Books published by publisher Avon

The United States government is given a warning by the pre-eminent biophysicists in the country: current sterilization procedures applied to returning space probes may be inadequate to guarantee uncontaminated re-entry to the atmosphere.Two years later, seventeen satellites are sent into the outerfringes of space to "collect organisms and dust for study." One of them falls to earth, landing in a desolate area of Arizona.Twelve miles from the landing site, in the town of Piedmont,a shocking discovery is made: the streets are littered with the dead bodies of the town's inhabitants, as if they dropped dead in their tracks.

Special feature: This PerfectBound e-book contains Part One of an interview with author Isobel Bird. With this ribbon I do bindMy heart to yours and yours to mine.Love, I call you, come to me,As is my will, so mote it be. Kate cast the love spell with results unforeseen.She cannot stop it by herself, but the book of spells tells her of two strangers who can help her -- if only she can find them.

- Brenda Spencer, 17 years old, opened fire on a crowded elementary schoolyard with a semi-automatic rifle because "Mondays always get me down."- Timothy Dwaine Brown, 16 years old, beat his brother to death before killing his grandparents in cold blood.- Molested repeatedly by her father, 16-year-old Cheryl Pierson hired a classmate to execute him.- Two Missouri brothers, ages four and six, attacked and brutally murdered a baby girl because "she was ugly."There is a new breed of killers loose in America today -- and its numbers are growing at an astounding rate. They are responsible for over ten percent of the nation's homicides. They are often victims themselves of neglect, violence and sexual abuse, of drugs and poverty. They murder alone or in groups -- in anger and frustration, for attention . . . or for thrills. And they have one thing in common: they are all children.

In a time before history, in a harsh and beautiful land near the top of the world, womanhood comes cruelly and suddenly to beautiful, young Chagak. Surviving the brutal massacre of her tribe, she sets out across the icy waters off Ameria's northwest coast on an astonishing odyssey that will reveal to Chagak powerful secrets of the earth and sky... and the mysteries of love and loss.

Two children die of a disease thought to be nonexistence in the United States. Within hours, thoroughbreds at the legendary Churchill Downs are dying of a virus that cannot be identified, even by the most expert veterinarians. Called in to solve these lethal mysteries, noted virologist Jack Bryne discovers the two bear uncanny similarities to the Fifth and Sixth Plagues described in the Book of Exodus. And the horror is just beginning... Every month another monstrosity claims its victims. Every month brings the reenactment of another more catastrophic plague. Soon Bryne's own worldwide medical computer network, ProMED, is invaded by the power behind the horrors--a diabolically intelligent serial killer with a sophisticated knowledge of toxins and an obsession with a with biblical retribution. To make matters worse, the FBI is convinced Bryne himself is the killer. Caught between both sides, the brilliant virus hunter joins forces with his bright lab assistant, an ambitious TV newswoman, and a young religious scholar to find this madman and stop him before it's too late. But even Bryne does not know how close the killer is...until he meets this modern medical Moriarity on a midnight confrontation that will determine the future of the world.

Rushdie creates a complex universe to describe and explain twentieth century India. The very impossibility of the task makes his accomplishment all the more astounding. Rushdie effortlessly goes back and forth in time, weaving in a number of interrelated themes and characters, ultimately describing the vast subcontinent through the story if one character born at the instant that India became an independent country.