Martchmaker Charlie Hartman is convinced he's a modern-day Cupid with his eye on artist Jill Amory for his friend Spence Jegger, Colorado Springs' resident marriage-a-phobe. Convincing Spence he's going to wed the first woman he sees on Valentine's Day might take some doing…until Spence takes one look at his intended. Destiny is full of surprises.… Views: 9
The classic follow-up to A Bit of A Do, about the comedy of Yorkshire life, told through seven more do's is now available in ebook format. Life is still a social minefield in this small Yorkshire town. From the opening of a vegetarian restaurant to the inauguration of the Outer Inner Relief Ring Road, join Ted and Liz as they struggle through another series of excruciatingly funny 'do's' in this sequel to A BIT OF A DO. Can Ted find happiness with a waitress, now that he and Liz are no longer an item? Can Liz bring comfort to the grieving Neville, her strangely immaculate second husband? Above all, how will Ted's ex-wife Rita manage as her family becomes more dysfunctional at every function? Can she possibly be as happy as she seems? Views: 8
Alfred, fifth son of King Ethelwulf of Wessex, never expects to become king. But he is entranced by Elswyth, Princess of Mercia, and determines to wed her, though she is promised to another. The headstrong lovers struggle to change the world. When Alfred’s brothers die and he is faced with a savage Viking invasion, he must fight for Britain and all he holds dear. Third of the Warrior Kings Trilogy. Historical Fiction by Joan Wolf; originally published by NALFrom Publishers WeeklyAt the outset of this powerfully wrought historical romance set in ninth-century Britain, Wolf lists her Anglo-Saxon characters, at least half of whose names begin with "Ethel." It's an aid readers will often turn to as the action-packed plot develops. Alfred, dubbed by history "the Great," succeeds to the kingdom of Wessex on the death of his beloved brother, Ethelred. He is aided in his struggle against the invading pagan Danes by his haughty young wife, Elswyth, of the kingdom of Mercia. As warrior-king, Alfred establishes a governmental system; as Latinist, he translates the poetry and classics that become the foundation of English literature; as a Christian he puts into practice the principles to which he was devoted. Around Alfred's magnificent defense of the English nation, Wolf ( Born of the Sun ) weaves convincing subplots of passionate love and betrayal that embellish the bare bones of history. Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalIn ninth century England King Alfred of Wessex gathered an army which permanently halted a Viking invasion that had devastated the country. For this, as well as his devotion to literature, he is known as Alfred the Great. This novel tells his story from childhood, through marriage to his beloved Elswyth, battles with the murderous Northmen, and finally his defeat of them in 878. It is unfortuante, though, that this rousing period in British history is treated in such a plodding, dull manner. Although the historical events are competently described, the passion and vibrancy that pervaded these times are completely missing.- Patricia Altner, Dept. of Defense, Bolling AFB, Washington, D.C.Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. Views: 8
"First you dream, then you die…"
In Bad Dreams the modernist horrors of Clive
Barker and Freddy Krueger fuse with fairytale fears that last into adulthood to
form a nightmare from which there is no waking up.
Anne Nielson, an American journalist, comes to London to
investigate the strange death of her sister, Judi. She soon becomes trapped in a
netherworld of sado-masochist clubs, suburban swingers, and drug-dealing
would-be master criminals. Here she meets the Monster, an immoral life-taker who
lives at the center of his own twisted dream and feeds on the living memories
and fantasies of other people. Sucked into the world of the newly damned, Anne
is hurtled toward a final confrontation where she has only the dead as
allies.
***
From Publishers Weekly
This sporadically gruesome and nearly always frightening
horror tale is not for the squeamish or faint of heart, but readers enthralled
by things that go bump in the night are in for a treat. When journalist Anne
Nielson goes to London to investigate the death of her sister Judi, a
drug-addicted prostitute, she finds herself enmeshed with the denizens of Judi's
nightmarish world: dealers, pimps, sadomasochists and, most horribly, the
Monster, a member of the Kind-a ghoulish race kept eternally alive by eating
humans and ingesting their dreams. Newman (The Night Mayor) pits his
spirited heroine against this fiend in several brutal, shocking and tense
encounters. One might expect that the immortal Monster would have the upper
hand, but Anne, certain that he killed her sister, proves a formidable foe. Will
her dreams be won by the Kind? Fans of the genre should enjoy finding out.
***
From Kirkus Reviews
Riotously inventive horror fantasy, the second novel by
the author of the wildly original The Night Mayor (1990). Newman trumps
up some superbly clever devices here, and at last creates a heroine we can care
about, or almost care about, before she fades into the Dreamscape. The American
sisters Anne and Judi Nielson and their half-brother Cameron Nielson III (a
famous minimalist composer), children of Nobel Prize playwright Cameron Nielson,
live in London, where Anne writes and Judi, a junkie S&M prostitute, hires
herself out to be beaten. In the first chapter, Judi is eaten alive while
turning a trick, or has the blood and most of her flesh sucked out of her, as
well as her mind and memory, by Mr. Skinner, a vampire known as the King of the
Cats, or leader of the Kind, who was once a master of the now-vanished Immortal
Empire. Very few vampires still walk about, and Mr. Skinner himself has only one
rival, Ariadne, a sexy vamp much older, smarter, and more powerful than he. Anne
tries to trace Judi's path through the whoreworld to find out just how her
sister's corpse had aged into a very old woman's. Judi's prostitute friend Nina
leads Anne to the mansion of Amelia Dorf ("It was the kind of quietly well-off
residential street where mass murderers live…''-a kind of Karloffian
understatement) where an S&M party is in full swing, ruled by the Game
Master, Mr. Skinner. We'll say no more, only that Mr. Skinner's vampirism is a
boldly invented passionate state that can barely be contained by human form;
that the Old Dark House becomes a dream house in which rooms lead into mindrooms
into dreamrooms; that at one point Mr. Skinner falls into a feeding frenzy and
eats up the whole party, then licks his lizard-long tongue at Anne and begins
chasing her through the walls… When you meet Mr. Skinner, remember that he bears
the memories of all his victims, and that when you join him you join all of them
as well. Comforting.
***
From Library Journal
When her sister is found dead in London's Soho district,
journalist Anne Nielson begins a private investigation that leads her to a
sordid underworld of prostitution, drugs, and kinky sex before plunging her into
a terrifying nightmare world inhabited by an immortal killer who feeds off the
lives and dreams of his victims. Graphic descriptions of sex and violence place
this novel by the author of The Night Mayor (Carroll & Graf, 1990)
firmly inside the boundaries of splatter fiction. Newman's heady surrealism and
knife-edge prose, however, give the story a sophistication that is unusual to
the genre. Recommended, with qualifications, for libraries with strong horror
collections. Views: 7
To unlock the secrets of a homicide, Bernhardt must connect with a terrified childDennis tells the police he was sleeping when his wife was killed. Connie stumbled upon a prowler, he says, and paid for the mistake with her life. The police believe his story, but this cold man’s crocodile tears cannot convince Connie’s sister, Janice. She suspects her brother-in-law of a heinous crime, and it will take an unusual investigator to prove her right.Alan Bernhardt is a theater director in San Francisco who pays his rent with the odd bit of private detective work. Searching for the man who strangled Connie, his biggest obstacle isn’t Dennis, but John—the dead woman’s seven-year-old son. He may have witnessed something crucial on the night of the murder, but this sensitive child is too frightened to speak. Coaxing words out of John will be the toughest assignment of Alan’s directing career, but not half as hard as keeping the boy alive.The second novel of Alan Bernhardt, playwright, director, and moonlighting Bay Area gumshoe--by the author of the Lt. Frank Hastings police procedurals. Bernhardt will need every ounce of his stagecraft and street-smarts to get the truth out of a scared seven-year-old boy. "Wilcox gets better and better!"--Tony Hillerman. Views: 7
Gwynne Heikki is in the business of salvaging. Her company wins a contract to find and salvage a lighter-than-air craft that had disappeared in the wilds on the planet of Iadara. The craft had been transporting a valuable experimental crystal matrix would make great changes to the interstellar railway currently in place. Although the job seemed “not quite right” from the beginning, Gwynne and her team take the contract. Views: 6
Their friend Bill Hooper's disappearance at a survival game camp in Georgia leads the Hardy Boys to discover a training site for an elite corps of attack troops. Views: 6
Rowena Caxton, formerly mistress of an estate, is reduced to being a “poor relation” in her beautiful cousin Millicent’s home. When the new Lord Farleigh, former major from the Peninsula wars, arrives in the neighborhood, Millicent immediately attempts to attach him. But it is Rowena who teaches the earl about orchards—and about his own heart. Regency Romance by Carola Dunn; originally published by Harlequin Views: 6
Inos, hunted now by the fearsome warlock wardens who rule the world, is convinced that Rap is dead. But Rap is not, and the tide may be about to turn . . .She thought he was dead. Queen Inos feels Rap's presence as if he has risen from the grave to be beside her, but she knows all that is left of him is his voice, which echoed in her mind—well, so she thinks. Her duty is to serve her people, and Queen Inos does not know her galley slave, Rap, is alive and, with his magic wand, trying to bring happiness to his beloved queen. But when the evil Nordland raider, Kalkor, arrives in port, Rap's plans begin to fall apart. Views: 5
From the relics of the past comes a new nightmare, a force so powerful, so obscenely evil that it threatens to reach across the centuries and engulf mankindDuring an archeological dig, a hidden chamber filled with the skulls of children is discovered. At first glance they seem to have been there for thousands of years, but closer examination reveals a more shocking secret. The opening of the chamber triggers a series of horrific murders, each victim mutilated and their entrails used to form a different letter of the alphabet. Who is behind this outrage, and how is it linked to a subterranean chamber thousands of years old? Inspector Stephen Wallace must unmask this crazed killer. Is it the sadistic thug responsible for organizing a series of barbaric dog fights? The mysterious recluse who holds Black Mass orgies for drug addicted teenagers? Or is it, in fact, something much worse? An evil so old, so vile, and so powerful that it threatens to engulf everyone who comes near it. For Wallace, and possibly for the whole human race, time is running out fast. Something evil is waiting. Something monstrous is loose. Views: 5
It was the chance of a lifetimeAny ambitious secretary like Jolene would seize the opportunity to accompany the big boss on a wide-ranging business trip to the Soviet Union.However, impressing Cheyne Templeton with her sterling qualities was another matter. He'd already made up his mind what kind of girl he thought she was. And it was far from the truth.Jolene could find no way to convince him that he was wrong. Nor could she convince herself that his opinion didn't matter ... Views: 4
