House Of Shards

"Jane Austen meets P.G. Wodehouse--- IN SPACE!" One obsessed cop. Two master thieves. A very small island in space. And The Greatest Treasure in the Empire. Silverside Station is a small asteroid resort catering to the rich, the famous, and the celebrated— but is it big enough for both Drake Maijstral (the devious hero of The Crown Jewels) and Geoff Fu George (rated the galaxy’s top burglar by the Imperial Sporting Commission), both of whom have set their sights on the Eltdown Shard, a fabulous jewel that captures the light of a dying sun, a jewel that dangles around the comely throat of the Duchess Roberta, a beautiful and dashing heiress who clearly has plans of her own. Mayhem and hilarity at the only possible result. House of Shards continues the droll adventures of Drake Maijstral— thief, devout coward, and reluctant hero— as he schemes his way to the top of the ratings.

These walls have watched the witches; the witches have watched the world. These walls now turn against them -- some evil's been unfurled. . . . The one thing any Halliwell witch has always been able to count on is Halliwell Manor, the ancestral home of the Charmed Ones and one of San Francisco's historical landmark homes. The grand old house has sheltered generations of women, and bits of Charmed history are practically built into the walls. So when the Manor seems to have turned against its inhabitants, needless to say, the Halliwell sisters start to worry. It begins simply: The hot water heater is broken. No big: Leo's great around the house. But this is no simple plumbing problem. Soon, the Manor seems to be messing with the girls, Leo, and Wyatt in increasingly malicious ways. Thankfully, the Book of Shadows has created a safe zone for itself in the attic. But the Charmed Ones can hardly live up there forever. . . . Can they find out what's turned their safe haven into an evil lair before it's too late -- for the Manor, and for them?

Vengeance is a cold dish, and space is the best place to serve it. Betrayed by fellow pirates, the Nepenthe is heavily damaged and trapped in hostile territory. The practical thing to do is attempt an escape back to the neutral zones, where her crew can lick their wounds and count themselves lucky to fight another day. But their stalwart captain has other plans. He knows that if they let the renegades go, they stand to lose their reputation as the most fearsome raider outfit in known space. As the crew plans an elaborate revenge, they soon realize the true stakes revolve around a fabled lost artifact, one that could determine the fate of an entire star cluster.

Drake Maijstral and Geoff Fu George, two renowned Allowed Burglars, vie for the honor of successfully stealing a spectacular necklace known as the Eltdown Shard

The call of fire beckons Arden Ashwen towards an inevitable oblivion, one he wishes with his whole heart would soon come to end him. Despite his trepidations, he is tasked with a mission to calm the rising tension of the Kin, a species said to be descended from Dragons. Sailing to the South to fulfill his mission, can Arden survive against the rising of the tide which threatens to sweep him away? Or, in the end, will he be just another casualty to the flame?

The locales of these stories range from California and Utah to Massachusetts and Vermont. The characters seek a paradise of one kind or another but have to make do with the world such as it is -- and all attendant twists and turns. Had this book a motto, it would be, “Don’t let the bastards grind you down.” In The House of Great Spirit, the title story in this collection, the narrator lives “in a small room in a big three-story red brick boarding house in Salt Lake City” where the “live-in-manager was Jon Severs. Already, only in his mid-twenties, lanky Severs had found his calling. It was his job to scold the tenants at Jack Mead's house in Mead's stead – to bawl them out. On rent day he went room to room to collect money. If you didn't pay at once, he screwed his face up in a look of almost crushing contempt.” Though there are also incidences of grace, courage, and joy along the way, things generally go from bad to worse. They say it’s always good to touch bottom, in order to start over again. A female narrator once married to the character Eben Anders, admits “there were times I wished we'd never met. When we did first meet, I fell for him.” She tells the story of how, as a younger man, Eben had found a treasure not only of money, but also of revelations. Finding himself in the role of prophet, Eben was “denounced as a madman, liar, scoundrel, false prophet, and the rest. He'd be accused of witchcraft, wizardry, demonism, and Freemasonry, with a mind to eventual world subjugation. He'd even be called the living Anti-Christ. ‘Don’t kill the messenger,’ is all Eben would ever say to all of that.” They say you can’t win for losing. His ex-wife, having divorced Eben and renounced “Ebenism”, is now accused of “destroying uncounted sacred privileges and worlds and futures.” She’s having none of that. In With a View to The Sea, librarian Lars Donnelly tells the story of his voyage from his west coast roots to his marriage and years of parenting in the east. Lars had explained it to his wife, "I don't want my kids to be asking me in future years, 'What did you do in the Internet Revolution, daddy?' and have to tell them that I'd just played it safe.” He proposes going, with his teenage son Sean, to an important conference, “eBooks and Libraries,” taking place in southern California, right on the oceanfront. “They reached the convention center around half past eight, giving them plenty of time to take advantage of the free Continental Breakfast while hobnobbing, or not, with the growing throngs of librarians, library trustees, heads of library Friends groups, chief executive officers, directors of operations, product managers, senior and junior business development managers, senior and junior systems analysts, and a broad swath of consultants, hackers, geeks, and gawkers.” And maybe a ghost from the past. They say what goes around comes around, but what could possibly go wrong?

An epic fantasy trilogy for hardcore fans of the genre! A paladin of darkness, a knight of Death, and the very embodiment of the burdening title of Dark Prince, without being "allowed" to love, be granted a chance at a normal life, or even the right to find peace in death, Thaidren must understand and overcome the challenges brought by his unwanted legacy, uncovering the full extent of it in the process to assure his survival, along with the best possible outcome for the future of existence and its denizens. His tale begins and ends in darkness, but the pavement of his road will glow with cold light, and the helping hand of a guardian as ancient as the Shards of Fate themselves.