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A battalion of Serbs has been senselessly murdered in Kosovo and the Green Berets stand accused. Now, Major Sean Drummond, a top Army lawyer, is assigned to investigate this unspeakable atrocity. But of course, no one saw anything. Drummond gets consistently suspicious depositions from all of the Green Berets: Supposedly pursued by Serb soldiers, they left the engagement with wounded Serbs firing at them, and no one can explain the number of deaths. Teamed with a straight-laced prosecutor and a sexy defense attorney, Drummond probes further but forces continue to hide the truth. Soon a reporter is found dead, Drummond suspects that there's a traitor on his team, and everyone from the CIA to the president may be involved in a cover-up that could threaten the stability of the most powerful nation in the world.


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EDITORIAL REVIEW:

In the worst case of treason in U.S. history, General William Morrison has been charged with a breathtaking array of crimes. Oddsmakers give Sean Drummond zero chance of saving his client from a death sentence. However, his obligation runs deeper than simply professional: Morrison's wife, a CIA executive, has begged Sean to save her husband, and Drummond doesn't want to disappoint his old flame. Despite ever-more-damning intelligence leaks that paint Morrison as worse than Bene- dict Arnold, Drummond bulls ahead and comes to suspect that this simple case of treason is actually a chess game being played at the highest levels by the best and brightest-one in which Morrison is merely a pawn.


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"YOU CAN'T STOP US. THERE WILL BE OTHERS, AND THE PRESIDENT WILL BE HISTORY IN THE NEXT TWO DAYS."

It's a mass execution: six people shot and killed in a Virginia mansion, one of them the White House Chief of Staff. But that isn't the reason Sean Drummond is called in. Newly enlisted in a CIA cell called the Office of Special Projects, the Army lawyer knows the bodies are just a warning. Because the killer left a note.

Now the hunt begins for the ultimate hitman: brilliant, coldhearted, with an insider's knowledge of D.C. If Drummond fails, the world will never be the same--and someone will collect the $100 million bounty on the President's head.


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I watch sixteen football games over nine hours. It's an extraordinary accomplishment...With the remote secure in the palm of my hand, or more often resting on my chest, I am all powerful. I haven't missed an important play since the Carter administration. His streak of murder case acquittals made him a regular on cable talk shows. His recent $22 million inheritance bought him a dog rescue operation named after his beloved golden retriever. Now after turning down cases left and right, attorney Andy Carpenter feels like he's facing a midlife crisis. And just when he decides he needs some real work, a newspaper owner friend asks Andy to protect his star reporter. Daniel Cummings is being used as a mouthpiece by a serial killer...but the reporter gets way too close to his story when he's found near the murderer's latest victim. Quickly working to save what's left of Cummings's rep, Andy soon makes news himself when he starts receiving death threats-and moves dangerously close to becoming tomorrow's big obituary.


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After Laurie Collins left him and headed west, New Jersey defense attorney Andy Carpenter didn't expect to ever see her again. So he's shocked when his ex-girlfriend appears on TV--and then calls him pleading for his help. Two coeds in Wisconsin have been found brutally stabbed to death. As the town's acting police chief, Laurie had to arrest a young college student with a carful of bloodstains who argued with one of the victims just before her death. Yet Laurie strongly believes that the suspect, Jeremy Davidson, is innocent. Trading the refineries and factories of Paterson for the frozen pastures of Findlay, Wisconsin, Andy soon finds himself in a small town handling a big-time double homicide case. He looks into Jeremy's romance with one of the victims--and the possible involvement of a bizarre religious cult--one that may sanction the most unholy, and vicious, of acts. While Andy tries to save Jeremy, make sense of his love life, and find a decent pizza for his beloved dog, Tara, the secrets of an ultra-religious community begin to rain down on him like bricks from a cracked fortress. But as Edgar®-nominated Rosenfelt proves to us once again, the path to the truth is littered with lies and misdirection. And before it's all over, the unexpected is the only thing Andy can count on.


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The mysterious legacy of defense attorney Andy Carpenter's late father has made him a rich man--22 million dollars rich, to be exact. But as Andy relaxes in his office, imagining ways to spend his money, he has an unexpected visitor: a stranger who confesses to decapitating and burning a man--cooly relying on the confidentiality of attorney-client privilege. When an innocent man is charged with the crime, Andy decides to take on the case. But the case becomes personal when, in a stunning development, Andy's client is exonerated and his girlfriend, Laurie Collins, is accused of the crime. When the man who originally confessed to the murder turns up dead, Andy realizes that this is much bigger than one crime. Who committed the murders? Who framed Laurie? In the case of his life, Andy must prove Laurie's innocence in this thrilling mystery from the always inventive David Rosenfelt.- Open and Shut (Mysterious Press, 5/02) was a Mystery Guild(R) Featured Alternate. Bulgarian, French, and German rights to the book were sold before publication. Its 5/03 mass market release will tie in with the hardcover release of First Degree.- David Rosenfelt writes legal mysteries with the same authority and sense of drama that has ensured the success of Robert B. Parker, Robert Crais, and Harlan Coben.


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Attorney Andy Carpenter is about to represent an adorable Bernese mountain dog puppy, whose owner was brutally murdered, in a custody fight. Few can rival Andy's affection for dogs, and he's determined to keep Waggy from falling into the wrong hands. But this playful pup possesses a valuable secret that some people will resort to violence to obtain. It will take more than Andy's usual courtroom theatrics to save Waggy, including help from the lawyer's golden retriever, Tara. Andy soon discovers that everyone around him is in danger, including his longtime girlfriend, Laurie--and only some high-risk new tricks will save those he cherishes most.


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"There is nothing like a golden retriever. I know, I know, it's a big planet with a lot of wonderful things, but golden retrievers are the absolute best. Mine is named Tara . . . The only problem she has ever caused is that I spend so much time with her in the mornings that I am almost invariably late for work." Whether dueling with new forensics or the local old boys' network, irreverent defense attorney Andy Carpenter always leaves them awed with his biting wit and winning fourth-quarter game plan. But Andy prefers the company of his best friend, Tara, to the people he encounters in the courtroom. Tara, a golden retriever, is clearly smarter than half the lawyers who clog the courts of PassaicCounty. However, just as it seems Andy has everything figured out, his dad, New Jersey's legendary ex-D.A., drops dead in front of him at a game in Yankee Stadium. The shocks pile on as he discovers his dad left him with two unexpected legacies: a fortune of $22 million that Andy never knew existed . . . and a murder case with enough racial tinder to burn down City Hall. Struggling to serve justice and bring honor to his father, Andy must dig up some explosive political skeletons-and an astonishing family secret that can close his case (and his mouth) for good.


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Few can rival attorney Andy Carpenter's affection for golden retrievers, especially his own beloved Tara. After he astonishes a New Jersey courtroom by successfully appealing another golden's death sentence, Andy discovers that this gentle dog is a key witness to a murder that took place five years before. Andy pushes the boundaries of the law even further as he struggles to free an innocent man by convincing an incredulous jury to take canine testimony seriously. It will take all the tricks Andy's fertile mind can conceive to get to the bottom of a remarkable chain of impersonations and murder, and save a dog's life--and his own--in the process.


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- David Rosenfelt's previous novel. "Bury the Lead, was published in Mysterious Press hardcover in 6/04, and was a "Today show Book Club Pick chosen by Janet Evanovich.- "First Degree (Mysterious Press, 5/03) won raves from national publications, including "Entertainment Weekly, and starred reviews from both "Kirkus Reviews and "Publishers Weekly.- The author's debut novel. "Open and Shut (Mysterious Press, 2002), was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best First Novel and was praised in the "New York Times.- David Rosenfelt's previous three books were Featured Alternates of The Mystery Guild," with foreign rights sold in Bulgaria, France, Germany, and Japan.


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An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, novel 'People don't like dealing with people who raise the dead. Don't ask me why, but we make them nervous.' There's something about Leo Harlan that I don't like. He's asked me to reanimate his long-dead ancestor, and it seems like a perfectly ordinary case for someone like me: Anita Blake, preternatural expert, vampire hunter and raiser of the dead. So I agree ' sometimes you deal with the devil not because you want to, but because if you don't, someone else will. But what he hasn't told me is that the corpse may hold the secret to an ancient crime that not everyone wants to be remembered.


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When a powerful centuries-old vampire hits Anita Blake's town, a battle of the undead ensues.


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Fans have been waiting to sink their fangs into an all-new Anita Blake hardcover in the New York Timesbestselling series. These days, Anita Blake is less interested in vampire politics than in an ancient, ordinary dread she shares with women down the ages: she may be pregnant. And, if she is, whether the father is a vampire, a werewolf, or someone else entirely, he knows perfectly well that being a Federal Marshal known for raising the dead and being a vampire executioner, is no way to bring up a baby.


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EDITORIAL REVIEW: ** The *New York Times* bestselling series. ** When Anita Blake meets with prospective client Tony Bennington, who is desperate to have her reanimate his recently deceased wife, she is full of sympathy for his loss. Anita knows something about love, and she knows everything there is to know about loss. But what she also knows, though Tony Bennington seems unwilling to be convinced, is that the thing she can do as a necromancer isn't the miracle he thinks he needs. The creature that Anita could coerce to step out of the late Mrs. Bennington's grave would not be the lovely Mrs. Bennington. Not really. And not for long.


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No one is as good at stripping bare the dark desires of the inhuman soul as Laurell K. Hamilton, something she has proven time after time in her New York Timesbestselling Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels. Now, in Incubus Dreams, Anita's life is more complicated than ever, as she is caught between her obligations to the living and the undead. A vampire serial killer who preys on strippers is on the loose. Called in to consult on the case, Anita fears her judgment may be clouded by a conflict of interest. For she is, after all, the consort of Jean-Claude, the ever-intoxicating Master Vampire of the City. Surrounded by suspicion, overwhelmed by her attempts to control the primal lusts that continue to wrack her as a result of her passionate contacts with vampires, werewolves, and the shapeshifter Micah, Anita does something unprecedented: She calls for help.


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Vampire hunter extraordinaire Anita Blake arrives in Philadelphia to raise a witness from the dead so that his testimony can be taken with the help of Micah, the king of the wereleopards, but she is more fearful of spending time alone with Micah, her former lover, than dealing with a zombie. Original.


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EDITORIAL REVIEW:

"I've never read a writer with a more fertile imagination - and fewer inhibitions about using it." (Diana Gabaldon)  Six months of celibacy have made Anita crave the two men in her life like never before. But merging their powers together will give this mortal woman a taste of immortal hunger that she'll never be able to forget...


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An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, novel 'I was covered in blood, but it wasn't mine, so it was okay.' Edward is a hit man. He specialises in monsters. Vampires, shape-shifters, anything and everything. There are people like me, Anita Blake, who do it legally, but Edward doesn't sweat the legalities or, hell, the ethics. He is an equal opportunity killer. I may be one of the few friends that Edward has, but it's like being friends with a tame leopard. It may curl on the foot of your bed and let you pet its head, but it can still eat your throat out...


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EDITORIAL REVIEW:

**A proven series with a hot new look. The #1 bestselling author returns with her most anticipated novel yet.**



 When a vampire serial killer sends Anita Blake a grisly souvenir from Las Vegas, she has to warn Sin City's local authorities what they're dealing with. Only it's worse than she thought. Ten officers and one executioner have been slain-paranormal style. Anita heads to Vegas, where's she's joined by three other federal marshals, including the ruthless Edward. It's a good thing he always has her back, because when she gets close to the bodies, Anita senses "tiger" too strongly to ignore it. The weretigers are very powerful in Las Vegas, which means the odds of her rubbing someone important the wrong way just got a lot higher.


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EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Readers haven't seen anything yet-new in the "fabulously imagined series" (*Publishers Weekly*) from the #1 *New York Times* bestselling author.     

Anita Blake is about to face the challenge of her life. Into her world-a world already overflowing with power-have come creatures so feared that powerful, centuries-old vampires refuse to mention their names. It is forbidden to speak of The Harlequin unless you've been contacted. And to be contacted by The Harlequin is to be under sentence of death.    

Long-time rivals for Anita's affections, Jean-Claude, Master Vampire of the City, and Richard, alpha-werewolf, will need to become allies. Shapeshifters Nathaniel and Micah will have to step up their support. And then there's Edward. In this situation, Anita knows that she needs to call the one man who has always been there for her...


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An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, novel. 'These days my life is a cross between a preternatural soap opera and an action-adventure movie.' The first hit man came after me at home, which should be against the rules. Then there was a second, and a third. Word on the street is that Anita Blake, preternatural expert and vampire killer extraordinaire, is worth half a million dollars. Dead, not alive. So what's a girl to do but turn to the men in her life for help? Which in my case means an alpha werewolf and a master vampire. With professional killers on your trail, it's not a bad idea to have as much protection as possible, human or otherwise. But I'm beginning to wonder if two monsters are better than one...


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Animator and vampire hunter Anita Blake is about to discover that some secrets are better left buried-and some people better off dead...


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EDITORIAL REVIEW:

And you don't fall in love with a werewolf. It interferes with your work. Especially when you're a preternatural expert, like me. My business brings me up close and personal with all shapes and sizes of monsters. And not ALL of them want to kill me. Take, for instance, the local pack of lycanthropes - they're werewolves to you. A number of them are missing, and they've come to me for help. Maybe because I'm dating the leader of the pack. I've survived a lot - from jealous vampires to killer zombies - but this love thing may kill me yet. Look out for information on this book and others on the Orbit website at www.orbitbooks.co.uk.


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EDITORIAL REVIEW:

**Readers can’t get enough of the #1 *New York Times* bestselling author.**



 A favor for Jason, vampire hunter Anita Blake’s werewolf lover, puts her in the center of a fullblown scandal that threatens master-vampire Jean- Claude’s reign—and makes her a pawn in an ancient vampire queen’s new rise to power.


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EDITORIAL REVIEW:

** A look that kills for the fifth Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novel. ** 



 Here's a job to strain even Anita Blake's capabilities: raising an entire graveyard of two-hundred-year-old corpses.


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An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, novel 'Richard was an alpha werewolf. It was his only serious flaw. We'd broken up after I'd seen him eat somebody.' You never forget your ex-fiance. And when the call came at three in the morning, I thought for a moment it was him. It wasn't. It was his brother. And it wasn't good news. Apparently the former love of my life had got himself thrown into jail for assaulting a woman. Since I make my living as a preternatural expert, I tend to believe almost anything's possible. But though he may be one of the monsters, Richard would never harm a woman. So it's Anita Blake to the rescue. I've got just a few days to spring Richard and find out who framed him ' and why. There's a full moon coming, and if my werewolf love is still behind bars when it rises, he'll be facing a lot worse than an assault charge...


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EDITORIAL REVIEW:

***The music came back up and the next group of little girls, slightly older, came out. There was a lot of that in the next hour and change. I liked dance, and it was no reflection on the kids, but my will to live began to seep away on about the fifth group of sequined children... *** 



 Anita Blake is back in St. Louis and trying to live a normal life-as normal as possible for someone who is a legal vampire executioner and a U. S. Marshal. There are lovers, friends and their children, school programs to attend. In the midst of all the ordinary happiness a vampire from Anita's past reaches out. She was supposed to be dead, killed in an explosion, but the Mother of All Darkness is the first vampire, their dark creator. It's hard to kill a god. This dark goddess has reached out to her here-in St. Louis, home of everyone Anita loves most. The Mother of All Darkness has decided she has to act now or never, to control Anita, and all the vampires in America.  



 The Mother of All Darkness believes that the triumvirate created by master vampire Jean-Claude with Anita and the werewolf Richard Zeeman has enough power for her to regain a body and to immigrate to the New World. But the body she wants to possess is already taken. Anita is about to learn a whole new meaning to sharing her body, one that has nothing to do with the bedroom. And if the Mother of All Darkness can't succeed in taking over Anita's body for herself, she means to see that no one else has the use of it, ever again.  Even Belle Morte, not always a friend to Anita, has sent word:  "Run if you can..."


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"You can't trust anyone who sleeps with monsters."  That's what Anita Blake had always believed. But now she was sharing a bed with the Master Vampire of the city. So when an arsonist began to target vampire victims, the creatures of the night turned to their former enemy. For now only "The Executioner" could save them from the inferno...  The Anita Blake novels have become more than just a cult hit-- "The Killing Dance" was an instant national bestseller Like Anne Rice's Lestat, Anita Blake has a loyal following that eagerly awaits each new novel


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Doll restorer Gretchen Birch and the other Phoenix Dollers can hardly wait to open their doll museum. But when an out-of-town doll-maker meets her own maker, the Dollers’s dream-come-true will soon prove more of a nightmare.


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For Gretchen Birch, her mother Caroline, and her aunt Nina, doll collecting is a family affair. They may disagree on other things, but when it comes to dolls, they share a passion for the most exquisite (and expensive) creations in history. But they have never imagined that doll collecting could inspire foul play.


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New in the "wonderful" (Green Bay Press Gazette) Dolls to Die For mystery series. When doll restoration artist Gretchen Birch finds the owner of a dollhouse shop murdered, she winds up in the thick of a mystery of miniature proportions.


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While attending her first major doll show, Gretchen Birch, a doll restoration artist, is forced to investigate the murder of a sleazy reporter when the killer begins sending her boxes of Kewpie dolls with cryptic, threatening messages that contain the clues to cracking this case. Original.


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Beautiful, elusive, and refined, Etta Place captivated the nation at the turn of the last century as she dodged the law with the Wild Bunch, led by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Her true identity and fate have remained a mystery that has tantalized historians for decades. Now, for the first time, Gerald Kolpan envisions this remarkable woman's life in a stunning debut novel. Kolpan imagines that Etta Place was born Lorinda Jameson, the daughter of a prominent financier, who becomes known as the loveliest of the city's debutantes when she makes her entrance into Philadelphia society. Though her position in life is already assured, her true calling is on horseback. She can ride as well as any man and handle a rifle even better. But when a tragedy leads to a dramatic reversal of fortune, Lorinda is left orphaned, penniless, homeless, and pursued by the ruthless Black Hand mafia. Rechristened "Etta Place" to ensure her safety, the young woman travels to the farthest reaches of civilization, working as a "Harvey Girl" waitress in Grand Junction, Colorado. There, fate intervenes once more and she again finds herself on the run from the ruthless Pinkerton Detective Agency. But this time she has company. She soon finds herself at the legendary hideout at Hole-in-the-Wall, Wyoming, where she meets the charismatic Butch Cassidy and the handsome, troubled Harry Longbaugh, a.k.a. the Sundance Kid. Through a series of holdups and heists, Etta and Harry begin an epic and ultimately tragic romance, which will be the greatest of Etta's life. Then, when Etta meets the young and idealistic Eleanor Roosevelt, her life is changed forever. Blending a compelling love story, high adventure, and thrilling historical drama, Etta is an electrifying novel. With a sweeping 1900s setting, colorful storytelling, and larger-than-life characters, Etta is debut that is both captivating and unforgettable.


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Summer 1942. A small, windswept island in the Mediterranean has become the most bombed patch of earth on the planet, as a fiercely independent people withstand relentless siege. Max Chadwick is the British officer charged with manipulating the news on Malta to bolster the fragile esprit de corps. Then Max learns of the murder of a young island woman, along with evidence that it was committed by a British officer.


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On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester's Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener's hand is severed as "the dome" comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when -- or if -- it will go away.Dale Barbara, Iraq vet and now a short-order cook, finds himself teamed with a few intrepid citizens -- town newspaper owner Julia Shumway, a physician's assistant at the hospital, a select-woman, and three brave kids. Against them stands Big Jim Rennie, a politician who will stop at nothing -- even murder -- to hold the reins of power, and his son, who is keeping a horrible secret in a dark pantry. But their main adversary is the Dome itself. Because time isn't just short. It's running out.


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Wes Moore is a Rhodes Scholar and a combat veteran of Afghanistan. As a White House Fellow, he worked as a special assistant to Secretary Condoleezza Rice at the State Department. He was a featured speaker at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, was named one of Ebony magazine's Top 30 Leaders Under 30 (2007), and, most recently, was dubbed one of the top young business leaders in New York by Crain's New York Business." "He works in New York City. "From the Hardcover edition."


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The definitive story of one of the greatest dynasties in baseball history, Joe Torre's New York Yankees. When Joe Torre took over as manager of the Yankees in 1996, they had not won a World Series title in eighteen years. In that time seventeen others had tried to take the helm of America’s most famous baseball team. Each one was fired by George Steinbrenner. After twelve triumphant seasons—with twelve straight playoff appearances, six pennants, and four World Series titles—Torre left the Yankees as the most beloved manager in baseball. But dealing with players like Jason Giambi, A-Rod, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Roger Clemens, and Randy Johnson is what managing is all about. Here, for the first time, Joe Torre and Tom Verducci take readers inside the dugout, the clubhouse, and the front office, showing what it took to keep the Yankees on top of the baseball world.


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Annie and Eve are life-long best friends who have absolutely nothing in common-except a lack of skill in the kitchen. So when they sign up for a cooking class at the local gourmet shop, they figure the only things at risk are a few innocent fruits and vegetables. But on the first night, Annie and Eve see their fellow student Beyla arguing with a man-a man who later turns up dead in the parking lot. Now the friends feel bound to uncover whatever secrets she's hiding, before someone else's goose-perhaps one of their own-gets cooked.


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Cooking class is back in session for best friends-and sometime sleuths-Annie and Eve. But this time, Annie finds herself on the teacher's side of the cutting board, helping out during a bar food cooking class at D.C.'s latest hotspot, Bellywasher's. And her best friend, Eve, is in more hot water than ever-as the prime suspect in a student's murder.


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When Annie leaves the safety of her old bank job to become the full-time manager of her boyfriend's restaurant, what's meant to be the first day of the rest of her life might be the last day of someone else's.


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Annie Capshaw has found that the way to a man's heart is through his cooking class. But just as she and her best friend, Eve, are planning Annie's big day with Jim, her former cooking instructor turned boss, murder takes the cake. Make that the wedding cake...


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Annie, Eve, and their former cooking teacher are in the trenches, trying to keep a new restaurant, Bellywasher's, from going belly up. Everything's simmering along just fine until Annie and Eve find their friend Sarah, staffer to a powerful congressman, lying dead in her tub. The cops want to write it off as a suicide, but the facts just don't add up. Then, after a series of suspicious "accidents," Annie and Eve realize that this kitchen fire isn't about to put itself out.


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EDITORIAL REVIEW:

** The National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author of *The Reformation* returns with the definitive history of Christianity for our time ** 



 Once in a generation a historian will redefine his field, producing a book that demands to be read-a product of electrifying scholarship conveyed with commanding skill. Diarmaid MacCulloch's *Christianity* is such a book. Breathtaking in ambition, it ranges back to the origins of the Hebrew Bible and covers the world, following the three main strands of the Christian faith. 



 *Christianity* will teach modern readers things that have been lost in time about how Jesus' message spread and how the New Testament was formed. We follow the Christian story to all corners of the globe, filling in often neglected accounts of conversions and confrontations in Africa and Asia. And we discover the roots of the faith that galvanized America, charting the rise of the evangelical movement from its origins in Germany and England. This book encompasses all of intellectual history-we meet monks and crusaders, heretics and saints, slave traders and abolitionists, and discover Christianity's essential role in driving the enlightenment and the age of exploration, and shaping the course of World War I and World War II. 



 We are living in a time of tremendous religious awareness, when both believers and non-believers are deeply engaged by questions of religion and tradition, seeking to understand the violence sometimes perpetrated in the name of God. The son of an Anglican clergyman, MacCulloch writes with deep feeling about faith. His last book, *The Reformation*, was chosen by dozens of publications as Best Book of the Year and won the National Book Critics Circle Award. This awe-inspiring follow-up is a landmark new history of the faith that continues to shape the world.


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Like most college students, Kevin was eager for a semester abroad-a nice long break from all the beerpong, frat parties, gender-neutral bathrooms, cold pizza and mind-numbing sameness of life at Brown University, one of the most liberal colleges in the country and home to both a sizable chapter of the Young Communists League and the annual orgiastic party called SexPowerGod. Four months in Barcelona perhaps? Paris? Athens? No, everyone goes to those places. So Kevin searched for the most foreign place he could imagine and ended up right in America's backyard. Liberty University is the late Rev. Jerry Falwell's fundamentalist Christian version of West Point, a training ground for his coalition of hardcore conservative Christians. Falwell described his mission for Liberty as “training Champions for Christ.” Liberty's 10,000 undergraduates learn everything-from Anthropology to Zoology-through a strict lens of Biblical literalism. They have majors in Evangelism and Worship Music, every professor is a born-again Christian (and was vetted for faith by Falwell himself), and their student code of conduct, called the Liberty Way, lays out a host of rules and regulations (i.e. no witchcraft allowed, period). Every spring break, they take a bus to Daytona Beach to convert the heathens. But Kevin did not go to poke fun at the students or the way of life there, far from it. He went there to try to get a better understanding of the people who are so similar and yet so different from him, to see if perhaps they have found a way to live that is more rewarding than his own. What begins as a journey to reveal what is actually going on at the nation's largest Christian fundamentalist school ends up revealing more about Kevin than he could have possibly imagined. SUMMARY: No drinking.No smoking.No cursing.No dancing.No R-rated movies.Kevin Roose wasn't used to rules like these. As a sophomore at Brown University, he spent his days drinking fair-trade coffee, singing in an a cappella group, and fitting right in with Brown's free-spirited, ultra-liberal student body. But when Roose leaves his Ivy League confines to spend a semester at Liberty University, a conservative Baptist school in Lynchburg, Virginia, obedience is no longer optional.Liberty is the late Reverend Jerry Falwell's "Bible Boot Camp" for young evangelicals, his training ground for the next generation of America's Religious Right. Liberty's ten thousand undergraduates take courses like Evangelism 101, hear from guest speakers like Sean Hannity and Karl Rove, and follow a forty-six-page code of conduct that regulates every aspect of their social lives. Hoping to connect with his evangelical peers, Roose decides to enroll at Liberty as a new transfer student, leaping across the God Divide and chronicling his adventures in this daring report from the front lines of America's culture war.His journey takes him from an evangelical hip-hop concert to choir practice at Falwell's legendary Thomas Road Baptist Church. He experiments with prayer, participates in a spring break mission trip to Daytona Beach (where he learns to preach the gospel to partying coeds), and pays a visit to Every Man's Battle, an on-campus support group for chronic masturbators. He meets pastors' kids, closet doubters, Christian rebels, and conducts what would be the last print interview of Rev. Falwell's life. Hilarious and heartwarming, respectful and thought-provoking, THE UNLIKELY DISCIPLE will inspire and entertain believers and nonbelievers alike.


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SUMMARY: From the bestselling author of The Know-It-All comes a fascinating and timely exploration of religion and the Bible.Raised in a secular family but increasingly interested in the relevance of faith in our modern world, A.J. Jacobs decides to dive in headfirst and attempt to obey the Bible as literally as possible for one full year. He vows to follow the Ten Commandments. To be fruitful and multiply. To love his neighbor. But also to obey the hundreds of less publicized rules: to avoid wearing clothes made of mixed fibers; to play a ten-string harp; to stone adulterers.The resulting spiritual journey is at once funny and profound, reverent and irreverent, personal and universal and will make you see history's most influential book with new eyes. Jacobs's quest transforms his life even more radically than the year spent reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica for The Know-It-All. His beard grows so unruly that he is regularly mistaken for a member of ZZ Top. He immerses himself in prayer, tends sheep in the Israeli desert, battles idolatry, and tells the absolute truth in all situations - much to his wife's chagrin.Throughout the book, Jacobs also embeds himself in a cross-section of communities that take the Bible literally. He tours a Kentucky-based creationist museum and sings hymns with Pennsylvania Amish. He dances with Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn and does Scripture study with Jehovah's Witnesses. He discovers ancient biblical wisdom of startling relevance. And he wrestles with seemingly archaic rules that baffle the twenty-first-century brain.Jacobs's extraordinary undertaking yields unexpected epiphanies and challenges. A book that will charm readers both secular and religious, The Year of Living Biblically is part Cliff Notes to the Bible, part memoir, and part look into worlds unimaginable. Thou shalt not be able to put it down.


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**An elegant, concise, and revealing portrait of the inimitable leader. ** 



 Paul Johnson's books are acknowledged as masterpieces of historical analysis. In *Churchill*, he offers a lively, succinct exploration of one of the most complex and fascinating personalities in history. Winston Churchill's hold on contemporary readers has never slackened, and this exploration of his life casts new light on one of history's most intriguing figures. Johnson illuminates the various phases of Churchill's career-from his adventures as a young cavalry officer in the service of the empire to his role as an elder statesman prophesying the advent of the Cold War-and shows how Churchill's immense adaptability and innate pugnacity made him a formidable leader for the better part of a century.


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Are you HUNGRY? The number-one New York Times bestselling phenomenon is BACK---with even more yum-a-licious guilt-free recipes. This time, the EASIEST ones on the planet!

Hungry Girl’s recipes aren't just delicious, they’re SUPER-SIMPLE, too. Hungry Girl 1-2-3 will help you make the world’s most delicious guilt-free appetizers, meals, snacks, desserts, etc., with practically no effort whatsoever! There are loads of crock-pot recipes, microwavable meals, HG’s famous “foil packs,” and more. Some are such a cinch, you won’t even have to turn on the oven or stove! Really.
With more than 200 recipes and two-ingredient “couples” to choose from, you’ll never be hungry again! Get ready to chew on:

Crazy Pineapple Salmon Teriyaki (347 calories)
Mom-Style Creamy Chicken ’n Veggies (307 calories)
Queen-of-the-Castle Sliders (254 calories)
Caramel Swirl Cream Puffs (121 calories)
Corndog Millionaire Muffins (160 calories)
Chili Cheese Dog Nachos (218 calories)
Turkey & Veggie Meatloaf Minis (142 calories)
Planet Hungrywood Sweet & Cap’n Crunchy Chicken (234 calories)
Shrimp & Grits . . . for Hungry Chicks! (380 calories)
Cannoli-Stuffed French Toast Nuggets (228 calories)


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A new-look printing of Agatha Christie's 'most absorbing mystery' to mark the 25th anniversary of her death.  Agatha Christie died on 12 January 1976, having become the best-selling novelist in history. Her autobiography, published in 1977 a year after her death, tells of her fascinating private life, from early childhood through two marriages and two World Wars, and her experiences both as a writer and on archaeological expeditions with her second husband, Max Mallowan. Not only does the book reveal the true genius of her legendary success, but the story is vividly told and as captivating as one of her novels.


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The author of two critically acclaimed novels, **The Russian Debutante’s Handbook** and **Absurdistan**, Gary Shteyngart has risen to the top of the fiction world. Now, in his hilarious and heartfelt new novel, he envisions a deliciously dark tale of America’s dysfunctional coming years—and the timeless and tender feelings that just might bring us back from the brink.In a very near future—oh, let’s say next Tuesday—a functionally illiterate America is about to collapse. But don’t that tell that to poor Lenny Abramov, the thirty-nine-year-old son of an angry Russian immigrant janitor, proud author of what may well be the world’s last diary, and less-proud owner of a bald spot shaped like the great state of Ohio. Despite his job at an outfit called Post-Human Services, which attempts to provide immortality for its super-rich clientele, death is clearly stalking this cholesterol-rich morsel of a man. And why shouldn’t it? Lenny’s from a different century—he totally loves books (or “printed, bound media artifacts,” as they’re now known), even though most of his peers find them smelly and annoying. But even more than books, Lenny loves Eunice Park, an impossibly cute and impossibly cruel twenty-four-year-old Korean American woman who just graduated from Elderbird College with a major in Images and a minor in Assertiveness.After meeting Lenny on an extended Roman holiday, blistering Eunice puts that Assertiveness minor to work, teaching our “ancient dork” effective new ways to brush his teeth and making him buy a cottony nonflammable wardrobe. But America proves less flame-resistant than Lenny’s new threads. The country is crushed by a credit crisis, riots break out in New York’s Central Park, the city’s streets are lined with National Guard tanks on every corner, the dollar is so over, and our patient Chinese creditors may just be ready to foreclose on the whole mess. Undeterred, Lenny vows to love both Eunice and his homeland. He’s going to convince his fickle new love that in a time without standards or stability, in a world where single people can determine a dating prospect’s “hotness” and “sustainability” with the click of a button, in a society where the privileged may live forever but the unfortunate will die all too soon, there is still value in being a real human being.Wildly funny, rich, and humane, **Super Sad True Love Story** is a knockout novel by a young master, a book in which falling in love just may redeem a planet falling apart.


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In the deft hands of Neil Gaiman, magic is no mere illusion . . . and anything is possible. In Smoke and Mirrors, Gaiman's imagination and supreme artistry transform a mundane world into a place of terrible wonders—where an old woman can purchase the Holy Grail at a thrift store, where assassins advertise their services in the Yellow Pages under "Pest Control," and where a frightened young boy must barter for his life with a mean-spirited troll living beneath a bridge by the railroad tracks. Explore a new reality, obscured by smoke and darkness yet brilliantly tangible, in this extraordinary collection of short works by a master prestidigitator. It will dazzle your senses, touch your heart, and haunt your dreams.


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ARTEMIS FOWLS CRIMINAL WAYS HAVE FINALLY GOT THE BETTER OF HIM . . . Young Artemis has frequently used high-tech fairy magic to mastermind the most devious criminal activity of the new century. Now, at a conference in Iceland, Artemis has gathered the fairies to present his latest idea to save the world from global warming. But Artemis is behaving strangely he seems different. Something terrible has happened to him . . . Artemis Fowl has become nice. The fairies diagnose Atlantis Complex thats obsessive compulsive disorder to you and me dabbling in magic has damaged his mind. Fairy ally Captain Holly Short doesnt know what to do. Because the subterranean volcanoes are under attack from vicious robots and Artemis cannot fight them. Can Holly get the real Artemis back ---before the robot probes destroy every human and life form.


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"At the age of twelve my ambition was to become a gangster. To be a wiseguy. Being a wiseguy was better than being President of the United States. To be a wiseguy was to own the world." -- Henry Hill 

 *Wiseguy* is Nicholas Pileggi's remarkable bestseller, the most intimate account ever printed of life inside the deadly high-stakes world of what some people call the Mafia. *Wiseguy* is Henry Hill's story, in fascinating, brutal detail, the never-before-revealed day-to-day life of a working mobster -- his violence, his wild spending sprees, his wife, his mistresses, his code of honor. 

 Henry Hill knows where a lot of bodies are buried, and he turned Federal witness to save his own life. The mob is still hunting him for what he reveals in *Wiseguy*: hundreds of crimes including arson, extortion, hijacking, and the $6 million Lufthansa heist, the biggest successful cash robbery in U.S. history, which led to ten murders. A firsthand account of the secret world of the mob, 

 *Wiseguy* is more compelling than any novel.


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In today's multilingual, multicultural society, the need for interpreters has never been greater.  This book introduces students, researchers and practitioners to the fast-developing discipline of Interpreting Studies.    

Written by a leading researcher in the field, Introducing  Interpreting Studies  guides the reader through international conference, court and hospital interpreting, in both signed and spoken modalities.  The book begins by exploring the ways in which the field evolved, looking at historical developments, concepts, influential models and methodological approaches.  It then moves on to consider the main areas of research in the field, before reviewing the major trends of Interpreting Studies, reflecting on how the subject will develop in the future and offering direction to those undertaking research of their own.    

Featuring chapter summaries, guides to the main points covered in the book and suggestions for further reading, this practical and user-friendly textbook is the definitive map of this important and growing field.  The book can be used on its own, or to accompany The Interpreting Studies Reader (Routledge, 2002).


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Stunning reissues of Raymond Feist & Janny Wurts classic trilogy -- one of the most successful fantasy collaborations of all time.  THE EMPIRE SERIES: BOOK I  Enter the mysterious world of Kelewan, where Mara of the Acoma must protect her honour and her people in the ruthless Game of the Council. From the imagination of two of fantasy's greatest names comes a magnificent epic of heroic adventure and dynastic struggle.


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In this thrilling sequel to Daughter of the Empire, Lady Mara faces a vengeful blood enemy who doesn't know Mara has a strategic secret weapon--a rakish Midkemian slave whose real identity will change the rimworld forever. "A tale of love, hate, and sacrifice against the panorama of an alien yet familiar society."--Publishers Weekly. HC: Doubleday.


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The world on the other side of the rift: Kelewan, a land seething with political intrigue and deadly conspiracies. Following the opulent panoply of Daughter Of The Empire and the dazzling pageantry of Servant Of The Empire comes the resounding conclusion to the Empire trilogy.Besieged by spies and rival houses, stalked by a secret and merciless brotherhood of assassins, the brilliant Lady Mara of the Acoma faces the most deadly challenge she has ever known. The fearsome Black Robes see Mara as the ultimate threat to their ancient power. In search of allies who will join her against them, Mara must travel beyond civilization's borders and even into the hives of the alien cho-ja. As those near and dear to her fall victim to many enemies, Mara cries out for vengeance. Drawing on all of her courage and guile she prepares to fight her greatest battle of all--for her life, her home, and the Empire itself.


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The celebrated *New York Times* bestselling master of fantasy returns with the thrilling conclusion to his enthralling, explosive Darkwar Saga . . .  

 *Wrath of a Mad God* Book three of The Darkwar Saga  

 *"At this very moment, a dome of black energy is being expanded in a vale in the far north. This is not merely an invasion, but the beginning of a colonization, a process that will end with the complete annihilation of every life-form on this world."*   

 The Darkwar rages upon Midkemia and Kelewan, bringing bleak days of destruction and despair. To save the future of both worlds, the powerful sorcerer Pug and select members of the secretive Conclave of Shadows must journey deep into the dangerous realm of the bloodthirsty Dasati, there to carry out an audacious mission that has little, if any, chance of succeeding.  

 In Midkemia, young warriors Tad and Zane, and their fellow soldiers, protect the Kingdom from raiders. And Pug's beloved wife, Miranda, finds herself a prisoner of the Dasati and, even more ominously, of Pug's nemesis, the evil sorcerer Leso Varen.  

 Salvation may come from a friend thought long dead, an unlikely ally whose remarkable powers will be sorely needed in the momentous battle to come . . . a final, fevered onslaught against the most malevolent agents of evil ever known.


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The last remnants of an ancient advanced race, the Clan of the Seven Stars, are returning at long last to their lost homeworld, Midkemia—not as friends, but as would-be conquerors. Led by the conjurer Laromendis, they are fleeing the relentless demon hordes that are sweeping through their galaxy and destroying the elves' vast empire planet by planet. Only by escaping to Midkemia and brutally overtaking the war-weary world can the last remnants of a mighty civilization hope to survive . . . if the Dread Legion does not pursue them through the rift.  

The magician Pug, Midkemia's brave and constant defender, is all too familiar with the Demon King Maarg and his minions and their foul capacity for savagery and horror, and he recognizes the even graver threat that is following on the heels of the elven invasion. The onslaught to come will dwarf every dire catastrophe his imperiled world has previously withstood, and there is no magical champion in all of Midkemia powerful enough to prevent it. Only one path remains for Pug and Midkemia's clandestine protectors, the Conclave of Shadows: forging an alliance of formidable magical talents, from the demon-dealing warlock Amirantha, brother of Pug's hated foe, and the demon-taming cleric Sandreena, to the elven Queen Miranda, to the warrior Tomas. However, uniting enemies and bitter, vengeful former lovers will be no easy task, and even together they may ultimately be unable to turn the death tide. But a failure to do so will most certainly ensure Midkemia's doom.


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Ten years after the terrible Darkwar finally ended, catastrophe once again threatens to engulf Midkemia and Kelewan, as the demon hordes continue their relentless quest to infiltrate this realm of magic and wonder. . . .  **

 *At the Gates of Darkness* Book Two of the Demonwar Saga   

 To protect their world from the savage demon hordes, the Black Sorcerer Pug and Midkemia's clandestine protectors, the Conclave of Shadows, forged an uneasy alliance of formidable magical talents. Together, this brave band of wizards, demon masters, warriors, and elves defeated the brutal Demon King Maarg and turned back the onrushing death tide.  

 But Maarg's fall has not stopped the demonic onslaught, and danger now looms greater than ever before. Amid the barren ridges of the Valley of Lost Men, in the shadows of an ancient Keshian fortress, the fearsome demon Dahun and the mad necromancer Belasco have joined forces, creating an unstoppable union of deathly black magics that even Pug and a united Conclave may not be strong enough to withstand.  

 Battling the Demon Legion has taken a heavy blood toll on the valiant and dedicated magician, claiming the lives of nearly all those he loves. Though he is racked by despair and rage, Pug knows that the time for mourning must wait. Putting aside his pain, he and the Conclave and their allies—the cold-blooded master spy Jim Dasher; the fearsome young Knight-Adamant Sandreena; her former lover the necromancer Amirantha; two renegade Star Elves; and Pug's surviving son, Magnus—must marshal their resources against this latest threat. None can forget the dozens of worlds overrun by the demon plague and the millions of dead left behind in their wake. At the gates of darkness, where shadows hide even deeper shadows, these magical defenders will face what is sure to be the bloodiest, nastiest fight their land has ever seen. And as evil, mayhem, and dark magic are unleashed, none can predict if they—and Midkemia itself—will survive.


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This Author’s Preferred Edition of Raymond E. Feist’s bestselling coming-of-age saga celebrates the fifteenth anniversary of its publication. Feist introduces a new generation of readers to his riveting novel of adventure and intrigue, revised and updated as he always meant it to be written. It is a work that explores strength and weakness, hope and fear, and what it means to be a man—in a kingdom where peace is the most precious commodity of all.If there were two more impetuous and carefree men in the Kingdom of the Isles, they had yet to be found. Twins Borric and Erland wore that mantle proudly, much to the chagrin of their father, Prince Arutha of Krondor. But their blissful youth has come to an end. Their uncle, the King, has produced no male children. Bypassing himself, Arutha names Borric, the eldest twin by seconds, the Royal Heir. As his brother, Erland will have his own great responsibilities to shoulder. To drive home their future roles, Arutha sends them as ambassadors to Kesh, the most feared nation in the world. Borric and Erland will be presented to the Queen of Kesh—the single most powerful ruler in the known world—at her Seventy-fifth Jubilee Anniversary. But they have not even left Krondor when an assassination attempt on Borric is thwarted. Aware that he is being provoked into war, Arutha does not rise to the bait. His sons’ journey will not be deterred, for nothing less than peace is riding on it. Yet there is to be no peace for the young princes. When their traveling party is ambushed, Borric disappears and is presumed dead—sending Erland into spirals of rage and grief as he is forced to navigate alone the court intrigues at Kesh. But unbeknownst to anyone, Borric lives and has escaped his captors. In a strange land, with a price on his head, Borric must use all his wits and stamina to find his way back to his brother. On separate paths, the two men—one a fugitive and one a future king—make their journey toward maturity, honor, and duty. For every step they take could sway the fragile peace of the land, as those who crave war rally against them—and become ever more daring.From the Hardcover edition.


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Set ten years after the events in "Prince of the Blood", this book is a remarkable adventure of mystery and magic.  In Amos Trask's ship, Prince Nicholas and Squire Harry set sail for a friendly visit to Uncle Martin in Crydee. But while the two are guests in Crydee, disaster strikes.  Nicholas, third son of Prince Arutha, is a gifted youngster, but sheltered by life at his father's court in Krondor. To learn more of the world outside the palace walls, Nicholas and his squire, Harry, set sail for pastoral Crydee, where Arutha grew up.  Shortly after their arrival, Crydee is brutally attacked. The castle is reduced to ruins, the townspeople slaughtered and two young noblewomen -- friends of Nicholas -- are abducted. As Nicholas ventures further from the familiar landmarks of his home in pursuit of the invaders, he learns that there is more at stake than the fate of his friends, more even than fate of the Kingdom of the Isles, for behind the murderous pirates stands a force that threatens the entire world of Midkemia, and only he is destined to confront this terrifying threat.


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The first of a major new Feist acquisition, returning to his best-loved series. Written with Bill Forstchen, acclaimed writer of great military fantasy novels in the US.  FREEDOM AT ANY PRICE?  Hartraft's Marauders, a crack band of Kingdom raiders, are a special unit designed to infiltrate and fight behind enemy lines. They are currently heading for a frontier garrison, after a disastrous encounter with the Tsurani.  Meanwhile, a Tsurani patrol is sent to support an assault on the same garrison. Both sides arrive at the same time and discover the garrison has been overrun by a migrating horde of moredhel (dark elves) and they are forced by circumstances to band together and fight as one unit to survive.  The only problem is, who do they hate the most -- their mutual enemy, or each other? As they make their way across the unknown Northlands to freedom, they have to struggle not only with the elements and their enemies, but also their conscience. For what is more important -- one's life or one's honour?


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In Midkemia, there are no easy roads . . .   For twenty years the mercenaries Durine, Kethol, and Pirojil have fought other people's battles. Having already defeated the Tsurani, the Bugs, and the goblins, it seems there are no more enemies for them to vanquish—even as the Riftwar rages on in the west. What lies ahead for the able trio are a few welcomed months of restful garrison duty.   When ordered to accompany the promiscuous Lady Mondegreen, her aging husband, and her current lover to a summit in the city of LaMut, the Three Swords willingly comply, expecting an uncomplicated and undemanding assignment. But nothing is straightforward in this land of violence and treachery. And when the fury of a winter's storm traps them inside a castle teeming with ambitious, plotting lords and ladies, the mercenaries suddenly find themselves with a series of cold-blooded murders to solve . . . and the political future of Midkemia resting in their hands.


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The third novel of Feist's successful collaborative series.  From the endlessly inventive mind of one of fantasy's all time greats, comes a spellbinding new adventure of high magic, treachery and bloody war.  This time in conjunction with master of alternative US history, Steve Stirling, Feist returns to tell the full tale of one of his fans' favourite most colourful Riftwar characters, pickpocket, montebank and confidence trickster Jimmy the Hand.  Jimmy the Hand, boy thief of Krondor, lived in the shadows of the city. The sewers were his byways and a flea-ridden, rat infested cellar his home. Gifted beyond his peers, he was still but a nimble street urchin, a pickpocket with potential. Until the day he met Prince Arutha.  Aiding the Prince in his rescue of Princess Anita from imprisonment by Duke Guy du Bas-Tyra, Jimmy ran afoul of Black Guy's secret police. Fearing reprisal and seeking an opportunity to advance his place in life, Jimmy fled the city and ventured north to the relatively safe haven of Sarth. Suspecting the rural villagers had never encountered a lad with his talent and nose for finding wealth -- other people's wealth, Jimmy was unprepared for what greeted him.  For Sarth was home to others who trod the dodgy path, and more, to a darker secret, a dangerous presence unknown to even the local thieves and smugglers. Jimmy's youthful bravado and courage plunge him deep into the maw of chaos and death.


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He held the fate of two worlds in his hands... Once he was an orphan called Pug, apprenticed to a sorcerer of the enchanted land of Midkemia...

Then he was captured and enslaved by the Tsurani, a strange, warlike race of invaders from another world.There, in the exotic Empire of Kelewan, he earned a new name--Milamber. He learned to tame the unnimagined powers that lay withing him. And he took his place in an ancient struggle against an evil Enemy older than time itself.From the Paperback edition.


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This is the second volume of Raymond E. Feist's great epic of heroic fantasy. For nearly a year peace reigned the enchanted kingdom of Rillanon. But new challenges awaited Arutha the Prince of Krondor when Jimmy The Hand - youngest thief in the Guild of Mockers - came upon a sinister Nighthawk poised to assassinate him. What evil power raises the dead and makes corpses do battle with the living at the behest of the Guild of Death? And what high magic can defeat it? The new King of Midkemia is threatened - and a life-or-death quest must be undertaken for an antidote to a poison that fells a beautiful Princess on her wedding day! "The best new fantasy concept in years! Has a chance of putting its author firmly on the throne next to Tolkein - and keeping him there" - "Dragon". "Epic scope! vivid imagination!a significant contribution to the growth of the field of fantasy" - "Washington Post".


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The second book in Raymond Feist's super-selling quartet: The Serpentwar Saga.  Triumphant but overconfident after his defeat of the reptilian Sauur army, Roo must resist a beguiling seductress who threatens to undo him and all of Midkemia.  Roo Avery, recently returned from a harrowing brush with the armies of the Emerald Queen, is now free to choose his own destiny and his ultimate ambition is to become one of the richest and most powerful merchants in Midkemia. But nothing can prepare him for the dangers of the new life he has chosen, where the repayment of a debt can be as deadly as a knife in the shadows. Even those closest to him are suspect and as Roo struggles to build his financial empire, betrayal is always close at hand. But while Roo works towards achieving his goal, memories of the invasion haunt him still. For the war with the Emerald Queen is far from over and the inevitable confrontation will pose the biggest threat yet to his new found wealth and power.


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A loyal soldier and a wealthy merchant have served bravely in the flames of an enduring war that is ravaging their land. But swords, bows, wits and courage will no longer be enough to defeat the scourge that is descending upon their home. For a foul and terrible thing has escaped from a world already devoured to feed on one consumed by chaos—an insatiable nightmare creature of dark and murderous nature which seeks to own and corrupt the very source of life itselfThe final conflict is joined, pitting serpent against man and magician against demon. For those who battle in the cause of good, there will be victory . . . or there will be doom for all.There can be no other outcome.


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Years have passed since the end of the War of the Lance. The people of Ansalon have rebuilt their lives, their houses, their families. The Companions of the Lance, too, have returned to their homes, raising children and putting the days of their heroic deeds behind them.But peace on Krynn comes at a price. The forces of darkness are ever vigilant, searching for ways to erode the balance of power and take control. When subtle changes begin to permeate the fragile peace, new lives are drawn into the web of fate woven around all the races. The time has come to pass the sword -- or the staff -- to the children of the Lance.They are the Second Generation.An all-new repackaged paperback edition of a classic **Dragonlance **novel.This book of five novellas bridges the gap between the Chronicles and Legends trilogies and *Dragons of Summer Flame*. While detailing their adventures, *The Second Generation* also sets up key events and characters in future **Dragonlance **novels.


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Bestselling author Bruce Feiler was a young father when he was diagnosed with cancer. He instantly worried what his daughters' lives would be like without him. "Would they wonder who I was? Would they wonder what I thought? Would they yearn for my approval, my love, my voice?"       

  Three days later he came up with a stirring idea of how he might give them that voice. He would reach out to six men from all the passages in his life, and ask them to be present in the passages in his daughters' lives. And he would call this group "The Council of Dads."       

  "I believe my daughters will have plenty of opportunities in their lives," he wrote to these men. "They'll have loving families. They'll have each other. But they may not have me. They may not have their dad. Will you help be their dad?"       

  *The Council of Dads* is the inspiring story of what happened next. Feiler introduces the men in his Council and captures the life lesson he wants each to convey to his daughters--how to see, how to travel, how to question, how to dream. He mixes these with an intimate, highly personal chronicle of his experience battling cancer while raising young children, along with vivid portraits of his father, his two grandfathers, and various father figures in his life that explore the changing role of fathers in America.        

  This is the work of a master storyteller confronting the most difficult experience of his life and emerging with wisdom and hope. *The Council of Dads* is a touching, funny, and ultimately deeply moving book on how to live life, how the human spirit can respond to adversity, and how to deepen and cherish the friendships that enrich our lives.


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Dragons of Winter Night re turns listeners to the mystical world of Krynn, where the memorable band of characters from Dragons of Autumn Twilight continue their fantastical adventures.

The land has grown even more dangerous, and now the heroes -- Tanis Half-Elven, Sturm Brightblade, Raistlin and Caramon Majere, Flint Fireforge and Tasselhoff Burrfoot -- have been separated. And Raistlin, his strange, hourglass eyes gleaming, has warned, "Farewell, my friends...And a long farewell it will be. Some of us are not destined to meet again in this world." This ominous prediction, along with sinister dreams, will haunt this group of long-time friends as they search for the mysterious dragon orbe and the legendary dragonlance with the hope of stopping the advance of the Dark Queen!

Here, is a compelling fantasy tale in which the true value of love and friendship is measured against the backdrop of a catastrophic war between good and evil.


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Dragons of Spring Dawning, the concluding episode in the ever-popular Chronicles Trilogy, once again takes listeners on a fantastical journey to Krynn, where friendships are made and lost and destinies finally realized.

Armed at last with the powerful dragonlances, the Companions of the Lance lead their people in a final desperate battle against the destructive dragons. Knight and barbarian, warrior and half-eft, dwarf and kender and dark-souled mage -- none has reckoned how high the price of victory -- or even defeat -- might be. One by one, they must each overcome personal doubts and conflicts -- their only hope if they are to stop the return of the five-headed dragon goddess, Takhisis. Listen and discover how truth and virtue at last triumph over the deadly darkness of an all-consuming evil in this dramatic conclusion to one of fantasy's most legendary tales.


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Sequestered in the blackness of the dreaded Tower of High Sorcery in Palanthas, surrounded by nameless creatures of evil, Raistlin Majere weaves a plan to conquer the darkness--to bring it under his control.Crysania, a beautiful and devoted cleric of Paladine, tries to use her faith to lead Raistlin from the darkness. She is blind to his shadowed designs, and he draws her slowly into his neatly woven trap.Made aware of Raistlin’s plan, a distraught Caramon travels back in time to the doomed city of Istar in the days before the Cataclysm. There, together with the ever-present kender Tasslehoff, Caramon will make his stand to save Raistlin’s soul.Or so he believes.


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One hundred years have passed since the fiery Cataclysm that changed the face of Krynn forever. For one hundred years, the people of Krynn have struggled to survive. But for some, those one hundred years have passed in the blink of an eye.Catapulted forward in time by Raistlin’s powerful magic, Caramon and Crysania find themselves aiding the mage’s unholy quest to master the Queen of Darkness. To his dismay, Raistlin discovers along the way that the annals of Time are not so easily bent to his will. Neither are the longings of his heart.


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The last title in the second Dragonlance novel trilogy, now available for the first time in hardcover.The third and last title in the second Dragonlance novel trilogy will be released for the first time ever in a trade hardcover edition. Featuring the stunning art and design that graced the cover of the paperback edition, the new version of this series is a follow-up to the release of the Dragonlance novels Chronicles trilogy in hardcover in 2003. It also continues the planned release of all core Weis &amp; Hickman titles in trade hardcover, allowing fans and collectors alike the chance to obtain the entire set.


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Surprise Golem has just lost her brand-new baby. The Stork assigned to deliver her eagerly awaited Bundle of Joy has inexplicably refused to surrender it, flying off instead through a hole in the fabric of reality.  Now, to track down her offspring, Surprise must lead an ill-assorted assemblage of confederates on a desperate quest through dozens of different Xanths. But sinister, unseen forces are determined to stop her. And in order to find her child, Surprise may have to lose her heart. Startling, stimulating, stirring, and surprising, Stork Naked is a rollicking and revealing new fantasy adventure lusciously laced with dozens of dangers and delights, lovingly fashioned with all of Piers Anthony’s celebrated storytelling skills.


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When the Good Magician Humfrey's son Hugo suddenly vanishes, his disappearance sets in motion a series of madcap misadventures that send a collection of colorful characters on a perilous pair of parallel quests. Among them are Debra, a pretty young girl beset by an obnoxious curse; Hugo's beloved wife Wira, whose sightlessness is balanced by a talent for sensitivity, Happy and Fray, a pair of sprightly storm-spirits; Nimbus, the Demon Xanth's own son; and the mysterious outlaw known as the Random Factor.As they travel through some of the magical realm's most astonishing locales, these unwitting adventurers discover they are key players in a grand drama whose origins reach back to the origins of time itself. Filled with exhilaration and excitement, ribaldry and romance, "Air Apparent "is a fabulous new fantasy saga from the lively imagination of master storyteller Piers Anthony.


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The future of Xanth is in frightful peril. A powerful magical bird named Ragna Roc has embarked on a campaign to become absolute ruler of that mystical realm. Those who swear loyalty to him are spared. The rest have simply disappeared.So powerful are Ragna’s sorceries that even the Good Magician Humfrey dares not confront him directly. Instead he enlists Cyrus the Cyborg, a handsome half-human playwright with little knowledge of the world, in a stealthy subterfuge. Cyrus must assemble a troupe of traveling players to attract Ragna’s interest. And hidden in disguise among the bevy of beautiful young actresses are the young princesses, Melody, Harmony, and Rhythm, whose magics might just be a match for the evil bird.But Ragna has planted a spy in the midst of the troupe, one who knows their deepest secrets, including the true nature of Cyrus’s forbidden love for one of the young princesses. Only a mysterious child called Kadence, and a cryptic clue — “Two to the Fifth" — may give the companions the edge they need to defeat Ragna’s dictatorial dreams.Brimming with passion and merriment, drama and deception, Piers Anthony’s thirty-second Xanth fantasy is a pun-packed performance sure to provoke applause and ovations from the series’ myriad fans.


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EDITORIAL REVIEW:

In the thirty-third thrilling escapade in Piers Anthony’s rousing Xanth fantasy series, an adventurous arachnid named Jumper must assume human form to save the enchanted realm from a cosmic peril.

A cataclysmic battle between two all-powerful Demons has severed a mystical connection that joins Xanth to our own world. The key to restoring it is hidden within a cryptic prophecy that Jumper discovers when he is suddenly transformed from spider to man. As he sets out to discern the prophecy's meaning, he gathers about him a half dozen alluring damsels who do their best to help him solve the riddle while vying for his attentions. 

But a seductive siren and her demonic consort have determined to use their wiles to lure Jumper and his lovely companions away from their urgent mission.  In a madcap adventure that is alternately harrowing and hilarious, they soon discover that danger, deception, and even true love may be found where they least expect it.

In *Jumper Cable*, master storyteller Piers Anthony spins a wild and witty web of wonder that is sure to captivate fans of fantastic adventure everywhere!


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EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Though already developing a successful career in SF with such heady   novels  as *Chthon* and *Omnivore*, Piers Anthony did not reach  brand-name status until he cooked up some fantasy in 1977. And it was  cheerful, humorous fantasy at that, as in his first   Xanth series  novel, *A Spell for Chameleon*. The book's young hero, Bink, is  without magical powers in a world ruled entirely by magic. Worse still, if  he doesn't discover his own magical talent soon, he will be forever  banished from his homeland. Naturally, it takes an epic quest for Bink to  learn what his unique talent truly is--and perhaps to win the girl of his  dreams as well. *A Spell for Chameleon* was the very first of  Anthony's bestselling (and still ongoing) humorous fantasy series.  Noteworthy for their outrageous word puns and bizarre characters, the Xanth  books are a light yet often satisfying brew, especially when compared with  the author's sometimes nihilistic and ultraviolent hard SF. *--Stanley  Wiater*


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Ordered by King Trent to determine the source of Xanth's magic, Bink and his companions were harried by an unseen enemy determined to thwart them. When even their protector turned against them, Blink still managed to reach his goal and carry out the King's orders...but the king did not expect Blink's next act--to destroy utterly the magic of Xanth!


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Millie, a ghost for 800 years wants only one man--Jonathan, and he's a zombie. To prove himself, Magician Dor volunteers to get the potion that can restore Jonathan to full life. But he has to go back through time to do it, to a peril-haunted, ancient Xanth, where danger lurks at every turn....


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Dor agreed to act as King of Xanth so long as Trent was gone for a week. But the weeks passed and Trent did not return. Dor knew he had to rescue his king but with no magic powers, how could it be done...?


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Smash, himself, was part ogre. Although ogres were considered so stupid they coud hardly speak, and spent their time eating young girls, seven assorted females had suddenly turned to him for guidance and saftety? In Xanth, one visit to the Good Magician Humfrey worked wonders....


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Although the Nextwave of barbarian warriors was invading Xanth, Mare Imbrium discovered that ever since she had gained the half soul, the night mare had begun to mishandle her job of delivering bad dreams. Exiled to the day world with a message for King Trent, Mare met the relentless, unforgiving Horseman. For the night mare, it began to be all a horrible nightmare!


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There is trouble in Xanth again. The Gap Dragon had escaped and was ravaging across the land, the forget-spell was causing mass amnesia, three-year old Ivy was headed right for a hungry dragon. Could things get any worse? Probably.... From the Paperback edition.


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Jordan was a ghost in Castle Roogna now. Although once he had been themost valorus of knights--that is, until he was betrayed by two wily magicians and the woman he loves. Now, if he only can remember how he was killed, he'll be able to reassemble his body. And he is getting impatient....


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Grundy Golem got no respect. So, to prove himself, he volunteered for a quest to find the long-lost dragon, Stanley Steamer. On the way, he somehow manages to free a damsel in distress-- but not without incurring the wrath of the Sea Hag in the process. And when it comes to avenging herself on Grundy, the Sea Hag will never give up....From the Paperback edition.


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When Esk, a young ogre-nymph-human, began his pilgrimage to the Good Magician Humfrey to rid himself of a seductive demoness, little did he know it would become a mission of mercy. A running river paradise and its harmless inhabitants were perishing in the wrathful wake of a greedy demon horde. Now it is up to Esk and his companions--a beautiful winged centaur named Chex and a brave burrower Called Volney--to search Xanth's treacherous reaches, gathering together a mind-boggling company of creatures to defend the precious Vale of the Vole.


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In the mind of Xanth's precious shapeshifting Prince Dolph, the perfect was to see the world is to search for the missing sorcerer, Humfrey. Setting off with his faithfuls companion, Marrow, an enchanted skeleton, Dolph will penetrate an island of illusion, escape a goblin kingdom, outwit a husband-hungry mermaid, save marrow from bone-starved harpies, and find romance with a slinky snake princess--all on his way to discovering a magic coin with all the answers!


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For a bored, young princess of Xanth, there's nothing more exciting than a Quest. Especially when all you do is sit around Castle Roogna. But when Ivy uses the Heaven Cent, it takes her not to the top of Mount Rushmost, where the winged monsters gather, not to the sea where the merfolk swim--but to Mundania, a world much like out own (that is, boring). It is here that she meets a young college student so dull that he doesn't even believe in magic, or princesses, or Xanth!Does he have a lot to learn.The thrilling climax to the trilogy started in Vale of the Vole and continued in Heaven Cent.


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LovelornLoveworn Love LostPerplexed Prince Dolph, Xanth's precocious shapeshifter, should be in love but isn't. Nonetheless, he must chose between two fiancées -- Nada the uninterested and Electra the uninteresting -- or all three of them will suffer the most dire consequences. Luckily a convenient catastrophe has popped up to distract Dolph form his dilemma -- the foal-napping of young Che Centaur by goblins. And the only one who knows where Che is is a nice but remarkably naive elflike gir named Jenny from the World of Two Moons. If anyone can save the missing centaur...she sure can't.


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Youth is Wasted on the Young  Being grown up is a drag . . . or so thinks Lacuna, one of the michievous Castle Zombie twins. So she makes the Good Magician Grey an an offer he can't refuse. Thirsty for a taste of the Elixir of Youth, she'll help him outwit the evil Com-Pewter if he'll send her to Hell (in a handbasket, no less) to find Humphrey, the missing sorcerer. And while there, she'll learn the True History of Xanth (simplified) and help rescue a blushing Rose from the demon X(A/N) . . . with the help of a gorgon or two.


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In the fifteenth novel of his Xanth series, Piers Anthony has captured again the fantasy world loved by generations of devoted readers. Brand-new excitement and humor from the author of Question Quest, The Color of Her Panties explodes with phantasmagorical, pun-filled adventure. In the struggle for the Goblin crown, Gwenny Goblin is forced to compete with her awful half brother Gobble in a battle of the wits. To prove herself worthy, Gwenny, with her secret contact lenses, enlists the aid of Che Centaur and Jenny Elf to help her perform the tasks that will win her the chieftainship of the Goblin horde, including bringing back the fabulous egg that sits between the Roc and the hard place. But the most precious secret lies in Mela Merwoman's undergarments; in particular, their color. But Mela, Ida Human, and Okra Ogress, using Magician Humphrey's confusing advice, are stuck in a wild-goose chase around Xanth, meeting up with the likes of dragons and the Simurg, and eventually joining the Adult Conspiracy. Meanwhile, Gwenny is still on her quest for the answer to the all-important question: What color are the Merwoman's panties? With outrageous wit and fantastic escapades, The Color of Her Panties will thrill the fans who have entered before into this fabulous adventure of space and thyme, as well as new discoverers of the world of Xanth.


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Two young adventurers are drawn into theworld of Xanth through a computer game and find themselves in adesperate race against time when treachery, danger, and deceit placeXanth itself in peril, as they learn that some things are moreimportant than winning.


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Gloha is the only creature of her kind in all the world of Xanth, the beautiful offspring of a chance mating between a harpy and a goblin. As she grew to womanhood, she wondered where where she would find the one true love with whom she could share her life.So, naturally, she sets off to find the Good Magician Humfrey to ask him for an Answer to the riddle of her heart's desire. But hUmfrey, for mysterious reason of his own, propels her instead on a perilous quest in search of truth, friendship, and, just possibly, happiness.


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Since Xanth began, the gargoyles of that magical place have been under a magical compulsion to protect the purity of the Swan Knee River which flows in to Xanth from dreary Mundania. But recently the pollution from the outside world has grown ever greater, and young Gary Gar, latest in a long line of gargoyle guardians, is finding it ever more difficult to fulfill his responsibilities.So Gary does what any sensible Xanth resident with a dire dilemma would do. He goes to see the Good Magician Humfrey, who sends him on a peculiar quest--to transform himself into human shape, tutor a precocious child with more than her share of wild magical talents, and find a philter which can restore the river to its previous pristine state.


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Seeking a solution to a perplexing personal problem, the delectable Demoness Metria asks for help from the wise Magician Humfrey. But before he will help her, she must perform a perilous mission: Rove the length and breadth of Xanth in search of a suitable jury for the trial of Roxanne Roc-a notably noble and virtuous bird charged with a most improbable offense.Exciting, exhilarating, and brimming with hilarious high jinks, Roc and a Hard Place is Xanth at its most enchanting.


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EDITORIAL REVIEW:

**An All-New Xanth Adventure****First Paperback Edition!**A fickle flux in the fabric of space has allowed a horrendous hurricane to blast into Xanth, stirring up mischief and madness wherever she goes. Trapped in a preposterous form by a cosmic wager, the Demon  X(A/N)th  must join forces with a vexatious vixen named Chlorine to save Xanth from this terrifying and tempestuous threat.Their companions on this haphazard quest are a hapless human family - Jim and Karen Baldwin and their two teenaged sons, David and Sean -  gusted into Xanth from the mundane world beyond.  Together they encounters a host of turbulent misadventures as they struggle to keep Xanth from being blown off the map forever.A brisk and breezy adventure in the grand Xanth tradition,* Yon Ill Wind* is sure to bring gales of laughter and excitement to Piers Anthony's legion of loyal readers.


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Piers Anthony's most exceptional Xanth adventure ever reveals wnodrous new worlds of mirth and magic!The miraculous and mirth-filled land of Xanth holds many marvels. But now an extraordinary new aspect of this remarkable realm unfolds as young Forrest Faun's quest takes him to a tiny planet hidden in the heart of Xanth. There, with a delightful "day mare" as his constant companion, Forrest will find more marvels then he ever dreamed of.Packed with magic, mystery, and mirth, Faun &amp; Games is the freshest and most exciting Xanth adventure in a month of Pundays!


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EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Piers Anthony's tales of the magical land of Xanth are among the most popular fantasies ever written, with more than 20 titles on The New York Times bestseller list and millions of devoted fans around the world.Zombie Lover, Anthony's newest Xanth adventure, is the thrilling tale of Brianna, a beautiful, brassy young black girl with a distressing dilemma. She has unwittingly attracted the affections of King Xeth, ruler of Xanth's Zombies, who yearns to make her Queen of the Undead!Her quest to preserve her innocence; and escape a fate that is literally worse than death; leads from the regions of Madness to the evanescent Isle of Women, which is ruled by voracious vamps, and on to Xanth's myriad worlds of maybe orbiting Queen Ida's head. And it brings the return of many familiar Xanth characters, including King Dor, Prince Dolph, Bink and Chameleon, and Justin Tree, who becomes her spirit guide on this oddest of odysseys.Packed with perils, puzzles and piles of puns, Zombie Lover provides much macabre merriment for Xanth's many fans.


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New York Times bestselling author of Zombie Lover A wild and wonderful new magical adventure that leads from Xanth to Earth - and back again! A cataclysmic cloud hangs over the enchanted land of land of Xanth. Three courageous couples must venture into the O-Xone, a cybernetic interface between Xanth and our own world, to rescue the enchanted realm from destruction. A xany new fantasy xaga from the Master of Merriment, Xone of Contention is chock-filled with danger, excitement and xillions of laughs! After a year filled with harrowing adventures, all Breanna of the Black Wave and her newfound love Justin Tree want is a little time to get to know each other better, and explore the wonders of the enchanted land of Xanth. But their incipient idyll is soon shattered by a stunning discovery. A climatic catastrophe is causing a massive meltdown that threatens to inundate the ancient forests of Xanth. The only way to avert this dire disaster is to undertake a voyage into the distant mists of the past, to find the moment when this ghastly greenhouse effect began. And the only people who can safely make that journey are those unaffected by Xanth's magic - normal, ordinary humans from our own world. So Breanna and Justin turn for help to the Demon X(A/N)th (a.k.a. Nimby) and his lovely consort Chlorine. Together, they devise a daring plan. Making use of the O-Xone, a magical computer network that links the worlds of Xanth and Earth, Nimby and Chlorine make contact with Pia and Edsel, a young couple from Earth who are working on a Xanth game, and arrange to exchange bodies with them. But an unexpected surprise awaits them on their arrival. The Demon Earth has challenged the Demon Xanth to a deadly duel for the highest possible stakes - dominion over both worlds. While Pia and Edsel range through the farthest reaches of time and space to save Xanth from destruction, Nimby must learn to live by the strange rules of our world, and defeat his ancient enemy without the benefit of his own awesome powers. Brimming with magic, merriment, laughter and love, Xone of Contention is a rousing new fantasy saga in the grand Xanth tradition.


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Piers Anthony's comical chronicles of his enchanted realm of Xanth are among the most beloved fantasy series ever written, with millions of readers worldwide. Now, Anthony returns with an all-new adventure that blends high hilarity with super-scary suspense.Many malevolent menaces have imperiled the magical land of Xanth in its long and storied history. But none has been as despicably dangerous as the Dastard. Once a common country boy, he sold his soul to a detestable demon for the power to erase events and rewrite history for his own devious ends. Now the entire future of Xanth is at the mercy of the Dastard's every whim.But this depraved desperado underestimates the courage and cleverness of a young girl named Becka, who can transform herself into a fearsome dragon at the speed of thought. With the help of a colorful band of brave companions, Becka challenges the Dastard with the greatest magic of all - the power of the human heart.


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"Do you think the puns will ever run out?" a character asks early in Anthony's 26th funny Xanth adventure. "If they do, Xanth will dissolve into chaos... It is mostly made of puns," another character sagely replies. And so it goes. This fantasy confection is full of puns,clever mathematical and grammatical lessons and some gratuitous sexual innuendo. Cynthia Centaur and her companions must find the Six Rings ofXanth (Fire, Earth, Idea, Water, Air and Void) in order to rescue the Demon Earth from the thrall of the Swell Foop. These rings are the only artifacts capable of locating the Foop. When they are stacked and aligned, a person who sights through them will be able to see the Foop if the stack is pointing the right way, and if that person is destinedto use it. The rings also control the six known Regions of Xanth. Thering bearers, who include Jaylin, a Mundanian human girl, as well as five Xanth creatures, must use their creativity and sense of humor tofind Demon Earth, or else the gravity needed in Xanth and Earth will disappear forever.


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A Spot of Trouble An innocent piece of Mundane Snail Mail has provoked the dreaded Demon Jupiter to hurl his Red Spot at the magical land of Xanth. As the dire Dot draws closer, the unwelcome ordeal of saving the enchanted realm falls to Umlaut, an unlikely lad with an unknown past and an uncertain future. With a handful of colorful companions at his side, Umlaut must unravel a high-stakes intergalactic puzzle, uncover the secret of his mysterious past, and learn to understand the urgings of his own heart. It might have been the merest chance that brought Umlaut to Castle Zombie that morning and launched him on a harrowing adventure. But in the magical land of Xanth, things are seldom left to chance, and adventures lurk around every corner. An unassuming young man with a uncanny knack for attracting lovely young ladies and an uncommon talent for emulating anyone he wished, Umlaut was forced to flee a flock of overly friendly females by disguising himself as a Zombie girl. In his haste to find a hiding place, he found himself face-to-face with a dreadful dragon and feared he would soon meet his end. But in Xanth, things are seldom exactly as they seem, and he soon discovered that the dragon was really a sinuous female sea serpent named Sesame, with a gift similar to his own, who had become accidentally entrapped in the Castle's dungeon. When the two happen upon a packet of mail from Earth delivered by mischance to the Zombie King, they inadvertently set in motion a sinister scheme that could spell the end of Xanth. A letter they forward to the Demon Jupiter unexpectedly enrages him, causing him to send his own Red Spot hurtling toward Xanth. Soon everything is up in a heaval, for no one knows how to avert this interplanetary peril. Even the Good Magician Humfrey is baffled, for some strange force has obscured the future. In desperation, he instructs Umlaut and Sesame to deliver the remaining letters to their far-flung recipients, in the faint hope that this may somehow stop the Spot. As they set out on their appointed rounds, Umlaut and Sesame are soon joined by two feline friends, Jenny Elf's companion, Sammy Cat, and a lovely, prescient creature named Claire Voyant who can sometimes see the future. Beguiled and bedeviled by the delicious Demoness Metria, who uses her shapely assets to distract him from his goal, Umlaut leads his allies on an unforgettable odyssey to the farthest reaches of the enchanted realm, from the submicroscopic Nth Moon of Ida, and the home of all dreams and nightmares, to the unmagical land of Euphoria, where he meets a sweet and sprightly young girl named Surprise who captures his heart. But before Umlaut can complete his quest and return to his beloved, he must unravel the unfathomable puzzle of his own existence, which is somehow inextricably entwined with the fate of Xanth. A satisfyingly suspenseful tale filled with mystery, magic, and merriment, Up in a Heaval is exciting and entertaining fantasy adventure from the pen of a master


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For nearly three decades, Piers Anthony's bestselling Xanth series has been delighting tens of thousands of fantasy fans around the world. Now, with Cube Route, the series' twenty-seventh adventure, Anthony has penned a tale that adds another dimension to this exciting saga.In the magical land of Xanth, wishes are far more than mere words. So when a Plain Jane called Cube whispers a wistful wish to be beautiful, she finds herself leading a company of colorful companions on a search for the mysterious Cube Route--a perilous path that leads to danger, adventure, and perhaps her heart's desire as well.This curious quest takes them all over Xanth, into the mythical realm of Phaze, and even to our own world, where Cube rescues a beautiful human woman from a very ugly situation, ending at last in a mysterious Counter-Xanth where things can be transformed into their opposites in the wink of an eye.A rollicking tale brimming with laughter, wonder, and enchantment, Cube Route is also a moving exploration of the beauty that dwells within all of us.


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EDITORIAL REVIEW:

When Clio, the Muse of History, sat down to pen the twenty-eighth volume in the Chronicles of Xanth, she was stunned to discover it was already there! And, what was worse, it was totally unreadable, for the words on its pages were fuzzed beyond comprehension.



Vexed and bewildered, and more than a little concerned, Clio resolved to leave the quiet comfort of her study on the slopes of Mount Parnassus, and ask her old friend, the Good Magician Humfrey, to search a solution to her problem in his Book of Answers.



But, much to her consternation, Humfrey required her to perform a magical Service before she could acquire her Answer: to rescue Xanth's dragons from the verge of extinction before the delicate balance of its wildlife was permanently thrown out of whack.



Her momentous mission lead her to a dangerous Dragon World hidden amongst the Moons of Ida, across a perilous landscape filled with wonder and danger, in search of the fabled Currant, a very rare red berry that might hold the secret she sought. 



Along the way she acquired a fellowship of companions, including the brave and beautiful Becka Dragongirl, a pair of pocket dragons named Drew and Drusie, a charming young child called Ciriana whose destiny was somehow entwined with hers, and Sherlock, a sweet but homely man from Mundania who might just be a master magician himself.



Together they gradually began to unravel the momentous mystery of Xanth's missing history. And Clio began to realize that Sherlock's enchantments had begun to work their way into her heart.


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A relentless horde of renegade robots has plunged the fate of Xanth in dire peril. All that stands between the enchanted land and destruction is a most unlikely hero, a moody, mild-mannered Goblin named Goody, who must summon all of his courage and determination to overcome this abominable army of automatons. Brimming with heart-stopping adventure and heart-warming delight, overflowing with wicked wit and wanton wordplay, Pet Peeve is Piers Anthony in rare form, an exceptional new chapter in the continuing chronicles of Xanth.


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A thrilling tale of exploration, conquest, money, politics, and medicineThe Panama Canal was the costliest undertaking in human history. It literally required moving mountains, breaking the back of the great range that connects North and South America. Begun by the French in 1880, its successful completion in 1914 by the Americans marked the end of the Victorian Age and the beginning of the “American Century.” The building of the Panama Canal was a project whose gestation spanned hundreds of years. Columbus himself searched for a way to get to the Pacific across the narrow isthmus of Central America. For centuries, monarchs, presidents, businessmen, and explorers all struggled to find such a passage, knowing that whoever controlled it would exert unsurpassed control over global trade, and therefore the fate of nations.The first history of this mighty achievement in nearly thirty years, Panama Fever draws on diaries, memoirs, letters, and other contemporary accounts, bringing the experience of those who built the canal vividly to life. The massive project riveted public attention: “Panama Fever” spread throughout the Western world. Politicians and businessmen engaged in high-stakes international diplomacy in order to influence its location, path, ownership, and construction. Meanwhile, ditch-diggers, machinists, drivers, engineers, and foremen from all over the world rushed to take advantage of high wages and the chance to be a part of history. But the grim reality of Panama – searing heat, torrential rains, fatal mud slides, and malarial mosquitoes – soon caught up with them. More than 25,000 of those who enthusiastically signed on as workers succumbed to dysentery, yellow fever, and malaria, giving a fatal twist to the meaning of “Panama Fever.” The truly horrific toll unleashed a second race to find a cure so the canal could be completed. The discoveries of the heroic doctors who battled these diseases would lead to a sea change in the way infectious diseases were treated, thus paving the way for the tremendous medical advances of the twentieth century.Filled with remarkable characters, including Teddy Roosevelt, Ulysses S. Grant, and Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French genius who built the Suez Canal and almost snatched Panama out from under American control, Panama Fever is an epic historical adventure that shows how a small but fiercely contested strip of land in a largely unknown Central American nation suddenly made the world a smaller place and launched the era of American global dominance.


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Aldous Huxley's tour de force, Brave New World is a darkly satiric vision of a "utopian" future—where humans are genetically bred and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively serve a ruling order. A powerful work of speculative fiction that has enthralled and terrified readers for generations, it remains remarkably relevant to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying entertainment.


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EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Robert Neville may well be the last living man on Earth . . . but he is not alone.

 

An incurable plague has mutated every other man, woman, and child into bloodthirsty, nocturnal creatures who are determined to destroy him.

 

By day, he is a hunter, stalking the infected monstrosities through the abandoned ruins of civilization. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for dawn....

 

Richard Matheson’s classic novel has now been transformed by Warner Bros. into a major motion picture starring Academy Award nominee Will Smith. Directed by Francis Lawrence (“Constantine”), the film opens nationwide in December 2007.


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EDITORIAL REVIEW:

In **Snow Crash**, Neal Stephenson took science fiction to dazzling new levels. Now, in **The Diamond Age**, he delivers another stunning tale. Set in twenty-first century Shanghai, it is the story of what happens when a state-of-the-art interactive device falls into the hands of a street urchin named Nell. Her life-and the entire future of humanity-is about to be decoded and reprogrammed....


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EDITORIAL REVIEW:

*He was a riot of rockets and fountains and people, in such intricate detail and color that you could bear the voiced murmuring, small and muted, from the crowds that inhabited his body.*

**The Illustrated Man**

Ray Bradbury brings wonders alive. A peerless American storyteller, his oeuvre has been celebrated for decades--from *The Martian Chronicles* and *Fahrenheit 451* to *Dandelion Wine* and *Something Wicked This Way Comes. *

The Illustrated Man is classic Bradbury --a collection of tales that breathe and move, animated by sharp, intaken breath and flexing muscle. Here are eighteen startling visions of humankind's destiny, unfolding across a canvas of decorated skin--visions as keen as the tattooist's needle and as colorful as the inks that indelibly stain the body. 

The images, ideas, sounds and scents that abound in this phantasmagoric sideshow are provocative and powerful: the mournful cries of celestial travelers cast out cruelly into a vast, empty space of stars and blackness ... the sight of gray dust settling over a forgotten outpost on a road that leads nowhere ... the pungent odor of Jupiter on a returning father's clothing. Here living cities take their vengeance, technology awakens the most primal natural instincts, Martian invasions are foiled by the good life and the glad hand, and dreams are carried aloft in junkyard rockets. 

Ray Bradbury's *The Illustrated Man* is a kaleidoscopic blending of magic, imagination, and truth, widely believed to be one of the Grandmaster's premier accomplishments: as exhilarating as interplanetary travel, as maddening as a walk in a million-year rain, and as comforting as simple, familiar rituals on the last night of the world. He was a riot of rockets and fountains and people, in such intricate detail and color that you could hear the voices murmuring, small and muted, from the crowds that inhabited his body.

Ray Bradbury brings wonders alive. A peerless American storyteller, his oeuvre has been celebrated for decades--from *The Martian Chronicles* and *Fahrenheit 451* to *Dandelion Wine* and *Something Wicked This Way Comes*. 

THE ILLUSTRATED MAN is classic Bradbury--a collection of tales that breathe and move, animated by sharp, intaken breath and flexing muscle. Here are eighteen startling visions of humankind's destiny, unfolding across a canvas of decorated skin--visions as keen as the tattooist's needle and as colorful as the inks that indelibly stain the body. 

The images, ideas, sounds and scents that abound in this phantasmagoric sideshow are provocative and powerful: the mournful cries of celestial travelers cast out cruelly into a vast, empty space of stars and blackness...the sight of gray dust settling over a forgotten outpost on a road that leads nowhere...the pungent odor of Jupiter on a returning father's clothing. Here living cities take their vengeance, technology awakens the most primal natural instincts, Martian invasions are foiled by the good life and the glad hand, and dreams are carried aloft in junkyard rockets. Ray Bradbury's THE ILLUSTRATEDMAN is a kaleidoscopic blending of magic, imagination, and truth, widely believed to be one of the Grandmaster's premier accomplishments: as exhilarating as interplanetary travel, as maddening as a walk in a million-year rain, and as comforting as simple, familiar rituals on the last night of the world.


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How do we find the courage to always be true to ourselves—even if we are unsure of who we are?   That is the central question of international bestselling author Paulo Coelho's profound new work, The Witch of Portobello. It is the story of a mysterious woman named Athena, told by the many who knew her well—or hardly at all. Like The Alchemist, The Witch of Portobello is the kind of story that will transform the way readers think about love, passion, joy, and sacrifice.


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A series of anecdotes shouldn't by rights add up to an autobiography, but that's just one of the many pieces of received wisdom that Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman (1918-88) cheerfully ignores in his engagingly eccentric book, a bestseller ever since its initial publication in 1985. Fiercely independent (read the chapter entitled "Judging Books by Their Covers"), intolerant of stupidity even when it comes packaged as high intellectualism (check out "Is Electricity Fire?"), unafraid to offend (see "You Just Ask Them?"), Feynman informs by entertaining. It's possible to enjoy Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman simply as a bunch of hilarious yarns with the smart-alecky author as know-it-all hero. At some point, however, attentive readers realize that underneath all the merriment simmers a running commentary on what constitutes authentic knowledge: learning by understanding, not by rote; refusal to give up on seemingly insoluble problems; and total disrespect for fancy ideas that have no grounding in the real world. Feynman himself had all these qualities in spades, and they come through with vigor and verve in his no-bull prose. No wonder his students--and readers around the world--adored him. --Wendy Smith


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This is the story of a lie that became the most powerful kind of truth. A timeless novel as urgently compelling as "War Day" or "Alas, Babylon, " David Brin's "The Postman" is the dramatically moving saga of a man who rekindled the spirit of America through the power of a dream, from a modern master of science fiction. He was a survivor--a wanderer who traded tales for food and shelter in the dark and savage aftermath of a devastating war. Fate touches him one chill winter's day when he borrows the jacket of a long-dead postal worker to protect himself from the cold. The old, worn uniform still has power as a symbol of hope, and with it he begins to weave his greatest tale, of a nation on the road to recovery. "From the Paperback edition."


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When you have to kill the same terrorist twice in one week there's either something wrong with your world or something wrong with your skills... and there's nothing wrong with Joe Ledger's skills.  And that's both a good, and a bad thing.  It's good because he's a Baltimore detective that has just been secretly recruited by the government to lead a new taskforce created to deal with the problems that Homeland Security can't handle. This rapid response group is called the Department of Military Sciences or the DMS for short. It's bad because his first mission is to help stop a group of terrorists from releasing a dreadful bio-weapon that can turn ordinary people into zombies. The fate of the world hangs in the balance....

 

Visit www.stmartins.com/jonathanmaberry to download the free short story COUNTDOWN                                                                             



"I had a fine old time reading PATIENT ZERO. Jonathan Maberry has found a delightful voice for this adventure of Joe Ledger and his crew: while the action is heated, violent, and furious, the writing remains cool, steady, and low-key, framing all the wildness and exuberance in a calm rationality (given an almost comic edge) that renders it as palatable as your favorite flavor of ice cream. This is a lovely feat, and Maberry has written a memorable book."  - Peter Straub 

 

"Patient Zero is high-octane excitement from beginning to end, and the start of a fabulous new series.  Joe Ledger and the DMS have my vote as the team to beat when combatting terrorist threats on a grand scale." - David Morrell, New York Times bestselling author of FIRST BLOOD and CREEPERS 



"Scary, creepy, and gripping--PATIENT ZERO is 'Night of the Living Dead' meets Michael Crichton."--Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author of Power Play 

 

"A fast-paced, creepy thriller that as prickly as a hospital needle and sounds a little too convincing. This guy is good." --Joe R. Lansdale 



"Brutal action, insanely intelligent, and so real that the hair on the back of your neck stands up!" -- L.A. Banks, The Vampire Huntress Legends Series, New York Times Best-selling Author


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*In life, not every sin goes unpunished.* 

 **GHOST STORY** 

 For four aging men in the terror-stricken town of Milburn, New York, an act inadvertently carried out in their youth has come back to haunt them. Now they are about to learn what happens to those who believe they can bury the past -- and get away with murder. 

 Peter Straub's classic bestseller is a work of "superb horror" *(The Washington Post Book World)* that, like any good ghost story, stands the test of time -- and conjures our darkest fears and nightmares.


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A collection of four chilling novellas, two of which are British Fantasy Award winners and one original.


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When struggling riverboat captain Abner Marsh receives an offer of partnership from a wealthy aristocrat, he suspects something's amiss. But when he meets the hauntingly pale, steely-eyed Joshua York, he is certain. For York doesn't care that the icy winter of 1857 has wiped out all but one of Marsh's dilapidated fleet. Nor does he care that he won't earn back his investment in a decade. York has his own reasons for wanting to traverse the powerful Mississippi. And they are to be none of Marsh's concernno matter how bizarre, arbitrary, or capricious his actions may prove. Marsh meant to turn down York's offer. It was too full of secrets that spelled danger. But the promise of both gold and a grand new boat that could make history crushed his resolvecoupled with the terrible force of York's mesmerizing gaze. Not until the maiden voyage of his new sidewheeler Fevre Dream would Marsh realize he had joined a mission both more sinister, and perhaps more noble, than his most fantastic nightmare...and mankind's most impossible dream. Here is the spellbinding tale of a vampire's quest to unite his race with humanity, of a garrulous riverman's dream of immortality, and of the undying legends of the steamboat era and a majestic, ancient river. From the Trade Paperback edition.


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EDITORIAL REVIEW:

With several Hollywood Heinlein adaptations about to be launched (including "Starship Troopers" by the director of "Total Recall"), this SF superstar is shining brighter than ever. To celebrate his success, Del Rey is reissuing the author's classic works back into the forefront, beginning with "The Door into Summer", the story of a modern-day--and future-time--Rip Van Winkle.


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Joe Ledger and the DMS (Department of Military Sciences) go up against two competing groups of geneticists.  One side is creating exotic transgenic monsters and genetically enhanced mercenary armies; the other is using 21st century technology to continue the Nazi Master Race program begun by Josef Mengele.  Both sides want to see the DMS destroyed, and they've drawn first blood.  Neither side is prepared for Joe Ledger as he leads Echo Team to war under a black flag.


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From the *New York Times* bestselling author of *The Da Vinci Code* comes an explosive, high-tech thriller that takes readers from the chilling depths of the Arctic Ocean to the treacherous heights of Washington power. 

 When a new NASA satellite spots evidence of an astonishingly rare object buried deep in the Arctic ice, the floundering space agency proclaims a much-needed victory...a victory that has profound implications for U.S. space policy and the impending presidential election. With the Oval Office in the balance, the President dispatches White House Intelligence analyst Rachel Sexton to the Milne Ice Shelf to verify the authenticity of the find. Accompanied by a team of experts, including the charismatic academic Michael Tolland, Rachel uncovers the unthinkable: evidence of scientific trickery -- a bold deception that threatens to plunge the world into controversy.  

 But before Rachel can contact the President, she and Michael are attacked by a deadly team of assassins controlled by a mysterious power broker who will stop at nothing to hide the truth. Fleeing for their lives in an environment as desolate as it is lethal, their only hope for survival is to find out who is behind this masterful ploy. The truth, they will learn, is the most shocking deception of all.  

 In *Deception Point,* bestselling author Dan Brown transports readers from the ultrasecret National Reconnaissance Office to the towering ice shelves of the Arctic Circle, and back again to the hallways of power inside the West Wing. Heralded for masterfully intermingling science, history, and politics in his critically acclaimed, blockbuster thrillers *Angels & Demons* and *The Da Vinci Code,* Brown has crafted a novel in which nothing is as it seems -- and behind every corner is a stunning surprise. *Deception Point* is pulse-pounding fiction at its best.


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In the year 2301, the wealthiest man in the universe is determined to commit murder in a world in which telepaths are used to detect possible crimes before they can happen. Reprint. 10,000 first printing.


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"Long's smart and epic tale takes the reader into a Dantesque world, a journey to the center of the earth for the new millennium. And what is found there is both horrific and entrancing: a system of tunnels that network beneath the earth, and homonid relatives of Homo sapiens evolved to live in the depths of what appears to be hell." (*Baltimore Sun*)    "A return to the fantastic epics readers associate with H.G. Wells or Jules Verne." (*Chicago Tribune*)    "As frightening and exhilarating as anything in heaven or hell." (*Denver Rocky Mountain News*)


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A novel of anger, jealousy, betrayal and murder in 2000 BC  It is Egypt, 2000 BC, where death gives meaning to life. At the foot of a cliff lies the broken, twisted body of Nofret, concubine to a Ka-priest. Young, beautiful and venomous, most agree that she deserved to die like a snake. Yet Renisenb, the priest's daughter, believes that the woman's death was not fate, but murder. Increasingly, she becomes convinced that the source of evil lurks within her own father's household.  As the wife of an eminent archaeologist, Agatha Christie took part in several expeditions to the Middle East. Drawing upon this experience and exhaustive research, she wrote this serial killer mystery laid in Egypt 4000 years ago.


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A knife-wielding maniac is terrorizing the city. But he isn't flesh and blood; he's paint and paper, a portrait come to life.


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Visitors are more than welcome in the isolated rural town of Hopkins Bend. The town needs them for their annual sacrifices...and entertainment. Now outsiders have stumbled into the town's traps. Some will be held for their captors' perverse, degrading amusement, but some will face a far more gruesome end at the yearly Holiday Feast. The townspeople hope their unholy ritual will protect them from the curse that befell the Kincher family. For more than a century the Kinchers have been changing, mutating, becoming gradually less human. And at the center of it all lies the dark secret, the malignant evil that controls Hopkins Bend and has made its residents truly...DEPRAVED.


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Turner, corporate mercenary, wakes in a reconstructed body, a beautifulwoman by his side. Then Hosaka Corporation reactivates him for a mission moredangerous than the one he's recovering from: Maas-Neotek's chief of R&D is defecting.Turner is the one assigned to get him out intact, along with the biochip he's perfected.But this proves to be of supreme interest to certain other parties--some of whomaren't remotely human. Bobby Newmark is entirely human: a rustbelt data-hustler totally unpreparedfor what comes his way when the defection triggers war in cyberspace. With voodoo onthe Net and a price on his head, Newmark thinks he's only trying to get out alive. Untilhe meets the angel. A stylish, streetsmart, frighteningly probable parable of the future.


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From Douglas Clegg, award-winning author of The Priest of Blood and Afterlife, comes a nightmarish vision of Washington, D.C.-where shadows and mystery linger in the alleys, and where the haunts of the past come to life. This House has a Name . . . Rachel Adair thought Draper House in Washington, D.C, would be the perfect place for her and her husband, Hugh, to try and start a family. But as soon they moved into the century-old townhouse, the nightmares began: horrific images of the child Rachel lost; the unforgivable sins of Hugh's father; scenes of blood-curdling rituals . . . and the scraping sounds of an even greater terror that lives within the walls . . .


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A once-respected college professor and novelist, Dale Stewart has sabotaged his career and his marriage -- and now darkness is closing in on him. In the last hours of Halloween he has returned to the dying town of Elm Haven, his boyhood home, where he hopes to find peace in isolation. But moving into a long-deserted farmhouse on the far outskirts of town -- the one-time residence of a strange and brilliant friend who lost his young life in a grisly "accident" back in the terrible summer of 1960 -- is only the latest in his long succession of recent mistakes. Because Dale is not alone here. He has been followed to this house of shadows by private demons who are now twisting his reality into horrifying new forms. And a thick, blanketing early snow is starting to fall ...


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In the summer of 1960 in Elm Haven, Illinois, five 12-year-old boys forge the powerful bonds that a lifetime of change will not break. An ancient, sinister evil lurks in the dark, and when a long-silent bell peals in the middle of the deepest night, the people know it marks the beginning of terror. Now Mike, Duane, Dale, Harlen, and Kevin must wage a fraternal war of blood against an arcane abomination.


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Marooned in outer space after an attack on his ship, Nomad, Gulliver Foyle lives to obsessively pursue the crew of a rescue vessel that had intended to leave him to die. Reprint. 10,000 first printing.


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Tom Wallace lived an ordinary life, until a chance event awakened psychic abilities he never knew he possessed. Now he's hearing the private thoughts of the people around him-and learning shocking secrets he never wanted to know. But as Tom's existence becomes a waking nightmare, even greater jolts are in store as he becomes the unwilling recipient of a compelling message from beyond the grave!This eerie ghost story, by award-winning author of Hell House and I Am Legend, inspired the acclaimed 1999 film starring Kevin Bacon.


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The #1 New York Times bestselling author's all-time horror classic Now with a new introduction by Peter Straub  Few modern horror novels have been able to stand the test of time like Shadowland. Now, with a new introduction from Peter Straub, this classic becomes a collectible for his insatiable fans-and for new readers who have just discovered Straub through the bestselling Black House, co-written with Stephen King.


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A mythmaker of the highest order, China Miéville has emblazoned the fantasy novel with fresh language, startling images, and stunning originality. Set in the same sprawling world of Miéville’s Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning novel, Perdido Street Station, this latest epic introduces a whole new cast of intriguing characters and dazzling creations. Aboard a vast seafaring vessel, a band of prisoners and slaves, their bodies remade into grotesque biological oddities, is being transported to the fledgling colony of New Crobuzon. But the journey is not theirs alone. They are joined by a handful of travelers, each with a reason for fleeing the city. Among them is Bellis Coldwine, a renowned linguist whose services as an interpreter grant her passage—and escape from horrific punishment. For she is linked to Isaac Dan der Grimnebulin, the brilliant renegade scientist who has unwittingly unleashed a nightmare upon New Crobuzon.For Bellis, the plan is clear: live among the new frontiersmen of the colony until it is safe to return home. But when the ship is besieged by pirates on the Swollen Ocean, the senior officers are summarily executed. The surviving passengers are brought to Armada, a city constructed from the hulls of pirated ships, a floating, landless mass ruled by the bizarre duality called the Lovers. On Armada, everyone is given work, and even Remades live as equals to humans, Cactae, and Cray. Yet no one may ever leave.Lonely and embittered in her captivity, Bellis knows that to show dissent is a death sentence. Instead, she must furtively seek information about Armada’s agenda. The answer lies in the dark, amorphous shapes that float undetected miles below the waters—terrifying entities with a singular, chilling mission. . . .China Miéville is a writer for a new era—and The Scar is a luminous, brilliantly imagined novel that is nothing short of spectacular.From the Trade Paperback edition.


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Beneath the towering bleached ribs of a dead, ancient beast lies New Crobuzon, a squalid city where humans, Re-mades, and arcane races live in perpetual fear of Parliament and its brutal militia. The air and rivers are thick with factory pollutants and the strange effluents of alchemy, and the ghettos contain a vast mix of workers, artists, spies, junkies, and whores. In New Crobuzon, the unsavory deal is stranger to none—not even to Isaac, a brilliant scientist with a penchant for Crisis Theory. Isaac has spent a lifetime quietly carrying out his unique research. But when a half-bird, half-human creature known as the Garuda comes to him from afar, Isaac is faced with challenges he has never before fathomed. Though the Garuda's request is scientifically daunting, Isaac is sparked by his own curiosity and an uncanny reverence for this curious stranger. While Isaac's experiments for the Garuda turn into an obsession, one of his lab specimens demands attention: a brilliantly colored caterpillar that feeds on nothing but a hallucinatory drug and grows larger—and more consuming—by the day. What finally emerges from the silken cocoon will permeate every fiber of New Crobuzon—and not even the Ambassador of Hell will challenge the malignant terror it invokes . . . A magnificent fantasy rife with scientific splendor, magical intrigue, and wonderfully realized characters, told in a storytelling style in which Charles Dickens meets Neal Stephenson, Perdido Street Station offers an eerie, voluptuously crafted world that will plumb the depths of every reader's imagination. From the Trade Paperback edition.


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William Gibson, author of the extraordinary multiaward-winning novel Neuromancer, has written his most brilliant and thrilling work to date . . .The Mona Lisa Overdrive.  Enter Gibson's unique world--lyric and mechanical, erotic and violent, sobering and exciting--where multinational corporations and high tech outlaws vie for power, traveling into the computer-generated universe known as cyberspace.  Into this world comes Mona, a young girl with a murky past and an uncertain future whose life is on a collision course with internationally famous Sense/Net star Angie Mitchell.  Since childhood, Angie has been able to tap into cyberspace without a computer.  Now, from inside cyberspace, a kidnapping plot is masterminded by a phantom entity who has plans for Mona, Angie, and all humanity, plans that cannot be controlled . . . or even known.  And behind the intrigue lurks the shadowy Yazuka, the powerful Japanese underworld, whose leaders ruthlessly manipulate people and events to suit their own purposes . . . or so they think.


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Monsters are real.And some people kill them for a living. Monster Hunter International is the premier eradication company in the business, and Owen Zastava Pitt -- CPA, average guy, and survivor of a brutal supernatural attack -- is the company?s newest employee. When MHI takes on a new contract, Owen and the girl of his dreams unwittingly find themselves in the path of an ancient evil. A creature known as the Cursed One has returned to fulfill a centuries old vendetta. And when he does, it?s the end of the world. And that would be bad for business.


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**The *New York Times* bestselling novel.**



 This is the riveting first-person narrative of Kvothe, a young man who grows to be one of the most notorious magicians his world has ever seen. From his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, to years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-riddled city, to his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, *The Name of the Wind* is a masterpiece that transports readers into the body and mind of a wizard.


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Accountant turned professional monster hunter, Owen Zastava Pitt, managed to stop the nefarious Old One’s invasion plans last year, but as a result made an enemy out of one of the most powerful beings in the universe. Now an evil death cult known as the Church of the Temporary Mortal Condition wants to capture Owen in order to gain the favor of the great Old Ones.

             The Condition is led by a fanatical necromancer known as the Shadow Man. The government wants to capture the Shadow Man and has assigned the enigmatic Agent Franks to be Owen’s full time bodyguard, which is a polite way of saying that Owen is monster bait.

            With supernatural assassins targeting his family, a spy in their midst, and horrific beasties lurking around every corner, Owen and the staff of Monster Hunter International don’t need to go hunting, because this time the monsters are hunting them. Fortunately, this bait is armed and *very *dangerous . . .


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Inch by inch, day by day, Scott Carey is getting smaller. Once an unremarkable husband and father, Scott finds himself shrinking with no end in sight. His wife and family turn into unreachable giants, the family cat becomes a predatory menace, and Scott must struggle to survive in a world that seems to be growing ever larger and more perilous--until he faces the ultimate limits of fear and existence.


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Following Perdido Street Station and The Scar, acclaimed author China Miéville returns with his hugely anticipated Del Rey hardcover debut. With a fresh and fantastical band of characters, he carries us back to the decadent squalor of New Crobuzon—this time, decades later. It is a time of wars and revolutions, conflict and intrigue. New Crobuzon is being ripped apart from without and within. War with the shadowy city-state of Tesh and rioting on the streets at home are pushing the teeming city to the brink. A mysterious masked figure spurs strange rebellion, while treachery and violence incubate in unexpected places. In desperation, a small group of renegades escapes from the city and crosses strange and alien continents in the search for a lost hope. In the blood and violence of New Crobuzon’s most dangerous hour, there are whispers. It is the time of the iron council. . . . The bold originality that broke Miéville out as a new force of the genre is here once more in Iron Council: the voluminous, lyrical novel that is destined to seal his reputation as perhaps the edgiest mythmaker of the day. From the Hardcover edition.


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Frank Cotton's insatiable appetite for the dark pleasures of pain led him to the puzzle of Lemarchand's box, and from there, to a death only a sick-minded soul could invent. But his brother's love-crazed wife, Julia, has discovered a way to bring Frank back—though the price will be bloody and terrible . . . and there will certainly be hell to pay.


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"A sparkling new voice! If you love witty dialogue, great characters and a lot of fun in your books, this is the writer for you!" *- Maureen Child, USA Today bestselling author* 

**Rosalie Ronaldi doesn't have a domestic bone in her body ... ** 

All she cares about is her career, so she survives on take-out and dirty martinis, keeps her shoes under the dining room table, her bras on the shower curtain rod, and her clothes on the couch ...  

**Nick Romeo is every woman's fantasy - tall, dark, handsome, rich, really good in bed, AND he loves to cook and clean ... ** 

He says he wants an independent woman, but when he meets Rosalie, all he wants to do is take care of her. Before too long, he's cleaned up her apartment, stocked her refrigerator, and adopted her dog ...  

So what's the problem? Just a little matter of mistaken identity, corporate theft, a hidden past in juvenile detention and one big nosy Italian family too close for comfort ...  (20080903)


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He sure would love to have someone to take care of 

Dr. Mike Flynn's single mom taught him early how to cook and clean, and there's nothing like vacuuming or doing dishes to help a guy relax. Annabelle Ronaldi is an artist without a domestic bone in her body. Since her fiance's death, she can't paint, and life looks hopeless. 

Until the day after her sister's wedding, when she wakes up with Mike next to her in bed, and then she's really beside herself - because the handsome stranger is a dead ringer for her dead fiance. 

After their mind-blowing one night stand, Mike is sure this is the woman he wants to take care of forever, but she acts like she's seen a ghost. While Mike sets to work wooing Annabelle, she sets to work sniffing out the truth of the convoluted family secret that turns everybody's lives upside down. 

PRAISE FOR ROMEO, ROMEO: 

"The main characters in this all-around feel-good read have so much personality they almost jump off the page." The Romantic Times (4 out of 5 star review) 

"Robin Kaye strikes gold… and deserves to have her name added to your favorite new author list." Book Loons 

"A snappy, funny, vivid, and romantic story." AllAboutRomance.com 

"Robin Kaye is sure to leave readers looking for a good Italian meal and a man as delicious as the hero."  BookPage 

"Kaye's debut is a delightfully fun, witty romance, making her a writer to watch."  Booklist 

"Kaye's portrayal of modern romance against the background of an old-fashioned, gossipy extended family rings true, and Nick's efforts to wow Rosalie with fabulous home cooking are endlessly entertaining." Publishers Weekly 

"Kaye's writing is a refreshing change from the typical contemporary romance. I could see all the characters as real people showing real feelings with an ending that is truly believable..."  I Just Finished Reviews (20090302)


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The third funny, sexy, contemporary romance from a fresh new voice in romance fiction "Delightfully fun...a writer to watch."  Booklist Rich, the epitome of "anti-domestic," can't cook to save his life, and his idea of cleaning his apartment is to invite his mother over. But he's ready to settle down, and he can't stop thinking about the ex-girlfriend who got away. When he notices that his soon-to-be-married friends cooked and cleaned their way into their women's hearts, he asks his friend Becca to help transform him into a nurturing man to win back his ex. Rich is the only guy who's taken the time to know Becca for herself. She decides she'll give him the makeover he's asking for, though she'll be damned if she's going to turn him into a domestic god for another woman. She wants Rich for herself, but how can she convince him that her kitchen and her bedroom are the only domestic locales he desires? PRAISE FOR TOO HOT TO HANDLE " Robin Kaye is a master at romance, and her second novel is even better than the first."  Armchair Interviews " Robin Kaye has proved herself a master of romantic comedy."  Night Owl Romance Praise for Romeo, Romeo  " Debut author Kaye provides a pleasing romantic romp mixing Italian Brooklyn family values, hot sex, and plenty of food." Publishers Weekly " The main characters in this all-around feel-good read have so much personality they almost jump off the page." Romantic Times "A rollicking romance that's sure to please!"  Novel Thought Comments " Kaye's writing is just about perfect for this kind of story as she balances a fine line between romance, sex, and family, all of which come together with ease."  A Book Blogger's Diary " Robin Kaye's Romeo, Romeo is sensational! I loved everything about this novel. The story, characters and writing are all five star material."  Crave More Romances


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**A fabulously fun, romantic comedy from a dynamic new talent.**



Nothing fazes Taylor Donovan—not in the courtroom and not in her personal life. So when she’s assigned to coach *People*’s “Sexiest Man Alive” for his role in the next big legal drama, she refuses to fall for the Hollywood heartthrob’s charms. Even if he is *the* Jason Andrews.


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When it comes to the laws of attraction, there are no rules The battle between the sexes is about to make these two lawyers hot under the collar. Opposites collide when two lawyers try to make partner at the same firm. Payton Kendall is a feminist to the bone. Cocky J.D. Jameson was born privileged. But when they’re asked to join forces on a major case, they gain a newfound awareness of each other’s personal assets. The partnership spot will be offered to only one of them, though. The competition heats up. Sparks fly. Let the games begin.


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There's something about Julie James...   Staying overnight in a luxury hotel, Assistant U.S. Attorney Cameron Lynde overhears a high-profile murder involving a U.S. Senator. Special Agent Jack Pallas is assigned to the investigation-the same Jack Pallas who still blames her for nearly ruining his career three years ago. Now the pair will have to put their rocky past behind them, focus on the case at hand-and smother the flame of their sizzling-hot sexual tension.


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Lucy Lang isn't looking for fireworks. She's looking for a nice, decent man. Someone who'll mow the lawn, flip chicken on the barbecue, teach their future children to play soccer. But most important: someone who won't inspire the slightest stirring in her heart . . . or anywhere else. A young widow, Lucy can't risk that kind of loss again. But sharing her life with a cat named Fat Mikey and the Black Widows at the family bakery isn't enough either. So it's goodbye to Ethan, her hot but entirely inappropriate 'friend with privileges' and hello to a man she can marry. Too bad Ethan Mirabelli isn't going anywhere. As far as he's concerned, what she needs might be right under her nose. But can he convince her that the next best thing can really be forever?


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**This catch of the day could be the dish of a lifetime!**    

**First Date à la Maggie**

  Take one lovelorn diner owner (me)

  A generous helping of nosy local gossips

  A dollop of envy at married sister's perfect life

  A splash of divine intervention (my matchmaking priest)    

*Combine ingredients with one adorable puppy, add a strong but silent lobsterman with a hidden heart of gold . . . and watch the sparks fly.*


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Being one of the guys isn't all it's cracked up to be…

So when journalist Chastity O'Neill returns to her hometown, she decides it's time to start working on some of those feminine wiles. Two tiny problems: #1—she's five feet eleven inches of rock-solid girl power, and #2—she's cursed with four alpha male older brothers.

While doing a story on local heroes, she meets a hunky doctor and things start to look up. Now there's only one problem: Trevor Meade, her first love and the one man she's never quite gotten over—although he seems to have gotten over her just fine.

Yet the more time she spends with Dr. Perfect, the better Trevor looks. But even with the in-your-face competition, the irresistible Trevor just can't seem to see Chastity as anything more than just one of the guys.…


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When Grace Emerson's ex-fianc? starts dating her younger sister, extreme measures are called for. To keep everyone from obsessing about her love life, Grace announces that she's seeing someone. Someone wonderful. Someone handsome. Someone completely made up. Who is this Mr. Right? Someone...exactly *unlike* her renegade neighbor Callahan O'Shea. Well, someone with his looks, maybe. His hot body. His knife-sharp sense of humor. His smarts and big heart.

Whoa. No. Callahan O'Shea is not her perfect man! Not with his unsavory past. So why does Mr. Wrong feel so...right?


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If it's fun, sexy and criminally romantic acirc;euro;" it must be Rachel Gibson. Ever wanted to take the law into your own hands?   Gabrielle Breedlove was under the impression that jogging was good for you. Had she known that going for an innocent morning run would result in her being booked for aggravated assault and leave her under suspicion for art robbery, she would have stayed in bed. Gabrielle is the sexiest suspect that undercover cop Joe Shanahan has ever had the pleasure of tailing. But Gabrielle doesn't quite see it the same way. And when his next assignment turns out to be posing as her boyfriend in order to catch the real art thief, things start to get complicated. She thinks he's stalking her. He thinks she's a crook. Their families are picking out china patterns. Surely, it must be love?


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What is Clare Wingate doing? One minute she's suffering in a pretty-in-pink gown she'll never wear again, and the next thing she knows it's morning . . . and she's lying next to Sebastian Vaughan, her girlhood crush turned sexy, globe-hopping journalist.   After finding her own fiancé in a compromising position with the washing machine repairman, Clare had the right to go wild. But Clare is in no mood for love—not even for lust—and wants to forget about Sebastian and his six-pack abs ASAP. But he isn't in the mood to go away, and his kiss is impossible to forget.


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When ex-supermoddel Lola Carlyle learns that some very -- ahem -- private photos of herself are being peddled on the Internet, she hides out where there's sun and -- she thinks -- safety, until the gossip dies out. Then the private yacht she's blissfully napping on is "commandeered" by some man who says his name is Max Zamora, and that he works for the government.It sounds crazy, but Max is telling the truth -- his cover's been blown, he's on the run, and now he's confronted by a very angry -- and beautiful -- woman. He's seen Lola before -- barely clothed on covers of fashion magazines. But she's more beautiful in person. From the top of her pert blonde head to the tips of her little painted toes, Max finds her sexy, curvy... and a pain in the butt. And that's before she blows up the ship!Now, the unlikely pair is stranded in the middle of the ocean, it's getting very hot -- not just from the sun -- and Lola is about to reveal it all...


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Trouble . . .   Chelsea Ross's acting career has been a total bust. The closest she ever came to stardom was her brilliant performance as "Pretty Dead Girl #1." But leaving Hollywood to become the personal assistant to a famous hockey player could be her stupidest career move ever.   More trouble . . .   Injured superstar Mark Bressler's glory days are over. The bad-boy ex-jock could at least be civil to the pint-sized, pink-haired bombshell who the Seattle Chinooks hired to be his P.A. If Chelsea didn't need the money, she'd be running from the world's biggest jerk as fast as her feet could carry her.   Big trouble!   Chelsea can deal with Mark's rotten attitude and dark moods. The problem is those biceps and that red-hot bod! And when the bad boy starts to put the moves on her, Chelsea knows it's time she banished him to the penalty box . . . if only she could resist the kind of trouble he has in mind!


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As the Unraveller's armies march to battle and a plague-filled rain devastates the planet, the warriors of Light call upon one of the most ancient powers of evil to aid them in their struggle.


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Five university students--Kimberly, Dave, Jennifer, Kevin, and Paul--meet a wizard who takes them to the heart of all worlds, Fionavar, where they discover who they were truly meant to be. Reprint.


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A mage's power has brought five university students from our world into a realm where an ancient evil has freed itself from captivity to wreak revenge on its enemies.Praise for *The Fionavar Tapestry*:One of the very best fantasies to have appeared since Tolkien. (Andre Norton)Kay's intricate Celtic background will please fantasy buffs. (*Publishers Weekly*)Immense scale, literary richness and dazzling heroes. (*Toronto Star*)This is the only fantasy work I know which does not suffer by comparison to The Lord of the Rings. (*Interzone*)A grand galloping narrative...reverberates with centuries of mythic and incantory implications. (*Christian Science Monitor*)The essence of high fantasy...a remarkable achievement. (*Locus*)*The Fionavar Tapestry* is a work that will be read for many years to come. (Charles de Lint)


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According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (the world's only completely accurate book of prophecies, written in 1655, before she exploded), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner.   So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing, Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon—both of whom have lived amongst Earth's mortals since The Beginning and have grown rather fond of the lifestyle—are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture.   And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist . . .


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Ophelia Jensen's good witch granny Abigail revels in her paranormal powers. But Ophelia never asked for her bothersome psychic abilities -- especially since they proved worthless when the thirty-something librarian's best friend Brian was murdered by a still-unknown assailant. Now, five years later, another friend is gone, killed in almost identical fashion. Even dear old Abby isn't safe, distracted as she is by her fight to prevent a massive, mega-polluting pig-farming operation from invading their small Iowa town. And Ophelia can't count on her snarling, scoffing nemesis, police detective Henry Comacho, to get the job done, so she'll have to take matters into her own hands. Because a common thread to the crimes -- and a possible next victim -- is suddenly becoming troublingly apparent . . . and it's Ophelia Jensen herself!


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Small-town librarian and psychic Ophelia Jensen hails from a long line of wise and wonderfully gifted women. There's her grandmother, Abby, a talented witch, and her great-aunt Mary, who's about to celebrate her 100th birthday. But as Ophelia learns, when she and Abby travel to North Carolina for the centennial celebration, their family secrets aren't just magickal—they're murderous. Someone in the sweet Southern town wants Abby dead. Could it be a rogue witch in Ophelia's own family? A vengeful local witch desperate to settle a bitter feud decades in the making? Ophelia must use all her talents to save her loved ones—before the witching hour comes upon them, and bad blood turns deadly.


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Ophelia has always considered her psychic abilities an imposition, except for those times she's been able to put her paranormal talents to good use—like when a friend asks her to help find a missing teenager. Unfortunately it means she and Abby, her kindly, canny sorceress granny, will be taking to the road to pursue the vanished girl in the wilds of Minnesota.   The signs are pointing toward the secluded new age research facility of Jason and Juliet Finch, who live with their troubled—and possibly matricidal—thirteen-year-old niece. And a bizarre local murder that follows their arrival—plus the appearance of a mysterious Native American shaman—only emphasize the urgency of Ophelia and Abby's hunt, drawing them into a web of dark secrets and to the last place they'd ever wish to be: a cottage in the woods where true evil quite possibly resides.


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Life is busier than ever for witch Ophelia Jensen. In addition to her day job at the library, she—with the help of her grandmother Abby—is preparing to officially adopt Tink, the young medium she's taken under her wing. So when Ophelia's elderly Aunt Dot, eager for adventure, wants to investigate the murder of a funeral director in the neighboring town, Ophelia tries to say no. But then Tink's dog pulls a skull out of the woods—a skull that may belong to a murder victim.   Finding mysterious bones in the woods isn't the only strange thing that's happened to Tink lately. She's been having visions of ghastly ghosts imploring her for help. But before Ophelia can connect the apparitions with the murder, Tink is kidnapped! Ophelia and Abby will have to battle a creepy crematorium owner and an invasion from some modern-day body snatchers to find their protégé . . . or else they'll have to hold a séance just to speak to her again.


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Cupid has cast his spell on good witch Ophelia Jensen. The practical, pragmatic, law-abiding librarian has just begun letting down her hair with Stephen Larsen, the author of some of the most scandalous crime exposés ever written. It's a match made in the stacks—until the would-be lovers take a quiet countryside stroll, and shots ring out.   A murderer, not magick, made Stephen disappear—and Ophelia might be next. The sheriff warns her and her grandmother Abby not to meddle, but after another shooting leaves them shaken the women can't help but get involved. A sinister stalker is slowly drawing closer to Ophelia, and she'll have to summon all her powers to prevent herself from ending up six feet under.


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Small-town librarian Ophelia Jensen is finally starting to embrace her lot as one of the "chosen"—a psychic and folk magick practitioner, a.k.a. a witch. Expert loving guidance from her magickally adept grandmother Abby helps—and adopting Tink, an exceptionally talented teenage medium, has given Ophelia's life new purpose . . . until a brutal murder clouds the sunshine of their days.   Ophelia's co-worker and best friend, Darci, is distraught when her cousin is implicated in the small Iowa town of Summerset's most recent murder—the violent death of a biker. Unfortunately for Darci's cousin, it's her fingerprints all over the murder weapon. She claims she's innocent, but it'll take Ophelia and Abby more than a good incantation or two to get to the bottom of this crime—what with ghosts, crooked cops, secret identities, and a small army of outlaw bikers thrown into this devil's brew.


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Bewitched meets Murder She Wrote in this delightful new cozy mystery series featuring Ophelia Jensen, small town librarian and reluctant psychic, and her grandmother Abby, a benevolent witch.   Thirty something Ophelia Jensen wants to live a quiet life as a small town librarian. She's created a comfortable existence with her kooky, colorful grandmother Abby, and if it were up to her, they could live out their days—along with Ophelia's dog Lady and cat Queenie—in peace and quiet. But, to Ophelia's dismay, she and Abby aren't a typical grandmother/granddaughter duo. She possesses psychic powers, and Abby is a kindly witch. And while Ophelia would do anything to dismiss her gift—harboring terrible guilt after her best friend was killed and she was unable to stop it—threatening events keep popping up, forcing her to tap into her powers of intuition. To make matters worse, a strange—yet devastatingly attractive—man is hanging around Ophelia's library, and no matter how many times she tells him she's sworn off men forever, he persists. Soon this handsome newcomer reveals he's following a lead on a local drug ring, and then a dead body shows up right in Abby's backyard. And much as Ophelia would like to put away her spells forever, she and Abby must use their special powers to keep themselves, and others, out of harm's way.


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In this stunning debut, author Scott Lynch delivers the wonderfully thrilling tale of an audacious criminal and his band of confidence tricksters. Set in a fantastic city pulsing with the lives of decadent nobles and daring thieves, here is a story of adventure, loyalty, and survival that is one part Robin Hood, one part Ocean’s Eleven, and entirely enthralling.…An orphan’s life is harsh–and often short–in the island city of Camorr, built on the ruins of a mysterious alien race. But born with a quick wit and a gift for thieving, Locke Lamora has dodged both death and slavery, only to fall into the hands of an eyeless priest known as Chains–a man who is neither blind nor a priest. A con artist of extraordinary talent, Chains passes his skills on to his carefully selected “family” of orphans–a group known as the Gentlemen Bastards. Under his tutelage, Locke grows to lead the Bastards, delightedly pulling off one outrageous confidence game after another. Soon he is infamous as the Thorn of Camorr, and no wealthy noble is safe from his sting.Passing themselves off as petty thieves, the brilliant Locke and his tightly knit band of light-fingered brothers have fooled even the criminal underworld’s most feared ruler, Capa Barsavi. But there is someone in the shadows more powerful–and more ambitious–than Locke has yet imagined.Known as the Gray King, he is slowly killing Capa Barsavi’s most trusted men–and using Locke as a pawn in his plot to take control of Camorr’s underworld. With a bloody coup under way threatening to destroy everyone and everything that holds meaning in his mercenary life, Locke vows to beat the Gray King at his own brutal game–or die trying.…From the Hardcover edition.


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And what happens when Bernie Karp, the impressionable fifteen-year-old son of the couple in whose home the rabbi lies frozen, inadvertently thaws out the ancient man? Such are the questions raised in this wickedly funny and ingenious novel by author Steve Stern, who, according to the "Washington Post Book World," belongs in the company of such writers as Stanley Elkin, Cynthia Ozick, Michael Chabon, Mark Helprin, and Philip Roth, all of them "innovative and restless practitioners of contemporary American-Jewish fantasy." When the rabbi comes fully and mischievously to life, Bernie finds himself on an unexpected odyssey to understand his heritage (Jewish), his role in life (nebbish hero), and his destiny (to ensure the rabbi's future). and the reader enters the lives of the people who struggled to transport the holy man's block of ice, surviving pogroms, a transatlantic journey (in steerage, of course), an ice-house fire in Manhattan's Lower East Side, and finally, a train trip to the city on the Mississippi. An epic novel in the spirit of Michael Chabon's "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay," Steve Stern's "The Frozen Rabbi" is a wildly entertaining yet deeply thoughtful look at the burdens inherent in handing down traditions from one generation to the next.


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An extraordinary fiction debut, Think of a Number is an exquisitely plotted novel of suspense that grows relentlessly darker and more frightening as its pace accelerates, forcing its deeply troubled characters to moments of startling self-revelation. Arriving in the mail over a period of weeks are taunting letters that end with a simple declaration, “Think of any number…picture it…now see how well I know your secrets.”  Amazingly, those who comply find that the letter writer has predicted their random choice exactly.  For Dave Gurney, just retired as the NYPD’s top homicide investigator and forging a new life with his wife, Madeleine, in upstate New York, the letters are oddities that begin as a diverting puzzle but quickly ignite a massive serial murder investigation. What police are confronted with is a completely baffling killer, one who is fond of rhymes filled with threats and warnings, whose attention to detail is unprecedented, and who has an uncanny knack for disappearing into thin air.  Even more disturbing, the scale of his ambition seems to widen as events unfold. Brought in as an investigative consultant, Dave Gurney soon accomplishes deductive breakthroughs that leave local police in awe.  Yet, even as he matches wits with his seemingly clairvoyant opponent, Gurney’s tragedy-marred past rises up to haunt him, his marriage approaches a dangerous precipice, and finally, a dark, cold fear builds that he’s met an adversary who can’t be stopped. In the end, fighting to keep his bearings amid a whirlwind of menace and destruction, Gurney sees the truth of what he’s become – what we all become when guilty memories fester – and how his wife Madeleine’s clear-eyed advice may be the only answer that makes sense. A work that defies easy labels -- at once a propulsive masterpiece of suspense and an absorbing immersion in the lives of characters so real we seem to hear their heartbeats – Think of a Number is a novel you’ll not soon forget.


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Ryan Bingham’s job as a Career Transition Counselor–he fires people–has kept him airborne for years. Although he has come to despise his line of work, he has come to love the culture of what he calls “Airworld,” finding contentment within pressurized cabins, anonymous hotel rooms, and a wardrobe of wrinkle-free slacks. With a letter of resignation sitting on his boss’s desk, and the hope of a job with a mysterious consulting firm, Ryan Bingham is agonizingly close to his ultimate goal, his Holy Grail: one million frequent flier miles. But before he achieves this long-desired freedom, conditions begin to deteriorate. With perception, wit, and wisdom, Up in the Air combines brilliant social observation with an acute sense of the psychic costs of our rootless existence, and confirms Walter Kirn as one of the most savvy chroniclers of American life.


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In a snug New England fishing village, Charlie St. Cloud tends the lawns and monuments of an ancient cemetery where his younger brother, Sam, is buried. After surviving the car accident that claimed his brother's life, Charlie is graced with an extraordinary gift: He can see, talk to, and even play catch with Sam's spirit. Into this magical world comes Tess Carroll, a captivating woman training for a solo sailing trip around the globe. Fate steers her boat into a treacherous storm that propels her into Charlie's life. Their beautiful and uncommon connection leads to a race against time and a choice between death and life, between the past and the future, between holding on and letting go — and the discovery that miracles can happen if we simply open our hearts.


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First published in Paris in 1955, and originally banned in the United States, J. P. Donleavy's first novel is now recognized the world over as a masterpiece and a modern classic of the highest order. Set in Ireland just after World War II, The Ginger Man is J. P. Donleavys wildly funny, picaresque classic novel of the misadventures of Sebastian Danger-field, a young American ne'er-do-well studying at Trinity College in Dublin. He barely has time for his studies and avoids bill collectors, makes love to almost anything in a skirt, and tries to survive without having to descend into the bottomless pit of steady work. Dangerfield's appetite for women, liquor, and general roguishness is insatiable--and he satisfies it with endless charm.


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The Origin of Species may be the most famous book in science but its stature tends to obscure much of Charles Darwin's other works. His visit to the Galapagos lasted just five weeks and on his return he never left Britain again. Darwin spent forty years working on the plants, animals and people of his native land and wrote over six million words on topics as different as dogs, insect-eating plants, orchids, earthworms, apes and human emotion. Together they laid the foundations of modern biology. In this beautifully written, witty and illuminating book, Steve Jones explores the domestic Darwin, tracing the great naturalist's journey across Britain: a voyage not of the body, but of the mind.


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Edited and translated from the Russian by Antony Beevor and Luba Vinogradova Knopf Canada is proud to present a masterpiece of the Second World War, never before published in English, from one of the great Russian writers of the 20th century – a vivid eyewitness account of the Eastern Front and “the ruthless truth of war.”When the Germans invaded Russia in 1941, Vasily Grossman became a special correspondent for the Red Star, the Red Army’s newspaper. **A Writer at War** – based on the notebooks in which Grossman gathered raw material for his articles – depicts the crushing conditions on the Eastern Front, and the lives and deaths of soldiers and civilians alike. It also includes some of the earliest reportage on the Holocaust. In the three years he spent on assignment, Grossman witnessed some of the most savage fighting of the war: the appalling defeats of the Red Army, the brutal street fighting in Stalingrad, the Battle of Kursk (the largest tank engagement in history), the defense of Moscow, the battles in Ukraine and much more.Historian Antony Beevor has taken Grossman’s raw notebooks, and fashioned them into a narrative providing one of the most even-handed descriptions – at once unflinching and sensitive – we have ever had of what he called “the ruthless truth of war.”*From the Hardcover edition.*


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From the #1 *New York Times* bestselling author Patrick Robinson comes his most provocative international thriller and the much much-anticipated conclusion of his renowned series starring Admiral Arnold Morgan and his terrorist nemesis, General Ravi Rashood.

The hunt begins when a bomb explodes in Boston’s Logan Airport, and Admiral Arnold Morgan, the most trusted advisor to President Bedford, must move quickly to break the terrorist cell responsible for the bloodshed. As Morgan ships the Islamic fanatics to Guantanamo Bay for containment, the Hamas high command hatches a vicious plan to assassinate him once he exits the United States. Leading this attack is chief Hamas assassin General Ravi Rashood. Meanwhile, President Bedford, in a desperate attempt to protect the Admiral at all costs, summons the most advanced and dangerous Navy SEAL team the United States has to offer.

And so begins the exhilarating chase that goes beyond the borders of the United States, taking the reader on a terrifying journey through southern Ireland, London, and Scotland. This near-future masterwork is a story of mayhem, intrigue, and wanton murder.

*To the Death* is Robinson at his best, always tightening the tension and writing with supreme realism as he works up to a gripping climax to his seriesan ending in which someone, ultimately, must die.


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bA New York Times Bestselling Author /b PFirst published almost a decade ago, the MacKade Brothers books have long been out of print. Now loyal fans can revisit and new readers can be introduced to the MacKades - each one of them on a collision course with love. When shy professor Rebecca Knight captures the interest of the youngest MacKade brother, IThe Fall of Shane MacKade /Ican't be far behind.


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The #1 international bestseller! This 40-day spiritual journey will help you understand why you are alive and God's amazing plan for you both now and for eternity. Winner of the Gold Medallion Book Award and Christian Book of the Year Award.  "Excellent for Homeschool Use"


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In the 1920s the worst place you could be was in that part of Texas that some people call "South of Heaven," and the worst thing you could be doing there was laying a gas pipeline, along with six-hundred other hoboes, juice-heads, and jailbirds. But that's exactly what Tommy Burwell was doing, even though he wasn't smart enough to know better. Even though "South of Heaven" is another term for hell.Combining a tale of escalating savagery with a dead-eyed group portrait of men at the edge, Jim Thompson has produced a masterpiece of the American dissolute.


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Mitch Corley has a girlfriend with expensive tastes and a ruthless wife who refuses to become an "ex" without major compensation. He needs big money and he needs it fast. Which makes Texas Mitch's natural destination, since nowhere are rich men more inclined to stake huge sums on a roll of the dice. The only problem is that Texans are sore losers--and they have cruel and ingenious ways of getting back at anyone who cheats them. Texas by the Tailis a high-spirited, sexy, and ingeniously plotted novel of the grifting life, by a writer who is a virtual encyclopedia of the con, the scam, and the double cross.


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Dr. Peter S. Murphy runs a clinic to cure alcoholics. But his charges believe that the only thing that will fix them is another drink. To this bitter struggle of wills, add an orderly who doubles as a quack practitioner, a nurse who is both alluring and ingeniously sadistic, and a misplaced patient whose main problem is his lack of a frontal lobe, and the result is one of Jim Thompson's most harrowingly funny yet deeply sympathetic novels.


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A teenage girl is raped and murdered. A father turns his back on his son. A vicious press lord turns justice into a carnival. A terrified boy is railroaded. In the twisted world of Jim Thompson, everyone is guilty, and the worst crimes are unpunishable.


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Luane Devore is about to be murdered. It's her favorite topic of conversation. Just who will do the murdering is anybody's guess. It could be the young husband she keeps in bizarre servitude. Or the distinguished doctor with an ugly secret in his past. Or any of the half-dozen other people whose reputations have been blighted by Luane's malicious gossip. It's only a matter of time.In The Kill-Off, the patron saint of American noir reconfigures the whodunnit as a wickedly ingenious who'll-do-it. Capturing the subterranean ambitions, jealousies, and hatreds of a decaying beach resort and orchestrating the voices of one perfect victim and a chorus of soon-to-be-suspects, Jim Thompson produces a novel that manages to be simultaneously funny, poignant, and terrifying -- and that offers shockingly persuasive evidence that any one of us could commit murder.


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Is Manuela Aloe a gift from heaven or the girlfriend from hell? From the moment Britt Rainstar starts seeing the curvaceous heiress, he finds himself menaced by vicious dogs, stalked by pistol-packing skeletons, and attacked by an unseen assailant in a hospital lobby. Couldn't Manny just send flowers?


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For Tommy Carver, a short-tempered Okie sharecropper penned up in a sweltering cabin with a brutal father and a stepmother whose affection is anything but maternal, the question isn't when he'll explode, but who he'll take with him when he does. "My favorite crime novelist--often imitated but never duplicated."--Stephen King.


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*Candide*, by **Voltaire**, is part of the *Barnes & Noble Classics** *series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of *Barnes & Noble Classics*: 

All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. *Barnes & Noble Classics *pulls together a constellation of influencesbiographical, historical, and literaryto enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.

One of the finest satires ever written, **Voltaire**’s *Candide* savagely skewers this very optimistic” approach to life as a shamefully inadequate response to human suffering. The swift and lively tale follows the absurdly melodramatic adventures of the youthful Candide, who is forced into the army, flogged, shipwrecked, betrayed, robbed, separated from his beloved Cunégonde, and tortured by the Inquisition. As Candide experiences and witnesses calamity upon calamity, he begins to discover thatcontrary to the teachings of his tutor, Dr. Panglossall is perhaps not always for the best. After many trials, travails, and incredible reversals of fortune, Candide and his friends finally retire together to a small farm, where they discover that the secret of happiness is simply to cultivate one's garden,” a philosophy that rejects excessive optimism and metaphysical speculation in favor of the most basic pragmatism. 

Filled with wit, intelligence, and an abundance of dark humor, *Candide* is relentless and unsparing in its attacks upon corruption and hypocrisyin religion, government, philosophy, science, and even romance. Ultimately, this celebrated work says that it is possible to challenge blind optimism without losing the will to live and pursue a happy life. 

**Gita May** is Professor of French at Columbia University. She has published extensively on the French Enlightenment, eighteenth-century aesthetics, the novel and autobiography, and women in literature, history, and the arts.


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*The Jungle*, by **Upton Sinclair**, is part of the *Barnes & Noble Classics** *series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of *Barnes & Noble Classics*: New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events Footnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work Comments by other famous authors Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations Bibliographies for further reading Indices & Glossaries, when appropriateAll editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. *Barnes & Noble Classics *pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.**** **Upton Sinclair**’s muckraking masterpiece *The Jungle* centers on Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant working in Chicago’s infamous Packingtown. Instead of finding the American Dream, Rudkus and his family inhabit a brutal, soul-crushing urban jungle dominated by greedy bosses, pitiless con-men, and corrupt politicians. While Sinclair’s main target was the industry’s appalling labor conditions, the reading public was most outraged by the disgusting filth and contamination in American food that his novel exposed. As a result, President Theodore Roosevelt demanded an official investigation, which quickly led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug laws. For a work of fiction to have such an impact outside its literary context is extremely rare. (At the time of *The Jungle*’s publication in 1906, the only novel to have led to social change on a similar scale in America was *Uncle Tom’s Cabin*.) Today, *The Jungle* remains a relevant portrait of capitalism at its worst and an impassioned account of the human spirit facing nearly insurmountable challenges.**Maura Spiegel** teaches literature and film at Columbia University and Barnard College. She is the coauthor of *The Grim Reader and The Breast Book: An Intimate and Curious History*. She coedits *Literature and Medicine*, a journal.************


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Women in Love, by D. H. Lawrence, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics:
New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars
Biographies of the authors
Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events
Footnotes and endnotes
Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work
Comments by other famous authors
Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations
Bibliographies for further reading
Indices & Glossaries, when appropriate
All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.



One of the most versatile and influential figures in twentieth-century literature, D. H. Lawrence was a master craftsman and profound thinker whose celebration of sexuality in an over-intellectualized world opened the door to that topic for countless writers after him.

Perhaps his finest novel, Women in Love (1920) continues the story of two sisters, Ursula and Gudrun Brangwen, who first appeared in Lawrence’s novel The Rainbow (1915). The story contrasts the passionate love affairs of Ursula and Rupert Birkin, a character often seen as a self-portrait of Lawrence, with that of Gudrun and Gerald Crich, an icily handsome mining industrialist. Birkin, an introspective misanthrope, struggles to reconcile his metaphysical drive for self-fulfillment with Ursula’s practical view of sentimental passion. As they fight their way through to a mutually satisfying relationship—and eventual marriage—Gudrun and Crich’s sadomasochistic love affair careens toward a disastrous conclusion. 

A dark, disturbing, yet beautiful exploration of love in an increasingly violent and destructive world, Women in Love nevertheless holds out the hope of individual and collective rebirth through human intensity and passion. 

Norman Loftis is a poet, novelist, essayist, philosopher, and filmmaker. His works include Exiles and Voyages (poetry, 1969), Black Anima (poetry, 1973), Life Force (novel, 1982), From Barbarism to Decadence (1984), and Condition Zero (1993). His feature films include Schaman (1984), the award-winning Small Time (1989), and Messenger (1995). He is currently Chair of the Department of Literature at the Brooklyn Campus of the College of New Rochelle and is on the faculty at Medgar Evers College, CUNY, where he has taught since 1970.


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Sons and Lovers, by D. H. Lawrence, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics: New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events Footnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work Comments by other famous authors Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations Bibliographies for further reading Indices & Glossaries, when appropriateAll editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works. Called the most widely-read English novel of the twentieth century, D. H. Lawrence’s largely autobiographical Sons and Lovers tells the story of Paul Morel, a young artist growing into manhood in a British working-class community near the Nottingham coalfields. His mother Gertrude, unhappily married to Paul’s hard-drinking father, devotes all her energies to her son. They develop a powerful and passionate relationship, but eventually tensions arise when Paul falls in love with a girl and seeks to escape his family ties. Torn between his desire for independence and his abiding attachment to his loving but overbearing mother, Paul struggles to define himself sexually and emotionally through his relationships with two women—the innocent, old-fashioned Miriam Leivers, and the experienced, provocatively modern Clara Dawes. Heralding Lawrence’s mature period, Sons and Lovers vividly evokes the all-consuming nature of possessive love and sexual attraction. Lushly descriptive and deeply emotional, it is rich in universal truths about human relationships. Victoria Blake is a freelance writer. She has worked at The Paris Review and contributed to the Boulder Daily Camera, small literary presses in the United States, and English-language publications in Bangkok, Thailand. She currently lives and works in San Diego, California.


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The Metamorphosis and Other Stories, by Franz Kafka, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics: New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events Footnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work Comments by other famous authors Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations Bibliographies for further reading Indices & Glossaries, when appropriateAll editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works. Virtually unknown during his lifetime, Franz Kafka is now one of the world’s most widely read and discussed authors. His nightmarish novels and short stories have come to symbolize modern man’s anxiety and alienation in a bizarre, hostile, and dehumanized world. This vision is most fully realized in Kafka’s masterpiece, “The Metamorphosis,” a story that is both harrowing and amusing, and a landmark of modern literature. Bringing together some of Kafka’s finest work, this collection demonstrates the richness and variety of the author’s artistry. “The Judgment,” which Kafka considered to be his decisive breakthrough, and “The Stoker,” which became the first chapter of his novel Amerika, are here included. These two, along with “The Metamorphosis,” form a suite of stories Kafka referred to as “The Sons,” and they collectively present a devastating portrait of the modern family. Also included are “In the Penal Colony,” a story of a torture machine and its operators and victims, and “A Hunger Artist,” about the absurdity of an artist trying to communicate with a misunderstanding public. Kafka’s lucid, succinct writing chronicles the labyrinthine complexities, the futility-laden horror, and the stifling oppressiveness that permeate his vision of modern life. Jason Baker is a writer of short stories living in Brooklyn, New York.


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The publication in 1857 of Madame Bovary, with its vivid depictions of sex and adultery, incited a backlash of immorality charges. The novel tells the story of Emma Bovary, a doctor’s wife bored and unfulfilled by marriage and motherhood. She embarks upon a series of affairs in search of passion and excitement, but is unable to achieve the splendid life for which she yearns. Instead, she finds herself trapped in a downward spiral that inexorably leads to ruin and self-destruction.

Along with Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, Flaubert’s tragic novel stands as a brilliant portrayal of infidelity, an incisive psychological portrait of a woman torn between duty and desire. Written with acute attention to telling detail, Madame Bovary not only exposes the emptiness of one woman’s bourgeois existence and failure to fill that void with fantasies, sex, and material objects. Emma’s thirst for life mirrors the universal human impulse for idealized fulfillment.


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Inspired by the long-standing affair between Frieda, Lawrence’s German wife, and an Italian peasant who eventually became her third husband,Lady Chatterley’s Loveris the story of Constance Chatterley, who, while trapped in an unhappy marriage to an aristocratic mine owner whose war wounds have left him paralyzed and impotent, has an affair with Mellors, the gamekeeper. Frank Kermode calls the book Lawrence’s "great achievement" and Anaïs Nin describes it as "artistically . . . his best novel." This Modern Library Paperback Classics edition includes the transcript of the judge's decision in the famous 1959 obscenity trial that allowed the novel to be published in the United States. From the Trade Paperback edition.


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Why does Skippy, a fourteen-year-old boy at Dublin’s venerable Seabrook College, end up dead on the floor of the local doughnut shop?



Could it have something to do with his friend Ruprecht Van Doren, an overweight genius who is determined to open a portal into a parallel universe using ten-dimensional string theory?



Could it involve Carl, the teenage drug dealer and borderline psychotic who is Skippy’s rival in love?



Or could the Automator”the ruthless, smooth-talking headmaster intent on modernizing the schoolhave something to hide?



Why Skippy dies and what happens next is the subject of this dazzling and uproarious novel, unraveling a mystery that links the boys of Seabrook College to their parents and teachers in ways nobody could have imagined. With a cast of characters that ranges from hip-hop-loving fourteen-year-old Eoin MC Sexecutioner” Flynn to basketballplaying midget Philip Kilfether, packed with questions and answers on everything from Ritalin, to M-theory, to bungee jumping, to the hidden meaning of the poetry of Robert Frost, *Skippy Dies *is a heartfelt, hilarious portrait of the pain, joy, and occasional beauty of adolescence, and a tragic depiction of a world always happy to sacrifice its weakest members. As the twenty-first century enters its teenage years, this is a breathtaking novel from a young writer who will come to define his generation.


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First came a sinister warning to Poirot not to eat any plum pudding...then the discovery of corpse in chest...next, an overheard quarrel that led to murder...the strange case of the of the dead man who altered his eating habits..and the puzzle of the victim who dreamt his own suicide. What links these six baffling cases? The distinctive hand of the queen of crime fiction


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It begins in Geneva. There American lawyer Joel Converse meets a man he hasn't seen in twenty years, a covert operative who dies violently at his feet, whispering words that hand Converse a staggering legacy of death: "THE GENERALS...THEY'RE BACK...AQUITAINE!" Suddenly Converse is running for his life, alone with the world's most shattering secret. Pursued by anonymous executioners to the dark corners of Europe, he is forced to play a game of survival by blood rules he thought he'd long left behind. One by one, he traces each thread of a deadly progression to the hear of every major government—a network of coordinated global violence that no one believes possible. No one but Converse and the woman he once loved and lost. The only two people on earth who can wrest the world from the iron grasp of Aquitaine.


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Miss Jane Marple is on vacation and loving every minute of her stay at London's eminently expensive bastion of tradition. Bertam's Hotel. but its impeccable old-world reputation is being tarnished -- by new blood. For someone disreputable has just checked in. And what's now going on at Bertram's Hotel.


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The Bell Jar is Sylvia Plath's only novel. Renowned for its intensity and outstandingly vivid prose, it broke existing boundaries between fiction and reality and helped to make Plath an enduring feminist icon. It was published under a pseudonym a few weeks before the author's suicide.


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High school all-American Neely Crenshaw was probably the best quarterback ever to play for the legendary Messina Spartans. Fifteen years have gone by since those glory days, and Neely has come home to Messina to bury Coach Eddie Rake, the man who molded the Spartans into an unbeatable football dynasty.Now, as Coach Rake’s “boys” sit in the bleachers waiting for the dimming field lights to signal his passing, they replay the old games, relive the old glories, and try to decide once and for all whether they love Eddie Rake – or hate him. For Neely Crenshaw, a man who must finally forgive his coach – and himself – before he can get on with his life, the stakes are especially high.


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#1 *New York Times* bestselling author Dean Koontz delivers a thrilling novel of suspense and adventure, as the lives of strangers converge around a mystery unfolding high in the Colorado mountains—and the balance of the world begins to tilt….  In the stillness of a golden September afternoon, deep in the wilderness of the Rockies, a solitary craftsman, Grady Adams, and his magnificent Irish wolfhound Merlin step from shadow into light…and into an encounter with enchantment. That night, through the trees, under the moon, a pair of singular animals will watch Grady's isolated home, waiting to make their approach.  A few miles away, Camillia Rivers, a local veterinarian, begins to unravel the threads of a puzzle that will bring all the forces of a government in peril to her door. At a nearby farm, long-estranged identical twins come together to begin a descent into darkness…In Las Vegas, a specialist in chaos theory probes the boundaries of the unknowable…On a Seattle golf course, two men make matter-of-fact arrangements for murder…Along a highway by the sea, a vagrant scarred by the past begins a trek toward his destiny… In a novel that is at once wholly of our time and timeless, fearless and funny, Dean Koontz takes readers into the moment between one turn of the world and the next, across the border between knowing and mystery. It is a journey that will leave all who take it **Breathless***.   **From the Hardcover edition.*


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"[Greene] develops one fresh new insight after another...In the great tradition of physicists writing for the masses, The Elegant Universe sets a standard that will be hard to beat." --George Johnson, The New York Times Book ReviewIn a rare blend of scientific insight and writing as elegant as the theories it explains, Brian Greene, one of the world's leading string theorists, peels away the layers of mystery surrounding string theory to reveal a universe that consists of 11 dimensions where the fabric of space tears and repairs itself, and all matter-from the smallest quarks to the most gargantuan supernovas-is generated by the vibrations of microscopically tiny loops of energy.Green uses everything from an amusement park ride to ants on a garden hose to illustrate the beautiful yet bizarre realities that modern physics is unveiling.    Dazzling in its brilliance, unprecedented in its ability to both illuminate and entertain, The Elegant Universe is a tour de force of science writing-a delightful, lucid voyage through modern physics that brings us closer than ever to understanding how the universe works.


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Some feel the Lady, newly risen from centuries in thrall, stands between humankind and evil. Some feel she is evil itself. The hardbitten men of the Black Company take their pay and do what they must, burying their doubts with their dead. Until the prophesy: The White Rose has been reborn, somewhere, to embody good once more. There must be a way for theBlack Companyto find her... Glen Cook was born in 1944 and began writing SF in 1967. He published his first novel,The Heirs of Babylon, in 1972. His many other books includeAn Ill Fate Marshalling,Reap the East Wind,The Swordbearer,The Tower of Fear, and the popularBlack Companyseries of novels. Here is the first installment in Cook's popularBlack Companyseries of fantasy novels. Some feel that the Lady, newly risen from centuries in thrall, stands between humankind and evil. Some feel that she is evil itself. The hard-bitten men of the Black Company take their pay and do what they must, burying their doubts with their dead. That is, until they hear the prophecy:The White Rose has been reborn, somewhere, to embody good once more. Could there be a waysomehow, sometimefor the Black Company to find her?


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Mercenary soldiers in the service of the Lady, the Black Company stands against the rebels of the White Rose. They are tough men, proud of honoring their contracts. The Lady is evil, but so, too, are those who falsely profess to follow the White Rose, reincarnation of a centuries-dead heroine. Yet now some of the Company have discovered that the mute girl they rescued and sheltered is truly the White Rose reborn. Now there may be a path to the light, even for such as they. If they can survive it.


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She is the last hope of good in the war against the evil sorceress known as the Lady. From a secret base on the Plains of Fear, where even the Lady hesitates to go, the Black Company, once in service to the Lady, now fights to bring victory to the White Rose. But now an even greater evil threatens the world. All the great battles that have gone before will seem a skirmishes when the Dominator rises from the grave.


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...embedded in the trunk of the scion of the godtree, it contains the essence of the maddest of the Ten Who Were Taken...The Dominator. Defeated by the Lady and cast from this world, all that was left of him was a foul trace of lingering evil. But the graveyard that was once the Barrowland contains more secrets than dead. All who would possess the power of the Dominator are drawn to the spike. A foolhardy band of thieves is the first to reach it, and a rapacious and malign spirit is unleashed on an unwary world. The forces gather, sides are drawn, and mortal men can only die as the Dark Lords battle for domination.


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After the devastating battle at the Tower of Charm, Croaker leads the greatly diminished Black Company south, in search of the lost Annals. The Annals will be returned to Khatovar, eight thousand miles away, a city that may exists only in legend...the origin of the first Free Companies.Every step of the way the Company is hounded by shadowy figured and carrion-eating crows. As they march every southward, through bug infested jungle, rivers dense with bloodthirsty pirates, and cities, dead and living, haunted by the passage of the Company north, their numbers grow until they are thousands strong.But always they are watched--by the Shadowmasters--a deadly new enemy: twisted creature that deal in darkness and death: powerful, shadowy creatures bent on smothering the world in their foul embrace. This is the first round in a deadly game, a game that the Black Company cannot ea hope to win.


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Croaker has fallen and, following the Company's disastrous defeat at Dejagore, Lady is one of the few survivors--determined to avenge the Company and herself against the Shadowmasters, no matter what the cost.But in assembling a new fighting force from the dregs and rabble of Taglios, she finds herself offered help by a mysterious, ancient cult of murder--competent, reliable, and apparently committed to her goals.Meanwhile, far away, Shadowmasters conspire against one another and the world, weaving dark spells that reach into the heart of Taglios. And in a hidden grove, a familiar figure slowly awakens to find himself the captive of an animated, headless corpse.Mercilessly cutting through Taglian intrigues, Lady appears to be growing stronger every day. All that disturbs her are the dreams which afflict her by night--dreams of carnage, of destruction, of universal death, unceasing...


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"Let me tell you who I am, on the chance that these scribblings do survive....I am Murgen, Standard bearer of the Black Company, though I bear the shame of having lost that standard in battle. I am keeping these Annals because Croaker is dead., One-Eye won't, and hardly anyone else can read or write. I will be your guide for however long it takes the Shadowlanders to force our present predicament to its inevitable end..."So writes Murgen, seasoned veteran of the Black Company. The Company has taken the fortress of Stormgard from the evil Shadowlanders, lords of darkness from the far reaches of the earth. Now the waiting begins.Exhausted from the siege, beset by sorcery, and vastly outnumbered, the Company have risked their souls as well as their lives to hold their prize. But this is the end of an age, and great forces are at work. The ancient race known as the Nyueng Bao swear that ancient gods are stirring. the Company's commander has gone mad and flirts with the forces of darkness. Only Murgen, touched by a spell that has set his soul adrift in time, begins at last to comprehend the dark design that has made pawns of men and god alike.


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The wind whines and howls with bitter breath. Lightning snarls and barks. Rage is an animate force upon the plain of glittering stone. Even shadows are afraid.At the heart of the plain stands a vast grey stronghold, unknown, older than any written memory. One ancient tower has collapsed across the fissure. From the heart of the fastness comes a great deep slow breath like that of a slumbering world-heart, cracking the olden silence.Death is eternity. Eternity is stone. Stone is silence.Stone cannot speak but stone remembers.So begins the next movement of Glittering Stone....The tale again comes to us from the pen of Murgen, Annalist and Standard Bearer of the Black Company, whose developing powers of travel through space and time give him a perspective like no other.Led by the wily commander, Croaker, and the Lady, the Company is working for the Taglian government, but neither the Company nor the Taglians are overflowing with trust for each other. Arrayed against both is a similarly tenuous alliance of sorcerers, including the diabolical Soulcatcher, the psychotic Howler, and a four-year-old child who may be the most powerful of all.


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Regrouping in Taglios, the surviving members of the Black Company are determined to free their fellow warriors held in stasis beneath the glittering plain. Journey there under terrible conditions, they arrive just in time for a magical conflagration in which the bones of the world will be revealed, the history of the Company unveiled, and new world gained and lost...all at a terrible price.


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When sorcerers and demigods go to war, those wars are fought by mercenaries, "dog soldiers," grunts in the trenches. And the stories of those soldiers are the stories of Glen Cook's hugely popular "Black Company" novels. If the Joseph Heller of Catch-22 were to tell the story of The Lord of the Rings, it might read like the Black Company books. There is nothing else in fantasy like them.Now, at last, Cook brings the "Glittering Stone" cycle within the Black Company series to an end . . . but an end with many other tales left to tell. As Soldiers Live opens, Croaker is military dictator of all the Taglias, and no Black Company member has died in battle for four years. Croaker figures it can't last. He's right.For, of course, many of the Company's old adversaries are still around. Narayan Singh and his adopted daughter--actually the offspring of Croaker and the Lady--hope to bring about the apocalyptic Year of the Skulls. Other old enemies like Shadowcatcher, Longshadow, and Howler are also ready to do the Company harm. And much of the Company is still recovering from the fifteen years many of them spent in a stasis field.Then a report arrives of an evil spirit, a forvalaka, that has taken over one of their old enemies. It attacks them at a shadowgate--setting off a chain of events that will bring the Company to the edge of apocalypse and, as usual, several steps beyond.Glen Cook is the leading modern writer of epic fantasy noir, and Soldiers Live is Cook at his best. None of his legion of fans will want to miss it.


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Doomstalker (1985) is the first Fantasy novel in the Darkwar trilogy. It is set on a world far away in time and space where the meth live. In the Upper Ponath, they live in ignorance and poverty, but elsewhere the silth rule a world of technology and spaceflight. 

In this novel, Marilka is a ten year old meth in a litter of three pups. Her dam is Skiljan, head of a loghouse in the Degnan packstead. 

Kublin is another pup in the litter. He is small and weak, but has more intelligence than the other male littermate Zamberlin. 

In this story, Marilka and Kublin like to explore together. Marilka has less fear -- as appropriate for a female -- but Kublin follows her into very fearful situations. They have been testing their limits with the Machen Cave, where the Wise hold their rituals. 

Kublin detects something within the cave, but Marilka can only sense the presence of old Pohsit, the sagan of the Wise. But as she gets closer, Marilka begins to detects something scary within the cave. Both decide to go elsewhere. 

Pohsit has decided that Marilka is a silth. Marilka doesn't know what a silth is, but Pohsit wants her dead. And the death of Marilka will also lead to the death of her littermates.

Marilka and Kublin learn to run around and tire out Pohsit. But they keep returning to the cave. Although Marilka can now sense the thing, she still doesn't know what it is. 

Then the worse winter in living memory comes to the Upper Ponath. The Degnan huntresses gather meat and the males collect plants and firewood. Then the nomads invade the Upper Ponath in large numbers. 

Other meth packsteads in the area are overwhelmed. Then hundreds of nomads come to Degnan. The nomads lose many to the Degnan pack, but they eventually overrun the packstead. 

Runners sent to the packfast return with three silth. These kill or drive away the remaining nomads, but they take the three Degnan survivors back to the packfast. They insist that Marilka shall become a sister, as the silth call themselves. 

This tale exposes Marilka to advanced technology, but doesn't lead her to admiration of the sisters. She is trained in three ways, including the use of her powers. But much is withheld from her by the sisters. 

This story presents a change in the author's style. Over a decade after his first novel -- The Heirs of Babylon -- and the start of five series, the author tries something new. His previous works were about human cultures or something very similar. 

In this tale, the author depicts truly alien creatures loosely based on wolves. Then he shows a cultural clash between the primitives and the more advanced society. And he shows this conflict through the eyes of a primitive. 

This story ends with a cliffhanger. The next installment -- Warlock -- will reveal the extend of the disaster. Read and enjoy! 

Highly recommended for Cook fans and for anyone who enjoys tales of alien cultures, witch powers, and young heroines. 

-Arthur W. Jordin


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In Old Tin Sorrows, hard-boiled private eye Garrett is back in action--trying to help out an old Army buddy, Blake Peters. Apparently, there is an unearthly plot on the life of Blake's boss, the wealthy General Stantnor. It is a tough case, but Garrett always gets his man, gnome or elf!


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The Stormwarden's children have been kidnapped and Garrett, P.I. is on the case. But caught between the bewitching beauty of a half-elf and the fearsome power of a horde of ogres, Garrett has to think twice before sacrificing all for a fortune in gold--after all, even in this enchanted land, he's only human.


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Marika, leader of the silth, who are known for their psychic powers, challenges her enemies with a plan to use solar mirrors in space to end the world's permanent winter


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Welcome to the world of the Instrumentalities of the Night, where imps, demons, and dark gods rule in the spaces surrounding upstart humanity. At the edges of the world stand walls of ice which push slowly forward to reclaim the land for the night. And at the world’s center, in the Holy Land where two great religions were born, are the Wells of Ihrain, the source of the greatest magics. Over the last century the Patriarchs of the West have demanded crusades to claim the Wells from the Pramans, the followers of the Written. Now an uneasy truce extends between the Pramans and the West, waiting for a spark to start the conflict anew.

 

Then, on a mission in the Holy Land, the young Praman warrior Else is attacked by a creature of the Dark—in effect, a minor god. Too ignorant to know that he can never prevail over such a thing, he fights it and wins, and in so doing, sets the terrors of the night against him.

 

As a reward for his success, Else is sent as a spy to the heart of the Patriarchy to direct their attention away from further ventures into the Holy Lands. Dogged by hidden enemies and faithless allies, Else witnesses senseless butchery and surprising acts of faith as he penetrates to the very heart of the Patriarchy and rides alongside their armies in a new crusade against his own people. But the Night rides with him, too, sending two of its once-human agents from the far north to assassinate him.

 

Submerged in his role, he begins to doubt his faith, his country, even his family. As his mission careens out of control, he faces unanswerable questions about his future. It is said that God will know his own, but can one who has slain gods ever know forgiveness?


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It’s cold.  The wells of power are weakening and the forces of Night grow strong. The gods are real, and still have some power, mostly to do harm.  The Instrumentalities of the Night are the worst of these.

 

Piper Hecht, born Else Tage, survived a battle with the Instrumentalities. Now he’s Captain-General of the armies fighting a crusade for Patriarch Sublime V. Intrigues swirl around the throne of the Grail Empire, as the imperial family’s enemy Anne of Menand raises money to help the perpetually indebted Patriarch finance his crusades. To reduce his own vulnerability, sickly young Emperor Lothar assigns his two half-sisters—his immediate heirs—to their own realms.

 

Now Piper Hecht learns that the legendary sorcerer Cloven Februaren, referred to as the Ninth Unknown, is still alive, more than 100 years old, and on Piper’s side. As the dynastic politics of the Empire become even more convoluted, it’s clear that while the old gods may be fading, they’re determined to do everything they can to bend the doings of men to their own advantage.  

 

Sieges, explosions, betrayals, Anti-Patriarchs, and suspicious deaths will ensue as the great chess game plays itself out, with Piper Hecht at the center of it all…


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A young boy's dreams of glory and war turn into a bitter nightmare as his father's kingdom is overrun by an invading army. Lost and alone in the woods, he finds an ancient sword that promises him the ability to claim his vengeance. As he begins to take that vengeance, he comes to realize the price that the sword will demand of him. Enemies soon become allies and strange bedfellows abound as the prophesies of an age swirl into chaos.


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It should have been a simple job. But for Garrett, a human detective in a world of gnomes, tracking down the woman to whom his dead pal Danny left a fortune in silver is no slight task. Even with the aid of Morley, the toughest half-elf around, Garrett isn't sure he'll make it out alive from a land where magic can be murder, the dead still talk, and vampires are always hungry for human blood.


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She is tall, blonde, and offering Garrett an irresistible fee to take a case that seems open-and-shut. But in a town of elves and humans, thugs and swindlers - a place where magic and religion could prove an all to potent mix - Garrett had learned to take a long, hard look before saying yes. Garret's doubts are confirmed when the Grand Inquisitor comes looking for his help in the lovely lady's wake. But even a hard-boiled detective like Garret, with the Dead Man for an ally and the toughest half-elf in town guarding his back, can find that it's too late to say no. Turns out Garret's been fingered as the latest sacrifice to a long-dead god - and his only chance to save his neck is to solve the case.


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When the former mistress of the now-defunct king hires Garrett to find her missing teenaged daughter, the human detective gets more than he bargained for in a world full of suspects, sex, and corpses. Original.


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Garet , P. I., is on the case There are some new gods in the town of TunFaire, but temple real estate on the Street of Dreams is at a premium. So the big gods on the block issued a challenge-find the "key" to the one temple still available. When two rival pantheons try to hire Garrett, he knows he is in for it...


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The vendetta in space... had started centuries before "Mouse" Storm was born ... with his grandfather's raid on the planet Prefactlas, the blood bath that freed the human slaves from their Sangaree masters. But one Sangaree survived -- the young Norborn heir, the man who swore vengeance on the Storm family and their soldiers, in a carefully mapped plot that would take generations to fulfill. Now Mouse's father Gneaus must fight for an El Dorado of wealth on the burning half of the planet Blackworld. As the great private armies of all space clash on the narrow Shadowline that divides inferno from life-sheltering shade, Gneaus' half- brother Michael plays his traitorous games, and a man called Death pulls the deadly strings that threaten to entrap them all -- as the Starfishers Trilogy begins.


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Since the end of the war, there had always been bigotry against non-humans in TunFaire. Even though many species had sacrificed in battle, some groups of humans thought the "Golden Rule" translated to  "Humans rule. Now give us your gold." With the streets descending into bloody race riots, and the organized "human" brotherhoods flexing both physical and economic muscle, TunFaire was a hairsbreadth from total chaos. Garrett is a wise-guy private investigator who speaks loudly and carries a big stick.  Backed by a circle of friends no one would wish on their worst enemy Garrett is caught in a conspiracy of hate that pits man against.everybody!  Praise for Glen Cook:  "Lively homage to Chandler and company, with plenty of suspects, sex, and corpses...Cook turns fantasy inside out!" --*Locus*  "Garrett spouts argot and attitude worthy of the hardest-boiled detective who ever pounded mean streets...fun to read!" --*Fantasy Review*  "Fast-paced adventure that combines sword and sorcery with hard-boiled detective fiction!" --*Library Journal*


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A series far ahead of its time, now back in print Anyone else would have learned by now: when trouble comes knocking, don't open the door. But there's a reason why Garrett's still in the P.I. business after all these years-he's not one to learn his lessons. Maybe that's why he lets himself get roped into being a bodyguard for Kip Prose, an obnoxious kid being threatened by creatures that can't quite be described. But before Kip Prose has a chance to explain what he's done to get on the hit list of some nameless nasties, the precocious Prose is abducted, and the chase begins...


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In TunFaire, a city of gorgeous women, powerful sorcerers and dangerous magic, the beautiful, criminally insane daughter of a comatose crime boss has some lascivious designs on private investigator Garrett-who now has to figure out why everyone is suddenly after him.


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Garrett uncovers the dark side of the fantasy city TunFaire, where no-one is to be trusted especially beautiful woman. When a pack of gorgeous woman knock on his door, Garrett knows it-s too good to be true. The leader of the group is Alyx Weider, the daughter of the largest brewer in town. Her father and friends are opening a new theater in TunFaire and the lovely ladies are there to persuade Garrett to help get rid of the paranormal parasites living in the new construction. Garrett agrees because after all, it means free beer and the company of these beautiful girls. What else could a man want? But Garrett doesn-t realize the drama he-s stepping into.


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The Starfishers hope to gain control of Stars' End, an artificial planet which can insure their survival against the Confederation and the forces of the Sangaree


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Marika, now a psychic adept in the Maksche Cloister of Silth, faces new challenges as she befriends the tradermale Bagnel, uncovers a renegade Silth sect, and confronts the mysterious, powerful Warlock


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In high school, Bill Brannon was head over heels for his childhood friend Lettie Campbell. Twelve years later, Bill has almost forgotten his crush on the wild and feisty Lettie. Almost. But when fate reunites them, he realizes that some opportunities shouldn't be missed. Lettie Campbell wants to start her own business--designing lingerie. Her dream is going to become a reality with the cash she's bringing in as a cheating consultant at My Alibi, a company that lies for cheaters 24/7. When her sister, Amy, asks her to help a friend by providing an alibi, Lettie agrees. Lying to strangers is easy. But lying to the friend you've had since fifth grade is hard.As the lies pile up and Lettie and Bill burn up the sheets, she will have to come clean. Because the person she's lying to is Bill--and no amount of lies will help her when he discovers he's been conned.


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Drummond Clark was once a spy of legendary proportions. Now Alzheimer's disease has taken its toll and he's just a confused old man who's wandered away from home, waiting for his son to fetch him. When Charlie Clark takes a break from his latest losing streak at the track to bring Drummond back to his Brooklyn home, they find it blown sky high-and then bullets start flying in every direction. At first, Charlie thinks his Russian "creditors" are employing aggressive collection tactics. But once Drummond effortlessly hot-wires a car as their escape vehicle, Charlie begins to suspect there's much more to his father than meets the eye. He soon discovers that Drummond's unremarkable career as an appliance salesman was actually a clever cover for an elaborate plan to sell would-be terrorists faulty nuclear detonators. Drummond's intricate knowledge of the "device" is extremely dangerous information to have rattling around in an Alzheimer's-addled brain. The CIA wants to "contain" him--and so do some other shady characters who send Charlie and Drummond on a wild chase that gives "father and son quality time" a whole new meaning. With Once a Spy, Keith Thomson makes his debut on the thriller stage with energy, wit, and style to spare. From the Hardcover edition.


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It begins on a very normal Monday morning. But in the space of only a few days, the world's oil supplies have been severed and at a horrifying pace things begin to unravel everywhere. This is no natural disastersomeone is behind this. Oil engineer Andy Sutherland is stranded in Iraq with a company of British soldiers, desperate to find a way home, trapped as the very infrastructure of daily life begins to collapse around him. Back in Britain, his wife Jenny is stuck in Manchester, fighting desperately against the rising chaos to get back to their children in London as events begin to spiral out of controlriots, raging fires, looting, rape, and murder. In the space of a week, London is transformed into an anarchic vision of hell. Meanwhile, a mysterious man is tracking Andy's family. He'll silence anyone who can reveal the identities of those behind this global disaster. The people with a stranglehold on the future of civilization have flexed their muscles at other significant tipping points in history, and they are prepared to do anything to keep their secretand their powersafe.


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Human civilisation as we know it has ended. What next? The world lies devastated after the massive oil crisis that was described in LAST LIGHT. Human society has more or less entirely broken down and millions lie dead of starvation and disease. There are only one or two beacon communities that have managed to fashion a new way of living.Jenny Sutherland runs one of these groups. Based on a series of decaying offshore oil-rigs - for safety - a few hundred people have rebuilt a semblance of normality in this otherwise dead world.But as she and her people start to explore their surroundings once again, they start to realise not every survivor has the same vision of a better future than their catastrophic past. There are people out there who would take everything they have. War is coming, and the stakes are truly massive...


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It's early April 1945, deep in the bloodied days of World War II. The Nazi regime is being slowly throttled by the oncoming Russian and Allied armies and Hitler rages uselessly in his Berlin bunker. But the high command have one more throw of the dice to make. An audacious plan is hatched to save the Fatherland and beat off the oncoming apocalypse. All it will take is a hodge-podge squadron of escort fighters, a captured U.S. bomber, and one brave but suicidal pilot to fly it over the Atlantic into the beating heart of America. Half a century later, a rusting plane is discovered, sunk with its crew, off the coast of New Yorka relic from a bygone age. Chris Roland, a brilliant young photographer, is sent to take photos of this time capsule. But it is only when he discovers that the fragments of Nazi uniforms on the decaying corpses that he realizes that he has come across a secret so terrible that even 50 years later it could still kill him.


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There once was a girl who liked to pretend she was lost. . . . Meg Rosenthal is driving toward the next chapter in her life. Winding along a wooded roadway, her car moves through a dense forest setting not unlike one in the bedtime stories Meg used to read to her daughter, Sally. But the girl riding beside Meg is a teenager now, and has exchanged the land of make-believe for an iPod and some personal space. Too much space, it seems, as the chasm between them has grown since the sudden, unexpected death of Meg's husband.  Dire financial straits and a desire for a fresh start take Meg and Sally from a comfortable life on Long Island to a tucked-away hamlet in upstate New York: Arcadia Falls, where Meg has accepted a teaching position at a boarding school. The creaky, neglected cottage Meg and Sally are to call home feels like an ill portent of things to come, but Meg is determined to make the best of it--and to make a good impression on the school's dean, the diminutive, elegant Ivy St. Clare. St. Claire, however, is distracted by a shocking crisis: During Arcadia's First Night bonfire, one of Meg's folklore students, Isabel Cheney, plunges to her death in a campus gorge. Sheriff Callum Reade finds Isabel's death suspicious, but then, he is a man with secrets and a dark past himself. Meg is unnerved by Reade's interest in the girl's death, and as long-buried secrets emerge, she must face down her own demons and the danger threatening to envelop Sally. As the past clings tight to the present, the shadows, as if in a terrifying fairy tale, grow longer and deadlier. In Arcadia Falls, award-winning author Carol Goodman deftly weaves a mesmerizing narrative of passion: for revenge, for art, for love. "From the Hardcover edition."


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When Kinsey Millhone first arrives in Floral Beach, California, it’s hard for her to picture the idyllic coastal town as the setting of a brutal murder. Seventeen years ago, the body of Jean Timberlake—a troubled teen who had a reputation with the boys—was found on the beach. Her boyfriend Bailey Fowler was convicted of her murder and imprisoned, but he escaped. After all this time, Bailey’s finally been captured. Believing in his son’s innocence, Bailey’s father wants Kinsey to find Jean’s real killer. But most of the residents in this tight-knit community are convinced Bailey strangled Jean. So why are they so reluctant to answer Kinsey’s questions? If there’s one thing Kinsey’s got plenty of it’s persistence. And that’s exactly what it’s going to take to crack the lid on this case.As Kinsey gets closer to solving Jean’s murder, the more dirty little secrets she uncovers in a town where everyone has something to hide—and a killer will kill again to keep the past buried...


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"One of the sassiest, most appealing of the recent spate of female gunshoes . . . 'G' is for glorious, galloping read, and I can't wait for 'H' ."--Louise Bernikow, CosmopolitanGood and bad things seem to be coming in threes for Kinsey Millhone: on her thirty-third birthday she moves back into her renovated apartment, gets hired to find an elderly lady supposedly living in the Mojave Desert by herself, and makes the top of ex-con Tyrone Patty's hit list. It's the last that convinces Kinsey even she can't handle whoever's been hired to whack her, and she gets herself a bodyguard: Robert Dietz, a Porsche-driving P.I. who takes guarding Kinsey's body very seriously. With Dietz watching her for the merest sign of her usual recklessness, Kinsey plunges into her case. And before it's over, she'll unearth the gruesome truth about a long-buried betrayal and, in the process, come fact-to-face with her own mortality. . . . "Wit is the most versatile weapon in Sue Grafton's well-stocked arsenal, and she uses it with disarming precision. . . . Grafton excels in this milieu."--Newsweek"The story is complex; the body-count high; the sexual encounters feverish; and the villains chilling--in another can't-put-it-down outing for this talented author."--Kirkus ReviewsFrom the Paperback edition.


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* #1 *New York Times* bestselling author Sue Grafton’s PI Kinsey Millhone tackles insurance fraud in her latest outing—and finds that she’ll have to commit some deceit of her own to catch a cold-blooded killer…*

**H IS FOR HUSTLER…**

When PI Kinsey Millhone’s good friend and colleague Parnell Perkins is found murdered in the parking lot behind California Fidelity Insurance, she can’t believe he had any enemies. The only clue that raises a red flag for Kinsey is one of Parnell’s files on a Bibianna Diaz, who appears to have made a lucrative career out of scamming insurance companies with phony claims… 

**H IS FOR HAZARDOUS…**

Taking an alias, Kinsey goes undercover to befriend Bibianna, hoping she’ll get close enough to catch the con artist at her own game. But Kinsey never dreams that hanging out with Bibianna will get them both thrown in jail. And when they’re released, Bibianna’s very jealous, very dangerous ex-fiancé Raymond Maldonado is waiting for them. 

***H IS FOR HOMICIDE***

Kinsey soon discovers the short-tempered thug is the kingpin behind Bibianna’s and countless other phony insurance claims. But was Raymond also responsible for Parnell’s death? All Kinsey knows is that she’ll have to think quick to nab one of the most treacherous criminals she’s come face to face with—and keep herself alive…


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When David Barney was acquitted in the shooting death of his wife, Isabelle, a good many thought that justice had not been served -- including Kenneth Voight, Isabelle's former husband. Now, five years later, Voight is the plaintiff in a civil suit in which Barney stands accused of Isabelle's wrongful death. The stakes are high -- Isabelle's estate is worth millions -- but time is running short: the statute of limitations will cut Voight off in only a matter of weeks. Enter sexy, savvy ex-cop-turned-P.I. Kinsey Millhone, brought in by Voight to gather the necessary damning evidence. It doesn't take long, however, for Kinsey to find that while a lot of people hate David Barney, a lot more hated Isabelle. Suddenly a simple civil case becomes a deadly hunt for someone who once got away with murder -- and may again....Look for other titles in the Alphabet Mystery Series published by Random House AudioBooks.Judy Kaye has appeared on Broadway in Oh, Brother, Grease, and On the Twentieth Century, and won the Tony Award for her performance in The Phantom of the Opera.


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'On the face of it, you wouldn't think there was any connection between the murder of a dead man and the events that changes my perceptions about my life...' For Kinsey Millhone, the investigation started with a surprise visit from an ex-colleague at California Fidelity - the company that had fired her nine months previously. Fives hours later she was on a plane to Mexico, hot on the trial of a suicide who'd allegedly just come back to life. After a five year wait, Wendell Jaffe's widow had finally succeeded in having the real estate swindler declared dead, collecting half a million dollars for her pains. Now it looks like a 'pseudocide' - and Kinsey's ready to risk everything to get to the truth. 'Friendlishly clever...better than anything else that's currently on offer' - "Literary Review".


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**READ THE SENSATIONAL BLOCKBUSTER THAT STARTED IT ALL!**



*Take it from the top in #*1 New York Times* bestselling author Sue Grafton’s knockout thriller that introduced detective Kinsey Millhoneand a hot new attitudeto crime fiction*

**

**A IS FOR AVENGER**

A tough-talking former cop, private investigator Kinsey Millhone has set up a modest detective agency in a quiet corner of Santa Teresa, California. A twice-divorced loner with few personal possessions and fewer personal attachments, she’s got a soft spot for underdogs and lost causes.



**A IS FOR ACCUSED**

That’s why she draws desperate clients like Nikki Fife. Eight years ago, she was convicted of killing her philandering husband. Now she’s out on parole and needs Kinsey’s help to find the real killer. But after all this time, clearing Nikki’s bad name won’t be easy.



***A IS FOR ALIBI***

If there’s one thing that makes Kinsey Millhone feel alive, it’s playing on the edge. When her investigation turns up a second corpse, more suspects, and a new reason to kill, Kinsey discovers that the edge is closerand sharperthan she imagined.


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Although business has been slow lately for P.I. Kinsey Millhone, she’s reluctant to take on the case of locating Beverly Danziger’s sister Elaine Boldt. It’s a small matter that Beverly should be able to handle herself. So why is she enlisting Kinsey’s services? Beverly claims she needs Elaine’s signature on some documents so that she can collect a small inheritance. But the whole affair doesn’t sit well with Kinsey. And if there’s something she’s learned in her line of work, it’s to always follow your instincts… Kinsey’s hunch proves true when she begins her inquiries into Elaine’s whereabouts and discovers that the attractive widow was last seen in a flashy lynx coat boarding a plane for Boca Raton. But the more Kinsey searches for Elaine the more questions she encounters. Is Elaine’s disappearance tied in to the brutal murder several months ago of one of her bridge partners? And what happened to Elaine’s Persian cat who seems to have also vanished?Things take a turn for the worse when a stranger vandalizes the home of one of Elaine’s neighbors and another neighbor turns up murdered. With her reputation and career on the line, Kinsey risks all to find a missing woman and a killer who’s waiting in the shadows to strike again…


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How do you go about solving an attempted murder when the victim has lost a good part of his memory? It’s one of Kinsey’s toughest cases yet, but she never backs down from a challenge. Twenty-three-year-old Bobby Callahan is lucky to be alive after a car forced his Porsche over a bridge and into a canyon. The crash left Bobby with a clouded memory. But he can’t shake the feeling it was no random accident and that he’s still in danger…The only clues Kinsey has to go on are a little red address book and the name “Blackman.” Bobby can’t remember who he gave the address book to for safekeeping. And any chances of Bobby regaining his memory are dashed when he’s killed in another automobile accident just three days after he hires Kinsey. As Kinsey digs deeper into her investigation, she discovers Bobby had a secret worth killing for—and unearthing that secret could send Kinsey to her own early death…


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When Alvin Limardo walks into P.I. Kinsey Millhone’s office, she smells bad news. He wants Kinsey to deliver $25,000. The recipient: A fifteen-year-old boy. It’s a simple matter. So simple that Kinsey wonders why he doesn’t deliver the money himself. She’s almost certain something is off. But with rent due, Kinsey accepts Limardo’s retainer against her better judgment…When Limardo’s check bounces, Kinsey discovers she’s been had big time. Alvin Limardo is really John Daggett—an ex-con with a drinking problem, two wives to boot, and a slew of people who would like to see him dead. Now Kinsey is out four hundred dollars and in hot pursuit of Daggett. When Daggett’s corpse shows up floating in the Santa Teresa surf, the cops rule the death an accident. Kinsey thinks it’s murder. But seeking justice for a man who everyone seemed to despise is going to be a lot tougher than she bargained for—and what awaits her at the end of the road is much more disturbing than she could’ve ever imagined…


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Being a twice-divorced, happily independent loner has worked like a charm for P.I. Kinsey Millhone—until holiday weekends like this one roll around. What she needs is a little diversion to ward off the blues. She gets her much-needed distraction with a case that places her career on the line. And if that isn’t enough to keep her busy, her ex-husband, who walked out on her eight years ago, pops back on the radar...It all begins with a $5,000 deposit made into Kinsey’s bank account. Problem is she’s not the one who deposited the money. But when she’s accused of being on the take in an industrial arson case, Kinsey realizes someone is framing her…Now Kinsey’s working for herself. But with new evidence—and corpses—surfacing around her, she’s going to have to act quickly to clear her name before she loses her career, her reputation—and quite possibly her life…


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Tom Newquist had been a detective in the Nota Lake sheriff's office--a tough, honest cop respected by everyone. When he died suddenly, the townfolk were sad but not surprised. Just shy of sixty-five, Newquist worked too hard, drank too much, and exercised too little.Newquist's widow, Selma, didn't doubt the coroner's report. But still, she couldn't help wondering what had so bothered Tom in the last six weeks of his life. What was it that had made him prowl restlessly at night and brood constantly? Determined to help Selma find the answer, Kinsey Millhone sets up shop in Nota Lake, where she finds that looking for a needle in a haystack can draw blood--very likely, her own. . . .


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Wise-cracking, staunchly independent, and chronically curious, Grafton's gritty gumshoe Kinsey Millhone is back. This time, the alphabet series star will take on the toughest case to date: her past. What begins as a random phone call from a "storage space scavenger" (someone who buys the contents of defaulted storage units) leads Kinsey to a box of old papers and personal effects that her ex-husband, Mickey Magruder, left behind. Inside, she finds a 15-year-old unsent letter from a bartender that, among other things, reveals her former hubby was having an affair. The letter also contains details about the murder of a transient--a crime for which Mickey was blamed. Although never convicted, Mickey was ruined--losing his job, wife, and friends. But 15 years later, Kinsey realizes that foul play may have been involved in the murder, a deadly temptation for her. Die-hard fans will especially enjoy Kinsey's self-disclosure--something she's infamous for not doing--about her childhood, the fate of her parents, and the randy details of her first marriage. A very vulnerable and interesting side to Kinsey's character is also revealed when her obsessive-compulsive fact-finding bent is mixed up with matters of the heart. A fast, fun read, O Is for Outlaw is packed with Grafton's clear, colorful imagery and signature metaphors: "Our recollection of the past is not simply distorted by our faulty perception of events remembered, but skewed by those forgotten. The memory is like orbiting twin stars, one visible, one dark, the trajectory of what's evident forever affected by the gravity of what's concealed." --Rebekah Warren


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Lorna Kepler was beautiful and willful, a loner who couldn't resist flirting with danger. Maybe that's what killed her.Her death had raised a host of tough questions. The cops suspected homicide, but they could find neither motive nor suspect. Even the means were mysterious: Lorna's body was so badly decomposed when it was discovered that they couldn't be certain she hadn't died of natural causes. In the way of overworked cops everywhere, the case was gradually shifted to the back burner and became another unsolved file. Only Lorna's mother kept it alive, consumed by the certainty that somebody out there had gotten away with murder. So she hired Kinsey Millhone, P.I.Her eleventh letter into the alphabet is vintage Grafton, where our favorite private investigator finds herself facing dangerous consequences and the frightening possibility of a killer walking free.Look for other titles in the Alphabet Mystery Series from Random House AudioBooks.Judy Kaye has appeared on Broadway in Oh, Brother; Grease and On the Twentieth Century, and won the Tony Award for her performance in The Phantom of the Opera.


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When Kinsey Millhone’s landlord asks her to help deceased World War II vet Johnnie Lee’s family find out why the military has no record of his service, she thinks it’ll be a cinch. But she is about to meet her match in world-class prevaricators who take her for the ride of her life.When Lee’s apartment in burgled and a man named Ray Rawson, who claims to be an old friend of Lee’s, is beaten up, Kinsey soon finds herself on the trail of a pregnant woman with a duffel bag. Soon the intrepid P.I. is following leads halfway across the country and encountering another man from Lee’s past—a vengeful psychopath.Stalked by a new enemy and increasingly suspicious of Rawson—not to mention running out of time and money—now Kinsey must steer a collision course to solve a decades-old mystery that some would like better left unsolved.…


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"M" is for money. Lots of it. "M" is for Malek Construction, the $40 million company that grew out of modest soil to become one of the big three in California construction, one of the few still in family hands."M" is for the Malek family: four sons now nearing middle age who stand to inherit a fortune--four men with very different outlooks, temperaments, and needs, linked only by blood and money. Eighteen years ago, one of them--angry, troubled, and in trouble--went missing."M" is for Millhone, hired to trace that missing black sheep brother."M" is for memories, none of them happy. The bitter memories of an embattled family. This prodigal son will find no welcome at his family's table. "M" is for malice.And in brutal consequence, "M" is for murder, the all-too-common outcome of familial hatreds."M" is for malice . . . and malice kills.


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She was a "Jane Doe," an unidentified white female whose decomposed body was discovered near a quarry off California's Highway 1. The case fell to the Santa Teresa County Sheriff's Department, but the detectives had little to go on. The woman was young, her hands were bound with a length of wire, there were multiple stab wounds, and her throat had been slashed. After months of investigation, the murder remained unsolved. That was eighteen years ago. Now the two men who found the body, both nearing the end of long careers in law enforcement, want one last shot at the case. Old and ill, they need someone to help with their legwork and they turn to Kinsey Millhone. They will, they tell her, find closure if they can just identify the victim. Kinsey is intrigued and agrees to the job. But revisiting the past can be a dangerous business, and what begins with the pursuit of Jane Doe's real identity ends in a high-risk hunt for her killer. Q is for Quarry is based on an unsolved homicide that occurred in 1969, and Grafton's interest in the case has generated renewed police efforts. During the past year, the body was exhumed and a nationally known forensic artist did the facial reconstruction that appears in the closing pages of Q is for Quarry. Both Grafton and the dedicated members of the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department are hoping the photograph will trigger memories that may lead to a positive identification. On the day Jane Doe was reburied, many officers were at the gravesite. "It's eerie," Grafton writes, "to think about the power this woman still has. Here we are, thirty-three years later, and she still wants to go home."


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Private Investigator Kinsey Milhone is back on the job, hired by a privileged parolee's father to keep her out of trouble. It should be an easy assignment-until the parolee's past starts coming back to haunt her.


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Kinsey Millhone never sees it coming. She is mired in the case of a doctor who disappeared, his angry ex-wife, and beautiful current one–a case that is full of unfinished business, unfinished homes, and people drifting in and out of their own lives. Then Kinsey gets a shock. A man she finds attractive is hiding a fatal secret–and now a whole lot of beauty, money, and lies are proving to be a fatal distraction from what Kinsey should have seen all along: a killer standing right before her eyes. . . .


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tres¥pass \'trespes\ n: a transgression of law involving one's obligations to God or to one's neighbor; a violation of moral law; an offense; a sin  *-Webster's New International Dictionary*, Second Edition, Unabridged    

In what may be her most unsettling novel to date, Sue Grafton's *T is for Trespass* is also her most direct confrontation with the forces of evil. Beginning slowly with the day-to-day life of a private eye, Grafton suddenly shifts from the voice of Kinsey Millhone to that of Solana Rojas, introducing readers to a chilling sociopath. Rojas is not her birth name. It is an identity she cunningly stole, an identity that gives her access to private caregiving jobs. The true horror of the novel builds with excruciating tension as the reader foresees the awfulness that lies ahead. The suspense lies in whether Millhone will realize what is happening in time to intervene.    

Though set in the late eighties, *T is for Trespass* could not be more topical: identity theft; elder abuse; betrayal of trust; the breakdown in the institutions charged with caring for the weak and the dependent. It reveals a terrifying but all-too-real rip in the social fabric. Once again, Grafton opens up new territory with startling results.


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This title is from Diamond Dagger winner Sue Grafton - Kinsey Millhone's latest compelling case. In 1960s Santa Teresa, California, a child is kidnapped and never returned...When the case is reopened after twenty years, a man - Michael Sutton - contacts private detective Kinsey Millhone for help. He claims to have recalled a strange and disturbing memory which just might provide the key to the mystery. He may have stumbled across the kidnappers burying Mary Claire Fitzhugh's body...But Michael's account is indistinct - he was only six years old at the time of the kidnapping; and even members of his family try to discredit his evidence. But Kinsey is certain there is something vital within Michael's recollections. And even when what is eventually unearthed isn't what anyone expected, she can't quite let go of the case. As Kinsey gradually brings to light the stories of the protagonists involved in the tragedy, from Country Club parents to their free-living, hippy children, the truth finally begins to emerge. And while stepping back into the past, Kinsey discovers more about her own history too...


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This is the nineteenth novel in Sue Grafton's ever popular "alphabet" series featuring PI Kinsey Millhone. Just after Independence Day in July 1953 Violet Sullivan, a local good time girl living in Serena Station Southern California, drives off in her brand new Chevy and is never seen again. Left behind is her young daughter, Daisy, and Violet's impetuous husband, Foley, who had been persuaded to buy his errant wife the car only days before ...Now, thirty-five years later, Daisy wants closure. Reluctant to open such an old cold case Kinsey Millhone agrees to spend five days investigating, believing at first that Violet simply moved on to pastures new. But very soon it becomes clear that a lot of people shared a past with Violet, a past that some are still desperate to keep hidden. And in a town as close-knit as Serena there aren't many places to hide when things turn vicious ...


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Genellana beautiful, Earthlike world where intelligent cliff dwellers waited in fear for the day the bear people would return, killing them for their fur... Genellanthe only refuge for a ships crew and a detachment of spacer Marines, abandoned by a fleet fleeing from alien attackers. Stranded on Genellan, the humans struggled to make a home for themselves untilthey hoped against hopethe fleet would return to rescue them. Lt. Sharl Buccari tried desperately to hold on to the threads of command over the spacers and the Marinesto keep her crew together and alive. Winter was coming. No one knew if the winged natives would be friend or foe. And now the bear people were returning, intent on destroying the humansbut not before stealing the secret of hyperlight drive, the key to interstellar flight...


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Set in atmospheric coastal Japan, this epic story centers on an earnest young clerk, Jacob de Zoet, who arrives in the summer of 1799 to make his fortune and return to Holland to wed his fiancée. But Jacob’s plans are shaken when he meets the daughter of a Samurai.

Imagine an empire that has shut out the world for a century and a half. No one can leave, foreigners are excluded, their religions banned and their ideas deeply mistrusted. Yet a narrow window onto this nation-fortress still exists: an artificial walled island connected to a mainland port, and manned by a handful of European traders. And locked as the land-gate may be, it cannot prevent the meeting of minds ' or hearts. The nation was Japan, the port was Nagasaki and the island was Dejima, to where David Mitchell's panoramic novel transports us in the year 1799. For one Dutch clerk, Jacob de Zoet, a dark adventure of duplicity, love, guilt, faith and murder is about to begin ' and all the while, unbeknownst to him and his feuding compatriots, the axis of global power is turning...
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The author ofCloud Atlas's most ambitious novel yet, for the readers of Ishiguro, Murakami, and, of course, David Mitchell. The year is 1799, the place Dejima, the "high-walled, fan-shaped artificial island" that is the Japanese Empire's single port and sole window to the world. It is also the farthest-flung outpost of the powerful Dutch East Indies Company. To this place of superstition and swamp fever, crocodiles and courtesans, earthquakes and typhoons, comes Jacob de Zoet. The young, devout and ambitious clerk must spend five years in the East to earn enough money to deserve the hand of his wealthy fianceacute;e. But Jacob's intentions are shifted, his character shaken and his soul stirred when he meets Orito Aibagawa, the beautiful and scarred daughter of a Samurai, midwife to the island's powerful magistrate. In this world where East and West are linked by one bridge, Jacob sees the gaps shrink between pleasure and piety, propriety and profit. Magnificently written, a superb mix of historical research and heedless imagination,The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoetis a big and unforgettable book that will be read for years to come.
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The author ofCloud Atlas's most ambitious novel yet, for the readers of Ishiguro, Murakami, and, of course, David Mitchell. The year is 1799, the place Dejima, the "high-walled, fan-shaped artificial island" that is the Japanese Empire's single port and sole window to the world. It is also the farthest-flung outpost of the powerful Dutch East Indies Company. To this place of superstition and swamp fever, crocodiles and courtesans, earthquakes and typhoons, comes Jacob de Zoet. The young, devout and ambitious clerk must spend five years in the East to earn enough money to deserve the hand of his wealthy fianceacute;e. But Jacob's intentions are shifted, his character shaken and his soul stirred when he meets Orito Aibagawa, the beautiful and scarred daughter of a Samurai, midwife to the island's powerful magistrate. In this world where East and West are linked by one bridge, Jacob sees the gaps shrink between pleasure and piety, propriety and profit. Magnificently written, a superb mix of historical research and heedless imagination,The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoetis a big and unforgettable book that will be read for years to come.


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"Michener is America's best writer, and he proves it once again in CENTENNIAL."THE PITTSBURGH PRESSA stunning panorama of the West, CENTENNIAL is an enthralling celebration of our country, brimming with the glory and the greatness of the American past that only bestselling author James Michener could bring to stunning life. From the Native Americans, the migrating white men and women, the cowboys, and the foreigners, it is a story of trappers, traders, homesteaders, gold seekers, ranchers, and hunters--all caught up in the dramatic events and violent conflicts that shaped the destiny of our legendary West.


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"Michener's most ambitious work of fiction in theme and scope."THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER"Brilliantly written."ASSOCIATED PRESSOnce again James A. Michener brings history to life with this 400-year saga of America's great bay and its Eastern Shore. Following Edmund Steed and his remarkable family, who parallel the settling and forming of the nation, CHESAPEAKE sweeps readers from the unspoiled world of the Native Americans to the voyages of Captain John Smith, the Revolutionary War, and right up to modern times.


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They were young and innocent. Arriving in a place they had barely heard of, they prepared for the ritual many men had endured before them -- war. They were American fighter pilots, and they came on a huge ship that also carried their helicopters. Trained as professionals, but as frightened as every man before them who had ever gone to war, they would face an enemy they couldn't understand and wage a war they had to win.


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In the grand storytelling style that is his signature, James Michener sweeps us back through time to the very beginnings of the Jewish faith, thousands of years ago. Through the predecessors of four modern men and women, we experience the entire colorful history of the Jews, including the life of the early Hebrews and their persecutions, the impact of Christianity, the Crusades, and the Spanish Inquisition, all the way to the founding of present-day Israel and the Middle-East conflict."A sweeping chronology filled with excitement."THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER


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At fourteen, Alis has never been outside her strict religious community. But when her parents arrange for her to marry a forty-year-old man, she flees desperately to the dangerous, unfamiliar city. She learns quickly that the only way to survive there is to become a thiefor worse. Facing an impossible choice between a forced marriage or life on the streets, Alis seizes control of her own fate. But the path she chooses sets off a disastrous chain of events that leave her accused of murder. Steadfastly loyal, Alis must decide: will she betray a loved one or sacrifice herself?


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THINGS FALL APART tells two overlapping, intertwining stories, both of which center around Okonkwo, a "strong man" of an Ibo village in Nigeria. The first of these stories traces Okonkwo's fall from grace with the tribal world in which he lives, and in its classical purity of line and economical beauty it provides us with a powerful fable about the immemorial conflict between the individual and society. The second story, which is as modern as the first is ancient, and which elevates the book to a tragic plane, concerns the clash of cultures and the destruction of Okonkwo's world through the arrival of aggressive, proselytizing European missionaries. These twin dramas are perfectly harmonized, and they are modulated by an awareness capable of encompassing at once the life of nature, human history, and the mysterious compulsions of the soul. THINGS FALL APART is the most illuminating and permanent monument we have to the modern African experience as seen from within.


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By the author of "English Music" and "Hawksmoor", this is a novel about sorcery and the possibilities of human redemption. It is concerned with the prospect of an eternal city. It is about the secrets of love and power, in a world where there can be no distinction between the past and the present.


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Winner of the 1986 Booker Prize. Malcolm, Peter and Charlie and their Soave-sodden wives have one main ambition left in life: to drink Wales dry. But their routine is both shaken and stirred when they are joined by professional Welshman Alun Weaver (CBE) and his wife, Rhiannon.


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Penguin Decades bring you the novels that helped shape modern Britain. When they were published, some were bestsellers, some were considered scandalous, and others were simply misunderstood. All represent their time and helped define their generation, while today each is considered a landmark work of storytelling.Kingsley Amis's Lucky Jim was published in 1954, and is a hilarious satire of British university life. Jim Dixon is bored by his job as a medieval history lecturer. His days are only improved by pulling faces behind the backs of his superiors as he tries desperately to survive provincial bourgeois society, an unbearable 'girlfriend' and petty humiliation at the hands of Professor Welch.Lucky Jim is one of the most famous and influential of all British post-War novels.


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A century-old classic of British letters that charmed and fascinated generations of readers with its witty satire of Victorian society and its unique insights, by analogy, into the fourth dimension.


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This is a tale originally found in a Middle-Eastern folk tale and in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights). A poor boy obtains a magic lamp and when the lamp is rubbed, a genie appears and fulfils its owner's wishes.


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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.


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War and Peace is a novel by Leo Tolstoy, first published from 1865 to 1869 in Russkii Vestnik, which tells the story of Russian society during the Napoleonic Era. It is usually described as one of Tolstoy's two major masterpieces (the other being Anna Karenina) as well as one of the world's greatest novels.
War and Peace offered a new kind of fiction, with a great many characters caught up in a plot that covered nothing less than the grand subjects indicated by the title, combined with the equally large topics of youth, marriage, age, and death. Though it is often called a novel today, it broke so many conventions of the form that it was not considered a novel in its time. Indeed, Tolstoy himself considered Anna Karenina (1878) to be his first attempt at a novel in the European sense.


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In Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, J.M. Barrie first created Peter Pan as a baby, living a wild and secret life with birds and fairies in the middle of London. Later Barrie let this remarkable child grow a little older and he became the boy-hero of Neverland, making his first appearance, with Wendy, Captain Hook, and the Lost Boys, in Peter and Wendy. The Peter Pan stories were Barrie's only works for children but, as their persistent popularity shows, their themes of imaginative escape continue to charm even those who long ago left Neverland. This is the first edition to include both texts in one volume and the first to a present an extensively annotated text for Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens.


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Captivating tale by a master of make-believe recounts the further adventures of a little girl named Trot; Cap'n Bill, an old sailor; and their new friend, a boy named Button-Bright. Transported with the help of a magic umbrella to an island in the sky, the travelers meet six snub-nosed princesses, discover the King's treasure chamber, encounter a blue wolf, and meet Tourmaline the poverty Queen and Rosalie the Witch. Excitement and adventure fill their days in a delightful sequel to Baum's *The Sea Fairies.* 86 black-and-white illustrations; 12 full-color illustrations.


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The Marvelous Land of Oz, commonly shortened to The Land of Oz, published on July 5, 1904, is the second of L. Frank Baum's books set in the Land of Oz, and the sequel to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It is the only book in the series in which Dorothy Gale does not appear. This and the next 34 Oz books of the famous forty were illustrated by John R. Neill. *(Quote from wikipedia.org)*



**About the Author**



Lyman Frank Baum (1856 - 1919)

Lyman Frank Baum (May 15, 1856 - May 6, 1919) was an American author, actor, and independent filmmaker best known as the creator, along with illustrator W. W. Denslow, of one of the most popular books in American children's literature, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, better known today as simply The Wizard of Oz. He wrote thirteen sequels, nine other fantasy novels, and a plethora of other works (55 novels in total, 82 short stories, over 200 poems, an unknown number of scripts, and many miscellaneous writings), and made numerous attempts to bring his works to the stage and screen.



Baum was born in Chittenango, New York, into a devout Methodist family of German (father's side) and Scots-Irish (mother's side) origin, the fifth of six children born to Cynthia Stanton and Benjamin Ward Baum, only three of whom survived into adulthood. He was named "Lyman" after his father's brother, but always disliked this name, and preferred to go by his middle name, "Frank". His mother, Cynthia Stanton, was a direct descendant of Thomas Stanton, one of the four Founders of what is now Stonington, Connecticut. *(Quote from wikipedia.org)*



**About the Publisher** 



Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mytholo


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For the first time in more than eighty years, the most spectacularly illustrated of all the Oz books is available again with the metallic "emerald" green ink that illuminated the color plates of the original edition.Join Dorothy and the Wonderful Wizard as they take Aunt Em and Uncle Henry on a fabulous tour of Oz. During their journey they encounter such amazing and amusing people as King Kleaver with his Spoon Brigade and Miss Cuttenclip of the land of paper dolls. But while Dorothy and her friends play, the wicked Nome King has joined forces with the terrible Whimsies, the fearsome Growleywogs, and the evil Phanfasms in a plot to capture the Emerald City. Will Dorothy's friends discover the danger before it's too late?All the enchantment of Oz is here for a whole new generation to discover in this deluxe new edition featuring ninety black-and-white pictures and sixteen dazzling five-color plates by Oz artist John R. Neill.Afterword by Peter Glassman. For the first time in more than eighty years, the most spectacularly illustrated of all the Oz books is available with the metallic "emerald" green ink that illuminated the original edition. A Books of Wonder(R) Classic


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Readers of all ages will welcome the chance to be reunited with Dorothy Gale and such beloved characters as the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion, as well as to meet new favorites such as the Hungry Tiger, whose appetite is *never* satisfied; Princess Langwidere, who has thirty heads; Billina, a talking chicken; and Tiktok, a mechanical man.

Blown overboard while sailing with her uncle, Dorothy finds herself in the fairy realm of Ev. She sets out with her friends to rescue the Queen of Ev and her ten children, who have been imprisoned by the cruel Nome King. But even Ozma, the wise Ruler of Oz, is no match for the clever king, and it's up to Dorothy to save everyone from terrible danger. But will the Nome King's enchantments be too much even for the plucky little girl from Kansas?

Ozma of Oz has delighted children and adults for over eighty years, and now new generations can enjoy the unforgettable characters and the surprising and funny story in this deluxe facsimile of the rare first edition, featuring forty-two of John R. Neill's full-color plates and twenty-one two- color illustrations, as well as a colorful pictorial binding.Afterword by Peter Glassman. New generations can enjoy this surprising and funny story of the rescue of the royal family of Ev from the evil Nome King in a deluxe facsimile of the rare first edition. A Books of Wonder(R) Classic.


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Dorothy and Toto are off again on an exciting adventure down *The Road to Oz!*

In order to help the lovable, ever-wandering Shaggy Man, Dorothy and Toto must journey through magical and mysterious lands. Soon the three are joined by a lost lad named Button-Bright and the beautiful young Polychromethe Rainbow's Daughter. With magic at work and danger about, these new friends must journey through cities of talking beasts, across the Deadly Desert into the Truth Pond, and through many other strange and incredible places before they can reach the Emerald City.

Along the way, Dorothy and her companions encounter a whole new assortment of fantastic and funny characters--the crafty King Dox of Foxville, the magical donkey King Kik-a-bray, the terrible bigheaded Scoodlers, and Johnny Dooit (who can do anything)--along with old friends Jack Pumpkinhead, Tik-tok, Billina, and, of course, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow, and the wonderful Wizard himself.

*The Road to Oz* is the fifth adventure in the magical Land of Oz. For the first time since the original 1909 edition, this stunning new facsimile edition illustrates Dorothy's fantastic adventures on different colors of paper reflecting where she and her friends are on the road to Oz. Featuring all of John R. Neill's 126 striking pen-and-ink drawings, this handsome deluxe edition is one to be treasured for years to come.Afterword by Peter Glassman. This deluxe facsimile of the fifth Oz adventure reunites Dorothy and her friends for Princess Ozma's glorious birthday party. For the first time since the original 1909 edition, the 126 masterful illustrations are printed on colored papers, exactly as the author intended. A Books of Wonder Classic.


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Fantasy lovers of all ages will rejoice at this chance to travel once again to the marvelous land of Oz!

A California earthquake sends Dorothy Gale and her new friends--Zeb the farm boy, Jim the cab-horse, and Eureka the mischievous kitten--tumbling through a crack in the ground. Deep beneath the earth, Dorothy is reunited with her old friend the Wizard of Oz and his troupe of nine tiny piglets.

Together, Dorothy, the Wizard, and their friends travel through many fantastic lands, where they encounter the Mangaboos, people growing like vegetables in the ground; cross the Valley of Voe, where dama-fruit has turned everyone invisible; and are captured by mysterious flying Gargoyles. At last, the intrepid travelers reach Oz, where they have many unforgettable encounters with such favorites as the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger, Princess Ozma and the wooden Sawhorse.

*Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz* was the fourth Oz adventure. First published in 1908, it has captured the imaginations of young readers and listeners for four generations. Now a new generation can discover these superb adventures for themselves. This deluxe gift edition faithfully reproduces the rare first edition, including all sixteen color plates and all fifty black-and-white illustrations by John R. Neill, as well as the original colorful endpapers.Afterword by Peter Glassman. A deluxe facsimile of the fourth Oz adventure--originally published in 1908--when Dorothy and the Wizard meet the Mangaboos. A Books of Wonder(R) Classic.


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This enchanting tale, originally written more than 100 years ago by L. Frank Baum, marries all the magic and fantasy of *The Wizard of Oz* to the classic Christmas tale.

Nicholas is a mortal child found in the forest and raised by a band of woodland fairies and elves, where he learns to whittle small trinkets and toys from wood. As he grows older, he makes it his mission in life to make children happy by carving and delivering toys. Such traditions like hanging stockings on the chimney, Claus’s flying reindeer, and St. Nick’s immortality are explained through Baum’s colorful narrative thread.

Award winning painter Charles Santore, who has interpreted such classics as *Peter Rabbit*, *The Little Mermaid*, and *The Wizard of Oz*, beautifully re-imagines this Christmas fairytale, which is sure to become a Christmas classic on children’s bookshelves.


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First published in 1904, "A Kidnapped Santa Claus" by L. Frank Baum, the author of The Wizard of Oz, describes the action of some uncommon events in the land of Santa. Not far from the Laughing Valley where Santa and all his magical helpers live, and beyond the Forest of Burzee, there stands a huge mountain that contains the Cave of Demons. Each demon has a specialty: Selfishness, Envy, Hatred, Malice, and Repentance. Because the promise of Santa puts all girls and boys on their best behavior, the demons have hardly any visitors to their caves. In order to remedy their dismal foot traffic, they conspire to kidnap Santa! But oh! even when it looks as if the demons might win, one can never underestimate the power of devoted (and magical!) friends. 

 Adapted by Alex Robinson, author of several graphic novels, the action and menace of the tale will be enhanced and lightly spoofed. It seems a most appropriate treatment of Baum′s work -- he was an author who often let his profound and unsettling meanings roil beneath the surface of his otherwise fanciful stories.


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Enchanting fantasy by creator of beloved "Oz" stories whisks young readers away on an exciting underwater adventure! They'll meet a school of beguiling mermaids and an aristocratic codfish, attend an elegant banquet, confront an awesome sea monster, and much more. Enhanced by 78 of John R. Neill's original black-and-white illustrations.


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Written in a time when criminal biographies enjoyed great success, Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders details the life of the irresistible Moll and her struggles through poverty and sin in search of property and power. Born in Newgate Prison to a picaresque mother, Moll propels herself through marriages, periods of success and destitution, and a trip to the New World and back, only to return to the place of her birth as a popular prostitute and brilliant thief. The story of Moll Flanders vividly illustrates Defoe’s themes of social mobility and predestination, sin, redemption and reward. This Modern Library Paperback Classic is set from the 1721 edition printed by Chetwood in London, the only edition approved by Defoe.


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Kate Greenwaway (1846-1901) is one of the most popular children's book illustrators of all time. Edmund Evans produced her first book in 1879, which sold out resulting in triumph and gaining Greenaway her reputation. She has enchanted people, young and old, for over one hundred years with her watercolour illustrations of sweet, charming eighteenth century children with their quaint costumes and idyllic scenes. This book 'The Pied Piper Of Hamelin', written by Robert Browning and illustrated by Kate Greenaway was originally published in 1888. Many of the earliest children's books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Pook Press are working to republish these classic works in affordable, high quality, colour editions, using the original text and artwork so these works can delight another generation of children.


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The sensational bestselling story of Little Nell, the beautiful child thrown into a shadowy, terrifying world, seems to belong less to the history of the Victorian novel than to folklore, fairy tale, or myth. The sorrows of Nell and her grandfather are offset by Dickens's creation of a dazzling contemporary world inhabited by some of his most brilliantly drawn characters-the eloquent ne'er-do-well Dick Swiveller; the hungry maid known as the "Marchioness"; the mannish lawyer Sally Brass; Quilp's brow-beaten mother-in-law; and Quilp himself, the lustful, vengeful dwarf, whose demonic energy makes a vivid counterpoint to Nell's purity.


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Under Western Eyes traces the experiences of Razumov, a young Russian student caught up in the aftermath of a terrorist bombing. It deals with topical moral issues such as the defensibility of terrorist resistance to tyranny and the loss of individual privacy in a surveillance society.


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Alexandre Dumas was already a best-selling novelist when he wrote this historical romance, combining (as he claimed) the two essentials of life--"l'action et l'amour." The Man in the Iron Mask concludes the epic adventures of the three Muskateers, as Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and their friend D'Artagnan, once invincible, meet their destinies.


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Louise de la Valliere is the middle section of The Vicomte de Bragelonne, or, Ten Years After. Against a tender love story, Dumas continues the suspense which began with The Vicomte de Bragelonne and will end with The Man in the Iron Mask. Set during the reign of Louis XIV and filled with behind-the-scenes intrigue, the novel brings the aging Musketeers and d'Artagnan out of retirement to face an impending crisis within the royal court of France. This new edition of the classic English translation is richly annotated and places Dumas's invigorating tale in its historical and cultural context.


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Volume: 9 Publisher: New York: Thomas Crowell Publication date: 1900 Subjects: Rome -- History Empire, 30 B.C.-476 A.D Byzantine Empire -- History Notes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there.


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This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.


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Sir Henry Rider Haggard KBE (1856-1925) was a Victorian writer of adventure novels set in exotic locations. After failing his army entrance exam he was sent to a private 'crammer' in London to prepare for the entrance exam for the British Foreign Office, for which he never sat. Haggard's father sent him to Africa in an unpaid position as assistant to the secretary to Lieutenant-Governor of Natal Sir Henry Bulwer. Heavily influenced by the larger-than-life adventurers he met in Colonial Africa, the great mineral wealth discovered in Africa, and the ruins of ancient lost civilizations in Africa such as Great Zimbabwe, Haggard created his Allan Quatermain adventures. Haggard also wrote about agricultural and social issues reform, in part inspired by his experiences in Africa, but also based on what he saw in Europe. Haggard is most famous as the author of the best-selling novel King Solomon's Mines (1885). Amongst his other works are She (1887), Allan Quatermain (1888), Eric Brighteyes (1891) and Ayesha (1895).


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Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil, commonly called Leviathan is a book written in 1651 by Thomas Hobbes. It is titled after the biblical Leviathan. The book concerns the structure of society (as represented figuratively by the frontispiece, showing the state giant made up of individuals), as is evidenced by the full title.



In the book, Thomas Hobbes argues for a social contract and rule by an absolute sovereign. Influenced by the English Civil War, Hobbes wrote that chaos or civil war - situations identified with a state of nature and the famous motto Bellum omnium contra omnes ("the war of all against all") - could only be averted by strong central government. He thus denied any right of rebellion toward the social contract, which would be later added by John Locke and conserved by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. However, Hobbes did discuss the possible dissolution of the State. As the social contract was made to institute a state that would provide for the "peace and defence" of the people, the contract would become void if the government no longer protected its citizens. In such a case, man would automatically return to a state of nature until the creation of a new social contract.



In Leviathan, Hobbes set out his doctrine of the foundation of societies and legitimate governments. This became one of the first scholarly works on Social contract theory. In the natural condition of mankind, what other philosophers refer to as the state of nature, while some men may be stronger or more intelligent than others, none is so strong and smart as to be beyond a fear of violent death. When threatened with death, man in his natural state cannot help but defend himself in any way possible. Self-defense against violent death is Hobbes' highest human necessity, and rights are borne of necessity. In


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IN THE TITLE STORY, a baby born in 1860 begins life as an old man and proceeds to age backward. F. Scott Fizgerald hinted at this kind of inversion when he called his era “a generation grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken.” Perhaps nowhere in American fiction has this “Lost Generation” been more vividly preserved than in Fitzgerald’s short fiction. Spanning the early twentieth-century American landscape, this original collection captures, with Fitzgerald’s signature blend of enchantment and disillusionment, America during the Jazz Age.


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Ulysses has been the subject of controversy since copies of the first English edition were burned by the New York Post Office Authorities. Today critical interest centers on the authority of the text. This edition republishes, for the first time, without interference, the original 1922 text. Jeri Johnson's critical Introduction demystifies the complexities of the book, and a full textual publication history, helpful appendices, and explanatory notes guide the reader through this highly allusive text.


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Geppetto's new puppet can not only dance and turn somersaults, but also talks and misbehaves--and longs to be a real boy. This newly redesigned Puffin Classics edition is just in time for the Memorial Day release of the major motion picture directed by Steve Barron (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and starring Jonathan Taylor Thomas (Home Improvement) as Pinnocchio.


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Martin Eden, written by legendary author Jack London is widely considered to be one of the greatest books of all time. This great classic will surely attract a whole new generation of readers. For many, Martin Eden is required reading for various courses and curriculums. And for others who simply enjoy reading timeless pieces of classic literature, this gem by Jack London is highly recommended. Published by Classic Books International and beautifully produced, Martin Eden would make an ideal gift and it should be a part of everyone's personal library.


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tle heads for the high seas in perhaps the most amazing adventure ever experienced by man or animal. Told by nine-and-a-half-year-old Tommy Stubbins, crewman and future naturalist, the voyages of Doctor Dolittle and his company lead them to Spidermonkey Island. Along with his faithful friends, Polynesia the parrot and Chee-Chee the monkey, Doctor Dolittle survives a perilous shipwreck and lands on the mysterious floating island. There he meets the wondrous Great Glass See Snail who holds the key to the greates mystery of all.


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Doctor Dolittle prefers his animal patients to his people patients. And one day when a mysterious call beckons him to Africa, he discovers that he can talk to animals. Now the people are talking about Doctor Dolittle.


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In this retelling with pop-up illustrations, Peter disobeys his mother by going into Mr. McGregor's garden and almost gets caught.


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Thomas Paine was the first international revolutionary. His Common Sense (1776) was the most widely read pamphlet of the American Revolution--and his Rights of Man (1791-2), the most famous defense of the French Revolution, sent out a clarion call for revolution throughout the world. Paine paid the price for his principles: he was outlawed in Britain, narrowly escaped execution in France, and was vilified as an atheist and a Jacobin on his return to America. This new edition contains the complete texts of both Rights of Man and Common Sense, as well as six other powerfully political writings--American Crisis I, American Crisis XIII, Agrarian Justice, Letter to Jefferson, Letter Addressed to the Addressers on the Late Proclamation, and Dissertation on the First Principles of Government--all of which illustrate why Paine's ideas still resonate in the modern welfare states of today.


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The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Egypt; Drama / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh;


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*'I* would rather be an angel than God!'   

The voice of the speaker sounded clearly through the hawthorn tree. The young man and the young girl who sat together on the low tombstone looked at each other. They had heard the voices of the two children talking, but had not noticed what they said; it was the sentiment, not the sound, which roused their attention.   

The girl put her finger to her lips to impress silence, and the man nodded; they sat as still as mice whilst the two children went on talking.   

The scene would have gladdened a painter's heart. An old churchyard. The church low and square-towered, with long mullioned windows, the yellow-grey stone roughened by age and tender-hued with lichens. Round it clustered many tombstones tilted in all directions. Behind the church a line of gnarled and twisted yews.   

The churchyard was full of fine trees. On one side a magnificent cedar; on the other a great copper beech. Here and there among the tombs and headstones many beautiful blossoming trees rose from the long green grass. The laburnum glowed in the June afternoon sunlight; the lilac, the hawthorn and the clustering meadowsweet which fringed the edge of the lazy stream mingled their heavy sweetness in sleepy fragrance. The yellow-grey crumbling walls were green in places with wrinkled harts-tongues, and were topped with sweet-williams and spreading house-leek and stone-crop and wild- flowers whose delicious sweetness made for the drowsy repose of perfect summer.   

But amid all that mass of glowing colour the two young figures seated on the grey old tomb stood out conspicuously. The man was in conventional hunting-dress: red coat, white stock, black hat, white breeches, and top-boots. The girl was one of the richest, most glowing, and yet withal daintiest figures the eye of man could linger on. She was in riding-habit of hunting scarlet cloth; her black hat was tipped forward by piled-up masses red-golden hair. Round her neck was a white lawn scarf in the fashion of a man's hunting-stock, close fitting, and sinking into a gold-buttoned waistcoat of snowy twill. As she sat with the long skirt across her left arm her tiny black top-boots appeared underneath. Her gauntleted gloves were of white buckskin; her riding-whip was plaited of white leather, topped with ivory and banded with gold.   

Even in her fourteenth year Miss Stephen Norman gave promise of striking beauty; beauty of a rarely composite character. In her the various elements of her race seemed to have cropped out. The firm- set jaw, with chin broader and more square than is usual in a woman, and the wide fine forehead and aquiline nose marked the high descent from Saxon through Norman. The glorious mass of red hair, of the true flame colour, showed the blood of another ancient ancestor of Northern race, and suited well with the voluptuous curves of the full, crimson lips. The purple-black eyes, the raven eyebrows and eyelashes, and the fine curve of the nostrils spoke of the Eastern blood of the far-back wife of the Crusader. Already she was tall for her age, with something of that lankiness which marks the early development of a really fine figure. Long-legged, long-necked, as straight as a lance, with head poised on the proud neck like a lily on its stem.


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  One of the world’s best-loved stories of shipwreck and survival, *The Swiss Family   Robinson* portrays a family’s struggle to create a new life for themselves on a strange and   fantastic tropical island. Blown off course by a raging storm, the family—a Swiss pastor, his wife,   their four young sons, plus two dogs and a shipload of livestock—must rely on one another in   order to adapt to their needs the natural wonders of their exotic new home. Inspired by Daniel   Defoe’s *Robinson Crusoe*, this classic story of invention and adventure has fired the   imaginations of readers since it first appeared in 1812. Freely translated over the years, with   major sections excised and new subplots added, the novel is published here in its original English   translation, fully restored for a new generation of readers.


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Walter Crane (1845-1915) was an English artist. Born in Liverpool, he was part of the Arts and Crafts movement. He produced paintings, illustrations, children's books, ceramic tiles and other decorative arts. In 1862 his picture The Lady of Shalott was exhibited at the Royal Academy, but the Academy steadily refused his maturer work; and after the opening of the Grosvenor Gallery in 1877 he ceased to send pictures to Burlington House. In 1864 he began to illustrate a series of Sixpenny Toy-Books of Nursery Rhymes in Three Colours for Edmund Evans. He was allowed more freedom in a series beginning with The Frog Prince (1874) which showed markedly the influence of Japanese art, and of long visit to Italy following on his marriage in 1871. From the early 1880s, Crane was closely associated with the Socialist movement. He provided the weekly cartoons for the Socialist Organs Justice, The Commonweal and The Clarion. One of his last major works would be his Lunettes at the Royal West of England Academy which were painted in 1913.


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EDITORIAL REVIEW: Jack Reacher is back. The countdown has begun. Get ready for the most exciting 61 hours of your life. #1 *New York Times* bestselling author Lee Child’s latest thriller is a ticking time bomb of suspense that builds electric tension on every page. Sixty-one hours. Not a minute to spare.A tour bus crashes in a savage snowstorm and lands Jack Reacher in the middle of a deadly confrontation. In nearby Bolton, South Dakota, one brave woman is standing up for justice in a small town threatened by sinister forces. If she’s going to live long enough to testify, she’ll need help. Because a killer is coming to Bolton, a coldly proficient assassin who never misses.Reacher’s original plan was to keep on moving. But the next 61 hours will change everything. The secrets are deadlier and his enemies are stronger than he could have guessed—but so is the woman whose life he’ll risk his own to save. In **61 Hours**, Lee Child has written a showdown thriller with an explosive ending that readers will talk about for a long time to come.


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Philippa Gregory, "the queen of royal fiction" (USA Today) Presents the first of a new series set amid the deadly feuds of England known as the Wars of the Roses.Brother turns on brother to win the ultimate prize, the throne of England, in this dazzling account of the wars of the Plantagenets. They are the claimants and kings who ruled England before the Tudors, and now Philippa Gregory brings them to life through the dramatic and intimate stories of the secret players: the indomitable women, starting with Elizabeth Woodville, the White Queen.The White Queen tells the story of a woman of extraordinary beauty and ambition who, catching the eye of the newly crowned boy king, marries him in secret and ascends to royalty. While Elizabeth rises to the demands of her exalted position and fights for the success of her family, her two sons become central figures in a mystery that has confounded historians for centuries: the missing princes in the Tower of London whose fate is still unknown. From her uniquely qualified perspective, Philippa Gregory explores this most famous unsolved mystery of English history, informed by impeccable research and framed by her inimitable storytelling skills.With The White Queen, Philippa Gregory brings the artistry and intellect of a master writer and storyteller to a new era in history and begins what is sure to be another bestselling classic series from this beloved author. Compact Disk Includes a Bonus MP3 CD of Philippa Gregory's The Virgin's Lover


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The second book in Philippa's stunning new trilogy, The Cousins War, brings to life the story of Margaret Beaufort, a shadowy and mysterious character in the first book of the series - The White Queen - but who now takes centre stage in the bitter struggle of The War of the Roses. The Red Queen tells the story of the child-bride of Edmund Tudor, who, although widowed in her early teens, uses her determination of character and wily plotting to infiltrate the house of York under the guise of loyal friend and servant, undermine the support for Richard III and ultimately ensure that her only son, Henry Tudor, triumphs as King of England. Through collaboration with the dowager Queen Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret agrees a betrothal between Henry and Elizabeth's daughter, thereby uniting the families and resolving the Cousins War once and for all by founding of the Tudor dynasty.


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Logan Gyre is king of Cenaria, a country under siege, with a threadbare army and little hope.  He has one chance - a desperate gamble, but one that could destroy his kingdom.



In the north, the new Godking has a plan.  If it comes to fruition, no one will have the power to stop him. 



Kylar Stern has no choice. To save his friends-and perhaps his enemies-he must accomplish the impossible: assassinate a goddess. 

*

Beyond the Shadows* is the action-packed conclusion to the Night Angel Trilogy.


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For Durzo Blint, assassination is an art-and he is the city's most accomplished artist.  



For Azoth, survival is precarious.  Something you never take for granted.  As a guild rat, he's grown up in the slums, and learned to judge people quickly - and to take risks.  Risks like apprenticing himself to Durzo Blint.



But to be accepted, Azoth must turn his back on his old life and embrace a new identity and name.  As Kylar Stern, he must learn to navigate the assassins' world of dangerous politics and strange magics - and cultivate a flair for death.


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You?re the wetboy.? The man cursed. He was sweating, his broad face pasty. His bushy black beard quivered as he trembled. ?Tell me,? Kylar said. ?The Shinga said he pissed off some Cenarian wetboy. We were supposed to kill you if you came here.? ?Where is he?? ?If I tell you, will you let me live?? Kylar looked into the man?s eyes, and curiously didn?t feel or imagine?or whatever it had been the other times?the darkness that demanded death. ?Yes,? he said, though the killing rage was still on him. The man told him of a hideout, another trap, an underground room with only one entrance, and another ten guards. With teeth gritted against the white-cold fury, Kylar said, ?Tell them the Night Angel walks. Tell them Justice is come.?


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Here is the first volume in George R. R. Martin' s magnificent cycle of novels that includes A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords. As a whole, this series comprises a genuine masterpiece of modern fantasy, bringing together the best the genre has to offer. Magic, mystery, intrigue, romance, and adventure fill these pages and transport us to a world unlike any we have ever experienced. Already hailed as a classic, George R. R. Martin' s stunning series is destined to stand as one of the great achievements of imaginative fiction. A Game of Thrones Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom' s protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens. Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win thatdeadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones. "From the Trade Paperback edition."


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Here is the second volume in GEORGE R. R. MARTIN’S magnificent cycle of novels that includes **A Game of Thrones** and **A Storm of Swords**. As a whole, this series comprises a genuine masterpiece of modern fantasy, bringing together the best the genre has to offer. Magic, mystery, intrigue, romance, and adventure fill these pages and transport us to a world unlike any we have ever experienced. Already hailed as a classic, GEORGE R. R. MARTIN’S stunning series is destined to stand as one of the great achievements of imaginative fiction.**A CLASH OF KINGS**A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. Two great leaders—Lord Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon—who hold sway over an age of enforced peace are dead, victims of royal treachery. Now, from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory may go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel...and the coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles.


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Here is the third volume in George R. R. Martin’s magnificent cycle of novels that includes **A Game of Thrones** and **A Clash of Kings**. As a whole, this series comprises a genuine masterpiece of modern fantasy, bringing together the best the genre has to offer. Magic, mystery, intrigue, romance, and adventure fill these pages and transport us to a world unlike any we have ever experienced. Already hailed as a classic, George R. R. Martin’s stunning series is destined to stand as one of the great achievements of imaginative fiction.**A Storm of Swords**Of the five contenders for power, one is dead, another in disfavor, and still the wars rage as violently as ever, as alliances are made and broken. Joffrey, of House Lannister, sits on the Iron Throne, the uneasy ruler of the land of the Seven Kingdoms. His most bitter rival, Lord Stannis, stands defeated and disgraced, the victim of the jealous sorceress who holds him in her evil thrall. But young Robb, of House Stark, still rules the North from the fortress of Riverrun. Robb plots against his despised Lannister enemies, even as they hold his sister hostage at King’s Landing, the seat of the Iron Throne. Meanwhile, making her way across a blood-drenched continent is the exiled queen, Daenerys, mistress of the only three dragons still left in the world....But as opposing forces maneuver for the final titanic showdown, an army of barbaric wildlings arrives from the outermost line of civilization. In their vanguard is a horde of mythical Others--a supernatural army of the living dead whose animated corpses are unstoppable. As the future of the land hangs in the balance, no one will rest until the Seven Kingdoms have exploded in a veritable storm of swords. . .


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Few books have captivated the imagination and won the devotion and  praise of readers and critics everywhere as has George R. R. Martin’s monumental epic cycle of high fantasy. Now, in **A Feast for Crows**, Martin delivers the long-awaited fourth book of his landmark series, as a kingdom torn asunder finds itself at last on the brink of peace...only to be launched on an even more terrifying course of destruction.**A Feast for Crows**It seems too good to be true. After centuries of bitter strife and fatal treachery, the seven powers dividing the land have decimated one another into an uneasy truce. Or so it appears....With the death of the monstrous King Joffrey, Cersei is ruling as regent in King’s Landing. Robb Stark’s demise has broken the back of the Northern rebels, and his siblings are scattered throughout the kingdom like seeds on barren soil. Few legitimate claims to the once desperately sought Iron Throne still exist—or they are held in hands too weak or too distant to wield them effectively. The war, which raged out of control for so long, has burned itself out. But as in the aftermath of any climactic struggle, it is not long before the survivors, outlaws, renegades, and carrion eaters start to gather, picking over the bones of the dead and fighting for the spoils of the soon-to-be dead. Now in the Seven Kingdoms, as the human crows assemble over a banquet of ashes, daring new plots and dangerous new alliances are formed, while surprising faces—some familiar, others only just appearing—are seen emerging from an ominous twilight of past struggles and chaos to take up the challenges ahead. It is a time when the wise and the ambitious, the deceitful and the strong will acquire the skills, the power, and the magic to survive the stark and terrible times that lie before them. It is a time for nobles and commoners, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and sages to come together and stake their fortunes...and their lives. For at a feast for crows, many are the guests—but only a few are the survivors.*From the Hardcover edition.*


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From George R. R. Martin’s Introduction to *Warriors: 



*People have been telling stories about warriors for as long as they have been telling stories. Since Homer first sang the wrath of Achilles and the ancient Sumerians set down their tales of Gilgamesh, warriors, soldiers, and fighters have fascinated us; they are a part of every culture, every literary tradition, every genre. *All Quiet on the Western Front, From Here to Eternity, *and *The Red Badge of Courage *have become part of our literary canon, taught in classrooms all around the country and the world. Our contributors make up an all-star lineup of award-winning and bestselling writers, representing a dozen different publishers and as many genres. We asked each of them for the same thinga story about a warrior. Some chose to write in the genre they’re best known for. Some decided to try something different. You will find warriors of every shape, size, and color in these pages, warriors from every epoch of human history, from yesterday and today and tomorrow, and from worlds that never were. Some of the stories will make you sad, some will make you laugh, and many will keep you on the edge of your seat.” 



Included are a long novella from the world of Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin, a new tale of Lord John by Diana Gabaldon, and an epic of humanity at bay by David Weber. Also present are original tales by David Ball, Peter S. Beagle, Lawrence Block, Gardner Dozois, Joe Haldeman, Robin Hobb, Cecelia Holland, Joe R. Lansdale, David Morrell, Naomi Novik, James Rollins, Steven Saylor, Robert Silverberg, S.M. Stirling, Carrie Vaughn, Howard Waldrop, and Tad Williams. 



Many of these writers are bestsellers. All of them are storytellers of the highest quality. Together they make a volume of unforgettable reading.


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From Nobel Prize-winning scientist James D. Watson, a living legend for his work unlocking the structure of DNA, comes this candid and entertaining memoir, filled with practical advice for those starting out their academic careers. InAvoid Boring People, Watson lays down a lifers"s wisdom for getting ahead in a competitive world. Witty and uncompromisingly honest, he shares his thoughts on how young scientists should choose the projects that will shape their careers, the supreme importance of collegiality, and dealing with competitors within the same institution. Itrs"s an irreverent romp through Watsonrs"s colorful career and an indispensable guide to anyone interested in nurturing the life of the mind.


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The delightful play of William Shakespeare. "Then sighe not so, but let them goe, and be ye blithe and bonnie - converting all your songs of woe into hey nonnie nonnie."


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Six shots. Five dead. One heartland city thrown into a state of terror. But within hours the cops have it solved: a slam-dunk case. Except for one thing. The accused man says: You got the wrong guy. Then he says: Get Reacher for me. And sure enough, exmilitary investigator Jack Reacher is coming. He knows this shootera trained military sniper who never should have missed a shot. Reacher is certain something is not rightand soon the slam-dunk case explodes. Now Reacher is teamed with a beautiful young defense lawyer, moving closer to the unseen enemy who is pulling the strings. Reacher knows that no two opponents are created equal. This one has come to the heartland from his own kind of hell. And Reacher knows that the only way to take him down is to match his ruthlessness and cunningand then beat him shot for shot.


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Jack Reacher.The ultimate loner.An elite ex-military cop who left the service years ago, he’s moved from place to place…without family…without possessions…without commitments.And without fear. Which is good, because trouble—big, violent, complicated trouble—finds Reacher wherever he goes. And when trouble finds him, Reacher does not quit, not once…not ever.But some unfinished business has now found Reacher. And Reacher is a man who hates unfinished business.Ten years ago, a key investigation went sour and someone got away with murder. Now a chance encounter brings it all back. Now Reacher sees his one last shot. Some would call it vengeance. Some would call it redemption. Reacher would call it…justice.From the Hardcover edition.


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Across the country women are being murdered by a killer who leaves no evidence, no fatal wounds, no signs of struggle, and no clues to a motive. They are, truly, perfect crimes. In fact, the only thing that links the victims is the man they all knew: Jack Reacher.


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Jack Reacher. Hero. Loner. Soldier. Soldier's son. An elite military cop, he was one of the army's brightest stars. But in every cop's life there is one case that changes everything. For Jack Reacher, this is that case. New Year's Day, 1990. In a North Carolina motel, a two-star general is found dead. His briefcase is missing. Nobody knows what was in it. Within minutes Reacher has his orders:Control the situation. Within hours the general's wife is murdered. Then the dominoes really start to fall. Somewhere inside the vast worldwide fortress that is the U.S. Army, Reacher is being set up as a fall guy with the worst enemies a man can have. But Reacher won't quit. He's fighting a new kind of waragainst an enemy he didn't know he had. And against a conspiracy more chilling, ingenious, and treacherous than anyone could have guessed.


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Jack Reacher was alone, the way he liked it, soaking up the hot, electric New York City night, watching a man cross the street to a parked Mercedes and drive it away. The car contained one million dollars in ransom money because Edward Lane, the man who paid it, would do anything to get his family back. Lane runs a highly illegal soldiers-for-hire operation. He will use any tool to find his beautiful wife and child. And Jack Reacher is the best manhunter in the world. On the trail of vicious kidnappers, Reacher learns the chilling secrets of his employer's past . . . and of a horrific drama in the heart of a nasty little war. He knows that Edward Lane is hiding something. Something dirty. Something big. But Reacher also knows this: He's already in way too deep to stop now. And if he has to do it the hard way, he will.


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Reacher's anonymity in Florida is shattered by an investigator who's come looking for him. But hours after his arrival, the stranger is murdered. Retracing the PI's trail back to New York, Reacher's compelled to find out who was looking for him and why. He never expected the reasons to be so personal-and twisted.


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A covert group of assassins has the Vice President of the United States in their sights. They've planned well. There's just one thing they didn't plan on: Jack Reacher.


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From a helicopter high above the empty California desert, a man is sent free-falling into the night…. In Chicago, a woman learns that an elite team of ex–army investigators is being hunted down one by one.... And on the streets of Portland, Jack Reacher—soldier, cop, hero—is pulled out of his wandering life by a code that few other people could understand. From the first shocking scenes in Lee Child’s explosive new novel, Jack Reacher is plunged like a knife into the heart of a conspiracy that is killing old friends…and is on its way to something even worse.A decade postmilitary, Reacher has an ATM card and the clothes on his back—no phone, no ties, and no address. But now a woman from his old unit has done the impossible. From Chicago, Frances Neagley finds Reacher, using a signal only the eight members of their elite team of army investigators would know. She tells him a terrifying story—about the brutal death of a man they both served with. Soon Reacher is reuniting with the survivors of his old team, scrambling to raise the living, bury the dead, and connect the dots in a mystery that is growing darker by the day. The deeper they dig, the more they don’t know: about two other comrades who have suddenly gone missing—and a trail that leads into the neon of Vegas and the darkness of international terrorism.For now, Reacher can only react. To every sound. Every suspicion. Every scent and every moment. Then Reacher will trust the people he once trusted with his life—and take this thing all the way to the end. Because in a world of bad luck and trouble, when someone targets Jack Reacher and his team, they’d better be ready for what comes right back at them…From the Hardcover edition.


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When a woman is kidnapped, Jack Reacher's in the wrong place at the wrong time. He's kidnapped with her. Now he has to save them both.


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Thumbing across the west Texas desert, Jack Reacher has nowhere to go. Cruising the same stretch of blacktop is Carmen Greer. But the lift comes with a hitch. She's got a wild story to tell--about her husband, her family secrets, and a hometown that's pure Gothic.


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Susan Mark, the fifth passenger, had a big secret, and her plain little life was being watched in Washington, and California, and Afghanistan-by dozens of people with one thing in common: They're all lying to Reacher. A little. A lot. Or just enough to get him killed. A race has begun through the streets of Manhattan, a maze crowded with violent, skilled soldiers on all sides of a shadow war. For Jack Reacher, a man who trusts no one and likes it that way, the finish line comes when you finally get face-to-face and look your worst enemy in the eye.


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Two lonely towns in Colorado: Hope and Despair. Between them, twelve miles of empty road. Jack Reacher never turns back. It's not in his nature. All he wants is a cup of coffee. What he gets is big trouble. So in Lee Child’s electrifying new novel, Reacher—a man with no fear, no illusions, and nothing to lose—goes to war against a town that not only wants him gone, it wants him dead. It wasn’t the welcome Reacher expected. He was just passing through, minding his own business. But within minutes of his arrival a deputy is in the hospital and Reacher is back in Hope, setting up a base of operations against Despair, where a huge, seething walled-off industrial site does something nobody is supposed to see . . . where a small plane takes off every night and returns seven hours later . . . where a garrison of well-trained and well-armed military cops—the kind of soldiers Reacher once commanded—waits and watches . . . where above all two young men have disappeared and two frightened young women wait and hope for their return.Joining forces with a beautiful cop who runs Hope with a cool hand, Reacher goes up against Despair—against the deputies who try to break him and the rich man who tries to scare him—and starts to crack open the secrets, starts to expose the terrifying connection to a distant war that’s killing Americans by the thousand.Now, between a town and the man who owns it, between Reacher and his conscience, something has to give. And Reacher never gives an inch.


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The best-selling author of Stiff and Bonk explores the irresistibly strange universe of space travel and life without gravity.  Space is a world devoid of the things we need to live and thrive: air, gravity, hot showers, fresh produce, privacy, beer. Space exploration is in some ways an exploration of what it means to be human. How much can a person give up? How much weirdness can they take? What happens to you when you can’t walk for a year? have sex? smell flowers? What happens if you vomit in your helmet during a space walk? Is it possible for the human body to survive a bailout at 17,000 miles per hour? To answer these questions, space agencies set up all manner of quizzical and startlingly bizarre space simulations. As Mary Roach discovers, it’s possible to preview space without ever leaving Earth. From the space shuttle training toilet to a crash test of NASA’s new space capsule (cadaver filling in for astronaut), Roach takes us on a surreally entertaining trip into the science of life in space and space on Earth.


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**A special edition hardcover in celebration of Ayn Rand’s centennial.**  

  When it was first published in 1943, *The Fountainhead*--containing Ayn Rand’s   daringly original literary vision with the seeds of her groundbreaking philosophy,   Objectivism—won immediate worldwide acclaim. This instant classic is the story of an   intransigent young architect, his violent battle against conventional standards, and his   explosive love affair with a beautiful woman who struggles to defeat him. This centennial   edition of *The Fountainhead*, celebrating the controversial and eduring legacy of   its author, features an afterword by Rand’s literary executor, Leonard Peikoff, offering   some of Ayn Rand’s personal notes on the development of her masterwork.


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At last, Ayn Rand's masterpiece is available to her millions of loyal readers in trade paperback. With this acclaimed work and its immortal query, "Who is John Galt?", Ayn Rand found the perfect artistic form to express her vision of existence. Atlas Shrugged made Rand not only one of the most popular novelists of the century, but one of its most influential thinkers. Atlas Shrugged is the astounding story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world--and did. Tremendous in scope, breathtaking in its suspense, Atlas Shrugged stretches the boundaries further than any book you have ever read. It is a mystery, not about the murder of a man's body, but about the murder--and rebirth--of man's spirit. * Atlas Shrugged is the "second most influential book for Americans today" after the Bible, according to a joint survey conducted by the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club


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This is Ayn Rand's challenge to the prevalent philosophical doctrines of our time and the "atmosphere of guilt, of panic, of despair, of boredom, and of all-pervasive evasion" that they create. One of the most controversial figures on the intellectual scene, Ayn Rand was the proponent of a moral philosophy--and ethic of rational self-interest--that stands in sharp opposition to the ethics of altruism and self-sacrifice. The fundamentals of this morality--"a philosophy for living on Earth"--are here vibrantly set forth by the spokesman for a new class, For the New Intellectual.


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Today man's mind is under attack by all the leading schools of philosophy. We are told that we cannot trust our senses, that logic is arbitrary, that concepts have no basis in reality. Ayn Rand opposes that torrent of nihilism, and she provides the alternative in this eloquent presentation of the essential nature--and power--of man's conceptual faculty. She offers a startlingly original solution to the problem that brought about the collapse of modern philosophy: the problem of universals. This brilliantly argued, superbly written work, together with an essay by philosophy professor Leonard Peikoff, is vital reading for all those who seek to discover that human beings can and should live by the guidance of reason.


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This collection of essays was the last work planned by Ayn Rand before her death in 1982. In it, she summarizes her view of philosophy and deals with a broad spectrum of topics. According to Ayn Rand, the choice we make is not whether to have a philosophy, but which one to have: rational, conscious, and therefore practical; or contradictory, unidentified, and ultimately lethal. Written with all the clarity and eloquence that have placed Ayn Rand's Objectivist philosophy in the mainstream of American thought, these essays range over such basic issues as education, morality, censorship, and inflation to prove that philosophy is the fundamental force in all our lives.


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A newly published resource taken from a famous lecture course given by Ayn RandIn 1958, Ayn Rand, already the world-famous author of such bestselling books as *Atlas Shrugged* and *The Fountainhead*, gave a private series of extemporaneous lectures in her own living room on the art of fiction. Tore Boeckmann and Leonard Peikoff for the first time now bring readers the edited transcript of these exciting personal statements. *The Art of Fiction* offers invaluable lessons, in which Rand analyzes the four essential elements of fiction: theme, plot, characterization, and style. She demonstrates her ideas by dissecting her best-known works, as well as those of other famous authors, such as Thomas Wolfe, Sinclair Lewis, and Victor Hugo. An historic accomplishment, this compendium will be a unique and fascinating resource for both writers and readers of fiction.


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A remarkable series of lectures on the art of creating effective nonfiction by one of the 20th century's most profound writers and thinkers-now available for the first time in print.Culled from sixteen informal lectures Ayn Rand delivered to a select audience in the late 1960s, this remarkable work offers indispensable guidance to the aspiring writer of nonfiction while providing readers with a fascinating discourse on art and creation. Based on the concept that the ability to create quality nonfiction is a skill that can be learned like any other, *The Art of Nonfiction* takes readers through the writing process, step-by-step, providing insightful observations and invaluable techniques along the way.In these edited transcripts, Rand discusses the psychological aspects of writing, and the different roles played by the conscious and subconscious mind. From choosing a subject to polishing a draft to mastering an individual writing style-for authors of theoretical works or those leaning toward journalistic reporting-this crucial resource introduces the words and ideas of one of our most enduring authors to a new generation.


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A prolific writer, bestselling novelist, and world-renowned philosopher, Ayn Rand defined a full system of thought--from epistemology to aesthetics. Her writing is so extensive and the range of issues she covers so enormous that those interested in finding her discussions of a given topic may have to search through many sources to locate the relevant passage. THE AYN RAND LEXICON brings together all the key ideas of her philosophy of Objectivism. Begun under Rand's supervision, this unique volume is an invaluable guide to her philosophy or reason, self-interest and laissez-faire capitalism--the philosophy so brilliantly dramatized in her novels THE FOUNTAINHEAD, WE THE LIVING, and ATLAS SHRUGGED.


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The Fountainhead, which became one of the most influential and widely read philosophical novels of the twentieth century, made Ayn Rand famous. An impassioned proponent of rational self-interest, individualism, and laissez-faire capitalism, she expressed her unique views in numerous works of fiction and non-fiction that have been brought together for the first time in this one-of-a-kind volume. The Fountainhead, which became one of the most influential and widely read philosophical novels of the twentieth century, made Ayn Rand famous. An impassioned proponent of reason, rational self-interest, individualism, and laissez-faire capitalism, she expressed her unique views in numerous works of fiction and non-fiction that have been brought together for the first time in this one-of-a-kind volume. Containing excerpts from all her novels--including Atlas Shrugged, Anthem, and We The Living--The Ayn Rand Reader is a perfect introduction for those who have never read Rand, and provides teachers with an excellent guide to the basics of her viewpoint.


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In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Ayn Rand's birth, this newly revised collection of her early fiction ranges from works written from 1926 through 1940, and includes her previously unpublished short story, "The Night King." Original.


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EDITORIAL REVIEW:

In the tumultuous late 60s and early 70s, a social movement known as the "New Left" emerged as a major cultural influence, especially on the youth of America. It was a movement that embraced "flower-power" and psychedelic "consciousness-expansion," that lionized Ho Chi Minh and Fidel Castro and launched the Black Panthers and the Theater of the Absurd.  In Return Of The Primitive (originally published in 1971 as The New Left), Ayn Rand, bestselling novelist and originator of the theory of Objectivism, identified the intellectual roots of this movement. She urged people to repudiate its mindless nihilism and to uphold, instead, a philosophy of reason, individualism, capitalism, and technological progress.  Editor Peter Schwartz, in this new, expanded version of The New Left, has reorganized Rand's essays and added some of his own in order to underscore the continuing relevance of her analysis of that period. He examines such current ideologies as environmentalism and multiculturalism and argues that the same primitive, tribalist, "anti-industrial" mentality which animated the New Left a generation ago is shaping society today.


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Here is the final collection of articles and speeches by the bestselling and world-renowned novelist, essayist, and philosopher.


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**The first literary work of one of the most influential philosophers and novelists of the twentieth century-available for the first time in trade paperback.**



 Ayn Rand wrote of her first novel, *We the Living*, "It is as near to an autobiography as I will ever write. The plot is invented, the background is not...The specific events of Kira's life were not mine: her ideas, her convictions, her values, were and are." *We the Living* depicts the struggle of the individual against the state, and the impact of the Russian Revolution on three human beings who demand the right to live their own lives and pursue their own happiness. It tells of a young woman's passionate love, held like a fortress against the corrupting evil of a totalitarian state.



 This classic novel is not a story of politics, but of the men and women who have to struggle for existence behind the banners and slogans.


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Rarely has a writer and thinker of the stature of Ayn Rand afforded us access to her most intimate thoughts and feelings. From *Journals of Ayn Rand*, we gain an invaluable new understanding and appreciation of the woman, the artist, and the philosopher, and of the enduring legacy she has left us.   Rand comes vibrantly to life as an untried screenwriter in Hollywood, creating stories that reflect her youthful vision of the world. We see her painful memories of communist Russia and her struggles to conveyy them in *We the Living*. Most fascinating is the intricate, step-by-step process through which she created the plots and characters of her two masterworks, *The Fountainhead* and *Atlas Shrugged*, and the years of painstaking research that imbued the novels with their powerful authenticity.   Complete with reflections on her legendary screenplay concerning the making of the atomic bomb and tantalizing descriptions of projects cut short by her death, *Journals of Ayn Rand* illuminates the mind and heart of an extraordinary woman as no biography or memoir ever could. On these vivid pages, Ayn Rand lives.


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Ayn Rand here sets forth the moral principles of Objectivism, the philosophy that holds man's life--the life proper to a rational being--as the standard of moral values and regards altruism as incompatible with man's nature, with the creative requirements of his survival, and with a free society.


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As an interesting relic of the past, this outlandish piece of propaganda is worth the listener's time, even though the author's overconfident sense of her own rightness and persistence at pressing her points with little respect for opposing views can quickly become more than a little annoying. Using outdated words such as "altruists" to represent the forces of evil who would overburden the poor, beleaguered American business community, Rand "protesteth" far too much. Americans have seen many of the abuses come to pass that Rand, writing in 1946, claimed would never happen if free enterprise were just left to its own devices, so many of her arguments will be lost on a modern listener. For instance, the antitrust laws forced railroad barons to use illegal payoffs to forge ahead with expansion, and they shouldn't, therefore, be blamed the antitrust laws are the real problem. Narrator Anna Field's cold, crisp voice is actually well suited to such a heartless piece as this. Recommended. Mark Pumphrey, Polk Cty. P.L., Columbus, NC 


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The year 2005 marks Ayn Rand's Centennial Year.  Ayn Rand's classic tale of a future dark age of the great ?We??a world that deprives individuals of name, independence, and values?anticipates her later masterpieces, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.


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Becky Brandon is pregnant! She couldn't be more overjoyed--especially since shopping cures morning sickness. But when the celebrity must-have obstetrician turns out to be her husband's glamorous ex-girlfriend, Becky's perfect world starts to crumble.


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Rebecca Bloomwood is now happily married to Luke Brandon, and all her problems seem to be at an end. But suddenly into her life steps a sister, of whose existence Becky had hitherto been completely unaware. Becky is only too anxious to welcome her into the bosom of the family. But there is only one snag- she HATES shopping. She is the antithesis of the shopaholic. It all makes for some very difficult family relationships.


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The irresistible heroine of **Confessions of a Shopaholic **and **Shopaholic Ties the Knot **is back! And this time Becky Bloomwood and her credit cards are headed across the Atlantic.…With her shopping excesses (somewhat) in check and her career as a TV financial guru thriving, Becky’s biggest problem seems to be tearing her entrepreneur boyfriend, Luke, away from work for a romantic country weekend. And worse, figuring out how to pack light. But packing takes on a whole new meaning when Luke announces he’s moving to New York for business—and he asks Becky to go with him! Before you can say “Prada sample sale,” Becky has landed in the Big Apple, home of Park Avenue penthouses and luxury boutiques. Surely it’s only a matter of time until she becomes an American TV celebrity, and she and Luke are the toast of Gotham society. Nothing can stand in their way, especially with Becky’s bills miles away in London. But then an unexpected disaster threatens her career prospects, her relationship with Luke, and her available credit line! **Shopaholic Takes Manhattan**—but will she have to return it?


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There’s never been a better excuse to buy a new dress...or two. Shopaholic Ties the KnotThe irresistible heroine of Confessions of a Shopaholic and Shopaholic Takes Manhattan is back!--in a hilarious tale of mothers and daughters, mothers and sons, and one blushing bride who just can’t say no to saying “I do.”Life has been good for Becky Bloomwood: She’s become the best personal shopper at Barneys, she and her successful entrepreneurial boyfriend, Luke, are living happily in Manhattan’s West Village, and her new next door neighbor is a fashion designer! But with her best friend, Suze, engaged, how can Becky fail to notice that her own ring finger is bare? Not that she’s been thinking of marriage (or diamonds) or anything...Then Luke proposes! Bridal registries dance in Becky’s head. Problem is, two other people are planning her wedding: Becky’s overjoyed mother has been waiting forever to host a backyard wedding, with the bride resplendent in Mum’s frilly old gown. While Luke’s high-society mother is insisting on a glamorous, all-expenses-paid affair at the Plaza. Both weddings for the same day. And Becky can’t seem to turn down either one. Can everyone’s favorite shopaholic tie the knot before everything unravels?From the Trade Paperback edition.


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Rebecca Bloomwood just hit rock bottom. But she's never looked better....Becky Bloomwood has a fabulous flat in London's trendiest neighborhood, a troupe of glamorous socialite friends, and a closet brimming with the season's must-haves. The only trouble is that she can't actually afford it—not any of it. Her job writing at Successful Savings not only bores her to tears, it doesn't pay much at all. And lately Becky's been chased by dismal letters from Visa and the Endwich Bank—letters with large red sums she can't bear to read—and they're getting ever harder to ignore. She tries cutting back; she even tries making more money. But none of her efforts succeeds. Becky's only consolation is to buy herself something ... just a little something....Finally a story arises that Becky actually cares about, and her front-page article catalyzes a chain of events that will transform her life—and the lives of those around her—forever. Sophie Kinsella has brilliantly tapped into our collective consumer conscience to deliver a novel of our times—and a heroine who grows stronger every time she weakens. Becky Bloomwood's hilarious schemes to pay back her debts are as endearing as they are desperate. Her "confessions" are the perfect pick-me-up when life is hanging in the (bank) balance.


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When twenty-eight-year-old Lexi Smart wakes up in a London hospital, she’s in for a big surprise. Her teeth are perfect. Her body is toned. Her handbag is Vuitton. Having survived a car accident—in a Mercedes no less—Lexi has lost a big chunk of her memory, three years to be exact, and she’s about to find out just how much things have changed. Somehow Lexi went from a twenty-five-year-old working girl to a corporate big shot with a sleek new loft, a personal assistant, a carb-free diet, and a set of glamorous new friends. And who is this gorgeous husband—who also happens to be a multimillionaire? With her mind still stuck three years in reverse, Lexi greets this brave new world determined to be the person she…well, seems to be. That is, until an adorably disheveled architect drops the biggest bombshell of all. Suddenly Lexi is scrambling to catch her balance. Her new life, it turns out, comes complete with secrets, schemes, and intrigue. How on earth did all this happen? Will she ever remember? And what will happen when she does?


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With the same wicked humor, buoyant charm, and optimism that have made her Shopaholic novels beloved international bestsellers, Sophie Kinsella delivers a hilarious new novel and an unforgettable new character. Meet Emma Corrigan, a young woman with a huge heart, an irrepressible spirit, and a few little secrets:Secrets from her mother:I lost my virginity in the spare bedroom with Danny Nussbaum while Mum and Dad were downstairs watching Ben-Hur.Sammy the goldfish in my parents’ kitchen is not the same goldfish that Mum gave me to look after when she and Dad were in Egypt.Secrets from her boyfriend:I weigh one hundred and twenty-eight pounds. Not one eighteen, like Connor thinks.I’ve always thought Connor looks a bit like Ken. As in Barbie and Ken.From her colleagues:When Artemis really annoys me, I feed her plant orange juice. (Which is pretty much every day.) It was me who jammed the copier that time. In fact, all the times.Secrets she wouldn’t share with anyone in the world:My G-string is hurting me.I have no idea what NATO stands for. Or even what it is.Until she spills them all to a handsome stranger on a plane. At least, she thought he was a stranger.But come Monday morning, Emma’s office is abuzz about the arrival of Jack Harper, the company’s elusive CEO. Suddenly Emma is face-to-face with the stranger from the plane, a man who knows every single humiliating detail about her. Things couldn’t possibly get worse—Until they do.


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The first volume of five that comprise Victor Hugo's masterpiece Les Miserables. Each volume is lightweight-a  more friendly and convenient approach than a 1,200-page version; and legible-no squinting required.    The five books that complete this set can be found simply by copying and pasting each ISBN into Amazon's search field. Volume One: Fantine, 1449565468; Volume Two: Cosette, 1449565530; Volume Three: Marius, 1449565573, Volume Four: Saint-Denis, 144956562X; Volume Five: Jean Valjean, 1449565646.


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Anne BrontA's first novel, Agnes Grey, combines an astute dissection of middle-class social behavior and class attitudes with a wonderful study of Victorian responses to young children which has parallels with debates about education that continue to this day. In writing the novel, BrontA drew on her own experiences, and one can trace in the work many of the trials of the Victorian governess, often stranded far from home, and treated with little respect by her employers, yet expected to control and educate her young charges. Agnes Grey looks at childhood from nursery to adolescence, and it also charts the frustrations of romantic love, as Agnes starts to nurse warmer feelings towards the local curate, Mr. Weston. Sally Shuttleworth's fascinating introduction considers the book's fictional and narrative qualities, its relationship with Victorian child-rearing and the responsibilities of parents, and the changing attitudes to the book influenced by modern concerns for children's rights. The new edition includes a revised and updated bibliography as well as revised notes drawing on the latest critical material.


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AMORY ELAINE inherited from his Brother every trait, except the stray inexpressible few, that made him worth while. His father, an ineffectual, inarticulate man with a taste for Byron and a. habit of drowsing over the Encyclopeadia Britannica, grew wealthy at thirty through .the death of two elder brothers, successful Chicago brokers, and in the first flush of feeling that the world was his, went to Bar Harbor and met Beatnce'Q'Hara. In consequence, Stephen Blaine handed down to posterity his height of just under six feet and his tendency to waver at crucial moments, these two abstractions appearing in his son Amory. For ,many years he hovered in the background of his family's life, an unasser ... tive figure with a face haJf-obliterated by lifeless, silky hair, continually occupied in H taking care" of his wife, continually haxassed by the idea. that he didn't and couldn't understand her. But Deatrice Blaine! There was a woman! Early pictures taken on her fath



**Table of Contents** 



CONTENTS; BOOK ONE: THE ROl-lANTIC EGOTIST; C!IAl'Tn I!ACR r AMORY, SON OF BEATRICE 3; 11 SPIRES AND GARGOYLES ? ? ? ? ? 41; lIT '!HE EGOTIST CONSIDERS 99; IV NARCISSUS OFF Dtrr'Y 131; [INTEiLUDE: MAY, 1917-FEBRUARY, 1919]; BOOK TWO: THE EDUCATION OF A PERSONAGE; ClJ~R PAC!:; 1 THE D ''"BUTANTE ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 179; II EXPERIMENTS m CONVALESCENCE; -; 212; III YOUNG IRONY ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ; IV ThE SUPERCILIOUS SACRIFICE; V TnE EGOTIST BECOMES A PERSONAGE



**About the Publisher** 



Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.



Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the diffic


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EDITORIAL REVIEW:

**An incomparable Henry James’s novel in a new edition **



 Featuring a new introduction, it is a brilliant and sophisticated satire of manners and morals in the best Jamesian tradition. *The Wings of the Dove* is an indelible take on the tragic love triangle in which two poor yet ardent lovers seduce a dying woman in the hope that she will leave them her fortune.


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Elizabeth Gaskell's biography of her close friend Charlotte Bronte was published in 1857 to immediate popular acclaim, and remains the most significant study of the enigmatic author who gave Jane Eyre the subtitle An Autobiography. It recounts Charlotte Bronte's life from her isolated childhood, through her years as a writer who had 'foreseen the single life' for herself, to her marriage at thirty-eight and death less than a year later. The resulting work - the first full-length biography of a woman novelist by a woman novelist - explored the nature of Charlotte's genius and almost single-handedly created the Bronte myth.


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Publisher: New York: Scribner Publication date: 1922 Notes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there.


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This epic of urban life tells of small- town heroine Carrie Meeber, adrift in an indifferent Chicago. Setting out, she has nothing but a few dollars and an unspoiled beauty. Hers is a story of struggle-from sweatshop to stage success-and of the love she inspires in an older, married man whose obsession with her threatens to destroy him.


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General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1904 Notes: This is an OCR reprint of the original rare book. There may be typos or missing text and there are no illustrations. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there.


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From Robert Tine’s Introduction to Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and Other Writings about New York            Crane was determined to live in the city and to make his living with his pen. Living a bohemian, hand-to-mouth existence, he took to vanishing into the vast netherworld of the city, living among the whores, the drunks, the drug addicts, and the “b’hoys,” the Irish gangster swells of the Bowery. Emerging from this underworld, Crane would have enough material for a freelance newspaper piece as well as other material that would become Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. Occasional newspaper work, a small but providential inheritance, and regular handouts from one of his brothers allowed Crane to cobble together a modest living—but it was Maggie on which he had pinned his hopes.            By 1892 Crane had finished writing Maggie. He approached the editor of Century Magazine, hoping his story would be serialized in the pages of that august publication. Almost immediately his hopes were dashed. The editor found the manuscript “cruel” and far too straightforward about the awful details of slum life. At the time there was no shortage of literature about the life of the underclass, but it was always couched in the safe terms of moral disapproval, sugar-coating the misery of the wretched, and suggesting that somehow the poor were responsible for their misery. Crane’s matter-of-fact presentation of life in the gutter was, the editor of the Century felt, too harsh for its middle- and upper-class readership.            Crane then began that dispiriting trek, so well known to first-time novelists, traveling from publisher to publisher only to have his manuscript rejected again and again. Many of the editors who read Maggie had the same opinion: While there was much to admire in the book, the squalor of the story, the appalling degradation of virtually all the characters, and the coarseness of the language were bound to outrage the “Mrs. Grundys” of the world (the fictional Mrs. Grundy, introduced in Thomas Morton’s play 1798 Speed the Plow, exemplifies the negative influence of conventional wisdom) and bring nothing but opprobrium down on the author and by extension his publisher.            Crane then came up with the idea of publishing his book under a pseudonym, and he chose the bland, almost forgettable name of “Johnston Smith.” “You see,” he explained, “I was going to wait until the world was pyrotechnic about Johnston Smith’s Maggie and then I was going to flop down like a trapeze performer from a wire, coming forward with all the grace of a consumptive hen, and say ‘I am he, friends’” (Stallman, Stephen Crane, p. 69; see “For Further Reading”).            That Crane set out to épater les bourgeois—outrage the middle class—there can be little doubt. However, the intentionally scandalous nature of the book still left him with the problem of finding a publisher—a problem that seemed insurmountable. Following rejection after rejection, Crane was forced to suffer the ignominy of publishing the work himself, paying a house best known for medical texts and religious tracts to print the first edition of Maggie. In 1893 he paid $869 for 1,100 copies of a cheap-looking yellow paperback edition of the book. Johnston Smith, however, had ceased to exist—Stephen Crane’s name appears on the title page. The publisher’s name appears nowhere. Even under the canopy of anonymity the publisher had insisted that the manuscript be bowdlerized to a degree. Some of the rougher language and more violent scenes were removed or toned down. But Maggie: A Girl of the Streets was still pretty strong meat for its day, and Crane now waited (one senses with a degree of gleeful anticipation) for the hue and cry, the fierce literary arguments, the denunciations from the pulpits of every denomination, that would propel Maggie to best-sellerdom and make the young man’s fortune.            Instead, silence. No newsstands or reputable bookshop would take the book on account of its incendiary nature—the only exception was Brentano’s, which took a dozen copies on consignment and returned ten. In desperation Crane took to giving away copies, dozens and dozens of them, and somehow, miraculously, the book found its way into the literary bloodstream, moving from one man of letters to another. When Crane’s spirits and fortunes were at their lowest ebb, he heard through a friend that his book had found its way into the hands of the well-respected author and critic William Dean Howells, who admired the book and announced that he would review it. The friend who gave Crane this welcome news was Curtis Brown, who would later become a prominent literary agent.            Brown remembers: “If Crane had been told that Howells had condemned the book he might have heaved a sigh. But instead, given the welcome news, he seemed dazed. He looked around like a man who did not know where he was. He gulped something down his throat, grinned like a woman in hysterics and then went off to take up his vocation again” (Stallman, p. 71).            But even with the enthusiastic support of the powerful Howells, the 1893 edition of Maggie could only be considered a failure. Just the same, the praise of a literary man whose opinion Crane respected seem to strengthen him and was enough, it seems, to make him “take up his vocation again.”            This vocation led him to write his finest and best-known work, a novel that became an American classic: The Red Badge of Courage. Published in 1895 by the eminently respectable publishing house of Appleton and Company, the novel achieved huge sales and vast acclaim from the critics and reading public. Stephen Crane was suddenly thrust into the limelight he had sought, and had become, overnight, a literary figure to be reckoned with. He was also a rich young author, a guaranteed best-seller. As a result Maggie: A Girl of the Streets was reissued in 1896, and this time the manuscript was returned to its original state—all of the emendations and coy ellipses were removed. Red Badge of Courage may have made Crane’s reputation, but Maggie was first in his heart.


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The lives and adventures of the four March sisters--Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy--are set against the backdrop of nineteenth-century New England while their father is off fighting in the Civil War. Reprint.


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Earth is long since dead. On a colony planet, a band of men has gained control of technology, made themselves immortal, and now rules their world as the gods of the Hindu pantheon. Only one dares oppose them: he who was once Siddhartha and is now Mahasamatman. Binder of Demons. Lord of Light.


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He holds the secret that can end the world.The truth: Nicholas Flamel was born in Paris on September 28, 1330. Nearly 700 years later, he is acknowledged as the greatest Alchemyst of his day. It is said that he discovered the secret of eternal life.The records show that he died in 1418.But his tomb is empty.The legend: Nicholas Flamel lives. But only because he has been making the elixir of life for centuries. The secret of eternal life is hidden within the book he protects—the Book of Abraham the Mage. It's the most powerful book that has ever existed. In the wrong hands, it will destroy the world. That's exactly what Dr. John Dee plans to do when he steals it. Humankind won't know what's happening until it's too late. And if the prophecy is right, Sophie and Josh Newman are the only ones with the power to save the world as we know it.Sometimes legends are true.And Sophie and Josh Newman are about to find themselves in the middle of the greatest legend of all time.From the Hardcover edition.


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*The *New York Times *bestseller now in paperback!*In the second book in the *New York Times *bestselling series, Nicholas, Sophie, Josh, and Scatty emerge in Paris, the City of Light, home to Nicholas Flamel. Only this homecoming is anything but sweet. Niccolò Machiavelli, immortal author and celebrated art collector, lives in Paris and is working for Dr. John Dee. He’s in hot pursuit, and time is running out for Nicholas and Perenell. Josh and Sophie Newman are the world’s only hope. . . . If they don’t turn on each other first.★ “Readers will be swept up.”*—Kirkus Reviews*, Starred“An exciting and impeccably thought-out fantasy, well-suited for those left in the lurch by Harry Potter’s recent exeunt.”*—Booklist*“Fans . . . will certainly find much to love, root for, and fear in this successful second installment.”*—School Library Journal*


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The fourth book in the New York Times bestselling series The Secrets of the Nicholas Flamel-The Necromancer San Francisco:After fleeing to Ojai, then Paris, and escaping to London, Josh and Sophie Newman are finally home. And after everything they've seen and learned in the past week, they're both more confused than ever about their future. Neither of them has mastered the magics they'll need to protect themselves from the Dark Elders, they've lost Scatty, and they're still being pursued by Dr. John Dee. Most disturbing of all, however, is that now they must ask themselves, can they trust Nicholas Flamel? Can they trust anyone? Alcatraz:Dr. Dee underestimated Perenelle Flamel's power. Alcatraz could not hold her, Nereus was no match for her, and she was able to align herself with the most unlikely of allies. But she wasn't the only one being held on the island. Behind the prison's bars and protective sigils were a menagerie of monsters-an army for Dee to use in the final battle. And now Machiavelli has come to Alcatraz to loose those monsters on San Francisco.Perenelle might be powerful, but each day she weakens, and even with Nicholas back at her side, a battle of this size could be too much for her. Nicholas and Perenelle must fight to protect the city, but the effort will probably kill them both. London:Having been unable to regain the two final pages of the Codex, Dee has failed his Elder and is now an outlaw-and the new prey of all the creatures formerly sent to hunt down Flamel.But Dee has a plan. With the Codex and the creatures on Alcatraz, he can control the world. All he needs is the help of the Archons. But for his plan to work, he must raise the Mother of the Gods from the dead. For that, he'll have to train a necromancer. And the twins of legend will make the perfect pupils. . . . The fourth book in the New York Times bestselling series The Secrets of the Nicholas Flamel—The Necromancer San Francisco:After fleeing to Ojai, then Paris, and escaping to London, Josh and Sophie Newman are finally home. And after everything they've seen and learned in the past week, they're both more confused than ever about their future. Neither of them has mastered the magics they'll need to protect themselves from the Dark Elders, they've lost Scatty, and they're still being pursued by Dr. John Dee. Most disturbing of all, however, is that now they must ask themselves, can they trust Nicholas Flamel? Can they trust anyone? Alcatraz:Dr. Dee underestimated Perenelle Flamel's power. Alcatraz could not hold her, Nereus was no match for her, and she was able to align herself with the most unlikely of allies. But she wasn't the only one being held on the island. Behind the prison's bars and protective sigils were a menagerie of monsters—an army for Dee to use in the final battle. And now Machiavelli has come to Alcatraz to loose those monsters on San Francisco.Perenelle might be powerful, but each day she weakens, and even with Nicholas back at her side, a battle of this size could be too much for her. Nicholas and Perenelle must fight to protect the city, but the effort will probably kill them both. London:Having been unable to regain the two final pages of the Codex, Dee has failed his Elder and is now an outlaw—and the new prey of all the creatures formerly sent to hunt down Flamel.But Dee has a plan. With the Codex and the creatures on Alcatraz, he can control the world. All he needs is the help of the Archons. But for his plan to work, he must raise the Mother of the Gods from the dead. For that, he'll have to train a necromancer. And the twins of legend will make the perfect pupils. . . .


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Book Three in the New York Times bestselling series.Nicholas Flamel's heart almost broke as he watched his beloved Paris crumble before him. The city was destroyed by Dee and Machiavelli, but Flamel played his own role in the destruction. Sophie and Josh Newman show every sign of being the twins of prophecy, and Flamel had to protect them and the pages from the Dark Elders.But Nicholas grows weaker with each passing day. Perenelle is still trapped in Alcatraz, and now that Scatty has gone missing, the group is without protection. Except for Clarent—the twin sword to Excalibur. But Clarent’s power is unthinkable, its evil making it nearly impossible to use without its darkness seeping into the soul of whoever wields it.If he hopes to defeat Dee, Nicholas must find an Elder who can teach Josh and Sophie the third elemental magic—Water Magic. The problem? The only one who can do that is Gilgamesh, and he is quite, quite insane.From the Hardcover edition.


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The magical tale of ill-fated lovers lost among worlds teetering on the edge of destruction, where their passion holds the key to escape.  There has never been a book like Imajica. Transforming every expectation offantasy fiction with its heady mingling of radical sexuality and spiritual anarchy, it has carried its millions of readers into regions of passion and philosophy that few books have even attempted to map. It's an epic in everyway; vast in conception, obsessively detailed in execution, and apocalyptic in its resolution. A book of erotic mysteries and perverse violence. A book of ancient, mythological landscapes and even more ancient magic.


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Bob Arctor is a dealer of the lethally addictive drug Substance D. Fred is the police agent assigned to tail and eventually bust him. To do so, Fred takes on the identity of a drug dealer named Bob Arctor. And since Substance D--which Arctor takes in massive doses--gradually splits the user's brain into two distinct, combative entities, Fred doesn't realize he is narcing on himself.Caustically funny, eerily accurate in its depiction of junkies, scam artists, and the walking brain-dead, Philip K. Dick's industrial-grade stress test of identity is as unnerving as it is enthralling.


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When CIA agent Chuck Rittersdorf and his psychiatrist wife, Mary, file for divorce, they have no idea that in a few weeks they’ll be shooting it out on Alpha III M2, the distant moon ruled by various psychotics liberated from a mental ward. Nor do they suspect that Chuck’s new employer, the famous TV comedian Bunny Hentman, will also be there aiming his own laser gun. How things came to such a darkly hilarious pass is the subject of Clans of the Alphane Moon, an astutely shrewd and acerbic tale that blurs all conventional distinctions between sanity and madness.


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In the years following World War III, a new and powerful faith has arisen from a scorched and poisoned Earth, a faith that embraces the architect of world wide devastation. The Servants of Wrath have deified Carlton Lufteufel and re-christened him the Deus Irae. In the small community of Charlottesville, Utah, Tibor McMasters, born without arms or legs, has, through an array of prostheses, established a far-reaching reputation as an inspired painter. When the new church commissions a grand mural depicting the Deus Irae, it falls upon Tibor to make a treacherous journey to find the man, to find the god, and capture his terrible visage for posterity.


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San Francisco lies under a cloud of radioactive dust. People live in half-deserted apartment buildings, and keep electric animals as pets because so many real animals have died. Most people emigrate to Mars - unless they have a job to do on Earth. Like Rick Deckard - android killer for the police and owner of an electric sheep. This week he has to find, identify, and kill six androids which have escaped from Mars. They're machines, but they look and sound and think like humans - clever, dangerous humans. They will be hard to kill. The film  Blade Runner was based on this famous novel.


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Joe Fernwright works as a pot-healer, a repairer of ceramics, in a dull future where there isn't much call for his skills. He's broke and bored when the offer from the Glimmung comes along. It might just be the answer to both his financial and spiritual problems, even if it does mean working on a strange project on Plowman's Planet with other assorted odd creatures. The only thing is that the Glimmung may just be divine and ask for more than Joe's commitment to the job . . .


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For all the strange worlds borne of his vast and vivid imagination, Philip K. Dick was largely concerned with humanity’s most achingly familiar heartaches and struggles. In Our Friends From Frolix 8, he clashes private dreams against public battles in a fast-paced and provocative tale that ultimately addresses our salvation both as individuals and a whole.Nick Appleton is a menial laborer whose life is a series of endless frustrations. Willis Gram is the despotic oligarch of a planet ruled by big-brained elites. When they both fall in love with Charlotte Boyer, a feisty black marketer of revolutionary propaganda, Nick seems destined for doom. But everything takes a decidedly unpredictable turn when the revolution’s leader, Thors Provoni, returns from ten years of intergalactic hiding with a ninety-ton protoplasmic slime that is bent on creating a new world order. Winner of both the Hugo and John W. Campbell awards for best novel, widely regarded as the premiere science fiction writer of his day, and the object of cult-like adoration from his legions of fans, Philip K. Dick has come to be seen in a literary light that defies classification in much the same way as Borges and Calvino. With breathtaking insight, he utilizes vividly unfamiliar worlds to evoke the hauntingly and hilariously familiar in our society and ourselves.


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Confessions of a Crap Artist is one of Philip K. Dick's weirdest and most accomplished novels. Jack Isidore is a crap artist -- a collector of crackpot ideas (among other things, he believes that the earth is hallow and that sunlight has weight) and worthless objects, a man so grossly unequipped for real life that his sister and brother-in-law feel compelled to rescue him from it. But seen through Jack's murderously innocent gaze, Charlie and Juddy Hume prove to be just as sealed off from reality, in thrall to obsessions that are slightly more acceptable than Jack's, but a great deal uglier.

"One of the most original practitioners writing any kind of fiction." -- The Sunday Times (London)

"Dick is entertaining us about reality and madness, time and death, sin and salvation.... We have our own homegrown Barges."

-- Ursula K. LeGuin, New Republic

"Philip K. Dick's best books always describe a future that is both entirely recognizable and utterly unimaginable? -- The New York Times Book Review


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The year is 2203, and the ruler of the Universe is chosen according to the random laws of a strange game under the control of Quizmaster Verrick. But when Ted Bentley, a research technician recently dismissed from his job, signs on to work for Verrick, he has no idea that Leon Cartwright is about to become the new Quizmaster. Nor does he know that he’s about to play an integral part in the plot to assassinate Cartwright so that Verrick can resume leadership of a universe not nearly as random as it appears. Winner of both the Hugo and John W. Campbell awards for best novel, widely regarded as the premiere science fiction writer of his day, and the object of cult-like adoration from his legions of fans, Philip K. Dick has come to be seen in a literary light that defies classification in much the same way as Borges and Calvino. With breathtaking insight, he utilizes vividly unfamiliar worlds to evoke the hauntingly and hilariously familiar in our society and ourselves.


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In this sardonically funny gem of speculative fiction, Philip K. Dick creates a novel that manages to be simultaneously unpredictable and perversely logical. Poor Pete Garden has just lost Berkeley. He's also lost his wife, but he'll get a new one as soon as he rolls a three. It's all part of the rules of Bluff, the game that's become a blinding obsession for the last inhabitants of the planet Earth. But the rules are about to change--drastically and terminally--because Pete Garden will be playing his next game against an opponent who isn't even human, for stakes that are a lot higher than Berkeley. "From the Trade Paperback edition."


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The popular sci fi author's classic short story, "The Minority Report"--now a major motion picture starring Tom Cruise and produced by Dreamworks--takes place in a future world where scientists predict criminal behavior before it happens. This volume features the title story plus 17 others.


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In 2007, Philip K. Dick: Four Novels of the 1960s became the fastest selling title in The Library of America’s history. The 2008 companion volume, Five Novels of the1960s & 70s, broke series records for advance sales. Now comes a third and final volume gathering the best novels of Dick’s final years, when religious revelation, always important in his work, became a dominant and irresistible theme. In A Maze of Death (1970), a darkly speculative mystery that foreshadows Dick’s final novels, colonists on the planet Delmak-O try to determine the nature of the God—or “Mentufacturer”—who plots their destiny. The late masterpiece VALIS (1981) is a novelistic reworking of “the events of 2-3-74,” when Dick’s life was transformed by what he believed was a mystical revelation. It is a harrowing self-portrait of a man torn between conflicting interpretations of what might be gnostic illumination or psychotic breakdown. The Divine Invasion (1981), a sequel to VALIS, is a powerful exploration of gnostic insight and its human consequences. The Transmigration of Timothy Archer (1982), Dick’s last novel, is by turns theological thriller, roman à clef, and disenchanted portrait of late 1970s California life, based loosely on the controversial career of Bishop James Pike—a close friend and kindred spirit.


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Philip K. Dick's searing metaphysical comedy of death and salvation is a tour de force of panoramic menace and unfettered slapstick, in which the departed give business advice, shop for their next incarnation, and run the continual risk of dying yet again.


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**First introduced in *Freakonomics*, here is the full story of Sudhir Venkatesh, the sociology grad student who infiltrated one of Chicago's most notorious gangs**  The story of the young sociologist who studied a Chicago crack-dealing gang from the inside captured the world's attention when it was first described in *Freakonomics*. *Gang Leader for a Day* is the fascinating full story of how  Sudhir Venkatesh managed to gain entrŽe into the gang, what he learned, and how his method revolutionized the academic establishment.  When Venkatesh walked into an abandoned building in one of Chicago's most notorious housing projects, he was looking for people to take a multiple-choice survey on urban poverty. A first-year grad student hoping to impress his professors with his boldness, he never imagined that as a result of the assignment he would befriend a gang leader named JT and spend the better part of a decade inside the projects under JT's protection, documenting what he saw there.  Over the next seven years, Venkatesh got to know the neighborhood dealers, crackheads, squatters, prostitutes, pimps, activists, cops, organizers, and officials. From his privileged position of unprecedented access, he observed JT and the rest of the gang as they operated their crack-selling business, conducted PR within their community, and rose up or fell within the ranks of the gang's complex organizational structure.  In Hollywood-speak, *Gang Leader for a Day* is *The Wire* meets Harvard University. It's a brazen, page turning, and fundamentally honest view into the morally ambiguous, highly intricate, often corrupt struggle to survive in what is tantamount to an urban war zone. It is also the story of a complicated friendship between Sudhir and JT-two young and ambitious men a universe apart.


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Dr. Eric Sweetscent has problems. His planet is enmeshed in an unwinnable war. His wife is lethally addicted to a drug that whips its users helplessly back and forth across time -- and is hell-bent on making Eric suffer along with her. And Sweetscent's newest patient is not only the most important man on the embattled planet Earth but quite possibly the sickest. For Secretary Gino Molinari has turned his mortal illness into an instrument of political policy -- and Eric cannot tell if his job is to make the Male better or to keep him poised just this side of death. Now Wait for Last fear bursts through the envelope between the impossible and the inevitable. Even as ushers us into a future that looks uncannily like the present, it makes the normal seem terrifyingly provisional -- and compels anyone who reads it to wonder if he really knows what time it is. "From the Trade Paperback edition."


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Louis Rosen and his partners sell people--ingeniously designed, historically authentic simulacra of personages such as Edwin M. Stanton and Abraham Lincoln. The problem is that the only prospective buyer is a rapacious billionaire whose plans for the simulacra could land Louis in jail. Then there's the added complication that someone--or something--like Abraham Lincoln may not want to be sold. Is an electronic Lincoln any less alive than his creators? Is a machine that cares and suffers inferior to the woman Louis loves--a borderline psychopath who does neither? With irresistible momentum, intelligence, and wit, Philip K. Dick creates an arresting techno-thriller that suggests a marriage of "Bladerunner" and "Barbarians at the Gate." "From the Trade Paperback edition."


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Driven by the ghosts of the Darakyon, Achaeos has tracked the stolen Shadow Box to the marsh-town of Jerez, but he has only days before the magical box is lost to him forever.  Meanwhile, the forces of the Empire are mustering over winter for their great offensive, gathering their soldiers and perfecting their new weapons. Stenwold and his followers have only a short time to gather what allies they can before the Wasp armies march again, conquering everything in their path. If they cannot throw back the Wasps this spring then the imperial black-and-gold flag will fly over every city in the Lowlands before the year's end.  In Jerez begins a fierce struggle over the Shadow Box, as lake creatures, secret police and renegade magicians compete to take possession. If it falls into the hands of the Wasp Emperor, however, then no amount of fighting will suffice to save the world from his relentless ambition.


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The vampiric sorcerer Uctebri has at last got his hands on the Shadow Box and can finally begin his dark ritual - a ritual that the Wasp-kinden Emperor believes will grant him immortality - but Uctebri has his own plans both for the Emperor and the Empire. The massed Wasp armies are on the march, and the spymaster Stenwold must see which of his allies will stand now that the war has finally arrived. This time the Empire will not stop until a black and gold flag waves over Stenwold's own home city of Collegium. Tisamon the Weaponsmaster is faced with a terrible choice: a path that could lead him to abandon his friends and his daughter, to face degradation and loss, but that might possibly bring him before the Wasp Emperor with a blade in his hand - but is he being driven by Mantis-kinden honour, or manipulated by something more sinister?


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The war with the Wasp Empire has ended in a bitter stalemate, and Collegium has nothing to show for it but wounded veterans. Cheerwell Maker finds herself crippled in ways no doctor can mend, haunted by ghosts of the past that she cannot appease, seeking for meaning in a city that no longer seems like home. The Empress Seda is regaining control over those imperial cities who refused to bow the knee to her, but she draws her power from something more sinister than mere armies and war machines. Only her consort, the former spymaster Thalric, knows the truth, and now the assassins are coming and he finds his life and his loyalties under threat yet again. Out past the desert of the Nem the ancient city of Khanaphes awaits them both, with a terrible secret entombed beneath its stones...


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First volume in a dramatic and colourful new fantasy series, 'Shadows of the Apt', about the fight for survival against a menacingly regimented empire Seventeen years ago Stenwold witnessed the Wasp Empire storming the city of Myna in a brutal war of conquest. Since then he has preached vainly against this threat in his home city of Collegium, but now the Empire is on the march, with its spies and its armies everywhere, and the Lowlands lie directly in its path. All the while, Stenwold has been training youthful agents to fight the Wasp advance, and the latest recruits include his niece, Che, and his mysterious ward, Tynisa. When his home is violently attacked, he is forced to send them ahead of him and, hotly pursued, they fly by airship to Helleron, the first city in line for the latest Wasp invasion. Stenwold and Che are Beetle-kinden, one of many human races that take their powers and inspiration each from a totem insect, but he also has allies of many breeds: Mantis, Spider, Ant, with their own particular skills. Foremost is the deadly Mantis-kinden warrior, Tisamon, but other very unlikely allies also join the cause. As things go from bad to worse amid escalating dangers, Stenwold learns that the Wasps intend to use the newly completed railroad between Helleron and Collegium to launch a lightning strike into the heart of the Lowlands. Then he gathers all of his agents to force a final showdown in the engine yard . . .


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Two young companions, Totho and Salma, arrive at Tark to spy on the menacing Wasp army, but are there mistakenly apprehended as enemy agents. By the time they are freed, the city is already under siege. Over in the imperial capital the young emperor, Alvdan, is becoming captivated by a remarkable slave, the vampiric Uctebri, who claims he knows of magic that can grant eternal life. In Collegium, meanwhile, Stenwold is still trying to persuade the city magnates to take seriously the Wasp Empire's imminent threat to their survival.  In a colourful drama involving mass warfare and personal combat, a small group of heroes must stand up against what seems like an unstoppable force. This volume continues the story that so brilliantly unfolded in Empire in Black and Gold - and the action is still non-stop.


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This is the remarkable story of one endearing dog’s search for his purpose over the course of several lives. More than just another charming dog story, A Dog’s Purpose touches on the universal quest for an answer to life's most basic question: Why are we here?Surprised to find himself reborn as a rambunctious golden-haired puppy after a tragically short life as a stray mutt, Bailey’s search for his new life’s meaning leads him into the loving arms of 8-year-old Ethan. During their countless adventures Bailey joyously discovers how to be a good dog.But this life as a beloved family pet is not the end of Bailey’s journey. Reborn as a puppy yet again, Bailey wonderswill he ever find his purpose?Heartwarming, insightful, and often laugh-out-loud funny, A Dog's Purpose is not only the emotional and hilarious story of a dog's many lives, but also a dog's-eye commentary on human relationships and the unbreakable bonds between man and man's best friend. This moving and beautifully crafted story teaches us that love never dies, that our true friends are always with us, and that every creature on earth is born with a purpose.


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(MOST OF) THE UNIVERSE IS IN YOUR HANDS"There is a theory in physics that explains, at the deepest level, nearly all of the phenomena that rule our daily lives.... This theory bears the unassuming name "The Standard Model of Elementary Particles," or the "Standard Model," for short. It deserves to be better known, and it deserves a better name. I call it "The Theory of Almost Everything."The Standard Model has a surprisingly low profile for such a fundamental and successful theory.... In physics news items, the Standard Model usually plays the whipping boy. Reports of successful experimental tests of the theory have an air of disappointment, and every hint of the theory' s inadequacy is greeted with glee. It is the Rodney Dangerfield of physical theories, it "don' t get no respect." But it is, perhaps, the pinnacle of human intellectual achievement to date.--From the IntroductionPraise for "THE THEORY OF ALMOST EVERYTHING"In an era when enormous attention is being paid to the promising but highly speculative superstring/M-theory, a great triumph of science has gone nearly unnoticed, except by physicists. Robert Oerter provides here an accessible introduction to the Standard Model--a towering example of human creativity. He outlines how the Standard Model can serve as the launching pad for humanity to--paraphrasing Einstein--see better the secrets of ' the Ancient One.' "--S. J. Gates Jr., John S. Toll Professor of Physics and director, Center for String and Particle Theory, University of Maryland"We always hear about black holes, the big bang, and the search for life in the universe. But rare is the book that celebrates the Standard Model ofElementary Particles--a triumph of twentieth-century science that underpins nearly all we know about physical reality. Oerter' s "The Theory of Almost Everything belongs on anyone' s shelf who cares about how the universe really works."--Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and author of "Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic EvolutionThe Standard Model is the most important theory in modern physics. It is the tried-and-true theory of all known physical interactions, with the exception of gravity. Outside of scientific circles it is not nearly as well known as string theory or chaos theory. But it is more important than both, and it is absolutely essential to understanding where we are heading next in physics. Now, in a "tour de force of science writing, physicist Robert Oerter reveals the Standard Model to the general public.Cobbled together by many brilliant minds--including Richard Feynman and Murray Gell-Mann--the Standard Model combines Einstein' s special relativity with quantum mechanics, revealing a bizarre reality beneath the surface of the mundane world that we all experience. Particles pop into existence from pure energy. Light travels to a given destination on all possible paths at the same time. Solid matter--like light--is neither particle nor wave. Making use of rich analogy and metaphor, Oerter illuminates the quantum world of the Standard Model. He shows that although the theory seems absurd from a common-sense point of view, it nonetheless fully agrees with experiment. Oerter explores the conceptual framework of the Standard Model--what he considers its most fascinating aspect. He shows that different types of symmetry are at the heart ofthe theory. It is these symmetries, which lie deep within the structure of the atom, that give rise to the forces of nature. Oerter reveals that one of these symmetries--or rather, the fact that it was broken only moments after the creation of the universe--is the reason matter as we know it exists. After lucidly explaining the Standard Model' s implications for the universe as a whole, Oerter takes readers to the edge of physics. He shows how new developments could alter the Standard Model. Experiments now running are searching for neutrino mass and the holy grail of particle physics, the Higgs boson. Grand unified theories, supersymmetry, preon theories, and string theory--although not verified by experiment--could be the next steps in theory. "The Theory of Almost Everything is essential reading for anyone curious about what modern physics tells us about the nature of the universe.(c) Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.


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Murder in the holiday spiritIt was Christmas in Lickin Creek, and all through the town something was stirring..The borough council was quarreling about the color of the Christmas lights. A social worker wouldn't let a living baby be part of the town's living crèche. And some ladies were stretching the limits of their leotards in a pageant called the Nutcracker. All in all, former New Yorker Tori Miracle was basking in the quaint glow of her adopted Pennsylvania town, when suddenly the season went sour. A boy was missing. A thirty-year-old mystery resurfaced. And now two people have been murdered. With her boyfriend--the town police chief--out of town, Tori must help his befuddled replacement. And what she finds out, or should be finding out, is making Tori the next target--of someone only in the mood for murder....


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THE CONTINUING ADVENTURES OF THE SMART, SEXY — SUPERNATURAL — WOMEN OF THE OTHERWORLDEve Levine — half-demon, black witch and devoted mother — has been dead for three years. She has a great house, an interesting love life and can’t be killed again — which comes in handy when you’ve made as many enemies as Eve. Yes, the afterlife isn’t too bad — all she needs to do is find a way to communicate with her daughter, Savannah, and she’ll be happy.But fate — or more exactly, the Fates — have other plans. Eve owes them a favor, and they’ve just called it in. An evil spirit called the Nix has escaped from hell. She feeds on chaos and death, and is very good at persuading people to kill for her. The Fates want Eve to hunt her down before she does any more damage, but the Nix is a dangerous enemy — previous hunters have been driven insane in the process. As if that’s not problem enough, the only way to stop her is with an angel’s sword. And Eve is no angel. . . .


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In this thrilling new novel from the author of Industrial Magic, a pregnant werewolf may have unwittingly unleashed Jack the Ripper on twenty-first-century—and become his next target.Ever since she discovered she’s pregnant, Elena Michaels has been on edge. After all, she’s never heard of another living female werewolf, let alone one who’s given birth. But thankfully, her expertise is needed to retrieve a stolen letter allegedly written by Jack the Ripper. As a distraction, the job seems simple enough—only the letter contains a portal to Victorian London’s underworld, which Elena inadvertently triggers—unleashing a vicious killer and a pair of zombie thugs. Now Elena must find a way to seal the portal before the unwelcome visitors get what they’re looking for—which, for some unknown reason, is Elena.


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Readers around the world have fallen for Kelley Armstrong’s intoxicating, sensual and wicked tales of the paranormal, in which demons and witches, werewolves and vampires collide – often hilariously, sometimes violently – with everyday life. In Armstrong’s first six novels, Elena, Paige and Eve have had their way with us. Now get ready for Jaime Vegas, the luscious, lovelorn and haunted necromancer. . .Jaime, who knows a thing or two about showbiz, is on a television shoot in Los Angeles when weird things start to happen. As a woman whose special talent is raising the dead, her threshold for weirdness is pretty high: she’s used to not only seeing dead people but hearing them speak to her in very emphatic terms. But for the first time in her life – as invisible hands brush her skin, unintelligible fragments of words are whispered into her ears, and beings move just at the corner of her eye–she knows what humans mean when they talk about being haunted.She is determined to get to the bottom of these manifestations, but as she sets out to solve the mystery she has no idea how scary her investigation will get, or to what depths ordinary humans will sink in their attempts to gain supernatural powers. As she digs into the dark underside of Los Angeles, she’ll need as much Otherworld help as she can get in order to survive, calling on her personal angel, Eve, and Hope, the well-meaning chaos demon. Jeremy, the alpha werewolf, is also by her side offering protection. And, Jaime hopes, maybe a little more than that.“As I knelt on the cobblestones to begin the ritual, I opened not some ancient leather pouch, but a Gucci make-up bag. . . .I know little about the geography and theology of the afterlife, but I do know that the worst spirits are kept secured, and my risk of “accidentally” tapping into a hell dimension is next to nil. Even if I do bring back some depraved killer’s spirit, what can it do to me? When you deprive someone of the ability to act in the living world, he’s pretty darned helpless. In death, even the worst killer plummets from lethal to merely annoying.Yet whatever had been trying to contact me apparently could cross that barrier, could act in the living world. . .at least on me. I added an extra helping of vervain to the censer.”—from No Humans InvolvedFrom the Hardcover edition.


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In her acclaimed Women of the Otherworld series, Kelley Armstrong has created a scintillating realm where the supernatural and the human coexist on the edge of darkness, romance, and eternity. Now Armstrong tells the captivating tale of a young woman with an insatiable lust for danger. She can’t help it. It’s in her blood. Tabloid reporter Hope Adams appears to live the life of an ordinary working girl. But in addition to possessing the beauty of a Bollywood princess, Hope has other unique traits. For she is a half demon—a human fathered by a demon. And she’s inherited not only a gift for seeing the past but a hunger for chaos—along with a talent for finding it wherever she can. Naturally, when she’s chosen by a very dangerous group for a very dangerous mission, she jumps at the chance…. The head of the powerful Cortez Cabal—a family that makes the mob look like amateurs—has a little problem in Miami: a gang of wealthy, bored offspring of supernaturals is getting out of hand, and Hope is needed to infiltrate. As spells, astral projections, and pheromones soar across South Beach, Hope weaves her way through its elite hot spots, posing as upscale eye candy and reading the auras of the clientele—and potential marks. As it turns out, Hope is a little too good at this job. And soon she’s in a little too deep, needing to be bailed out by her jewel-thief werewolf ex-boyfriend and by the Cortez heir himself. And when a killer goes to work, Hope is among many targets at the pinnacle of Cabal rule. For a woman who didn’t know what she was getting into, there’s only one way out: it’s time for Hope to unleash her most potent primal instincts—and open herself, mind and body, to everything she most fears . . . and desires. Sexy and suspenseful, Personal Demon is a thrill ride through a world on the wild side of our own. From the Hardcover edition.


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They’re smart, sexy, and supernatural. They’re the men and women of the Otherworld—a realm of witches, ghosts, and werewolves who live unseen among us. Only now a reckless killer has torn down the wall, trapping one very human woman in the supernatural cross fire.  Robyn Peltier moved to Los Angeles after her young husband’s sudden death, trying to put some distance between herself and her memories. Though she’s still grieving, the challenges of her new life as the PR consultant to Portia Kane—the world’s most famous celebutante wannabe—can sometimes be amusing, even distracting. But when her client is gunned down in the back room of a nightclub, Robyn is suddenly on the run as the prime suspect in the murder. And as more bodies pile up around her, it seems like only Hope Adams, Robyn’s best friend, and Hope’s somewhat spooky boyfriend Karl are on Robyn’s side. Hope Adams follows the kinds of stories whose headlines scream from supermarket checkout lines. But the difference is that Hope’s stories are even weirder—and they’re all true. Though determined to help Robyn, Hope knows it’s only a matter of time before her friend is caught. But it’s not the police Hope is worried about. For Robyn has gotten herself in the middle of a turf war between two powerful Otherworld cabals who’ll spill any amount of blood—human and inhuman—to protect what they consider theirs for all eternity. And the only way Hope can keep her friend alive is by letting her enter a world she’s safer knowing nothing about.From the Hardcover edition.


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"New York Times" bestselling author Kelley Armstrong has captivated readers with her spellbinding Women of the Otherworld series. Now, for the first time, in this collection of four tales she gives center stage to the men who love these sexy, supernatural women--the men who live on the other side of humanity...the "wild" side. As a curious six-year-old, Clayton didn't resist the bite--he asked for it. But surviving as a lone child-werewolf was more than he could manage--until Jeremy came along and taught him how to straddle the human-werewolf worlds, gave him a home...and introduced him to the Pack. So begins this tantalizing volume, featuring three of the most intriguing members of the American Pack--a hierarchical founding family where bloodlines mean everything and each day presents a new, thrilling, and often deadly challenge. For as Clayton grows from a wild child to a clever teen who tests his beloved mentor at every turn, he must learn not only to control his animal instincts but to navigate Pack politics--including showing his brutal archnemesis, Malcolm, who the real Alpha is.... From the nature of fear, weakness, and courage, to the triumph of belonging and the complications of love and loyalty, these mesmerizing tales reveal the trials of a werewolf coming-of-age, and lay bare the hearts and minds of the men strong enough for the women of the Otherworld--and adept enough to take on two worlds. "From the Hardcover edition."


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An erotically charged, addictive thriller from the future queen of suspense.Living in Toronto for a year, Elena is leading the normal life she has always dreamed of, including a stable job as a journalist and a nice apartment shared with her boyfriend. As the lone female werewolf in existence, only her secret midnight prowls and her occasional inhuman cravings set her apart. Just one year ago, life was very different. Adopted by the Pack when bitten, Elena had spent years struggling with her resentment at having her life stolen away. Torn between two worlds, and overwhelmed by the new passions coursing through her body, her only option for control was to deny her awakening needs and escape.But now the Pack has called Elena home to help them fight an alliance of renegade werewolves who are bent on exposing and annihilating the Pack. And although Elena is obliged to rejoin her "family," she vows not to be swept up in Pack life again, no matter how natural it might feel. She has made her choice. Trouble is, she's increasingly uncertain if it's the right one.An erotically charged thriller, **Bitten** will awaken the voracious appetite of every reader, as the age-old battle between man and beast, between human and inhuman forces, comes to a head in one small town and within one woman's body.*From the Paperback edition.*


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International acclaim for Kelley Armstrong's sophisticated debut novel, Bitten, is steadily growing. It was in Bitten that thirty-year-old Elena Michaels came to terms with her feral appetites and claimed the proud identity of a beautiful, successful woman-and the only living female werewolf.  In "Stolen," on a mission for her own elite pack, she is lured into the net of ruthless Internet billionaire Tyrone Winsloe, who has funded a bogus scientific investigation of the "other races" and their supernatural powers. Kidnapped and studied in his underground lab deep in the Maine woods, these paranormals-witches, vampires, shamans, werewolves-are then released and hunted to the death in a real-world video game. But when Winsloe captures Elena, he meets his match.  Suspenseful, chilling, and witty, "Stolen" is a novel of rich and amazing versatility.


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From one of today’s most original writers comes the mesmerizing tale of an exceptional young woman caught up in an otherworldly realm where some will stop at nothing to get what they want.Dime Store MagicPaige Winterbourne was always either too young or too rebellious to succeed her mother as leader of one of the world’s most powerful elite organizations—the American Coven of Witches. Now that she is twenty-three and her mother is dead, the Elders can no longer deny her. But even Paige’s wildest antics can’t hold a candle to those of her new charge—an orphan who is all too willing to use her budding powers for evil...and evil is all too willing to claim her. For this girl is being pursued by a dark faction of the supernatural underworld. They are a vicious group who will do anything to woo the young, malleable, and extremely powerful neophyte, including commit murder—and frame Paige for the crime. It’s an initiation into adulthood, womanhood, and the brutal side of magic that Paige will have to do everything within her power to make sure they both survive.


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Meet the smart, sexy — supernatural — women of the otherworld. This is not your mother’s coven...Kelley Armstrong returns with the eagerly awaited follow-up to Dime Store Magic. Paige Winterbourne, a headstrong young woman haunted by a dark legacy, is now put to the ultimate test as she fights to save innocents from the most insidious evil of all.. . .In the aftermath of her mother’s murder, Paige broke with the elite, ultraconservative American Coven of Witches. Now her goal is to start a new Coven for a new generation. But while Paige pitches her vision to uptight thirty-something witches in business suits, a more urgent matter commands her attention.Someone is murdering the teenage offspring of the underworld’s most influential Cabals — a circle of families that makes the mob look like amateurs. And none is more powerful than the Cortez Cabal, a faction Paige is intimately acquainted with. Lucas Cortez, the rebel son and unwilling heir, is none other than her boyfriend. But love isn’t blind, and Paige has her eyes wide open as she is drawn into a hunt for an unnatural-born killer. Pitted against shamans, demons, and goons, it’s a battle chilling enough to make a wild young woman grow up in a hurry. If she gets the chance.


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Columbus is a small, fading town, untouched by the twenty-first century. But when three young women are found dead - victims of what appear to be ritual murders - things start to get very dark, and very dangerous...Private investigator Savannah Levine can handle 'dark and dangerous'. As the daughter of a black witch, she has a lot of power running through her veins, and she's not afraid to use it. But her arrival in Columbus has not gone unnoticed. Savannah may think she's tracking down a murderer, but could she be the killer's next target?Of course she could always ask her old friend (and half-demon) Adam Vasic for back up. But Savannah has her own - very personal reasons - for keeping Adam well away from Columbus. And in any case, she can rely on her own powers. Can't she...?A tense, compelling mystery with a supernatural kick, Waking the Witch is the brilliantly imagined and deeply satisfying new book from international bestseller Kelley Armstrong.


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If you had met me a few weeks ago, you probably would have described me as an average teenage girl—someone normal. Now my life has changed forever and I'm as far away from normal as it gets. A living science experiment—not only can I see ghosts, but I was genetically altered by a sinister organization called the Edison Group. What does that mean? For starters, I'm a teenage necromancer whose powers are out of control; I raise the dead without even trying. Trust me, that is not a power you want to have. Ever.   Now I'm running for my life with three of my supernatural friends—a charming sorcerer, a cynical werewolf, and a disgruntled witch—and we have to find someone who can help us before the Edison Group finds us first. Or die trying.


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The nail-biting climax to Kelley Armstrong's bestselling Darkest Powers trilogyChloe Saunders is fifteen and would love to be normal. Unfortunately, Chloe happens to be a genetically engineered necromancer who can raise the dead without even trying. She and her equally gifted (or should that be 'cursed'?) friends are now running for their lives from the evil corporation that created them. As if that's not enough, Chloe is struggling with her feelings for Simon, a sweet-tempered sorcerer, and his brother Derek, a not so sweet-tempered werewolf. And she has a horrible feeling she's leaning towards the werewolf...Definitely not normal.


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After years of frequent moves following her mother’s death, Chloe Saunders’s life is finally settling down. She is attending art school, pursuing her dreams of becoming a director, making friends, meeting boys. Her biggest concern is that she’s not developing as fast as her friends are. But when puberty does hit, it brings more than hormone surges. Chloe starts seeing ghosts–everywhere, demanding her attention. After she suffers a breakdown, her devoted aunt Lauren gets her into a highly recommended group home. At first, Lyle House seems a pretty okay place, except for Chloe’s small problem of fearing she might be facing a lifetime of mental illness. But as she gradually gets to know the other kids at the home–charming Simon and his ominous, unsmiling brother Derek, obnoxious Tori, and Rae, who has a “thing” for fire–Chloe begins to realize that there is something that binds them all together, and it isn’t your usual “problem kid” behaviour. And together they discover that Lyle House is not your usual group home either…


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The author of the acclaimed Women of the Otherworld series returns with her latest novel featuring an exciting heroine with a lethal hidden talent. This time she’s hot on the trail of a young woman no one else cares about—and a killer who’s bound to strike again.Nadia Stafford isn’t your typical nature lodge owner. An ex-cop with a legal code all her own, she’s known only as “Dee” to her current employer: a New York crime family that pays her handsomely to bump off traitors. But when Nadia discovers that a troubled teenage employee and her baby have vanished in the Canadian woods, the memory of a past loss comes back with a vengeance and her old instincts go into overdrive.With her enigmatic mentor, Jack, covering her back, Nadia unearths sinister clues that point to an increasingly darker and deadlier mystery. Now, with her obsession over the case deepening, the only way Nadia can right the wrongs of the present is to face her own painful ghosts—and either bury them for good, or die trying. Because in her book everyone deserves a chance. And everyone deserves justice.


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Popular fantasy author Kelley Armstrong (Women of the Otherworld series) makes her first foray into crime fiction, with the debut of a series of non-paranormal novels featuring female assassin Nadia Stafford. Nadia Stafford is one of the world's few female contract killers. A former cop, drummed out of the force because of a scandal, she is an expert at disguise and cool under pressure. But when fellow hitman Jack arrives on the scene, Nadia's very private existence is seriously challenged. A series of victims are being murdered seemingly at random all over the country -- different areas, different walks of life, different MOs. There is nothing to tie them together except a random page torn out of a single book: "Helter Skelter," But does the Helter Skelter killer -- as the hysterical media now dub him -- have a real connection to Charles Manson? Or is there something even more sinister at work? Is this, in fact -- as Jack believes -- the carefully planned exit strategy of a fellow professional killer, determined to leave the life, but equally determined to clear up an old mistake? And, if so, which is the real victim? Now, the highly suspicious and secretive hitman community will have to break their cover -- at least, to each other -- and help take down this killer before the cops and the Feds discover his true connection to their own secret, exclusive society... .


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"Fluctuations in solar radiation have caused the icecaps to melt and the seas to rise. Nature is on the rampage. London has been transformed into a primeval swamp, and within its submerged landscape giant lizards, dragonflies and insects compete for dominance. Human fertility is in decline and buildings sink beneath waters infested with decaying matter. Into this wasteland a group of intrepid scientists venture to record the flora and fauna of this new Triassic Age. Soon ghostly voices haunt their waking and nightmares permeate their sleep."--BOOK JACKET.


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**In Fox's titillating new series we enter Serene, a supernatural playground where sexy shape shifters live behind the white picket fences...**



Free spirited Jaclyn Vasenty is about to inherit a cosmetics empire, yet her scandalous personal history may ruin her chance for a corporate take-over. Saying goodbye to her naughty ways, she moves into a quaint gated community in Serene, New Hampshire. But these gates are locked at sunset...



 The town's dark sensuality rocks Jaclyn's insatiable appetite to the core-and stirs desires that are... inhuman. That's because Serene is home to demons, witches, vampires, lycans, and panthers, for whom primal exploration comes naturally. Especially for shape shifter Slyck, the cunning panther who's pushing Jaclyn to the brink of erotic possibilities and making her feel wildly...*feral*. As tension between species rises, Jaclyn learns she must draw on all her feminine wiles and join forces with Slyck if she wants to make it out alive.


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In Stealing Light, Dakota discovered the Shoal's dark and dangerous secret, now she works towards stopping not only the spread of this knowledge, but also the onset of the Nova war. Found adrift near a Bandati colony world far away from Consortium space, Dakota and Corso find themselves prisoners of the Bandati. It becomes rapidly clear to them, that the humanity's limited knowledge of the rest of the galaxy ' filtered through the Shoal ' is direly inaccurate. The Shoal have been fighting a frontier war with a rival species, the Emissaries, with their own FTL technology for over fifteen thousand years. Realising that the Shoal may be the Galaxy's one chance at sustained peace, Dakota is forced to work with Trader to prevent the spread of deadly knowledge carried on board the Magi ships. But it seems that the Nova War is inevitable'Ś


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The nova war has begun to spread as the Emissaries wage a fierce and reckless campaign, encroaching on the area of space occupied by humanity and forcing the Shoal into a desperate retreat. While Dakota goes in search of the entity responsible for creating the Maker caches, Corso, left in charge of a fleet of human-piloted Magi ships, finds his authority crumbling in the face of assassination attempts and politically-motivated sabotage. If any hope exists at all, it lies in an abandoned asteroid a thousand light-years beyond the Consortium's borders, and with Ty Whitecloud, the only man alive with the skill to decipher the messages left behind by an ancient race of star travellers. Unfortunately Whitecloud is locked in a prison cell aboard a dying coreship adrift in space, awaiting execution for war crimes against Corso's own people. But if humanity has any hope of survival, Corso is going to have to find some way to keep him alive - and that's only if Dakota doesn't kill him first ...


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In the 25th century, only the Shoal possess the secret of faster-than-light travel (FTL), giving them absolute control over all trade and exploration throughout the galaxy. Mankind has operated within their influence for two centuries, establishing a dozen human colony worlds scattered along Shoal trade routes.  Dakota Merrick, while serving as a military pilot, has witnessed atrocities for which this alien race is responsible. Now piloting a civilian cargo ship, she is currently ferrying an exploration team to a star system containing a derelict starship. From its wreckage, her passengers hope to salvage a functioning FTL drive of mysteriously non-Shoal origin. But the Shoal are not yet ready to relinquish their monopoly over a technology they acquired through ancient genocide.


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"Gather, Darkness!" (originally serialized in "Astounding Science Fiction" in 1943) remains of of Fritz Leiber's classic novels, a tale of the world 360 years after a nuclear holocaust, when priests rule using trickery and techology -- and of Armon Jarles,


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First published in 1989, The Wolf's Hour remains one of Robert McCammon's most indelible creations. Ranging freely and with great authority through realms of history, folklore, and myth, it combines two seemingly disparate genres the World War II action thriller and the paranormal romance into a seamless, irresistible whole.McCammon's hero is Michael Gallatin, embattled inhabitant of two different worlds. Born into the Russian aristocracy, but 'changed' and raised by a pack of werewolves, Michael's journey takes him from the wild regions of his native Russia to the battle-scarred landscapes of a world at war. Offering his unique talents to the Allied cause, Michael becomes a sort of secret weapon aimed at the destruction of Hitler and his 'Thousand Year Reich.' His adventures take him from the deserts of North Africa to the German-occupied countries of Western Europe. There, with the aid of a vivid assortment of friends, comrades, and lovers, he uncovers a horrific conspiracy known as 'Iron Fist,' which threatens to disrupt the Allies' long-planned invasion of Europe and to alter the very outcome of the war.Both a scrupulously researched historical thriller and a brilliant re-imagining of the traditional werewolf tale, The Wolf's Hour offers pleasure, excitement, and illumination on virtually every page. Exotic, enthralling, and endlessly inventive, it is the work of a master storyteller in full command of his matchless narrative gifts.The Subterranean Press edition of The Wolf's Hour will feature an original introduction by Robert McCammon, as well as a full-color dust jacket and a number of color plates by Vincent Chong, including a gatefold illustration depicting the novel's famous 'death train' scene.


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Robert McCammon captivates readers and stretches the boundaries of imagination with every new book he writes. There are now over 5 million copies of his books in print, and his last three novels, The Wolf's Hour, Stinger, and Swan Song, were New York Times bestsellers, earning him accolades as one of the most innovative storytellers of our time. In Mine, McCammon takes the reader beyond terror . . . into one woman's shocking world of madness and obsesion.


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After a decade, New York Times bestselling author Robert McCammon returns with an epic novel of suspense that reinstates him as one of the great storytellers of our time....The Carolinas, 1699: The citizens of Fount Royal believe their town is cursed by a witch. What else could explain the sudden fires, crop failures and gruesome murders? Convinced that Rachel Howarth, the beautiful widow of the recently slain minister, is to blame, they throw her into a gaol to await trial and execution.Presiding over the trial is traveling magistrate Issac Woodward, aided by his astute young clerk, Matthew -- who, despite the evidence against Rachel, believes in her innocence. But soon he realizes that there truly is Evil at work in Fount Royal: a malevolent force more powerful than any witch could ever hope to conjure....


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Zephyr, Alabama, is an idyllic hometown for eleven-year-old Cory Mackenson -- a place where monsters swim the river deep and friends are forever. Then, one cold spring morning, Cory and his father witness a car plunge into a lake -- and a desperate rescue attempt brings his father face-to-face with a terrible vision of death that will haunt him forever.  As Cory struggles to understand his father's pain, his eyes are slowly opened to the forces of good and evil that are manifested in Zephyr. From an ancient, mystical woman who can hear the dead and bewitch the living, to a violent clan of moonshiners, Cory must confront the secrets that hide in the shadows of his hometown -- for his father's sanity and his own life hang in the


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In the remote Texas town of Inferno, a creature of evil beyond anything the world has ever encountered descends. He traps the town and ravages the land with grisly executions and horrible mutations . . . until the people rise up in a final, desperate battle. From the author of Swan Song. Original.


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The world of Colonial America comes vibrantly to life in this masterful new historical thriller by Robert McCammon. The latest entry in the popular Matthew Corbett series, which began with Speaks the Nightbird and continued in The Queen of Bedlam, Mister Slaughter opens in the emerging metropolis of New York City in 1702, and proceeds to take both Matthew and the reader on an unforgettable journey of horror, violence, and personal discovery.The journey begins when Matthew, now an apprentice problem solver for the London-based Herrald Agency, accepts an unusual and hazardous commission. Together with his colleague, Hudson Greathouse, he agrees to escort the notorious mass murderer Tyranthus Slaughter from an asylum outside Philadelphia to the docks of New York. Along the way, Slaughter makes his captors a surprising--and extremely tempting--offer. Their response to this offer will alter the course of the novel, setting in motion a series of astonishing, ultimately catastrophic events.Mister Slaughter is at once a classic portrait of an archetypal serial killer and an exquisitely detailed account of a fledgling nation still in the process of inventing itself. Suspenseful, illuminating, never less than compulsively readable, it is, by any measure, an extraordinary achievement, the largest accomplishment to date from one of our most gifted--and necessary--writers.


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An ancient evil roams the desolate landscape of an America ravaged by nuclear war. He is the Man with the Scarlet Eye, a malevolent force that feeds on the dark desires of the countless followers he has gathered into his service. His only desire is to find a special child named Swan -- and destroy her. But those who would protect the girl are determined to fight for what is left of the world?and their souls.In a wasteland born of rage, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, the last survivors on earth have been drawn into the final battle between good and evil that will decide the fate of humanity....


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Santaland Diaries collects six of David Sedaris's most profound Christmas stories into one slender volume perfect for use as a last-minute coaster or ice-scraper. This drinking man's companion can be enjoyed by the warmth of a raging fire, the glow of a brilliantly decorated tree, or even in the back seat of a police car. It should be read with your eyes, felt with your heart, and heard only when spoken to. It should, in short, behave much like a book. And oh, what a book it is!


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In her fifty-ninth bestselling novel, Danielle Steel tells an unforgettable story  of survival...of how two people who lost everything find hope...and of the extraordinary  acts of faith and courage that bring —and keep— families together...  On a windswept  summer day, as the fog rolls across the San Francisco coastline, a solitary figure  walks down the beach, a dog at her side.  At eleven, Pip Mackenzie's young life has  already been touched by tragedy; nine months before, a terrible accident plunged  her mother into inconsolable grief.  But on this chilly July afternoon, Pip meets  someone who fills her sad gray world with color and light.  And in her innocence  and in his kindness, a spark will be kindled, lives will be changed, and a journey  of hope will begin.  From the moment the curly-haired girl walks up to his easel  on the sand, Matt Bowles senses something magical about her.  Pip reminds him of  his own daughter at that age, before a bitter divorce tore his family apart and swept  his children halfway across the world.  With her own mother, Ophélie, retreating  deeper into her grief, Pip spends her summer at the shore the way lonely children  do: watching the glittering waters and rushing clouds, daydreaming and remembering  how things used to be.  That is, until she meets artist Matt Bowles, who offers to  teach the girl to draw—and can't help but notice her beautiful, lonely mother.  At  first, Ophélie is thrown off balance by her daughter's new companion—until she realizes  how much joy he is bringing into their lives, despite the sadness she sees in his  eyes.  As their newfound friend works his subtle magic, mother and daughter slowly  begin to heal, to laugh again, to rediscover what they have lost.  When summer ends,  and Ophélie and Pip must leave the beach for the city, the season of healing continues.   Gathering her newfound strength, Ophélie begins a volunteer job at a city outreach  program, where she works with the homeless, and can no longer ignore the blessings  in her own life.  But as soul-sharing phone calls and autumn beach getaways deepen  Ophélie and Matt's friendship, fate strikes another blow.  Out of the blue, Matt  must confront unfinished business from his past.  Days later, Ophélie is struck by  a stunning betrayal by someone she trusts.  And as these events reverberate in two  already wounded hearts, something extraordinary happens.  Out of the darkness that  has shadowed them both comes an unexpected gift of hope.  With grace and compassion,  Danielle Steel explores the fragile bonds between mothers and daughters, husbands  and wives, family members and lifelong friends.  Her haunting, impassioned novel  takes us across the complex landscape of loss—to the blessings that arise from even  the darkest tragedies.  At once a story of triumph and a moving elegy to those who  suffer and survive, Safe Harbour is perhaps her most powerful and life-affirming  novel to date.*From the Hardcover edition.*


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Todd Wilbur shares his best-kept secrets for making  knockoffs of your favorite drinks-right in your own kitchen and  without spending a lot of money. Readers can re-create the delicious  taste of America's best-loved brand-name soft drinks, beverages,  dessert drinks, mixers, and liqueurs by following Todd's easy,  step-by-step instructions. If it comes in a glass, cup, bottle, or  mug, it's here for you to clone at home. Discover how to make your own  versions of:    

  * 7-Up&reg  * Starbuck's® Frappuccino&reg  * Nestea&reg  * Sunny Delight&reg  * Dairy Queen® Blizzard&reg  * McDonald's® Shamrock Shake&reg  * 7-Eleven® Cherry Slurpee&reg  * Grand Marnier® & Amaretto      

Plus: Dozens of specialty drinks from T.G.I. Friday's&reg,  Chili's&reg, Hard Rock Cafe&reg, Outback Steakhouse&reg,  Applebee's&reg, House of Blues&reg, Olive Garden&reg, Red  Lobster&reg, Claim Jumper&reg, and many more of your favorite  restaurant chains.      

"The mission: Decode the secret recipes for America's favorite junk  foods. Equipment: Standard kitchen appliances. Goal: Leak the  results to a ravenous public." (*USA Today*)


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Expand your ramen repertoire with an amazingly inventive and unique addition to the million-copy-selling "101" series-101 Things to do with Ramen Noodles.    Ramen is fast, easy, and filling, but what can be done to spruce it up and give it a whole new life? How about recipes like Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup, Summer Garden Soup,    Zucchini Salad, Creamy Beef and Broccoli Noodles, Ramen Burgers, Chicken Alfredo,    Pork Chop Ramen, Tuna Noodle Casserole, Garlic Noodle Saute, Beer Noodles (the ultimate college crowd pleaser!), Chinese Veggie Noodles, Corny Cheese Noodles, and more!    As a student at the University of Northern Colorado, Toni Patrick came up with creative and quick ways to make ramen noodles. These recipes tasted great and fit into her tight budget and busy schedule. Even today, several years after graduating, she still enjoys cooking with ramen noodles. Toni currently lives in Walden, Colorado.


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A hands-on guide to the ins and outs of raising and using vegetables    

Want to grow your own vegetables? You can do it the fun and easy way with this practical guide. From selecting the right spot to preparing the soil to harvesting, *Vegetable Gardening For Dummies,* *2nd Edition* shows you how to successfully raise vegetables regardless of the size of your plot or your dietary needs.      

You'll discover how to plot your garden and get the soil in tip-top shape; select the types of vegetables you want to grow; plant the seeds properly; and care for them as they grow. You'll also know the right time to pick your vegetables and the best ways to enjoy them. Plus, you'll get tips on preserving foods grown at home.            Expert advice on planting, caring for, harvesting, and enjoying the fruits of your own vegetable garden      Features environmentally friendly ways to combat pests in your garden      Charlie Nardozzi is senior horticulturist and spokesperson for the National Gardening Association; he's also been the gardening expert on such programs as HGTV's *Today at Home *and *Way to Grow *and the Discovery Channel's *Home Matters*            

Whether you have a green thumb or you've never grown a plant before, *Vegetable Gardening For Dummies,* *2nd Edition *has all the information you need to create a healthy garden.


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**THINK YOU KNOW THE ATKINS DIET? THINK AGAIN. THE NEW ATKINS IS...   POWERFUL** Learn how to eat the wholesome foods that will turn your body into an amazing fat-burning machine.   **EASY** The updated and simplified program was created with you and your goals in mind.   **HEALTHY** Atkins is about eating delicious and healthy food -- a variety of protein, leafy greens and other vegetables, nuts, fruits, and whole grains.   **FLEXIBLE** Perfect for busy lifestyles: you can stick with Atkins at work, at home, on vacation, when you're eating out -- wherever you are.   **BACKED BY SCIENCE** More than 50 studies support the low-carb science behind Atkins.  

 But Atkins is more than just a diet. This healthy lifestyle focuses on maintenance from Day 1, ensuring that you'll not only take the weight off -- you'll keep it off for good. Featuring inspiring success stories, all-new recipes, and 24 weeks' worth of meal plans, *The New Atkins for a New You* offers the proven low-carb plan that has worked for millions, now totally updated and even easier than ever.


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Sumptuous Thai dishes you can make at home!    

Thai cuisine creates a  harmonious blend between spicy hot and comparatively bland ingredients from age-old Eastern and relatively new Western foods. Featuring  both outstanding traditional recipes and cutting-edge crowd-pleasers such as Spicy Fried Rice Sticks, Salmon Toast, Chicken Satay, and Thai Crab Cakes, The Everything® Thai Cookbook guides you through preparing meals as good as you’d find in your favorite Thai restaurant.     

The Everything® Thai Cookbook is perfect for both vegetarians and meat-eaters, offering an eclectic range of spices, flavors, and aromas. Whether you want to prepare a meal for one—or an entire feast—The Everything® Thai Cookbook will have you serving up tasty fare to tempt even the most critical food connoisseur.    

Featuring mouthwatering recipes for:    

·Banana Fritters    

·Chicken-Vegetable Rice    

·Coconut Curried Chicken    

·Fresh Oranges in Rose Water    

·Pad Thai     

·Pumpkin Rice Custard    

·Spicy Rice and Shrimp Salad


