Nick and Charlie: A Solitaire novella (The Solitaire Series)

Teen & Young Adult

ALICE OSEMAN

Literature & Fiction

Blackstone Publishing, Inc.

About the Author\nDEBRA MAY MACLEOD is an author of historical fiction focusing on the ancient Roman religion of Vesta and the Vestal Virgins. She is privileged to have been invited to participate in research excursions in the Forum Romanum, the Forum of Caesar and Imperial Fora, including places inaccessible to the general public, and informs her writing and work with this invaluable perspective. Debra has a bachelor of arts (English, classics) as well as a law degree. She lives in Canada with her husband and son, visiting Italy often for research (and sun).\nFor the heroes of Rome, and its enemies, it is a time of reckoning. 
There is a saying in Rome: the Tarpeian Rock is close to the capitol. Meaning that even at the height of power, one is never far from a fall. As the Vestalis Maxima, Pomponia has guided her order through the collapse of Rome's Republic and the rise of the Empire. Her wit and piety have elevated the Vestals to a position of unprecedented prestige--and her friendship with Caesar Augustus has afforded her personally a life of political influence and privilege. She has been adored and untouchable. 
Yet that illusion of safety has been shattered by a ruthless enemy who continues to menace her from the shadows, his vengeful nature escalating to terrifying new heights that threaten not just Pomponia, but all those she cares for -- including the emperor himself. 
Worse, it seems that the gods are also turning against her when the Vestal order suffers an unparalleled crisis that Pomponia must answer for. Struggling to maintain her position, Pomponia looks to her slaves and a renegade charioteer for support as her complex relationship with her protégé, Quintina, brings painful secrets to light. 
Faced with threats from all directions, Pomponia must be willing to sacrifice everything -- even her own morality -- to protect her status, the Vestal order, and the lives of those around her. 
In Empire of Iron, the unflinching conclusion to the Vesta Shadows trilogy, Pomponia realizes that, like Rome itself, she must become even more ruthless than her enemies if she is to survive. 
The Vesta Shadows trilogy spans decades, from 45 BCE to 14 CE. It follows the life of the Vestal priestess Pomponia Occia, who is inspired by the real Vestal Occia who lived during this time, serving in the Temple of Vesta for more than fifty years. Set during the tumultuous years that saw the fall of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire under Augustus -- and beyond -- it dramatizes some of the major historical events that occurred during her lifetime while simultaneously bringing ancient Rome to life with fast-paced, engrossing, and visceral storylines played out by a striking cast of characters.

Empire of Iron: A Novel of the Vestal Virgins (The Vesta Shadows Trilogy)

Debra May Macleod

Genre Fiction

Lilith: A Novel

Eric Rickstad

About the Author\nBEN BOVA (1932–2020), American author of more than one hundred books of science fact and fiction, was awarded posthumously the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award. His work earned six Hugo Awards. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation in 2005, and his novel Titan won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for the best science fiction novel of 2006. In his early career, he was a technical editor for Project Vanguard, the United States’s first effort to launch a satellite into space in 1958. He then was a science writer for Avco Everett Research Laboratory, which built the heat shields for the Apollo 11 module. He held the position of president emeritus of the National Space Society and served as president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.\nThe final completed novel by Ben Bova 
Intergalactic explorer, venture capitalist, and Casanova Sam Gunn may be gone, but his legacy lives on in his son, Sam Gunn Jr. 
In his first-ever adventure, Sam Gunn Jr. sets off to fulfill his father’s left-behind mission of interplanetary enterprising. He soon learns his father’s shoes are tough to fill, but he is up for the task. Junior takes a journey through the stars, falling in love with beautiful women and leaving his unique mark everywhere he ventures. Soon, however, this trip through the universe takes a dangerous turn when Junior lands on Saturn and learns about a recent scientific discovery that will change everything, possibly forever. 
Will he be able to save the universe and live up to his father’s name? Take an unforgettable ride through space in master sci-fi author Ben Bova’s exciting novel!

Sam Gunn Jr.

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Ben BOVA

Science Fiction

About the Author\nWILLIAM KOTZWINKLE has sold over ten million books. Two-time winner of the National Magazine Award for Fiction, he came to prominence with his cult classic The Fan Man. His novel Dr. Rat won the World Fantasy Award, and his children's series Walter the Farting Dog sold two million copies. Movie credits include Book of Love and Nightmare on Elm Street 4. He also wrote the narration for Michael Jackson's E.T. record, which won a special children's Grammy. His books have been praised by such diverse luminaries as T. C. Boyle, Stephen King, Joanna Lumley, Ian McEwan, Terry Pratchett, Ram Dass, and Kurt Vonnegut. He divides his time between rural Arizona and the coast of Maine.\nAward-winning and bestselling author William Kotzwinkle is back with the second in the darkly comedic Felonious Monk series featuring Tommy Martini, a Benedictine monk with an anger management problem. Felonious Monk was praised as "amiably satirical" (Washington Post) and "a whiplash adventure" (Wall Street Journal). 
Coalville is on fire -- from below. The old mines are burning, and everyone has poison gas in their brain. Maybe that's why the town is so corrupt. Now that he's a Benedictine monk, Tommy Martini never wants to see the place again -- hell-raisers there hold a grudge till they die, and he's on their wish list. But a girl he once loved has gone missing, and his best friend from childhood has been murdered. Among the living is a shy girl from Tommy's past, who wants to help. Together, they learn the secret of the elephant's graveyard, and it's not in Africa. 
At the heart of Coalville is Parade Square, with plenty of pigeons, drugs, and child prostitution. It's the new small-town America, where Dionysus is dancing once again. William Kotzwinkle's insight into this paradigm shift is shot through with the humor he is famous for, and the result is a spicy brew, a bloody martini -- just one sip may keep you up all night.

Bloody Martini: A Felonious Monk Mystery (The Felonious Monk Mysteries) (Felonious Monk Mysteries, 2)

Humor & Entertainment

William Kotzwinkle

Humor

Review\n"A riveting adventure…Memorable characters and a chilling plot are certain to keep the reader turning pages deep into the night." --Leonard Goldberg, internationally bestselling author of the Daughter of Sherlock Holmes mysteries, on Adverse Effects (Book 1 of The Memory Thieves series)\nDon’t forget to be afraid. 
Neuropsychiatrist Cristina Silva cannot escape her past. The voice in her head of her former identity won't let her. Cristina also can't quite manage to force herself to forget the ex-boyfriend she dumped: handsome police detective Gary Wilson. 
Soon after beginning her new job at the Longwood Memory Center, Cristina receives a startling phone call from her contact at the FBI: an assassin is crisscrossing the country, killing anyone connected to the now-defunct pharmaceutical company ReMind -- people like Cristina. The shadowy criminal enterprise Zero Dark is back. 
Indeed, an assassin is tracking Cristina, a literal femme fatale known as Dama Branca. Like Cristina, DB's memory was robbed by Zero Dark. Transfixed by the brilliant doctor, DB's unsure what's preventing her from killing Cristina. Like Cristina, DB has memory glitches and longs to interpret them. Whether or not these have to do with Cristina, she doesn't know, but she senses their fates are entwined -- with any luck, not fatally. 
Danger lurks in the shadows. Cristina's spurned lover, Wilson, is investigating the suspicious deaths of local teens, convinced they're not accidents. Before their bewildering ends, all the victims exhibit bizarre behavior, and there are now terrified whispers among their friends of a hooded boogeyman called Sack Man. One exceptional young man, Reggie Horne, is clearly in the middle of this bedlam. Wilson vows to prevent Sack Man from claiming Reggie as his next casualty. 
And when Cristina's in danger, Wilson is never far away. Just as it becomes apparent their two stories are entangled, the peril shoots sky-high. With at least one killer in their wake, they must quickly determine what's real and what's not. Unlocking Cristina's memories could save many lives -- her own included.

Toxic Effects (The Memory Thieves Series)

Joel Shulkin

A deeply felt family narrative that examines the fine line between selfishness and what passes for love. After nearly two hundred years of housing retardants, as they were once known, the Beechwood Institute is closing the doors on its dark history, and the complicated task of reassigning residents has begun. Ella Jules, having arrived at Beechwood at the tender age of eight, must now rely on the state to decide her future. Ella's aging parents have requested that she be returned to her childhood home, much to the distress of Ella's siblings, but more so to Lynetta, her beloved caretaker who has been by her side for decades. The five adult Jules children, haunted by their early memories of their sister, and each dealing with the trauma of her banishment in their own flawed way, are converging on the family home, arriving from the far corners of the country--secrets in tow--to talk some sense into their aging parents and get to the root of this inexplicable change of heart. The Precious Jules examines the thin line between selfishness and what passes for love. This family story asks what is best for one child in light of what is perceived as the greater good, and just what is the collective legacy of buried family secrets, shame, and helplessness. The Precious Jules is a deeply felt family narrative that will make you fall in love with these flawed and imperfect characters standing on the threshold of an awakening they never expected.

The Precious Jules

Shawn Nocher

Literary

A woman has been kidnapped.Now Jonathan Stride must decide if her husband wants her back ... dead or alive. After nearly dying of a gunshot wound, Jonathan Stride has been on leave from the Duluth Police for more than a year. When his partner, Maggie Bei, gets called about a suspicious abduction involving a local lawyer, she tells Stride it's time for him to come back. Attorney Gavin Webster says he paid $100,000 in ransom money to the men who kidnapped his wife. Now they've disappeared with the cash, and she's still missing. Gavin claims to be desperate to find her--but Stride discovers that the lawyer had plenty of motive to be the mastermind behind the crime. Even as Stride digs for the truth about Gavin Webster and his wife, he must also deal with a crisis in his own marriage. His wife, Serena, is struggling after the death of her mother, the abusive woman she hadn't seen in twenty-five years. When she loses control at a crime scene and draws her gun on a fellow cop, Serena finds herself kicked off the Webster case. Alone at her desk, she begins hunting through old police files and starts to ask questions about a mother's death that was written off as suicide. That death haunts Serena like an echo of her own childhood--but her obsession with it takes a terrible toll. As Serena shuts him out of her despair, and his own investigation grows increasingly tangled, Stride wonders whether going back to his detective work was the right decision. But all he can do is keep moving forward. Because Stride fears the Webster kidnapping may be only one part of a horrific murder conspiracy. And it's not over yet.

The Zero Night: A Jonathan Stride Novel (The Jonathan Stride Series)

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

BRIAN FREEMAN

Mystery

Idaho, 1879. When the McCandles gang shoots up a small town, seventeen-year-old Joseph Roper decides to bring them to justice, alone. Decades later in 1938, he tells his story to an interviewer with the Federal Writers Project. "A lot of people go to those moving-picture shows and think they're seeing the real McCoy, but that's not the way it was. You take a guy like William S. Hart, or that kid, John Wayne. They try to come off rough-barked, but they're nothing but a bunch of lilies compared to men like Ian McCandles. "I'll tell you something else about those cowboy pictures. They're clean, barely a smudge of dirt anywhere, but what happened out there in City of Rocks wasn't clean. It was grimy and smelly and gut-numbingly cold. Men died, and when they did they didn't just grab their chests and fall over. They got knocked down hard and the life spilled out of them like blood from a butchered hog. I guess I ought to know since I was there. Since it was me who did most of the killing that day."

City of Rocks: A Western Story (The Five Star Western Series)

Michael Zimmer

The White Streak: A Western Duo

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