Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.

Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.

In a world where the approaching winter will last four decades, kings and queens, knights and renegades struggle for control of a throne. Some fight with sword and mace, others with magic and poison. Beyond the Wall to the north, meanwhile, the Others are preparing their army of the dead to march south as the warmth of summer drains from the land. After more than a decade devoted primarily to TV and screen work, Martin (The Armageddon Rag, 1983) makes a triumphant return to high fantasy with this extraordinarily rich new novel, the first of a trilogy. Although conventional in form, the book stands out from similar work by Eddings, Brooks and others by virtue of its superbly developed characters, accomplished prose and sheer bloody-mindedness. Although the romance of chivalry is central to the culture of the Seven Kingdoms, and tournaments, derring-do and handsome knights abound, these trappings merely give cover to dangerous men and women who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. When Lord Stark of Winterfell, an honest man, comes south to act as the King's chief councilor, no amount of heroism or good intentions can keep the realm under control. It is fascinating to watch Martin's characters mature and grow, particularly Stark's children, who stand at the center of the book. Martin's trophy case is already stuffed with major prizes, including Hugos, Nebulas, Locus Awards and a Bram Stoker. He's probably going to have to add another shelf, at least. Major ad/promo.

A high-octane thriller from Ward Larsen, the author of The Perfect Assassin.

David Slaton has a good life. He has a new wife and a house in the Virginia suburbs. But he also has a dark past. Slaton is a former kidon, the most lethal Israeli assassin ever created.

After decades of work, a brilliant scientist has taken Iran to the threshold of its dream — a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile. Mossad must eliminate the man, but with a spy lurking high in its ranks there is only one option: bring back Slaton. The kidon has vowed to never kill again, but when his wife is attacked and forced to flee across Europe, events force his hand.

Slaton plots to assassinate one of the most closely guarded men on earth. Success is improbable. Survival unlikely. Only when he learns the labyrinthine truth does Slaton see one high-stakes chance. A chance for an assassin's game…

The first novel of the trilogy introducing Bernard Samson and the rest of the bickering, in-fighting intelligence community in which he is a much put-upon member. After five years of desk work, Bernie finds himself ordered back into the field.

The second novel in William Kennedy’s much-loved Albany cycle depicts Billy Phelan, a slightly tarnished poker player, pool hustler, and small-time bookie. A resourceful man full of Irish pluck, Billy works the fringes of the Albany sporting life with his own particular style and private code of honor, until he finds himself in the dangerous position of potential go-between in the kidnapping of a political boss’s son.

In Thailand, two men hire some modern-day pirates to hijack a Russian freighter. It is appallingly easy and the ship sails, undetected, toward the western coast of North America.On the Bering Sea, the USS Sojourner Truth, a Coast Guard cutter, patrols the Maritime Boundary Line. The seasoned crew, dealing with a high volume of ocean-going traffic, is finding that choppy seas are making their efforts even more difficult.In Washington DC, a CIA analyst traces the sale of black market plutonium. As the pieces fit together, he realizes that a terrorist attack is under way on a valuable-and vulnerable-American target. He also sees that the Sojourner Truth is sailing right into the attack-putting his estranged wife, the second in command on the Sojourner, at the heart of an international crisis.Relentlessly gripping and frighteningly plausible, The Blindfold Game is the pinnacle of Dana Stabenow+s award-winning career.

Eve Duncan returns in a thriller that pits her against the most evil mind she has ever encountered: a ruthless killer who taunts her with his every move…and who has a special affinity for blood. When a Georgia senator's daughter is found murdered, and her body drained of blood, Eve Duncan is drawn into the web of Kevin Jelak – a serial murderer who is on Eve's short list of killers who might know something about her missing daughter Bonnie. When a goblet of blood is found in Eve's refrigerator, she knows the taunting is over…and the games have begun. As Eve and Jelak engage in a dance of death, Eve must call upon those she loves and trusts the most…even if it means bringing them into the game as well.

GhostWalker Jack Norton is a genetically enhanced telepathic sniper on a mission to rescue his brother in the jungles of the Congo. Then he meets Briony, a beautiful rebel on a mission of her own-and hiding secrets that a shadowy enemy would kill to discover.

There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. In Rawi Hage's unforgettable novel, winner of the 2008 IMPAC Prize, this famous quote by Camus becomes a touchstone for two young men caught in Lebanon's civil war. Bassam and George are childhood best friends who have grown to adulthood in war torn Beirut. Now they must choose their futures: to stay in the city and consolidate power through crime; or to go into exile abroad, alienated from the only existence they have known. Bassam chooses one path: obsessed with leaving Beirut, he embarks on a series of petty crimes to finance his departure. Meanwhile, George builds his power in the underworld of the city and embraces a life of military service, crime for profit, killing, and drugs.

Told in the voice of Bassam, De Niro's Game is a beautiful, explosive portrait of a contemporary young man shaped by a lifelong experience of war. Rawi Hage's brilliant style mimics a world gone mad: so smooth and apparently sane that its razor-sharp edges surprise and cut deeply. A powerful meditation on life and death in a war zone, and what comes after.

Christine Feehan, New York Times bestselling author explores the limits of endurance and the boundaries of passion in a life-and-death struggle to survive…

It begins as a mission to protect a politician from an assassination threat. But the operation takes an unexpected turn when Mari, a mysteriously beautiful GhostWalker, is taken hostage. At the same time, Ken Norton, expert assassin and himself a GhostWalker warrior, is on a mission of his own-one that reaches into Mari's own past. No stranger to the ways of violent warfare, Mari must join forces with Ken and trust his every move-each one more intimate than the last.

Colonel John Sheppard knows it's going to be a bad day when he wakes up in a downed Jumper with a head wound and no memory of how he got there.

Things don't get any better.

Concussed, far from the Stargate, and with his only remaining team mate, Teyla, injured, Sheppard soon finds himself a prisoner of the local population. And as he gradually pieces the situation together he realises that his team is scattered across a tropical archipelago, unable to communicate with each other or return to the Stargate. And to make matters worse, there's a Wraith cruiser in the skies above…

Meanwhile, Ronon and Doctor Zelenka find themselves in an unlikely partnership as they seek a way off their island and back to the Stargate. And Doctor McKay? He just wants to get the Stargate working…

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La Tierra se ve amenazada por los insectores, una raza extraterrestre completamente ajena a los humanos, a los que pretende destruir. Para vencer a los insectores es necesario un nuevo tipo de genio militar, y por ello se ha permitido el nacimiento de Ender, quien en cierta forma constituye una anomalía viviente: es el tercer hijo de una pareja en un mundo que ha limitado estrictamente a dos el número de descendientes. El niño Ender deberá aprender todo lo relativo a la guerra en los videojuegos y en los peligrosos ensayos de batallas que realiza con sus compañeros. A la habilidad en el tratamiento de las emociones, ya característica de Orson Scott Card, se une en este libro el interés por el empleo de las simulaciones de ordenador y juegos de fantasía en la formación militar, estratégica y psicológica del protagonista.

The gripping conclusion to Robert Stanek's The Cards in the Deck! Finally available for order, this thriller written by a former military intelligence analyst who worked with the NSA tells the all-too-real story of a former NSA operative.

In the heart of the Middle East, former NSA agent, Scott Evers, is drawn deep into an explosive terrorist plot. Two ships in the Mediterranean were destroyed, a Navy helicopter has been shot down, and two SEAL teams are missing in action. As he races to find answers, Scott is being hunted by a rogue operative that wants him dead no matter what it takes. When the dust clears, Scott's world will never be the same again.

Retired CIA assassin Kirk McGarvey faces the most formidable adversary of his long and storied career in End Game by David Hagberg.

Langley is experiencing a series of gruesome murders. The CIA’s own headquarters should be the safest spot on the planet, but a highly professional, violently psychopathic assassin, who hideously disfigures his victims, strikes without mercy.

The murders spread from Langley to a prison outside of Athens, where the first clue to what will become the End Game surfaces. A code carved into four copper panels of the legendary statue in a courtyard at CIA headquarters, known as Kryptos, predicts the means and the terrible necessity for the serial killings.

Before the first Iraq war, something horrifying was buried in the foothills above the oil city of Kirkuk. It will not remain buried forever.

Only Kirk McGarvey, Pete Boylan, and the CIA’s odd-duck genius, Otto Rencke, can find the truth still buried in Iraq. A truth so devastating it could well ignite the entire Middle East into an unstoppable, apocalyptic war.

#1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci returns with his most breathtaking thriller yet!

Will Robie and Jessica Reel are two of the most lethal people alive. They're the ones the government calls in when the utmost secrecy is required to take out those who plot violence and mass destruction against the United States. And through every mission, one man has always had their backs: their handler, code-named Blue Man.

But now, Blue Man is missing.

Last seen in rural Colorado, Blue Man had taken a rare vacation to go fly fishing in his hometown when he disappeared off the grid. With no communications since, the team can't help but fear the worst.

Sent to investigate, Robie and Reel arrive in the small town of Grand to discover that it has its own share of problems. A stagnant local economy and a woefully understaffed police force have made this small community a magnet for crime, drugs, and a growing number of militant fringe groups.

But lying in wait in Grand is an even more insidious and sweeping threat, one that may shake the very foundations of America. And when Robie and Reel find themselves up against an adversary with superior firepower and a home-court advantage, they'll be lucky if they make it out alive, with or without Blue Man…

Lusitania es único en la galaxia. Un planeta donde coexisten tres especies inteligentes: los cerdis, que evolucionaron en el mismo planeta; los humanos que llegaron como colonizadores; y la reina colmena y sus insectores, llevados por el joven Ender unos años atrás. El planeta ha sido condenado por el Consejo Estelar a causa de la descolada, el virus letal para los humanos e imprescindible para la biología de los cerdis. Jane, la inteligencia artificial aliada de Ender y nacida del nexo de ansibles que comunican la galaxia, ha salvado Lusitania interfiriendo con la Flota Estelar y creando un insondable misterio a escala galáctica. En el planeta Sendero, con una cultura derivada de la antigua China, la niña Qing-jao tiene el encargo de descubrir la causa de la desaparición de la flota estelar. Su prodigiosa inteligencia le ha de permitir lograrlo, y ello pone en peligro la existencia de Jane y la supervivencia de las tres especies inteligentes conocidas. La intervención de Ender se hace de nuevo imprescindible.

Nominado a los Premios Hugo y Locus, 1992.

De Aarde is in oorlog met een agressief buitenaards ras. Het leger is op zoek naar een genetisch speciaal slag mensen als officieren in de oorlog. Een van hen is Ender, die als jongen bij zijn ouders gehaald wordt om samen met een groep andere jongens getraint te worden tot marinier.

In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut—young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.

Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers, Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister.

Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If the world survives, that is.

Patricia Briggs, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Mercy Thompson novels, "always enchants her readers." (Lynn Viehl, New York Times bestselling author) Now her Alpha and Omega series—set in a world of shifting shapes, loyalty, and passion—brings werewolves out of the darkness and into a society where fear and prejudice could make the hunters prey...

They say opposites attract. And in the case of werewolves Anna Latham and Charles Cornick, they mate. The son—and enforcer—of the leader of the North American werewolves, Charles is a dominant alpha. While Anna, an omega, has the rare ability to calm others of her kind.

Now that the werewolves have revealed themselves to humans, they can't afford any bad publicity. Infractions that could have been overlooked in the past must now be punished, and the strain of doing his father's dirty work is taking a toll on Charles.

Nevertheless, Charles and Anna are sent to Boston, when the FBI requests the pack's help on a local serial killer case. They quickly realize that not only the last two victims were werewolves—all of them were. Someone is targeting their kind. And now Anna and Charles have put themselves right in the killer's sights...

In the final days of World War II, a mysterious German U-boat was seen by a United States naval vessel in the Atlantic Ocean, just north of South America.

Before the ship could fire upon the sub, it vanished.

History tells us that, after the war, the German high command scattered across world hoping to evade punishment for their crimes.

What it doesn't tell us is what they took with them.

Priceless paintings?

Rare sculptures?

Vast treasures?

Many of these things have been discovered but there is one that remains hidden. It was one of the most well-hidden, secretive experiments the Nazis carried out during the war and now someone is trying to unearth it.

If they succeed, it could bring civilization to its knees.

Дарги были древней и могучей расой. Многие миры под сотнями солнц принадлежали им и никто в Галактике не решился бы враждовать с ними. Давно уже не страшили их бездны космической пустоты, разделявшие звезды и планеты, и трассы звездолетов были для них такими же обычными, как в старину наезженные земные пути. Так шли тысячелетия и, казалось, ничто не остановит продвижения даргов в глубины Вселенной…

Екатерина Гамова — одна из величайших волейболисток в истории. В команду мастеров она попала в возрасте всего 14 лет, а вскоре уже дебютировала в сборной России. В активе Гамовой — победы на чемпионатах мира и Европы, а также две серебряные медали Олимпийских игр. Простое перечисление всех ее командных и индивидуальных достижений заняло бы площадь, существенно превышающую размер данной аннотации. В течение года после окончания карьеры волейболистка Екатерина Гамова успела побывать и телекомментатором, и тренером, и волейбольным чиновником. А еще — написала книгу. Причем книга эта — не только о спорте.

Она повествует о богатстве и бедности. О любви и предательстве. О мгновениях счастья и муках разочарований.

И это очень искренний рассказ.

125 лет назад в древней японской столице Киото появилась компания Nintendo. В конце семидесятых компания совершила головокружительный прорыв в область высоких технологий, и, создав классическую видеоигровую консоль Famicom, NES навсегда изменила досуг многих миллионов людей в мире. В знаменитой книге авторитетного американского публициста Дэвида Шеффа увлекательно и подробно рассказывается о длинной истории Nintendo, о создании консолей и игр для них, о бизнесе и о том, как происходило формирование видеоигровой индустрии.

As a series of brutal murders darkens the Wrightsburg, Virginia countryside, the killer taunts police by leaving watches on the victims set to the hour corresponding with their position on his hit list. What's more, he strives to replicate notorious murders of the past, improving on them through savage attention to detail. Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are already investigating a crime involving an aristocratic and dysfunctional Southern family, but when they're deputized to help in the serial killer hunt they realize the two cases may be connected. Adding to the tension is the appearance of a second killer, this one imitating the murders of the first. Soon, the two killers are playing a game of cat and mouse, with King and Maxwell racing to solve the intricate puzzle of their identities-before the body count escalates.

A tantalizing tale of erotic suspense in which a mask slips-and everything is revealed… Blaze Kelly, one of the Secret Homeland Defense Organization's top spies, is a powerful D/S master, and all raw male. Yet underneath his mask hides a wounded soul that aches for love. Emma Foster wears disguises too as part of her job for SHADO. But she's not excited about her next mission-with the man who broke her heart. Together they must infiltrate a group that plans to transfer a weapon of mass destruction into enemy hands-a mission that involves them in an illicit sexual game. As they are forced to explore their most dangerous desires, they face a challenge that could break even the steeliest of spies…

Gli alieni, minacciosi esseri dall’aspetto insettoide, hanno attaccato due volte la Terra e questa guerra il governo del mondo ha deciso di creare una razza di genii militari, di allevare bambini al di fuori del mondo normale e istruirli nelle arti marziali tramite una serie di “giochi di guerra” e di combattimenti simulati basati sull’uso del computer.

Ender Wiggin, l’eroe di questo magnifico romanzo, è un genio tra i genii: nato con le doti di un superbo comandante e condottiero di uomini, viene forzato a una precoce maturità attraverso un addestramento continuo e pressante. Toccherà a lui, unico a vincere tutti i “giochi”, assumere il comando, al momento opportuno, delle forze terrestri effettive: sarà lui a guidare le astronavi umane e i computer che dirigono la gittata dei missili contro il nemico. Con questo Il gioco di Ender, Orson Scott Card, uno dei migliori autori della fantascienza moderna, è riuscito a rinnovare uno dei temi più classici di questo genere letterario, quello dell’addestramento dei cadetti spaziali, e si è imposto, vincendo tutti i maggiori premi del 1986, a fianco dei Dickson e degli Heinlein e di tutti i grandi maestri di questo filone narrativo.

Ricordate Andrew “Ender” Wiggins, l’eccezionale bambino che in Il gioco di Ender aveva portato l’umanità alla vittoria sugli invasori alieni con la sua genialità militare e la sua incredibile abilità nella guida dei computer della flotta terrestre?

Ora, in questo Il riscatto di Ender, Orson Scott Card riprende il racconto di Ender Wiggins. La prima guerra con gli alieni è ormai finita da più di tremila anni, ma sulla remota colonia di Lusitania, un pianeta colonizzato dai brasiliani e abitato quindi da terrestri di cultura cattolica e lingua portoghese, una nuova terribile minaccia incombe sull’esistenza degli umani. Come per gli insettoidi alieni che avevano attaccato la Terra, anche qui la minaccia aliena è strana e incomprensibile nel suo modo di agire ma sempre micidiale. E ancora una volta toccherà a Ender Wiggins, “colui che parla per i morti”, trovare il coraggio di affrontare il mistero e la verità.

Vincitore del premio Nebula per il miglior romanzo in 1986.

Vincitore del premio Hugo per il miglior romanzo in 1987.

Acțiunea se petrece într-un viitor în care omenirea supraviețuise în urma a două invazii din partea gândacilor, niște extratereștri asemănători insectelor. Flota Internațională, o armată a Pământului, pregătește cei mai dotați copii pentru a fi comandanți militari în eventualitatea unei a treia invazii.

Premiul Nebula 1985.

Premiul Hugo 1986.

The story about future's computer game — литРПГ-pоман о компьютерной игре будущего.

Holt Kincaid was this close to finally reuniting a long-lost family. Complications arose when retired poker player Brenna Fallon foiled his plans for her joyous return. Undeterred, the P.I. refused to give up on this scrappy beauty whose inner anguish mirrored his own.

Surviving on the streets had taught Brenna to call anyone's bluff. And Holt Kincaid was clearly using his smoldering sex appeal to gain the upper hand. But all bets were off when a dangerous opponent took extreme measures to get her back in the game. Now Brenna had to entrust her heart to Holt – or she might never find her way home again…

Le jeune Andrew « Ender » Wiggin croit qu’il joue à la petite guerre sur ordinateur… En fait la partie dans laquelle il se trouve engagé est d’une toute autre importance. Car Andrew pourrait bien être le génie stratégique dont la Terre a désespérément besoin dans le conflit qui l’oppose à un adversaire impitoyable, acharné à détruire toute vie humaine.

« Ender » Wiggin est soumis à un entraînement de plus en plus rude, qui peut aussi bien révéler ses pouvoirs secrets que le détruire complètement.

Quand l’histoire commence, « Ender » Wiggin n’a que 6 ans et il n’est pas le seul sujet d’expérience : ses « frère et sœur » aînés ne sont pas moins extraordinaires que lui.

Poussés par la jalousie et par leur soif de puissance, dissimulés derrière l’anonymat de la grande machinerie informatique, Peter et Valentine commencent à modeler le destin du monde… un monde dénué d’avenir si la stratégie de leur frère, « Ender », échoue !

The spellinbinding sequel to Sidney Sheldon's Master of the Game. One of most glamorous and suspenseful tales ever told! It began with Jamie MacGregor, stealing diamonds in Africa. It continued with his daughter, the powerful Kate Blackwell who grew her father's company into a world wide conglomerate, Now the story passes to the next generation. Spanning the decades and picking-up exactly where Sidney Sheldon's bestselling Master of the Game finished, Mistress of the Game follows the Blackwell family as they, Love, and lose, scheme and murder through the 80's up until the present day. Heart-stopping and glamorous, tense and provactive, Mistress of the Game is the sequel that Sheldon fans have been waiting for!

Los juegos deberían ser para divertirse, pero para dos equipos de expertos, son para asesinar, porque el equipo vencedor es el que consiga la mayor cantidad de muertes. Se rumorea que los participantes en este violento desafío son Caminantes Fantasmas. Y Kadan Montague no está muy contento con eso.

Kadan es un Caminante Fantasma y está decidido a limpiar de rumores el nombre de los suyos.

Para hacerlo, necesitará la ayuda de la psíquica Tansy Meadows. Pero en cuanto la ve, sabe que su misión será más complicada de lo que imaginó… y “el juego del asesinato” puede no ser todo lo que aparenta.

Praised for her "swift-moving and sexually-charged" plots and "fabulous paranormal twists" (Midwest Book Review), New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan now tracks the desperate steps of a wanted woman-betrayed, avenging, and dangerously irresistible.

Gator Fontenot of the Special Forces paranormal squad can't refuse an urgent request to save the elusive Iris Johnson, a victim of the same horrific experiments that warped Gator. Now unleashed, she's a flame-haired weapon of unimaginable destructive powers, a walking time bomb bent on revenge in the sultry bayous of New Orleans, and hunted by a shadowy assassin. It's Gator's job to reel Iris in. But can two people haunted by violent betrayals trust the passion that soon ignites between them? Or is one of them just playing another seductive and deadly night game?

When a highly sophisticated terror cell steals a contingent of deadly Reaper drones from a U.S. military base, no one has to wonder for long what they'll be used for. As America's own top military technology is turned against its homeland, it looks as though, for the first time in history, the president will have no choice but to give in to terrorist demands.

Enter OUTCAST (Operational Undertaking To Counteract Active Stateside Threats) — six ex-operatives from six of America’s most powerful organizations. Each has been unceremoniously released by their respective former employer for alleged misdoings that leave their pride wounded but their essential skill-sets untouched. After uniting over their shared bond of dismissal from the nation’s most elite outfits, the disgruntled spooks realize that they can work together like never before to take down threats to their beloved country, a country that branded them as outcasts but needs them now more than ever.

As a nauseating wave of drone strikes brings the eastern seaboard to its knees, OUTCAST is hell-bent on showing America that their way isn't the best way — it's the only way.

Game of Drones is Book 1 of the OUTCAST Ops series. Book 2 is The Poseidon Initiative. Book 3 is African Firestorm. They can be read in any order.

For the notorious Lady Winter, seduction and duplicity are required to survive. Cunning and precision are the tools of pirate Christopher St. John. Pitted against one another, they are a surprise waiting to happen…Christopher St. John and Maria, Lady Winter, are infamous in Society for their misdeeds and their charming allures. Wherever they go, scandalized whispers and covetous glances follow. A ruthless pirate and a widow whose two husbands have met untimely deaths, the wickedly renowned figures are even more intriguing to the authorities. Now they've been set on the most provocative of tasks – St. John is released from prison to learn the "Wintry Widow's" intimate secrets, while Lady Winter is charged with performing a similar deception in reverse. One will succeed. One will hang. With the fate of loved ones in the balance, the unlikely couple embarks upon a battle of wills and wits that takes them from glittering ballrooms to the depths of the underworld to the candlelit pleasures of the bedroom. As they fall helpless to a desire and startling affinity neither expected, the deadly web of their subterfuge closes in, forcing them to make a choice. Individual freedom? Or an audacious scheme to keep an impossible yet irresistible love…

The new Ghostwalker novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author

Saber Wynter is running from her past when she meets ex-Navy SEAL and Ghostwalker Jess Calhoun. But the riddles of both their pasts are about to collide, shattering the promise of their future with the ultimate betrayal.

Orphaned and poor, Brooke Gordon had spent years developing a strong character and independence, and no smooth-talking ladies' man -- no matter how irresistible -- was going to make her swoon. So why were Brooke's knees wobbling every time gorgeous Parks Jones came near?

A woman on the run, with more to live for than she imagined, collides with a danger more lethal than she feared in the all-new Ghostwalker scorcher by #1 New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan…

Ghostwalker Kane Cannon is pure male — animalistic, sexual, protective, instinctive — and his past missions have prepared him for anything. But his newest assignment, to rescue hostages in Mexico, plunges him into a hot zone he never anticipated: the hiding place of Rose Patterson — fugitive, ex-lover, a fellow Ghostwalker pregnant with his child.

Rose is in flight from the insidious experiments that still live in her dreams, and from the madman who’d do anything to take her child. Of all the Ghostwalkers enlisted to hunt her down, Kane is the only one she can trust. But as their passion reignites, the stakes are raised. Because Kane is now a wanted man as well. And together they’re about to face the most desperate challenge of all: staying together and staying alive.

In a world so dark and seductive, expect nothing less than a triple-cross in the explosive all-new Ghostwalker novel by #1 New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan…

In an underground club, a high-ranking public official spends his secret nights indulging in fantasies as exciting as they are depraved. For a seductive employee of the Dungeon, it's her job to fulfill them. But she's playing a far more dangerous game – one of blackmail, politics, and murder that reaches into the shadow world of the Ghostwalkers, and the creation of a spectacular, one-of-a-kind new weapon of defense.

But when a dictator makes his own catastrophic moves, the Ghostwalkers have no choice but to bring in two major players – a man and woman both driven by passion and revenge. Both expendable. Both with nothing left to lose.

Once more, Kristen Whitaker and the crew of the Seawolf are thrust center stage as the Russian Federation's plan to gain control over the world's oil supply unfolds. Kristen must come to grips with the demons in her past as she struggles with both personal and professional challenges. With the stakes higher than ever, the Seawolf and her crew find themselves fighting for survival in an undeclared war beneath the waves.

In Shell Game, O’Connell raises the standard once again. It is fall in New York City. On live television, the re-creation of a legendary magic trick goes horribly awry – a terrible accident, everyone agrees. But two people know it is not. One is an aged magician in a private hospital in the northern corner of New York state. What a worthy performance, he thinks, murdering a man while a million people watch.

The other is Kathleen Mallory. Once a feral child, loose on the city streets, she is now a New York City policewoman, and not much changed: a tall young woman with green gunslinger eyes and a ferocious inner compass of right and wrong. For her, the death is too dramatic, too showy, and she is convinced that there will be another one – this perp loves spectacle. But even she cannot predict the spectacular chain of events that has already been set in motion, or the profoundly disturbing consequences it will have for those she holds most dear. For misdirection is the heart of magic. The lady never really gets sawed in half, does she?

So why is there so much blood?

Filled with the rich prose, resonant characters, and knife-edge suspense that have won her so many admirers, Shell Game is Carol O’Connell’s most remarkable novel yet.

A beautiful fugitive — wanted dead or alive.

Kyra is a con woman and a particular kind of thief. She steals with a touch, but she only takes one thing: her target’s strongest skill. Which means she can be a fighter, an athlete, a musician, an artist — anything she wants… for a limited time. Heartbroken, she turns her gift toward avenging her father’s murder; with deadly patience, Kyra works her way into casino owner Gerard Serrano’s inner circle. After pulling off the ultimate con, she flees with his money and his pride.

A hit man who never misses the mark.

Reyes has nothing but his work. Pity for Kyra, he’s the best and mercy never sways him once he takes a job. He’s been hired to find out where Kyra hid the cash — and bring her back to face Serrano’s “justice.” Dead will do, if he can’t locate the loot. He’s never failed to complete a contract, but Kyra tempts him with her fierce heat and her outlaw heart. So Reyes has a hell of a choice: forsake his word or kill the woman he might love.

The saga of Dark Angel continues!

Someone is killing normal humans in the fog-enshrouded city of Seattle. The murders are brutal and grisly, but inside Terminal City they barely cause a ripple of concern. The transgenics who live there have problems of their own. In an area under siege by the oppressive arm of the police, the transgenics must protect their fledgling colony against the outside world-a world that eyes them with contempt and suspicion... and will do anything to be rid of them.

As the killings escalate, Joshua comes to Max with a dire suspicion: the killer may be one of their own. Tensions are high between normal humans and transgenics, and many inside the protected City would just as soon let the humans fend for themselves. Yet Max and her inner circle know they must investigate the crimes and stop the bloodshed. Doing nothing would simply give the normals more reasons to hate.

But what they discover will shock even the most jaded among them-and expose a sinister agenda that leads to an old, nefarious foe...

For Mack McKinley and his team of GhostWalker killing machines, urban warfare is an art. But despite a hard-won knowledge of the San Francisco streets, Mack knows from experience that too many things can still go wrong. Danger was just another part of the game – and now he's come face-to-face with a woman who can play just as tough. She's Jaimie, a woman with a sapphire stare so potent it can destroy a man. Years ago she and Mack had a history – volatile, erotic and electric. Then she vanished. But now she's walked back into Mack's life again, as a spy with more secrets than are good for her. Against all odds, she's hooking up with Mack one more time to take on an enemy that could destroy them both, or bring them back together in one hot, no-holds-barred adrenaline rush.

The people of Gaant are telepaths. The people of Enith are not. The two countries have been at war for decades, but now peace has fallen, and Calla of Enith seeks to renew an unlikely friendship with Gaantish officer Valk over an even more unlikely game of chess.

The Angel's Game opens in Barcelona in the 1920s. David Martin is a young man working in a newspaper office. But late one night the editor of the paper has a crisis – they have just had to drop six pages from the weekend edition and he has only a matter of hours to fill them. With most of the staff already home, he turns to David and asks if he can write a short story. If it is good, he will publish more. The resulting story is a huge success and becomes David's first step on the path to a career as an author. As David's books gain a certain recognition, he receives a mysterious letter from a French editor called Andreas Corelli who wants to help him achieve his ambitions. But the character is not all that he seems and soon David has entered a pact that will lead him question everything he values. He is also befriended by the bookseller Sempere (the grandfather of Daniel from Shadow) who introduces him to the strange world of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. The Angel's Game is a tale of lost souls and literary intrigue; a book steeped in the world of writing, with references to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Great Expectations.It is about the demons a writer faces; but also a page-turning mystery and a love story set against the creaking mansions and mysterious alleyways at the dark heart of Barcelona.

New York Times bestselling author Brian Haig returns with a riveting new thriller about a man caught between the politics of big government and the corruption of big business.

The Capitol Game

It was the deal of the decade, if not the century. A small, insignificant company on the edge of bankruptcy had discovered an alchemist's dream; a miraculous polymer, that when coated on any vehicle, was the equivalent of 30 inches of steel. With bloody conflicts surging in Iraq and Afghanistan, the polymer promises to save thousands of lives and change the course of both wars.

Jack Wiley, a successful Wall Street banker, believes he has a found a dream come true when he mysteriously learns of this miraculous polymer. His plan: enlist the help of the Capitol Group, one of the country's largest and most powerful corporations in a quick, bloodless takeover of the small company that developed the polymer. It seems like a partnership made in heaven…until the Pentagon's investigative service begins nosing around, and the deal turns into a nightmare. Now, Jack's back is up against the wall and he and the Capitol Group find themselves embroiled in the greatest scandal the government and corporate America have ever seen…

A frighteningly plausible, fast-paced thriller about a Russian cyberattack on America, involving fake news and anonymous hackers.

The CIA has learned that the Kremlin is about to launch a sophisticated propaganda operation aimed at discrediting and disrupting the United States and ultimately restoring Russia to great nation status. Intercepted intelligence suggests that the operation will hinge on a single, breaking news event in Eastern Europe, supported by a sustained campaign of disinformation and cyberattacks. Code-named the “Children’s Game”—a chess stratagem that leads to checkmate in four moves—it was probably conceived by a Russian billionaire and former FSB officer named Andrei Turov. For years Turov has been developing the infrastructure for a new kind of warfare that exploits weaknesses in western democracies and manipulates public opinion. His organization offers the Kremlin plausible deniability.

But the United States has its own secret weapon: Christopher Niles, a former CIA intelligence officer, who understands Turov’s ambitions and capabilities. It falls to him and his small team–composed of his journalist half-brother Jon, a special forces operative he would trust with his life, and Anna Carpenter, a resourceful US senator with deep roots in the intelligence community–to unravel Turov’s plot and restore truth to a world spiraling into chaos.

The Children’s Game is a frighteningly realistic, timely thriller that delves into the secret corners of Vladimir Putin’s Russia, exploring the shifting world order and the murky realm of US-Russia relations.

The latest thriller from 'one of Scandinavia's best crime writers' 'Times'. When Jenny is spotted by a high-profile modelling agency, she goes from ordinary schoolgirl to celebrity overnight. Suddenly her life is a whirlwind of parties and glamour. Agnes used to be a model too – but now she lies in a hospital bed, slowly being destroyed by an eating disorder. Her father sits by her day after day, praying that his only remaining daughter survives. An attempted murder during a lavish photoshoot means that Jenny's and Agnes' lives will soon intersect in the most terrifying of ways.

The explosive fourth book in the USA Today bestselling War Planners series.

Tensions are running high between the United States and China. And a belligerent North Korea isn't helping matters. As members of the US military and intelligence community prepare for the worst, Chinese politicians play a dangerous game.

Note to readers: This series should be enjoyed in order. Reading order:

1 — The War Planners

2 — The War Stage

3 — Pawns of the Pacific

4 — The Elephant Game

From New York Times and international bestselling author Raymond Khoury comes a blistering new Reilly Tess thriller, published exclusively as a Kindle ebook.

Back when he was ten years old, FBI Special Agent Sean Reilly came home to find his dad in his study, slumped at his desk, a handgun by his side. His death had always been considered a suicide-only now, an anonymous caller claims to know different. And he has a lot more to reveal, about other deaths.

In chasing after the potentially devastating revelations about that hidden past, Reilly awakens other dormant monsters-a cabal of assassins whose unusual methods have escaped detection for decades, whose victims have spanned continents, and whose leaders would rather remain hidden in the shadows. At any cost.

And the question eating away at Reilly is this: was his dad a victim, or a guilt-ridden member, of that cabal?

Watched, manipulated, and framed for crimes he didn't commit, Reilly becomes a fugitive and an enemy of the state, making it next to impossible for him to uncover the truth while protecting his family. He's left with no choice but to risk everything to unearth secrets that would shake the country to its very core-if he were ever allowed to get that far.

Read THE END GAME and dive into Reilly's most personal story yet.

"Terrific suspense, edge-of-your-seat thriller… THE END GAME is relentless and does not let up on the gas for a single moment."

– BookReporter.com

"History, mystery, suspense, and action-Khoury knows the recipe for a good read."

– Library Journal

"A world-class writer of pure-bred thrillers."

– The Telegraph

"Khoury's thrillers engage the reader's mind, even as they move at a breakneck pace."

– Booklist

Peril Points

With voluptuous Pamela Thrushwell at his side, Remo punched out 242 on the machine, and saw the numbers replaced by letters "PLEASE TELL ME HOW WELL YOU DID." "We killed the man and the woman," said Remo. "YOU LIE. I CAN SEE YOU. YOU AND THE BIG-BREASTED BRIT TROUBLEMAKER," said the machine. "Take a hike," Remo said.

Suddenly the machine's cash drawer opened. A stack of hundred dollar bills appeared. "What's this for?" "FOR YOU. WHO ARE YOU? WHAT DO YOU WANT?" "To destroy you," Remo said. " I am coming to kill you." The machine blinked as if in some sort of insane joy. Then it flashed out:

"CONGRATULATIONS, WHOEVER YOU ARE. YOU ARE WORTH 50,000 POINTS."

The game was on-until death turned it off...

THE END OF THE GAME.

Nick is ready for some fun and searches Inferno for just the right man to spend the evening with. He spots the gorgeous black man as he walks to the bar and sets his sights. His name is Leon, known as The Black Devil, and he’s everything Nick needs.

The sex is more than he ever imagined it could be, and The Black Devil lives up to his name. The best part, though, is that when the game is over, Nick gets to take him home. Inferno is their refuge, and with each game they play, it only gets better.

Compared to Kafka and a member of the Surrealists, Richard Weiner is one of European literature’s best-kept secrets. The Game for Real marks the long overdue arrival of his dreamlike, anxiety-ridden fiction into English.

The book opens with The Game of Quartering, where an unnamed hero discovers his double. Surely, he reasons, if he has a double, then his double must also have a double too, and so on. . What follows is a grotesquely hilarious, snowballing spree through Paris, where real-life landmarks disintegrate into theaters, puppet shows, and, ultimately, a funeral.

Following this, The Game for the Honor of Payback neatly inverts things: instead of a branching, expanding adventure, a man known as “Shame” embarks on a quest that collapses inward. Slapped by someone he despises, he launches a doomed crusade to return the insult. As the stakes grow ever higher, it seems that Shame will stop at nothing — even if he discovers he’s chasing his own tail.

Blending metaphysical questions with farcical humor, bizarre twists, and acute psychology, The Game for Real is a riveting exploration of who we are — and why we can’t be so sure we know.

The inevitable Long Night of Interstellar barbarism is approaching, and Dominic, who devoted his life to keeping the galactic peace decides that others must take up the challenge of courting danger on strange planets. Enter Diana—illegitmate—but the true daughter of Dominic.

Moscow, 2138. With the world only beginning to recover from the complete societal collapse of the late 21st Century, Zoya scrapes by prepping corpses for funerals and dreams of saving enough money to have a child. When her brother forces her to bring him a mysterious package, she witnesses his murder and finds herself on the run from ruthless mobsters. Frantically trying to stay alive and save her loved ones, Zoya opens the package and discovers two unusual data cards, one that allows her to fight back against the mafia and another which may hold the key to everlasting life.

April 1986: American F-111 warplanes bomb the Al Azziyah compound in Libya where President Gadhafi is residing. A 16-year-old youth, Asad – Arabic for "lion " – loses his mother, two brothers and two sisters in the raid. Asad sees himself as chosen to avenge not only his family but his nation, his religion and the Great Leader – Gadhafi. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

Twelve years later, Asad arrives in New York City, intent on killing all five surviving pilots across America who participated in the bombing, one by one. John Corey – from the international bestseller PLUM ISLAND – is no longer with the NYPD and is working for the Anti-Terrorist Task Force. He has to stop Asad's revenge killings. But first he has to find him.

A thrillingly entertaining read from a master storyteller.

A psychological thriller based around the controversial theme of recovered memory syndrome, the novel provides a portrayal of how family secrets can tear the most successful lives apart.

Dr. Scott James solves a murder mystery linked to ISIS terrorists in this action & adventure thriller. Plot twists and James Bond like action dominate the fast paced story of a doctor accused of murder, and a terrorist cell with missiles aimed at an American hospital.

Homicide detectives and the CIA begin to investigating the renowned plastic surgeon, Dr. Scott James, after a dead body is found in his operating room. Accompanied by a beautiful double agent, he sets action-packed thrill ride that will have you questioning suspects, motives, and outcomes, until the very last page.

A terrorist organization is planning an attack on Dr. James’ archrival, the international criminal mastermind “Alpha Charlie.” A farmhouse in North Carolina swiftly becomes a secret launch base for Silkworm missiles. Corporate corruption, conspiracy, and cover-up fill the underworld of a drone-control operation that takes out targets in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Soon, James uncovers the true identity and intent of his beautiful ally, a double agent.

The Missile game takes you on an action-packed thrill ride that will have you questioning suspects, motives, and outcomes until the very last page.

Рассказ вошёл в сборники:

Long After Midnight (Далеко за полночь)

The Stories of Ray Bradbury (И грянул гром: 100 рассказов)

If anyone knows death, Penn Cage does. He has sent 16 men to their fate as District Attorney. And now his young wife is gone too, leaving him alone with their young daughter. He decides to go home, and home means facing the ghosts of his past.

In their latest adventure, precocious 14-year-old reporters Stevie Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson get a chance to help major Washington newspapers cover the Army-Navy football game and stumble across an illegal gambling racket, perpetrated by the game’s officiating squad. Along the way, the cub reporters meet a number of actual famous people (Bob Woodward and Barack Obama, among others). Some of the dropped names of retired players and other old guys will have little resonance with young readers, and fans of the series will recognize that the mystery here isn’t as compelling as those in previous installments. Still, sports fans, especially college football followers, will enjoy the behind-the-scenes look at the famous game.

In exile, in danger, on the run, for six years Alec Milius has been trying to escape his past. But his past refuses to release him. Abandoned by MI6 after a disastrous operation with the CIA, Milius has slowly rebuilt his life in Madrid: he has a flat, a job – and a relationship with the wrong woman. Older and wiser than the young spy who first caught the eye of British Intelligence, Milius still has a talent for deception and a fatal weakness for secrets. So when a prominent politician disappears in suspicious circumstances he can't resist tracking him down. But the rules have changed. Alec is now working alone outside the boundaries of any official agency. Paranoid and expendable, he soon becomes vulnerable to the ruthless duplicities of the secret world. He can trust no one. But as he comes face to face with the nightmare of modern terror, Alec is given one last chance for redemption.

Set on Capitol Hill, this is the story of Sandler Harris, a young man who, over the course of the decade, has worked as a Congressional staffer and seen his idealism and initial zeal for the job fade into a sense of disillusionment. To relieve his boredom and growing lack of enthusiasm, Sandler and another staffer, who is similarly jaded, are pulled into a seemingly harmless but clandestine game that involves betting on small bills being introduced into Congress. Those who play the game are kept in the dark about those whom they are betting against. It all seems like good fun, that is until Sandler and his friend find themselves betting on a bill that they have helped draft. Suddenly, Sandler’s friend is found murdered with a bulls-eye painted on his chest and as bodies begin to mount, it becomes all too clear that Sandler has been targeted as the game’s next victim. On the run, with no place to hide and no one to trust, Sandler teams up with an unlikely ally, an idealistic 16-year-old page who is determined not only to help Sandler but to redeem him in the process.

THIS IS NOT A GAME is a novel built around the coolest phenomenon in the world.

That phenomenon is known as the Alternate Reality Game, or ARG. It's big, and it's getting bigger. It's immersive and massively interactive, and it's spreading through the Internet at the speed of light.

To the player, the Alternate Reality Game has no boundaries. You can be standing in a parking lot, or a shopping center. A pay phone near you will ring, and on the other end will be someone demanding information.

You'd better have the information handy.

ARGs combine video, text adventure, radio plays, audio, animation, improvisational theater, graphics, and story into an immersive experience.

Now, one of science fiction's most acclaimed writers, Walter Jon Williams, brings this extraordinary phenomenon to life in a pulse-pounding thriller. This is not a game. This is a novel that will blow your mind.

The third and most explosive installment of the groundbreaking True to the Game trilogy will take you on a marathon race through the mean streets of Philly. Starting off where the second installment's dramatic cliffhanger left us, True III will finally reveal Gena's mysterious stalker and savior, as well as introduce a new killer so vicious, so cunning, so ruthless, he'll have you looking over your shoulder with each turn of the page.

The crooked cops are searching for the money, Gena's family members are now the target for Gena who's hiding from everything and everyone, as the race is on for Gena's survival. Will she manage to keep the money, can she get out of town and make a new life for herself, and will her family survive the maniacal killer that is hell bent on tracking her down? Will Gena stay, True to the Game?

Twenty years ago, wild child Jessie Brentwood vanished from St. Elizabeth's high school. Most in Jessie's tight circle of friends believed she simply ran away. Few suspected that Jessie was hiding a shocking secret – one that brought her into the crosshairs of a vicious killer…Two decades pass before a body is unearthed on school grounds and Jessie's old friends reunite to talk. Most are sure that the body is Jessie's, that the mystery of what happened to her has finally been solved. But soon, Jessie's friends each begin to die in horrible, freak accidents that defy explanation…Becca Sutcliff has been haunted for years by unsettling visions of Jessie, certain her friend met with a grisly end. Now the latest deaths have her rattled. Becca can sense that an evil force is shadowing her too, waiting for just the right moment to strike. She feels like she's going crazy. Is it all a coincidence – or has Jessie's killer finally returned to finish what was started all those years ago?

In these seventeen stories by one of Brazil's foremost living authors, Fonseca introduces readers--with unsurpassed candor and keenness of observation--to a kaleidoscopic, often disturbing world. A hunchback sets his lascivious sights on seducing a beautiful woman. A wealthy businessman hires a ghost writer, with unexpected results. A family of modern-day urban cannibals celebrates a bizarre rite of passage. A man roams the nocturnal streets of Rio de Janeiro in search of meaning. A male ex-police reporter writes an advice column under a female pseudonym. A prosperous entrepreneur picks up a beautiful girl in his Mercedes only to discover his costly mistake. A loser elaborates a lethal plan to become, in his mind, a winner.

Deadly. Mercenary. Superhuman. Not your ordinary math geek.

Cas Russell is good at math. Scary good.

The vector calculus blazing through her head lets her smash through armed men twice her size and dodge every bullet in a gunfight. She can take any job for the right price and shoot anyone who gets in her way.

As far as she knows, she’s the only person around with a superpower… but then Cas discovers someone with a power even more dangerous than her own. Someone who can reach directly into people’s minds and twist their brains into Moebius strips. Someone intent on becoming the world’s puppet master.

Someone who’s already warped Cas’s thoughts once before, with her none the wiser.

Cas should run. Going up against a psychic with a god complex isn’t exactly a rational move, and saving the world from a power-hungry telepath isn’t her responsibility. But she isn’t about to let anyone get away with violating her brain — and besides, she’s got a small arsenal and some deadly mathematics on her side. There’s only one problem…

She doesn’t know which of her thoughts are her own anymore.

Роман «Америkа (reload game)» сам я, пожалуй, обозвал бы «альтернативной историей» («Что было бы, если…»), густо замешанной на «стим-панке» (эпоха «пара и электричества», романтизированная и мифологизированная до градуса Средневековья в фэнтэзи) и разлитой по детским формочкам новелизации компьютерных игр (любителям переигрывать «неудачные развилки» в стратегиях Сида Мейера, вроде меня самого – должно понравиться…)

Давайте обратимся к самой, пожалуй, затоптанной (чтоб не сказать – заплеванной) нашими фантастами «альтернативной развилке» отечественной истории: состоявшаяся таки Русская Америка. Сколько раз лицезрели мы уже нашего державного орла, грозно расправляющего крыла над Американским континентом и глупого пиндоса, робко прячущего тело жирное в утесах! Только вот почему-то никому не приходит в голову элементарное, лежащее на самом виду соображение: если некий вариант Русской Америки и впрямь окажется жизнеспособным (в отличие от мертворожденной русской Аляски из «текущей реальности») – дело-то там наверняка дойдет и до своего варианта «Бостонского чаепития» с «Декларацией независимости»…

Так вот, действие романа как раз и происходит в ту самую пору, когда «американские колонии, не столько в силу собственных устремлений, сколько в силу закона тяготения, отрываются от Метрополии» (Б.Шоу). Впрочем, «невероятные совпадения, случайности или неожиданные решения, принятые оказавшимися в центре событий измотанными людьми» (Т.Флеминг) и в этот раз могут в одночасье изменить весь расклад – причем в любую из сторон. Ну, мы же помним с детства: «…Лошадь захромала – командир убит// Конница разбита – армия бежит// Враг вступает в город, пленных не щадя// Потому что в кузнице не было гвоздя».

Роман «Америkа (reload game)» сам я, пожалуй, обозвал бы «альтернативной историей» («Что было бы, если…»), густо замешанной на «стим-панке» (эпоха «пара и электричества», романтизированная и мифологизированная до градуса Средневековья в фэнтэзи) и разлитой по детским формочкам новелизации компьютерных игр (любителям переигрывать «неудачные развилки» в стратегиях Сида Мейера, вроде меня самого – должно понравиться…)

Давайте обратимся к самой, пожалуй, затоптанной (чтоб не сказать – заплеванной) нашими фантастами «альтернативной развилке» отечественной истории: состоявшаяся таки Русская Америка. Сколько раз лицезрели мы уже нашего державного орла, грозно расправляющего крыла над Американским континентом и глупого пиндоса, робко прячущего тело жирное в утесах! Только вот почему-то никому не приходит в голову элементарное, лежащее на самом виду соображение: если некий вариант Русской Америки и впрямь окажется жизнеспособным (в отличие от мертворожденной русской Аляски из «текущей реальности») – дело-то там наверняка дойдет и до своего варианта «Бостонского чаепития» с «Декларацией независимости»…

Так вот, действие романа как раз и происходит в ту самую пору, когда «американские колонии, не столько в силу собственных устремлений, сколько в силу закона тяготения, отрываются от Метрополии» (Б.Шоу). Впрочем, «невероятные совпадения, случайности или неожиданные решения, принятые оказавшимися в центре событий измотанными людьми» (Т.Флеминг) и в этот раз могут в одночасье изменить весь расклад – причем в любую из сторон. Ну, мы же помним с детства: «…Лошадь захромала – командир убит// Конница разбита – армия бежит// Враг вступает в город, пленных не щадя// Потому что в кузнице не было гвоздя».

Роман «()» сам я, пожалуй, обозвал бы «альтернативной историей» («Что было бы, если…»), густо замешанной на «-панке» (эпоха «пара и электричества», романтизированная и мифологизированная до градуса Средневековья в фэнтези) и разлитой по детским формочкам компьютерных игр (любителям переигрывать «неудачные развилки» в стратегиях Сида Мейера вроде меня самого — должно понравиться…).

Давайте обратимся к самой, наверное, затоптанной (чтоб не сказать — заплеванной) нашими фантастами «альтернативной развилке» отечественной истории: состоявшаяся таки Русская Америка. Сколько раз лицезрели мы уже нашего державного орла, грозно расправляющего крыла над Американским континентом, и глупого пиндоса, робко прячущего тело жирное в утесах! Только вот почему-то никому не приходит в голову элементарное, лежащее на самом виду соображение: если некий вариант Русской Америки и впрямь окажется жизнеспособным (в отличие от мертворожденной Русской Аляски из «текущей реальности») — дело-то там наверняка дойдет и до своего варианта «Бостонского чаепития» с Декларацией независимости…

Так вот, действие романа как раз и происходит в ту самую пору, когда «американские колонии, не столько в силу собственных устремлений, сколько в силу закона тяготения, отрываются от Метрополии» (Б. Шоу). Впрочем, «невероятные совпадения, случайности или неожиданные решения, принятые оказавшимися в центре событий измотанными людьми» (Т. Флеминг) и в этот раз могут в одночасье изменить весь расклад — причем в любую из сторон. Ну, мы же помним с детства: «…Лошадь захромала — командир убит. / Конница разбита — армия бежит. / Враг вступает в город, пленных не щадя, / Оттого, что в кузнице не было гвоздя».

И раз уж у нас — компьютерная игра, то вот вам — ролик-заставка («историческая вводная»), что предваряет основной, авантюрно-детективный сюжет.

Кирилл Еськов

Премия "Небьюла" Ассоциации Авторов Научной Фантастики и Фэнтези Америки в 1985 г. (категория "Роман").

Премия за достижения в научной фантастике (Премия "Хьюго") в 1986 г. (категория "Роман").

Это не просто годовая контрольная – это шанс всем вместе поехать на каникулы в Болгарию! Ведь именно такой приз ожидает семиклассников, лучше всех решивших уравнения и задачи. Кажется, дальше все ясно: сиди, готовься, читай учебник. Но не тут-то было! Несчастья так и преследуют отличников из 7-го «А»: Карина сломала руку, Ирка ошпарилась кипятком, Жека получил сотрясение мозга… Неужели кто-то специально выводит ребят из игры? Нужно срочно поймать злодея – иначе о море можно и не мечтать!