Ross Marteau is the toast of the international art world for his sensualsculptures of rich and famous women. But when a long-term relationshipbreaks up badly, he retreats to his Texas hometown -- only to have hisnewfound peace of mind permanently, and profoundly, shattered.One afternoon over lunch, Ross is approached by a woman to whom he feelsan irresistible attraction. She introduces herself as Celeste Lacan andasks him to take on a new commission, a sculpture of her younger sister, Leda, promising that the job will present artistic challenges unlike anyhe has encountered before. Though reluctant, Ross can't help but beintrigued: by Celeste herself and by a photo of Leda's face, a portraitof incomparable beauty.When he meets her, Ross is stunned to discover that Leda's body is asstartlingly unique as her face is beautiful. Just as Celeste predicted, he becomes consumed with portraying the duality of her body... and, perhaps, her soul. At the same time, he become...

Passion, suspense and deadly danger combine in The Angel Chronicles, another sensational episode from the hit television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Angel, the vampire is madly in love with vampire slayer Buffy Summers. However, Drusilla, the vampire loathes Buffy for many reasons, most strongly because Buffy's love made Angel seriously injure her one and only true love, Spike. Now, with all the powers of the dark forces, she is out to get revenge. Back in Sunnydale the lives of Buffy's friends are in grave danger. Will Buffy be able to forsake her love for Angel and perform her duty as the slayer? Find out in this exciting novel!

The sorcerer Alder fears sleep. He dreams of the land of death, of his wife who died young and longs to return to him so much that she kissed him across the low stone wall that separates our world from the Dry Land-where the grass is withered, the stars never move, and lovers pass without knowing each other. The dead are pulling Alder to them at night. Through him they may free themselves and invade Earthsea. Alder seeks advice from Ged, once Archmage. Ged tells him to go to Tenar, Tehanu, and the young king at Havnor. They are joined by amber-eyed Irian, a fierce dragon able to assume the shape of a woman. The threat can be confronted only in the Immanent Grove on Roke, the holiest place in the world and there the king, hero, sage, wizard, and dragon make a last stand. Le Guin combines her magical fantasy with a profoundly human, earthly, humble touch.

The most notable story is again an investigation into the gulf between the sexes. "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" won both the Hugo (in a tie with Spider Robinson's "By Any Other Name") and Nebula awards as the best novella published in 1976. In it a crew of three American astronauts are caught up in an intense solar storm which apparently propels them through a time vortex into a world several hundred years into their future. A devastating plague has reduced the human population to just a few thousand, all female, whose only means of reproduction is the cloning of several basic genome types.

The story before you developed this truism: every advance in security technology creates new opportunities for ingenious criminals.

I STILL REMEMBER THE YANKS, ALMOST MORE THAN I DO THE WAR' A Suffolk woman.It was August 1943 -- and the inhabitants of King's Thorpe had lived with the idea of invasion for some time -- but by the Germans, not the Americans. The village had never seen anything like them before -- certainly they were different with their wealth, their glamour, and their louche but romantic uniforms. Some of the older villagers, like the Brigadier, resented them on sight, others welcomed them with weak tea and fish paste sandwiches. But in some lives they were to make a long-lasting and emotional impact -- most especially young Sally Barnet from the bakery, Agnes Dawe, the Rector's daughter, and newly-widowed Lady Beauchamp from the Manor.

Slocum takes on an army to save a beautiful Comanche Princess.Seven settlers—including two women—have been scalped, and the U.S. Cavalry is ready to make the local Comanche pay. But Slocum knows better. Comanche don't scalp women. And he'll find the low lifes who did the killing—even if it means being caught between corrupt cavalry, horse rustlers, and a Comanche Princess.