Queens Wild is a murder mystery set on the borderland between the Golden State and the Silver State, a land of vistas - shifting sand, mirage and illusion. It is 1993, with a millennium of new things looming on the horizon. New dreamers are out on old trails looking for something, prospecting. But an abandoned Sierra gold mine is about to pay out more than expected to some greenhorns seeking a new life in the New West.

Perfect for current fans and new readers alike, Knaves Over Queens is an all-new adventure set in London, featuring a fresh cast of characters from the Wild Cards universe. Developed by aliens and field-tested on Earth, the virus known as Xenovirus Takis-A was released in New York in 1946, changing the course of human history forever. Most of those infected die — and a tiny percentage become deformed beings known as jokers. A lucky few survivors become aces: superhumans gifted with amazing powers. Now the virus has reached Britain. There, Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill, gifted with extraordinary longevity, together with the Enigma ace Alan Turing, set up a special organization named the Order of the Silver Helix. They will need all of the wild cards they can find if they are to deal with the terrifying mutations spawned by the virus. Edited by #1 New York Times bestselling author George R. R. Martin and Melinda M. Snodgrass, Knaves Over Queens features the writing talents of Paul Cornell, Marko Kloos, Mark Lawrence, Kevin Andrew Murphy, Emma Newman, Peter Newman, Peadar O Guilin, Melinda M. Snodgrass, Caroline Spector, and Charles Stross. The Wild Cards Universe The Original Triad #1 Wild Cards #2 Aces High #3 Jokers Wild The Puppetman Quartet #4: Aces Abroad #5: Down and Dirty #6: Ace in the Hole #7: Dead Man’s Hand The Rox Triad #8: One-Eyed Jacks #9: Jokertown Shuffle #10: Dealer’s Choice #11: Double Solitaire #12: Turn of the Cards The Card Sharks Triad #13: Card Sharks #14: Marked Cards #15: Black Trump #16: Deuces Down #17: Death Draws Five The Committee Triad #18: Inside Straight #19: Busted Flush #20: Suicide Kings The Fort Freak Triad #21: Fort Freak #22: Lowball #23: High Stakes The American Triad #24: Mississippi Roll #25: Low Chicago #26: Texas Hold 'Em At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Convicted of plotting against her cousin Queen Elizabeth I of England and awaiting execution in 1587, Mary Stuart, queen of Scotland, recounts her life story, including becoming a widow at age eighteen and her brutal campaign to regain her sovereignty after being stripped of her throne.

At the heart of every bee hive is a queen bee. Since her well-being is linked to the well-being of the entire colony, the ability to find her among the residents of the hive is an essential beekeeping skill. In QueenSpotting, experienced beekeeper and professional “swarm catcher” Hilary Kearney challenges readers to “spot the queen” with 48 fold-out visual puzzles — vivid up-close photos of the queen hidden among her many subjects. QueenSpotting celebrates the unique, fascinating life of the queen bee chronicles of royal hive happenings such as The Virgin Death Match, The Nuptual Flight — when the queen mates with a cloud of male drones high in the air — and the dramatic Exodus of the Swarm from the hive. Readers will thrill at Kearney’s adventures in capturing these swarms from the strange places they settle, including a Jet Ski, a couch, a speed boat, and an owl’s nesting box. Fascinating, fun, and instructive, backyard beekeepers and nature lovers alike will find reason to return to the pages again and again. This publication conforms to the EPUB Accessibility specification at WCAG 2.0 Level AA.

Harlequin meets Game of Thrones in this steamy, high-stakes fantasy romance. A MARRIAGE TREATY SEEMS A SMALL PRICE TO PAY FOR THE SAFETY OF HER PEOPLE... BUT SHE'S IN LOVE WITH SOMEONE ELSE. CAN SHE SACRIFICE THE ONLY THING SHE'S EVER WANTED? Zenobia, newly appointed Chief Lady of Tenoreth, is on a mission to save her people who have just survived a crippling natural disaster only to be attacked by rogue soldiers from a neighbouring nation. She travels for weeks with her companions--her trusted lieutenant and two giant magical cats--to the capital only to discover the King is an old friend and his closest advisor is her childhood crush. Negotiating a peace treaty is simp... all she needs do to keep her people safe is marry one of the King's noblemen. NOTHING HAS EVER MATTERED TO HIM MORE THAN THE KING'S SAFETY... UNTIL NOW. High Commander Andrew barely recognizes the wild little girl he once knew--she's turned into a powerful woman who stirs an irresistible yearning. There are a hundred reasons he can't have her. She's promised to marry a nobleman to secure an alliance between their nations, and Andrew, born a peasant and a bastard, will never be considered good enough. It doesn't matter anyway, because he's sworn a vow of celibacy in service of his best friend, and King. A DANGEROUS AFFAIR... When Andrew is tasked with Zenobia's safety during her stay, assassins, sacred religious practices, and impending civil war force them into each other's arms. Will his devotion to his code of ethics and her determination to save her people from ruin be enough for them to deny an attraction that would have disastrous and possibly fatal consequences? Reader Warning: This novel features plenty of steam and some brief gore/violence. Dark Themes throughout, but there is a HEA.

A look at the wild Irish women throughout history from the ancient warrior queens Morrigan, Macha, and Badbh, to the labor-movement maven Mother Jones. The women in Wild Irish Roses are not always nice girls or even good girls. However, they are women with backbones of steel who know how to get things done, whether on the battlefield or in the bedroom. These are women who preserved and handed down the old stories. They are women who fought in revolutions with either gun or pen, wrote books, starred in books others wrote, and stormed heaven itself. Author Trina Robbins is an impeccable researcher whose knack for telling stories and embellishing them with engaging illustrations and photos, brings each of these Wild Irish Roses to life, including:Maeve and six other warrior queensGrania and Deirdre, who ran away from kings for the love of younger menFive women who turned themselves into birds to get the job done rightSaint Brigit and the saintly Kathleen O’SheaCultural revivalist Maude Gonne and friendsIrish American beauty roses, including Scarlett O’HaraAnd warriors in their own right, such as Mother Jones and company Wild Irish Roses is a celebration of tough, independent, beautiful Irish women from myth to modernity. It’s a book that is sure to entertain, inform, and inspire readers of every background to find the Irish rose in themselves—to discover what they want and have the courage to go out and get it.

In the distant past, shatranj was the ancestor of chess. In 2036, "shatranj" is the password for a time-warp chess match that jumps 17-year-old Margeaux Quigley -- the chosen pawn among eight classmates kidnapped from high school detention in 1984 -- 52 years to 2036. Margeaux, who only ages 52 minutes during the leap, is asked to help checkmate Robert Ballentine, the self-proclaimed king of America. A corporate pirate who goes by the nickname "Balls," Ballentine is holding America's first female president hostage aboard a ship after a successful coup of the federal government on New Year's Day, 2036. An Australian-born, University of Texas-educated oil, shipping and media tycoon, Ballentine pulls off the hostile takeover with military and technological support from China, North Korea and dozens of U.S. turncoats. He also threatens to kill the president if the U.S. military attempts any major counterattacks during the transition phase. But when Ballentine holds a contest to find a virgin queen from his conquered land, a U.S. special defense unit at Area 52 in west Nevada -- a top secret and much smaller base than today's Area 51 in east Nevada -- sees an opportunity to strike and comes up with a plan. Margeaux only accepts the dangerous mission to seduce and trap the king when the teenage clone learns the president is ... 69-year-old Margeaux Quigley.