A tough-guy mystery to please even the most bloodthirsty of fans! Views: 36
The story is an action packed love story that follows the exploits of a young wizard Aquitain with his newly discovered talent for shape changing and his female druid companion Miranda on a quest to discover their roots in a deceptively primitive fantasy world called Mudrun full of exotic creatures, customs, magic and dangers. Views: 36
For Robin Greer, Christmas is about tradition and family. Jesse Lawson’s view of the holiday is quite the opposite--to him it's about hypocrisy and commercialism. Yet he can’t resist Robin and her open-hearted embrace of all things Christmas. And she can’t resist this thoughtful, questioning, complex man who seems to understand the true meaning of the holiday better than she does. Views: 36
Hugo Award-winning author Charlie Stross dives deep into the underbelly of paratime espionage, nuclear warfare, and state surveillance in this provocative techno-thriller set in The Merchant Princes multi-verseDark State ups the ante on the already volatile situations laid out in the sleek techno-thriller Empire Games, the start to Stross' new story-line, and perfect entry point for new readers, in The Merchant Princes series. In the near-future, the collision of two nuclear superpowers across timelines, one in the midst of a technological revolution and the other a hyper-police state, is imminent. In Commissioner Miriam Burgeson's timeline, her top level agents run a high risk extraction of a major political player. Meanwhile, a sleeper cell activated in Rita's, the Commissioner's adopted daughter and newly-minted spy, timeline threatens to unravel everything.With a penchant for intricate world-building and an uncanny... Views: 36
When Walter Stahl was five-years-old, his mother drove away in the family's blue Volvo and never came back. Now seventeen, living in the dregs of Las Vegas, taking care of his ailing father and marking time in a dead-end job along the Strip, Walter's life so far has been defined by her absence. He doesn't remember what she looks like; he's never so much as seen a photograph but, still, he looks for her among the groups of tourists he runs into every day, allowing himself the dim hope that she might still be out there, somewhere. But when Walter meets Chrysto and Acacia, a brother and sister working as living statues at the Venetian Hotel, his world cracks wide open. With them he discovers a Las Vegas he never knew existed and, as feelings for Chrysto develop, a side of himself he never knew he had. At the same time, clues behind his mother's disappearance finally start to reveal themselves, and Walter is confronted with not only the truth about himself, but also that... Views: 36
From Publishers WeeklyIt takes only a week for the Sterling household to crumble and collapse in Canadian writer Cumyn's first novel to be published in the U.S. The Sterlings are ordinary members of the educated middle class living in Ottawa, but turmoil lurks beneath their surface calm. Bob Sterling, a professor of literature specializing in Edgar Allan Poe, is secretly obsessed with women's underthings; Julia, Bob's much younger wife and former student, is quietly losing her mind from the exhaustion of caring for Matthew, their two-year-old, and her mother, Lenore, who is tormented by Alzheimer's. Lenore's illness and Bob's lechery cause the fall of the house of Sterling, both literally (Lenore, under the delusion that she is in prison, starts a fire and burns down the house) and figuratively. Bob gets involved with Sienna Chu, a long-legged coed who exudes erotic promise and writes incomprehensible verse, and is coaxed by her into donning female lingerie and a red dress in his office. Even more foolishly, Bob lets Sienna photograph him, an obviously risky act in the age of the Internet, as Bob soon discovers. Cumyn moves his story along briskly, leaping from one perspective to another. His skill with voices is akin to mimicry: he can transition from Lenore's Bosch-like inner life to Bob's seedier consciousness without a false step. The result is an unclassifiable novel that possesses the precision of a mathematical theorem, the hilarity of a Marx Brother's skit and the pathos of confession. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalShades of Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections, Cumyn's darkly comic novel is the story of a family in meltdown. Julia Sterling, sleep-deprived slave to her demanding, still-nursing, two-year-old son and to her Alzheimer's-stricken mother, is "losing it." Julia's mother, Lenore, is losing it big time, as Alzheimer's both dispatches and confuses her present and past. And Julia's husband, a college professor, is about to lose everything, as he gives in to an attraction for an undergraduate and to the fulfillment of a rather kinky fetish. Propelled along by Julia's, Lenore's, and Bob's perspectives, as well as that of a former high school classmate of Julia who still pines after her, the story never seems as bizarre as the individual incidents: Lenore's escapades outside the nursing home, Bob's all-too-public "outing" on the Internet, the ensuing chaos after fire destroys Julia and Bob's home, and Bob's pitiful machinations to keep Julia in the dark about his fetish. Like Cumyn's Burridge Unbound (2000), a winner of the Ottawa Book Award, and The Corrections, this is an exceptional, affecting work that belongs in most fiction collections.Francine Fialkoff, "Library Journal" Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. Views: 36
Bean (née Pearl) and Henry, misfits and best friends, have the strangest mothers in town. Henry's mom Sally never leaves the house. Bean's mom Lexie, if she is home, is likely nursing a hangover or venting to her friend Claire about Bean's beloved grandfather Gus, the third member of their sunny household.Gus's death unleashes a host of family secrets that brings them all together. And they threaten to change everything—including Bean's relationship with Henry, her first friend, and who also might turn out to be her first love. Views: 36
Pat LaFontaine shares the personal details of his own struggle with depression & physical rehabilitation, as well as those other amazing athletes who were challenged by adversity & won. These are stories that will inspire others with the determination, courage, & winning spirit necessary to break through life's roadblocks & succeed. Views: 36
