Natasha's story is set against the background of the Russian Revolution as she and her family flee persecution. Her story is dramatically and cleverly linked with the present as her heirs search for her will. The will can only be found through a trail of literary clues from classic children's books. Views: 31
A fascinating discovery, Kawabata's unfinished final novel Dandelions is a great master's last wordBeautifully spare and deeply strange, Dandelions—exploring love and madness—is Kawabata's final novel, left incomplete when he committed suicide in April, 1972. The book concerns Ineko's mother and Kuno, the young man who loves Ineko and wants to marry her. The two have left Ineko at the Ikuta Mental Hospital, which she has entered for treatment of a condition that might be called "seizures of body blindness." Although her vision as a whole is unaffected, she periodically becomes unable to see her lover Kuno's body: when this occurs, Ineko breaks down. Whether or not her condition actually constitutes madness is a topic of heated discussion between Kuno and Ineko's mother... In this tantalizing book, Kawabata explores the incommunicability of desire as well as desire's relation to the urge to hide. With Dandelions, Kawabata carries the art of the... Views: 31
A new novel written by NBA All-Star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar!Fresh out of Cambridge University, the young Mycroft Holmes is already making a name for himself in government, working for the Secretary of State for War. Yet this most British of civil servants has strong ties to the faraway island of Trinidad, the birthplace of his best friend, Cyrus Douglas, a man of African descent, and where his fiancée Georgiana Sutton was raised.Mycroft's comfortable existence is overturned when Douglas receives troubling reports from home. There are rumors of mysterious disappearances, strange footprints in the sand, and spirits enticing children to their deaths, their bodies found drained of blood. Upon hearing the news, Georgiana abruptly departs for Trinidad. Near panic, Mycroft convinces Douglas that they should follow her, drawing the two men into a web of dark secrets that grows more treacherous with each step they take...Written... Views: 30
In this third, stand-alone installment of Amanda Black’s Apartment Novels series, sparks fly during a sexy party game. When Eden Foster’s parents tell her they’re moving from Chicago to the Illinois suburb of Aledo, Eden is crushed. That is, until she runs crying to her jock boyfriend, who she finds on top of her so-called best friend. Moving’s not looking so bad anymore. Now a senior at Mercer County High, Eden is ready to re-enter the dating scene. Still burned over the betrayal of her ex, she’s looking for someone sweet and innocent. With the help of her two new friends, Zoe and Amy, Eden makes a list of what she’s looking for: an eager virgin, ready for training—and no jocks. Eden thinks she’s found what she’s looking for in Logan Black, a shy and geeky classmate. But why are Zoe and Amy convinced that the answer to her search is a party game…with kissing? Eden better get ready, because she’s about to play the Single Game. Views: 30
DINOSAURS . . . IN SPACE! A brilliantly funny and exciting title in the ASTROSAURS series - perfect for children ready to start reading chapter books by themselves. Meet Captain Teggs Stegosaur and the crew of the amazing spaceship DSS Sauropod as the ASTROSAURS fight evil across the galaxy! The reappearance of a dino spaceship lost for 300 years spells danger for Teggs. How has a pack of savage sabre-tooths got on board? What menace is chasing them through space? Only the astrosaurs can unravel the mystery - they hope! Views: 30
The cities of the eastern States were hungry for beef. The problem was how to get it to them. Colonel Charles Goodnight had a plan that might work—if he had all the luck he needed. Things seemed to be going well, especially with the Floating Outfit on his side—Mark Counter, the Ysabel Kid and Dusty Fog, the small Texan who walked tall. But what Goodnight didn't need was an enemy like John Chisum ... Views: 30
Early on an April Saturday in 1986 in a farm village in Ukraine, widow Marusia Petrenko and her family awake to a day of traditional wedding preparations. Marusia bakes her famous wedding bread—a korovai— in the communal village oven to take to her neighbor’s granddaughter’s reception. Late that night, after all the dancing and drinking, Marusia’s son Yurko leaves for his shift at the nuclear power plant at Chernobyl. In the morning, the air has a strange metallic taste. The cat is oddly listless. The priest doesn’t show up for services. Yurko doesn’t come home from work. Nobody know what’s happened (and they won’t for many days), but things have changed for the Petrenkos—forever. Inspired by true events, this unusual, unexpected novel tells how—and why—Marusia defies the Soviet government’s permanent evacuation of her deeply contaminated village and returns to live out her days in the only home she’s ever known. Alone in the deserted town, she struggles up into the church bell tower to ring the bells twice every day just in case someone else has returned. And they have, one by one… In the end, five intrepid old women—the village babysi —band together for survival and to confront the Soviet officials responsible for their fate. And, in the midst of desolation, a tenacious hold on life chimes forth. Poignant and truthful and triumphant, this timeless story is about ordinary people who do more than simply “survive.” Views: 30
Hailed as "indelible" in Entertainment Weekly's list of "20 Books We'll Read in 2015", this gut-punch of a debut about love, grief, and family "unleashes one of the most comically arresting voices this side of Sam Lipsyte's Homeland" (Publishers Weekly, starred review)In Matt Sumell's blazing first book, our hero Alby flails wildly against the world around him—he punches his sister (she deserved it), "unprotectos" broads (they deserved it and liked it), gets drunk and picks fights (all deserved), defends defenseless creatures both large and small, and spews insults at children, slow drivers, old ladies, and every single surviving member of his family. In each of these stories Alby distills the anguish, the terror, the humor, and the strange grace—or lack of—he experiences in the aftermath of his mother's death. Swirling at the center of Alby's rage is a grief so big, so profound, it might swallow him whole. As he drinks,... Views: 30
...This was the way it always started. First he would see them and the air would thicken. Then the image of them bound. Then came the screaming and the Red Room would appear with the glittering, new meathook waiting just for them. And there in the Red Room he could play for as long as he wanted... This volume also contains the short stories 'The Filmmakers' & 'Writer's Block'.
Review Graphic and gruesome, Hamilton's novel explores voyeurism, sexual predators, child abuse, murder, torture - things I wasn't expecting in a horror novel from Australia. It's not that they don't have horror novels Down Under. It's just that this one is so lean and mean. Spare Key is actually only 170 pages - there are two short stories, The Filmmakers and Writer's Block included (nasty little stories they are as well). But Spare Key is the eye-opener. Think if Edward Lee had a child who grew up Down Under and you might get the general idea of just how horrifying this book is - sexually explicit and violent with an ending I really didn't see coming. --Fatally Yours, September 16th, 2009
But don't be fooled. Hamilton sets out to shock and disgust, making this material limited to a tailored horror audience. The violent sexual nature of many events throughout these stories may see readers placing Spare Key in the "too nasty" basket. So what realm of disgusting and shocking are we talking here? Probably somewhere between Stephen King's darker moments and Bret Easton Ellis's least shocking, and I'm not surprised to find these two authors on Hamilton's list of influences. --[As if!], July 1st, 2009
R. Frederick Hamilton is a young writer going at it hard and heavy in a competitive market. There's a lot of promise in this, his first book. Mark the name down, Hamilton is going to be a voice to be reckoned with in the coming years. --Scary Minds, January 15th, 2010 Views: 30
In a world where magic is power and social status is everything, the color of the jewel you wear determines the course of your life. . . Jared is a Red-Jeweled Warlord bound as a pleasure slave by the Ring of Obedience. After suffering nine years of torment as a slave, he murdered his owner and escaped—only to be caught and sold into slavery once again. Purchased by a notorious queen, Jared fears he will share the mysterious fate of her other slaves—never to be seen again—and so prepares himself for death. But the Gray Lady may not be what she seems and Jared soon faces a difficult decision: his freedom, or his honor. . .. Views: 30
