Jaleta Clegg

What if? This is how Jaleta Clegg looks at the world, and her mind is constantly churning through ideas. The most persistent get written down. Waiting for Elephants contains 34 of these ideas-five of them in the form of poetry-and 21 of those appear here for the first time You'll find twisted and reimagined fairy tales, stories of derring-do and adventure in the far reaches of the galaxy, strange game shows, ramen delivery (no, really ), spacefaring housekeepers who strive for more, interstellar transplanted Irish ghosts, angelic voices on frontier desert planets, and more. Don't take anything at face value in these stories, though. What you least suspect or never expected is the norm here. Start your journey into the unknown with this imaginative collection

Pull up a chair, make yourself at home. That's right. Kick off your shoes, put your feet up on the footstool. Pour a glass of lemonade and settle in." Llama" tell you a story or three. How about Lassie fighting a tribe of mutant tumbleweeds? Or a unicorn meeting her destiny at the hands of a djinn? Maybe a story of giant dragonflies wreaking vengeance on playground bullies is more your style. Or a butterfly transformed into a woman. Or dust bunnies waging a war. Perhaps a tale of courage and justice meted out by a rattlesnake, a jackal, and a horny toad? Or the tale of the time when Cthulhu was summoned, on accident. In an outhouse. It's all here, in this collection of fifteen stories, fifteen tales of beings human and not trying to find their heart's desire-whether vengeance or justice or happiness or just a bovine companion. Some find it, some find only disappointment. You'll just find some darned tootin' good tales.

A banished Seligh lord rules the Winterlands with an iron fist and his pets, the balmorae, patrol the borders against all intruders, guarding the secrets hidden beneath his icy lair. A young woman rediscovers her heritage, a gift of magic and dancing that opens portals between worlds. She holds the fate of their world in her hands. A strange prophecy haunts the Seligh lords, rulers of the Fey and controllers of all magic in the Summerlands, a prophecy that foretells their fall. All who live within the lands of the Fey must choose where they stand-beside the Dancer or opposed to her.

The Empire is falling, torn apart from the inside by the mysterious Ice Queen. The syndicates are snatching power. Civilization is crumbling. The Federation might survive, but only in fractured systems. Roland names Dace as the Federation ambassador to the Empire in a last ditch effort to save what he can. If she can't drive the Ice Queen out of the shadows and into the light, no one can. Don't miss the thrilling conclusion to the Fall of the Altairan Empire.

Dace thinks the worst when Tayvis doesn't make their meeting at the Golden Pig on Proxima. After all, the last time she saw him, he arrested her. The time before that, she shot him. Their romance was doomed before it began. But it isn't that simple. His ship is missing. And the Eggstone's shattered remains offer the only clue. Something is seriously wrong and Dace is the only one who can unravel the mystery. Her decision might cost her heart and her freedom.

The Targon Syndicate wants revenge, to the tune of half a million credits for Dace's head. And Jerimon, Jasyn's brother, is about to hand it to them. It doesn't matter that he's working undercover for the Patrol and Lowell. Targon isn't about to wait for Lowell's timetable. The two stowaways aren't helping matters. They're being hunted by the Sidyama for crimes against their government and their religion. It's only a matter of who will catch up to Dace first - Targon, the Patrol, or the Sidyama.

With their own ship and freedom, life is sweet; until Dace disappears and Jasyn learns the truth about their new copilot. Everyone wants Dace. Commander Lowell wants her in the Patrol. The Targon Syndicate wants her head. But when she's kidnapped, it's by mistake. She isn't the one Luke wanted. If he finds out she isn't Miya Daviessbrowun, he won't hesitate to kill her. It's up to Jasyn to rescue her, even if it means giving in to Lowell's demands.

Pursued by the Targon Crime Syndicate bent on revenge, the Patrol intent on recruitment, and the Sessimoniss who want their god back, the last thing Captain Dace needs is a handsome copilot with romance on his mind. It isn't Dace's fault she leaves chaos everywhere she goes. She didn't know Belliff, the company who hired her to courier sensitive materials, is a front for the Targon Crime Syndicate. Now Targon is after her for stealing their shipment of smuggled goods. The Patrol is chasing her for piracy, smuggling, and disruption of trade on a dozen different planets. But that's nothing. Her copilot, Jerimon, has an entire sentient species chasing him for stealing their god, the Eggstone. The two of them set off on a desperate chase to get the Eggstone back to avert war with the Sessimoniss while evading the Patrol and the Targon Syndicate. But the Eggstone isn't just any rock. The Patrol isn't chasing her for the reasons she thinks. And Targon's days are numbered.

Dace only wants the freedom to fly her merchant ship where the trade takes her. But fate has other plans. Her crew betrays her and destroys her ship, stranding her on Dadilan. The natives of the planet think she's a demon dropped from the sky in a ball of fire. The smugglers think she's the competition. The Patrol are convinced she's a pirate or worse. Her only hope of rescue is to convince the Patrol agent currently hunting her that she's innocent. But on Dadilan no one is innocent. Nexus Point, the beginning of the Fall of the Altairan Empire. Book 1 in the series by Jaleta Clegg. Check out the Fall of the Altairan Empire.