Emma Jenkins lives alone – a recluse in her remote home in Portland, Oregon, no longer engaged to be married. She spends her day reading books, pouring through old diaries, recalling happier times… and hallucinating twisted characters she reads about.Then Chelsea Greene comes into her life—a mysterious woman who knows far too much about Emma. The perfect stranger. But when Emma finds out something about Greene that she shouldn't, she turns to the characters in her book for guidance...

Fifteen years since the publication of its first volume, this invaluable guide to some of the most challenging aria excerpts continues with Volume II.Featuring an entirely new selection of arias, Guide to the Aria Repertoire, Volume II brings together many sources to aid the singer on their journey toward powerful, informed performances. Volume I of this guide has proven a tried-and-true resource for the developing operatic singer, with a wealth of insightful commentary f...

Set in the year 2062, "Stupid Machine" is a gripping hard science fiction novel and cybernetic noir that explores a world where technology is supposed to be infallible. In this near-future AI dystopia, car accidents have been a thing of the past for over twenty years—until Jordan Bishop’s vehicle undergoes a fatal crash.What looks like a simple malfunction to the world is, to former police detective turned insuranc...

A Collection of Hard Science Fiction and Engineering EthicsThe opposite of love isn't hate. It's indifference.In this thought-provoking collection of Hard Science Fiction, award-winning author Mark Niemann-Ross explores the intersection of high-stakes technology and the human spirit. From the sterile corridors of deep-space outposts to the cluttered garages of future suburban engineers, these five stories ask: What happens when our inventions b...

A collection of science fiction stories from the pages of Analog magazine by the award-winning team of Richard A. Lovett and Mark Niemann-Ross, including the 2011 Analytical Laboratory (reader's choice) Award winning novella "Phantom Sense" and the 2006 Analytical Laboratory Award winning novelette "NetPuppets."Lovett and Niemann-Ross have written some of the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories I've read in years- Nebula award winner Jerry Oltion

How do you prepare for your own "Golden Years" when you’re still trying to figure out how to care for those who came before you?When Mark Niemann-Ross realized he had "suddenly" become a senior, he didn't look to brochures or retirement seminars for guidance. Instead, he looked to his mother-in-law, Greta."My Favorite Mother-in-Law" is a heartwarming and often hilarious memoir that explores the complex, beautiful, and somet...

Old Mr. Smith has a story about young John Stokerson, a boy who didn’t speak a single word until he was four years old. While his parents worried, John trained his clever companion—a Border Collie named Patches.When Rusty Dunan, a fugitive cattle rustler, appears at John’s home, John and Patches hatch a plan. This western adventure shows how brains beat brawn. Using a series of tricks, this duo proves you don’t need a gun to stand up to a cattle ru...

The year is 2273 and the United States’ prison system is the largest industry on the planet and the de facto rulers are the wardens who run them. Hiram Macdinton is a troubled genius working for a secretive hi-tech firm whose cutting edge use of Holographic physics may just save the human race from self extinction and quadruple the US prison systems inmate count. Hiram’s passion to make his astonishing scientific insights a reality and solve the Earth’s desperate predicament is matched onl...

Ross Montgomery makes his Barrington Stoke debut with this comical caper that sees a match-making dream turn into a midsummer night's disaster.Nick is truly, madly in love with Jessie Stone. And she doesn't even know his name. In a ploy to win her heart, he plans to star alongside her in the school production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. But when he's cast as the foolish Bottom instead of the romantic lead, his whole world comes crashing down.Enter Robyn, school mischief...

Nick Kane is a man with nothing to lose, and everything to prove.A model soldier fighting for queen and country, it seemed nothing could stop him becoming one of the very top officers. But that was then.And this is now.Injured in a bomb blast on reconnaissance in Iraq he's forced out of the army and into the quiet life.But after a year in civvies rebuilding his life and his relationship with his family, things for Nick are looking up. That is until ...

Six raids that changed the course of history.Operation Judgement: one of the most spectacular efforts of World War Two, where obsolete British biplanes attacked the Italian fleet in Taranto.Operation Archery: the first true combined operation carried out by all three British forces. THis successful raid persuaded Hitler that the Allies were planning a full scale invasion.Operation Biting: a cross-Ch...

Only a sensible, level head can save the day when disaster strikes on a school trip in this hilariously slapstick introduction to Shakespeare’s The Tempest.Frank and his drama club are off on a dream school trip to perform The Tempest at a festival. But it turns into a nightmare when their ferry is hit by a terrible storm!Half of the actors wash up on a sandy shore and they can’t believe their eyes. Is this a desert island? Why is there strange music coming from the forest?...