Linda Lyall

For someone who thinks rocks are more interesting than men, geologist Alice is proven how very wrong she is. When a probe crashes to Earth near a dig site, Alice Clarkson thinks she has hit the jackpot of her gem collecting career finding a real life meteor to add to her collection. But this is no mere meteor. It's an alien probe designed to capture life; specifically female life.

I guess I'm one of the last survivors of the human race, and I'm stranded on this hell of a desert alien planet. Sucks to be me. Our ship crashed months ago, and those of us left are struggling to survive the boiling heat in barbaric living conditions. The only reason we're not all dead is one of my friends got knocked up by a native alien, and he lets us live in his ruined city.

The happily married Mr. Knightley and Emma are throwing a party at their country estate, bringing together distant relatives and new acquaintances—characters beloved by Jane Austen fans. Definitely not invited is Mr. Wickham, whose latest financial scheme has netted him an even broader array of enemies. As tempers flare and secrets are revealed, it’s clear that everyone would be happier if Mr. Wickham got his comeuppance. Yet they’re all shocked when Wickham turns up murdered—except, of course, for the killer hidden in their midst.

The quest was over. The Orb of Aldur was restored. And once again, with the crowning of Garion, there was a descendant of Riva Iron-grip to rule as Overlord of the West. And yet the prophecy was unfulfilled. In the east, the evil god Torak was about to awaken and seek dominion. Somehow, Garion had to face the god, to kill or be killed. On the outcome of that dread duel rested the destiny of the world.

It all began with the theft of the Orb that protected the West from the evil God Torak. Before that, Garion had been a simple farm boy. Afterward, he discovered he's a sorcerer. Now, at last, the Orb has been regained and the quest nears its end. Of course, the questors must still escape from a crumbling enemy fortress, flee across a desert filled with Murgo soldiers, and avoid the Grolim Hierarchs seeking to destroy them with dark magic.

Long ago, so the Storyteller claimed, the evil god Torak sought dominion and drove men and Gods to war. But Belgrath the Sorcerer led men to reclaim the Orb that protected the West. So long as it lay at Riva, the prophecy went, men would be safe. That was only a story, and Garion did not believe in magic dooms, even though the man without a shadow had haunted him for years.