Cindy Pon “Silver Phoenix: Beyond the Kingdom of Xia”

Cindy Pon “Silver Phoenix: Beyond the Kingdom of Xia”
Christopher Farnsworth – The Burning Men
Christopher Farnsworth – Red, White, and Blood
The Dragon Emperor: A Chinese Folktale By Wang Ping, Teng Ge
Jay Allan – Even Legends Die

No one wanted Ai Ling. And deep down she is relieved—despite the dishonor she has brought upon her family—to be unbetrothed and free, not some stranger’s subservient bride banished to the inner quarters.
But now, something is after her. Something terrifying—a force she cannot comprehend. And as pieces of the puzzle start to fit together, Ai Ling begins to understand that her journey to the Palace of Fragrant Dreams isn’t only a quest to find her beloved father but a venture with stakes larger than she could have imagined.

Christopher Farnsworth – The Burning Men

A man stands up in a crowded movie theater. A moment later, everything is burning. When the smoke clears and the bodies are removed, there is no trace of any bomb, or device, or even a matchstick. There’s just the corpse of one man, a statue in ash, with an obscene grin still upon his charred skull.
Nothing human could have done this.
Fortunately, Nathaniel Cade isn’t human, either. Turned into a blood-drinking abomination 145 years ago, he is bound by a special blood oath to serve and protect the United States from supernatural threats. Together with his White House handler, Zach Barrows, Cade races to find out who was behind the murders of a dozen innocent people. They have no suspects, no leads, and no explanations.

Christopher Farnsworth – Red, White, and Blood

“This is not a man. In almost a hundred years, I have seen it shot, stabbed, drowned, burned, decapitated, dismembered, and buried. And in almost a hundred years, there’s only one thing that’s ever been able to kill it…Me.”
The campaign trail, 2012: A political operative of the incumbent president and a party volunteer are brutally murdered while in a compromising position. A message has been written in their blood…

“IT’S GOOD TO BE BACK”

A centuries-old horror has returned to taunt Nathaniel Cade, the President’s Vampire. Under constant threat of exposure—and with enemies old and new at every turn—he and his handler Zach must stop the one monster Cade has never been able to completely destroy. And they must do it before the creature known as the Boogeyman adds another victim to his long and bloody list: the President of the United States.

The Dragon Emperor: A Chinese Folktale By Wang Ping, Teng Ge

Divided into four brief chapters and imaginatively illustrated by Tang, this foundational Chinese folktale introduces dragon-emperor Ying Long and his numerous battles against the demon rebel Chi You. Although some children may be confused about whether Ying Long was a historical figure (which isn’t really clarified by Wang’s afterword about “the close ties between dragons and emperors”), the legend itself is beautifully told, including colorful details of warriors who ate “sand, rocks, and metal for meals” as well as down-to-earth cultural context, such as the invention of the first compass. Suggest this On My Own Folklore title to newly independent readers, especially around the lunar new year.

Jay Allan – Even Legends Die

The final battle has begun…
Gavin Stark, the former head of Alliance Intelligence, and the bitter nemesis of the Marine Corps, has made his bid for power. The manufactured clone soldiers of his Shadow Legions have seized control of dozens of colony worlds, imposing his brutal rule over millions of colonists. His plan is no less than to subjugate all mankind under his iron fist.
On Earth, Stark’s manipulations have brought the Superpowers to the brink of war, threatening the Treaty of Paris and its prohibition against terrestrial warfare. For a century, man had restricted his wars to space, but now the Powers are sliding closer to the brink…the final battle that could kill billions, and turn Earth into a wasteland.