Eight-year-old Jessica Atkins wants a monster for Christmas. Not a big, mean monster; more of a friendly little one to play with when she comes home from school, and maybe scare away the mice who live in her big old London house.
But the old housekeeper, Mrs. Murgatroyd, warns her against wishing for a monster in this house. Exactly one hundred years ago the Christmas Thingy visited this very house and stole away with a load of Christmas presents.
As Mrs. Murgatroyd's mum used to say: "Like a rose must bloom and a pig must squeal, a cow must moo and a thingy must steal. It simply must."
Be careful what you wish for, Jessica...
The Christmas Thingy is a heartwarming story for children (and adults!) of all ages -- and a delightful fantasy for every day of the year! Views: 499
Suze is a mediator -- a liaison between the living and the dead. In other words, she sees dead people. And they won't leave her alone until she helps them resolve their unfinished business with the living. But Jesse, the hot ghost haunting her bedroom, doesn't seem to need her help. Which is a relief, because Suze has just moved to sunny California and plans to start fresh, with trips to the mall instead of the cemetery, and surfing instead of spectral visitations.
But the very first day at her new school, Suze realizes it's not that easy. There's a ghost with revenge on her mind ... and Suze happens to be in the way. Views: 496
Vampire detective Jack Fleming made a good bit of money cleaning up the streets of post-prohibition Chicago--enough to realize his dream of owning a nightclub. During renovations, workmen discover the remains of a woman, clad in a distinctive red dress. Vampire or not, Jack won't rest until he finds out who killed the lady in red--even if it means resurrecting secrets the mob would kill to keep buried. Views: 496
For many college students, spring break means fun and sun in Florida. For Danny, a Yale junior, it means two weeks behind the wheel of the "Roach Coach," his father's lunch truck, which plies the parking lots of office parks in central New Jersey.
But Danny can use the time behind the coffee urn to try to make sense of a love life that's gotten a little complicated. There's loyal and patient hometown honey Cindy and her recently dropped bombshell to contend with, and there's also lissome Polly back in New Haven--with her shifting moods, perfect thrift store dresses, and inconvenient liaison with a dashing professor. If girl problems aren't enough, there's the constant menace of the Lunch Monsters, a group of thugs who think Danny has planted the Roach Coach in their territory.
Joe College is Tom Perrotta's warmest and funniest fiction yet, a comic journey into the dark side of love, higher education, and food service. Views: 495
Repackaged in a new tie-in edition to coincide with the Netflix film produced and directed by Angelina Jolie, a moving story of war crimes and desperate actions, the unnerving strength of a small girl and her triumphant spirit as she survived the Cambodian genocide under Pol Pot’s brutal regime.
Until the age of five, Loung Ung lived in Phnom Penh, one of seven children of a high-ranking government official. She was a precocious child who loved the open city markets, fried crickets, chicken fights, and sassing her parents. While her beautiful mother worried that Loung was a troublemaker—that she stomped around like a thirsty cow—her beloved father knew Loung was a clever girl.
When Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge army stormed into Phnom Penh in April 1975, Ung’s family fled their home and moved from village to village to hide their identity, their education, their former life of privilege. Eventually, the family dispersed in order to survive. Loung trained as a child soldier in a work camp for orphans, while other siblings were sent to labor camps. As the Vietnamese penetrated Cambodia, destroying the Khmer Rouge, Loung and her surviving siblings were slowly reunited.
Bolstered by the shocking bravery of one brother, the courage and sacrifices of the rest of her family—and sustained by her sister’s gentle kindness amid brutality—Loung forged on to create for herself a courageous new life. Harrowing yet hopeful, insightful and compelling, this story is truly unforgettable. Views: 494
The Adventure of the Dying Detective by Arthur Conan Doyle Views: 494
Noises Off, the classic farce by the Tony Award--winning author of Copenhagen, is not one play but two: simultaneously a traditional sex farce, Nothing On, and the backstage "drama" that develops during Nothing On's final rehearsal and tour. The two begin to interlock as the characters make their exits from Nothing On only to find themselves making entrances into the even worse nightmare going on backstage. In the end, at the disastrous final performance, the two plots can be kept separate no longer, and coalesce into a single collective nervous breakdown.From the Trade Paperback edition. Views: 492
Myths and Legends from Around the World brings you some of the most influential stories ever told. Encompassing the vast range of human experience, they perhaps tell us all we need to know about ourselves. The tales are drawn from many different literary and cultural traditions—from Scandinavia, the Americas, Japan, Africa, and Europe—and are re-told with the modern reader in mind. Within these pages you will find the passions, the sacrifices, the dilemmas, the tribulations, the humour, the deeds of heroism and evil, which make up the rich pattern of life. You will meet true heroes (Beowulf, Roland) great chivalric lovers (Black Colin, Gawain), spiritual saviours (Countess Cathleen, Miao Shan), errant Gods (Thor, Zeus), temptresses (Tlazolteotl), icons of patience (Hercules) and victors of the sex wars (Goroba Dike and Mamadi). Illustrated throughout, Myths and Legends from Around the World takes you to the sources of inspiration for generations of storytellers. Views: 491
The long struggle is over at last. The demon dactyl is no more, its dark sorceries shattered by the gemstone magic wielded by the woman known as Pony. But victory did not come easily. Many lives were lost, including Ponys lover, the elf-trained ranger Elbryan Wynden. Despite the dactyls demise, the kingdom still seethes in the same cauldron of plots and machinations. But when a deadly sickness suddenly appears among the people of Corona, Pony must undertake a pilgrimage that will test her powersand her faithas never before. Watching her every step of the way is the man she hates above all else: Marcalo DeUnnero, the villain responsible for Elbryans death. . . who would desire nothing more than to lead Pony down that same treacherous path to destruction. Views: 491
A man wakes up to find himself lying on the ground in a railway station, his mind stripped bare of all recollection. He has no idea how he got there; he does not even know his own name. Convinced he is a drunken down and out, it isn’t until a newspaper report about a satellite launch catches his eye that he suspects all is not what it seems…
The year is 1958, and America is about to launch its first satellite in a desperate attempt to match the Soviet Sputnik and regain the lead in the space race. As Luke Lucas gradually unravels the mystery of his amnesia, he realizes that his fate is bound up with that of the rocket that stands ready on launch pad 26B at Cape Canaveral.
And as he relearns the story of his life, he uncovers long-kept secrets about his wife, his best friend and the woman he once loved more than life itself…
Code to Zero deals with one of the most ruthlessly contested arenas of the Cold War. Deceit and betrayal, love and trust interweave at the most political and personal levels, while the spectre of mind-control hovers constantly above. Each second brings destruction closer… Views: 489
The Wishing Chair has developed a mind of its own, it keeps flying off with only one of the children on board, leaving Chinky and the other children to chase it on their magic geese. Views: 489
Conan the Cimmerian: he rose from boy-thief and mercenary to become king of Aquilonia. Neither supernatural fiends nor demonic sorcery could oppose the barbarian warrior as he wielded his mighty sword and dispatched his enemies to a bloody doom on the battlefields of the legendary Hyborian Age. Collected together for the first time anywhere in the world, in chronological order, are all Robert E. Howard's definitive stories of Conan, exactly as he wrote them, as fresh, atmospheric and vibrant today as when they were first published in the pulp magazines more than sixty years ago. Views: 488
Mr. Swift looked at Tom critically. He was plainly going over several matters in his mind and not the least of them was the pluck his son had shown in getting back some valuable papers and a model from a gang of thieves. The lad certainly was entitled to some reward and to allow him to get a boat might properly be part of it. Views: 484
Joan D. Vinge returns to Tiamat, the world of her Hugo Award-winning novel The Snow Queen and its bestselling sequel The Summer Queen..
Set during the time of The Snow Queen, BZ Gundhalinu is a by-the-book "Blue" on the trail of high corruption within the force. When a police raid goes horribly awry, BZ finds himself teamed up with Nyx LaisTree, a hard-nosed cop with no respect for the rules, and Devony Seaward, a beautiful hooker with a heart of gold. Together these three must fight the corruption of Tiamat and try to expose it before they all end up dead.
This novel marks the exciting return to the much-loved Snow Queen Universe. While taking place during events in The Snow Queen, this novel is a stand-alone masterpiece of noir suspense--taking a story you think you know, and showing you just how deep and vast the waters really run. Views: 484
This collection chronicles the fiction and non fiction classics by the greatest writers the world has ever known. The inclusion of both popular as well as overlooked pieces is pivotal to providing a broad and representative collection of classic works. Views: 483
