Splintered Icon


Book Description

As an antique map dealer in a small English town, Harry Blake appreciates the quiet life. But when a local landowner asks him to value a 400-year-old journal and is then brutally murdered twelve hours later, Harry begins to suspect he's being pulled into something sinister. What does the dusty journal contain that is a matter of life and death? Why is someone prepared to pay Harry a fortune for it? He turns to marine historian Zola Kahn to uncover the mysteries. And when they meet at the old Greenwich Observatory, Harry is convinced there is more to Zola than meets the eye. The trail of the journal leads him into a world of deadly Elizabethan conspiracies, with a thread of history that takes him through a thousand years of religious intrigue back to the blood-soaked Crusades and a long lost icon whose rediscovery has the potential to ignite a worldwide religious war. Combining the thrill of a contemporary chase novel with a historical puzzle this is one novel that will leave readers gasping for breath.




Splintered Icon


Book Description

Hired to appraise a four-hundred-year-old journal, supposedly by the cabin boy aboard Sir Walter Raleigh's expedition, antiquarian bookseller Harry Blake soon finds that the enigmatic volume is much more, when his client is murdered.




Splintered Bones


Book Description

She may be a Mississippi belle, but Sarah Booth Delaney is no pampered daddy’s girl. Unwed and over thirty, Sarah has her own set of problems--like coping with regular hauntings by her great-great-grandmother’s nanny, a busybody of a ghost who’s set on marrying her off to the first suitor who comes calling. But when an old friend is in trouble, Sarah Booth doesn’t hesitate to get involved. Splintered Bones Eulalee McBride has confessed to murdering her husband...and she wants Sarah to dig up the dirt on the violent scalawag to prove he got what he deserved. Sarah Booth suspects that her friend is lying through her pearly whites...but why? There’s certainly no lack of suspects in Zinnia, Mississippi, including Bud Lynch, a horse trainer who arouses killer lust in the town’s women. As Sarah Booth begins to put together the pieces of the case, a killer is preparing to strike again. And this time it could send one late-blooming southern sleuth into an early grave.




Shattered Icon


Book Description

An antiquarian bookseller finds himself caught in a deadly, centuries-old conspiracy in this gripping thriller. Antiquarian bookseller Harry Blake appreciates the quiet life. But when a local landowner is brutally murdered after asking Harry to value a four-hundred-year-old journal, Harry’s peace of mind is destroyed. Why is the dusty journal a matter of life or death? The trail leads him into a world of deadly Elizabethan conspiracies, religious intrigue and back to the blood-soaked Crusades . . . Can Harry and marine historian Zola Khan find the missing piece of a celestial puzzle? At stake are millions of dollars, and a terrorist plot to trigger total war. Perfect for fans of Dan Brown and Scott Mariani, Shattered Icon is a blistering thriller that won’t let go. Praise for Shattered Icon “Suspenseful. . . . Deftly mixing history, science and fiction, Napier keeps the action escalating toward a satisfying climax.” —Publishers Weekly Published as Splintered Icon in the United States




Splintered Light


Book Description

J. R. R. Tolkien is perhaps best known for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but it is in The Silmarillion that the true depth of Tolkien's Middle-earth can be understood. The Silmarillion was written before, during, and after Tolkien wrote The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. A collection of stories, it provides information alluded to in Tolkien's better known works and, in doing so, turns The Lord of the Rings into much more than a sequel to The Hobbit, making it instead a continuation of the mythology of Middle-earth. Verlyn Flieger's expanded and updated edition of Splintered Light, a classic study of Tolkien's fiction first published in 1983, examines The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings in light of Owen Barfield's linguistic theory of the fragmentation of meaning. Flieger demonstrates Tolkien's use of Barfield's concept throughout the fiction, showing how his central image of primary light splintered and refracted acts as a metaphor for the languages, peoples, and history of Middle-earth.




Unhinged


Book Description

Wonderland causes real-world trouble for a teenage descendant of Alice in this romantic, dark fantasy sequel by the bestselling author of Splintered. Alyssa Gardner has been down the rabbit hole. She was crowned Queen of the Red Court and faced the bandersnatch. She saved the life of Jeb, the boy she loves, and escaped the machinations of the disturbingly appealing Morpheus. Now all she has to do is graduate high school. That would be easier without her mother, freshly released from an asylum, acting overly protective and suspicious. And it would be much simpler if the mysterious Morpheus didn’t show up for school one day to tempt her with another dangerous quest in the dark, challenging Wonderland—where she (partly) belongs. Could she leave Jeb and her parents behind again, for the sake of a man she knows has manipulated her before? Will her mother and Jeb trust her to do what’s right? Readers will swoon over the satisfying return to Howard’s bold, sensual reimagining of Carroll’s classic. “I really enjoyed the first book of this series, but Unhinged cranks the Wonderland experience up to 11. It’s just . . . WOW! The last few scenes dangle Alyssa’s next adventure with shockers enough that I found my jaw needing a bit of assistance in coming off the floor. Write quickly, A. G. Howard! I need that next book!”—USA Today “Howard excels in sensory and sensuous descriptions.” —Kirkus Reviews “As intense, dark, and weird as the first volume, this worthy sequel creates a parallel narrative that brings the action out of Wonderland and into Alyssa’s hometown.” —The Bulletin of The Center for Children’s Books “A dark beauty fills the novel's pages, which will mesmerize teens with a taste for magic, romance or suspense. Unhinged lays the groundwork for a third book where anything could happen—it is Wonderland, after all.” —Shelf Awareness




Ensnared


Book Description

A teenage girl faces her evil nemesis in the Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland-inspired trilogy that “should sweep readers down the rabbit hole” (Publishers Weekly). After surviving a disastrous battle at prom, Alyssa has embraced her madness and gained perspective. She’s determined to rescue her two worlds and the people and netherlings she loves. Even if it means challenging Queen Red to a final battle of wills and wiles . . . and even if the only way to Wonderland, now that the rabbit hole is closed, is through the looking-glass world—a parallel dimension filled with mutated and violent netherling outcasts. In the final installment of the wildly popular Splintered trilogy, Alyssa and her dad journey into the heart of magic and mayhem in search of her mom and to set right all that’s gone wrong. Together with Jeb and Morpheus, they must salvage Wonderland from the decay and destruction that has ensnared it. But if they succeed and come out alive, can everyone truly have their happily ever after? Praise for the Splintered trilogy “Alyssa is one of the most unique protagonists I’ve come across in a while. Splintered is dark, twisted, entirely riveting, and a truly romantic tale.” —USA Today “Brilliant, because it is ambitious, inventive, and often surprising.” —The Boston Globe “A dark beauty fills the novel’s pages, which will mesmerize teens with a taste for magic, romance or suspense. Unhinged lays the groundwork for a third book where anything could happen—it is Wonderland, after all.” —Shelf Awareness




Nemesis


Book Description

THE CODE BURIED IN A CENTURIES-OLD MANUSCRIPT... From a remote Scottish mountain, Dr. Oliver Webb—one of the world's great physicists—is whisked away by a military helicopter and routed to the Mexican border. Along with the leading men of physics and one sexy atom smasher, Webb is given an impossible task: identify the asteroid—codename Nemesis—that is on course to collide with and destroy America. They have five days to stop it. If they can't, the President will retaliate first by ordering the U.S. military to pull the nuclear trigger... IS THE ONLY SALVATION... But when one of Webb's colleagues is found dead, he has every reason to suspect that there is more to Nemesis than he knows. Then, he makes a staggering discovery: That the secret to saving the world is hidden in a 17th Latin century manuscript that has gone mysteriously missing. FOR THE SURVIVAL OF THE U.S. An electrifying race against time, NEMESIS spans centuries and the globe in a white hot journey through physics, history, and geopolitics—and mankind's ultimate duel with the unknown. "Incredible...extraordinary...a really terrific novel!" --Jeff Long, New York Times bestselling author of The Descent on Splintered Icon




The Splintered Light


Book Description

Reminiscent of The Giver, this literary debut middle-grade fantasy is beautifully written and stunningly creative. "A deep dive into a world-within-a-world, a heart-within-a-heart." --Kathi Appelt, Newbery Honor winner and National Book Award finalist “The joys of the senses and the glories of creation shine in this radiant debut.” --Julie Berry, Printz Honor author of The Passion of Dolssa “Ginger Johnson's debut is as vibrant as the colors her characters wield in this novel about creativity, collaboration, and creation.” --Megan Frazer Blakemore, author of The Water Castle and The Firefly Code Ever since his brother Luc's disappearance and his father's tragic death, Ishmael has lived a monotonous existence helping his mother on their meager farm where everything is colorless. Until one morning a ray of light fragments Ishmael's gray world into something extraordinary: a spectrum of color he never knew existed. Emboldened, Ishmael sets out to find answers hoping his long lost brother might hold the key. He finds Luc in the Hall of Hue, one of the seven creative workshops at The Commons, the seat of all new creation. Luc is completing the final days of his training as a Color Keeper, adding the finishing touches of color to a brand new world designed and built by a team of young artisans. Although his heart calls him to a future as a Color Keeper, Ishmael feels too guilty to leave the duties of his old life behind. But when a catastrophe destroys nearly all of the color and light at the Hall of Hue, Ishmael and Luc are suddenly at severe odds. Torn between his family and his destiny, Ishmael must learn when to let go of the past, when to trust the path ahead, and when to believe in himself.




Splintered


Book Description

In the second installment of the SPLICED series, sixteen-year-old Jimi Corcoran risks her life to clear a friend's name--and uncovers the horrific truth about one of the most powerful men in the world. All Jimi wants is pick up the pieces of her life and move on. She never intended to uncover a conspiracy, or become a hero for chimera rights-- she just wanted to protect her best friend, Del. But now she's a public figure, and she can't quite shake the spotlight. . . or her suspicion that she's being followed. Still, when a strange chimera shows up, half-dead with nothing but an odd hospital bracelet to identify him, of course Jimi tries to help. But everything goes wrong-- and her friend Dr. Guzman is arrested for murder. Desperate to prove his innocence, Jimi does some digging, and discovers that the sick chimera came from a hospital owned by Howard Wells. . . . The businessman who pioneered the Genetic Heritage Act, which sought to label all chimeras as inhuman, and undeserving of basic rights. Has he really had a change of heart? Teaming up with her chimera friends Rex and Claudia, Jimi sets out to investigate Wells' hospital-- but discovers the seemingly-charitable endeavor is hiding an extensive, dark secret. To save lives and shut down a criminal operation, Jimi and her friends will have to risk everything-- and incur the wrath of Howard Wells himself. Action-packed and haunting, this sequel to Spliced digs deeper into a gritty, near-future world in which lawless science is a rich man's game-- and Jimi and her friends are unwilling players. This beautiful hardcover edition features a texturally embossed, spot-gloss jacket.