Personal Paradise
3/5
()
About this ebook
Sequel to the Windrose series. The Personal Paradise Secure Community Corporation specializes in producing tiny enclave universes as vacation homes for the rich and famous. Unfortunately, something goes wrong with their Void technology and all these enclaves - and everyone in them - lose touch with the corporation’s central control. Exiled wizard Antryg Windrose and his partner, computer programmer Joanna Sheraton, are hired to find out what the problem is, and to bring the enclaves back, before the enclaves themselves collapse (killing everyone in them). And Joanna suspects that the corporate representatives have not told her and Antryg the whole truth of what the enclaves are, or how the problem appeared.
Barbara Hambly
Since her first published fantasy in 1982 - The Time of the Dark - Barbara Hambly has touched most of the bases in genre fiction. She has written mysteries, horror, mainstream historicals, graphic novels, sword-and-sorcery fantasy, romances, and Saturday Morning Cartoons. Born and raised in Southern California, she attended the University of California, Riverside, and spent one year at the University of Bordeaux, France. She married science fiction author George Alec Effinger, and lived part-time in New Orleans for a number of years. In her work as a novelist, she currently concentrates on horror (the Don Simon Ysidro vampire series) and historical whodunnits, the well-reviewed Benjamin January novels, though she has also written another historical whodunnit series under the name of Barbara Hamilton.Professor Hambly also teaches History part-time, paints, dances, and trains in martial arts. Follow her on Facebook, and on her blog at livejournal.com.Now a widow, she shares a house in Los Angeles with several small carnivores.
Read more from Barbara Hambly
Fairest in the Land Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Night With the Girls Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nanya of the Butterflies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Antiquarian's Niece Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hazard Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Plus-One Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Lost Boy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Firemaggot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5And Pretty Maids All In A Row Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Just Like Real People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gwenael Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Sinister Chinaman Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDreamers of Black Rock Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCorridor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Elsewhere Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pretty Polly Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hag in the Water Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Princess Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Castle of Horror Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gravemould and Ectoplasm Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Whisper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hagar Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Death on the Moon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Time For Every Purpose Under Heaven Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Libre Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Karate Masters vs the Invaders From Outer Space Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Damselblossom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shadowbaby Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Personal Paradise
Related ebooks
Corridor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Zenobie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Firemaggot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Plus-One Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5And Pretty Maids All In A Row Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Death on the Moon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Worldsoul Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Banner of Souls Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Odd Magics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJust Like Real People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dreamers of Black Rock Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStranger at the Wedding Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Search the Seven Hills: The Quirinal Affair Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Pretty Polly Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Magicians of Night Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dog Wizard Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silicon Mage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Ghostly Request: Ladies Occult Society, #2 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Libre Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Whisper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reign of Beasts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTwisting the Rope Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Baron of Magister Valley Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBovicide, Zombie Diaries, and the Legend of the Brothers Brown Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Amaril Company: The Yoga Trilogy, #0 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShadowbaby Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Demon and the City Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Damselblossom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Elsewhere Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Fantasy For You
The Priory of the Orange Tree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fairy Tale Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tress of the Emerald Sea: Secret Projects, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The City of Dreaming Books Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This Is How You Lose the Time War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nettle & Bone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Warrior of the Light: A Manual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wizard's First Rule Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sarah J. Maas: Series Reading Order - with Summaries & Checklist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lovecraft Country: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Neverwhere: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Two Towers: Being the Second Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dandelion Wine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stories of Ray Bradbury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Assassin and the Pirate Lord: A Throne of Glass Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Golem and the Jinni: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Immortal Longings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Assassin and the Empire: A Throne of Glass Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Eyes of the Dragon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Assassin and the Desert: A Throne of Glass Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don Quixote: [Complete & Illustrated] Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Phantom Tollbooth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Piranesi Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Personal Paradise
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
Personal Paradise - Barbara Hambly
PERSONAL PARADISE
by
Barbara Hambly
Published by Barbara Hambly at Smashwords
Copyright 2014 Barbara Hambly
Cover art by Eric Baldwin
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only, and may not be re-sold. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please include this license and copyright page. If you did not download this ebook yourself, consider going to Smashwords.com and doing so; authors love knowing when people are seeking out their material. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author!
Table of Contents
Personal Paradise
About The Author
The Further Adventures
PERSONAL PARADISE
by
Barbara Hambly
The men at the door were definitely corporate suits.
They looked exactly like Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson, Patrick Swayze and Harrison Ford, and Antryg, stepping into the living-room as Joanna stood – considerably startled – in front of the door she had just opened, exclaimed admiringly, "That’s very good!"
Joanna, who for that first instant had been wondering how the hell the agents of those four film heart-throbs had managed to negotiate having them together on the same porch, much less her porch, understood that this was an illusion.
And if this was an illusion, that meant that she and Antryg – lover, friend, room-mate and exiled wizard (But I don’t have magic in this world,
he would always explain to bemused new acquaintances) – were probably already in a lot of trouble. She just didn’t know what kind yet.
The one who looked like Tom Cruise said, Thank you.
He held out a business card. Antryg Windrose?
Very much so. This is Joanna Sheraton, my partner.
He put an arm around her shoulders, propped his thick-lensed spectacles more firmly onto the bridge of his long nose with his free hand, and took the card. He seemed, as he generally did, relaxed, genial, and slightly daft, as if the appearance of reasonable facsimiles of the four biggest-name actors in Hollywood on his front porch were no big deal or even much of a surprise – but she noticed that as he’d come into the living-room behind her he’d laid his sheathed samurai sword inconspicuously on the coffee-table. He could make it to the weapon in one long stride if he had to. She was careful not to be in his way.
You were referred to us by the Council of Wizards in Ferryth.
Cruise-Alike took a folded paper from the breast pocket of his Armani suit. Joanna recognized the elaborately curliqued syllabary of the Old High Tongue still taught among the wizards of that realm – separated from the prosaic summer heat of Granada Hills, California in 1987 by the shimmering gulfs of the Void – as Antryg unfolded it and read.
Joanna said, Please come in,
and stepped aside from the doorway. If these men had been sent by the Council to murder Antryg – always a possibility, given Council politics – they’d had their opportunity to do so, and by the way Antryg ambled to the couch after them there was evidently no problem with this courtesy. She did notice that he scooped up his sword with the air of a man simply moving ornamental impedimenta out of the way of guests, and did not return it to the wall-rack where their unsharpened training katana hung between classes.
Still with that slightly absent-minded appearance of carelessness, he propped the weapon against the arm of the chair where Joanna sat, and said, Can I get you gentlemen something? Wine? Coca-cola? They make some extremely nice beers here… What do you make of this, my dear?
He handed her the letter as she stood—
I’ll get the beer,
she offered. Is that really a letter from the Council?
Antryg licked a corner of the paper. It appears to be.
He sniffed the business-card, held it up to the light of the window, then handed both to her and disappeared through the door into the kitchen. Spock, the smaller (and friendlier) of the two cats, uncurled himself from the back of the couch where he’d been doing his usual imitation of a shadow with eyes, and hopped onto Ford-Alike’s lap, which for some reason made Joanna feel better about the visitors.
Thank you very much for your hospitality,
said Swayze-Alike, and leaned across from the couch to shake her hand. My colleagues and I are representatives of Personal Paradise.
Joanna looked doubtful, and he smiled, understanding that not everyone in the universe had heard of it, but pitying them for this deprivation.
I’m Jeltan Hiros; this is Corflan Dix, Marus Ormagnos, and Galviddian Ceragn the Third.
I’m very pleased to meet you.
Not only were the duplications of the most popular variations of masculine good looks molecule-perfect, the suits, shoes, and matte monotone silk ties matched the general impression: We’re REALLY important and have lots of money. She wanted to congratulate their Outfitting Department. "Though Antryg’s been good enough to extend the Spell of