Adult

Captain Blite knows that someone, or something, is trying to kill him. But a device he possesses, known only as the dark diamond, won't let that happen. After surviving a series of catastrophic accidents and assassination attempts, Blite realizes that whenever he dies, the dark diamond reverses time to a moment before his death. He must go through the traumatic experience again and again until he escapes. Every encounter Blite survives generates a time flash that reveals potential futures. This extraordinary phenomenon attracts the attention of Polity agents and the crab-like p-Prador who wish to acquire this power for themselves. Hunted across space and time, Blite must uncover the true nature of the dark diamond before it causes his destruction.

Abe Jacobs is Kanien’kehá:ka from Ahkwesáhsne --- or, as white people say, a Mohawk Indian from the Saint Regis Tribe. At 18, Abe left the reservation where he was raised and never looked back. Now 43, Abe is suffering from a rare disease that his doctors in Miami believe will kill him. Running from his diagnosis and a failing marriage, Abe returns to the Rez, where he’s persuaded to undergo a healing at the hands of his Great Uncle Budge. But Budge --- a wry, recovered alcoholic --- isn’t all that convincing. And Abe’s time off the Rez has made him a thorough skeptic. To heal, Abe will undertake a revelatory journey, confronting the parts of himself he’s hidden ever since he left home and learning to cultivate hope, even at his darkest hour.

A down-on-her-luck waitress at a posh New Jersey country club, Kim Valva couldn’t be living a more different life from the carefree socialites she serves. Her live-in boyfriend recently cheated on her, her social life is in shambles, and her dog needs a life-saving surgery that she can’t afford. Then a mysterious figure called The Stranger contacts her with an offer she can’t refuse: Put a pill in the new member’s drink; when he dies, she’ll have enough money to fix her dog and her life. Her target turns out to be Tony Fiore, Kim’s bad boy ex-boyfriend from high school. Stunned to see Tony again, Kim can’t bring herself to go through with spiking his drink. Instead, it is Tony’s gorgeous fiancée, PJ Walsh, who dies horrifically at the table just as dinner ends.

After a stint in the private sector, working at the largest hedge fund in the world, Nora Carleton has returned to her former role as a New York City federal prosecutor. A threat is building in the city, with far-right extremism powered by internet demagogues and funded by shadowy organizations. Together with legendary investigator Benny Dugan and aided by colleagues at the FBI, Nora builds a case against one of the key players in this burgeoning movement, arguing before a jury that some speech is actually a deadly crime. But the menace taking root is far bigger than any courtroom, and as the militants target an upcoming United Nations rally, Nora and her team must race to disrupt the plans and minimize casualties.

Set in the 1880s, THE COUNTRY UNDER HEAVEN follows Ovid Vesper, a former Union soldier who has been having enigmatic visions after surviving the Battle of Antietam. As he travels across the country following those visions, he finds himself in stranger and increasingly more dangerous encounters with other worlds hidden in the spaces of his own mind, not to mention the dangers of the Wild West. Ovid brings his steady calm and compassion as he helps the people of a broken country still reeling and wounded from the war. He assists with matters of all sorts, from odd jobs around the house, to guiding children back to their own universe, to hunting down unnatural creatures that stalk the night --- all the while seeking his own personal resolution and peace from his visions.

She thought she and her loved ones would be safe here. The lovely farm nestled in the heart of West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle looks like the perfect refuge from the backstabbing maelstrom of DC politics. But this seemingly peaceful new home is anything but safe for former FBI director Irene Rivers and her children. Troubles begin when Irene’s 12-year-old nephew finds a dead body in a cave on the property. Grim evidence points to a long-ago murder and cover-up. Powerful forces will do anything --- including kill again --- to protect their interests. Soon Irene’s family is the target of the kinds of threats and intimidation she’s seen before from major crime syndicates. But this time, the enemy determined to tear them down is homegrown. Then comes the attack she most fears.

Washington, DC, April 1954: When former war correspondent Lee Carson receives a tip about a Russian spy in a high-ranking government position at the height of the Cold War, she feels the thrill of a story that she hasn’t felt since she was on the front lines of the European theater. London, December 1943: As war rages on across Europe, 22-year-old Lee Carson is waging a private battle of her own. An American-born correspondent for the International News Service, Lee is determined to cover the war from the field. But no woman will be allowed near the front lines. Lee is not easily dissuaded. Assigned to cover the build-up to the invasion of Nazi-held Europe, she constantly wrangles with authorities in order to get to the heart of the action.

Elizabeth aches for one more precious hour with her son, who died in a senseless accident. Andy is desperate to find his first love, who vanished after a whirlwind romance. Logan craves the rush of surfing and mountain climbing, yearning to reclaim the freedom he lost after a misstep landed him in a wheelchair. Brooke is looking for an hour of relief from the guilt of an unforgivable mistake. Enter Aeon Expeditions, the groundbreaking time travel invention of Mark Saunders, which allows some lucky clients the chance to spend an hour in their past. But when their “hour” extends beyond 60 minutes, Elizabeth, Andy, Logan and Brooke find themselves stranded in the past. As their paths intertwine unexpectedly, they unearth shocking secrets hidden in the shadows of their shared history.

When we meet Vera, her body and mind are on a precipice. She has just left her marital home to live with her father after her husband’s violent outbursts reach a breaking point. She is experiencing sudden losses of consciousness, spells of insomnia and difficulty eating. Over the course of the year that follows, she reignites a high school romance, looks to her divorced parents for guidance, attempts couples therapy, struggles to mother two young daughters, develops a brief cocaine dependency, and tries to rekindle her artistic practice --- all while questioning the infinite number of choices that led her to this difficult moment.

Grounded in both the contemporary United States and a variety of dystopias, Karen E. Bender’s otherworldly collection examines the evolving dynamics of the nuclear family during adolescence, motherhood, the empty nest, and caring for an aging parent. A young woman seeks to learn the magical words that can terminate her unwanted pregnancy. A mother discovers an extra child in her home she had forgotten about. A couple is separated from their son and encased in globes orbiting the Earth. Society develops a terrible plan to leave the burning planet for a life on Mars. Each story honors the emotional force of its situation by grappling with themes of freedom, self-definition, youth, aging, control and power.