Prentis, the narrator of this nightmarish novel, catalogs "dead crimes" for a branch of the London Police Department and suspects that he is going crazy. His files keep vanishing. His boss subjects him to cryptic taunts. His family despises him. And as Prentis desperately tries to hold on to the scraps of his sanity, he uncovers a conspiracy of blackmail and betrayal that extends from his department and into the buried past of his father, a war hero code-named "Shuttlecock"--and, lately, a resident of a hospital for the insane. Views: 692
In the small African republic of Kinjanja, British diplomat Morgan Leafy bumbles heavily through his job. His love of women, his fondness for drink, and his loathing for the country prove formidable obstacles on his road to any kind of success. But when he becomes an operative in Operation Kingpin and is charged with monitoring the front runner in Kinjanja’s national elections, Morgan senses an opportunity to achieve real professional recognition and, more importantly, reassignment.
After he finds himself being blackmailed, diagnosed with a venereal disease, attempting bribery, and confounded with a dead body, Morgan realizes that very little is going according to plan. Views: 678
Life is great for Marnie MacDonald—until her parents announce they’re moving, taking her away from everything she knows and loves
Popular high school sophomore Marnie MacDonald loves her life. Then her parents break the news: They’re moving to North Carolina! And that’s not even the worst part. The MacDonalds are moving with their best friends, the Petersons—including their son, Lucas, a boy Marnie can’t stand.
In the blink of an eye, her world is uprooted. She has to leave school, her friends—all the things that matter most. And how’s she supposed to get along without her boyfriend, Joel, the super-cool jock who would have taken her to his senior prom?
Suddenly, Marnie’s milking goats and picking apples on a farm with no telephones, no TV, and no after-school activities.
But something starts to happen after she leaves the city and “goes back to the land.” She discovers a world she never knew existed—a whole new way of life. And the biggest shock of all? The boy she thought she hated is growing more and more appealing. Too bad Lucas doesn’t have a clue how Marnie feels. Or does he? Views: 678
Epub“Galactic Effectuator” is an omnibus containing two of the famous detective “science fiction” stories written by the grandmaster of the genre, Jack Vance. This is a classic Vance: breathtaking adventures on colorful and dangerous planets, exotic customs of races evolved in unique conditions, and, of course, moving fast on the vivid background of it all, a brave and clever man, moderately quixotic but never forgetting his self-interest. Vance’s protagonist, Miro Hetzel, is a top-notch interstellar private investigator who solves two tangled and risky cases.In the first story, “Dogtown Tourist Agency,” Hetzel travels to planet Maz: there he has to investigate a mysterious shipping company. Axistil, the hypnotically strange capital of this grotesque planet, serves as a diplomatic rendezvous point for at least four mutually hostile Galactic races, including humans. Meanwhile, a young man, after being subjected to a weird mental torture, is accused of a triple murder; trying to save this confused victim of unknown evil forces from an imminent execution, Hetzel discovers that young man’s improbable story is intricately connected with the case that he investigates, not to mention the deadbeat lover of a rich woman, whom Hetzel was tasked to find, and whom he also unexpectedly encounters on the same faraway planet. Inevitably, there is also a lovely innocent girl that may not be so innocent after all…In the second, shorter and somewhat more sarcastic story, “Freitzke's Turn”, Miro Hetzel deals with his former classmate from the Academy, an evil genius who almost killed Hetzel many years ago, and then escaped to lead a life above all laws, those of men as well as, seemingly, those of the nature. Working for a wealthy client whose health and happiness will never be restored without Hetzel’s help, galactic effectuator gathers pieces of evidence on several planets, minutely going through risky turns and stunning discoveries, and finally tracks the criminal down in the remote tropical paradise of his last refuge — only to lose the sight of him again… Views: 675
Many regard this work as the definitive account of a controversial conflict of the war in the Pacific, the June 1944 battle known as the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot." Drawing on ten years of research and told from the viewpoint of the fliers and sailors who were on the firing line, William T. Y'Blood leads the reader through every stage of the battle, from the dogfights to the persistent attacks on the Japanese carriers to the frantic efforts of the returning fliers to land on friendly carriers. He takes the battle from the initial planning through the invasion of the Marianas and the recriminations that followed, describing Admiral Spruance's decision to allow U.S. forces to remain on the defensive and giving blow-by-blow details of the action. This intensive study of what many believe to be a major turning point in the Pacific War has remained an important reference since it was first published in 1981. Views: 673
This late work from Samuel Beckett is the haunting picture of an old woman alone in a cabin, who watches the evening and the morning star and ventures out chiefly to visit a grave. In prose of great poetic beauty, which the author translated from his original French text Mal vu mal dit in 1982, Beckett returns to the imagery of the Old and New Testaments to speculate on the great questions of human existence. One of the great writers of the 20th century, Beckett won the Nobel Prize in 1969. He is remembered primarily as a novelist and playwright, producing Waiting for Godot and the trilogy Molloy, Malone Dies, and The Unnameable, though he was also a poet and, when he chose to be, a discerning critic of great originality. Beckett continues to exert a powerful influence on other writers and interest in his work has grown since his death in 1989. Views: 649
Corinne's flashing emerald eyes bid men fulfill her any desire. She was the scandalous darling of Boston's gilded age.
SWORN TO REVENGE
Now she had sailed half round the world to Hawaii, to ruin the man who had ruined her ... who had taken her, despoiled her, and left her humiliated by her own awakened longings.
RAVISHED BY PASSION
Corinne hated Jared Burkett as deeply as she wanted his manly, sensuous passion. And Jared ached to possess Corinne, though she would force him to hurt her again. Their love, so violent, so reckless, would either destroy them, or give them completely to the wild abandon of tropical nights in paradise. Views: 647
Hannah Blau, a young Russian Jewish girl, embarks upon a career that will take her to America and test her personal happiness Views: 637
When she is told that a large inheritance from a Greek tycoon, meant for her friend Helen Nicholas, was stolen, Nancy agrees to find the culprit. A poisonous snake in a basket of apples and a strange symbol stamped on a rare Byzantine mask are clues in this mystery set in the beautiful and exotic country of Greece. These clues lead Nancy and her friends to a ring of art smugglers and to the secret of the Greek symbol. Views: 635
The witty sequel to Frederik Pohl's & C. M. Kornbluth's legendary science fiction classic The Space Merchants, written 30 years later.
Great advertising agencies still dominate the world and control all governments and every aspect of human behavior. When a handful of renegades on Venus zealously opposes the so-called “benefits” of the hucksters’’ paradise, it seems inevitable that the all-powerful account executives of Earth will stop at nothing, not even war, to force the rebels to submit.
But the Veenies have a plan…. Views: 632
"The first collection in seven years from one of America's most celebrated and admired writers--ten wonderful short (and long) stories that allow us to explore and enjoy once again the many facets of John Gardner's unique fictional world. Here are enchanting tales about queens and kings and princesses in magical, timeless lands; marvelously warm and funny stories that move, amuse, and enlighten us as they probe the mysterious and profound relation between art and life." This is a hardcover edition of The Art of Living and Other Stories, written by John Gardner and published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1981. It is a self-stated First Printing, with stunning woodcuts by Mary Azarian. Views: 629
In a time when the dark clouds of chaos covered the land and the roads were filled with death, Voltan The Dark One rode out …
Against him stood one man, armed with the legendary mindsword whose blade moved at the speed of thought.
Hawk The Slayer. The warrior marked by destiny to cut down The Dark One … Views: 620
Sisters Sarita and Deborah, Reverend Durham’s daughters, live in a remote Sussex rectory where tyrannical Lord Pergrine keeps them impoverished and in danger. But the breakdown of a coach brings spritely Lady Phillippa, plump Lady Imogene, and haughty Lady Brienne to the rescue. In their search for adventure, these three elderly ladies caused mayhem—and matchmaking. Georgian Romance by Joan Vincent; originally published by Dell Candlelight Views: 570
