Bloodmark

The Throne of Amenkor Trilogy omnibus brings together The Skewed Throne, The Cracked Throne, and The Vacant Throne for the first time. One young girl holds the fate of a city in her hands. If she fails, it spells her doom—and the end of her world. Twice in the history of the city of Amenkor, the White Fire had swept over the land. Over a thousand years ago it came from the east, covering the entire city, touching everyone, leaving them unburned—but bringing madness in its wake, a madness that only ended with the death of the ruling Mistress of the city. Five years ago the Fire came again, and Amenkor has been spiraling into ruin ever since. The city's only hope rests in the hands of a young girl, Varis, who has taught herself the art of survival and has been trained in the ways of the assassin. Venturing deep into the heart of Amenkor, Varis will face her harshest challenges and greatest opportunities. And it is here that she will either find her destiny—or meet her doom.

Amenkor, city of legend―at its height, Amenkor was a center of wealth and culture. But a millennium ago, the city was caught in the White Fire, a force that swept across the land spreading madness, drought, famine, and disease in it wake. Now the Dredge―the bustling market street that snaked between the slums and the prosperous center of the city―marked the dividing line between plenty and poverty, safety and peril. Left a homeless orphan as a very young child, Varis learned to survive in the Dredge. And when the White Fire blasted through Amenkor for the second time, Varis―along with the entire city―was trapped in the overwhelming blaze of power. Though the current Mistress continued to reign from the Skewed Throne, Amenkor's decline escalated after the second Fire. For Varis, though, the chance to escape her hopeless existence unexpectedly presented itself when a guardsman of the Skewed Throne named Erick―one of the elite assassins known as Seekers―enlisted her to work for him. Because she had a gift for "Seeing" the true nature of people, Varis soon realized something was wrong, that some of those marked for death were not guilty. But how could the Mistress be mistaken? Trust in the all-knowing, all-seeing justice and wisdom of their ruler was the foundation of Amenkor's society. Then, one fateful day, Varis claimed a life that took her beyond the law. Suddently there was nowhere safe for her in the Dredge. There was only one place left to flee to―into the heart of Amenkor itself.

A two-part adventure of time travel, romance, and interstellar intrigue that takes you “from the L.A. barrios to the universe! Excellent” (The San Diego Union-Tribune). Born in Mexico but living in East LA much of her young life, Tina Santis Pulivok has always felt different from her friends and family. Her mind picks up the moods of others, but she’s never understood why—until a bizarre meeting gives her a one-of-a-kind connection to a soldier from the future. Their connection will transcend both time and space—and the future of both their worlds depends on it . . . Earthborn Tina knows the strange man on the street must be lost, but she can’t imagine just how far he is from home. Althor, an Imperial Space Command pilot, left his planet in 2328 to attend a reception in Washington DC—and somehow ended up in 1987 Los Angeles. When the military captures his starfighter, he and Tina race to recover the ship before it detonates—and takes a large swath of California with it . . . Starborn Following her heart, Tina leaves Earth behind when she travels to a future universe with starfighter pilot Althor. But the more she learns about his powerful, telepathic family, the more she realizes how much danger they’re in, as a merciless enemy targets the newlywed couple in a treasonous plan to conquer human civilization. Praise for Lightning Strike “A space adventure for the twenty-first century.” —Nancy Kress, Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author “A truly masterful accomplishment of world-building, an example of consummate craftsmanship and an impeccable feel for the technical and social possibilities that lie ahead of us. Hard science fiction fans can rejoice—the next superstar is here.” —Romantic Times

Following her heart, she left Earth behind—and now only she can save it . . . Tina Santis Pulivok never thought anyone would make sense of the strange way her mind could become saturated with other people’s moods. But then she met Althor, an empathic starfighter pilot from hundreds of years in the future. As their love grows, she leaves her Earth to join his universe where she has no ties except to Althor and their vulnerable marriage. Althor comes from a race of rare psions whose abilities are vital to the survival of humanity, making him coveted by three interstellar civilizations. His enemies sabotaged his starfighter and never expected him to return. Now he faces betrayals from every side. He and Tina become the targets of a merciless enemy who thrives on pain—and who will do anything to destroy the budding alliance between Althor’s people and Tina’s Earth . . . The completion of the thrilling interstellar adventure that began with Earthborn. Praise for Lightning Strike “From the L.A. barrios to the universe! Excellent.” —The San Diego Union-Tribune “A truly masterful accomplishment of world-building, an example of consummate craftsmanship and an impeccable feel for the technical and social possibilities that lie ahead of us. Hard science fiction fans can rejoice—the next superstar is here.” —Romantic Times

An instant #1 New York Times bestseller! “Deonn writes…stories that humanize Black protagonists, like Bree, giving them agency and a place to both fail and, ultimately, to ascend.” —Booklist (starred review) The “worthy successor to an explosive debut” (Kirkus Reviews)—the New York Times bestselling and award-winning Legendborn—perfect for fans of Cassandra Clare and Margaret Rogerson! The shadows have risen, and the line is law. All Bree wanted was to uncover the truth behind her mother’s death. So she infiltrated the Legendborn Order, a secret society descended from King Arthur’s knights—only to discover her own ancestral power. Now, Bree has become someone new: A Medium. A Bloodcrafter. A Scion. But the ancient war between demons and the Order is rising to a deadly peak. And Nick, the Legendborn boy Bree fell in love with, has been kidnapped. Bree wants to fight, but the Regents who rule the Order won’t let her. To them, she is an unknown girl with unheard-of power, and as the living anchor for the spell that preserves the Legendborn cycle, she must be protected. When the Regents reveal they will do whatever it takes to hide the war, Bree and her friends must go on the run to rescue Nick themselves. But enemies are everywhere, Bree’s powers are unpredictable and dangerous, and she can’t escape her growing attraction to Selwyn, the mage sworn to protect Nick until death. If Bree has any hope of saving herself and the people she loves, she must learn to control her powers from the ancestors who wielded them first—without losing herself in the process.

This book daringly challenges one of the most controversial murder cases in recent South African history. In 2007 Fred van der Vyver was acquitted of the 2005 murder of his girlfriend Inge Lotz. He then sued the police to the highest court for malicious prosecution - and failed. In spite of the defence's trashing of the prosecution's case at the trial, brothers Thomas and Calvin Mollett provide a compelling argument of how every key element of the prosecuting evidence withstands the closest scrutiny. They use models, measurements, forensic tests, mathematical formulae and the views of experts both here and overseas. The authors show how an ornamental hammer found in Van der Vyver's vehicle, but thrown out as evidence, could match Inge's head wounds. Contrary to the claim accepted in court, they convincingly argue that a disputed fingerprint was not lifted off a drinking glass found in Inge's flat - a detail that could make all the difference. They demonstrate how blood marks on a towel could have come off the hammer, how blood stains on the floor could have been shaped by a specific shoe and how a closer look at cell phone records reveals a different choreography of movements than what was accepted by the court.

What if your lifelong curse is the only thing keeping you alive? Abandoned at birth, life has always been a battle for Jane Walker. She and her best friend, Sadie, spent years fighting to survive Vancouver’s cutthroat underbelly. That would have been tough enough without Jane’s mysterious afflictions: an intricate pattern of blood-red birthmarks that snake around her body and vivid, heart-wrenching nightmares that feel so real she wakes up screaming. After she meets the first man who isn’t repulsed by her birthmarks, Jane thinks she might finally have a chance at happiness. Her belief seems confirmed as the birthmarks she’s spent her life so ashamed of magically begin to disappear. Yet, the quicker her scarlet marks vanish, the more lucid and disturbing Jane’s nightmares become—until it’s impossible to discern her dreams from reality, and Jane comes to a horrifying realization: The nightmares that have plagued her since childhood are actually visions of real people being stalked by a deadly killer. And all this time, her birthmarks have been the only things protecting her from becoming his next victim. Blood Mark is the first in a brand-new paranormal thriller series by JP McLean, author of The Gift Legacy series and whose writing has been described as “. . . deftly crafted, impressively original, and inherently compelling from first page to last.”

Together at last, Nagi and Saya reconvene with Cobalt at the newly-seized Ronadyphe Prison, only to receive unexpected company as Lernaean tips his hand and offers to join forces. Thus forms a revolutionary army of commoners, Crestfolk, and nobles, ready to march on the royal capital and depose the False Sovereign—but is it enough to liberate Agartha? Can Saya reconcile the people’s desire for a True Sovereign with her desire to live freely with her hard-won friends? Can Nagi live up to the demands of being the True Sovereign’s closest confidant? Blood will tell.