Sherwood Smith

Returned to supposed safety, Brandon finds himself fighting a battle of symbols, his only weapon his wits as he strives to win the allegiance of the navy in time to rescue his father, the Panarch . . . Rewritten with new material. In the third volume of Exordium, this swashbuckling space opera continues with Brandon and the Rifter crew of the Telvarna arriving at the Panarchic Navy's headquarters. The Rifters are imprisoned, and Brandon finds himself, as sole heir to the Phoenix Throne, fighting with courtly manners and wit as he strives against the powerful and sophisticated aristocrats who hide lethal intent behind urbanity and style. His goal is to win back control of the Navy and rescue his father from the vicious end planned for him by the usurping Doljharians, resulting in a race to the harsh planet of Gehenna, protected by a weird anomaly . . .

He wants only to rescue his father. But everyone wants a piece of him. The chase is on. Smith and Trowbridge describe the flavor of their five-book retro-futura space opera Exordium as a cross between early Star Wars and Dangerous Liaisons by way of the Three Stooges. With its fast-moving blend of humor and horror, of high-tech skiffy and the deep places of the human heart, Exordium launches the reader into a complex, multi-layered universe as Brandon nyr-Arkad, youngest son of the ruler of the Thousand Suns, abandons the life of Service planned for him and flees into the lawless Rift. In this revised sequel to The Phoenix in Flight, Brandon vlith-Arkad, is now heir to the Panarchy. He wants only to rescue his father, the Panarch. But everyone wants a piece of him. The Dol'jharians, who smashed the Panarchy and took his father prisoner. A Rifter pirate and her crew, who helped him escape a doomed planet-twice-and now wonder what to do about a royal prisoner with the price of ten planets on his head. And the remnants of the government of the Thousand Suns, for whom he'd at best be an inconvenience. And that's before things go seriously pear-shaped. The chase is on, and unexpected detours await. Book 2 in the Exordium series Book 2 in the Exordium series

In this third re-edited and amended edition, Kim is on the eve of her wedding. She's still trying to get used to the idea of becoming a princess when she goes through the wrong door, and is caught Dobrenica's liminal boundary. It's now 1795, the rise of Napoleon, and Kim finds herself a guardian spirit for a twelve-year-old kid who will either become Kim's ancestor . . . or the timeline will alter and Kim will vanish, along with the small, magical European country of Dobrenica. Kim hates time travel conundrums, and knows nothing about kids. How is she going to spirit-guide young Aurelie, with whom she has nothing in common? From pirate-infested Jamaica to mannered England to Revolutionary Paris in the early 1800s, Kim and Aurelie travel, sharing adventures and meeting fascinating people, such as the beautiful and charming Josephine, wife of Napoleon. Along the way to wedding bells or annihilation, Kim makes a shocking discovery . . .

The final book in the Phoenix Feather and Sagacious series, Sagacious Blade brings the story full circle. It would be difficult to find two boys more unlike. Friendly, animal-loving Ki Mek, youngest of a sprawling family of gallant wanderers, was born with Essence talent-much to the dismay of the Kis, who only believe in the skills of their blades. Je Tai, the scholarly, reclusive only son of a subsidiary branch of the lofty Ji family, is on his way back to the school where he is studying divination. The two are swept overboard in a terrible storm, and end up made slaves by the western empire, age-old enemies of the Thousand Islands Empire. They escape into adventures martial and magical until they and those they love are swept up in a war spanning two empires. With the aid of Sagacious Blade, both will learn the costs of power...

The Prisoner of Zenda meets Brigadoon by way of Buffy... In this unrepentant wish-fulfillment series, Kim is back in the US, licking her wounds both metaphorical and physical when a vision of Ruli, the woman who married Alec Ysvorod, crown prince of Dobrenica and the man Kim loves, forces her to return to Dobrenica to face the mess she left behind. Nothing has gone right. Ruli is dead, Alec blamed for the accident that killed her-and unrest in Dobrenica includes rumors of vampires on the move. Vampires? Kim was just getting used to the existence of ghosts, and the liminal borders of what anywhere else is called magic She's not sure what's worse, dealing with vampires or a pack of hostile relatives. She finds loyal friends to aid her in trying to help Alec, who is grimly determined to carry on in spite of the accusations. Meanwhile, there is a murderer stalking them all. . .

The Prisoner of Zenda meets Brigadoon... Grad student and fencing enthusiast Kim Murray is in Europe trying to find her grandmother's missing family when she sees her first ghost. Not that she knows it's a ghost. There's a lot she doesn't know, because her grandmother never talked about her past. Two days into her stay in Vienna, she comes across a handsome European guy who acts like he knows her. Intrigued, she goes to have a drink...and ends up somewhere in Eastern Europe-mistaken for another woman, who is supposed to be marrying the crown prince of a tiny country on the border of Russia. And that's only the beginning of her adventures. Mistaken identities, masquerade balls, duels with actual swords, and secret societies of kids resisting invaders with comic books keep Kim constantly on the run-and then there are the ghosts. And the handsome guy. Make that two handsome guys...

"With music you can tell the truth about human experience." In this romantasy that takes place roughly the same time as Crown Duel, Flian is an ordinary princess who would rather be left with her music, but gets abducted not once, not twice-three times What is a civilized princess to do? Especially when she can't tell which prince is the hero and which the villain