Bøger af Joyce Reynolds-Ward

The mysterious war machine device known as the Gizmo is getting restless and trying to use Melanie's daughter Bess and her nephew Richard as a means of escape from its confinement. Meanwhile, problems arise with potential rogue Netwalkers tied not just to Melanie's past but to her parents and the original capture of the Gizmo. Can Melanie work with her estranged Netwalker grandmother Sarah as well as Bess to stop the Gizmo and deal with past shadows that threaten to dominate Bess's future?

78,954 alien devices appear just outside Pluto orbit, with a projected trajectory that ends at Earth...and the data shows they're identical to the Gizmo war machine that destroyed ten Earth cities before it was captured and confined.... For four generations Bess Fielding and her family have led the battle to control the destructive Gizmo device that also allowed for the development of Netwalk, a digital virtual networking and communication system that allows personalities to be uploaded at death. Bess, her mother Melanie, and her Netwalker great-grandmother Sarah have suspected Gizmo's alien origin for years. But when a fleet of Gizmo devices arrives at the Solar System, their focus on defending against this invasion is disrupted by disclosures of dark secrets from Sarah's past. These revelations provoke a dangerous breakdown in Bess's grandmother Diana, turning her into a Gizmo collaborator. Bess and her family must unite to save Diana and lead the fight to protect Earth--but who is trustworthy? Who is a betrayer? Who gets sacrificed to stop the invading fleet? Bess, Melanie, and Sarah are in a race against time and face tough choices...that will impact those they love.

FIND YOUR ESCAPE IN THE FABULIST AND FANTASTICAL WORLDS OF JOYCE REYNOLDS-WARD....Worlds where....a ski bum on vacation meets a different type of ski instructorthe stars turn right for a former revolutionarya teacher learns the truth about odd events happening in her rural communityGhosts haunt a high-level reining horse competitionaliens incorporate precognitive greeting cards as part of their invasion forcenot all writer's block comes from inside the writerand more!Stories of whimsy, joy and sorrow, victories and losses, and life-changing transformations, all in one volume!

CAROLINE STARSHINE DIDN'T EXPECT TO FIND A JOB WHEN SHE MET JEFF TOPHAND...Nor did she expect to find drug smugglers, a conspiracy intended to overthrow two Galactic powers and turn them into an Empire, unusual allies, a new family, and...love.Can Caroline and Jeff prevail against all the odds against them?

CHANGES. CHALLENGES.Eleven years after Katerin Healer learned that she was a scion of the exiled Miteal family, former rulers of the Darani Empire, she has settled into a pattern. Personal healer to one of the three Leaders of the Two Nations, Alicira ea Miteal. Her daughter Witmara grows more powerful in magic as she studies with Alicira and her spouses, the other two leaders of the Two Nations, Heinmyets and Inharise. But Alicira's health is failing...and that is not the only change facing Katerin.Rekaré ea Miteal, Alicira's daughter and Katerin's cousin, wrestles with her role as the Leader of Medvara. While she loves her daughter Melarae, she is ambivalent toward her daughter. Worse than that, Rekaré fears that the land has withdrawn its approval of her rule. She is haunted by traps laid by her father Zauril, and fears he reaches out from the grave to doom her Leadership of Medvara.Then a distant relative, Chiral ea Ralsem, seeks refuge from the Darani Empire. But something isn't right about Chiral. As Alicira's health wanes, Rekaré and Katerin must work together to deal with this threat to Medvara--and the other nations of the land of Varen. The Seven Crowned Gods have their own agenda. What are the consequences of thwarting Chiral's schemes, and why are the Gods meddling now?Katerin and Rekaré are faced with many challenging choices but not all are honorable-or wise.

WHAT CHOICES LIE AHEAD WHEN ONE HAS SUFFERED BEYOND HONOR?Aireii sorceress Alicira, last magician of the house of Miteal, has escaped the clutches of Zauril, murderer of most of her family and usurper of the Leadership of Medvara. She struggles to remain free of his control, especially since her unborn daughter, Zauril's child, may have inherited his magic instead of hers.Will she be able to find a safe refuge to rear her child free from Zauril's influence and wreak her vengeance on him, or will the Gods interfere? Her only surviving sibling swears such a place is in Keldara. But will she be able to reach Keldara without losing all she holds dear?Furthermore, what will this safety cost her?Also includes the short stories "The Goddess's Choice," "Delian's Gift," "Exile's Honor," and "Birth of Sorrow."

The suicide of a village healer sweeps Katerin, a wandering healer with a mysterious past, into the intrigues of Gods and humans. Can Katerin forge an alliance with the dangerously attractive Metkyi, avoid the curses of her destiny, and help restore a hidden leader to her rightful place?

Aireii sorceress Alicira, last magician of the house of Miteal, has escaped the clutches of Zauril, murderer of most of her family and usurper of the Leadership of Medvara. She struggles to remain free of his control, especially since her unborn daughter, Zauril's child, may have inherited his magic instead of hers. Will she be able to find a safe refuge to rear her child free from Zauril's influence and wreak her vengeance on him, or will the Gods interfere? Her only surviving sibling swears such a place is in Keldara. But will she be able to reach Keldara without losing all she holds dear?

"Sarah said she had Ness Ryan working on a project-" "Just the Netwalk stuff," Marty said. "Then Netwalk may be an attempt to control Gizmo," Diana said. "Which means we need to control it. We need to control Sarah as Netwalker and keep Peter away from it." For seven years, Melanie Landreth has maintained a lonely outpost in the Pacific Northwest while fighting a shadow war against the oppressive government controlled by her grandmother Sarah Stephens. Then her grandmother's death launches a cascade of events, including the discovery of a new virtual technology, NETWALK, which allows personalities to fully upload to digital life when their bodies die. As her mother Diana steps forward to wrest political power during the government collapse, Melanie must help her gain control of NETWALK--and discovers the existence of the mysterious device that NETWALK was created to control. With the help of Marty Fielding, Melanie strives to wrench control of NETWALK from opponents within her own family--and finds that she's not as alone as she once feared. But what alliances can she trust in a swiftly changing world? What is Gizmo? How can she best protect her family, her business, and her loved ones in the face of an uncertain future?

A RANCH WAR OF THE FUTURE.... Diana Landreth returns home from the Amazon to discover that her dying father is being forced to sell the Andrews Ranch after an unknown biological and radiological substance has poisoned it. But her father-in-law, Parker Landreth, has designs on the ranch and tries to blackmail Diana and her husband Will into selling it to him. Can Diana and Will discover the truth about what's been done to the Andrews Ranch and use their bioremediation company to rehabilitate it, thwarting Parker's evil schemes? Or will Parker's hatred of Diana and her family triumph, leaving Diana's stepmother and young half-sister homeless? Diana must use every tool possible to save the ranch...including calling upon her estranged mother for assistance. But that assistance comes with a price....

Change is coming eleven years after the events that transformed Katerin Healer into Katerin ea Miteal and catapulted Rekaré ea Miteal to the Leadership of Medvara. Katerin's daughter Witmara grows stronger in magic while studying under Alicira, Katerin's cousin and Rekaré's mother. Rekaré struggles with her mixed feelings toward her leadership and her daughter Melarae. When a challenge to Rekaré arises from a recent Daran Empire exile, Chiral, as Alicira's health fails, Katerin must choose between remaining obscure, or fully claim her role as a Miteal. The Seven Crowned Gods have their own agenda. What are the consequences of thwarting Chiral's schemes, and why are the Gods meddling now? Katerin and Rekaré are faced with many challenging choices but not all are honorable-or wise.

In a world of supernatural beings, not knowing what you are is dangerous. After Reeni Dutta's ex-husband Karl attacks her at a music festival, she finds a refuge teaching cryptid construct children at Klone's Stronghold in northeastern Oregon's isolated Bucket Mountains. But things are not as they seem at the Stronghold, from the older proprietors of a nearby store and the Stronghold's leader Alexander Reed Klone, to Reeni herself. She discovers it's not just Karl who seeks to control who and what she is, but forces from her past that threaten her present. Can she learn the truth about herself and do what is needed in time to defend the Stronghold?

Bess Fielding and Alex Jeffries are committed to a future in space with Bess's family company, Do It Right. But that future comes with a steep learning curve in a place where the simplest mistake can be deadly...and not all those mistakes are naturally caused. Being a leader in new space technologies doesn't stop sabotage from happening, however. As one of the leading production companies in space, Do It Right can be a target for the disgruntled and the ambitious. Nonetheless, Bess and Alex learn more about space and each other, until...good times come to an end....

When Hank Martin runs into a strange disk complete with little gray men while herding cattle in remote Ogden County, Oregon during the Cuban Missile Crisis, he has to wonder if he's going crazy or if the Russians are invading. Together with his talented cowhorse, Missy, and the support of his wife and local ranchers, Hank is determined to get those cattle rounded up, no matter if aliens, Russians, or weird Air Force bureaucrats want to stop him. Will he succeed in his roundup, or will he lose too many cattle to fund his dreams of raising a line of competitive cowhorses?

LIFE IN THE SHADOWS chronicles the struggles of Diana Andrews and Will Landreth to overcome parental, professional, and political obstacles to their relationship. Can Will ever win free from the shadows he collected when designing and programming war machines for his father? Can Diana establish her own bioremediation company independent from her strong-willed, controlling mother who has behind-the-scenes political ambitions? What happens when a greater threat begins to emerge? LIFE IN THE SHADOWS includes the three previously published stories; DAHLIA, WINTER SHADOWS, and SHADOW HARVEST. New in this volume is CHRISTMAS SHADOWS, the opening to The Disruption Series.

IN A TECH-DRIVEN FUTURE, HARD CHOICES FORCE UNEXPECTED FAMILY ALLIANCESSometimes happy endings don't stay that way.Over a year after Melanie Fielding helped her mother Diana Landreth overthrow a repressive North American government headed by her grandmother Sarah Stephens, she faces even more problems.The new Netwalk technology that allows Sarah's personality to exist after death is developing in unpredictable ways. Rogue Netwalkers emerge, allied with Diana and Melanie's long-term foe, the Freedom Army.Worse, Melanie is forced into an alliance with her estranged brother Andrew Stephens, at the demand of the international Corporate Courts. The Courts control a mysterious entity, the Gizmo, which is somehow connected to Netwalk. As they learn more about the Courts and the Gizmo, Melanie and Andrew realize that Diana may not be trustworthy.That the Gizmo and the Courts have a dangerous agenda that isn't what it seems-and Sarah may be their best tool to stop the Gizmo from fulfilling its goals.

WHAT WILL A WITCH DO TO SAVE THE MAGIC FAIR THAT PROTECTS HER POWERS?Yesenia Cruz is ambitious. She wants to become a Solo witch, one who doesn't need to renounce her powers at age twenty-one unless she becomes part of a protective family spell matrix. She has plans with her best friend, Kirsten Rogers, to open a boutique selling magic-spelled goods to the non-magical.But. In order to become Solo, Yesenia needs to win the Bright Star Magic Fair crown for a third year. She can't afford the academy that will qualify her to become Solo.Her family wants her to give up her dreams of becoming Solo, marry Saul Ramos and become part of the Cruz family spell matrix.And a strange new witch, Shadow the Question, from a Lost Fair, is a potential challenger-even as Yesenia and Kirsten become aware of a new threat to Bright Star Fair. They have to draw on Shadow's knowledge to save Bright Star-but is Shadow's knowledge sufficient? Can these three witches save the Fair?For if Bright Star fails-then all magic fails. Eventually.

IN A TECH-DRIVEN FAMILY, HARD CHOICES PASS TO THE NEXT GENERATIONMother against daughter.Grandmother against granddaughter.Melanie Landreth has maintained a lonely outpost as the President of Do It Right North America for seven years. Her grandmother, Sarah Stephens, the President of the Confederated States of North America, rules the continent with an iron fist. Melanie's brother Andrew is one of Sarah's lackeys. Their mother Diana controls Do It Right outside of North America, and engages in secretive maneuvers aimed at overthrowing Sarah's reign.Will things ever change?When they do, who will survive?What role does the Disruption Machine-now known as the Gizmo-play in the emergence of the new Netwalk technology? Why does the Gizmo manage to unite Sarah and Melanie's mother Diana, when they disagree on just about any other subject?The struggle for control within this family can change the world-for better or for worse.And Melanie wants to be the winner.

Rianna and Bobby are Canaries-two of the living toxin monitors who are the Coalition for North American Survival's best tools for predicting and enduring an outbreak of the poisonous Clouds that threaten to destroy all life under the Dome. Their heightened sensitivity to airborne toxins coupled with bioengineered tweaking, training, and medications means they can take data on current conditions as they affect living beings-and tolerate higher exposures than most people. More than that, Rianna and Bobby are a couple. They're the two best forecasters of Cloud behavior, prized and protected by their supervisor, LeBrand, because of their complementary talents. So why are their bosses trying to kill them? What's the real agenda-and just how bad is that last Cloud formation going to be? Can Rianna, Bobby, and LeBrand manage to stay alive long enough to find out what's going on?

IN A TECH-DRIVEN BIOREMEDIATION FUTURE, HARD CHOICES MUST BE MADE.Powerful mother.Powerful daughter.Sarah Stephens and her daughter Diana Landreth run bioremediation companies dependent upon neural nets and nanotechnology to operate complex biobots. Sometimes competitors, sometimes collaborators, while they disagree, they are still mother and daughter.And then the Disruption Machine begins its campaign of devastation.In the process of their collaboration to stop the Disruption Machine, the shadows in their lives force their paths into a dangerous divergence.Sarah chooses politics and power.Diana chooses research and family.What happens when their choices collide?

WHEN NOTHING TURNS OUT TO BE AS EXPECTED.... After Linda Coates gets a job offer from friend Ruby Barkley Martiniere, she sees a means to escape the growing issues created by her ambitious brother-in-law Clyde Newsome, who seemingly wants to control every aspect of Linda's life. Ruby's offer means Linda gets the chance to work closely with her friend in developing high-end agricultural robotics and manage the Martiniere Group's high-end labs around the world. What Linda didn't expect was Armand Martiniere-her counterpart who works for Ruby's husband Gabriel. Or what Armand comes to mean to her. Or the degree to which her brother-in-law Clyde wants to pursue her as part of his political ambitions. Linda needs to find a way to protect her family and remain safe...hopefully, with Armand. Can she make it happen-either alone, or with the help of the Martinieres?

YOU CAN'T ESCAPE THE INHERITANCE OF THE PAST...OR CAN YOU? Rancher Ruby Barkley and her ex-husband Gabe Ramirez are competing head-to-head for the AgInnovator game show's new one-shot award, the Ag Superhero. The winner walks away with $3.75 million per year for five years, with no accountability or need to re-earn the Superhero, unlike the Innovator's other awards. But issues beyond those raised by their long-ago acrimonious divorce face Ruby and Gabe. Fence cutting. Rogue biobots destructively ranging beyond programmed parameters. Physical attacks. And the realization that they may need to reunite to save their son Brandon from indentured servitude. Then the secret shadow of Gabe's hidden inheritance reveals itself. Will he step up to the Martiniere Legacy-and what role will Ruby accept in any future they may share?

WHAT DOES ASCENSION TO POWER REALLY COST? Six months after the triumphant collaborative conclusion of the AgInnovator Superhero game show, Ruby Barkley and her ex-husband Gabriel Martiniere still struggle with the professional and personal fallout from their victory. The Superhero money allowed Ruby to launch her line of agricultural biobots. But one of the RubyBot spinoffs, the Defender, leads to unsettling revelations about crop tampering using body-modified indentured workers. Their son Brandon uncovers even more disturbing information about the abuse of indentureds as he campaigns to end it. All of these disclosures lead back to the Martiniere Group, the family corporation controlled by Gabe's malevolent uncle, Philip Martiniere. Meanwhile, Ruby and Gabe wrestle with what form their resumed relationship will take, as Ruby contemplates whether she wants to take on the role of a Martiniere wife. The revelation that Gabe's father is not who they thought, and Philip's attempt to force Ruby away from Gabe confirms her decision. But the need to rescue one of Brandon's valued indentured informants turns celebration into catastrophe. Will Ruby and Gabe be able to recover from this disaster-or will Philip triumph yet again in his campaign to destroy Gabe?

SHE WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE THERE....An accident placed Katerin Healer in the village of Wickmasa when Wickmasa's healer Makri killed himself after his magic-gifted horse proved to be contaminated by an enemy.Katerin only plans to stay in Wickmasa until the spring, when Wickmasa's new Healer can return from training.BUT....Things keep happening in the secrets-laden village.And now, along with her new love Metkyi, Katerin finds herself as part of a team set to overthrow a corrupt leader and replace him with his estranged daughter Rekaré.Will they succeed? Will Katerin and Metkyi have a future?Or do the Seven Crowned Gods have other plans?Note: This edition includes the short stories "Return to Wickmasa" and "Crown Anniversary," previously published.