Michael Gonzales

A posthumous recipient of the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, Marion Zimmer Bradley reinvented - and rejuvenated - the King Arthur mythos with her extraordinary Mists of Avalon series. In this epic work, Bradley follows the arc of the timeless tale from the perspective of its previously marginalized female characters: Celtic priestess Morgaine, Gwenhwyfar, and High Priestess Viviane.

Thirty thousand years ago, ice was storming the planet. Among the species forced out of the trees and onto the steppes by the advancing cold was modern man, who was both predator and prey. No stranger to the experiences that make us human - a mother's love and a father's betrayal, tribal war and increasing famine, political intrigue and forbidden love, joy and hope and devastating loss - our ancestors competed for scant resources in a brutal landscape.

You can't always count on people, but you can always count on your dog. No one knows that better than veterinarian Jessica Vogelsang, who, with the help of three dogs, is buoyed through adolescence, veterinary school, and the early years of motherhood. Taffy, the fearsome Lhasa; Emmett, an amiable golden; and Kekoa, the neurotic senior Labrador are always by her side, offering lessons in empathy and understanding for all the oddballs and misfits who come through the vet clinic doors.

Meet Shadow. He's a little older and slower than he used to be, but he has a heart of gold, and he's a good dog. People always tell him so. He'll never hesitate to give your face a good licking, and there's no one he loves more than his human, Brian. Brian got a new puppy for Christmas though, leading him to abandon Shadow at the shelter he came from 11 years earlier. Shadow is devastated. Worse, the clock is winding down, even as a caring shelter worker helps him heal from the betrayal. Each day brings Shadow closer to being euthanized.