A collection of science fiction tales includes work by Robert A. Heinlein, David Drake, Anne McCaffrey, C. J. Cherryh, Ursula K. LeGuin, Fritz Leiber, and A. E. van Vogt.**

by Isaac Asimov, Robert SilverbergIn a twenty-first century Earth where the development of the positronic brain has revolutionized the way of life, beloved household robot ""Andrew"" struggles with his unusual capacity for emotion and dreams of becoming human. Reprint.

Robert Jeremy Cole, the legendary doctor and hero of The Physician, left an enduring legacy. From the 11th century on, the eldest son in each generation of the Cole family has borne the same first name and middle initial and many of these men have followed the medical profession. A few have been blessed with their ancestor's diagnostic skill and the "sixth sense" they call The Gift, the ability to know instinctively when death is impending. The tragedy of Rob J.'s life is the deafness of his son, Robert Jefferson Cole, who is called Shaman by everyone who knows him. Shaman's life is difficult. First, he must learn to speak so that he can take his place in the hearing world, and then he must fight against the prejudices of a society where physical differences matter. As Shaman struggles to achieve his identity, the Coles, along with the rest of America, are drawn into the conflict between the North and the South.

Wildly unpredictable, the most desirable beauty in the land, Megan Penworthy has set her amorous sights on Ambrose St. James, a man she has never met but has every intention of marrying. And no other suitor will satisfy her especially not the common, if uncommonly handsome, horse breeder, Devlin Jefferys. Posing as lowborn Jefferys to escape a potentially fatal confrontation, Sir Ambrose is enthralled by the brazen, duke-hunting redhead. Without revealing his true identity, he vows to seduce and tame her, thereby foiling Megan's plans to marry the man of her dreams. But the notorious rogue never imagined the enchanting schemer would turn out to be the only woman he would ever dream of marrying.

A camp-out trip is almost spoiled by loud music and the disappearance of a lantern—and Grandfather.

Burmese meditation master Sayadaw U Pandita shows us that freedom is as immediate as breathing, as fundamental as a footstep. In this book he describes the path of the Buddha and calls all of us to that heroic journey of liberation. Enlivened by numerous case histories and anecdotes, In This Very Life is a matchless guide to the inner territory of meditation as described by the Buddha.

A study of the hero in his archetypal struggle against death, this novel follows the Civil War in the West through the career of Confederate Rivers Allard, a Kentuckian who rides with Forrest. Southern Classics Series.

Hilfy Chanur, once a member of her aunt's crew on The Pride of Chanur, is now captain of her own vessel, Chanur's Legacy. It should have been the ideal existence for Hilfy, her fondest dream fulfilled, but instead the young captain's increasingly hard-pressed to take care of her ship's business. So when Meetpoint's stationmaster offers her a million credits to transport a small, mysterious, "religious" object it seems like a golden opportunity—perhaps even too good an opportunity.... Yet despite her misgivings, Hilfy feels it's a comission she can't turn down. But soon she and the Legacy are caught in an ever-tightening web of intrigue. And only time will tell whether the young captain can determine who is her ally and who is her enemy in this deadly game of interstellar politics...

When a mysterious suicide follows an outbreak of poison pen letters in the quiet village of Tilling Green, Detective Inspector Frank Abbott of Scotland Yard dispatches Miss Silver to investigate. It soon becomes apparent to Miss Silver that the suicide was murder and that there is a vicious and determined killer at work.

In Christopher Moore\'s ingenious debut novel, we meet one of the most memorably mismatched pairs in the annals of literature. The good-looking one is one-hundred-year-old ex-seminarian and "roads" scholar Travis O\'Hearn. The green one is Catch, a demon with a nasty habit of eating most of the people he meets. Behind the fake Tudor facade of Pine Cove, California, Catch sees a four-star buffet. Travis, on the other hand, thinks he sees a way of ridding himself of his toothy traveling companion. The winos, neo-pagans, and deadbeat Lotharios of Pine Cove, meanwhile, have other ideas. And none of them is quite prepared when all hell breaks loose.

"We're roommates with benefits," I offer. "Taking advantage of our mutual attraction for a mutually beneficial arrangement. For the summer." Donovan When my honeymooning best friend asks me to abandon my beloved Manhattan to house sit for him in Rosedale, Connecticut, I plan to use my small-town summer to finish my unfinishable play. Until it turns out the house was double-booked, and I suddenly have a roommate for the summer. Honestly, Beck's not so bad—he's either sunning in a Speedo or baking cookies that taste like my childhood—but how can I get any work done with that kind of distraction? Beck After dropping out of law school, I need to figure out my next act, but I'd rather procrastinate by the pool while house sitting for my cousin. I wasn't expecting company, but I'm happy to share, especially since Donovan is as hot as the pavement in July. He seems to be into me,...

With Trouble in Queenstown, Delia Pitts introduces private investigator Vandy Myrick in a powerful mystery that blends grief, class, race, and family with thrilling results.Evander "Vandy" Myrick became a cop to fulfill her father's expectations. After her world cratered, she became a private eye to satisfy her own. Now she's back in Queenstown, New Jersey, her childhood home, in search of solace and recovery. It's a small community of nine thousand souls crammed into twelve square miles, fenced by cornfields, warehouses, pharma labs, and tract housing. As a Black woman, privacy is hard to come by in "Q-Town," and worth guarding.For Vandy, that means working plenty of divorce cases. They're nasty, lucrative, and fun in an unwholesome way. To keep the cash flowing and expand her local contacts, Vandy agrees to take on a new client, the mayor's nephew, Leo Hannah. Leo wants Vandy to tail his wife to uncover evidence for a divorce suit.At first the...

"The Mighty Barbarian Swordsman set out to destroy his most deadly adversary--a beautiful sorceress with all the Powers of Darkness at her command."Kothar the Cumberian. With a name like that you might suspect that this character is a Conan knockoff. Well, in this case, if you thought that, you would pretty much suspect-o correct-o. He leads a defensive force against an invading wizard and narrowly loses. One difference is that he has a magic sword. A lich offers it to him to use to save the queen whose army has just been destroyed. He'd rather keep the sword than have the princedom she offers him for rescuing her wizard. He also gets paid to go treasure hunting, and finds a minotaur, and deals with a witch woman in a wood, and actually gets to go sword to sword with a sorcerous baron.

Our Hiroshima-based spirit hunting team faces a ghostly grudge more vicious than ever before... When the Abnormal Disaster Unit receives a call for backup from a neighboring town, they send Misato, Ryouji, and Hirose as a party of three to respond. The overview of the case is simple: A haunted kagura mask has disappeared. To deduce the mystery, they turn to Yukiko—a college student researching Hiroshima-style kagura dance. However, when a suspicious man wearing the missing mask attacks Yukiko’s father, the police get involved. Thus begins a chaotic whirlwind of incidents, all leading back to the kagura mask’s influence. The mask slowly sneaks up on them, whispering sweet promises… “Then, why should thou not hope to become a demon?” This volume also includes “The Flower Thief’s Favor,” a prequel set amid the fluttering sakura petals of spring.