Cirrus@Austlit

'Born of the smokeless flame in the wilderness of prehistoric Arabia, a djinni comes into being. A creature of pure energy, he takes the form of a green-tinged blue flame that feeds off the life forces of human kind, taking pleasure in death and terror. A chance encounter with a shepherd on a mountain alters the course of his existence. The man mistakes him for a god and offers up an act of worship. Amused, Djinn maintains the deception and the god al-Ilah is born.

'Over hundreds of years, he bends the tribes of Arabia to his will until another man and another god oust him from his place of pre-eminence. Cast back into the role of demon, Djinn wanders the Islamic world, from Spain to India and beyond, bringing death and despair to those whose lives he touches. Then he encounters a Raksha demon in India and finds himself fighting for survival against the gods themselves.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Every kid has parents who embarrass them on occasion, but Gabrielle Jordan has more to complain about than most. Her mother, paleontologist Professor Julia Jordan, has dragged her around the world for most of her sixteen years searching for proof of her bizarre—and embarrassing—theory, that creatures of myth and legend existed 50,000 years ago during the last ice age. As for Gabrielle’s father, Russell Anderson, well, he’s in an asylum for the criminally insane, claiming to be possessed by a demon named Abaddon, which turned him from a mild-mannered scientist into a serial killer.

'For Gabrielle, the dawning realization that her mother might not be chasing rainbows and her father really isn’t insane is one fraught with danger, adventure, and romance. It will lead her from Rhode Island to the Australian Outback and the distant past of 50,000 years ago, into a world filled with magical creatures.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Rakshasa is a demon. He doesn’t know where he came from or how he came to be in the first place. All he knows is that he feeds on the dying thoughts of men and that he is hungry.

'Engendered in ancient times in the north of India, he wanders, doing exactly what he wants, killing when and where he pleases until he attracts the attention of a god. Fleeing for his life, Rakshasa must now come to terms with what he is and his place in the scheme of things. Hiding from the gods, he delves into the world of men, following individual lives and impacting on them. As his knowledge grows, so does his dissatisfaction and he wonders whether he must always be a demon or whether he can change his nature.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Katya is faced with a life changing decision: she can continue in her safe half-life of obscurity as a servant in the College of Magic; or she can embrace her magic talent and Ghentian heritage. Telmus is the college's youngest and most powerful mage, and he needs Katya's help to defeat the unnamed enemy who massacred Katya's people and who now threatens the entire kingdom of Davia.

'Although doubting her ability, Katya can't ignore the evil. She witnesses their enemy's attempt to introduce an amulet of control into the warded home of Telmus. The amulet is carried in by an emaciated street boy named Lee, who also becomes part of the household–proof that Telmus is kinder than his reputation reports.

'Together, Katya and Telmus discover scrolls that direct them to the Ghentian Mountains and the power they will need to defeat their enemy. Telmus has his own ghosts, but between these two walk-alones, there develops trust and respect. Katya and Telmus gain power, however, their triumph is cut short by a message from the College President: the royal heir has been kidnapped.

'Fate favors them as Lee's presence helps them in determining what happened during the kidnapping. Katya and Telmus locate the prince, but their enemy's identity eludes them. The answer to defeating their enemy lies in Katya's Ghentian heritage. By accepting her past, Katya finds the answer and trusts it to Telmus. Together, they can destroy the wizard's magic, returning the power of the life force to its source. The risk is, will the disruption of elemental magic damage the ensorcelled King? They have to try.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'“A human specific bioweapon can kill most of the population of a city before it even knows it’s under attack, leaving the physical infrastructure virtually intact. In rural areas it can destroy human life while leaving crops and livestock untouched, uninfectious. Thrown into chaos, the remaining population can easily be overtaken by a small, lightly equipped military force. Relatively unskilled labour will take an additional few weeks to decontaminate an infected area of human casualties, leaving it ready for immediate habitation by an enemy’s population,” explained USAMRIID’s Colonel Susan Broadwater in an emergency briefing to government agents in Quantico, 1995.

'So begins an investigation into a credible threat; that a bioweapon was about to be tested on an unsuspecting human population. The aim of this attack was not to kill large numbers of people, nor was it an act of terrorism or warfare. It was an outdoor experiment, a demonstration designed to alert authorities that their extraordinary apathy towards bioweapons had made the West highly vulnerable. It was meant as a warning.

'But something went wrong.

'Special Agent Joshua McCabe had avoided the family business all of his life. His parents, and now his brother, chased epidemics around the world like hurricane watchers or big game fishermen eagerly pursuing the illusive Big One. But there was no escaping it when his old boss, the head of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit, killed himself in order to protect the conspiracy.

'As an ex-BSU profiler, McCabe knew that his personal demons made him as much of a burden as an asset to the investigation. They could ill-afford to bring on board a civilian with even more emotional baggage. But Jordan Spinner, an Australian scientist working under contract to the FBI as a teaching pathologist, was a vital member of the team—not just because of her background in virology, but because she most definitely is not part of the conspiracy. McCabe would need that, for in this investigation your best friend could betray you and your enemy was a microbe less than five microns in diameter.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Welcome to a world where humanity’s deadliest enemy is not a plague or warmongering alien species, but an insidious adversary that attacks from within.

'Welcome to the Ark Ship.

'Avalon Davo is a C20 – one of an elite group of humans brought forward in time from 1999 to 2199 by metaphysical aliens. Through prescience and a unique bonding to a succession of spaceships, C20s have served mankind as early warning devices for three hundred years.

'In 2499, Davo is bonded to the Ark ship Eagle, built to store and decontaminate large sections of Earth’s biomatter while the planet is systematically cleaned. After ten years of construction, two weeks before its maiden voyage, Eagle’s captain is killed. Departure cannot be delayed because the ark ship’s presence in the Katyl system is necessary to ratify a peace treaty. But the appointment of Chris Falcon as the new captain is highly controversial – especially in light of his role in the Katyl War.

Eagle’s departure triggers a nanite virus on Earth and Spacedock, where additional Ark ships are under construction. As high-ranking members of the Ark Ship project succumb to the virus, a staggering conspiracy is revealed. But the head of the senatorial investigation into the conspiracy has a personal hatred of Falcon and a deep prejudice against C20s and aliens. As Eagle’s inhabitants meet their erstwhile enemies and learn the true nature of the Katyl…

'The Ark Ship is a murder mystery on a vast scale; a political intrigue set against the backdrop of space. It is not so much about space exploration, C20s or aliens, although their history unfolds during the story, but about events that occurred because even after five hundred years, humans are still seduced by power and greed, driven by ambition, suffer prejudice and demand vengeance at any price. It’s also a love story between two people who can never consummate their love – on pain of death.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.