SEVEN-YEAR-OLD MATTHEW DISAPPEARS one day on a walk into Horshoe, a dust bowl farm town in Depression-era Saskatchewan. Other children go missing just as a strange man named Abram Harsich appears in town. He dazzles the townspeople with the promises of a rainmaking machine. Only Matthew’s older brother Robert seems to be able to resist Abram’s spell, and to discover what happened to Matthew and the others.“A remarkably effective sense of atmosphere.”—Kirkus Reviews, Starred“Choose it for science-fiction fans who are ready for something a little different.”—School Library Journal, Starred“Beautifully written novel . . . strong character development, an authentic setting, and some genuinely spooky moments.”—VOYA, Starred*A Governor General’s Award for Children’s LiteratureAn ALA Best Books for Young Adults*From the Hardcover edition.From School Library JournalGrade 6-9-In a bone-dry summer during the Great Depression, Matthew, seven, disappears from a small prairie community in Saskatchewan. Soon afterward, Abram Harsich comes to town, and before long nearly everyone has fallen under his mesmerizing spell. He claims to be a meteorologist and enlists local men to help him build a "rainmill" that will bring an end to the crippling drought. Only Matthew's brother Robert, 11, who has visions of his dead Uncle Edmund trying to warn him of something, and bookish Uncle Alden remain skeptical and apart. In time, memories of Matthew fade; then other children disappear. Only Robert really remembers his brother and alone he pieces together what has become of the missing children. Suspense builds to a searing and satisfying climax involving malevolent "traders" from the stars. As odd as this may sound, it is a logical conclusion to a story filled with mystery. The plot is strewn with foreshadowing, portents of evil, and foreboding. In Robert's mind, imagery invoking the desert, ancient Egypt, and the Bible abounds, and the spare prose is poetic in its evocations of both the 20th-century setting and the ancient world. Robert is a strong, stalwart character who loves words and stories, and has some understanding of the universe as mysterious. This unusual, well-written story will definitely exercise readers' imaginations. Choose it for science-fiction fans who are ready for something a little different.Bruce Anne Shook, Mendenhall Middle School, Greensboro, NCCopyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. From BooklistGr. 8-12. Set in Saskatchewan during its dust-bowl years, Slade's novel begins eerily as seven-year-old Matthew vanishes on his first walk into town alone. Matthew's parents and the entire community appear to accept and forget his disappearance, but a strange set of circumstances leads his 11-year-old brother, Robert, to conclude that Matthew is still alive. It seems that Matthew's disappearance, as well as the vanishing of several other area children, corresponds with the appearance of Abram Hamsich, a stranger who promises to build a rainmaking machine that will end the terrible drought. Hamsich soon has the whole town mesmerized, except for Robert (and his uncle), who gradually realizes Hamsich's horrific true plans. Calling up Ray Bradbury's 1962 classic Something Wicked This Way Comes and the legend of the immortal soulless wanderer, Slade's haunting story shows the triumph of imperfect hope over manifest evil. Frances BradburnCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

"Tim Lebbon's Relics opens a darkly beautiful glimpse into another world, one lurking in the shadows." James Rollins, New York Times bestseller. In the dark underbelly of our world, there's a black market in arcane things—living and dead. Angela Gough has been pulled into this world, making her a criminal on the run. In London she encountered the Kin—satyrs and centaurs, Nephilim and wraiths, they are hunted and slaughtered for their body parts. Fleeing back to the United States, Angela discovers that the Kin are everywhere, and they are tired of being prey.When her niece Sammi is struck by lightning, she is drawn toward the mysterious Folded Land, and its powerful and deadly ruler. Helped by her lover Vince, caught in the midst of a Kin uprising, Angela must locate Sammi before the girl is lost forever.

Daughter of Eve. Leader of the Resistance. Mankind's savior. Dawn is supposed to be the ultimate weapon against the bloodthirsty hybrids that control the desolate planet.But she didn't inherit superhuman speed or virus-curing blood.She's just a human.The pursuit to unlock her power lures her into a venomous trap, where silver eyes seduce, fangs incite pleasure, and love and devastation wear the same handsome face. He's her deepest desire, greatest enemy, and the key she's been searching for.With humanity balancing on an arrow's edge, she must win his heart or destroy it.

"Robot noir in 60s Los Angeles? You had me at 'Hello.'" —John Scalzi, New York Times bestselling authorAnother golden morning in a seedy town, and a new memory tape and assignment for intrepid PI-turned-hitman—and last robot left in working order—Raymond Electromatic. But his skills may be rustier than he remembered in Killing Is My Business, the latest in Christopher's robot noir oeuvre, hot on the heels of the acclaimed Made to Kill."Gripping, funny, deadly and suspenseful." —Boing Boing on Made to Kill"Effortlessly swift and clever." —NPRRay Electromatic MysteriesBrisk MoneyMade to KillStandard Hollywood DepravityKilling is My BusinessAt the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

-a Love Abroad B&B romance- Welcome to the Cotswolds of England. Old stone villages, scenic rolling hills dotted with sheep, and quiet pubs serving local beers abound. Come stay in The Queen's Guard pub and B&B, put your feet up by the fire, and settle in. Former Delta Force Sergeant Aaron Mason did just that. He'd received his military retirement along with a shot-up knee and a cane. He finds a certain contentment when he takes up a job from his youth, apprenticing himself to a stonemason. That marginal contentment gets blown to hell when Jane Tully storms into his favorite pub, desperate for help—anyone's help. She must find a way to survive her sister's wedding. Except she's never needed help before and doesn't know how to ask. Nothing in their past prepared either of them for their present. And their future? It lies beyond imagining. But they aren't alone. Help arrives from the most unexpected sources, as it always does in the...

In the first ever short story by Retired Delta Force officer Brad Taylor, the stakes couldn’t be higher as operator Pike Logan goes after the first Taskforce target leading a team he can’t fully trust. Includes an exclusive preview of Brad Taylor’s hotly anticipated third Pike Logan novel, Enemy of Mine, coming January 15, 2013. Commissioned at the highest level of the U.S. government, and designed to operate outside the bounds of U.S. law, a new counter-terrorist unit known as the Taskforce has just been formed, but not fully tested. Until now. Pike Logan has been given a team of operators drawn from the CIA’s National Clandestine Service and the military’s Special Operations Forces without any say in selecting the men on which he must depend. While executing a full mission profile exercise on U.S. soil, a target of opportunity appears before the Taskforce is deemed mission capable. Forced to execute, Pike and his team are sent to Yemen to track their first real target. The future of the Taskforce depends on their success, but when Pike is challenged by one of his own, their clear-cut mission teeters on the brink of disaster. The price of failure will reverberate much deeper than the loss of the target – straight into the presidency itself.Propulsive, compelling, and told with unparalleled realism, The Callsign brings readers new insight into the origins of the Taskforce as they execute the first Omega operation in a relentless and action-packed short story.

One secret could destroy a family. One lie could save them. The brilliant prequel to The Boy Who Saw, a gripping thriller from Sunday Times bestseller Simon Toyne, featuring the enigmatic Solomon Creed. A strangerSolomon Creed is an outsider with an unknown past, travelling through a remote part of Texas. He doesn't look for trouble – but trouble finds him. A familyAt a roadside diner, he runs into a worn-down family whose ancestral land and home is about to be auctioned. But when Solomon suspects it's worth a lot more than they think he decides to take things into his own hands. A secretAs Solomon races to find hard evidence of the land's true value, he uncovers a dark truth – hidden for generations – that changes everything. But how far is he willing to go to save a family from potential ruin? And how far will others go to stop him?