All acts of magick take on shades of grey in the end, especially for Emma, one of four females witches, who by birthrights belong in the social circles of the privileged upper ten thousand in London. Yet, by rumor of the unknown and the misunderstood, she stands apart, cut by her peers along with her cousins, because they hold a secret—each is gifted with magick.Their elders taught them respect for their powers even when mixed with a spanking amount of fanciful mischief. On the other hand, if a lesson were warranted, then white verses black magick could be hard to define. Nowhere was the color of steam more evident than in the matters of justice; a slippery term to define. Yet, the women had made breaking the laws of society their mission. Most of their nights at parties and balls were spent creating a magickal comedy of errors, helping the uptight aristocracy side step their fastidious standards.Only this year, just days before Valentine's Day – a damnable day for women without...

Freedom from responsibility, from self-control even. The thought pounds through Magara Force as the high-powered executive runs through the night-dark Florida rainforest refuge. In her mind she becomes she-animal, a wild creature at home in the ripe and savage land, Tarzan's equal. When hot need bites at her cunt, she-animal fucks. Then he joins her. Male and large, his shoes slapping the gravel make her think of heartbeats. She hears his quick breathing, feels the sweat rolling off him, his heat on her skin. The heat travels through her veins, flows into her skull, fingertips, belly, between her legs. Her clit tightens. Awake and hungry it demands satisfaction. Fuck me. Lay me down, pin me to the ground and fuck me. Destroy civilized-woman and let she-animal roar. Lon Storms, a man just stripped of the control and power that has been his way of life, has his own needs-needs this woman will satisfy. He'll take her hard and wild. She'll give as good as she gets, meeting him muscle for muscle and nerve for nerve, screaming out her climax so the night creatures fall silent. In his mind and body, his running partner becomes an earth creature. Unburdened by modern constraints, they'll mate-pure and simple. Neither can comprehend the consequences.

Kiron, the man who had once been a dragon-boy called Vetch, has united the dragon riders and managed to rid their world of both war and magical domination. But are the evil Magi really gone for good? As Kiron tries to build a new civilization at the site of an abandoned cliff dweller's city, called Aerie, conflicts arise, and he soon realizes there is a vast conspiracy at work, which includes individuals who have infiltrated every walk of life-even his own family. Once the heads of the Magi, these conspirators are determined to regain their sinister control.

The crow king is dead, and in the field below all the creatures tremble as the Murder gathers to choose a new king from the rival sons Sintus, Milus and Nascus. When the crows drive everyone from the field to keep the reckoning secret, the quail Isyl, Cormo and Harlequin believe they must simply follow their elders to safety.But when the crows turn against each other, the forest becomes full of danger. In the confusion the last wolf, Asmod, shucks off his isolation and begins to raise an army to claim the kingdom for his own. As hidden truths are brought to light and enormous sacrifi ces are made Isyl and his friends must make an epic journey and an unthinkable alliance if the lesser animals are to survive.

In humankind’s Third Expansion, the species has spread throughout the galaxy and assimilated all challengers but the mysterious Xeelee; in a 20,000-year stalemate, humans have kept them at bay in the galaxy’s center. Time travel (used by both sides to gather intelligence) creates numerous “drafts” of time lines, but apart from this uncertainty the endless war has brought about a strangely static human society. Soldiers and pilots are bred in vats near the Front and taught only war; few survive past their teens. When Prius, a young pilot, captures a Xeelee ship and takes it to the recent past for study, an innovative program is begun to develop new weapons technology. While Prius Blue (the pilot from the future time line, now stuck in this one) is sent to the Front, the younger Prius Red (from this time line) must travel throughout the solar system with an eccentric but brilliant scientist in a quest for knowledge needed for the anti-Xeelee weapon. Working with widely differing elements of society, Red learns many secrets he’d rather not know, adjusts to new knowledge, and grows into a leadership role: he heads up Exultant, the elite squadron tasked with deploying the new weapon. Even in a genre characterized by unfettered imagination, Baxter’s future universe is extraordinary in its depth, breadth, and richness of invention. Cutting-edge physics, subtle humor, time-travel paradoxes, and loopy twists combine to give readers a wonderfully original sci-fi experience. It can be read independently of Coalescent , which is set in the same universe but mostly in the present age.

Jack Liffey, a decent guy, compassionate and brave, again finds himself on a case that turns familiar city streets into dangerous war zones.Liffey's city is greater Los Angeles, his turf the forgotten suburbs, run-down neighbourhoods, and volatile ethnic communities. To the anguish and despair of parents and protectors a city like LA holds lots of places for sons and daughters to hide, or be hidden. Liffey understands loss. First he lost his job in the aerospace industry, then he lost his wife and daughter. In his unerring ability to track down missing children, however, he has found his true calling. His newest case takes him deep into Los Angeles' Vietnamese community, where a beautiful young woman, Phuong, has disappeared. But the exotic realities and complex alliances of Little Saigon are not all that Liffey has to contend with as he uncovers the corporate fraud and feuds surrounding plans to develop a new airport at El Toro Marine Base.

1890s New Orleans keeps its secrets like a sultry courtesan, but when the prim and proper Miss Eve spied Chapin, her husband, with a little blonde secret of his own, her anger turns to longing. How can she learn to ignite her husband's passion? Her brother-in-law, the enigmatic Dewel, suggests the highly skilled maids from the School of Domestic Endeavour. They arrive, along with the bewitching Monique, to train Eve in the ways of Seduction. However, things spin rapidly out of control. The maids are not what they seem, and lessons in deportment soon turn into a spanking party! When Chapin discovers these curious trysts, Eve fears she will lose her prestigious place in New Orleans society. Then Chapin's covert life unravels to reveal the biggest secret of all. Mc MacNeal is the undisputed queen of kinky erotica set in the world of corsets and chaperones.

Tea shop owner Theodosia Browning knows that something's brewing in the high society of Charleston—something other than her newest tea...The Indigo Tea Shop, Charleston's favorite spot of tea, has just come out with its latest flavor: Gunpowder Green. Theodosia Browning cannot wait to hear its praises as it is unveiled at the annual yacht race. But when she hears the crack of an antique gun meant to end the race, a member of Charleston's elite falls dead. Theodosia has a hunch that his demise was no accident—and will go out of her way to prove it. But if she doesn't act fast, Theo will find herself in hot water with some boiling-mad Charlestonians—and more than a little gun-chai...# Includes a delicious recipe and tea-making tips!

Poor, plain spinster Bette is compelled to survive on the condescending patronage of her socially superior relatives in Paris: her beautiful, saintly cousin Adeline, the philandering Baron Hulot and their daughter Hortense. Already deeply resentful of their wealth, when Bette learns that the man she is in love with plans to marry Hortense, she becomes consumed by the desire to exact her revenge and dedicates herself to the destruction of the Hulot family, plotting their ruin with patient, silent malice. Cousin Bette is a gripping tale of violent jealousy, sexual passion and treachery, and a brilliant portrayal of the grasping, bourgeois society of 1840s Paris. The culmination of the Comédie humaine, Balzac's epic chronicle of his times, it is one of his greatest triumphs as a novelist.