Original Title: Bìn biān bùshì hǎitáng hóng Author: Shuǐ rú tiān er Beiping in 1933 was the busiest city in China. The crowd in this city is different from other places. Not only is it full of flamboyant people and foreigner, but this place is also full of entertainment. Opera Kunqu, Beiping Opera, Qin Drum Player, all the traditional arts you can imagine are on a magnificent stage. Here is also the place where the opera group leader "Shui Yun Tower" and also the actor who is famous for rumors, Shang Xirui, meets with Cheng Fengtai, the Cheng family's second young master from Shanghai. Cheng Fengtai removed the red plum flowers on Shang Xirui's hair and placed them in his own clothes. He smiled, like in a dream, with his eyes half closed, as if he were already inside the Eternal Palace. Shang Xirui sang, "Come here, I will walk with the Second Master." Cheng Fengtai replied, "I will always be with you as long as you want." This is the story of two people who met because the play on stage, the words they express like two lines of poetry. This is the story of "Winter Begonia"

When Adrian the Brave, an arrogant con-artist posing as a knight, eats a mushroom he finds deep in the forest by his village, his life takes a turn for the worst. Immediately after he eats it, he becomes addicted. In his search for more mushrooms, he finds a trapped rabbit. The rabbit, whom he nicknames "Lackwit," offers to lead Adrian to an enchanted part of the forest where the magical mushrooms thrive, in exchange for freedom. Adrian soon discovers, however, that this forest is home to more than just mushrooms, and not all of the inhabitants are what they appear to be.... Cover illustration by Anthony Moravian. http://antmora.deviantart.com

Imperial law enforcer Amaranthe Lokdon is good at her job: she can deter thieves and pacify thugs, if not with a blade, then by toppling an eight-foot pile of coffee canisters onto their heads. But when ravaged bodies show up on the waterfront, an arson covers up human sacrifices, and a powerful business coalition plots to kill the emperor, she feels a tad overwhelmed. Worse, Sicarius, the empire's most notorious assassin, is in town. He's tied in with the chaos somehow, but Amaranthe would be a fool to cross his path. Unfortunately, her superiors order her to hunt him down. Either they have an unprecedented belief in her skills... or someone wants her dead.

Stranded on a parallel Earth, the Tenth Doctor finds himself mentoring a traumatized child soldier enlisted in a hopeless war to save humanity. With an endless number of mysteries in sight -- from the enigmatic alien invaders they call Angels, to the strange machines known as Evangelions used in the planet's defense, to the shadowy maneuvers of those in power -- the Doctor is drawn deeper and deeper into a web of mistakes and sins that threaten to consume all humankind. In time, he'll face the darkest question of them all: what if there are some worlds -- and some children -- even the Doctor can't save?

Caliandra, teenage Princess of Barra, is in dire straits: her father, King Rionn, is dying; her fiancée left her to marry a richer woman; and her brother Valric's gone missing, while looking for a cure for their father's illness. Her very title hinges on Valric's success – since their father, King Rionn, was picked to rule by Peacebringer, a magic axe, and when he dies, Valric and Caliandra lose everything. But the Royal Seer, Royth, sent the Prince on a fool's errand into dangerous territory, and for good reason. Valric was to be the next king - and according to Royth's visions, Valric would destroy their kingdom… while Caliandra would rebuild it. When Valric turns up dead, King Rionn succumbs to disease, and Peacebringer goes missing, Caliandra and her mother, the Queen, must out-wit Marrol, the King’s Minister of War, in a high-stakes game of political ambition against a rival willing to do anything to keep the throne. What will Caliandra and her allies do to get her back in power – and what price will Caliandra pay to wear the crown? Enjoy an advance read of the first 20 chapters for free - the full book drops April 23rd on Amazon, Smashwords, Nook, Kobo, and the iBook Store!

Intro chapter to Rosamond Eternal and the Jaguar Key. Rosamond has a secret: she's a jaguar shifter hiding from an eternal stalker. Rosamond wants to live an ordinary human life, but the Eternals have other plans. Her boyfriend leaves. Her friends betray her. And Gideon the Dragon demands that she use her ability to cross the planes of death to trap a powerful god in the afterlife--a god to whom Rosamond owes a debt of loyalty. To top it all, a psychopathic sorcerer poisons her with his dark magic and it's draining her life away. Someone is behind the chaos, but who? And why target her? Will Rosamond unravel the hidden mysteries before the sorcerer's lethal spell runs its course?

When the Quinceys settle in Rushmore Park, near the village of Redding, much commotion emerges from many families neighbouring them. Each has a daughter to marry, and despite a want of great fortune, they all are exceedingly accomplished, and speculation begins as to whom might be the lucky one to win Edward Quincey's heart (and his fortune). His sister, Miss Magali Quincey, observes discreetly from a distance, match-making and dissuading any imprudent associations until she meets the new vicar of Redding: young, well-bred and ambitious. Beautiful cover by @warpdrive

When Charlotte's husband presents her with an unexpected gift, she finds she has been presented with a neat intellectual puzzle - but what does it all mean? This story is a submission for the Spring 2013 Historical Fiction Smackdown (Round One). For those who don't know how this little game works, we are assigned a photo (the "group" listed below), and allowed to choose from a set of pictures on which to base the story. Group: "Lamp" Era: Regency Pictures: 1 ("Adieu"), 4 ("Three Girls"), and 5 ("Rainy Day") Length: 3558 words (though really, some of them are number sequences). Two important notes: 1) Although labelled "lamp", the object in the lamp photograph isn't a lamp at all (there is no place for a wick). A reverse image search turned up that it is, in fact, a cassolette - sort of like a censor, but used to heat liquid perfumes or scents rather than burn incense. I have, therefore, referred to it as a cassolette throughout. 2) The rules of this first round of the historical fiction smackdown allowed authors to pick one of two eras - Regency or Victorian. When I saw the posted pictures, I was immediately drawn to the very first one in the Regency category. That picture was Edmund Blair Leighton's 1901 painting, "Adieu". It shows a woman in a pink dress bidding farewell to a man in a Napoleonic-era Royal Navy uniform, while a large ship waits in the harbour below. The woman has reddish hair, and appears to be the same model as in another one of the paintings, also a Leighton work. That would be the "Rainy Day" painting, showing a couple leaving a church on a stormy Sunday morning. Again, the woman wears a pink dress. I concluded that the young red-haired woman in "Three Girls", who is also wearing a pink dress, had to be the same woman. The fact that her hair looks much lighter in this painting can be attributed to the fact that a great deal of light is streaming in from the windows which are no doubt right behind the artist's left shoulder.

"Jane Eyre" follows the emotions and experiences of its eponymous character, including her growth to adulthood, and her love for Mr. Rochester, the byronic master of fictitious Thornfield Hall.

Despite living thirty miles from London, Anabelle Latimer knows her chances of finding a husband in their sleepy village are as thin as cook's white soup. Then she discovers a kindred spirit in Mr. Fielding, the intelligent and handsome new steward from Blackwood Hall. It was a great shame that his position in life was so below her own, for he was exactly the sort of man she would have wished to marry. Anthony Fielding, tired of being the target of the ton's marriage-minded mothers, hopes to spend a relaxing week shooting and fishing in the country. Yet upon his arrival at Blackwood Hall he discovers an estate in chaos, and a friend in desperate need of help. He is quick to offer his knowledge and expertise, unaware that his generosity will have unexpected repercussions. The Steward of Blackwell Hall is a traditional Regency romance of approximately 66,000 words.