent.

A two-part cozy armchair adventure, but with a bit of action-adventure bite, Havilah’s travels and misadventures are sure to delight murder mystery fans who prefer their female sleuths brilliant, bold, and daring—and who like their French culture delicately authentic.

THE 13TH FELLOW

Against the panoramic backdrop of the Cassis cliffs of Provence, France, the beautiful people of poetry—poets, academics, and patrons of the arts—are assembling at a centennial honoring the founder of the Félibrige Foundation. Finding itself with a surplus of talent, the Foundation has awarded one more than its customary dozen fellowships, but even before the gathering can get underway, the unlucky 13th fellow has fetched up dead.

But what's the motive? Professional jealousy? Romantic rivalry? Or something to do with a dark secret about the Félibrige’s founder? Havilah’s at the center of the mystery, and so is Thierry Gasquet, a dashing French agent who doesn't care much for amateur detectives.

A specialist in several academic disciplines, fluent in several languages,honored for her academic achievements by the Ordre des Palmes Académiques, and equally appreciated for her accomplishments in filling out a bikini, Havilah is shocked by her colleague’s murder and determined to ferret out the truth. But she’ll have to stay a few steps ahead of Gasquet, who’s been assigned to protect her and avert an international scandal.

PARIS A GO-GO

When a right-wing media personality is fished out of the Seine, two extremist factions start shooting at each other. Havilah, aka La Belle Américaine, has become a darling of the Parisian media, cast in the role of the voice of the left-wing American intellectual. Both groups try to use her as a pawn in the power struggle, and, after two more killings occur in her very presence, she becomes a suspect as well as a target.

Protection is close at hand, however, in the person of her current romantic interest, Thierry Gasquet, the handsome and debonair French police agent who protected her as a key witness during a murder investigation three months earlier.

Luckily, just as things are reaching the boiling point, Havilah’s Aunt Neet swoops in for charming, light-hearted comic relief—as Havilah and Thierry, now unsure of whom to trust in his agency, work together to solve the mystery—and do a little asskicking.

Sassy, savvy Havilah Gaie will appeal to fans of Attica Locke and of African-American sleuths like Charlotte Justice, Talba Walllis, Tamara Hayle, and especially Frankie Bailey’s Professor Lizzie Stuart—not to mention fans of Pam Grier! Set in Paris and Venice with a surprise journey on the Orient Express, this perfect blend of cozy mystery and action-adventure thriller will also delight those who enjoy international locales.

An alien ship rests over Water Island. For five years the people of the US Virgin Islands have lived with the Ynaa, a race of superadvanced aliens on a research mission they will not fully disclose. They are benevolent in many ways but meet any act of aggression with disproportional wrath. This has led to a strained relationship between the Ynaa and the local Virgin Islanders and a peace that cannot last.

A year after the death of a young boy at the hands of an Ynaa, three families find themselves at the center of the inevitable conflict, witness and victim to events that will touch everyone and teach a terrible lesson.

YOU’LL NEVER FIND ME…

A twisty, compelling, characterful crime thriller from a major new talent.

NOT TO BE MISSED!

A distraught mother…
When Susan Wilkins walks into No Stone Unturned, Leeds’s newest private detective agency, owners Lee and Jo are thrilled. Their first client is the kind of person they always hoped to help—a kind woman desperately worried about her son, Jack.

A missing son…
The case seems simple—kid starts college, takes up with the wrong crowd, forgets to ring his mother. But very quickly, Lee and Jo suspect they’re not being told the whole truth.

A case which could prove deadly…
Their office is ransacked, everyone who knows Jack refuses to talk to them and they feel like they’re being followed…it’s clear Lee and Jo have stumbled into something bigger, and far more dangerous, than they ever expected. Will they find Jack, or will their first case silence them both for good?

The FOURTH sly adventure in the Tubby Dubonnet Series, Tony Dunbar's witty yet hard-boiled foodie-noir mysteries.

“By far the best of a very good collection.” -Book Page

THE SEAMIER SIDE OF THE CRESCENT CITY...

“Nothing… will have prepared you for Dunbar’s uniquely laid-back approach to natural disaster… Just enough nefarious plotting to punch up the drolly understated tableaux till you can’t help laughing, and just enough menace to make you feel you aren’t really missing anything by picking Tubby over the special-effects spectaculars at the local flick.” -Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Slick prose, upbeat characters, and the particular wonders of the French Quarter will commend this to any Skip Langdon or David Robicheaux fan.” -Library Journal

WATER WATER EVERYWHERE...ALSO CRIME

To out-of-town kingpin Willie LaRue, Mardi Gras seems the perfect time for a New Orleans heist – nobody, but nobody will be thinking about a single other thing. Parties, parades, chaos, alcohol – who could be concerned about a little thing like a bank job? Indeed, all might have gone well except for an out-of-season frog-flogger that threatens to flood the French Quarter – something even Hurricane Katrina couldn't do.

Next thing you know the survivors – thieves and revelers alike – find themselves marooned together. As the LaRue gang plans its watery escape, raffish lawyer Tubby Dubonnet is obliged to take time out from his customary eating and loafing to thwart their murderous intentions. The body count rises as the tempest subsides, and Tubby finds himself fighting not only for his life, but (it seems to him) the very city itself.

A wry, compelling tale of The City That Care Forgot.

“By showing the damage that several days of hard rain could cause to the city’s fragile ecosystem, Dunbar makes the reader really care about its fate. He does the same for Tubby, a lazy, corner-cutting, slightly shabby, occasionally reckless but totally decent man.” -Chicago Tribune

A killer for hire from a violent world, a target in a secure perfect society, and secrets obscured by the glass.

Rodin knows he is one of the best. An assassin for hire, he always removes the target with cold, clinical precision.
After an attempt on his life, Rodin is offered a contract he cannot refuse. The target is within the perfect society of the Dome. Rodin must pass unnoticed in a place where manners are everything, and where violence is anathema. Nobody must suspect that a professional killer walks amongst them. Especially those protecting the target.
But even under the glass, not everything is visible. Even with such transparency secrets remain hidden, and Rodin can trust nobody.
Not even himself.

Dark Glass is the first book of Dominions, a dark Dystopian series that is violent, intelligent and unexpected.

Over 50,000 Copies Downloaded/Sold to Date
Award-Winning Finalist in the “Fiction: Science Fiction” category of the 2015 USA Best Book Awards

Twenty-year-old Ethan Jones lives in a post-apocalyptic, oppressive society that terminates anyone with mutations caused by nuclear radiation in an effort to keep the human race pure. Because of that, he lives every day in fear for his life, for he has an incredible mutation that gives him an edge when foraging in Melbourne’s ruins. An edge he uses to survive encounters with the vile Skel savages who roam those ruins.

His life becomes complicated when he rescues a mysterious Japanese girl from the Skel and brings her back with him, for she breaks the town’s rigid conventions in her pursuit of him, placing their lives in jeopardy. Her odd behaviour and probing questions baffle him, as does the fact that he understands her when she speaks in Japanese.

At the same time, the Skel ramp up their attacks on the foraging teams. Is this part of a larger plan that could spell the town’s doom? And why do the Skel suddenly possess advanced technology – who is backing them, and why?

Keeping his mutation secret, uncovering the girl’s true intentions and trying to save the town all vie for Ethan’s attention. And if he fails, not only his life, but the lives of all, are at stake.

* This professionally edited, updated version of Forager was uploaded to Amazon on 7th May'15. *

Books in Peter R Stone’s Forager Series
Forager Trilogy
Forager - Book 1
Infiltrator - Book 2
Expatriate - Book 3

Forager Impersonator Trilogy
Impersonator - Book 4
Specialist - Book 5
Revolutionary - Book 6 The thrilling conclusion to the Forager and Forager Impersonator Trilogies

"The main thing that I really liked about Forager was that I was constantly taken by surprise." -- From Trips Down Imagination Road.

"I love that everyone in Ethan's home is one way, while the Japanese girl he saves is almost the exact opposite. Woman are to be seen and not heard, but this girl has guts like you wouldn't believe." -- From Journey with Books.

"Fantasy fans who like to be transported into a new world of magic will really enjoy this book." -- Reader's Hollow

When a foreign tribe attacks the peaceful Onan people, a lonely outcast is forced to reveal her secret gift – but can she save herself and the clan?

It is the darkest time in winter, when suns, moons, and stars all wane from the sky. In the Wolf clan, a baby is born with a powerful gift, but dangerous omens brand her an Outcast, and the Elders name her Iluna.

Iluna struggles to find her place in the proud and distrustful Wolf clan, and as her powers bloom, she discovers a mysterious friend.

Dark magic, war, and treachery soon jeopardize the life of every clan member; many suspect Iluna and her gift.

Is this Outcast girl to blame, or is she salvation?

'The Secret Chronicles of Lost Magic' is a collection of standalone novels that will take readers on a journey into a rich new fantasy world. Enjoy stepping into the dark days of time in this sweeping prehistoric fantasy. 'The Raven' is the first Chronicle in a collection set in a vibrant new world by Aderyn Wood.
 

BONUS CONTENT

If you enjoy The Raven and would like to read a follow-up short story trilogy, you can sign up to Aderyn's monthly newsletter to get your free copy of the first story, The Doom of Arlg-Teg. Visit aderynwood(dot)com to learn more.

2016 Dragon Award Finalist - Best Military Science Fiction Novel

Allies and Enemies: Fallen is the first book in this space opera series.

Purpose-bred soldier of the vast and far-reaching Regime, Commander Sela Tyron is as subtle as a hammer. To hammers, any problem can look like a nail, but the solutions aren't always that easy. When Sela encounters a son she is forbidden to know, falls in love with a man who is clearly off-limits, and is abandoned with her team on a planet full of insurrectionists, things get complicated...

Fans of galactic space opera and Firefly will delight in this "Indiana Jonesesque experience through space" and the introduction of a new kick-ass heroine in Sela Tyron.

2016 Nominee - 1st Annual Dragon Awards (Dragon Con) "Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel"
___
Similar categories: space opera, military scifi, galactic empire, science fiction action adventure series, space opera military science fiction, science fiction action adventure military, space opera ebook series, scifi heroines, alien conflict, space marine, female warrior, strong female characters.

Indiana Jones wannabe finds adventure a little tougher than she expected.

It’s 1987. Geologist Sam Harris is a woman in a man's world - naive and underpaid, but resilient and passionate. Desperate for her first job, she accepts a contract with a dodgy entrepreneur exploring for gold in the remote rainforests of Sierramar.

When she uncovers a clue to a treasure buried deep within the jungle, she is sent on an expedition to find it, but one of her colleagues is plotting to seize the hoard and will kill to get his hands on it.

Will Sam find the treasure or will her first adventure be her last?

If you like gutsy heroines, exotic locations, and complex characters, then you'll love PJ Skinner's thrilling, stand-alone, novel, the first in the series.

Download Fool's Gold for free and have a South American adventure today

HE WAS NOT PREPARED.

Born from the fertile imagination of bestselling author Michael Anderle

Fountain of Youth, or Valley of Death?

While eating his supper of microwave popcorn, PhD student-genius Salinger Jacobs is grabbed from his apartment in California, stuck on a C-130 military plane and sent to the Sahara Desert to witness the reality of the ZOO for himself.

With the life expectancy of untrained scientists working inside the ZOO measured in hours, he has a lot to learn.

Fast.

First order of business?

How do you shoot a gun, and just HOW MUCH is that plant worth?

The government needs the best of the best military and scientific minds working out how to pull the secrets from the ZOO, while keeping the deadly fauna and flora in check.

There is one major problem, Salinger doesn't even have a PhD.

If he can stay alive long enough, he might be able to afford something besides packaged microwave popcorn to eat.

THAT IS A BIG IF.

This Boxed Set includes the first four books in the BIRTH OF HEAVY METAL Series 

He Was Not Prepared

She is His Witness

Backstabbing Little Assets

Blood of My Enemies

NOTE:  There may or may not be gratuitous sex in these books. Or it might actually play into a later book with funny talk about men's vs. women's abilities and capabilities. There is ABSOLUTELY cursing in this book. LOTS of upset cursing, cursing out of anger, fear, and other emotional issues related to carnivorous alien flora or fauna eating humans who don’t say ‘darn.’ LOTS of gratuitous cursing just because the author finds it funny, too. There is death and sadness...and more death. In fact, it’s a blender of blood out in the ZOO. Man vs. Alien nature seems to justify ugly results. Plus, people have emotional hangups. Expect to smile, laugh, cry, and perhaps have a spate of jealousy or two. Further, there might be explicit sex, thank you sex, and you're welcome sex. Finally, there is no Coke in the ZOO.  That is probably the worst and most offensive trait in these stories. This is Michael Todd, and I approve of the shenanigans pulled in ZOO stories.

As mounting tensions between China and the United States push the world’s two great powers to the brink of war, it falls to President Jack Ryan to identify the lethal chess master behind the scenes in this thriller in Tom Clancy's #1 New York Times bestselling series.

Jack Ryan is dealing with an aggresive challenge from the Chinese government as the G20 Summit approaches. Pawns are being moved around a global chessboard: an attack on an oil platform in Africa, a terrorist strike on an American destroyer and a storm tossed American spy ship that may fall into Chinese hands. It seems that Premier Zhao is determined to limit Ryan's choices in the upcoming negotiations.

But there are hints that there's even more going on. A routine traffic stop in rural Texas leads to a shocking discovery—a link to a Chinese spy who may have intelligence that lays bare an unexpected revelation. John Clark and the members of the Campus are in close pursuit, but can they get the information in time?

Find the compass, save the world or save herself?

For Austin robbery detective Maggie Parker, dating is harder than running down a felon, even if the guy is worth it – just ask Jake. Now add in magic.

When she finds someone breaking into her garage, stealing a favorite wooden puzzle box everything changes. Did she just see a compass fly?

Can she learn how to use the magic of bubbles to chart a new course in time? The mechanics may hold the answer.

Her new quest: Rescue the passengers on an ancient ship – a big blue marble called Earth – and save herself.

Recover the compass, find the other Elementals and help decide Earth’s fate.

Simple? It’s a lot harder than it sounds. And there’s that fourth date…

NOTE: Formerly titled: The Peabrain's Idea (Okay, only I liked the title...)