Soda pop soldier

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Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey

Scores of dragons are dead after plague swept across the world of Pern, and now the Weyrs are struggling to rebuild before Threadfall destroys everything—and everyone—left alive. Their best hope lies with a group of new dragonriders who have volunteered to brave the dangers of an unexplored island populated by vicious wild felines and voracious tunnel-snakes to create a safe home for their young dragons, whose offspring will hopefully replenish Pern’s decimated population. But their leader, Xhinna, the first female rider of a blue dragon, faces an uphill battle to win the respect of her peers, especially after tragedy leaves the new colony reeling. The way forward seems to lie with the awesome ability of the dragons to travel through time. But that power comes with risks: By venturing into the past, Xhinna may jeopardize the very future she has sworn to save.

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Pete Koziar

"Set hundreds of years in the future, this novel tells the story of the crew of The Dauntless, one of mankind's first interstellar ships, as they return to Earth. It took them hundreds of years, Earth time, to make their voyage. When they return, they initially believe their adventuring to be over, but it is only then that their real journey begins. Their world had changed in unexpected ways. It is ruled by a supreme ruler, the king, accompanied by powerful creatures known as the Purnarkat. The crew faces several crisis points where they must decide whom to follow, and even whom to believe. They find themselves caught between the followers of the Purnarkat and an ancient creature, who has his own plans for the crew and their ship"--Publisher's description.

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Paul McAuley

A teenage girl, naked and badly injured, is discovered by two fishermen in mountain forest in Macabee County, Oregon. Before lapsing into a coma, she asks for someone called Billy, and dies before reaching hospital. The dead girl is identified as Edie Collier, last known to be living on the streets of Portland after quarrelling with her mother. That's how Summer Zeigler, a newly qualified police detective in the Portland Police Bureau gets involved: she arrested Edie for shoplifting six months before. Then the body of Edie's boyfriend, Billy, turns up in the Nevada desert. His manner of death, a wound caused by a crossbow bolt and the removal of his heart and eyes, links him to several other murders. Summer's investigations will lead her to the strange mansion of software millionaire Dirk Merrit, who made his fortune from a computer role-playing game known as Trans. But cyberspace is no longer enough to fulfil Merritt's grotesque fantasies. He wants to play a real-life version of his game. A game with deadly consequences.

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Mercedes Lackey

If Rune could get the proper training, she could become one of the finest bards her world has ever seen. But her advantages are few, so when she decides to play her fiddle for the Ghost of Skull Hill, he agrees to a bargain--an arrangement that could mean silver for her future quest . . . or her death at the hands of the ghost.