Bøger af Annie Reed

Nothing can break the bond between a familiar and a wizard.Except death.Nothing can break the spirit of a bonded familiar.Except the murder of her wizard.Someone-or some thing-murdered an elderly wizard who practiced black-market magic, leaving a young familiar caught between her human and animal forms. Twig, a street-wise elf, becomes embroiled in an elaborate game of murder and revenge when she joins forces with the familiar to track down the wizard's killer. "I personally think that Annie Reed is one of the best writers of her generation."KRISTINE KATHRYN RUSCH, award-winning writer and editor

ONE SIMPLE FAVOR FOR HER EX PLUNGES ABBY MAXON into a deadly game of cat and mouse. The last thing private investigator Abby Maxon wants to do is tail her ex-husband's fiancé to discover the identity of the man who's been sending her roses, taking clandestine pictures of her, and calling her at all hours of the day. But no woman, not even the pretty personal fitness trainer who broke up Abby's marriage, should have to put up with the potentially dangerous attention of a mysterious stalker. Abby soon discovers that party girl Melody Hartwell doesn't have just one suspicious man in her life. She has two, including a disgraced former undercover cop. The case takes a deadly turn when someone torches Melody's car while she's inside. The police refuse to look beyond Abby's ex as the chief suspect in his fiancé's murder. Abby doesn't believe for a minute that the man she was married to for all those years is capable of killing the woman he loved, and she's not about to let him be railroaded for a crime he didn't commit. Even if her investigation puts her square in the killer's crosshairs.

Five stories of a distant -- and not so distant -- future. The title story "The Forever Soldier" features a far-future infantry soldier who can't stop fighting, no matter how many times she dies. A journalist searching for that one big story in "Human Interest" uncovers more than he bargained for on a mining colony at the edge of known space. "The Liar" finds one woman preparing for the end of the world in her own unique way. In "Reboot," a time travel pioneer facing forced retirement sends himself on the most important mission of his life. And in the award-winning, near-future story "One Sun, No Waiting," an old motel owner tries to maintain an oasis of normal in the Nevada desert as the sun dims and civilization falls apart around him. "Annie Reed draws a pitch-perfect portrait of the Nevada desert and peoples it with folks so real I want to drive out by Vegas and check up on how everyone's doing. Its quiet voice and fast pace weave together to make any reader care." -- Cindie Geddes, Editor, Lucky Bat Books. "A friend recommended the works of Annie Reed. I was not disappointed. In fact, if her other shorts are as good as this one, I plan to read many more." -- Carol Davis Luce, author of NIGHT GAME (reviewing Annie Reed's short story CHANGELING) "The appearance of a new Annie Reed story is a treat. Try one and you'll be hooked." -- Dave Hendrickson, author of CRACKING THE ICE, forthcoming from WestSide Press Author Annie Reed is a prolific, award-winning writer whose stories have been published in numerous science fiction and fantasy anthologies, as well as in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. Annie can be found on the web at www.annie-reed.com.

Five stories of crime, criminals, and people who refuse to remain victims. In "Missy and the Man," a little girl gets more than she bargained for when she sneaks into her neighbor's garage to see his new kittens. The baseball-loving pickpocket in "Strike Two" has a sweet gig working The Strip in Las Vegas until he lifts a wallet from a woman who's nobody's victim. When a college student's purse is stolen in "Thief," no one except the student and her new boyfriend seem to care. Two kids with too much time on their hands set fire to an empty house in "Firebug," only the game doesn't go exactly as planned. And in "For A Few Lattes More," a Starbucks barista comes face to face with a movie-hero cowboy only to discover that in real life, heroes are never around when you need them most.

Nine thrilling stories from nine masters of suspense!Intriguing characters, surprising situations, and mysterious twists-you'll find it all in this spectacular collection of suspense fiction. Grab your copy today!

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, NICK JAMES DID THE RIGHT THING. HE reported a crime. But doing the right thing came at a terrible cost: the loss of everything and everyone he held dear. Nick James used to be a cop with a promising career. Now he works as a bartender at a sleezy Las Vegas strip club. Friendless and alone, he lives as far under the radar as he can get. Until one night when a simple act of kindness blows his anonymous life to bits, sending him on a collision course with the one person he's been hiding from all these years: his former partner, a violent, crooked ex-cop with mob connections who blames Nick for sending him to prison. In order to survive, Nick must do something he never thought he'd do. Turn the tables on his pursuer. Come out of the shadows to become the hunter instead of the hunted. All he needs is a little luck on his side. But luck can be a fickle lady, especially in a town like Las Vegas.

Before there was Anna Delvey or Elizabeth Holmes, there was Cassie Chadwick. The first woman-using criminal cunning, some confidence, and a bit of charm--to bring down a federal agent, a bank, and a city's worth of men. Paroled felon. Rich doctor's wife. Famous clairvoyant. The best con artists know how to reinvent themselves, time and time again. Cassie Chadwick, one of history's most successful con artists, was a master of the trade. Over the course of fifteen years, she swept from town to town, assuming new identities and running new swindles at each railroad stop. In the dusk of the Gilded Age, years after the robber barons had amassed their fortunes, she was amassing her own. Then came the Carnegie con. Using her wits and a series of forged documents, Cassie convinced prominent men from Cleveland to New York City that she was Andrew Carnegie's illegitimate daughter. Blinded by the name of the most powerful man in the world, businessmen lined up to loan her hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time. The con made her impossibly rich. The crash shattered banks and bankers alike. Her sensational trial drew the eyes of a nation that couldn't get enough of the woman, who newspapers called the Queen of Swindlers, the Duchess of Diamonds, the High Priestess of Fraudulent Finance. Indeed, when Charles Ponzi's infamous scheme collapsed in 1920, reporters scoffed that "Ponzi is a piker compared to Cassie."Interspersing Cassie's crimes with stories of an unsuspecting Andrew Carnegie, author Annie Reed spins an enthralling, page turning tale of true crime. Could the rumors be true? Can Cassie's money last? Will she escape the electric chair? Told with a gossip columnists' charm and wit, The Impostor Heiress, is a rollicky trickster's tale that will appeal to history buffs and true crime aficionados alike to bring one of the greatest swindlers of all time back into the public eye.

Two lonely people discover that love is the best Christmas present of all.Jeannie Carlson thought she'd be spending all her Christmases alone. Her husband, the one true love of her life, passed away unexpectedly in January, leaving Jeannie a widow at forty-two. When an invitation to her Christmas-themed high school reunion takes her back to her old hometown, the last thing Jeannie expects to find is romance with a handsome stranger.Raymond Ellis has a successful real estate firm, a precious six-year-old daughter, and a conniving ex-wife. Still reeling from his bitter divorce, he's given up on ever finding someone to share his life with again.Against his better judgment, he agrees to be the plus-one for his gay cousin's Christmas-themed high school reunion. If it wasn't for his daughter, Raymond wouldn't even be celebrating Christmas. Then he meets a beautiful, enchanting widow. A woman he can imagine spending the rest of his life with.Set against the backdrop of a special night filled with old music, old friends, and old memories, A CHRISTMAS REUNION is the heartwarming story of two people who learn that it's never too late to find true love again-especially at Christmas.

Eight stories celebrating the inner strength and courage of women by award-winning writer Annie Reed. From a little girl orphaned in the war in Afghanistan to a widow learning to cope with life on her own to the woman who discovers an unexpected chance at love in the unlikeliest of places, each of these women face a sudden change in their lives head on and come out stronger on the other side. Sometimes harrowing, sometimes magical, the stories of their lives will touch your heart.

Predator or prey? On the Internet, how can you tell? When private investigator Abby Maxon answers a call for help from an old college friend, she never expects to find herself searching for a missing teenage girl. Abby investigates accidents and tracks down reluctant witnesses for a living. The last thing she wants is to get involved in a missing person case, especially when that case leads to murder. Pretty fifteen-year-old Rachel Ellison got in over her head when she played a flirtatious Internet game of "let's pretend" with a married man. Now Rachel's dead, Abby's friend is the prime suspect, and the only clue to the identity of Rachel's killer is a ceramic horse missing from the dead girl's bedroom. The Internet can be a dangerous place for the unwary, including Abby's own teenage daughter, another pretty fifteen year old who wants to meet a boy she's only talked to online.

In this five-story collection, award-winning writer Annie Reed takes us on a bone-chilling tour down the mean streets of The Shadows, a place where dark magic and crime rule the night. A man obsessed by his wife's death finds more than he bargained for in "Changeling," as does the budding serial killer in "Famous." A young woman goes on a desperate search for her twin's murderer in "Iris & Ivy." A stripper becomes the latest target of a dangerous man in "Don't Touch." And in "Ties That Bind," a young wizard risks everything to save the company she inherited from her father.

The first murder investigation of Sheriff Jill Jordan's career might be her last. Engaged in a hard-fought election against her own chief deputy, Jill finds herself faced with the first murder in rural Cumberland, Nevada, in over a decade. The bludgeoned body of Nora Corbitt dredges up a past that more than one person in town would do anything to keep secret. Like Hal Taylor. Hal's car dealerships put Cumberland on the map. Hal's son had a history with Nora, a history that Hal paid good money to keep under wraps. Like Aaron Sanford. Aaron buddied around with Hal Taylor's son in high school. That friendship - and what happened with Nora Corbitt - ruined his life. The good old boys in Cumberland, Jill's chief deputy among them, would like nothing better than to see Jill fail. But the justice system failed Nora Corbitt once before. Jill's not about to let it happen again. Even if it's the last thing she does as sheriff.

Whether you call them zombies or the infected or creepers, one thing's certain -- the undead changed the world forever for the survivors in these five stories of the zombie apocalypse. The first story in Annie Reed's popular zombie series and the title story in this collection, "Patient Z" centers on a homeless woman who raids the wrong recycle bin late one night, unleashing a future she never imagined. In "Bait," a former party girl faces the toughest decision of her life when she and her traveling companions discover a child tethered to a roadside sign. A young boy wandering the Oregon coast alone finds a friend in "Jessie" but discovers that friendship in this new world of the infected comes with a heavy price. The petty thief of "Ella and Mo" runs into a whole different kind of child survivor when he robs the wrong house in Las Vegas. And appearing in this collection for the first time is Annie's brand new story "Zombie Parade," a harrowing tale about survival in a New York City overrun by the undead. "The appearance of a new Annie Reed story is a treat. Try one and you'll be hooked." -- Dave Hendrickson, author of CRACKING THE ICE, forthcoming from WestSide Press "Annie Reed draws a pitch-perfect portrait of the Nevada desert and peoples it with folks so real I want to drive out by Vegas and try to find the Forty Winks Motel and check up on how everyone's doing. Its quiet voice and fast pace weave together to make any reader care." -- Cindie Geddes, Editor, Lucky Bat Books (reviewing Annie Reed's story ONE SUN, NO WAITING) "A friend recommended the works of Annie Reed. I was not disappointed. In fact, if her other shorts are as good as this one, I plan to read many more." -- Carol Davis Luce, author of NIGHT GAME (reviewing Annie Reed's story CHANGELING) Author Annie Reed is a prolific, award-winning writer whose stories have been published in numerous science fiction and fantasy anthologies, as well as in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. Annie can be found on the web at www.annie-reed.com.

Award-winning writer Annie Reed likes to scare us, charm us, haunt us, and make us fall in love. She does all of this and more in this collection of stories set in her home state of Nevada. A lonely desert highway provides the backdrop for a mother and daughter facing an uncertain future in "Night Passage." A simple day at a man-made lake turns out to be anything but in "Lady of the Deep." In "For a Few Lattes More," a barista encounters a hero from her childhood, while a former party girl faces the toughest decision of her life in "Bait." Life in witness protection takes a sudden left turn for a former hitman in "Night of the Cruisers." Luck runs cold for the petty thief of "Strike Two," while the world itself chills down for the old motel owner of "One Sun, No Waiting." And in "Love Among the Llamas," a woman finds unexpected romance waiting around a bend in the road.

Before there was Anna Delvey or Elizabeth Holmes, there was Cassie Chadwick. The first woman-using criminal cunning, some confidence, and a bit of charm--to bring down a federal agent, a bank, and a city's worth of men. Paroled felon. Rich doctor's wife. Famous clairvoyant. The best con artists know how to reinvent themselves, time and time again. Cassie Chadwick, one of history's most successful con artists, was a master of the trade. Over the course of fifteen years, she swept from town to town, assuming new identities and running new swindles at each railroad stop. In the dusk of the Gilded Age, years after the robber barons had amassed their fortunes, she was amassing her own. Then came the Carnegie con. Using her wits and a series of forged documents, Cassie convinced prominent men from Cleveland to New York City that she was Andrew Carnegie's illegitimate daughter. Blinded by the name of the most powerful man in the world, businessmen lined up to loan her hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time. The con made her impossibly rich. The crash shattered banks and bankers alike. Her sensational trial drew the eyes of a nation that couldn't get enough of the woman, who newspapers called the Queen of Swindlers, the Duchess of Diamonds, the High Priestess of Fraudulent Finance. Indeed, when Charles Ponzi's infamous scheme collapsed in 1920, reporters scoffed that "Ponzi is a piker compared to Cassie."Interspersing Cassie's crimes with stories of an unsuspecting Andrew Carnegie, author Annie Reed spins an enthralling, page turning tale of true crime. Could the rumors be true? Can Cassie's money last? Will she escape the electric chair? Told with a gossip columnists' charm and wit, THE IMPOSTER HEIRESS, is a rollicky trickster's tale that will appeal to history buffs and true crime aficionados alike to bring one of the greatest swindlers of all time back into the public eye.

Love. An essential and important part of the human experience. And in Feel the Love, editor Mark Leslie takes readers on a journey through the various forms of that powerful emotion. From the heartwarming to the heartbreaking, these eighteen talented writers brilliantly capture the concept of love. Comforting and thoughtful, uplifting and warm, these stories might just restore your faith in humanity.Table of Contents"Thief" by Michael Kowal"Death's Other Cousin" by Lisa Silverthorne"Making Amends" by David Stier"Frostwitch vs. the Ravages of Time" by Dayle A. Dermatis"The Goddess Killer" by Lauryn Christopher"Love Locks" by Dale Hartley Emery"Love Bots" by Dæmon Crowe"Loving Abby" by Angela Penrose"Foiled" by Brigid Collins"A Love to Remember" by Tonya D. Price"The Refurbished Companion" by Kelly Washington"The Secret of Catnip" by Stefon Mears"Lifeblood" by Alexandra Brandt"Who Loves the Unloved?" by Laura Ware"Henry and Beth at the Funeral Home" by Joe Cron"Truth and Lies" by David H. Hendrickson"With Love in Their Hearts" by Robert Jeschonek"Every Day New, Bright and Beautiful" by Annie Reed"The Fiction River series is a wonderful mind-expanding read..."-Astro Guyz