<div>In the Kingdom of Isle, where the Sun Kings reign with the power of the Book of the Suns, Hal and Alan are given a mission. They must use the ancient strength of wisdom to destroy the evil that plagues the kingdom. The two blood brothers venture throughout the land fighting the many forms that this evil takes so they can arrive at their destiny. </div>

The Silver Sun

<div><B>An epic adventure awaits in the first novel of this classic fantasy series perfect for fans of J. R. R. Tolkien from an author who &ldquo;writes like a dream&rdquo; (<I>St. Louis Post-Dispatch</I>).</B><BR /><BR /> Welcome to Isle, a land of fantasy that existed long before there were such things. Surrounded by vast oceans and dotted with thick forests, Isle was a land in which all beings lived together. There were gods and ghosts dwelling with the Old Ones, the wise ancient ancestors. During this period, the Book of Suns began its life, though little was known about its contents. The mighty marriage between Sun and Moon begins an adventure never seen before.</div>

The White Hart

<div><B>A dissatisfied angel falls to Earth to pursue his long-held dream of becoming a heavy-metal rock &rsquo;n&rsquo; roll god</B><BR /><BR /> For Volos, heaven is a bore; the real action is in the world of mortals. So the restless celestial abandons the eternal realm, transforming himself into a beautiful, decadent example of the human male while keeping his wings intact, and sets out to become a rock star. Needing appropriate lyrics for his soon-to-be hit singles and having no firsthand experience with mortal emotions and concerns, Volos finds everything he needs in the personal writings of a sexually repressed wife and mother from the Bible Belt. The daughter of a tyrannical fundamentalist preacher, <a>Angie</a> composes poetry in secret, and she is shocked when she hears her own words on the radio. Surely a higher power is calling her to Los Angeles. But the music is leading her to a shining star who is more than a man yet less than human&mdash;a true soulmate capable of changing her world in ways she never could have imagined.<BR />  <BR /> Multiple award&ndash;winning fantasist Nancy Springer reinvigorates the fallen-angel trope in<BR /> a delightfully inventive and thought-provoking story of a celestial being who is unhappy in the service of a distant and unapproachable God. <I>Metal Angel</I> is an enthralling exploration of belief, spirituality, sexual awakening, and superstardom.<BR /><BR /><BR /><br clear="all" /><BR /></div>

Metal Angel

<div><B>A shape-shifter and an errant soul share an unbreakable bond and a curse, and must join together to fulfill an ancient magical prophecy in Nancy Springer&rsquo;s final installment of the Book of Isle</B><BR /><BR /> When Prince Dair was a small child and still in wolf form, he saw his future in the loom of Ylim, the weaving seeress as old as the world. It was prophesied that he, the changeling son of King Trevyn of Isle, would travel far from his home and his loved ones, carrying his magic to the mainland. For the first time, Dair saw the <a>golden swan</a>, and the face of the stranger to whom he was eternally linked, the wanderer called Frain. But this mysterious youth who can feel everything Dair feels&mdash;his emotions, his anxieties, his pain&mdash;bears an obligation to a lost love and a curse of dark enchantment. Still, the bond that unites Dair and Frain is stronger than iron, and in their mystical union rests the fate of a troubled land.<BR />  <BR /> Reviewers have compared the volumes in Nancy Springer&rsquo;s enthralling Book of Isle series to the works of J. R. R. Tolkien and other masters of fantasy literature. The captivating saga concludes spectacularly with an unforgettable tale of duty, friendship, peril, fate, and love that adds a new richness and color to this remarkable island realm and its magical inhabitants.<BR /><BR /></div>

The Golden Swan

<div><B>In the magnificent conclusion to Nancy Springer&rsquo;s Sea King Trilogy, a mad prince confronts peril and dark magic on a desperate quest to find a lost god in a dying world </B><BR /><BR /> They were three, united to hold together a world that was coming apart: Rad Korridun, the sea king, who died three times but lived still; Dannoc, the mad prince of the Red Hart tribe, bonded mind and heart to Kor; and Tassida, the beautiful mystery, a rebellious daughter of the death goddess, who loved them both. But Mahela, the all-powerful Devourer, felt betrayed by her one-time lover Kor, and she attempted to break their bond with anger, disappointment, and jealousy. And so the companions have gone their separate ways.<BR />  <BR /> Resuming his lifelong quest to find his god, Dannoc now must confront his greatest terrors and gravest fears in the company of a loyal wolf brother. For only then will he be able to recover his true name, his past, and his sanity&mdash;and perhaps save a world.<BR />  <BR /> Acclaimed fantasist Nancy Springer brings her remarkable Sea King Trilogy to a breathtaking conclusion with <I>Godbond</I>, following her mad hero through a fantastic world that rivals the fantasy realms created by the great J. R. R. Tolkien in richness and imagination.<BR /><BR /> <BR /></div>

Godbond

<div><B>A middle-aged housewife whose rebellious inner child runs away with her talent transforms herself into a fearless young gay man in this winner of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award</B><BR /><BR /> Larque Harootunian is having a midlife crisis like no other&mdash;but then again, there is much about the frumpy, middle-aged housewife and mother that could never be considered ordinary. Larque&rsquo;s lifelong ability to generate &ldquo;dopplegangers,&rdquo; for example&mdash;physical manifestations of her thoughts and emotions&mdash;has been a constant source of stress. And now she is being tormented by Skylark, a re-creation of her younger self, an angry inner child who is tormenting Larque about abandoning her youthful ambitions while running away with her artistic abilities, thereby depriving the older Larque of a livelihood as a painter of kitsch.<BR />  <BR /> But perhaps this is Larque&rsquo;s opportunity to explore her options. Acquiescing to Sky&rsquo;s demands that she change herself, Larque tries on a series of different personas&mdash;to the consternation of her mother, husband, and teenage sons&mdash;and finds her way to Popular Street. There, among the devil-may-care misfits, Larque can be Lark, a handsome young gay man, and quite possibly discover what her life is really about.<BR />  <BR /> In her critically acclaimed contemporary fantasy, multiple award&ndash;winning author Nancy Springer breaks through boundaries while provocatively comingling the real and the surreal. <I>Larque on the Wing</I> is a marvel&mdash;a moving, funny, surprising, and transcendent tale of one woman&rsquo;s strange quest to come to terms with who she truly is.<BR /><BR /></div>

Larque on the Wing

<div><B>A king and a madman in a dying world must join together, facing monsters and terrors to save what few mortals still remain, in the first book of the masterful Sea King Trilogy by one of fantasy fiction&rsquo;s most accomplished world builders</B><BR /><BR /> Once there were towering cities filled with masses of people. But no longer. Now six dwindling tribes huddle between the plains and the sea. Once the woodlands teemed with all manner of creatures&mdash;until the terrible Devourers swooped down from the skies to feed on them. Now all is silent.<BR />  <BR /> Rad Korridun, king of the Seal Kindred tribe, seeks the answers that will save his people. To find them he must join with Dannoc, accused of foul murder and driven mad by the horrors he has witnessed but cannot remember. Kor and Dan are bonded together by a great and powerful magic, their minds and spirits and hearts united as one.<BR />  <BR /> On their journey they join with Tassida&mdash;the tribeless wanderer and warrior, beautiful and mysterious. But what awaits them beyond the mountains is a darkness that dwarfs all nightmares as destiny draws them ever closer to the source of the end to all things.<BR /><br clear="all" /></div>

Madbond

<div><B>In the second book of Nancy Springer&rsquo;s remarkable Sea King fantasy trilogy, a king&rsquo;s quest for the survival of his world leads him and his bond brother to a terrifying realm of the dead beneath the water </B><BR /><BR /><a>Once, great kings reigned in mighty, teeming cities. Now six small tribes inhabit the known world&mdash;and their world is nearing its end.</a><BR />  <BR /> When Rad Korridun, king of the Seal Kindred Tribe, first encountered Dannoc, the troubled chieftain saw clearly that the man was mad, while Dan thought Kor was the god he had long been seeking. However, the unique connection they shared could not be ignored, and a powerful brotherhood was born. The arrival of Tassida, the beautiful mystery, strengthened that bond and threatened it as well. Now that the beasts of their world have fallen prey to the terrible hunger of the Devourers, the survival of the tribes depends on these three whom Destiny is leading to the undersea land of the dead. There, Dannoc seeks to reunite with his lost father. For Tassida, it is a homecoming. But Kor faces a reunion of a much darker sort, for here lies the source of all the world&rsquo;s ills.<BR /><BR /><BR /></div>

Mindbond

<div><B>In Nancy Springer&rsquo;s enthralling fourth volume of the Book of Isle, two young princes set out to destroy their own father and the pervasive evil that poisons the kingdom</B><BR /><BR /> An epic saga set in an ageless island stronghold of magic and mystery, Nancy Springer&rsquo;s Book of Isle series is considered by many to be among the most accomplished offerings in all of fantasy literature, as lyrical and inventive as the classic works of J. R. R. Tolkien. In this unforgettable novel, a violent rift in a royal house threatens to tear an entire kingdom asunder.<BR />  <BR /> The next in line to rule the troubled realm of Melior, Prince Tirell gave his heart to the gentle and beautiful peasant girl Mylitta. But she died at the cruel whim of Tirell&rsquo;s father, the king, who insists on a more politically expedient match for his rebellious son. Since the murder of his love, Tirell&rsquo;s heart has hardened, and now, with the aid of his younger brother, Frain, the healer, he seeks an army that will help him defeat the evil, unrepentant monarch. All hope for victory in the war to come awaits the brothers somewhere deep in the mysteries of the Vale, where a beautiful goddess also dwells. But a sinister presence is spreading its malevolence throughout the land&mdash;and Melior can never again be truly whole until the kingdom is rid of the terrible scourge of the Black Beast.<BR /><BR /><BR /></div>

The Black Beast

<div><B>A headstrong young prince, enslaved far from home, must rescue his imperiled kingdom and those he loves from an ancient dark sorcery in Nancy Springer&rsquo;s magnificent third entry in the Book of Isle</B><BR /><BR /> The life of young Prince Trevyn of Isle changes forever on the day a mysterious boy named Gwern is welcomed without question into the family&rsquo;s castle. Stubborn and resentful of the unwanted intrusion, the errant teenage prince abandons his home and soon finds himself both in love and in jeopardy. Enraptured by the village girl Meg, he incurs the wrath of Wael, a powerful warlock, by saving the lady of his heart and her people from certain destruction.<BR />  <BR /> But young Trevyn&rsquo;s trials have only just begun. Lured across the seas by his vengeful foe, he is captured and enslaved, and must somehow find his way to freedom. For the unprotected Isle is now at Wael&rsquo;s mercy, and love will surely die if the boy-prince cannot return to the realm as its champion.<BR />  <BR /> A classic epic fantasy in the grand tradition of J. R. R. Tolkien, set in an ancient island sanctuary of gods and ghosts and magic, Nancy Springer&rsquo;s captivating Book of Isle saga is brimming with adventure, romance, evil, mythic quests, legendary history, and ingeniously imagined locales.<BR /><BR /><BR /></div>

The Sable Moon

<div><B>Gray&rsquo;s life changes forever when she meets a boy as wild as an untamed stallion</B><BR /><BR /> When Chav walks into Gray&rsquo;s class at school for the first time dressed all in black, with wild hair and fierce eyes, Gray knows that her life is about to change. What she doesn&rsquo;t yet know is that her mysterious new classmate is as fascinated by her as she is by him.<BR /><BR /> Gray and Chav are drawn to each other by their shared love of horses. But Chav&rsquo;s home life is more complicated than Gray could ever have imagined. Chav is a Gypsy and doesn&rsquo;t trust <I>gadjo</I>, or non-Gypsy people. He and his siblings have run away from a painful past and he will do anything to defend his family. But when his brother and sister suddenly get sick, Chav needs help&mdash;Gray&rsquo;s help. And earning Chav&rsquo;s trust turns out to be harder than breaking a wild horse. </div>

The Boy on a Black Horse

<div><B>The gruesome murder of a popular high school student turns two small-town neighbors against each other</B><BR /><BR /> Aaron Gingrich is a well-liked high school senior who always seems to have a smile on his face. He and Jeremy Davis have been inseparable since elementary school. But one day Jeremy senses that something is wrong at Aaron&rsquo;s house&mdash;and then Aaron is found brutally murdered.<BR /><BR /> Reeling from the loss of his friend, Jeremy has no one to turn to. His small town is suddenly abuzz with grisly rumors, and Jeremy was the last person to see Aaron alive. Subjected to polygraph tests, ostracized by the whole community, and treated like a criminal, Jeremy knows he needs to go to the police. Meanwhile the killer still walks free&mdash;closer than anyone can imagine. And no one but Jeremy suspects the truth.</div>

Blood Trail

<div><B>Winner of the Joan Fassler Memorial Book Award: The triumphant story of a boy who overcomes his disease with help from horses </B><BR /><BR /> If Colt Vittorio had a motto, it would be I Don&rsquo;t Want To! Colt has spina bifida&mdash;a condition that makes the bones in his legs weak and confines him to a wheelchair. When Colt is introduced to horseback riding in a program for disabled kids, he is beyond nervous. He wants nothing to do with these terrifying animals. After all, there&rsquo;s no chance he&rsquo;ll ever be able to use his legs anyway. What&rsquo;s the point?<BR /><BR /> Once he gets in the saddle astride a horse named Liverwurst, Colt&rsquo;s whole world changes. With the horse&rsquo;s powerful, muscular body beneath him, Colt no longer feels small and limited. After all, if he can control this huge, strong animal, he can do anything. And with Liverwurst&rsquo;s help, Colt&rsquo;s back and legs start getting stronger. But when his doctor warns that horseback riding is too dangerous and the risks are too great, will Colt&rsquo;s riding lessons be history?</div>

Colt

<div><B>Dusie is having a bad day of mythological proportions</B><BR /><BR /> Dusie wakes up one morning to a hissing sound. As she catches her reflection in the mirror, she finds that her hair has turned into snakes. That&rsquo;s right&mdash;<I>snakes</I>. But her mom seems totally unfazed. That&rsquo;s because underneath the turban, Dusie&rsquo;s mom has a crown of vipers. She is an immortal gorgon&mdash;a kind of goddess&mdash;and had hoped Dusie wouldn&rsquo;t inherit the family curse since her father was a mortal, but it looks like Dusie is stuck with it too.<BR /><BR /> Middle school is tough enough without being cursed, and Dusie&mdash;or Dusssie, as the snakes call her&mdash;is about to learn that being half gorgon comes with its own set of challenges. She tries to keep her snakes hidden, but when a boy at school nearly blows her cover, Dusie is desperate to figure out a way to control her newfound powers. Growing up, with or without snakes for hair, isn&rsquo;t kid stuff.</div>

Dusssie

<div><B>When Harper and her dad move to a new house, a creepy stepmom is the least of her worries</B><BR /><BR /> Harper is not too happy to be moving in with her soon-to-be stepmother, Gus. The eccentric woman&rsquo;s home, which the neighbors call the Spook House, has a yard full of weird metal sculptures. Gus is nothing like Harper&rsquo;s dad&rsquo;s other girlfriends, and Harper would take her former trailer home over the Spook House any day.<BR /><BR /> Luckily, a girl named Rawnie lives right across the street. Harper and Rawnie have lots in common, including the same favorite band: Neon Shadow. When the girls start hearing mysterious rock music coming from Gus&rsquo;s yard, they get suspicious. Then something terrible happens at a Neon Shadow concert, and Harper and Rawnie have no doubt that there are dark forces at work . . . and that Gus is involved. With their favorite singer in danger, they just might be the only two who can save him.</div>

The Friendship Song

<div><B>Caring for a horse isn&rsquo;t always a picnic</B><BR /><BR /> Erin is thrilled when her parents agree to buy her a horse. She doesn&rsquo;t even mind holding up her end of the agreement&mdash;keeping up her grades, mending clothes, and helping out with chores around the house. She&rsquo;ll do anything as long as it means having a horse of her very own.<BR /><BR /> But owning a horse is nothing like Erin imagined. The old mare whom she names Spindrift can be grouchy and ill tempered. And having a horse means lots of extra responsibility&mdash;feeding her, grooming her, training her. Luckily, Erin&rsquo;s aunt Lexie knows a thing or two about horses and is willing to show her the ropes.  But even Aunt Lexie can&rsquo;t keep Erin out of trouble entirely.</div>

A Horse to Love

<div><B>Winner of the Edgar Award: A search to find her parents becomes a quest that shakes Jamie Bridger&rsquo;s identity to its core</B><BR /><BR /> Raised by her grandparents, fourteen-year-old Jamie Bridger has never known who her parents are. When she presses for details, her grandmother protests that she doesn&rsquo;t remember things that happened years ago, and her grandfather reacts by flying into a rage. But who could forget the birth of their only grandchild? And how could a mother give up her baby for good? Shouldn&rsquo;t Jamie&rsquo;s parents have tried to get in contact with her?<BR /><BR /> Jamie is determined to find answers, and she&rsquo;ll go to any lengths to get them, even if it means traveling all the way to New York to find a man who shares her name&mdash;a man she believes to be her father. But as she starts to put together the pieces of her past, Jamie learns that the truth is more shocking than anything she could have anticipated.</div>

Looking for Jamie Bridger

<div><B>When Jessie&rsquo;s brother dies, something takes hold of her in this chilling supernatural story of guilt, possession, and obsession</B><BR /><BR /> Jessie wakes up knowing exactly what she needs to do. Gazing at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, she begins cutting off her beautiful locks, leaving herself with a short, boyish cut&mdash;just like her brother&rsquo;s.<BR /><BR /> Jason died in a car crash, and since the funeral, Jessie hasn&rsquo;t been the same. Now, wearing her brother&rsquo;s clothes, her hair spiked just the way he used to wear his, she can face herself again. But what starts out as a difficult grieving process becomes something much more serious. Before long, she is sleeping in his bedroom, talking like him, even hearing his voice in her head. She is no longer just acting like Jason . . . she is starting to become him. </div>

Possessing Jessie

<div><B>When a strange and wild boy walks into her life, Tess is forced to confront a past she had long ago forgotten</B><BR /><BR /> Fourteen-year-old Tess can&rsquo;t remember the first ten years of her life&mdash;and if they were anything like her life now, she&rsquo;d prefer that they stay forgotten. Since her mother&rsquo;s death, she and her disabled stepfather have lived without a phone, electricity, or even much food on the table. At school, her classmates think she&rsquo;s weird, but she&rsquo;s bigger and stronger than all of them. And at least she has music to keep her company.<BR /><BR /> When a mysterious stranger named Kamo shows up looking for his dad, he is convinced that Tess and her stepfather may have the answers he&rsquo;s been searching for. The more time she spends with Kamo, the more she realizes how much they have in common. Then she hears a song on the radio called &ldquo;Secret Star&rdquo;&mdash;a song so mesmerizing that every time she hears it, Tess&rsquo;s past comes bubbling up, and she knows she won&rsquo;t be able to keep it hidden for much longer . . .</div>

Secret Star

<div><B>Perfect Trisha and troublemaker Donni couldn&rsquo;t be more different&mdash;but neither of them knows what to do when their parents get a divorce</B><BR /><BR /> After Donni and Trisha&rsquo;s parents split up, Donni goes to live with their dad and Trisha goes with their mom. Donni is nothing like her older sister, Trisha the Perfect, who gets good grades and never does anything wrong. All Donni is interested in is art. Since the divorce, she&rsquo;s been in trouble practically every day. But after she smears paint on another girl&rsquo;s shirt and an adult asks her about the divorce, all hell breaks loose.<BR /><BR /> Since Donni is always in trouble, no one seems to notice that Trisha is also having a hard time with things at home. With no one to confide in, Trisha pours her heart out about everything&mdash;her parents, her sister, her hopes for the future&mdash;in her journal. What she wants more than anything is for Donni to talk to her about how she&rsquo;s feeling. But after Donni does something terrible, maybe unforgivable, the two sisters might never be friends again. </div>

Separate Sisters

<div><B>Everything changes when a handsome stranger rides off into the night on Dusty&rsquo;s horse</B><BR /><BR /> There&rsquo;s no way around it: Dusty&rsquo;s horse Tazz needs to be put down. Once a champion jumper, Tazz can barely walk now due to hoof pain. And that&rsquo;s not the only thing that&rsquo;s wrong in Dusty&rsquo;s life. Since her mother&rsquo;s death, Dusty&rsquo;s dad hasn&rsquo;t stopped drinking&mdash;even after his drunk driving put Dusty in the hospital with a now-chronic back injury. <I>Why don&rsquo;t they just put me down too?</I> she wonders.<BR /><BR /> While Dusty is giving Tazz one last grooming, his ears suddenly prick up as a stranger approaches: a young boy with an otherworldly beauty. He offers to take Tazz with him, and the two race off into the distance as though Tazz were in perfect health, with the boy perched on his back. Who could this person be? And what is he doing here?<BR /><BR /> It&rsquo;s only when Dusty returns to school the next day that she hears about the boy who was killed. When she sees his photo in the newspaper, she knows that he&rsquo;s the mysterious guy who rode off on Tazz. What she doesn&rsquo;t know is that he will soon return.</div>

Sky Rider

<div><B>Winner of the Edgar Award: When Tuff&rsquo;s brother is killed, he loses the best friend he ever had&mdash;but he may be about to find the father he never knew</B><BR /><BR /> Tuff was there when Dillon died. Riding behind his older brother on the back of his dirt bike, Tuff saw it all&mdash;except who shot him. Now Tuff has no one. When his mother, too drunk to know which way is up, hears the news that her son has died, her response is, &ldquo;Well, one less to worry about.&rdquo; Tuff has never been close to his half siblings either. Dillon was all he had, and now he&rsquo;s is gone.<BR /><BR /> Tuff is no crybaby. He&rsquo;s used to fending for himself. With a picture of Dillon in his pocket, he leaves home&mdash;but not before his mother reveals the identity of the boys&rsquo; father. What started out as a search for justice soon becomes much more. Dillon and Tuff had dreamed of finding their father their whole lives. With Dillon gone, can their dreams of family happiness be realized?</div>

Toughing It

<div><B>A doomed king and his wife-to-be attempt to flee their fate in this novel by &ldquo;the finest fantasy writer of this or any decade&rdquo; (Marion Zimmer Bradley).</B><BR /><BR /> Cerilla, the sheltered, castle-bound protagonist of this inventive and moving fantasy novel, is determined to escape her bloody fate: marriage to a king who is to be sacrificed after she bears his child. But Cerilla makes the monumental mistake of falling in love with her god-like husband to be&mdash;Arlen of the Sacred Isle&mdash;and he with her. Arlen&rsquo;s devoted comrade Lonn takes Arlen&rsquo;s place so the lovers can flee. But their escape is just the beginning of an odyssey marked by struggle and hardship as they cope with hyperboreal storms, near starvation, and attack by a band of armed horsemen. As they journey across harsh and fantastic lands, finally making a home beyond the Mountains of the Mysteries, Cerilla discovers how much she is willing to give up in the name of love.<BR />  <BR /> Featuring a mythical world where horses gallop across water and serpents live beneath the earth, <I>Chains of Gold </I>is about finding your path in life, staying true to who you are, and the ultimate meaning of sacrifice. From a winner of the Tiptree Award and other honors, an author who &ldquo;writes like a dream,&rdquo; it&rsquo;s an unforgettable reading experience (<I>St. Louis Post-Dispatch</I>).<BR />  </div>

Chains of Gold

<div><B>The art of storytelling and the power of a mother&rsquo;s love imbue this feminist fantasy novel&mdash;a contemporary riff on the tale of the frog prince  </B><BR /><BR /> Once upon a time there was a middle-aged woman whose husband dumped her the month after their twentieth anniversary . . .<BR />  <BR /> Divorced, overweight Buffy Murphy is not a happy camper. One April afternoon, she walks into the woods . . . and meets a talking bullfrog. He asks her to kiss him so he can transform back into his princely self. This being modern-day Pennsylvania, Buffy figures she&rsquo;s better off with a talking amphibian than a cheating husband, so she takes him home. The fun really starts when her rebellious teenage daughter, Emily, kisses him.<BR />  <BR /> Suddenly, Emily and her handsome prince have vanished into the land of Fair Peril, an enchanted realm that can only be accessed through a portal in the local mall. Aided by a gay librarian named LeeVon and hindered by her fairy-godmother-in-law, Fay, Buffy shuttles back and forth between the real world and Fair Peril. Does Emily really want to be rescued, or does she just need someone to love her? It&rsquo;s up to Buffy to figure out the key to reclaiming her daughter&mdash;and maybe herself, as well.</div>

Fair Peril

<div><B>A woman returns to wreak end-of-the-world vengeance on her Pennsylvania hometown </B><BR /><BR /> Disfigured since birth, Joanie Musser has endured decades of taunts and torments from the &ldquo;normals&rdquo; in Hoadley, Pennsylvania. Her only friend is a boy named Barry Beal, who has an ugly birthmark on his face. A few days after Barry lends her $500 and his welder&rsquo;s mask, Joanie disappears.<BR />  <BR /> Cally Wilmore, a vaguely discontented mother of two and the wife of the local funeral director, sees Joanie first: a breathtaking blond apparition galloping through town on a white steed.<BR />  <BR /> Rebel and resident cynic Gigi Wildasin senses that something peculiar is happening. The cicadas are crying out of season&mdash;modern-day locusts who swarm the town bearing dead children&rsquo;s faces&mdash;and a blacksnake appears next to the most beautiful and erotic naked man anyone has ever seen. Cally and Gigi, along with Shirley Danyo and her lover, Elspeth, all ride horses to escape their everyday lives, unaware that they are the Four Horsewomen of doom. A familiar stranger has come to Hoadley with a terrible purpose, and for the inhabitants of this struggling coal-mining community, it seems that Judgment Day is nigh.<BR />  <BR /> An allegorical novel about small-town prejudice and the secrets that fester beneath the surface, <I>Apocalypse </I>is also about the power of love to triumph against all odds. </div>

Apocalypse

<div><B>Winner of the WordWeaving Award for Excellence: The stories and poems in this fantasy collection explore the enchanted realms of the imagination&mdash;and our universal need for love and acceptance </B><BR /><BR /> The title character of Nebula Award finalist &ldquo;The Boy Who Plaited Manes&rdquo; is a nameless mute at a royal stable who teaches his abusive noble master an unforgettable lesson. Gage undergoes a transformation in the &ldquo;Bard&rdquo; as he strums a silver harp and dreams of horses and a lost love. In &ldquo;Bright-Eyed Black Pony,&rdquo; the reclusive sorcerer Wystan devises a plan to help a despairing young prince. Pregnant wife Lin Burke has just moved to a backwater coal town in Pennsylvania and is about to meet her very unusual neighbor in &ldquo;Primal Cry.&rdquo; The title story is told in two parts: &ldquo;Chance&rdquo; and &ldquo;The Golden Face of Fate.&rdquo; As Lord&rsquo;s Warden, it is the orphaned bastard Chance&rsquo;s job to keep the vast forest of Wirral safe from poachers, spies, and the occasional murderer. But other creatures dwell here. They are the Denizens, whose tiny faces disappear in the blink of an eye, and who are never spoken of by name. They see and know all, including the truth about Chance&rsquo;s love for the beautiful, unattainable Lady Halimeda&mdash;and the final, terrible secret of Wirral.<BR />  <BR /> Other pieces feature female wolves, dog-kings, and sun kings. In poems and prose of grief and atonement, hope, healing, and lost faith, Springer mines the magic that makes us human.</div>

Chance

<div><B>This contemporary fantasy by award-winning author Nancy Springer sweeps readers along on a girl&rsquo;s journey of enlightenment and transformation</B><BR /><BR /> Raised in the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania by her grandpap, Bobbi Lee Yandro has been seeing things that aren&rsquo;t there for years. Afraid she&rsquo;s going &ldquo;all the way crazy&rdquo; like her institutionalized mother, she receives an unexpected gift for her almost-sixteenth birthday: a box of her dead father&rsquo;s journals. Wright Yandro was killed in Vietnam when Bobbi was a baby, but the poems he left behind stir something inside her, awakening visions of wild horses. When her grandfather buys her a black mustang with eyes of blue fire, she instinctively knows its name is Shane.<BR />  <BR /> On the day the vet arrives to castrate Shane, Bobbi helps the horse escape. Soon she and Shane are fugitives on a journey that takes Bobbi far from Canadawa County to a village deep in the mountains. Here she meets Hazel Fenstermacher, also known as the Hex Witch of Seldom. Hazel introduces Bobbi to the Twelve of the Hidden Circle, who include a king, a sorceress, a poet, a trickster, and a dark hero. But one of them is out to steal Shane&rsquo;s soul, for he is no ordinary horse. As Bobbi uncovers the secrets of the Circle, she must employ her special gifts to save Shane and shape her own future. </div>

The Hex Witch of Seldom

<div><B>Swords and sorcery fill this fantasy about an outcast girl who teams up with a prince to break a supernatural curse that could destroy their warring kingdoms </B><BR /><BR /> In the kingdom of Vashti, a shuntali is an outcast&mdash;an unperson. One day, a young warrior gallops into the city astride a magnificent blue stallion. He is Prince Kyrem of Deva, and he has come to Vashti on a mission of peace between the warring kingdoms. En route, he is attacked by brigands only to be rescued by a rag-tag stable boy who seems to have a way with horses. Kyrem names him Seda, unaware that the shuntali is really an orphaned girl who has disguised herself in order to survive. Now Seda, Kyrem&mdash;whose people possess mystical powers&mdash;and the peace-loving healer and magician King Auron of Vashti must join forces to save their nations from the Nameless One. But deep within a cave atop a steep mountain, the last of a vanished race gathers his demonic forces to unleash his revenge on the kingdoms bound together by the great horse-god Suth.<BR />  <BR /> A lonely girl with no past or future and a prince who wants to use his powers for good must find the love and magic to battle hatred and create a peace that has been a long time coming.</div>

Wings of Flame

<div><B>In this feminist-inspired fantasy, a rejected wife starts seeing birds everywhere, including the sleek, cobalt-blue parakeet staring back at her in the mirror </B><BR /><BR /> After being dumped by her husband of twenty-seven years, losing her house, and selling her jewelry at auction, Sassafras &ldquo;Sassy&rdquo; Hummel takes the only job she&rsquo;s qualified for: maid at a luxury hotel. As if her life weren&rsquo;t surreal enough, a bird poops on her head while she&rsquo;s cleaning a suite. But Sassy&rsquo;s sure she&rsquo;s really gone off the deep end when, instead of her reflection in the mirror, a tiny blue parakeet stares back at her. Now she&rsquo;s seeing birds everywhere: cranes, crows, hornbills, a quacking, green-headed duck, a quail, and something red and blue that bobs as it flies past. Sassy&rsquo;s only friend is Racquel, the owner of Plumage<I>, </I>the hotel&rsquo;s upscale boutique. Racquel isn&rsquo;t the preening, froufrou, silk-and-sequins-enamored lady she seems to be. Soon Sassy and Racquel are traveling into an uncharted land where Sassy just might find out who she is and what she really wants.<BR />  <BR /><I>Plumage</I> is a wise, witty, and poignant novel about a woman whose life is for the birds . . . until she discovers her wings, and her world takes flight.<BR /><BR /> &ldquo;Springer has redefined the concept of &lsquo;knight in shining armor.&rsquo; With a touch of Alice Hoffmanesque magic, a colorfully painted avian world and a winning heroine, this is pure fun.&rdquo; &mdash;<I>Publishers Weekly</I><BR />  <BR /> &ldquo;A writer&rsquo;s writer, an extraordinarily gifted craftsman.&rdquo; &mdash;Jennifer Roberson<BR />  <BR /> &ldquo;Irresistible . . . charming, eccentric . . . thoughtful and significant.&rdquo; &mdash;<I>Kirkus Reviews</I><BR />  <BR /> &ldquo;Nancy Springer writes like a dream.&rdquo; &mdash;<I>St. Louis Post-Dispatch</I></div>

Plumage

<div><B>4 girls and only 1 pony!</B><BR /><BR /> When their mother remarries, twin sisters Toni and Staci get . . . twin stepsisters! Toni and Staci have almost nothing in common with their new siblings&mdash;Paisley is loud and spoiled, and Stirling is pretty and perfect&mdash;but all of the girls love horses. When Paisley brings home a pony of her own, with a sugar-colored mane and sweet dark eyes, the rest of the sisters are consumed with jealousy. How can 4 horse-crazy girls get along when there&rsquo;s only 1 pony?</div>

The Great Pony Hassle

<div><B>Groundbreaking, provocative novels that challenge gender assumptions&mdash;in stories of aliens and humans, women and men, and the shifting nature of identity.</B><BR />  <BR /> The James Tiptree, Jr. Award was established to acknowledge works of science fiction or fantasy that expand or explore our understanding of gender. The three novels in this collection each embody that continually evolving challenge in boldly original and highly imaginative ways.<BR />  <BR /> A Woman of the Iron People: The inaugural winner of the Tiptree Award in 1991, this &ldquo;excellent, anthropologically oriented SF tale&rdquo; (Publishers Weekly) examines the fear and fascination on both sides when a group of human scientists discovers an advanced yet seemingly primitive alien culture.<BR />  <BR /> &ldquo;Fascinating . . . Very wise and funny . . . Full of complicated and irresistible people, some of them human.&rdquo; &mdash;Ursula K. Le Guin<BR />  <BR /> Waking the Moon: Nebula Award&ndash;winning author Elizabeth Hand serves up a seductive, post-feminist thriller in which a college freshman accidentally discovers the existence of the Benandanti, a clandestine order devoted to suppressing the powerful Moon Goddess and secretly manipulating the world&rsquo;s governments and institutions.<BR />  <BR /> &ldquo;A potent socio-erotic ghost story.&rdquo; &mdash;William Gibson<BR />  <BR /> Larque on the Wing: A middle-aged housewife&rsquo;s thoughts become reality when her rebellious inner child takes control, and she transforms herself into a fearless gay man. This is a moving, funny, surprising, and transcendent tale of one woman&rsquo;s unusual quest to come to terms with who she truly is.<BR />  <BR /> &ldquo;Springer effectively uses fantasy to evoke midlife soul-searching. . . . An engrossing novel about gender and self-formation.&rdquo; &mdash;Publishers Weekly</div>

Three Tiptree Award–Winning Novels

<div><B>The complete epic fantasy saga of a king and a madman who must save a dying world&mdash;from an award-winning author who &ldquo;writes like a dream&rdquo; (<I>St. Louis Post-Dispatch</I>).</B><BR />  <BR /> Marion Zimmer Bradley calls her &ldquo;the finest fantasy writer of this or any decade.&rdquo; Anne McCaffrey says Nancy Springer is &ldquo;someone special in the fantasy field.&rdquo; Andre Norton agrees that &ldquo;Ms. Springer&rsquo;s work is outstanding.&rdquo; Now the multiple award-winning author&rsquo;s captivating vision of a world in peril&mdash;and the sea king and mad prince who can save it&mdash;is presented in its entirety in a single volume.<BR />  <BR /><I>Madbond</I>: In a dying world, six dwindling tribes huddle between the plains and the sea. Rad Korridun, king of the Seal Kindred, seeks the answers that will save his people. To find them he must join with the chieftain Dannoc, accused of murder and driven mad by horrors he cannot remember. Bonded together by powerful magic, Kor and Dan are aided by Tassida&mdash;a beautiful and mysterious warrior. But what awaits them is a darkness that dwarfs all nightmares . . .<BR />  <BR /><I>Mindbond</I>: As the beasts of their world continue to disappear, the tribes&rsquo; survival depends on the quest of Kor, Dannoc, and Tassida, who must descend to the terrifying undersea realm of the dead. Dannoc seeks to reunite with his lost father and remember his past. For Tassida, it is a homecoming. But Kor faces a much darker reunion, for here lies the source of all the world&rsquo;s ills.<BR />  <BR /><I>Godbond</I>: They were three, united to hold together a world that was coming apart. But now Kor, Tassida, and Dannoc have been separated. Resuming his lifelong quest to find his god, Dannoc must confront his gravest fears. For only then will he be able to recover his true name, his past, and his sanity&mdash;and perhaps save their world.<BR />  <BR /> &ldquo;A cast of well-drawn characters, a solidly realized imaginary world, and graceful writing.&rdquo; &mdash;<I>Booklist</I></div>

Sea King Trilogy

<div><B>Now in one volume, the entire epic series set in an ancient island sanctuary of gods and magic&mdash;from &ldquo;the finest fantasy writer of this or any decade&rdquo; (Marion Zimmer Bradley).</B><BR />  <BR /> Anne McCaffrey has praised Nancy Springer as &ldquo;someone special in the fantasy field.&rdquo; Andre Norton agrees that &ldquo;Ms. Springer&rsquo;s work is outstanding.&rdquo; Now the multiple award-winning author&rsquo;s classic five-part epic fantasy is presented in a single volume. In the grand tradition of J. R. R. Tolkien, the Book of Isle saga draws on Arthurian and Celtic legend to create a wholly original, imaginary world brimming with adventure, romance, evil, mythic quests, and vividly described locales.<BR />  <BR /><I>The White Hart</I>: Long ago, mortals, immortals, and magical beasts lived together in a land encircled by vast oceans. Here, Ellid, a lady as fair as sunlight, falls in love with her rescuer, Bevan, the son of a High King and the goddess of the moon. Together with Cuin, Ellid&rsquo;s original intended and now friend to both, the three battle an ancient evil to rebuild a peaceful kingdom.<BR />  <BR /><I>The Silver Sun</I>: The Forest is said to be the abode of warlocks, goblins, and, of course, thieves. But it is deep in these woods that Hal and Alan become blood brothers and form an alliance with Ket the Red, the fiery-haired leader of a band of outlaws, to overthrow a tyrannical king. In their quest to establish a peaceful realm, they will fulfill a prophecy found in the Book of Suns.<BR />  <BR /><I>The Sable Moon</I>: Lured across the seas by a powerful warlock, young Prince Trevyn of Isle is captured and enslaved. But he must escape and return, for the unprotected Isle and his beloved Meg are now at the mercy of the evil Wael.<BR />  <BR /><I>The Black Beast</I>: After his father murdered his true love, Prince Tirell, along with the aid of his younger brother, Frain the healer, seeks an army to defeat the unrepentant monarch. But a sinister presence is spreading its malevolence throughout the land&mdash;and the kingdom can never again be truly whole until the brothers confront the terrible scourge of the Black Beast.<BR />  <BR /><I>The Golden Swan</I>: When Prince Dair was a child and still in wolf form, he saw his future. It was prophesied that the changeling son of King Trevyn of Isle would travel far from his home, carrying his magic to the mainland. Now, his mystical union with a wanderer called Frain, who has the power to feel everything Dair feels but also suffers under the curse of a dark enchantment, will determine the fate of a troubled land.</div>

Nancy Springer

Books By Nancy Springer (33 Books)