"The emotional and moral complexity that [Jane Smiley] uncovers in the characters of these resonant novellas confirms [her] singular talent. ORDINARY LOVE & GOOD WILL is an extraordinary achievement."
THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD
ORDINARY LOVE
At a reunion with her grown children, a woman recalls the long-ago affair that ended her relationship with their father--and changed all their lives irrevocably.
GOOD WILL
Despite the carefully self-sufficient life he has designed for his small family, a man discovers that even the right choices have unexpected consequences--sometimes heart-breaking ones.
From the Paperback edition. Views: 539
The time is 1189 A.D. and war rages all around the Mediterranean. Any woman would fear travelling among the pirates, bandits, and renegade Christian Knights, but Atta Olivia Clemens is no ordinary woman--rather, she is a vampire and the perils she faces are even more deadly. Views: 538
A flash of lightning, quivering ground, and, instead of her grandparents' farm, Polly sees mist and jagged mountains -- and coming toward her, a group of young men carrying spears. Why has a time gate opened and dropped Polly into a world that existed 3,000 years ago? Will she be able to get back to the present before the time gate closes -- and leaves her to face a group of people who believe in human sacrifice? Views: 531
Contains five short stories. In the title story a loving and contented husband discovers the true nature of his marriage, as though he has walked through a mirror and found that the life held in the glass was not his own at all. Views: 529
Once upon a time... as a fair maiden lay weeping upon a cold tombstone, her heartfelt desire was suddenly made real before her: tall, broad of shoulder, attired in gleaming silver and gold, her knight in shining armor had come to rescue his damsel in distress...
Abandoned by a cruel fate, lovely Dougless Montgomery lies weeping upon a cold tombstone in an English church. Suddenly, the most extraordinary man appears. It is Nicholas Stafford, Earl of Thornwyck…and according to his tombstone he died in 1564!
Drawn to his side by a bond so sudden and compelling it overshadows reason, Dougless knows that Nicholas is nothing less than a miracle: a man who does not seek to change her, who finds her perfect, fascinating, just as she is. What Dougless never imagined was how strong the chains are that tie them to the past…or the grand adventure that lay before them. Views: 526
One dark and stormy night in 1956, a stranger named Fludd mysteriously turns up in the dismal village of Fetherhoughton. He is the curate sent by the bishop to assist Father Angwin-or is he?
In the most unlikely of places, a superstitious town that understands little of romance or sentimentality, where bad blood between neighbors is ancient and impenetrable, miracles begin to bloom.
No matter how copiously Father Angwin drinks while he confesses his broken faith, the level of the bottle does not drop.
Although Fludd does not appear to be eating, the food on his plate disappears.
Fludd becomes lover, gravedigger, and savior, transforming his dull office into a golden regency of decision, unashamed sensation, and unprecedented action.
Knitting together the miraculous and the mundane, the dreadful and the ludicrous, Fludd is a tale of alchemy and transformation told with astonishing art, insight, humor, and wit. Views: 522
London Fields is Amis's murder story for the end of the millennium. The murderee is Nicola Six, a "black hole" of sex and self-loathing intent on orchestrating her own extinction. The murderer may be Keith Talent, a violent lowlife whose only passions are pornography and darts. Or is the killer the rich, honorable, and dimly romantic Guy Clinch? Views: 519
Wandering sea gypsy Johnny Rossendale is caught up in a series of violent events as he investigates the strange history of a painting, the most treasured part of his family's inheritance. But Johnny, Earl of Stowey, has eight centuries of robber-baron blood in his veins, all boiling for revenge. Views: 519
If you ask, she must answer: no steerswoman may refuse a question, or reply with anything but the truth. All they know is shared freely, with any who ask. But when the steerswoman Rowan investigates a small, lovely, inexplicable object, she suddenly finds she must flee, fight for her life -- or worse, lie. Because one kind of knowledge has always been denied the the steerswomen: Magic. Views: 516
Antonia and Judith were the best of friends, until dashing Adam Yorke and handsome Lord Simon Launceston divided the two young women. Never had romance reveled in such dizzying turnabouts as Cupid emptied his quiver at hearts that would not stay still. Views: 516
First published in 1989, here is England's leading man of letters-as old as the century-at the height of his powers, the incomparable V. S. Pritchett, whose brilliantly observed short stories have become classics in his own lifetime. In these six beautifully crafted stories-his latest effort-we see a master at work, casting his eye over the subjects he knows best, the ordinary men and women of England: studious fourteen- year-old Sarah, whose life is changed by a game of hide-and-seek; or Lionel Frazier, the hairdresser, who looks at a woman and sees only her head; or George Andrews, the salesman, for whom new floral carpeting is always an exciting omen. The genius of these stories is their familiarity-almost everyone will recognize a moment or a revelation of his own life in the experiences of Pritchett's utterly individual and incomparably real characters. Renowned in both the United States and England, Pritchett celebrates his eighty-ninth birthday with the... Views: 513
Maria is the only daughter of an unmarried woman. She has grown up at the seaside alongside her cousin Tsugumi, a lifelong invalid, charismatic, spoiled and occasionally cruel. Now Maria's father is finally able to bring Maria and her mother to Tokyo, ushering Maria into a world of university, impending adulthood, and a 'normal' family. When Tsugumi invites Maria to spend a last summer by the sea, a restful idyll becomes a time of dramatic growth as Tsugumi finds love, and Maria learns the true meaning of home and family. She also has to confront both Tsugumi's inner strength and the real possibility of losing her. Views: 509
What would have happened if history had been different -- if the major events that shaped our times had occurred in a different way ... or had not occurred at all? In this stellar collection, twelve of science fiction's most imaginative minds have altered the past to reveal a present of astonishing and startling possibilities...a rare glimpse of what might have been. From a Germany that won the war to a modern exodus from Egypt, from the death of ancient Greece to the true secret of the Soviets, these bold excursions in time depict bizarre new worlds -- oddly familiar, disturbingly different.
"In the House of Sorrows" (Poul Anderson)
"Remaking History" (Kim Stanley Robinson)
"Counting Potsherds" (Harry Turtledove)
"Leapfrog" (James P. Hogan)
"Everything But Honor" (George Alec Effinger)
"We Could Do Worse" (Gregory Benford)
"To the Promised Land" (Robert Silverberg)
"Bible Stories for Adults, No. 31: The Covenant" (James Morrow)
"All Assassins" (Barry N. Malzberg)
"Game Night at the Fox and Goose" (Karen Joy Fowler)
"Waiting for the Olympians" (Frederik Pohl)
"The Return of William Proxmire" (Larry Niven) Views: 507
Beautiful and charismatic, nineteen-year-old Checker Secretti is the most gifted and original drummer that the club-goers of Astoria, Queens, have ever heard. When he plays, conundrums seem to solve themselves, brilliant thoughts spring to mind, and couples fall in love. The members of his band, The Derailleurs, are passionately devoted to their guiding spirit, as are all who fall under Checker's spell. But when another drummer, Eaton Striker, hears the prodigy play, he is pulled inexorably into Checker's orbit by a powerful combination of envy and admiration. Soon The Derailleurs, too, are torn apart by latent jealousies that Eaton does his utmost to bring alive. Views: 507
This book is a remarkable tale of pulse-pounding excitement with a uniquely sympathetic, fascinating portrait of the werewolf as noble warrior-and conflicted being. Complex, compelling and utterly real. Views: 506
