Bøger af Michael Jasper

Tales of where the normal meets the strange... Twenty-one stories about the moment when someone's life took an unexpected turn, and that person was changed forever. Tales of heroes and cowards, lovers and leaders, the heartbroken and the heartless. Stories that leave you wrecked inside, as the characters on the page try desperately to reassemble the pieces of their lives. Michael Jasper uses genre as a weapon in these twenty-one stories. Buckle up and enjoy the ride.

Magic: more contagious than the common cold... One wintry morning in Dubuque, Iowa, Kelley Strickland gets "triggered" by magic after reading from a strange book she shoplifts. And her twin brother Jeroan meets an old man who infects him with magic as well. Soon there's an outbreak of contagious magic in Dubuque, Iowa. Wild magic: the side effects are painful, if not fatal... When they find themselves hunted by an ancient, power-hungry Sorcerer and his over-sized operatives, Jeroan and Kelley must act, before this wild epidemic of magic turns deadly for them and all of their new friends. Contagious magic: there just might not be a cure... And as if that wasn't bad enough, one stormy night the twins lose all their magic, along with their parents. The twins have to work together for the first time in their lives to get their parents back and restore order-and magic-to their world. Contagious Magic collects A Sudden Outbreak of Magic, A Wild Epidemic of Magic, and A Lasting Cure for Magic.

In the near future, over thirty black alien ships carrying a race called the Wannoshay crash-land across midwestern America and southern Canada. At first, humans and aliens attempt integration, but it's a hard future plagued with terrorism, violence, suicide cults, and designer drugs. When mysterious explosions at factories employing the aliens are blamed on the Wannoshay, they are forcibly transferred to internment camps. Soon the aliens begin to succumb to a strange disease called "soul curdling" and the sickness seems to be spreading...to humans! An unlikely group of humans, with even more unlikely connections with the Wannoshay, travel to the alien mother ship in hopes of alleviating the Wannoshay's plight, and to learn the secrets of the strange, interstellar visitors. Secrets are powerful things, and decisions must then be made. But decisions are not easy when it comes to the Wannoshay and their human hosts.

Magic: the side effects are painful, if not fatal... Two months after the explosive and unexpected ending to A Sudden Outbreak of Magic, Jeroan learns all about magic at Dr. Azure's mysterious training center. Meanwhile, Kelley can't even leave her hotel room in Dubuque without a chaperone. When people they care about start disappearing, and people they didn't think they should care about-like Dr. Azure-get attacked by rogue magic-users, Jeroan and Kelley must work together. Before this growing epidemic of magic turns deadly. Unfortunately, they learn too late that magic no longer works properly, and they suffer some serious side effects whenever they use it... The fantasy series for all ages continues!

Magic: more contagious than the common cold... Kelley Strickland and her twin brother Jeroan accidentally step into an ancient battle between a power-hungry Sorcerer-who wants to rid the world of what he calls "renegade" magic-users-and a good Sorcerer who can barely remember his own name. Kelley soon learns that her new-found way of using magic just might save her adopted city, her brother, and her new, magically infected friends. Or it could doom them all. A fantasy novel for all ages about ancient power, growing up, and finding your place within those two very different realms. "Michael Jasper brings the common touch to the most uncommon situations. Welcome to his world." - Nebula-winning author John Kessel

If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him. A young woman struggling with drug addiction catches aliens on her digital camera. A man with elemental powers struggles with morality and carrying out the orders of his bosses. The dead leave their graves and take up... surfing? Gunning for the Buddha collects fifteen stories that range from near-future science fiction to historical dark fantasy and contemporary horror, touching on a range of genres in the process. These wide-ranging stories were previously published in magazines such as Asimov's, Strange Horizons, The Best of All Flesh, and Writers of the Future. Enjoy the voyages, and watch out for false Buddhas on the road! "Don't be looking for bold starship captains or warrior maidens wielding magic swords in Gunning for the Buddha. Michael Jasper serves up something refreshingly different: a heady brew of ordinary folks making tough decisions at the far edges of reality. Spend some time with these stories and you're bound to bump into people you know who find themselves in places you've only dreamed about." - Hugo-winning author James Patrick Kelly "Mike Jasper brings the common touch to the most uncommon situations. Welcome to his world." - Nebula-winning author John Kessel

Try not to listen to those who whisper... Tommy Roling has a great freelance job, a healthy daughter, and a new city to call home. Plus he's finally comfortable with the fact that he's a werewolf. So why isn't he happy? Could it be his daughter's "terrible twos," which seem even more terrible because she chooses to stay in her wolf body most of the time? Or is it his growing distance from his family as well as Nina, his on-again, off-again girlfriend? Those questions remain unanswered as a group of strangers disrupts the lives of Tommy, his daughter, and his slacker brother. The strangers give Tommy and his small pack a harsh glimpse of the whispering madness that hovers just outside the safe boundaries of their fragile little world. A world that Tommy just might not be able to hold together on his own. The second book in the Family Pack series of "rural fantasy" novels, Hunter's Moon picks up a year after the first book, Family, Pack.

This book examines the central decades of Peter Eisenman's work through a formal and thematic analysis of key architectural projects and writings, revealing underlying characteristics and arguing for their productive continuity and transformative role.

Magic: It can show up in the strangest places... An old man sleeping in a cardboard box in snowy Chicago holds the secret of sorcery in his head. Thanks to the damage done to him by using magic decades ago, he doesn't realize it. Most days he can't even remember his own name. But when two teens try to jump him in an alley, the magic Words come back to him at last, and he "infects" the kids with magic. And soon Chicago has a wild epidemic of magic on its hands... An earlier, but still self-contained version of the novel A Sudden Outbreak of Magic, but with a slightly altered cast of characters and plotlines. Consider it the "alternate-world" version of the Contagious Magic story.

Retirement: it's not just for the elderly. Thirty-six-year-old JB lives to inspire the old folks at Whispering Pines Rest Home. He listens to their stories, encourages them to get some fresh air, and makes sure they aren't just sitting around waiting for the end to come. But he's not a doctor, not a therapist. He's a resident of Whispering Pines, too. When the finances for Whispering Pines hit the skids, the Home starts to earn the wrong kind of attention. And JB is left to confront the harsh reality of his past, and the reason he dropped out of life to retire three decades early. A reality he has been working hard to avoid since stepping foot inside Whispering Pines. Sometimes life - and getting back to really living - requires some assistance.

First contact between a priest and an alien... Less than a dozen years from now, over thirty black ships containing the aliens the world will come to know as the Wannoshay arrive on the frozen earth of the Great Plains of America and Canada. When communications break down between the military personnel of the humans and the leaders of the Wannoshay, Father Joshua McDowell gets a chance to make first contact with the aliens. And just as he thinks he has come to understand the aliens and his new friend known as Johndo, Father Joshua realizes he has a lot more to learn. And what he doesn't know about the Wannoshay just might kill him... A Wannoshay Cycle novella.

An unlikely team of misfit players, and the coach fighting to hold them all together... In his first season as head coach of the All Nations team, former slave George Grunion contends with racist crowds, low team morale, and... the ghost of the previous head coach. And if George can't hold the All Nations together, he loses more than his job and his team. He'll miss his chance to fulfill the prophecy made by his prescient centerfielder Mack - that George will be reunited with his estranged family before the 1918 season ends. If George doesn't score this final run, he loses everything. "Avid, talented newcomers like Jasper help us keep the faith." - Locus

Three generations of Koopmans live-uneasily-under the same roof of a farm house twenty miles from the center of Holy Cross, Iowa. Thirty-year-old William Koopman needs to move out. But Dad wanted him on the farm after Grandpa died, so William stayed, married his girl Marcy, and even brought her to the farmhouse to live. The poor girl made it a year before she bolted at the end of a rough winter. A week after Marcy leaves, William's shiftless younger brother John returns home. The prodigal son with no money in his wallet, but lots of ideas to make it all back in Holy Cross. If they all survive this rainy growing season on the farm, it will truly be a miracle.

Sometimes you eat the forest, sometimes the forest eats you. What would you do if your child was lost, and-even though you'd never admit this to anyone-it was all your fault? How would you react? Would you be a hero or a coward? And just how would you get your innocent child out of this situation? These are all questions Gil Anderson faces when his five-year-old son goes missing somewhere in the dark trees at the edge of the family farm. On that fateful day, Gil must travel through his own version of hell to rescue his child before the forest eats them all. What Gil doesn't know is that his wife and son are also on their own dark, solitary journeys as well... "In his third novel, speculative-fiction rising star Jasper offers a finely nuanced blend of fantasy and horror." - Booklist

A haunted romance. An unsolved mystery. And a centuries-old curse at the heart of it all. Off the rough coast of North Carolina's Outer Banks, Ella Simon tracks down one man-the infamous pirate Blackbeard. She must identify a shipwreck off the coast of the island, but she and her divemaster Mitch Thompson discover much more than that. They just have to stay alive long enough to solve the mystery of a young girl's killer before the ghosts of dead pirates take them down to the bottom of the ocean, forever. A haunted romance, a lovestruck mystery, and a pirate-filled adventure. "Fans of an interesting ghost story enhanced by romance will want to read this tale of long dead pirates riding the high seas." - Midwest Book Review

Some family curses really should be passed on... Tommy Roling does everything humanly possible to raise his infant daughter Corinne the right way. But a half year out of high school, Tommy finds himself a single parent as well as flat broke. And, with every full moon, he can't fight the urge to strip off his clothes and run wild through the pastures outside town. So when a stranger shows up, slashed to death, the day after Tommy's most recent full-moon run, Tommy must resolve this murder or he could lose what little he has left. That includes his innocent baby girl Corinne, who just might have inherited his werewolf gene from him. A paranormal mystery about fatherhood, responsibility, and taking control of your own life, one full moon at a time. The first book in a new "Rural Fantasy" mystery series! "Jasper has a real gift for evoking a mood" - Kirkus Reviews

Contagious magic: good luck trying to find a cure... Two minutes after the shocking end to A Wild Epidemic of Magic, this third book in the series finds Kelley and Jeroan stranded in Dubuque, Iowa, after losing their parents-and all the Sorcerers they met in the past two months-to the vengeful Druid. Apparently, the Druid did not enjoy his 200-year banishment. And as if that wasn't bad enough, the twins must once again work together to find a way to regain all of their magic, before time-and magic-runs out for good. The fantastic third book in the Contagious Magic series, for all ages.

Sometimes those who can't be found just might not be lost... As the co-founders of Finders, Inc., Hank Johnson and Bim Mayer spent the past two decades successfully solving mysteries and-almost miraculously, in many instances-finding missing people in the remote mountain town of Boone, North Carolina. Until now. Their most recent case deals with an outbreak of missing elderly people, all of whom used to teach at nearby Appalachian State University. With the help of teammates Juan and Marly Hernandez, along with Shelby Jamiston, a sharp new private investigator Hank just hired, they soon learn that the absent old folks all have something else in common. They're all connected to a shady character with deep, dark ties to both Bim and Hank. The events of those chaotic three days in late winter will test the friendship of the two men as they-and all the other members of the "Finder Team"-risk their lives to solve this mystery and find a group of people who just might not want to be found. The first book in an all new mystery series (with hints of the paranormal)!