For Michael Rivers, life is perfect. Michael has everything: he is tall, handsome, and famous, worshipped by billions of fans around the globe. He is wealthy beyond measure, the heir apparent to RiverGroup, one of the handful of high-tech corporations that controls the world. He is fashionable, setting trends with his wardrobe of immaculate designer suits, each a unique and celebrated work of art. And Michael is in love—a perfect love, sharing a private language based entirely on quotes from the latest fashion magazine advertisement—with Nora, his beautiful, witty, and equally perfect fiancée, the only woman with whom he can see surgically altered monochromatic eye to eye.

When an assassin's bullets pierce Michael's body before the unblinking eyes of cameras, reporters, and viewers at a press junket, everything changes, forcing Michael to question his previously perfect world. Illusions shattered and forcibly separated from Nora, Michael seeks to uncover the reasons behind the attempted assassination, embarking on a quest that lead him to question his relationship with his loud, profane, and narcissistically Ultra father; his estranged mother; and the perilous, contaminated, neo-feudalistic world that lies beyond the safe and protected bubble of corporate family life.

Michael must delve deep into his past, finding that all paths seem to lead to the now-closed PartyHaus, and to a time when he was the golden boy, dancing furiously to the beat of the notorious all-night Rage parties thrown by his father. High fashion, corporate malfeasance, celebrity culture, and a media obsessed with the Next Big Thing collide with exuberant violence and volatile intensity in Grey, the explosive debut novel by Jon Armstrong.

Books on Buddhism may overflow the shelves, but the life story of the Buddha himself has remained obscure despite over 2,500 years of influence on millions of people around the world. In an attempt to rectify this, and to make the Buddha and Buddhism accessible to Westerners, the beloved scholar and author of such sweeping religious studies as A History of God has written a readable, sophisticated, and somewhat unconventional biography of one of the most influential people of all time. Buddha himself fought against the cult of personality, and the Buddhist scriptures were faithful, giving few details of his life and personality. Karen Armstrong mines these early scriptures, as well as later biographies, then fleshes the story out with an explanation of the cultural landscape of the 6th century B.C., creating a deft blend of biography, history, philosophy, and mythology.

At the age of 29, Siddhartha Gautama walked away from the insulated pleasure palace that had been his home and joined a growing force of wandering monks searching for spiritual enlightenment during an age of upheaval. Armstrong traces Gautama's journey through yoga and asceticism and grounds it in the varied religious teachings of the time. In many parts of the world during this so-called axial age, new religions were developing as a response to growing urbanization and market forces. Yet each shared a common impulse-they placed faith increasingly on the individual who was to seek inner depth rather than magical control. Taoism and Confucianism, Hinduism, monotheism in the Middle East and Iran, and Greek rationalism were all emerging as Gautama made his determined way towards enlightenment under the boddhi tree and during the next 45 years that he spent teaching along the banks of the Ganges. Armstrong, in her intelligent and clarifying style, is quick to point out the Buddha's relevance to our own time of transition, struggle, and spiritual void in both his approach-which was based on skepticism and empiricism-and his teachings.

Despite the lack of typical historical documentation, Armstrong has written a rich and revealing description of both a unique time in history and an unusual man. Buddha is a terrific primer for those interested in the origins and fundamentals of Buddhism.

Brujas, hechiceros, vampiros… Descendientes de una antigua raza que lucha por su supervivencia en un mundo hostil.

Cuando a Paige Winterbourne la obligan a renunciar a su cargo de Líder del Aquelarre Norteamericano de Brujas, lo único que quiere hacer es alejarse del mundanal ruido durante una buena temporada y pensar en la posibilidad de formar un aquelarre alternativo con sus seguidoras. Pero, claro está, el destino tiene otros planes para ella.

Un psicópata con poderes sobrehumanos e imparables deseos de venganza anda suelto. Al enterarse de que las víctimas del despiadado asesino son adolescentes, Paige decide involucrarse en la investigación junto con Lucas Cortez, el más joven de la súper poderosa Camarilla Cortez.

Deseosa de proteger a aquellos que ama, Paige se introduce en un mundo de arrogantes hechiceros, nigromantes borrachuzos, dioses druidas con mal genio y turbadores vampiros enfundados en cuero que gustan de celebrar espeluznantes orgías de sangre.

The Horror Writers Association Presents

BLOOD LITE

...a collection of entertaining tales that puts the fun back into dark fiction, with ironic twists and tongue-in-cheek wit to temper the jagged edge.

Charlaine Harris reveals the dark side of going green, when a quartet of die-hard environmentalists hosts a fundraiser with a gory twist in "An Evening with Al Gore"...In an all-new Dresden Files story from Jim Butcher, when it comes to tracking deadly paranormal doings, there's no such thing as a "Day Off" for the Chicago P.D.'s wizard detective, Harry Dresden...Sherrilyn Kenyon turns a cubicle-dwelling MBA with no life into a demon-fighting seraph with one hell of an afterlife in "Where Angels Fear to Tread"...Celebrity necromancer Jaime Vegas is headlining a sold-out séance tour, but behind the scenes, a disgruntled ghost has a bone to pick, in Kelley Armstrong's "The Ungrateful Dead." Plus tales guaranteed to get under your skin — in a good way — from Janet Berliner Don D'Ammassa Nancy Holder Nancy Kilpatrick J. A. Konrath and F. Paul Wilson Joe R. Lansdale Will LudwigsenSharyn McCrumb Mark Onspaugh Mike Resnick Steven SavileD. L. Snell Eric James Stone Jeff Strand Lucien Soulban Matt Venne Christopher Welch

So let the blood flow and laughter reign — because when it comes to facing our deepest, darkest fears, a little humor goes a long way!

New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong returns with the tenth installment of the Women of the Otherworld series.

The Alaskan wilderness is a harsh landscape in the best of conditions, but with a pack of rogue werewolves on the loose, it's downright deadly.

Elena Michaels, the Pack's chief enforcer, knows all too well the havoc 'mutts' can wreak. When they hear of a series of gruesome maulings and murders outside Anchorage, she and her husband, Clay, journey to Alaska in the dead of winter in order to hunt down the dangerous werewolves. Trapped in this savage, untamed winter realm, she and Clay learn more about their own werewolf heritage than they bargained for, tapping a little more into the wild nature of the beast within. With Elena back in the starring role, this is the book Kelley Armstrong fans have been waiting for.

Elena Michaels es una chica del siglo XXI: segura de sí misma, aguda e inteligente, dispuesta para la lucha. Y como toda mujer, también tiene sus secretos. Nada fuera de lo común, excepto que ella es realmente extraordinaria. De hecho, podría ser la más asombrosa de las mujeres. Porque Elena es la única mujer lobo en el mundo…

Diez años atrás, y contra su voluntad, su novio la transformó en loba. Algunos días Elena siente su doble naturaleza como un regalo del cielo, otros como una maldición. Hace un año decidió abandonar la protección de la Jauría, su familia lobo, y vivir como humana. Pero ahora, la Jauría está bajo la presión de una banda de hombres lobo que no demuestran ningún respeto por las viejas y buenas costumbres con sus salvajes asesinatos de personas inocentes. Elena deberá usar todos sus poderes para atrapar y destruir a los renegados antes de que ellos la destruyan. ¿Perderá definitivamente su lado humano? Es tiempo de decidir de qué lado pondrá su lealtad.

Jauría es un apasionante thriller que tiene una vuelta de tuerca sobrenatural tan peligrosamente excitante y seductora como su heroína.

The men and women of the Otherworld – witches, werewolves, demons, vampires – live unseen among us. Only now a reckless killer has torn down the wall, trapping one very human woman in the supernatural crossfire.

Robyn moved to LA after her husband died to try to put some distance between herself and the life they had together. And the challenges of her job as the PR consultant to a Paris Hilton wannabe are pretty distracting. But then her celebutante is gunned down in a night club, and Robyn is suddenly the prime suspect. The two people most determined to clear her are her old friend, the half-demon tabloid reporter Hope Adams, and a homicide detective with an uncanny affinity for the dead.

Soon Robyn finds herself in the heart of a world she never even knew existed – and which she was safer knowing nothing about…

Nadia Stafford isn't your typical nature lodge owner. An ex-cop with a legal code all her own, she's known only as 'Dee' to her current employers: a New York crime family who pays her handsomely to bump off traitors. But when Nadia discovers that a troubled teenage employee and her baby have vanished in the Canadian woods, the memory of a past loss comes back with a vengeance, and her old instincts go into overdrive.

With her enigmatic mentor, Jack, covering her back, Nadia unearths sinister clues that point to an increasingly darker and deadlier mystery. Now, with her obsession over the case deepening, the only way Nadia can right the wrongs of the present is to face her own painful ghosts – and either bury them for good, or die trying. Because in her book, everyone deserves a chance. And everyone deserves justice.

What newly married couple doesn't dream of a romantic retreat where they can escape the world for a while—but what happens when supernatural forces intrude on their wedded bliss?

Nine of today's hottest paranormal authors answer that question in this all-star collection of supernatural stories. Can a vampire-hunter enjoy her honeymoon when she's just learned that her new hubby is a werewolf? How can newlyweds focus on their wedding night when their honeymoon suite is haunted by feuding ghosts? And what's a wizard to do when a gruesome monster kidnaps the bride on her way home from the wedding?

With so much otherworldly mayhem awaiting our newlyweds, will they ever get around to the honeymoon itself? Find out in...

From Publishers Weekly

In Armstrong's assured seventh Otherworld paranormal romance, her first in hardcover (after Broken), pretty Jaime Vegas, a 44-year-old necromancer who can reanimate the dead, faces her biggest career challenge yet-freeing the trapped ghosts of six murdered children. Thankfully, Jeremy Danvers, Jaime's hunky and very Alpha werewolf boyfriend, tags along for this hair-raising ride. Jaime, who has made a living onstage and off by her ghost-whispering skills, is in L.A. as one of three celebrity mediums participating in Death of Innocence, a TV special that hopes "to raise the ghost of Marilyn Monroe," but instead uncovers a serial-killing cult intent on man-made black magic. Seeking justice for the lost children and punishing the dark arts practitioners don't prevent Jaime and Jeremy from finding time for love. Armstrong deftly juggles such creatures as werewolves, witches, demons and ghosts with real-life issues. The only disappointment? Marilyn's ghost never shows.

From Booklist

Fortysomething Jaime Vegas is a sexy, redheaded celebrity medium on the threshold of a spiritualist's dream: her own TV show. She is one of three professional psychics brought to a haunted site for a reality TV show and charged with raising the ghost of Marilyn Monroe. Obviously, this is Jaime's shot at stardom. Her costars are drawling, up-and-coming starlet medium Angelique and UK satanic specialist Bradford Grady, and watching the three one-up each other as they jockey for prime position, even during a warm-up seance, is good show-biz comedy. Jaime knows and uses a psychic's two primary tools, knowledge (prior facts) and statistical probability, but everything depends on her authentic, natural necromantic gifts. But when she finds spirits in the site's garden with whom she cannot commune despite her superpowerful silver ring, she fears she's out of her league (she's not wrong) and flies to Portland for help. Paranormal and show-business power struggles make for hard-to-put-down entertainment.

Yes, I was a werewolf, had been since I was twenty, nearly twelve years ago. Unlike me, most werewolves are born werewolves, though they can't change forms until they reach adulthood. The gene is passed from father to son-daughters need not apply. The only way for a woman to become a werewolf is to be bitten by a werewolf and survive. That's rare, not the biting part, but the surviving part. I'd lived mainly because I was taken in by the Pack-which is exactly what it sounds like…

***

Elena Michaels, the female werewolf who finally came to terms with her feral appetites in Bitten, is back-and she has company: Katzen the sorcerer; Leah the telekinetic half-demon, Cassandra the vampire, and Savannah the twelve-year-old witch who is just coming into her considerable powers.

Vampires, demons, shamans, witches-in Stolen they all exist, and they're all under attack. An obsessed tycoon with a sick curiosity is well on his way to amassing a private collection of supernaturals, and plans to harness their powers for himself-even if it means killing them. For Elena, kidnapped and imprisoned deep underground, separated from her Pack, unable to tell her friends from her enemies, choosing the right allies is a matter of life and death.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong comes two Otherworld short stories that take readers on an exhilarating honeymoon chase with werewolves Elena and Clay, and a mysterious mission through the afterlife with dark witch-turned-angel, Eve Levine.

It's not a good sign when Elena Michaels and Clayton Danvers resort to everyday activities on their long-awaited honeymoon in St. Louis. But their encroaching boredom is about to take a back seat to an unexpected threat that catches Clay's attention. A non-pack werewolf is clearly stalking them – out to claim Elena for himself – and Clay has no intention of letting the upstart mutt spoil their romantic getaway, even if that means deceiving Elena as he pursues the rival werewolf on his own. Originally part of an anthology of supernatural romance stories, STALKED is the perfect introduction to Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld series and an action-packed interlude for fans to revisit some of their favorite characters.

In OFF-DUTY ANGEL, dark witch and half-demon Eve Levine is desperate for a little entertainment while her lover Kristof Nash is detained in afterlife court – enough to volunteer an extra week's worth of angel corps duty just to pass the time. Luckily something even better comes up: a real celestial bounty-hunter mission to trail a shaman, someone who might prove to be a useful lead in Kristof's court case. Following the target goes smoothly, until he leads Eve to The British Museum, where she inadvertently steps into a secret dimensional passage and stumbles upon a far more enticing puzzle.and a much greater danger. Packed with suspense and surprising twists, OFF-DUTY ANGEL reveals fascinating new insights into a beloved series character.

The new novel in Kelley Armstrong's bestselling Women of the Otherworld series showcases the fascinating Savannah Levine, a powerful young witch with a rebellious past and a troublesome heritage.

The orphaned daughter of a sorcerer and a half-demon, Savannah is a terrifyingly powerful young witch who has never been able to resist the chance to throw her magical weight around. But at twenty-one she knows she needs to grow up and prove to her guardians, Paige and Lucas, that she can be a responsible member of their supernatural detective agency. So she jumps at the chance to fly solo, investigating the mysterious deaths of three young women in a nearby factory town, as a favour to one of the agency's associates. At first glance, the murders look garden-variety human, but on closer inspection signs point to otherworldly stakes.

Soon Savannah is in over her head. She's run off the road and nearly killed, haunted by a mystery stalker and freaked out when the brother of one of the dead women is murdered when he tries to investigate the crime. To complicate things, something weird is happening to her powers. Pitted against shamans, demons, a voodoo-inflected cult and garden-variety goons, Savannah has to fight to ensure her first case isn't her last. And she also has to ask for help, perhaps the hardest lesson she's ever had to learn.

A mousy music teacher, Maisie's hardly a seductive siren. But her lack of worldliness turns her life upside down, and, abandoned and alone, she knows she has to confront the man who deceived her…

Rafael Sanderson is rich, successful and a master of marriage avoidance. He's never seen Maisie before, but she seems to think she knows him. And even though it's his rule never to get involved, this time he's compelled to make this waif his wife!

Afrekening is het laatste deel in de succesvolle Darkest Powers-trilogie. In deze grande finale komt de lezer erachter of Chloe eindelijk normaal kan worden.

Wat ze er zelf over denkt? Ze weet het ook nog niet, maar wat ze wel weet is dat ze dolgraag normaal wil zijn. Haar gevoelens voor een mensenschuwe weerwolf en voor zijn lieve gewone broer – die toevallig een magiër blijkt te zijn – zijn alleen niet zo normaal. Vooral omdat ze (als ze heel eerlijk is) toch meer neigt naar de weerwolf. Daarbij komt nog dat Chloe en haar vrienden op de vlucht zijn voor een bedrijf dat genetische experimenten uitvoert en dat van de vriendengroep afwil… voorgoed. Zeker niet normaal. En ten slotte is ze genetisch gezegend met de gave om de doden – halfvergane lijken enzo –weer tot leven te wekken. Zo ver van normaal als je het maar kunt krijgen.

Voor wie nog meer wil weten van het verhaal moet gewoon het boek lezen, want in Afrekening wordt antwoord gegeven op alle vragen. Dit laatste deel van de Darkest Powers-trilogie (samenmet de eerste twee delen) mag niet ontbreken in de kasten van Stephenie Meyer-fans en van iedereen die houdt van heerlijk toegankelijke fantasy.


Recensie(s)
NBD|Biblion recensie

In dit derde en laatste deel van de trilogie 'Darkest Powers'* probeert de 15-jarige Chloe (ik-figuur), die geesten kan oproepen en doden opwekken, samen met twee jongens (een tovenaar en een aankomende weerwolf) en een hekserig meisje nog steeds uit handen te blijven van de zogenaamde Edison-groep, een bedrijf dat genetische experimenten uitvoert op jongeren met bovennatuurlijke krachten. In dit deel waar meer vaart in zit dan in het tweede deel wordt de achtervolging voortgezet, maar nu met de bedoeling de vluchtelingen te doden. De bloedstollende gebeurtenissen volgen elkaar in hoog tempo op, maar echt bijzonder is de in beklemmende stijl geschreven passage, waarin de jongen Derek langzaam verandert in een weerwolf. De schrijfster weet de vrouwelijke doelgroep aan zich te binden door dit horrorverhaal te doorweven met de liefdesperikelen van de hoofdpersonen. Vanaf ca. 15 jaar.

(NBD|Biblion recensie, W. van Es-Kik)
(source: Bol.com)

Het enige wat Chloe Saunders wil is een normaal leven met haar vrienden. De spoken die ze opeens overal ziet, gooien echter roet in het eten. Wanneer ze op school een paniekaanval krijgt, belandt ze in een instituut voor kinderen met gedragsproblemen, Lyle House. De diagnose is schizofrenie. Volkomen overweldigd gaat Chloe akkoord met behandeling. In eerste instantie lijkt er niets vreemds te zijn aan Lyle House, maar als ze de andere inwoners wat beter leert kennen – de charmante Simon en zijn duistere, zwijgzame broer Derek, de verwende Tori, en Rae, die 'iets heeft met vuur' – slaat bij Chloe de twijfel toe. Geen van hen heeft doorsnee gedragsproblemen. En algauw blijkt Lyle House zeker geen doorsnee instituut…

Chloe Saunders is een wandelend wetenschappelijk experiment " ze kan niet alleen geesten zien, maar ze is genetisch veranderd door de sinistere Edison-groep. Ze is een tiener maar ook een doden- bezweerder die haar gaven niet beheerst, wat betekent dat ze onwillekeurig doden opwekt. Nu vlucht Chloe voor haar leven met drie van haar bovennatuurlijke vrienden " een charmante tovenaar, een cynische weerwolf en een ontevreden heks " en moeten ze iemand vinden om hen te helpen voordat de Edison-groep hen vangt. 

Recensie(s)
NBD|Biblion recensie

De 15-jarige Chloe, die geesten kan oproepen en doden opwekken, is samen met twee jongens (een tovenaar en een aankomende weerwolf) en een hekserig meisje op de vlucht. Ze proberen te ontsnappen aan een groep geleerden, de zgn. Edison-groep, die probeert jongeren met bovennatuurlijke krachten gevangen te nemen en hen dan door genetische manipulatie nog sterker te maken. De avonturen die ze tijdens deze vlucht beleven, worden zeer realistisch beschreven. Helaas wordt de spanning van de soms bloedstollende gebeurtenissen keer op keer vertraagd door het steeds teruggrijpen naar scenes uit het eerste deel 'Bezwering'* waarbij er veel wordt uitgelegd wat er zich toen afspeelde. De schrijfster weeft om de vooral bij de vrouwelijke doelgroep herkenbare zielenroerselen van de hoofdpersoon een mooi horrorverhaal zodat er reikhalzend uitgezien kan worden naar het derde deel van de serie. Paperback met kleine druk.

(NBD|Biblion recensie, W. van Es-Kik) 
(source: Bol.com)