Shadow Sun Seven continues Spencer Ellsworth's Starfire trilogy, an action-packed space opera in which the oppressed half-Jorian crosses have risen up to supplant humanity.Jaqi, Arazar and Zaragathora are on the run from everyone — the Resistance, the remnants of the Empire, the suits, and right now from the Matakas — and the Matakas are the most pressing concern because the insectoid aliens have the drop on them. The Resistance has a big reward out for Arazar and the human children he and Jaqi are protecting. But Arazar has something to offer the mercenary aliens. He knows how to get to a huge supply of pure oxygen cells, something in short supply in the formerly human Empire, and that might be enough to buy their freedom. Arazar knows where it is, and Jaqi can take them there. With the Matakas as troops, they can take Shadow Sun Seven, on the edge of the Dark Zone.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without... Views: 19
Troy Parker’s surprise appearance turns Casey Owens’ life upside down, but no one expects the series of events sparked by his return home. Views: 19
Cassie knows it’s crazy to listen to the voice in her head. Should she warn the leading contender for the presidency that someone she doesn't know wants him dead? Then again, who's going to believe a housekeeper… Wynn Harmon is more than just an eccentric client. He's exotic and aloof and incredibly sexy. Unfortunately it's also possible that his voice is the one putting these disturbing thoughts in Cassie's brain to begin with. Now the bad guys are chasing them down with guns and Cassie must decide if she can afford to trust Wynn with her mind--and her heart. Views: 19
Every home has its secrets?For Nora, the truth starts to be revealed on Halloween night.It?s been a bad few months for Nora Wilson. There was a huge fire in her family?s apartment this summer, and her parents have been acting superweird ever since. They won?t let her or her brother out of the apartment anymore, not even to go to school. So when Nora?s parents say she can go trick-or-treating on Halloween, Nora is thrilled. And she?s even more thrilled to make a new friend, Caitlin, who just moved into the apartment building. Caitlin knows nothing about what happened to Nora?s family, but she does seem to know a lot about the ghosts that are rumored to haunt the building. As she shares these ghost stories with Nora, Nora can?t help but be chilled by them. Are they hitting just a little too close to home? This spooky story is rated a Level 4 on the Creep-o-Meter. Views: 19
The Oxford History of Byzantium is the only history to provide in concise form detailed coverage of Byzantium from its Roman beginnings to the fall of Constantinople and assimilation into the Turkish Empire. Lively essays and beautiful illustrations portray the emergence and development of a distinctive civilization, covering the period from the fourth century to the mid-fifteenth century. The authors - all working at the cutting edge of their particular fields - outline the political history of the Byzantine state and bring to life the evolution of a colourful culture.In AD 324, the Emperor Constantine the Great chose Byzantion, an ancient Greek colony at the mouth of the Thracian Bosphorous, as his imperial residence. He renamed the place 'Constaninopolis nova Roma', 'Constantinople, the new Rome' and the city (modern Istanbul) became the Eastern capital of the later Roman empire. The new Rome outlived the old and Constantine's successors continued to regard themselves as the legitimate emperors of Rome, just as their subjects called themselves Romaioi, or Romans long after they had forgotten the Latin language. In the sixteenth century, Western humanists gave this eastern Roman empire ruled from Constantinople the epithet 'Byzantine'.Against a backdrop of stories of emperors, intrigues, battles, and bishops, this Oxford History uncovers the hidden mechanisms - economic, social, and demographic - that underlay the history of events. The authors explore everyday life in cities and villages, manufacture and trade, machinery of government, the church as an instrument of state, minorities, education, literary activity, beliefs and superstitions, monasticism, iconoclasm, the rise of Islam, and the fusion with Western, or Latin, culture. Byzantium linked the ancient and modern worlds, shaping traditions and handing down to both Eastern and Western civilization a vibrant legacy.From Publishers WeeklyThe Byzantine Empire receives a wide-ranging but unfocused treatment in this volume of essays by U.S. and U.K. academic historians. Several chapters provide a comprehensive if somewhat rushed chronicle of the empire, from the founding of Constantinople to its conquest by the Ottomans in the 15th century. Others discuss aspects of Byzantine Christianity, social life and literature, while Byzantine art and architecture are abundantly represented in the many photos and full-color plates of castles, monasteries, mosaics and icons. Individual essays are intelligent and clearly written, but also somewhat dry and noncommittal; while broadly representative of contemporary scholarship, they do not quite add up to a compelling portrait of Byzantine civilization. Writers complain of the paucity and unreliability of Byzantine sources, and sometimes shy away from decisive historical interpretations. Political history chapters, which focus on the deeds of the emperors and the relatives, generals and miscellaneous usurpers who were forever overthrowing them, are a welter of conspiracies, rebellions, blindings and revenge blindings that can only be described as, well, Byzantine. And in a narrative crammed with battles and campaigns, there is little in-depth discussion of the Byzantine military as an institution and a fighting force-a curious oversight for a study of an empire that was often fighting for its life. Color and b&w photos and illustrations throughout. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalEditor Mango, professor of Byzantine and modern Greek language and literature at Oxford from 1973 to 1995, has assembled many of the world's leading scholars of Byzantine studies to contribute essays for this ambitious volume, which can best be described as a narrative history by diverse hands. The subject is enormous, and these essays attempt to illuminate the course of Byzantine history and focus on key political and cultural issues in under 400 pages. This is a remarkable achievement, considering that Byzantine civilization endured over 1100 years. In his excellent itntroduction, Mango addresses the question of when Byzantium, as a distinct political and cultural identity, came into being. He sees it evolving, like medieval Europe, out of the period we call Late Antiquity, which spans the reorganization of Roman government in the late third century to the collapse of urban life outside of Constantinople owing to the almost chronic warfare of the seventh century. Out of the ruins of the classical world, medieval Europe and Byzantium emerged as distinct civilizations. With over 150 illustrations, this work offers a wider spectrum of viewpoints than the Byzantine histories of John Norwich or Warren Treadgold. Highly recommended not only for scholars and students of Byzantium but also for general interested readers.Robert J. Andrews, Duluth Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. Views: 19
Terry Southern was integral to the avant-garde in postwar Paris, the Beat Years, swinging London, New York and Hollywood in the psychedelic sixties. He wrote the screenplays for "Easy Rider", "Dr Strangelove" and "Barbarella", suggested to Stanley Kubrick that the film "A Clockwork Orange", and created some of the most enduring landmarks of popular culture. "A Grand Guy" tells Southern's story - from his experiences during the Second World War to his appearance on the cover of "Sgt Pepper", from the lecture halls and jazz clubs of 1940s Paris to touring Texas with the Rolling Stones - providing a fresh portrait of one of the most enigmatic icons of the twentieth century.From Publishers WeeklyIn 1964, Southern was on the crest of celebrity. Not only had his underground 1959 novel, Candy (published by Olympia Press in Paris), been launched in the U.S., landing high on the bestseller list, but his screenplay for Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove was critically and commercially celebrated as a comic masterpiece. Today, Candy is a cult book and Dr. Strangelove is a classic. This well-researched and thoughtful biography is the first full life of the writer, whose novels never achieved the fame of his screenplays. Born in 1924 to an impoverished professional family in Texas, Southern left college and joined the army in 1943; later, on the G.I. bill, he studied in Paris, where he became a minor, if central, player in the literary expatriate scene there. Back in the U.S. in 1953, Southern moved to Greenwich Village and "embraced the emerging idea of Hip." Hanging out with artists like Robert Frank and Larry Rivers, he began shaping his public persona and a writing career that embodied that concept. His novels Flash and Filigree (1958) and The Magic Christian (1959) earned him a small, faithful literary following. But after 1964, Southern's career stalled. Despite work on high-profile film projects like Easy Rider and Casino Royale, Southern's essentialist hipster sensibility did not readily translate to screen or novel. Hill's unpacking of Southern's complicated history should please those who remember his work fondly, but the level of detail will probably keep other readers away. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.From Library JournalSouthern's heyday was in the 1960s, when his screenplays for the films Dr. Stranglove, Barbarella, and Easy Rider were the height of cool. Born in Texas in 1924, Southern had a common rural childhood. After a stint in the army, he studied at Northwestern and then the Sorbonne. He explored the drugs, cheap cafes, music, and eroticism of Paris, where Candy was published in 1958 and quickly became a cult hit. Though initially banned in the United States, copies trickled in, and it was finally published here in 1964. It is his screenwriting credits in the 1960s that launched him into the pantheon of celebrity and found him hobnobbing with the Beatles and Stanley Kubrick. But, though his satirical edge influenced such programs as Saturday Night Live and The Larry Sanders Show, Southern's star waned. This biography falls curiously flat, given that its subject wrote some of the zaniest, most influential avant-garde pieces of his day. Journalist Hill, who interviewed Southern, offers no real analysis of how this seemingly ordinary Texan became the epitome of 1960s cool. For larger public and academic libraries. Rosellen Brewer, Monterey Cty. Free Libs., Salinas, CA Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. Views: 19
Tucked away in a cozy cul-de-sac on Heraldsgate Hill, Judith McMonigle Flynn hopes for smooth sailing in her longtime role as an innkeeper. But Judith's skill in dealing with guests is matched only by her knack for coming across corpses.Mystery lovers who enjoy madcap mayhem will have no reservations about returning to Hillside Manor in the twenty-fourth Bed-and-Breakfast book from USA Today bestselling author Mary Daheim.Judith's worst nightmare comes true when Vivian Flynn—husband Joe's first wife—moves back into the neighborhood, bringing along her newest spouse, Billy "Blunder" Buss, a former minor-league baseball player who is many years younger than his shop-worn bride. Still, the B&B business is going well and the newlyweds don't seem to be causing problems for the Flynns. That seemingly calm summer idyll is broken when Vivian, who has become mysteriously wealthy, announces plans to tear down her own house and the recently vacated bungalow next door so she can... Views: 19
The Girlfriend by Michelle Frances is a gripping and chilling debut psychological thriller, based on the fall-out following an unforgiveable lie. It looks at the potentially charged relationship between girlfriend, boyfriend and his mother, which most women can identify with, and locates it in an extreme but believable setting.A girl. A boy. His mother. And the lie she'll wish she'd never told. Laura has it all. A successful career, a long marriage to a rich husband, and a 23-year-old son, Daniel, who is kind, handsome, and talented. Then Daniel meets Cherry. Cherry is young, beautiful and smart but she hasn't had the same opportunities as Daniel. And she wants Laura's life.Cherry comes to the family wide-eyed and wants to be welcomed with open arms, but Laura suspects she's not all that she seems. When tragedy strikes, an unforgiveable lie is told. It is an act of desperation, but the fall-out will change their lives forever. Views: 19
Fidelma of Cashel and her beloved companion Brother Eadulf have one final journey to make before returning to Ireland. Invited to Aldred's Abbey, where Eadulf's childhood friend Brother Botulf is steward, they arrive at midnight on the old pagan festival of Yule to find Botulf dead-his head caved in by a blunt instrument. As Fidelma and Eadulf soon learn, murder isn't the only danger facing those in the abbey. The ghost of a young woman haunts the cloister shadows, a ghost closely resembling the Abbot's dead wife. It will require all of Fidelma's skill as an advocate of the Brehon Courts to uncover the truth-before the abbey's secrets take yet another life.From BooklistSister Fidelma, seventh-century religieuse of the Celtic Church and advocate of the Irish Brehon Courts, continues her travels in search of spiritual and personal fulfillments. Together with her beloved companion, Brother Eadulf, she journeys to East Anglia to visit Aldred's Abbey. Arriving in the middle of a snowstorm on the eve of the winter solstice, Fidelma and Eadulf are shocked to find Brother Botulf, the steward of the abbey and Eadulf's childhood friend, with his skull brutally smashed in. Although the abbey itself appears to be haunted and Christians and pagans are engaging in armed conflict, Fidelma probes beneath the surface to uncover a decidedly unexpected motive for murder. Interwoven into the suspenseful plot is the intimate story of Fidelma and Eadulf as they decide whether to permanently bind themselves to one another--a commitment sanctioned by the ancient church before celibacy became a requirement. Tremayne displays his usual meticulous attention to historical detail in this intelligent and artfully crafted whodunit. Margaret FlanaganCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reservedReview"A solid historical series."--Library Journal"...reliably entertaining."--Publishers Weekly Views: 19
