Dark Creation

Cyrus Spitama, grandson of the prophet Zoroaster and lifelong friend of Xerxes, spent most of his life as Persian ambassador for the great king Darius. He traveled to India, where he discussed nirvana with Buddha, and to the warring states of Cathay, where he learned of Tao from Master Li and fished on the riverbank with Confucius. Now blind and aged in Athens - the Athens of Pericles, Sophocles, Thucydides, Herodotus, and Socrates - Cyrus recounts his days as he strives to resolve the fundamental questions that have guided his life’s journeys.

What is life? Humans have been asking this question for thousands of years. But as technology has advanced and our understanding of biology has deepened, the answer has evolved. For decades, scientists have been exploring the limits of nature by modifying and manipulating DNA, cells, and whole organisms to create new ones that could never have previously existed on their own.

High in the Craster Mountains sits a small town protected from the outside world by a godly barrier. But that barrier is the work of no god, it was created by Clive, a warrior, a leader and a very angry chef who just wants a peaceful life. Hordes of vengeful enemies amassing along the borders of the Forsaken Land are going to make sure that doesn’t happen. For while Far Reach is safe, Clive’s allies are in imminent danger of being swept away by the coming storm.

Not all that is right comes from the gods. Sometimes, they demand much that is wrong. Liana and her twin are an anomaly at the heart of a kingdom bound by unyielding tradition. The crown princess is the first female marked as Herkun's heir, and her existence has unfortunate consequences. When her uncle leads a coup with the intent to kill her, Liana and her twin brother are spirited away to a place where not even the stars are the same.

Miah Gray is a 27-year-old former army soldier living in rural New Hampshire with his sister, mother, and her boyfriend. He is plagued by PTSD, finding solace, but not redemption, with the aid of prescribed cannabis. All he wants to do is get high, relax with a good sandwich, and watch a meteor shower with his neighborhood crush, Jen. When the sun's light is blotted out the following morning and the world is plunged into darkness, Miah finds himself locked down with his family, covering windows with trash bags, lighting candles, and following the arcane rules of an ancient prophecy.

When Gabriel James mysteriously appears in 17-year-old Melissa Martin's English class, she is not prepared for what she experiences or how she feels the first time they speak. With otherworldly attractiveness, gallantry, charm, and intelligence, he is everything boys her age are not. But Gabriel has a secret - a dark secret. His secret threatens to rip them apart and unleash an evil on the world so horrific, humanity will be forever changed.

Called "one of the greatest men alive" by the Times of London, E. O. Wilson proposes an historic partnership between scientists and religious leaders to preserve Earth's rapidly vanishing biodiversity.

DCI Mark Joesbury has been expecting this. Monitoring a complex network of dark web sites, Joesbury and his team have spotted a new terrorist threat from the extremist, women-hating, group known as 'incels' or 'involuntary celibates.' Joesbury's team are trying to infiltrate the ring of power at its core, but the dark web is built for anonymity, and the incel army is vast. Pressure builds when the team learn the snatched child was just the first in a series of violent attacks designed to terrorise women.

Night falls. It came like a malignant shadow with seductive promises of power. And somewhere in the night...a small girl smiled as her mother burned...asylum inmates slaughtered their attendants...in slimy tunnels once-human creatures gathered. Madness raged as the lights began to fade and humanity was attacked by an ancient, unstoppable evil.

Ten years ago the Sythians invaded the galaxy with one goal: to wipe out the human race. Now the survivors are hiding in the last human sector of the galaxy: Dark Space--once a place of exile for criminals, now the last refuge of mankind.

Acclaimed author and historian Alan Furst has written several historical fiction novels, such as Blood of Victory and Kingdom of Shadows. In Dark Star, André Szara is a Polish journalist who becomes a spy for the Soviet Union in the late 1930s. Through Szara’s character, the beginnings of World War II are revealed.

Brady Garrett needs to go home. He's a conscripted recruit on Defender Three, one of a network of stations designed to protect the Earth from alien attack. He's also angry, homesick, and afraid. If he doesn't get home he'll lose his family, but there's no way back except in a body bag. Cameron Rushton needs a heartbeat. Four years ago Cam was taken by the Faceless - the alien race that almost destroyed Earth.

The survivors live underground, as far from the Original World as possible and protected from the ultimate evil, Radiation. Then terrible monsters, who bring with them a screaming silence, are seen and people start to disappear. One young man realizes he must question the nature of Darkness itself.

The Ancient Ones are coming to consume our world, and only the bold investigators of Arkham Horror stand in their way in this chilling collection of eldritch novellas.

A 2023 Audie Award winner! A 2023 Odyssey Honors title! “This is no ordinary audiobook, but rather a graphic novel for the ears. Readers will be delighted by the auditory magic of this book.” —Booklist "A full cast of talented narrators taps into the darkly magical atmosphere of Bardugo's...

The last thing I expected was to gain the spells of the woman in my bed. Hell, I didn't even know magic existed until I'd cast a spell that morning. Then a beautiful teacher from a magical academy told me I could become the universe's most powerful mage. To get there, I need to become stronger. I need to ace all my examinations. And, most of all, I need to master the most potent spells. But I have to start somewhere.

Fighting over a span of light years that boggles the mind, Dash and his crew are drawn farther out in the big black than any human has ever gone...or so they thought. A small beacon of humanity drifts, alone, frozen, and ancient, out where the light of days is older than the history of mankind.

Vivien Leigh was perhaps the most iconic actress of the 20th century. As Scarlett O’Hara and Blanche Du Bois she took on some of the most pivotal roles in cinema history. Yet she was also a talented theatre actress with West End and Broadway plaudits to her name. In this ground-breaking new biography, Alan Strachan provides a completely new full-life portrait of Leigh, covering both her professional and personal life.

Evaline Manor took her revenge and met her immortal fated mate. After narrowly escaping Kembertus, discovering she had magical abilities was the last thing she expected. Maddox Vicor finally got the girl; now he just has to take her back to his kingdom and keep her safe there. But nothing is ever as easy as it seems, and soon there are threats everywhere he turns. With new foes after Evaline and powers she doesn’t understand, she must navigate this new life and the consequences that come with it—including answering a curse that requires her to save the world.

I've collected the souls required to speak with my dead father, and he's got a lot to tell me. Hopefully, what he has to say will help me succeed in the coming Mage Game Qualifiers. Because if I get through, then I'll finally find my mother's white staff.