A centennial retrospective selected by master of the form Lorrie Moore that showcases representative stories in the series as well as literary moments in time One of our most beloved short story writers, Lorrie Moore introduces and chooses from more than two thousand stories the forty-one writers collected here. From Edna Ferber to George Saunders, and everyone in between: Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Cheever, Munro, Lahiri, Alexie, Diaz, to name just a few. Heidi Pitlor, in turn, recounts behind-the-scenes series anecdotes and gives a decade-by-decade examination of the trends captured by the series over a hundred years. The earliest stories ushered in a new and unflinching realism, the Depression saw the reign of Southern writing, and a post-war trend toward sentimentality was upended by the likes of Philip Roth. Soon after, John Updike and Joyce Carol Oates began to probe the dark side of their era's mythic happy family. The 1980s proved to be a golden... Views: 6
Left with bald patches thanks to the wicked doings of a murderer from a previous investigation, Agatha flees to the coastal resort of Wyckhadden to grow her tresses back in privacy. When a local witch provides her with hair tonic Agatha's hair begins to flow–but the witch is found bludgeoned to death.The odd elderly residents who inhabit Agatha's elegantly faded hotel seem innocuous enough, but as she delves into the killing she turns up secrets best left undiscovered, and powerful motives for revenge. Balancing the amorous attentions of police inspector Jimmy Jessop with an increasingly treacherous search for the culprit, Agatha is at her wit's end–and ready to cast a spell of her own... Views: 6
Based on the stirring true story, The Saboteur is Andrew Gross's follow-up to the riveting historical thriller, The One Man. A richly-woven story probing the limits of heroism, sacrifice and determination, The Saboteurportrays a hero who must weigh duty against his heart in order to single-handedly end the one threat that could alter the course of World War II.February, 1943. Both the Allies and the Nazis are closing in on attempts to construct the decisive weapon of the war.Kurt Nordstrum, an engineer in Oslo, puts his life aside to take up arms against the Germans as part of the Norwegian resistance. After the loss of his fiancée, his outfit whittled to shreds, he commandeers a coastal steamer and escapes to England to transmit secret evidence of the Nazis's progress towards an atomic bomb at an isolated factory in Norway. There, he joins a team of dedicated Norwegians in training in the Scottish Highlands for a mission to disrupt the... Views: 6
When a starry-eyed day-dreamer falls in love with the doctor treating her broken leg, she has to contend with the demands of both his profession, and the constrains of a society that demands her to move on when he does. Views: 6
Sente follows a master assassin into the nearby city of On, and discovers a plot to split the kingdoms of AEgypt, and is then shocked when an unknown magical force destroys the plotters. Views: 6
Frances is doing fine; she has her life sorted. Then comes the phone call from Alec, the husband who left her for her younger sister Susan, thirteen years ago. Susan has disappeared, and Alec wants her daughter Kate to come and stay with Frances, out of harm's way. Meanwhile, Frances's youngest sister, Gillian, finds that two months after ending her relationship with a married man, she is pregnant. While all this is going on another crisis is looming. It's been a family full of secrets. Frances and Gillian haven't even managed to tell their parents Susan is missing. After all, she's left unacknowledged thirteen years of birthday and Christmas presents for Kate, the granddaughter they never saw. She was the one who made sure she could never be forgiven, and now there's another secret. It's not always the things you fear most, which matter in the end. Views: 6
"Charming, melancholy, hip."Publishers Weekly, starred review"Zapruder's innovative style is provocative in its unusual juxtapositions of line, image and enjambments. . . . Highly recommended."Library JournalMatthew Zapruder's third book mixes humor and invention with love and loss, as when the breath of a lover is compared to "a field of titanium gravestones / growing warmer in the sun." The title poem is an elegy for the heroes and mentors in the poet's lifefrom David Foster Wallace to the poet's father. Zapruder's poems are direct and surprising, and throughout the book he wrestles with the desire to do well, to make art, and to face the vast events of the day.Look out scientists! Today the unemployment rateis 9.4 percent. I have no idea what that means. I triedto think about it harder for a while. Thentried standing in an actual stance of mysteryand not knowing towards the world.Which is my job. As... Views: 6
Walking can do anyone good – and Bruce Bochy knows that as well as anyone. As a Major League manager, he has one of the more stressful jobs imaginable. So what does he do to relax? He goes for long walks. Whenever possible, he takes long walks as a way to clear his head, calm his soul and give his body a workout. In this charming little volume, he shares his thoughts on walking in terms that can inspire everyone to get out more often for a good walk, a great way to stay fit and healthy through the forties and fifties and beyond. Along the way he provides glimpses into his life and character that will delight his many fans. Views: 6
1875: The dawn of a magical new age of technology.The hard-scrabble mining town of Scryer's Gulch supplies the world with hermetauxite, the ore that runs everything from clocks to trains to the new ethergraph system. But an unscrupulous spellcoder is poisoning it—twisting it for an unknown but undoubtedly evil purpose.Beautiful magic wielder and secret Treasury Agent Annabelle Duniway and her captive demon servant Misi have come to the Gulch undercover—she as the new schoolteacher, he as her mean black cat. Their assignment: Find out who's corrupting the ore that increasingly runs the world, and why.This is the first fifty-three episodes of the fantasy western serial that's one part "Deadwood," one part "Wild, Wild West," and one part "Dark Shadows." Views: 6
In a lyrical love letter to guide dogs everywhere, a blind poet shares his delightful story of how a guide dog changed his life and helped him discover a newfound appreciation for travel and independence.At the age of thirty-eight, Stephen Kuusisto—who has managed his whole life without one—gets his first guide dog, a beautiful yellow labrador named Corky. Theirs is a partnership of movement, mutual self-interest, and wanderlust. Walking with Corky in Manhattan for the first time, Steve discovers he's "living the chaos of joy—you're in love with your surroundings, loving a barefoot mind, wild to go anyplace." Have Dog, Will Travel is the inside story of how a person establishes trust with a dog, how a guide dog is trained. Corky absolutely transforms Steve's life and his way of being in the world. Profound and deeply moving, theirs is a spiritual journey, during which Steve discovers that joy with a guide dog is both a method and a state of... Views: 6
No escape, no fun, no sex... What's a forgotten goddess to do?
It's been three months since Kari, an Etruscan Goddess, was kidnapped and her two hot captors have yet to lay a hand on her. She hasn't been playing hard to get. In fact, she's made it clear she'd be more than happy to pass the time more...pleasurably. Yes, Den and Jacoby may work for the Malandante, but they're not evil. They're yummy.
Den would gladly give Kari everything and anything she wants. He wants to take her up on the offer in her teasing smile, but he needs something in return. His mother is dying and he needs Kari to help him get her to help...to the wolf shifters who would shoot Den and Jacoby on sight.
Jacoby also needs Kari's help to get his sister Emelia away from his father. Emelia has been identified as a new goddess, Kari's replacement, as a matter of fact. Jacoby will do whatever it takes to make sure his father can't corrupt Emelia. If that means defecting to the shifters, no problem. Especially if that also means he can continue to see Kari.
But even the best-laid plans can go wrong...and when Kari, Jacoby and Den need to rescue Emelia, none of them expect the fight to cost more than they're willing to pay. Views: 6
Like the Afghan war today and the ten-year war in Iraq, the Vietnam War left no one unchanged, particularly not the nearly eleven hundred Americans who lost multiple limbs and returned home from Vietnam to face a different kind of battle: acceptance.How Can You Mend This Purple Heart goes inside the minds of amputees struggling to heal from the ravages of war and chronicles a journey of love, redemption, and joy, a journey of pain and anger . . . and a journey of hope. Most of all, it is a journey of the human spirit and its triumph over the most impossible odds.In this riveting first novel, author T. L. Gould draws upon his experience recovering in a military hospital to create a plain-truth, no-holds-barred narrative stark in its simplicity, detail, and humor. From dressing changes and morphine drips to off-site forays into neighborhood bars and brothels, Gould chronicles the precipitous journey to recovery of the men of Ward 2B: how they learned to walk again, to love again,... Views: 6
