Eleven-year-old Kaden has managed to stay under the radar for most of his life. With the exception of Kubla, a pet crow, Kaden doesn't have any friends his own age and he's okay with that. After all, friends can ask inconvenient questions. Questions like Why do you live with your grandmother and where is your father? Questions Kaden doesn't want to answer. Apart from school and a few trips to town, Kaden and Gram keep to themselves, living a simple life at their cabins outside the small community of Promise. But now Kaden's life is getting a lot more complicated. He's starting middle school, which brings its own set of problems for a boy who doesn't fit in. And then he learns that his father, a man he has never known, is getting out of prison and moving to Promise. After years of being the outsider at school, Kaden is given a chance to come out of his shell when Yo-Yo, a new boy, moves to the area and offers friendship. But can Kaden trust him? Will Yo-Yo be a real friend after he... Views: 26
"Clifford Irving delivers a parable about aging and euthanasia -- book discussion groups will love it. Recommended for all libraries."- Library Journal Set today in the Roaring Fork Valley of Colorado, this is the tale of a snowbound mountain town with a young woman mayor and a secret to protect from the outside world - a secret worth dying for, and perhaps worth killing for. "An extraordinarily entertaining and thoughtful combination of LOST HORIZONS and PRESUMED INNOCENT. Not only is it a mystery -- on at least two levels -- but it poses troubling questions concerning prolonged life and its ultimate value. - Booklist Dennis Conway, New York lawyer, has moved west to marry Sophie, the beautiful mayor of the 9,000-feet-high hamlet of Springhill. When his new in-laws are charged with murdering two of their close friends, Dennis is shocked, disbelieving, and volunteers to defend Sophie's parents at trial in Aspen. THE SPRING is at one and the same time a love story, a murder story, a courtroom novel, and a skiing adventure story with the most gripping avalanche scene ever written. "Irving drives his narrative from the fantastic to the realistic and back again, playing a game that's sure and steady. Highly recommended." -- Publishers WeeklyFrom Publishers WeeklyA simple, fabled premise?the existence of a Fountain of Youth?supports this modest suspenser from Clifford (Final Argument). The age-conquering waters here flow in a spring located thousands of feet above Aspen, Colo., their existence known only by the several hundred denizens of the town of Springhill. To avoid arousing the suspicion of outsiders, the townsfolk have entered into a pact to die voluntarily at the age of 100. The plot, which revolves around a murder trial arising from the discovery of the bodies of two of the Springfield dead, lays bare the inevitable kinks in so apparently practical and civilized a social contract. The intensely rural setting, reminiscent of that of The Shining or Deliverance, helps to cultivate a low-level tension, as do small but disturbing incidents like the disappearance of a cat or an anecdote about a woman's decapitation by avalanche. More melodramatic frights erupt at appropriate intervals. Irving drives his narrative from the fantastic to the realistic and back again, playing a game that's sure and steady?but one that's safe as well. Fans of risks in horror or suspense won't find them here. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalThe hamlet of Springhill nestles high in the Colorado Rockies. Residents are bursting with health, but they guard a secret: they grow old very, very slowly...and they decide when to die. When Manhattan attorney Dennis Conway falls in love with Springhill's mayor, Sophie Henderson, he and his two children move in with her. He's charmed by her parents, Scott and Bibsy, and by Harry Parrot, the town drunk/artist, but curious about the Water Board, an entity that wields great power over the townsfolk. When his in-laws are accused of illegally assisting in the suicide of two friends, he agrees to represent Bibsy. The secret (easy to guess, but who cares?) is revealed, and Dennis endangers his family to save someone whose time is up. Irving (The Argument, S. & S., 1993) delivers a parable about aging and euthanasia that's spare of prose and thoroughly creepy; book discussion groups will love it. Recommended for all libraries.-?Laurel A. Wilson, Alexandrian P.L, Mount Vernon, Ind.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. Views: 26
Welcome to Clay Point, Louisiana, home to not-so-average Joes, and Nonie Broussard, a feisty Cajun and trouble magnet. After losing her job when the Garmin factory burns down, Nonie is left with major money issues—as in, she has none. Desperate, she has to turn to the one place she's avoided working since dropping out of college nearly ten years ago—her family's funeral home.It wasn't that Nonie feared the dead. In fact the opposite was true. She sees them—literally, and had been seeing the dead ever since she can remember. She tried telling her parents about it when she was a child, but they'd vehemently dismissed it to imaginary friends, so she'd stopped talking about it. There were only two people who actually knew Nonie's secret and knew she was the real deal. One was Kiki Mouton, her best friend since kindergarten, and the other was Guy Miller, whom Nonie considered her one true love since the day she'd laid eyes on him in high school. Kiki now... Views: 26
The devil you know. .
With the help of charming and devious Damon, Elena rescued her vampire love, Stefan, from the depths of the Dark Dimension. But neither brother returned unscathed. Stefan is weak from his long imprisonment and needs more blood than Elena alone can give him, while a strange magic has turned Damon into a human. Savage and desperate, Damon will do anything to become a vampire again, even travel back to hell. But what will happen when he accidentally takes Bonnie with him? Stefan and Elena hurry to rescue their innocent friend from the Dark Dimension, leaving Matt and Meredith to save their hometown from the dangerous spirits that have taken hold of Fell's Church. One by one, children are succumbing to demonic designs. But Matt and Meredith soon discover that the source of the evil is darker and closer than they ever could have imagined. . Views: 26
By the end of the twenty-second century, Earth's ravaged environment has become a time bomb ticking down to global self-destruction. Despite the fortuitous arrival of faster-than-light space travel, the search for a new home has so far located only one candidate-Quraqua, a desolate planet scheduled for terraformation within a few months. For interstellar archaeologist Richard Wald and starship pilot Priscilla Hutchins, the looming renovation threatens critical research on the enigmatic alien ruins on Quraqua and its moon, which include a bizarre false city dubbed Oz. Rousing little interest on Earth and facing an unyielding terraformation committee, Wald and his team undertake a last round of life-threatening expeditions to decipher Oz's secrets before they are swallowed forever by an emerging new world. With plenty of startling plot twists, a heavy dose of intrigue, and an unusual amount of character development for science fiction, McDevitt holds us fast right through to a thrilling finish. The yarn's less pure sf, though, than a rousing archaeological adventure transplanted to another star system. Views: 26
The first two titles in a gripping, dramatic and completely engrossing new series – designed to engage reluctant readers (high interest, low-level reading), and anyone interested in battles, history, time travel, adventure, great stories, gadgets galore...(CLASSIFIED) MISSION 1: OPEN FIRE- Spain, 1587, Sir Francis Drake's ship- Mission objective: collect Drake's DNA for the Warrior Gene BankOPERATIVE PROFILE:Code name: Battle Boy 005 (BB005)Real name: Napoleon Augustus SmytheAge: 11 years oldAssignment: Operation Battle BookController: Professor PerduDuty: To operate as a Human Data-Collecting Device (HD-CD)Survival gear: SimulSkin (high-tech, skin-coloured body armour)Mission motto: Spying on the past Views: 26
The chili in Texas is red-hot . . . and so is murder!Phyllis, Sam, Carolyn, and Eve head for West Texas to compete in a Fourth of July chili cookoff. Thousands of people have descended on a sleepy little ghost town, turning it into a boomtown for chili mavens, gamblers, musicians, and media. Raucous excitement fills the air, but so does chili when a sabotaged propane cooker explodes, killing the much-hated current champion. The victim leaves behind a tangled trail of sleeping with other men's wives, cheating at cards – and maybe at chili cooking – and deadly anger. With Sam a possible suspect in the murder, emotions run hot as a bowl of Texas red as Phyllis has to untangle these threads in order to put her finger on the killer!Livia J. Washburn's beloved Fresh Baked Mystery series is back with another novel full of tasty recipes, dastardly doings, and brilliant sleuthing by Phyllis Newsom and her friends. THE GREAT CHILI KILL-OFF is a delicious dish of murder and detection. Views: 26
This third collection of true stories from award-winning journalist and novelist Bryan Woolley with an introduction by author John Nichols includes the deeply moving title story "Generations," as well as his features and personality profiles from The Dallas Morning News. In this volume of twenty-seven pieces, including the winner of a 1995 Missouri Lifestyles Journalism Award, "Poets Lariat," Woolley explores Dashiell Hammett's San Francisco and recalls the lost golden age of Mineral Wells, Texas. He returns to the site of a mysterious 1947 crash, believed to be that of a UFO in Roswell, New Mexico. He meets such people as musician and mystery writer Kinky Friedman, talks to residents of Alpine, Texas, about their famous new neighbor, Robert James Waller, author of Bridges of Madison County, and mourns the retirement of cartoonist Gary Larson. Views: 26
For many years Oliver Colfax worked as a hired killer. But after he developed a friendship with one of his targets, Colfax lost heart in that line of work and quit. A few odd jobs keep body and soul together, but until Colfax decides what to do with the rest of his life, he's content sitting in his St. Louis hotel room and drinking fine whiskey.When a rancher from Colorado asks him to deal with some cattle rustlers, Colfax declines, thinking it is just one more case of a big landowner wanting it all. But when Colfax learns that a production of Titus Andronicus is playing in nearby Pullman, Colorado, he has a change of heart. He has always longed to see someone play Titus.Dealing with the cattle rustlers proves to be a routine job, but investigating the tragedy that hits the touring Shakespearean drama troupe turns out to be a tough assignment. It may be the hardest case he's ever taken on, one that is certain to change his life forever. Views: 26
Happy days! Davey Warner, Sunil Deep and Tay Tui have been selected to play for the local rep team, the South-East Slammers. It's a dream come true, even if Josh Jarrett, AKA Mr Perfect, is captain. Training is twice a week, no excuses. Davey, Sunil and Tay would go every day if they could – the only problem is that it clashes with cheeky Max's doggy school. How can Davey keep his promise to his mum to train Max and play for the South-East Slammers? And how can his other friends help out so Davey can live his dream? But why is Mo Clouter looking so pleased with himself? And will Max ever behave himself? Views: 26
The Camel closed up until it was flying beside him; the pilot smiling. Biggles showed his teeth in what he imagined to be an answering smile. 'You swine,' he breathed: 'you dirty, unutterable, murdering swine! I'm going to kill you if it's the last thing I do on earth.'Set in the last years of the First World War air combat has now become the order of the day and air duelling is a fine art. Biggles and his fellow pilots now have to contend with the enemy using their own British aircraft, a Sopwith Camel, to lure the British pilots to their deaths... Views: 26
Romance/Fantasy. 94600 words long. Views: 26
