Pat Murphy - Free Library Land Online - Sequential Art

Bad Grrlz' Guide to Reality

Thu, 30 Oct 2014 07:43:06 +0200

Two novels of adventure: One set in the hills of the Old West, the other across the Bermuda Triangle In Wild Angel, Sarah sits by the river with her mother, watching her father pan for gold. The calm of the California hills is broken by a rifle shot, the start of an ambush that leaves Sarah’s parents murdered and scalped and forces the three-year-old to flee into the woods. Hungry, cold, and terribly lost, she is rescued by a she-wolf named Wauna, who feeds Sarah as if she were one of her own pups. As Sarah grows up among the wolves, she will tame the wilderness, and her adventures—chronicled by a writer named Max Merriwell—will make her a legend of the frontier. Unlike the hero of Wild Angel, the women of Adventures in Time and Space with Max Merriwell do not expect danger when they set off on their journey. But when Pat and Susan’s cruise ship sails into the Bermuda Triangle, reality begins to twist. As supernatural creatures menace the ship, these two would-be vacationers will have no choice but to hang on for the ride.

The City, Not Long After

Mon, 30 Oct 1989 07:43:06 +0300

A chilling postapocalyptic novel of hope, despair, art, and war from the Nebula and Philip K. Dick Award–winning author of *The Falling Woman.*

A plague wiped out most of the population, but some have been spared. In San Francisco, those who were left—painters, writers, dreamers—began rebuilding the city in their image: a society based on art, community, and peace. But not everyone has the same pacifist ideals.

When a mysterious young woman, Jax, appears in San Francisco, she brings disturbing news. There’s a power-hungry man, a general, moving across California, annexing cities and rebuilding his own version of America, willing to destroy anyone who stands in his way. His sights are set on the Golden Gate Bridge, and his army will soon descend, bringing guns, determination, and violence.

If Jax and her allies are to survive, they’ll have to defend themselves with nothing more than their creativity—and the soul of a city that refuses to be dominated.

Drawing comparisons to the mind-bending work of Gabriel García Márquez, this lush and thought-provoking dystopian novel is an examination of human spirit, for better or worse, and a magical journey into what it means to survive.

Rachel in Love

Fri, 30 Oct 1987 07:43:06 +0300

Winner of the 1987 Nebula Award! Rachel has the mind of a teenage girl, but the body and the innocent heart of a young chimp. Sometimes when she looks at her gnarled brown fingers, they seem alien, wrong, out of place. She remembers having small, pale, delicate hands with painted fingernails. Memories lie upon memories, layers upon layers, like the sedimentary rocks of the desert buttes. Aaron Jacobs, the man Rachel calls father, was a neurologist who discovered how to capture the electrical pattern of a living brain’s thoughts and memories. When his daughter died unexpectedly, the grieving father imposed the electrical pattern of the girl’s brain on a young chimp, creating Rachel, a chimp he recognizes as his daughter. Rachel knows that she is a real girl – but when Aaron Jacobs dies, she must make her way in a world that treats her as nothing but an animal.

Points of Departure: Stories

Tue, 30 Oct 1990 07:43:06 +0300

Winner of the Philip K. Dick Award: Nineteen stories of power and humanity from a science fiction master with otherworldly talent In a small house in the desert, a chimp named Rachel watches Tarzan on TV. Although her body is an ape’s, her mind is something different—a hybrid between those of a chimpanzee and a young girl. When his wife and child died, the doctor who created Rachel implanted his daughter’s brain into that of the chimp. Rachel remembers the jungle; she remembers high school. And when her father passes away, she will embark on the adventure of a lifetime. The Nebula Award–winning novella “Rachel in Love” anchors this haunting collection of stories from Pat Murphy, whose electric imagination is a testament to how wonderful science fiction can be. Her characters struggle with alien lovers, vegetative wives, and the burden of seeing into the future. And always, like Rachel, they search for something more: not just what it means to be human, but what it is to be alive.

The Adventures of Mary Darling

Wed, 26 Nov 2025 08:35:20 +0200

Who is Mary Darling? In this smartly subversive Victorian mash-up of the legendary literary novels Peter Pan and Sherlock Holmes, the intrepid mother of the Darling children is on the case—and always one step ahead of her inept husband and a famous detective.
[STARRED REVIEW] "The wit, wisdom, and whimsy on offer here are sure to win fans."
—Publishers Weekly
[STARRED REVIEW] "Mary's story is a dangerous and delightful adventure that turns the bigotry and misogyny of Victorian England on its head."
—Library Journal
Mary Darling is a pretty wife whose boring husband is befuddled by her independent ways. But one fateful night, Mary becomes the distraught mother whose three children have gone missing from their beds. After her well-meaning uncle John Watson contacts the greatest detective of his era (but not that great), Mary is Sherlock Holmes's prime suspect in her children's...

The Falling Woman

Thu, 30 Oct 1986 07:43:06 +0300

Elizabeth Waters, an archaeologist who abandoned her husband and daughter years ago to pursue her career, can see the shadows of the past. It's a gift she keeps secret from her colleagues and students, one that often leads her to incredible archaeological discoveries and the realization that she might be going mad. Then on a dig in the Yucatan, the shadow of a Mayan priestess speaks to her. Suddenly Elizabeth's daughter Diane arrives, hoping to reconnect with her mother. As mother, daughter and priestess fall into the mysterious world of Mayan magic, it is clear one will be asked to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Not Alone

Wed, 26 Nov 2025 08:35:22 +0200

Mel relishes running the "Enchanted Jungle," a roadside attraction in the Everglades filled with live parrots, concrete dinosaurs, and other unexpected wonders.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Complete Short Fiction

Sun, 24 Jan 2021 07:11:52 +0200

Scanned, converted, reformatted, proofed, custom title page, custom book cover and eBook creation by Jerry

City, Not Long After

Tue, 25 Nov 2014 20:38:53 +0200

In an abandoned San Francisco, the city's rebirth is powered by artA young man strides across the Golden Gate Bridge, roller in hand, painting the famous structure a thousand shades of blue. A woman stands on the edge of the sea, sending messages to far-off lands in corked wine bottles. And a sleeping man dreams of building an angel from the spare parts that are the last remnants of a vanished civilization. A plague has passed through San Francisco, leaving only the artists, eccentrics, and dreamers to build the city anew. But when war threatens to overtake this quiet metropolis, the artists must learn to fight back.The bloodthirsty General Miles wants the city for himself and will destroy all those who stand in his way. To protect their whimsical paradise, the citizens band together in a curious form of guerilla warfare, fighting hate with the favorite weapon of bohemia: an open heart.