Dark Passions Book One

Klingons and Cardassians rule the Alpha Quadrant in an uneasy alliance that hides a viper's nest of backstabbing plots and counterplots. Annika Hansen has become a trained operative for the Obsidian Order. Her latest target: Kira Nerys, the duplicitous Intendant of Bajor, whose ruthless ambition has brought her to a position of power second only to the Regent himself, the fierce Klingon warrior known as Worf. To get close to her prey, Annika must worm her way into the Intendant's notoriously fickle affections. Easy enough to accomplish, perhaps, but it remains to be seen who is truly manipulating whom....

Intendent Kira, now Overseer for the entire Klingon-Cardassian Alliance, has entered into a dangerous liaison with Annika Hansen, unaware that Hansen is actually an agent of the Obsidian Order, with instructions to kill Kira when the time is right. But her treacherous partner is not the only threat the Intendent faces. Both Deanna Troi, sadistic mistress of Regent Worf, and B'Elanna Torres, the half-human Intendent of the Sol System, are wary of Kira's unquenchable ambition, and would gladly see her deposed...or worse. With its dramatically different portrayal of familiar characters in a universe 'gone wrong', the Mirror Universe setting has fascinated Star Trek fans since its very first incarnation in the original series episode 'Mirror, Mirror'. Now Susan Wright's two-part crossover sequence takes much-loved alternate-world characters from Star Trek Deep Space Nine - Intendent Kira and Regent Worf amongst them - and gives them new opponents, as characters from Voyager and The Next Generation also find their way into a universe turned upside down.

The coauthors of the bestselling Peak Performance dive into the fascinating science behind passion, showing how it can lead to a rich and meaningful life while also illuminating the ways in which it is a double-edged sword. Here’s how to cultivate a passion that will take you to great heights—while minimizing the risk of an equally great fall. Common advice is to find and follow your passion. A life of passion is a good life, or so we are told. But it's not that simple. Rarely is passion something that you just stumble upon, and the same drive that fuels breakthroughs—whether they're athletic, scientific, entrepreneurial, or artistic—can be every bit as destructive as it is productive. Yes, passion can be a wonderful gift, but only if you know how to channel it. If you're not careful, passion can become an awful curse, leading to endless seeking, suffering, and burnout. Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness once again team up, this time to demystify passion, showing readers how they can find and cultivate their passion, sustainably harness its power, and avoid its dangers. They ultimately argue that passion and balance--that other virtue touted by our culture--are incompatible, and that to find your passion, you must lose balance. And that's not always a bad thing. They show readers how to develop the right kind of passion, the kind that lets you achieve great things without ruining your life. Swift, compact, and powerful, this thought-provoking book combines captivating stories of extraordinarily passionate individuals with the latest science on the biological and psychological factors that give rise to—and every bit as important, sustain—passion.

Jenny Jones was an orphan. There were painfully few safety nets in our society for young, orphaned females, Jenny married not a man of choice but for desperate need. When the alcoholic husband died in the bootleg war, leaving her with an infant son she was drawn into a private war- one of survival in a hostile world. Her son grown to manhood entered that world too. If there was one thing that both sought out of life, it was true love. Circumstances drew mother and son close together. The neighborhood would frown if they had openly showed their affection for each other. Long before Tom Brokaw, A.J. Ciulla knew that his generation was the greatest in the history of our republic. The three decades that encompass the duration of Dark Passions are those that molded the character of the nation. The book is by no means meant to glorify the past. The warts and beauty marks are evenly distributed. This is not A.J. Ciulla the short story writer. Dark Passions is a hard-hitting with no holds barred novel.

Not all love is innocent. Some desires swallow you whole. . . There's more than meets the eye to the twenty twisted pleasures collected here, with death and desire lying in wait behind every corner. One goth girl finds the man whose love can make her beautiful and whose body can bring her ecstasy—if she can stomach the price. . . A zombie apocalypse destroys a man's family, but "til death do us part" is a vow his wife won't forget—even if she's now more on the undead side. A vampire hunter wakes up the morning after and has to discover what forbidden pleasures he indulged in the night before—he suspects they might involve the drop-dead gorgeous bloodsucker next door. . . These and many more tales of sinister passion lie inside—if you aren't afraid of the dark. . ..

A battle of vampires and werewolves will be decided by one woman’s desire in this supernatural romance by the New York Times bestselling author. Darcy Smith never knew about the secret she possesses within her, one powerful enough to end an entire race of demons. But now, as an unwitting pawn in an epic battle of vampires and werewolves, she’s about to discover the truth—and enter a dangerous world of ecstasy and dark passions. Consumed with lust for Darcy, the vampire leader Styx will do anything to keep her out of the lair of Salvatore Giuliani, the deadly ruler of the weres. But Salvatore is every bit as desperate to make Darcy his ultimate conquest and queen. With his kind pushed to the brink of extinction, she alone holds the key to survival. Now Darcy will have to decide which of these two men she can truly trust. Because all it takes is one bite to plunge her into a lifetime of servitude—or a lifetime of pleasure.