Old Fantasy

I never got involved in the dirt and the details of an investigation. I never let my preconceptions muddy a reconstruction. And I steadfastly refrained from ever allowing my past to dictate my future. At least until the one person I couldn’t lose went missing. Because then I’d relive every dark moment of my childhood, confront every heartbreak, and even sell my soul if that was what it took to get her back. Because I couldn’t accept a future - not even a promised one of immortality and unbridled power - that didn’t include one of the only two people I’d ever truly loved.

The year 1904. On the banks of the Zambezi River, a few miles from the majestic Victoria Falls, there is a colonial settlement called The Old Drift. In a smoky room at the hotel across the river, an Old Drifter named Percy M. Clark, foggy with fever, makes a mistake that entangles the fates of an Italian hotelier and an African busboy. This sets off a cycle of unwitting retribution between three Zambian families (black, white, brown) as they collide and converge over the course of the century, into the present and beyond.

For 12 years, I had managed to separate my personal life from my professional life, becoming one of the best reconstructionists in the world - and proving to myself that I could do so on my own merits. Then I’d been forced into contact with my family, reuniting with someone I thought I’d lost forever, and rescuing my best friend. Now I had to savor what little time I had left before the contract with the Conclave came due and my future was wrenched from my control. Except there was one last case to solve. One last set of puzzle pieces to collect, then assemble again.

Earth belongs to mankind once again. But not everyone has the same vision for the planet. Dean visits Earth, touring the colonies, and quickly learns that not all remaining humans are pleased with the new changes to their planet. The Restorers are determined to build a pre-Industrial Revolution state, claiming technology will only destroy them again. Dean must infiltrate the group and learn their master plan before they go too far.

This book is not just a tale of fantasy; it is a powerful reminder of the importance of community, understanding, and the healing journey we all undertake in our lives. Through Jim's adventures, readers are encouraged to embrace their struggles, seek connection, and aspire to inspire others, proving that even in the face of darkness, the light of resilience and courage can illuminate the path forward. In a captivating exploration of courage and healing, the story of Jim Proctor, a veteran wrestling with the weight of complex PTSD, unfolds in a profoundly inspiring way.

Two more elves were at large in Vancouver, but thankfully they’d been keeping a low profile while I faced the most daunting task of my twenty-seven years — planning and executing my wedding. I was dealing with a disgruntled grandmother with an extensive guest wish list of the magically inclined, all of whom didn’t particularly like each other. Plus a fiance whose concept of time was altered whenever he stepped into a dimensional pocket, and a best friend who’d spent months planning what was certain to be an insane bachelorette party.

I had everything I’d ever wanted — a successful business with a second bakery in the works, a sexy fiance who I adored, and good friends who loved to laugh almost as much as I did. So of course it couldn’t possibly last. Unfortunately, this time the trouble was homegrown in Vancouver, threatening my own backyard and those who were under my protection — whether they wanted to be or not. I was, after all, the wielder of the instruments of assassination. Apparently, cutesy cupcakes and being nice only stretched so far.

The narrator - the old nurse of the title - is an old family retainer who has worked in the service of the same family for three generations. She tells the young children about a dark incident that she experienced in the company of the children’s mother, when she was a young woman and visiting her mother’s ancestral home.

Ra’al. Orr. Kriz. Three enormous beast of men who command a legion of Aurelians, the huge, marble-skinned aliens who exist to find their Fated Mate and tame her. They were built for war. Kings through conquest, they stamp down all resistance without mercy. They tell me they will build me a palace. It would only be a cage. But because I took up a rifle and defended the other servants when our planet was under attack, by the laws of their species, I am a free woman…

Imagine a school where you meet your own unicorn and have amazing adventures together! That's what happens for the girls at Unicorn Academy on beautiful Unicorn Island. Ariana loves her unicorn, Whisper, but hopes that their differences don't get in the way of their bond. When all the animals start to leave the Verdant Forest, Ariana and Whisper will need to gather all their courage and work together to help protect their friends and bring the animals home.

The Collective was already done. I’d destroyed them more than eight years ago. But apparently, some of those who’d survived now needed a reminder of their demise. When it was done, I would walk away with everything that was mine to have and to hold. And what I couldn’t outright destroy? I would absorb or claim for myself. Because Emma Johnson was stronger than Amp5 had ever been.

Three months ago, I lost my foster sister, Sienna, to the darkness. As in blood magic, chaos and, general mayhem. No one saw it until it was too late, but I should have. Now, I have a wounded heart and soul that I can’t even reveal to anyone around me, because I’m supposed to hate Sienna with the fiery passion of the justified.

Thirteen tales are unspun from the deeply familiar and woven anew into a collection of fairy tales that wind back through time. Emma Donoghue reveals heroines young and old in unexpected alliances--sometimes treacherous, sometimes erotic, but always courageous. Told with luminous voices that shimmer with sensuality and truth, these age-old characters shed their antiquated cloaks to travel a seductive new landscape, radiantly transformed.

Bad magic and good witches don't mix, but I make it work. Spellbooks are a witch's best friend, especially when they're passed down from your beloved dead Grandma. So, when an anonymous caller is interested in buying mine, my answer is nope, not ever, go away. Problem is, they won't take no for an answer. With suspicious newcomers in town and the increasing odds someone thinks my spellbook is full of dark magic, I find myself with no shortage of motives or suspects. Good thing I'm dating Ian, the world's sexiest paranormal problems expert.

We had chosen our place, etching our lives into a new land. Then, we had defended that land when called upon to do so. And we’d won. We’d maintained our freedom. But magic attracts magic. As they say. So, when the sorcerers showed up, holding my recent past hostage - along with a future I had dreamed I might build - it was just as expected. In fact, I might have been getting just a little bored playing at being Emma Johnson.

Five years after Sofia Lyon disappeared, her remains are found stuffed into the hollow of a tree bursting through the floorboards of an abandoned house in the woods. The women who loved her flock home to the North Carolina hills to face their grief.

In a land torn first by war, and then by the great shaking of the Earth, heroes and heroines will rise from the most unlikely of places, taking part in a quest to find the Chosen One and stop the red darkness rising beneath the earth from taking over their world. This is a tale of courage and compassion, retribution and revenge, of heroes, magic, and what it takes to heal a world and its people.

I hadn’t set foot in the human world for more than a few hours in over three and a half months. Sure, I was stronger and faster than I’d ever been before, and I had a shiny new sword, but I was seriously chocolate deprived.

Bruton. Prince of the Aurelian Empire, eight-foot tall of brutal, muscled strength, flanked by the alien warriors of his triad. He is no royal. He is a savage, a colossal warlord who commands through pure violence. And my fate is in his hands. He believes I hold the keys to victory. His triad storms into my research station drenched in blood and sweat to judge my life’s work. And when my creations go haywire and nearly kill us all, the threat to the Prince must be answered.

Sam hates his office job, but at least every night he can delve into Alterwhere and forget about stupid teamwork for a while. The world’s hottest new cerebral reality game is a fully immersive mash-up of the retro fantasy RPGs he used to play on his dad’s steam account back in the early 2030s—the kind where you can eat a bowl of stew in the middle of a battle, fire crossbows underwater, and steal all the plates from an NPC’s kitchen as long as they’re looking away at the time.