Most Popular Books by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

Our mysteries this issue include Josh Pachter’s “The Secret Lagoon” (Michael Bracken’s pick), Larry Allen Tyler’s “Just a Little Before Winter’s Set In” (selected by Barb Goffman) and a solve-it-yourself from Hal Charles (the writing team of Hal Blythe and Charlie Sweet). A futuristic detective tale by Larry Tritten, and a classic Nick Carter novel from 1903, The Plot That Failed, round things out. On the science fiction & fantasy side, we have a vampire classic by Carl Jacobi, “Revelations in Black” (which was also the title story of one of his Arkham House collection); “Bullard Reflects,” by Malcolm Jameson, which is classic SF from Astounding; “Strike,” by Richard Wilson, about newspaper reporters coming a shipping strike in space; and “Three Bananas,” by Larry Tritten—which is one of his gonzo cross-genre mashups. Fun stuff. Plus the already-mentioned “Extended Family,” by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough. (Did we mention that this is one of those stories you won’t want to miss?) Here’s the complete lineup: Mysteries / Suspense “The Secret Lagoon,” by Josh Pachter [short story] “The Game’s Afoot,” by Hal Charles [Solve-It-Yourself Mystery] “Just a Little Before Winter’s Set In,” by Larry Allen Tyler [Barb Goffman Presents short story] The Plot That Failed, by Nicholas Carter [novel] “Three Bananas,” by Larry Tritten [short story] Science Fiction & Fantasy “Extended Family,” by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough [Cynthia Ward Presents, short story] “Bullard Reflects,” by Malcolm Jameson [short story] “Three Bananas,” by Larry Tritten [short story] “Strike,” by Richard Wilson [short story] “Revelations in Black,” by Carl Jacobi [short story]

Leda Hubbard, a forensic pathologist, gets the job of her dreams when an old school friend hires her to collect and authenticate the DNA of the famous Cleopatra. It s all great fun for Leda until, during a massive disaster, her colorful dad, the dig s security specialist, is killed by a group trying to hijack the precious material for a blend, a process in which the queen s DNA is used to import her memories, personality, and character traits to a new host. They screw up, however, and get Leda s dad s DNA instead. To keep the queen from going to the murderers, Leda blends with Cleopatra herself, learning a lot more about Egypt than she ever wanted to know.

Determined to become an author of western penny dreadful novels like her idol, Ned Buntline, a young San Francisco newspaper editor christens herself Valentine Lovelace (after a floozie acquaintance of her father s) and heads east for the Wild West. She finds it in spades in the Texas Big Bend when she is kidnapped from a mule train by Comanches and ends up the guest of a ruthless comanchero, a sort of wild west warlord, after the Comanches are distracted by a. . .dragon? Fort Draco, as the comanchero fort is known, is as full of intrigue and nighttime carryings-on as a modern day romantic novel, but Frank Drake, the owner, is no hero. If Valentine wants to save herself and the less-guilty if not entirely innocent folks who live there, she must defeat heat stroke, gunslingers, a couple of fake rainmakers and their camel, hostile Indians, the voice haunting her dreams (not in a good way) and a dragon who not only is gobbling all the livestock and transportation in the area but is guarding the only water hole in fifty miles of drought-ridden desert. And she must do it all while taking good notes, of course. This is a western but not as we know it and a fantasy set where we re not used to it.

The Tour Bus of Doom rolls into a small coastal town, spewing zombies to rampage down the main street. To the beat of eerie drum music, they loot, kidnap, and zombie-fy innocent citizens. Spam the cat, self-appointed feline defender of the town, watches in horror from the rooftops. When the zombies abduct Spam''s jeweler friend and take over the nursing home, Spam is certain they are also responsible for the disappearance of his next-door neighbor Mr. Barker, partner of retired police dog, Officer Bubba. Then Marigold, Spam''s half sister, reports that her human family, who went missing while on a mission of mercy to earthquake ravaged Haiti, has finally returned home, just long enough to take their valuables. And They. Don''t. Even. Recognize. Her. All of that is dire enough, but then the zombies go too far and take over the bodies of the owner and server at Spam''s favorite fish''n''chips place. Searching for help from his vampire friend Maddog, Spam meets a new cat in town, the sinuous Havana Brown Erzullie, who arrived with the zombies. Aided (sort of) by her, Renfrew the raccoon, the urban deer cat taxi service, Rocky the vampcat, and his half-siblings Marigold and Mat, the heroic feline must investigate, before the zombie apocalyps-o destroys not only his town, but his home and his beloved Darcy. Just when he thinks he may have the situation well in paw, the zombie hunters from Seattle arrive, responding to a bounty on the heads of the zombies. What they don''t realize is that they have the wrong brand of zombies, the un-plagued un-dead, who could revive as long as they keep their heads.

Pelagia Harper, aka Valentine Lovelace, published her memoirs of her time in Draco, Texas and became an established writer-at least in her own mind. But when her father dies and her stepmother steals her royalties, she finds herself destitute. Also haunted. The ghost of her papa keeps popping up everywhere. When her father s old flame, Sasha Devine, offers her a way out of her poverty, Pelagia jumps on it before she knows what s involved. In 1897, the two ladies must travel North to the Klondike (the Wild West is a relative term as far as V. Lovelace is concerned) escorting the coffin of a man said to be Lost-Cause Lawson, a prospector. It turns out the man beneath the coffin lid is not as dead as he was supposed to be and somehow, Pelagia ends up being accused of murdering a Mountie. Apparently the sensible solution to that is to fake her own suicide. The upshot is that when she finally does arrive in Dawson City with Sasha, she is obliged to take employment as a dance hall girl and a flamenco dancer (Corazon, the Belle of Barcelone). Her boss seems nice though. Very sociable, especially with all of his new female employees. It isn t long before Pelagia learns that Vasily Vladovitch Bledinoff is giving the biting cold some competition. It isn t until her friend Captain Lomax receives a new book from England, written by a fellow named Bram Stoker, that she begins to get a clue what exactly is going on with the mode for black velvet neck bands the girls are all sporting. Then there s all of those really smart wolves, the threat of starvation and disease, and other strange and unusual wildlife. This book is about what life was like for a female artiste in Dawson City as it was during the Gold Rush-when everyone was there to strike it rich-except for the vampires, who were there for the night life.

Spam and the other cats at website designer Darcy Dupres house are frantic with worry. Darcy walked out the door two (missed) wet meals ago and didn t return or send anyone else to look after her beloved furry friends. The other cats think she has abandoned them, but her office cat and (unbeknownst to her) protege, Spam, suspects darker forces are at work. Darcy s last project was helping a suspicious character who called himself Marcel deMontreal with a dating website for vampires and the women who dig them. Darcy thought Marcel was playing and besides, he paid her a lot of kitty litter to design the site. But before she can finish, the self-proclaimed vampire announces that he is coming to visit, and Darcy disappears. That and the-duh-black billowy figure with the white face and red eyes peering through the window seem like a dead giveaway to Spam. Using the computer knowledge he learned at his human s side, Spam escapes to the world beyond his home to find Darcy and save his family. When the other cats are rounded up and hauled to the shelter, Spam s only allies seem to be a hungry raccoon, some friendly deer, observant otters and the fact that Marcel happens to be allergic to cats.

Focuses on the adventures of the brave unicorn girl, Acorna, as she faces her most difficult challenge ever. She has defeated slavers, a deadly international conspiracy, and the vicious alien Khleevi, only to endure the loss of her beloved Aari, distant in both time and space. Having rescued her people from their enemies, Acorna is disturbed by sinister changes that are demonstrated by her beloved lifemate. Aari, a situation that is complicated by the workings of a vicious criminal and the deadly Khleevi.

Leaving Petaybee to help rescue a family friend, selkie twins Ronan and Murel are imprisoned by the Company, which wants them as workers, and an unscrupulous scientist, who hopes to study their unusual shape-changing talent.

Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough are two of science fiction''s favorite authors. Together they have created the world of Acorna, the unicorn girl. Now Acorna''s children start to have their own adventures. FIRST WARNING Acorna''s daughter, Khorii, must contend with an overwhelming legacy to forge a path of her own. A simple journey to visit her relatives turns into a race against time when Khorii comes across a derelict spacecraft drifting in space, its crew dead in their seats. But this gruesome discovery is only a dread harbinger - a deadly plague is spreading across the universe and not even the healing powers of the Linyaari can slow its horrific advance. Khorii, one of the few unaffected by the outbreak, must find a cure before the disease consumes all in its path - including her beloved parents.

Nadie le dijo a la teniente Kitty McCulley que eso era lo que tenía que hacer una enfermera. Nadie le dijo que a Vietnam no iba a curar pacientes, sino a contemplar, impotente, su dolor. Que no estaba allí para aliviar el sufrimiento ajeno, sino para convertirse en objeto del desprecio de sus congéneres, y de su lujuria. Que no salvaría las vidas de las víctimas, sino que los propios médicos la abofetearían con su indiferencia. Nadie se lo dijo. Aunque no habría cambiado nada. Cuando uno de sus pacientes, un hombre santo venerado por los vietnamitas, le entrega a Kitty un amuleto con unos supuestos poderes inexplicables, su mundo cambia para siempre.

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Spam the cat thought he''d seen a lot of the world in his nine months of life. After all, he was the foremost vampire hunter of Port Deception, WA. (SPAM VS THE VAMPIRE)! This was his first Christmas, however, and from what he''d heard on TV, on Christmas all was supposed to be calm, all was supposed to be bright. The deer and Renfrew the raccoon had other ideas however. In an attempt to keep Renfrew, aka "The UPS Bandit" from ruining a lot of Christmases, Spam begins a task that leads to his being the sole protection of a new mother and child, and a less-than-warm-and-fuzzy reunion with his feral father. Altogether, his first Christmas eve is a less than Silent Night. The proceeds of this book from whatever source will be donated to the Humane Society of Jefferson County for the benefit of the animal shelter.

Um die aus den Fugen geratenen Familienverhältnisse der Ebereschs wieder in Ordnung zu bringen, machen sich Gretchen Grau, die Herdhexe, und Colin Liedschmied, ein fahrender Sänger, auf die Reise nach Ablemarle, um Näheres über das mysteriöse Verschwinden Frau Ebereschs zu erfahren. Was passiert, wenn Hexen der verschiedensten Disziplinen, feuerspeiende Drachen, Zauberer mit überaus bösen Absichten, Hausgeister, verwunschene Könige und einige beinahe gewöhnliche Sterbliche aufeinandertreffen, und das manchmal mit ganz unterschiedlichen Zielen und Absichten – das alles wird auf fesselnde und zugleich amüsante Weise erzählt. »Zauberlied« ist ein heiteres Stück abenteuerlicher Spannungsliteratur mit märchenhaften Elementen, der erste Band der äußerst witzigen »Geschichten aus Argonia«. (Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine frühere Ausgabe.)

A ragtag band of folksingers in possession of an enchanted banjo enters the land Great Britain, where the banjo stirs up the ghost of Sir Walter Scott, who is intent on saving the last of the folk songs

Accompanied by her android "brother," Khorii, the rebellious daughter of the legendary Acorna and her lifemate, Aari, searches for the cause of a mysterious and deadly plague before those responsible use it to cripple an entire star system.

Khorii, the disenchanted daughter of the famous "unicorn girl," encounters a derelict spaceship adrift in space before tackling a mysterious plague with ties to an unknown enemy''s attack.

Acorna a retrouvé son monde et sa race, mais regrette ses amis humains qui l''avaient recueillie et accompagnée dans d''incroyables aventures. Qui, à son âge, peut se vanter d''avoir sauvé une planète et repoussé une invasion galactique ? Menacée par les insectoïdes Khleevi, elle embarque alors à bord d''un vaisseau bricolé par un ferrailleur des étoiles. Le capitaine Becker est mal embouché et doté d''un humour dévastateur. Son chat Road Kill, ex-chat sacré d''une religion lointaine, règne sur ce groupe d''humanoïdes squattant son vaisseau. Ken l''androïde, ex-garde du corps d''une folle, a des muscles synthétiques très utiles et se débranche régulièrement pour économiser ses batteries. Il y a aussi Aarl, le seul compatriote d''Acorna ressorti vivant des mandibules des Khleevi : sa corne a été arrachée, ses pouvoirs télépathiques réduits à néant. Acorna le trouve charmant et veut l''aider à retrouver ses parents perdus dans l''espace. Répondant à un appel de détresse, Acorna et ses amis découvrent une planète où les plantes sont douées de conscience et où des signes inquiétants confirment leurs craintes. Leur galaxie est de nouveau en danger...

Using lawyers as their weapons, a cabal of devils attempts to wipe out folk music--one of the few tools humans can effectively use against the demons

Intergal ne cherchera plus, c''est promis, à extraire le minerai de la planète Effem. Du coup, la société évacue tout son matériel : les indigènes redeviennent libres et pauvres. Enfin, c''est ce qu''ils peuvent espérer de mieux - car Matthew Luzon et Torkel Fiske n''ont pas désarmé. Le premier monte un service touristique propre à inonder Effem d''étrangers, chasseurs, mystiques ou représentants en pharmacie attirés par les remèdes miracles de ce monde. L''indépendance est là, mais le pillage continue. D''ailleurs, l''indépendance va-t-elle durer longtemps ? Fiske s''entend avec un pirate de l''espace pour menacer Yana et Marmion, deux femmes d''origine terrienne qui ont beaucoup milité pour la liberté de ce monde. Mais suffit-il de menacer ? Encore faut-il s''assurer que les armes ne peuvent pas être retournées contre ceux qui ont été les premiers à les brandir. Les armes n''appartiennent à personne ; la planète, au contraire, est fidèle à ceux qui l''aiment.