Joyce Reynolds-Ward

WHAT CHOICES LIE AHEAD WHEN ONE HAS SUFFERED BEYOND HONOR?Aireii sorceress Alicira, last magician of the house of Miteal, has escaped the clutches of Zauril, murderer of most of her family and usurper of the Leadership of Medvara. She struggles to remain free of his control, especially since her unborn daughter, Zauril's child, may have inherited his magic instead of hers.Will she be able to find a safe refuge to rear her child free from Zauril's influence and wreak her vengeance on him, or will the Gods interfere? Her only surviving sibling swears such a place is in Keldara. But will she be able to reach Keldara without losing all she holds dear?Furthermore, what will this safety cost her?Also includes the short stories "The Goddess's Choice," "Delian's Gift," "Exile's Honor," and "Birth of Sorrow."

IN A TECH-DRIVEN FUTURE, HARD CHOICES FORCE UNEXPECTED FAMILY ALLIANCESSometimes happy endings don't stay that way.Over a year after Melanie Fielding helped her mother Diana Landreth overthrow a repressive North American government headed by her grandmother Sarah Stephens, she faces even more problems.The new Netwalk technology that allows Sarah's personality to exist after death is developing in unpredictable ways. Rogue Netwalkers emerge, allied with Diana and Melanie's long-term foe, the Freedom Army.Worse, Melanie is forced into an alliance with her estranged brother Andrew Stephens, at the demand of the international Corporate Courts. The Courts control a mysterious entity, the Gizmo, which is somehow connected to Netwalk. As they learn more about the Courts and the Gizmo, Melanie and Andrew realize that Diana may not be trustworthy.That the Gizmo and the Courts have a dangerous agenda that isn't what it seems-and Sarah may be their best tool to stop the Gizmo from fulfilling its goals.

WHAT WILL A WITCH DO TO SAVE THE MAGIC FAIR THAT PROTECTS HER POWERS?Yesenia Cruz is ambitious. She wants to become a Solo witch, one who doesn't need to renounce her powers at age twenty-one unless she becomes part of a protective family spell matrix. She has plans with her best friend, Kirsten Rogers, to open a boutique selling magic-spelled goods to the non-magical.But. In order to become Solo, Yesenia needs to win the Bright Star Magic Fair crown for a third year. She can't afford the academy that will qualify her to become Solo.Her family wants her to give up her dreams of becoming Solo, marry Saul Ramos and become part of the Cruz family spell matrix.And a strange new witch, Shadow the Question, from a Lost Fair, is a potential challenger-even as Yesenia and Kirsten become aware of a new threat to Bright Star Fair. They have to draw on Shadow's knowledge to save Bright Star-but is Shadow's knowledge sufficient? Can these three witches save the Fair?For if Bright Star fails-then all magic fails. Eventually.

IN A TECH-DRIVEN FAMILY, HARD CHOICES PASS TO THE NEXT GENERATIONMother against daughter.Grandmother against granddaughter.Melanie Landreth has maintained a lonely outpost as the President of Do It Right North America for seven years. Her grandmother, Sarah Stephens, the President of the Confederated States of North America, rules the continent with an iron fist. Melanie's brother Andrew is one of Sarah's lackeys. Their mother Diana controls Do It Right outside of North America, and engages in secretive maneuvers aimed at overthrowing Sarah's reign.Will things ever change?When they do, who will survive?What role does the Disruption Machine-now known as the Gizmo-play in the emergence of the new Netwalk technology? Why does the Gizmo manage to unite Sarah and Melanie's mother Diana, when they disagree on just about any other subject?The struggle for control within this family can change the world-for better or for worse.And Melanie wants to be the winner.

IN A TECH-DRIVEN BIOREMEDIATION FUTURE, HARD CHOICES MUST BE MADE.Powerful mother.Powerful daughter.Sarah Stephens and her daughter Diana Landreth run bioremediation companies dependent upon neural nets and nanotechnology to operate complex biobots. Sometimes competitors, sometimes collaborators, while they disagree, they are still mother and daughter.And then the Disruption Machine begins its campaign of devastation.In the process of their collaboration to stop the Disruption Machine, the shadows in their lives force their paths into a dangerous divergence.Sarah chooses politics and power.Diana chooses research and family.What happens when their choices collide?

WHEN NOTHING TURNS OUT TO BE AS EXPECTED.... After Linda Coates gets a job offer from friend Ruby Barkley Martiniere, she sees a means to escape the growing issues created by her ambitious brother-in-law Clyde Newsome, who seemingly wants to control every aspect of Linda's life. Ruby's offer means Linda gets the chance to work closely with her friend in developing high-end agricultural robotics and manage the Martiniere Group's high-end labs around the world. What Linda didn't expect was Armand Martiniere-her counterpart who works for Ruby's husband Gabriel. Or what Armand comes to mean to her. Or the degree to which her brother-in-law Clyde wants to pursue her as part of his political ambitions. Linda needs to find a way to protect her family and remain safe...hopefully, with Armand. Can she make it happen-either alone, or with the help of the Martinieres?

WHAT PRICE DO YOU PAY FOR HAPPILY-EVER-AFTER?Ruby Barkley and Gabriel Martiniere have made it. They've defeated Philip Martiniere, and Philip's suicide leaves them an opening to reform the Martiniere Group as well as the Martiniere Family. To create their own, positive legacy.But. The legacy of the Martinieres isn't so easily repaired. Forty-five years of dominance by Philip doesn't just go away overnight. Gabe and Ruby have a lot of work to do, especially since Philip's toxic legacy endures in unexpected places.New foes arise-including the specters of age and health. The mysterious worm that interferes with digital and living memories, and glitches their newest biobot designs.Then Gabe begins to wonder-is Philip truly defeated?Can he keep his legacy safe? Or is he doomed to lose his second family, only in a slower manner than the plane crash that killed his first family?What will it take for Gabe to guarantee that his legacy endures?

What if Gabriel Martiniere's family didn't die in a plane crash when he was twelve?What if he didn't have to go into hiding after testifying against the atrocities committed by his father, Philip Martiniere?What if he met and fell in love with Ruby Barkley as himself, not as Gabe Ramirez, a broke saddle bronc rider on the run from indenture bounty hunters?Gabe's a billionaire nerd with a conscience, unlucky at love, striving to overcome the shadows of his past while searching for agritech to fight climate change.Ruby's a former rodeo queen, trying to get her degree in agricultural robotics, searching for agritech means to fight climate change, also unlucky at love and struggling with a shadowy past.Can Ruby and Gabe successfully negotiate the complexities of the Martiniere Group and launch Ruby's world-changing biobots without interference from competitors?

EVEN THE MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE HAVE TO START SOMEWHERE...Over the years, Justine Martiniere has become the fixer for the Martinieres. Have a problem? Go to Justine to get it remedied. But it wasn't always that way. First, Justine needed to escape the abuses of her father, Philip. She didn't expect to fall in love with the man she married, Donald Atwood. But she did-and then she faced the choice between remaining married to Donald, or stopping her sociopathic, megalomaniac father. Justine Fixes Everything is in part the unusual love story of Justine and Donald-and in part the saga of her rise to power, viewed in retrospect as she tells the history to Philip's clone Mike, as he recovers from surgery. It's about what she sacrificed to become powerful-and, at the same time, how that past comes to haunt the challenges she faces toward the end of her life.

"I'm a young man in an old man's body."--Mike Martiniere.Clone Michael Martiniere was fated to die to keep his progenitor, Philip Martiniere, alive. Then Philip's son Gabe rescued Mike at the age of five, whisking him off to the Double R Ranch where he learns about horses, biobots, robotics--and what it's like to be loved by a family.But the toxic physical, psychological, and political legacy of his progenitor continues to haunt Mike. Philip's physical frailties cause clone effects in Mike, from arthritis and osteoporosis to cancer and heart disease. More than that, Philip has imprinted the notorious Martiniere mind control techniques on Mike, in an attempt to force Mike to submit to his will--even after Philip's death.Can Mike have something resembling a real life and win free of Philip's influence? What will it take for him to banish that toxic legacy of his progenitor--and is it worth the price? What about his horses and dogs?

Exiled heir. Rebel. Husband. Father.In 2029, Gabriel Martiniere testified against the Martiniere Group's forced imposition of mind control programming on unwilling indentured workers.For his pains, he was forced into exile for over thirty years. Forced to divorce the love of his life.But he's still coming. Still bent on vengeance against the man who forced him into exile, Philip Martiniere.Gabe will win...or die trying.Biobots. Corporate soap opera. Agricultural technology. Horses. A mix of science fiction, western, and women's fiction themes.

WHAT DOES ASCENSION TO POWER REALLY COST? Six months after the triumphant collaborative conclusion of the AgInnovator Superhero game show, Ruby Barkley and her ex-husband Gabriel Martiniere still struggle with the professional and personal fallout from their victory. The Superhero money allowed Ruby to launch her line of agricultural biobots. But one of the RubyBot spinoffs, the Defender, leads to unsettling revelations about crop tampering using body-modified indentured workers. Their son Brandon uncovers even more disturbing information about the abuse of indentureds as he campaigns to end it. All of these disclosures lead back to the Martiniere Group, the family corporation controlled by Gabe's malevolent uncle, Philip Martiniere. Meanwhile, Ruby and Gabe wrestle with what form their resumed relationship will take, as Ruby contemplates whether she wants to take on the role of a Martiniere wife. The revelation that Gabe's father is not who they thought, and Philip's attempt to force Ruby away from Gabe confirms her decision. But the need to rescue one of Brandon's valued indentured informants turns celebration into catastrophe. Will Ruby and Gabe be able to recover from this disaster-or will Philip triumph yet again in his campaign to destroy Gabe?

YOU CAN'T ESCAPE THE INHERITANCE OF THE PAST...OR CAN YOU? Rancher Ruby Barkley and her ex-husband Gabe Ramirez are competing head-to-head for the AgInnovator game show's new one-shot award, the Ag Superhero. The winner walks away with $3.75 million per year for five years, with no accountability or need to re-earn the Superhero, unlike the Innovator's other awards. But issues beyond those raised by their long-ago acrimonious divorce face Ruby and Gabe. Fence cutting. Rogue biobots destructively ranging beyond programmed parameters. Physical attacks. And the realization that they may need to reunite to save their son Brandon from indentured servitude. Then the secret shadow of Gabe's hidden inheritance reveals itself. Will he step up to the Martiniere Legacy-and what role will Ruby accept in any future they may share?

THE STAGE IS SET...LET THE GAMES BEGIN After defeating Waykemin's Witches Council, Katerin Leader and Rekar Kinslayer face new challenges. Waykemin's overseas ally, Chatain, Emperor of Daran, has abducted Katerin's daughter Witmara. A new threat arises from the East which requires Katerin's attention, so it falls to Rekar to aid Witmara--which supports Rekar 's vow for vengeance upon Chatain. Meanwhile, Chatain's estranged half-sister Betsona aids Witmara's escape, and encourages her to overthrow Chatain. When Rekar arrives in Daran, Betsona helps her. But does Betsona intend to use Rekar and Witmara to become Empress? At the same time, the rift between the Seven Crowned Gods splinters beyond recovery. How do the actions of Rekar , Katerin, and Witmara play into the war between the Gods? Battles at the Nerean Gate and the Spring Festival in Daran decide the fates of Gods and humans...and things will never be the same.

SHE WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE THERE....An accident placed Katerin Healer in the village of Wickmasa when Wickmasa's healer Makri killed himself after his magic-gifted horse proved to be contaminated by an enemy.Katerin only plans to stay in Wickmasa until the spring, when Wickmasa's new Healer can return from training.BUT....Things keep happening in the secrets-laden village.And now, along with her new love Metkyi, Katerin finds herself as part of a team set to overthrow a corrupt leader and replace him with his estranged daughter Rekar .Will they succeed? Will Katerin and Metkyi have a future?Or do the Seven Crowned Gods have other plans?Note: This edition includes the short stories "Return to Wickmasa" and "Crown Anniversary," previously published.

In a world of supernatural beings, not knowing what you are is dangerous. After Reeni Dutta's ex-husband Karl attacks her at a music festival, she finds a refuge teaching cryptid construct children at Klone's Stronghold in northeastern Oregon's isolated Bucket Mountains. But things are not as they seem at the Stronghold, from the older proprietors of a nearby store and the Stronghold's leader Alexander Reed Klone, to Reeni herself. She discovers it's not just Karl who seeks to control who and what she is, but forces from her past that threaten her present. Can she learn the truth about herself and do what is needed in time to defend the Stronghold?

Change is coming eleven years after the events that transformed Katerin Healer into Katerin ea Miteal and catapulted Rekar ea Miteal to the Leadership of Medvara. Katerin's daughter Witmara grows stronger in magic while studying under Alicira, Katerin's cousin and Rekar 's mother. Rekar struggles with her mixed feelings toward her leadership and her daughter Melarae. When a challenge to Rekar arises from a recent Daran Empire exile, Chiral, as Alicira's health fails, Katerin must choose between remaining obscure, or fully claim her role as a Miteal. The Seven Crowned Gods have their own agenda. What are the consequences of thwarting Chiral's schemes, and why are the Gods meddling now? Katerin and Rekar are faced with many challenging choices but not all are honorable-or wise.