Kirjahaku

The first-ever book published on the shells of the Sydney metropolitan area, this bookcovers 484 species which were collectedduring a period of four years.For each species, there is at least onedetailed black-and-white line drawing, a descriptionwhich covers features of the shell, the distributionand the habitat.Also included are a glossary of terms and anextensive list of references.

Mikandra Bisumar is useless to her father: she carries the curse of infertility that plagues the Endri people of Miran. Forced to work in the hospital to pay her duty to her proud nation, she dreams of becoming a Trader, one of the people who bring great prosperity to Miran. To her surprise Iztho Andrahar, from the city's most prestigious Trading family, has agreed to take her on. That is where her troubles begin. Her father is so angry with her that she has to leave her home. Worse, the Andrahar Traders have been accused of smuggling. Iztho has disappeared and the business license suspended. Mikandra has nowhere to go, except try to help Iztho's brothers prove their innocence. In her last meeting with Iztho, he mentioned getting married to a woman from neighbouring city-state of Barresh. Iztho's brothers know nothing of this, and think she is crazy. Going to Barresh by herself while never having left the country is probably not the smartest idea, but she's desperate for the family's licence to be restored, because without her job, she'll be homeless. In Barresh she finds strange and creepy people who can read minds and who know things about the Endri people that can both solve their fertility problems and tear apart the ancient foundation on which Miran is built. Iztho had found out these things, which someone is trying to trying to keep secret. This is where her troubles really begin.

Izramith Ezmi is many things: a member of the feared, all-female Hedron guards, a war veteran recently returned from a pointless and bloody mission, and impatient, angry and above all, lonely. With her contract about to run out, she may be on her way to becoming a ruthless mercenary, since what she really wants--becoming a mother--is out of the question. Her family carries a gene that causes deeply malicious madness. Her nephew was born with it and her useless sister has left him in the care of an institute. A baby. Two days old. She wants to ask her uncle, himself born with the condition, if he can do anything for the boy. But her uncle and his band of mad outcasts have gone missing, rumoured to be on the world of Ceren. So Izramith takes another hired-gun contract in Barresh which is a city-state on Ceren. The job is to provide security at a high-profile wedding. Simple and straight-forward, right? No crawling in mud, no shoot-outs, no mangled bodies and blood-drenched soil. And meanwhile, she can try to find her uncle. Except he isn't there, and the job isn't simple. Izramith and her team discover evidence of an extensive spying ring that threatens the entire city. Postponing the wedding would be an admission of defeat, so it's time for desperate measures. Izramith leads a small team in what has to go down as the most hare-brained mission to ever be undertaken in the universe. Much is at stake: peace, the lives of her uncle and her nephew, and her own.

If Miran had princesses, Ellisandra Takumar would be one. Smart, pretty, engaged to a high-profile man, everything a high-class Mirani woman should be. But things are not well in Miran. Many years of boycotts have taken their toll on society, and the regime becomes more desperate to keep its citizens under control. Revolt is brewing. As director of the state theatre, Ellisandra has been asked to stage a violent traditional play which stands stiff with threatening political messages for the populace. She hates it, but speaking out would risk that she'd be cast out from the only world she's ever known. Next to her house is the burnt ruin of the house of another high-class family, the Andrahar family. They fled Miran for political reasons when Ellisandra was a little girl and the house has lain untouched ever since. One night, she spots a mysterious young man walking around the yard, putting out pegs and pieces of string. He's re-building the house. That makes no sense, because the family is no longer welcome in Miran, and who is he anyway? She is curious and investigates. He seems too good-natured and na ve for his own good, so rather than telling her brothers, she tries to shield him from her own society. And so starts the slide that leads to her being cast out from the only life she's ever known.

Evil magic, ghosts and survival in a fantasy-historical setting. Books 1-3 Omnibus The story of Johanna Brouwer, a headstrong merchant's daughter cast into a maelstrom of evil when the Fire Wizard invades her city during the Prince's ball. Forced to flee for her life with her possessed friend and the only surviving member of the royal family, the mad prince, she has to learn to survive, set aside her notions and do what's best for her people.

Books 4-6 of the Ghostspeaker Chronicles.Johanna and her band of strange companions have fled the influence of the Red Baron and return to Saardam.In the months that they have been gone, the Fire Wizard has laid waste to the city and any surviving citizens, including Johanna's father, live in fear for their lives.To fight an evil wizard without magic is dangerous to say the least, but then Johanna learns why the Fire Wizard came to the city in the first place.An eastern trader comes into the port city with an iron ship that needs no sails and no animals to pull it.Every ruler or noble who fancies himself a ruler in Saardam or the neighbouring countries wants to get his hands on this magical ship, and many of them don't care how much blood they spill.

She has a dragon, and she's not afraid to use it.Nellie Dreessen is a kitchen maid in the palace of Regent Bernard of Saardam. She has worked for two kings and two regents, has seen two royal families murdered through magic, has seen ghosts and demons, and kept her head down like a good girl.On her fiftieth birthday, she receives her late father's diary, which describes a magical item that is so evil, it needs to be kept in the church crypt: a box that contains dragon.Problem is, someone has stolen the box.Regent Bernard holds a banquet for his eldest son's sixteenth birthday. Distinguished guests come from far and wide. Because she knows what the box looks like, Nellie discovers it in a nobleman's luggage.Removing the box from a thief's room is not stealing, right? Not if you intend to return it to the rightful owner: the church.But someone poisons the nobleman, and everyone in the kitchen is a suspect. Nellie's friend in the church advises Nellie to flee with the dragon box. The Regent is on a mission to stamp out magic, and Nellie plans to do what she does best: keep her head down and hide.Problem is, the dragon has other ideas.

A prisoner, a secret he can't remember, and the military force that will destroy planets to get their hands on it.When Fabio Velazquez arrives on the secretive military base on Jupiter's moon Io, he knows two things: one, that he's had his memories erased and two, that he has a secret. Except because of point one, he can't remember what point two is.The portents aren't good: he's hated by his fellow soldiers, responsible for "the greatest f***-up in military history," traitor and human guinea pig. Yet, he managed to be trusted with a secret so big that the military has almost killed him and still haven't gotten their hands on it. Where is it, and who does it belong to?His nickname might be Escape Artist, but in the hostile environment of Io there is no escaping punishment. Or so the military thinks, but they're not the only ones interested in him.A secret base lurks in the cloud tops of Jupiter. They watch. They wait. They will strike.

She is lost on an alien planet. He said he'd help her get home. He lied. Jessica's plane develops engine trouble over the dry Australian inland--and crashes in thick, unfamiliar rainforest. A group she thinks is a search party shows up, but it consists of large-eyed not-quite people who kill all survivors except Jessica and a long-haired hippie named Brian. No one is going to come to rescue her. In fact, they're not even on Earth.While the pair wrestle their way through the forest in search for help, Jessica becomes ever more suspicious of Brian. Why does he know so much about the world where they have ended up? Why is he so insistent on helping her? Jessica has always been able to use her mind to tell animals what to do and now she's hearing voices in her head. Another man is pleading her not to listen to Brian. Except this man can kill someone with a single look, and he uses his mental powers to order people around.In this utterly strange and dangerous world where people seem to want something from her, who can she trust? A gritty survival story in the vein of The Hunger Games, set in a Star Wars locality.

CThe latest book in the long-running Ambassador series

The latest volume in the long-running Ambassador series.

On the backwater world of Cayelle, Tina Freeman runs a shop with her son Rex: fifteen years old, half-human, half-android with a massive chip on his shoulder about having been born without arms or legs. The shop makes a modest profit, but when a creditor turns up wanting his money back, everything goes pear-shaped. She needs money, and needs it fast. Another creditor is impossible to find. That leaves her one option: to return to the world she fled fifteen years ago and Kelso Space Station, where her spaceship has languished for over fifteen years, and finally sell the thing. Tina worked as scientific officer in the Federacy Force's top secret Project Charon, and was forced out when she rang alarm bells about particles that escaped out of a rift to another universe. As it turns out, the alien dust has been infecting people in her absence, causing profound changes in human behaviour. When Tina re-surfaces at Kelso, her presence is a threat to those who still defend the project, including her ex-husband, and they want to shut her up, but her continued silence may well mean the end of civilisation.