William MacLeod Raine was an American author who wrote classic adventure novels about the Wild West. Views: 173
From New York Times bestselling author Karen Robards comes a thrilling new novel of suspense and steamy seaside sensuality set in North Carolina's Outer Banks, where a serial killer combs the beaches filled with beautiful female tourists for his next victim.Christy Petrino hadn't planned on a vacation on Ocracoke Island, but when she learns her fiancé and boss, suave Michael DePalma, is a "made man" and the Philadelphia law firm where she works is a front for the mob, she breaks her engagement and quits her job. But no one walks away from the DePalma family business so easily....Only if she delivers a locked briefcase to a motel on Ocracoke Island will she — and her mother and sisters — be free.But after clandestinely making her drop-off late at night, Christy suspects she is being followed on the moonlit beach — and unwittingly runs into a new kind of terror. Now a witness at the center of a homicide investigation, Christy learns the... Views: 173
"Tells the story of a mother who knows how to teacher her children the real richness of life." -Continent "Mrs. Burgoyne, a widow reputed to be of great wealth, comes with her two little girls to live in Santa Paloma, where her example works such a revolution among the town's pleasure-seeking and money-loving wives that when they have at last found out that Mrs. Burgoyne is not a rich woman, after all, her simple habits and refined tastes have become quite the fashion. The social lioness of the place has bee Mrs. White, clever, rich and purposely childless." -America Barry was usually welcome everywhere, although not at all approved in many cases, and criticised even by the people who liked him best. He was a sort of fourth cousin of Mrs. Carew, who sometimes felt herself called to the difficult task of defending him because of the distant kinship. He was very handsome, lean, and dark, with a sleepy smile and with eyes that all children loved; and he was clever, or, at least, everyone believed him to be so; and he had charm—a charm of sheer sweetness, for he never seemed to be particularly anxious to please. Barry was very gallant, in an impersonal sort of way: he took a keen, elder-brotherly sort of interest in every pretty girl in the village, and liked to discuss their own love affairs with them, with a seriousness quite paternal. He never singled any girl out for particular attention, or escorted one unless asked, but he was flatteringly attentive to all the middle-aged people of his acquaintance and his big helpful hand was always ready for stumbling old women on the church steps, or tearful waifs in the street—he always had time to listen to other people's troubles. Barry—everyone admitted—had his points. But after all— After all, he was lazy, and shiftless, and unambitious: he was content to be assistant editor of the Mail; content to be bullied and belittled by old Rogers; content to go on his own idle, sunny way, playing with his small, chubby son, foraging the woods with a dozen small boys at his heels, working patiently over a broken gopher-trap or a rusty shotgun, for some small admirer. Worst of all, Barry had been intemperate, years ago, and there were people who believed that his occasional visits to San Francisco, now, were merely excuses for revels with his old newspaper friends there. And yet, he had been such a brilliant, such a fiery and ambitious boy! All Santa Paloma had taken pride in the fact that Barry Valentine, only twenty, had been offered the editorship of the one newspaper of Plumas, a little town some twelve miles away, and had prophesied a triumphant progress for him, to the newspapers of San Francisco, of Chicago, of New York! But Barry had not been long in Plumas when he suddenly married Miss Hetty Scott of that town, and in the twelve years that had passed since then the golden dreams for his future had vanished one by one, until to-day found him with no one to believe in him—not even himself. Views: 171
I know your secret...
Stacey's junior year at boarding school isn't easy. She's not the most popular girl at school, or the smartest, or the prettiest. She's got a crush on her best friend's boyfriend, and an even darker secret that threatens to ruin her friendships for good. And now she's having nightmares again.
Not just any nightmares – these dreams are too real to ignore, like she did three years ago. The last time she ignored them, a little girl died. This time they're about Drea, her best friend who's become the target of one seriously psycho stalker. It started with weird e-mails and freaky phone calls.
Now someone's leaving Drea white lilies – the same death lilies that have been showing up in Stacey's dreams. Everybody thinks it's just a twisted game . . . until another girl at school is brutally murdered. There are no witnesses. Worst of all, no one has a perfect alibi. With everyone as a potential suspect, Stacey turns to the one secret weapon she can trust – the folk magic taught to her by her grandmother.
Will Stacey's magic be strong enough to expose the true killer, or will the killer make her darkest nightmares come true?
In this Deluxe Spellbook Edition you'll find:
Spells created by You and other keepers of secrets-poems, spells and meditations contributed by fans of this popular series. Extras also include an interview with the author. Views: 171
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into interstellar space . . . Alastair Reynolds burst onto the SF scene with the Arthur C. Clarke Award-shortlisted REVELATION SPACE, British Science Fiction Award-winning CHASM CITY, and REDEMPTION ARK. Now experience the phenomenal imagination and breathtaking vision of 'The most exciting space opera writer working today' (Locus) in these two tales of high adventure set in the same universe as his novels. The title story, 'Diamond Dogs', tells of a group of mercenaries trying to unravel the mystery of a particularly inhospitable alien tower on a distant world; 'Turquoise Days' is about Naqi, who has devoted her life to studying the alien Pattern Jugglers. Views: 168
Romantic Times Award-Winning Author, Valerie King, presents: A DARING COURTSHIPSecretly betrothed to a Scotsman in order to repair her family's fortunes, Madeline Piper must bring Sir Roger Mathieson into fashion or risk losing what she cherishes most: her place in her beloved Sussex society. A sweet Regency romance, A DARING COURTSHIP, is heartwarming and family-oriented, perfect for readers who want a story focused on sweet romance. Valerie King has published over 50 sweet Regency novels and novellas and has won the prestigious Romantic Times Career Achievement award in Regency Romance!More Sweet Regency RomancesWicked and WonderfulWonderful HarrietMy Lord HighwaymanA Country FlirtationAn Adventurous LadyGarden of DreamsSir Roger is determined to win her heart...A wealthy India nabob, Sir Roger returns to England intent on making Sussex his home. After purchasing a nearby castle with the intention of refurbishing it, he falls in love with Madeline Piper who finds his Scottish... Views: 168
A ten-minute play is a blaze of theatrical energy. In this follow-up to their groundbreaking collection Take Ten, editors Eric Lane and Nina Shengold have put together a veritable bonfire of talent. Take Ten II: More 10-Minute Plays provides a fast-track tour of the current theatrical landscape, from the slapstick ingenuity of David Ives' Arabian Nights to the searing tension of Diana Son's 9/11 drama The Moon, Please, to Susan Miller's luminous fable The Grand Design. This remarkably diverse anthology includes thirty-five short plays by such major American playwrights as Christopher Durang, Warren Leight, Romulus Linney and Donald Margulies, alongside a host of exciting new voices.Actors, directors, producers and teachers will find Take Ten II an invaluable source of meaty roles for people of every age, ethnicity and gender; lovers of theatre will find it a richly satisfying read. These deceptively short plays throb with... Views: 167
The idea for Dropped Threads: What We Aren't Told came up between Carol Shields and longtime friend Marjorie Anderson over lunch. It appeared that after decades of feminism, the “women's network” still wasn't able to prevent women being caught off-guard by life. There remained subjects women just didn't talk about, or felt they couldn't talk about. Holes existed in the fabric of women's discourse, and they needed examining.
They asked thirty-four women to write about moments in life that had taken them by surprise or experiences that received too little discussion, and then they compiled these pieces into a book. It became an instant number one bestseller, a book clubs' favourite and a runaway success. Dropped Threads, says Anderson, "tapped into a powerful need to share personal stories about life's defining moments of surprise and silence." Readers recognized themselves in these honest and intimate stories; there was something universal in these deeply personal accounts. Other stories and suggestions poured in. Dropped Threads would clearly be an ongoing project.
Like the first volume, Dropped Threads 2 features stories by well-known novelists and journalists such as Jane Urquhart, Susan Swan and Shelagh Rogers, but also many excellent new writers including teachers, mothers, a civil servant, a therapist. This triumphant follow-up received a starred first review in Quill and Quire magazine, which called it “compassionate and unflinching.” The book deals with such difficult topics as loss, depression, disease, widowhood, violence, and coming to terms with death. Several stories address some of the darker sides of motherhood:
A mother describes how, while sleep-deprived and in a miserable marriage, she is shocked to find infanticide crossing her mind.
Another woman recounts a memory of her alcoholic mother demanding the children prove their loyalty in a terrifying way.
A woman desperate for children refers to the bleak truth as: "Another Christmas of feeling barren." Narrating the fertility treatment she undergoes, the hopes dashed, she is amusing in retrospect and yet brutally honest.
While they deal with loss and trauma, the pieces show the path to some kind of acceptance, showing the authors’ determination to learn from pain and pass on the wisdom gained. The volume also covers the rewards of learning to be a parent, choosing to remain single, or fitting in as a lesbian parent. It explores how women feel when something is missing in a friendship, how they experience discrimination, relationship challenges, and other emotions less easily defined but just as close to the bone:
Alison Wearing in “My Life as a Shadow” subtly describes allowing her personality to be subsumed by her boyfriend's.
Pamela Mala Sinha tells how, after suffering a brutal attack, she felt self-hatred and a longing for retribution.
Dana McNairn talks of her uncomfortable marriage to a man from a different social background: "I wanted to fit in with this strange, wondrous family who never raised their voices, never swore and never threw things at one another."
Humour, a confiding tone, and beautiful writing elevate and enliven even the darkest stories. Details bring scenes vividly to life, so we feel we are in the room with Barbara Defago when the doctor tells her she has breast cancer, coolly dividing her life into a 'before and after.' Lucid, reflective and poignant, Dropped Threads 2 is for anyone interested in women's true stories. Views: 167
In 1977, the New York Times Trade Paperback Bestseller list—back then the exclusive province of self-help guides, cartoon collections, and any number of cat books—played host to its very first work of fiction: The Sword of Shannara, an epic quest through a mythical land, by first-time author Terry Brooks. Nineteen New York Times bestselling novels later, it would be easy enough to just say: “. . . and the rest is history.” But when it comes to quests, everyone knows that getting there is half the fun. Now, Terry Brooks tells the story of how he got there—from beginner to bestselling author—and shares his secrets for creating unusual, memorable fiction.
Writing is writing, whether one’s setting is a magical universe or a suburban backyard. Spanning topics from the importance of daydreaming to the necessity of writing an outline, from the fine art of showing instead of merely telling to creating believable characters who make readers care what happens to them, Brooks draws upon his own experiences, hard lessons learned, and delightful discoveries made in creating the beloved Shannara and Magic Kingdom of Landover series, The Word and The Void trilogy, and the bestselling Star Wars novel The Phantom Menace.
In addition to being a writing guide, Sometimes the Magic Works is Terry Brooks’s self-portrait of the artist. Here are sketches of his midwestern boyhood, when comic books, radio serials, and a vivid imagination launched a life long passion for weaving tales of wonder; recollections of the fateful collaboration with legendary editor Lester del Rey that changed not only the author’s life but the course of publishing history; and an eye-opening look at the ups and downs of dealing with Hollywood, as a writer of official novels based on major movies by both Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.
“If you don’t think there is magic in writing, you probably won’t write anything magical,” says Terry Brooks. This book offers a rare and wonderful opportunity to peer into the mind of (and learn a trick or two from) one of fantasy fiction’s preeminent magicians. Views: 166
This trilogy brings together in one volume the three spell-binding titles in the Snow-walker sequence; The Snow-walker's Son, The Empty Hand, and The Soul Thieves.
From the swirling mists and icy depths beyond the edge of the world came the snow-walker Gudrun, to rule the Jarl's people with fear and sorcery. But a small band of outlaws are prepared to risk their lives to defeat Gudrun and restore the land to its rightful leader. This trilogy follows them in their quest, from the first terrifying journey to meet the mysterious snow-walker's son, to the final battle in the lands beyond the rainbow bridge...
The Snow-Walker's Son
Since Gudrun came from the frozen mists beyond the edge of the world, the Jarl's people have obeyed her in hatred and terror. But the enchantress has one weakness: a son, Kari, banished to a forbidding fortress in the north, never seen by the Jarl's people. In secret they wonder: Are the rumours true? Was he born a monster?
Now Jessa and her cousin Thorkil have been exiled to the north, and if they survive the journey, they will find the truth: Is Kari a beast? Or the means to stop the sorceress?
The Empty Hand
From frost and magic, the sorceress Gudrun conjures a rune beast and sends it from the land of the Snow-Walkers, southwards towards the stronghold of the new Jarl, Wulfgar. The approach of the beast spreads fear amongst the people. Jessa, Skapti the poet, and a slave named Hakon Empty Hand must help the Jarl confront this horror while around them, mistrust and conspiracy grow. In some hidden way, these dark events are linked with Gudrun's mysterious son, Kari, whose own talents as sorcerer are beginning to reach their terrifying potential.
The Soul Thieves
In the dramatic conclusion to the "Snow-Walker" trilogy, the sorceress Gudrun places an enchantment of frost and dreams upon the people of the Jarlshold and steals the soul of the Jarl's young bride. To reclaim the girl, Jessa and her friends must now begin a perilous quest to the land of Snow-Walkers, a place not shown on any map. They must journey beyond the edge of the world, beyond the rift into darkness, where the final battle between Gudrun and her son must take place. Views: 166
The village of Glen Cairn was situated in a valley in the broken country lying to the west of the Pentland Hills, some fifteen miles north of the town of Lanark, and the country around it was wild and picturesque. The villagers for the most part knew little of the world beyond their own valley, although a few had occasionally paid visits to Glasgow, which lay as far to the west as Lanark was distant to the south. On a spur jutting out from the side of the hill stood Glen Cairn Castle, whose master the villagers had for generations regarded as their lord. The glory of the little fortalice had now departed. Sir William Forbes had been killed on his own hearthstone, and the castle had been sacked in a raid by the Kerrs, whose hold lay to the southwest, and who had long been at feud with the Forbeses. The royal power was feeble, and the Kerrs had many friends, and were accordingly granted the lands they had seized; only it was specified that Dame Forbes, the widow of Sir William, should be allowed to reside in the fortalice free from all let or hindrance, so long as she meddled not, nor sought to stir up enmity among the late vassals of her lord against their new masters. The castle, although a small one, was strongly situated. The spur of the hill ran some 200 yards into the valley, rising sharply some 30 or 40 feet above it. The little river which meandered down the valley swept completely round the foot of the spur, forming a natural moat to it, and had in some time past been dammed back, so that, whereas in other parts it ran brightly over a pebbly bottom, here it was deep and still. The fortalice itself stood at the extremity of the spur, and a strong wall with a fortified gateway extended across the other end of the neck, touching the water on both sides. From the gateway extended two walls inclosing a road straight to the gateway of the hold itself, and between these walls and the water every level foot of ground was cultivated; this garden was now the sole remains of the lands of the Forbeses. Views: 164
Mother is a romance by Kathleen Norris, one of the most successful women writers of the first decades of the 20th century. The story was published in 1911 and it was the first out of the 75 novels by the author. It brought Norris instant success and established her as a novelist so popular that President Theodore Roosevelt visited the author personally to congratulate her.The story is set in a small town a few hours' distance from New York. The Mother in the title is Mrs. Paget, a woman devoted to her husband and her seven children, willing to undertake hardships and never ceasing to sacrifice her own good for her loved ones, but most of the story is about her beautiful daughter, Margaret. The girl is charming and wishes to live a life of richness and luxury, but is forced to stay with her family, teaching at the local school. A strange incident introduces her to a rich lady from New York, Mrs. Carr-Boldt, who is charmed by the young girl and invites her to the city to become her secretary. Margaret accepts the job offer and moves to Mrs. Carr-Boldt's luxurious home. The two ladies go abroad where Margaret meets Dr. Tenison, a charming young gentleman and they fall in love with each other. They are forced to part, then they become reunited in Margaret's home town.At the end of the novel, Tenison meets Margaret's mother, too and he tells the girl that he recognizes in her the qualities she inherited from her mother and these are in fact the qualities that he finds most charming about Margaret. It is these qualities what makes Margaret's character so exemplary and what makes the novel resonate with today's readers, too - the appreciation of love over riches, of depth over shallowness and of family values over mundane life. Views: 161
Create art that's more attractive, interesting and eye-catching!
Even if your perspective is accurate, your subject realistic and colors vibrant, a weak composition - predictable, repetitious or monotonous - means a weak painting.
The Simple Secret to Better Painting ensures that your compositions work every time. It's an insightful artistic philosophy that boils down the many technical principles of composition into a single master rule that's easy to remember and apply:
Never make any two intervals the same.
You can make every painting more interesting, dynamic and technically sound by varying intervals of distance, length and space, as well as intervals of value and color. The rule also applies to balance, shape and the location of your painting's focal point.
Greg Albert illustrates these lessons with eye-opening examples from both beginning and professional artists, including Frank Webb, Tony Couch, Kevin Macpherson, Charles Reid, Tony Van Hasselt and more.
You'll discover that the ONE RULE is the only rule of composition you need to immediately improve your work - the moment your brush touches the canvas. Views: 159
