Indifferent by choice, indecisive by nature, Maria ploughs her way through fifteen years of womanhood, unable to see what all the fuss is about. Will she ever be able to direct the course of her own life, or will it end as it began - accidentally? Jonathan Coe's first novel, which introduced a wonderful new talent to English fiction. Views: 936
The beloved bestseller from Newbery Medalist and National Book Award winner Louis Sachar (Holes), with a brand-new cover!
“Give me a dollar or I’ll spit on you.”
That’s Bradley Chalkers for you. He’s the oldest kid in the fifth grade. He tells enormous lies. He picks fights with girls, and the teachers say he has serious behavior problems. No one likes him—except Carla, the new school counselor. She thinks Bradley is sensitive and generous, and she even enjoys his far-fetched stories. Carla knows that Bradley could change, if only he weren’t afraid to try.
But when you feel like the most hated kid in the whole school, believing in yourself can be the hardest thing in the world. . . . Views: 935
Carol Shields's award-winning and critically acclaimed "literary mystery," first published in 1987.*
Swann* is the story of four individuals who become entwined in the life of Mary Swann, a rural Canadian poet whose authentic and unique voice is discovered only hours before her husband hacks her to pieces.Who is Mary Swann? And how could she have produced these works of genius in almost complete isolation? Mysteriously, all traces of Swann's existence — her notebook, the first draft of her work, even her photograph — gradually vanish as the characters in this engrossing novel become caught up in their own concepts of who Mary Swann was.
From the Trade Paperback edition. Views: 927
Willie Weaver used to be a hero.
Now he's nothing.Willie is a top athlete, the star of the legendary game against Crazy Horse Electric. Then a freak accident robs him of his once-amazing physical talents.
Betrayed by his family, his girlfriend, and his own body, Willie's on the run, penniless and terrified on the streets, where he must fight to rebuild both his body and his life. Views: 926
A young professor of Eastern Europe studies and mother of two is appointed U. S. Ambassador to an Iron Curtain country. Mary Ashley soon discovers that someone is out to kill her. She must learn who the assassin is and the motive behind the contract. Views: 926
Once David Hero was an ordinary man living in the real world. Now he is trapped in the Dreamlands, cut off from the waking world. David Hero's dreams and nightmares have become his own reality.
Swollen, glowing oddly in the gloom of night, the moon hangs lower and lower over the Dreamlands. Its weird, unearthly light transforms beautiful landscapes into twisted nightmares and imperils the sanity of any who walk abroad after sunset.
Beams of terrible power stab the unsuspecting earth, destroying the land, shattering buildings, and dragging people into the shrieking sky, straight toward the hellish moon!
David Hero, once a man of the waking world, finds himself fighting side by side with his worst enemies--Zura and her zombie armies, the Eidolon Lathi and her termite men--against the slimy, many-tentacled moon monsters. Views: 920
A collection of interwoven stories, this is a portrait of two worlds - a small Alpine village bound to the earth and by tradition, and the restless, future-driven culture that will invade it - at their moment of collision. The instrument of entrapment is love. Lives are lost and hearts broken. Views: 918
"Every morning I jump out of bed and step on a land mine. The land mine is me. After the explosion, I spend the rest of the day putting the pieces back together. Now, it's your turn. Jump!"
Zest. Gusto. Curiosity. These are the qualities every writer must have, as well as a spirit of adventure. In this exuberant book, the incomparable Ray Bradbury shares the wisdom, experience, and excitement of a lifetime of writing. Here are practical tips on the art of writing from a master of the craft—everything from finding original ideas to developing your own voice and style—as well as the inside story of Bradbury's own remarkable career as a prolific author of novels, stories, poems, films, and plays.
Zen in the Art of Writing is more than just a how-to manual for the would-be writer: it is a celebration of the act of writing itself that will delight, impassion, and inspire the writer in you. Bradbury encourages us to follow the unique path of our instincts and enthusiasms to the place where our inner genius dwells, and he shows that success as a writer depends on how well you know one subject: your own life. Views: 913
Best known as the author of "Psycho", Robert Bloch is world-renowned for his stories of horror, mystery, fantasy, and science fiction. Many of the 25 stories in this first volume of "The Complete Stories of Robert Bloch" have been unavailable for decades. The stories are in his classic style of gripping suspense, science fiction and fantasy.
As Bloch writes, "These stories in this collection have a common theme; they deal with monsters. Some of the monsters are human, some are not-- but all of them embody, in one way or another, the fears common to us in our dreams. We call these monsters by many names-- ghosts, vampires, extraterrestrials, changelings. But we recognize them for what they are; manifestations of the secret dreads and desires which lurk beneath the surface of consciousness."
"Bloch has become a virtual fixture on the popular culture landscape." --Publishers Weekly
"If you're not familiar with Bloch's short fiction, find someone to borrow this from; if you already are familiar, you know that you want to own these volumes." --Locus Views: 913
It has ended. It begins again.
In Kavelin: Lady Nepanthe's new life with the wizard Varthlokkur is disturbed by visions of her lost son, while King Bragi Ragnarson and Michael Trebilcock scheme to help the exiled Princess Mist re-usurp her throne - under their thumb.
In Shinsan: a pig-farmer's son takes command of Eastern Army, while Lord Kuo faces plots in his council and a suicide attack of two million Matayangans on his border. But in the desert beyond the Dread Empire: a young victim of the Great War becomes the Deliverer of an eons-forgotten god, chosen to lead the legions of the dead.
And the power of his vengeance will make a world's schemes as petty as dust, blown wild in the horror that rides the east wind.
This volume marks the beginning of the end. Reap the East Wind is the first step on the road to the long-delayed final chapter of Glen Cook's legendary Dread Empire series. Views: 909
Leo Graf was an effective engineer. Safety regs weren't just the rule book he swore by; he'd helped write them. All that changed on his assignment to the Cay Habitat. Leo was profoundly uneasy with the corporate exploitation of his bright new students... until that exploitation turned to something much worse. He hadn't anticipated a situation where the right thing to do was neither safe, nor in the rules...
Leo Graf adopted a thousand quaddies---now all he had to do was teach them to be free.
Falling Free takes place approximately 200 years before the events in Cordelia's Honor and does not share settings or characters with the main body of the series. Views: 886
Come to the world of the River.
Come to a world distant in time and space, a world where the pace of life is counted by tides of the great River, but where, as in the river itself, there are swift dark currents flowing under a placid surface.
Meet Pamra Don--a young woman scarred by her mother's death, lured to a preist-hood where the truth must be hidden from the faithful. And meet Thrasne, a young boatman who trades from town to town, free from the iron control of the towers of the Awakeners, and the priests of the world of the River--free, that is, as long as he never speaks his mind. These two, by design and accident both, are about to discover many truths. And on the Northshore of the River, the truth can kill you. Views: 882
'Still my fate: always to speak the truth, and only to be thought mad' Kassandra, daughter of Priam the king and Hecuba the priestess, twin sister to Paris and prophetess of Apollo, her visions dismissed as lunatic ravings, is powerless to avert the fall of Troy Views: 880
Many thousands of readers consider Philip K. Dick the greatest science fiction mind on any planet. Since his untimely death in 1982, interest in Dick's works has continued to mount and his reputation has been further enhanced by a growing body of critical attention. The Philip K. Dick Award is now given annually to a distinguished work of science fiction, and the Philip K. Dick Society is devoted to the study and promulgation of his works.
This collection includes all of the writer's earliest short and medium-length fiction (including some previously unpublished stories) covering the years 1954-1964. These fascinating stories include Service Call, Stand By, The Days of Perky Pat, and many others.
Contents:
Autofac --
Service call --
Captive market --
The mold of Yancy --
The minority report --
Recall mechanism --
The unreconstructed M --
Explorers we --
War game --
If there were no Benny Cemoli --
Novelty act --
Waterspider --
What the dead men say --
Orpheus with clay feet --
The days of Perky Pat --
Stand-by --
What'll we do with Ragland Park? --
Oh, to be a Blobel! -- Views: 868
Stacey's so excited! She's invited her friends from the Baby-sitters Club down to New York City for a long weekend. It's going to be perfect - a party and a sleepover on Friday night, a big baby-sitting job on Saturday, and lots of sight seeing on Sunday.
But what a mistake! The Baby-sitters are way out of place in the big city. Mary Anne sounds like a walking guide book; Dawn's afraid of everything; Kristy can't keep her mouth shut; and Claudia's jealous of Stacey friends.
Does this mean Stacey can't be the Baby-sitters' friend anymore? Will the Baby-sitters Club fall apart? Views: 868
