Science Fictions Stuart

In June 2015 Alberto Manguel prepared to leave his centuries-old village home in France's Loire Valley and reestablish himself in a one-bedroom apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Packing up his enormous, 35,000 volume personal library, choosing which books to keep, store, or cast out, Manguel found himself in deep reverie on the nature of relationships between books and readers, books and collectors, order and disorder, memory and reading.

When Max and the gang are hired by an art forging ghost to find a lost painting, Max thinks it'll be easy money. But villains old and new come out, and the race is on for the painting and the secrets it contains. A race that will lead Max into a mess of magic spells, haunted houses, ancient curses, and even Blackbeard the Pirate.

These three novella-length tales explore psychological themes latent in the classic Grimm versions. Rather than presenting two-dimensional "good" heroines pitted against "evil" step-mothers, Grim portrays fully realized characters grappling with shame and self-doubt, suffering at the hands of mothers best thought of as narcissistic in modern terminology. Due to their dark themes and some graphic sexual material, these tales are not for the faint of heart and are unsuitable for children.

For Max and the gang, the idea that dead is not the end has become second nature. But the idea that a ghost who has moved on could be ripped back into the world? That is new. And terrifying. When a woman hires the Porter Agency to help with this very problem, she doesn’t know half of what she’s roping them into. Now, it is up to Max, Sandra, and Drummond to find who is behind this atrocity and stop them. Plus, there’s a spirit to return to the Beyond, a missing girl who might have been murdered, and a possible murderer who happens to be the new client.

The magic continues when North Carolina history mixes with the paranormal in the Max Porter paranormal mysteries. Fun, funny, suspenseful, and scary, this omnibus edition includes three audiobooks in the best-selling series: Southern Gothic, Southern Haunts, and Southern Curses.

When the Porter Agency takes on a case involving hex bags, magic stones, and a tragic train crash from the 1890s, the last thing Max Porter expects is to face changes in his family, too. But the Sandwich Boys are growing older and Max’s mother is getting sicker. While he attempts to juggle the needs of his loved ones with stopping an amateur witch from harming innocent people, he will have to reconcile these new realities against what he had expected his life to be.

Jonas is a recluse. He lives in the mountains alone, appreciative of the peace and solitude the wilderness has to offer. It also enables him to keep his unusual line of work a secret. At the behest of mysterious employers, Jonas has been instructed to wear a fur-covered suit and terrorize hikers at a local mountain range, all in an effort to maintain the mythical legend of Bigfoot.

Mordred is the son of King Arthur, bastard child of his union with his half sister Morgause. Prophesied by Merlin to kill Arthur, Mordred is stolen away from his mother and raised in secrecy by a kind couple on an isolated Orkney island in the hopes that he will defy his fate. Mordred, known to history as a traitor and a murderer, is no villain but a quick-witted young man, with hopes and dreams of his own. But try as he might, Mordred cannot escape Merlin's prophecy.

Battered and bruised from a previous relationship, Vanessa now prefers a quiet life as a chef on a new planet. But then a captivating star-being storms into her life and whips up a whirlwind of emotions that makes her heart yearn for things she has long forgotten. Arkon, a skilled soldier who prefers numbers, charts, and anything with absoluteness, is attracted to Vanessa. But she favors no rules, and lures him out of his comfort zone. Having been scorned once, he fears she will burn him.

In a future United States under the power of a charismatic leader, everyone gets the Mark at age 13. The Mark lets citizen shop, go to school, and even get medical care - but without it, you're on your own. Few refuse to get the Mark. Those who do...disappear.

There are other worlds. Other universes. And sometimes, they slip into our own. When Veronica “Roni” Rider discovers this, she also learns there are three people tasked with saving our universe - her grandmother and two 70-year-old friends. But it’s hard to defend your world with a bad back and arthritis. Tossed into a new reality that she never expected, Roni must decide if she will step up and join the team or forever leave behind all she has learned and all she cares about. Oh, and she’ll have to save the universe, too.

In a parallel world destroyed by magic, one woman fights all odds to survive and find the answers behind her mysterious past. Facing unrelenting challenges - crazed magicians, guitar-playing assassins, mutated beasts - she pushes through with a single-mindedness that may destroy all she holds dear.

Salo’s queen has finally accepted his desire to be a mystic despite taboos concerning men’s use of magic. But her acceptance is not support; it is strategy. Under a disguise of the queen’s making, Salo enters Jungle City as a pilgrim to the Red Temple, only to find a magical barrier barring his entrance. Left at the mercy of the warring political factions that run the city, Salo faces a series of obstacles wrought by an unseen hand, knowing he cannot return home without completing his pilgrimage. But Isa, King of the Saire clan, has her own plans for Salo.

In a post-apocalyptic world where all the women have died a group of men and boys survive. The story shall be told to preserve the past. History has gone back to its aural roots and the power of words is strong. Meet Nate, the storyteller, and the new secrets he brings back from the woods. William rules the group with youth and strength, but how long can that last? What about Uncle Ted, who spends so much time out in the woods? And what of mushrooms like heads, on the graves of women? Discover the Beauty.

From the origin of the angels; to the creation of the dragon race; to the humans Atum and Eve in paradise; and the fall of Atlantis; Merlin illuminates these stories and places them into a comprehensible framework. For the first time, Merlin explains the origins of the demonic race through the fallen angel Lilith and how darkness reentered the Earth after the Great Flood. Present-day dilemmas and the options for solving the myriad of problems facing humanity are also explored. And finally, a look at the future, potential possibilities for both the Earth and humanity are considered.

The world of Wonder has been thrown into chaos. Servers crashed, cities are in disarray, and death is permanent. Amidst all the upheaval, a new dungeon is growing. Undercroft Citadel. Ben Hales stands on the front lines, sword in hand, ready to continue his dark work. With an army of the dead and the blessing of a goddess, he’ll bring more fire and brimstone to Wonder than the game has ever known.

What if an ancient god escaped his fate and history was thrown to the wolves? Churchwarden Michaels thought it was just a run-of-the-mill crazy old man who stood in the graveyard, hellbent on studying the 1,000-year-old Viking memorial there. But when things start changing and outright disappearing, Michaels realizes there is more to this old man than meets the eye. Now, Michaels finds himself swept up in an ancient god’s quest to escape his destiny by reworking reality, putting history - and to Michaels’s dismay, Christianity itself - to the Viking sword.

Get ready for three more incredible tales in The Max Porter Paranormal Mysteries. Max, Sandra, and Drummond are back. After the war between the Mobleys and the Magi, a power void has been formed. An ancient cult now resurfaces to fill that void. And with it comes new ghosts, new witches, and new magic. But that would be too easy. Max’s family has plenty of troubles as the Sandwich Boys mature, Max’s mother falls ill, and Drummond may be lost forever. You won’t want to miss a single moment in the series that blends real history with ghosts, witches, curses, and more.

While hunting for an old time capsule that his grandma once buried in the woods, Max never expects to discover the home of a small magical creature. Nor does he expect that magical creature to have an extensive collection of lost items, all catalogued and labelled. Yet this is how he meets Tuftorious Snook, collector of lost objects, and just one of the many Finders living in Silverthorn Forest.

Max and Sandra Porter have encountered many frightening things in North Carolina, encounters that left them broke and broken. Now, just as Max and Sandra are getting their lives back together, they meet a pregnant woman convinced her house is trying to possess her baby. But this is no ordinary haunted house. Every avenue they investigate leads Max to the same daunting conclusion - there is no ghost doing the haunting. Yet something supernatural clearly is involved.