An interplanetary conflict has left Kithri abandoned on a desolate mining planet with Eril, a shell-shocked pilot. A freak accident sends them back to a time when the world was lush and green, when an alien civilization stands on the brink of a war of total destruction. They must choose - to remain outside the conflict or to stand up for their beliefs, even at the cost of never getting home again.

Your students and users will find biographical information on approximately 300 modern writers in this volume of Contemporary Authors(R).

A cup of inspiration, a dash of understanding, and a generous serving of wisdom for writers new and old. From the desk of writer and editor Deborah J. Ross comes a collection of warm, insightful essays on the writing life: including getting started, negotiating with the Idea Fairy and creating memorable characters, writing queries, surviving bad reviews, dealing with life’s interruptions, confronting creative jealousy, and nourishing yourself and your creative muse.

All life on Earth will die of thirst unless a couple of loners on the run can use a strange time machine to stop a secret project! An action-packed short novel from a Nebula Award nominee. Meg is an angry scientist's daughter. Her father is not a mad scientist, just really angry - so angry that he and Meg have rarely spoken since the death of her mother. Meg has become a loner, obsessed with combatting polluters like the ones who triggered her mother's death. And her father has had a different obsession. When Meg breaks into a paint company to expose their practices, she runs into Josh, another loner out to save the world. When Meg and Josh suddenly find themselves on the run from the cops, Meg heads for the one man who should always take her in--her father. But when Meg and Josh reach him, they find him dying. Just before he dies, he gives Meg a strange device that looks like a cellphone and tells her to use extreme caution. When the invention proves to be the time machine that holds the key to humanity's future, Meg and Josh must find a way to do the impossible--to work as a team. They are up against the cops, a powerful billionaire, a Russian profiteer, and a romantic rival. Can they save the world, and save each other? About Stith's prior work: "Stith writes in the best hard-sf manner, dropping characters into a situation that can be solved only by thought and reason, but he also, more modernly, creates real and believable characters. He is becoming one of the most eloquent modern hard-sf practitioners." — Booklist

She's a Ranger, a wild and savvy knife-fighter, determined to get help in finding her partner who's lost on the treacherous northern border. He's a scholar who sees visions, eager to escape the confines of city life and the shadow of his charismatic mother. With the assassination of a beloved leader and the city in turmoil, the two have only each other to turn to. What begins as a rescue mission turns deadly as together they unravel the secret that lies beneath Laurea's idyllic surface.

The king is dead, long live the prince, but not for long if his stepmother the Queen Regent has anything to say about it. So he appeals to the one person he can trust, his father’s best swordswoman and the king’s secret lover. Venise wants nothing more than to bury herself in her grief at the king’s death, but her conscience will not allow her to abandon the young man who is so like his father. The only question is whether the two of them can stand against the Queen Regent’s black magic.

The vampire has known only evil since he was made, until an unlikely friendship reconnects him with life... Two women mourning two dead mothers tread the boundaries between grief and obsession... A ghoulish spirit haunts a refugee in Renaissance Venice... A healer discovers a dying man with the heart of a dragon on her doorstep... Two boys travel back in time to discover the true nature of Tyrannosaurus rex... A mother vampire, struggling to raise two vampire children in Hollywood, encounters her biggest challenge yet: the PTA. From the ancient Indus Valley to post-apocalyptic California come fourteen tales of love, redemption, and hope...and occasional humor.

The warlock’s curse swept across the land, affecting each in a different way. Jian the swordswoman was left blind and in despair, but the Soldier God sent her a dog to act as her eyes. Now the king has summons Jian back into his service. Only a sword fighter without sight can protect the princess whose face is death to any who look upon her. Their mission is to defeat the warlock and lift the curse from the dying land. But can Jian fight well enough under her dog’s guidance to survive the perilous journey? And what price will she pay for victory?