Bird Mystery

In a futuristic Tampa Bay, Skiptracer Dhata Mays and his sidekick, Lur Diaz, are on a job investigating a cheating lowlife. But after a deadly explosion and the woman who hired them disappears, nobody is safe. Suddenly, everyone is under suspicion, and the police are no longer there "to serve and to protect". Now, it's up to Dhata to take matters into his own hands and uncover a deep-rooted plot to escalate the tension between the humans and synths. He must stop the battle before it's too late.

Writer Cyril Glendinning is waiting for his big break. He is well reviewed by cultured newspapers, but he makes very little money. Then he is commissioned to write a novel for a big publisher, but before he is able to finish, disaster strikes. His wife, Gertrude, is left penniless and alone, until she is awoken one night by a mysterious clicking metallic sound....

When Sasha Harley accepted a travel nurse assignment on Willow Island, she had no idea that her life was about to take a drastic turn, let alone that she was going to come out of what was supposed to be a simple 13-week nursing assignment with a newborn baby.

Twitch has three pet chickens, four pigeons, swallows nesting in his bedroom and a passion for bird-spotting. On the first day of the summer holidays, he arrives at his secret birdwatching hide to find police everywhere: a convicted robber has broken out of prison and is hiding in Aves Wood. Can Twitch use his talents for bird-spotting to hunt for the dangerous prisoner and find the missing loot?

The clever little ladybird is off on a trip to the seaside, but those two bad men, Hefty Hugh and Lanky Len, are also back and they're up to their wicked ways again. This time they're planning to steal the mermaid's long, luscious hair and sell it to a famous star...luckily, the crime-busting ladybird has another cunning plan to stop the thieves!

In a war between man and machine, he must find a way to protect them all... After a devastating war forced humans to rely on synths for survival, the two have learned to coexist peacefully. Until now... When detective Dhata Mays is called in to investigate a homicide, what he uncovers threatens the serenity of this futuristic society. The gruesome murder means only one thing: someone is ready to incite another war. Now, it's up to Dhata to ensure that the truth stays hidden - to protect both sides of the battle. But can he be unbiased in a world that forces him to take sides?

All I had to do was write one spell to save us - instead, I doomed us all. Stuck in Faery, with her friends in mortal danger, Maddie has no choice but to push herself beyond her limits. Her magic is growing, but so are the secrets behind it. Will she be able to save them? Or has she ruined her chances in redeeming herself? This is it. The final battle. The last chance to save those she loves.

An early morning on a beach in Virginia. As he is taking his daily swim, Arman Bajalan - formerly an interpreter in Iraq - discovers a dead body. After surviving an assassination attempt that killed his wife and child, Arman has been given lonely sanctuary in the US. Now, sure that the murder is connected to his past, he knows he's still not safe. Seasoned detective Catherine Wheel and her fresh-off-the-beat partner have little to go on beyond a bus ticket in the man's pocket. It leads them to Sally Ewell, a local journalist as grief-stricken as Arman by the Iraq war.

Strange things have been happening to Layah and her younger sister, Izzie, ever since their mother dragged them to a rain-soaked cottage miles from anywhere in the Lake District: there is a peculiar whistling at night, a handful of unusual feathers appear and a sudden, frightening banging at the door. And their mother is behaving very oddly. Layah is mourning the loss of her dear grandmother in Poland - and can almost hear her voice telling her the old myths, legends and fairy tales from that place.

A mind-expanding, deeply humane tour of language(s) - and those who speak, study and invent them - by the best-selling author of Born on a Blue Day and Thinking in Numbers. Is vocabulary destiny? Why do clocks 'talk' to the Nahua people of Mexico? Will AI researchers ever produce true human-machine dialogue? In this mesmerizing collection of essays, Daniel Tammet answers these and many other questions about the intricacy and profound power of language.

Our dashing heroine, a famous revue artist, takes to the slopes with her coterie of admirers. Champagne flows and wherever Miriam goes she leaves a trail of gossip in her wake. Fellow ski-resort guests include the celebrated Russian ex-ballerina Natasha Nevkorina, whose beauty is matched only by her languor, Natasha's burly husband, nightclub owner Johnny DuVivien, and the wealthy Flahertés, a family that has made its money importing scents: handsome playboy Barney, his wife, Regan, their two obnoxious children and the governess Rosalie.

"Nimm eine und tue es!", steht in großen Lettern auf den Kisten, die frei zugänglich auf dem Times Square herumstehen. Sofort bekriegen sich zwei Streetgangs um den Inhalt: Waffen! Mit dieser Provokation läuten Islamisten den Straßenterror in New York ein. Es folgt ein Anschlag auf den US-Präsidenten. Auch die Vatikanstadt wird von Anschlägen heimgesucht: Der Nachfolger Osama bin Ladens will die christliche Welt zerstören. Doch damit nicht genug! Der Papst riskiert ­seinerseits, den Weltfrieden zu gefährden: Er ruft zum Heiligen Krieg gegen den Islam auf – und wird bald darauf entführt.

A body in the river is all in a day's work for Detective Inspector Peter Johns and his sergeant, Paul Godwin. But things start to become more personal when Paul recognizes their key witness as a close childhood friend and Peter's son is detained for suspected child abduction. Peter and Paul discover they have more in common than they realized, and it becomes difficult to keep work and family life separated.

When Jack discovers that someone is hurting local pets, he's determined that the Twitchers will solve the crime. But the Twitchers are more interested in the rare and endangered bearded vulture spotted heading for Aves Woods. Determined to prove himself, Jack sets off to investigate, only to find himself in deep water. Friendless and alone, Jack must use all his bravery and skills to not only stop a terrible crime, one that could put the bearded vulture in danger, but to prove to his friends that he's a deserving member of The Twitchers after all.

When DI JJ Jenson took on the case of the abduction of Daniel Boyd, he knew it would be tough, but little did he know everything would go wrong, and Daniel's murderer, Bryn Jenkins, would walk out of court a free man. A devastated JJ knew nothing would ever be the same again. Over ten years later, JJ receives some interesting photographs from an anonymous correspondent. Could they hold the clue to putting Jenkins behind bars where he belongs?

Three families are forever affected when their lives intertwine in unexpected ways, and they are forced to face their inner and outer demons. A detective is linked by his obsession with the killer he is searching for: a figure seemingly elusive but strangely present.

Three months into her new role as a psychiatrist at a clinic in New York, Erin Cartwright is asked to evaluate the case of a man who murdered his mother and sisters at the age of 17. Found not guilty by reason of insanity and held in a maximum-security psychiatric facility for 27 years, Timothy Stern is now eligible for release. Upon learning the crime occurred in the same village she once visited as a child, Erin is on the verge of refusing to take the case.

A week ago you woke up in Los Angeles with no memory of who you are. The only thing you knew: People are trying to kill you. You put your trust in Ben, but he betrayed you and broke your heart. Now you've escaped to New York City with a boy named Rafe, who says he remembers you from before. But the two of you are not safe. The same people who are after you are tailing Rafe as well.

It was New Year’s Eve the night that dead blackbirds descended, hours before 14-year-old Alex McCarthy's sister Olivia went missing from a party. Committed to finding out what happened to her sister within the previously safe walls of their subarctic Orkney village, Alex knows that dishevelled, sometimes intoxicated Detective Inspector Birkens is her best shot.

Despite her amazing abilities, all Sun Song Shia ever wanted was to be loved. But it's hard to find love when you don't even know who you really are. Little Bird is an expansion of In Her Eyes, originally published in F&SF, a nominee for the Sturgeon award, an honoree for the James Tiptree award, and included in the 2015 Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Novellas (edited by Paula Guran).