In the not too distant future, the effects of climate change devastate the world and New Zealand becomes a haven for elites. When a young couple from the wrong side of the tracks gain entry into Wellington's most exclusive gated community, it appears their troubles are over. But they find themselves divided over the identity of Sam Starsailor, an alien prophet who has washed up on a beach near New Hokitika and is said to bring warnings from another planet. The couple's housewarming party becomes an all-night carnival, and revolution gathers beyond the gate. Views: 47
One thing I have learned. The bonfires of change start with the merest spark. Sometimes we see that flicker. Sometimes we blink in surprise at the flame only after it has marched hot legs upward to fully ignite. Either way, flicker or flame, we'd better do some serious praying. When God's on the move in our lives, he tends to burn up things we'd just as soon keep. After her mama's death, sixteen-year-old Jackie Delham is left to run the household for her daddy and two younger siblings. When Katherine King breezes into town and tries to steal her daddy's heart, Jackie knows she must put a stop to it. Katherine can't be trusted. Besides, one romance in the family is enough, and Jackie is about to fall headlong into her own. As love whirls through both generations, the Delhams are buffeted by hope, elation and loss. Jackie is devastated to learn of old secrets in her parents' relationship. Will those past mistakes cost Jackie her own love? And how will her family ever survive if... Views: 47
When a Thal platoon arrive on a hostile planet
investigating reports that Dalek artifacts have been detected, they are
unprepared for what they find. In an underground room is a stranger, a
Professor, or so he claims, with no member of who he is or why he is there, with
death and horror their only companions, the Thals make their way with the
Professor into the heart of a crumbling Dalek citadel in search of answers-only
to find that the Daleks are the least of the horrors they must face.
Telos Publishing, 2004. Limited edition hardcover
(to 800 copies). Views: 47
From Publishers WeeklyEfficient plotting and crisp dialogue mark Monsour's second Paris Murphy thriller, in which what goes around comes around in more ways than one. Set in the Twin Cities of Minnesota and revisiting likable characters introduced in Clean Cut (2003), this disturbing novel focuses on the attractive homicide detective's pursuit of the creepy, drug-addicted Sweet Justice Trip, a serial hit-and-run killer Murphy once knew in high school. Trip was assaulted by Murphy's pals after he asked her to Homecoming, and he blamed her for the attack, later running his tormentors off the road into a lake in his first deadly "accident." Eighteen years later it's time for a reunion, and Trip's still having accidents. Playing the hero, he pretends to help search for Bunny Pederson, a drunk bridesmaid he plowed down and buried in a shallow grave. Murphy recognizes Trip on a newscast and begins to suspect her ex-classmate might be connected to that crime and possibly others. Murphy's working relationship with boss Axel Duncan (think Redford with muscles) heats up, suggesting further developments in the next installment. Monsour's depiction of the harrowing relationship Trip has with his father contrasts neatly with Murphy's organized work and more normal personal life, despite its romantic confusions, making this a satisfying, if not surprising, suspense read. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistForget Florida. Lose L.A. It's Minnesota that's heating up contemporary mysteries. Think William Kent Krueger and John Sandford, both of whom move their novels easily between the Twin Cities and the wild country to the north. Monsour's Cold Blood is almost excessively creepy crawly. In the second outing for St. Paul homicide detective Paris Murphy, the action shuttles between a celebrity-craving killer and Murphy's suspicions that the geek who asked her to a dance in high school could be the killer. This mystery is not long on detective work since the reader follows the itinerant salesman as he commits vehicular homicide on a woman, then joins in the search party for her, dropping one of her severed fingers so he can "find" it and become the center of attention. The reader also follows Detective Murphy's too-pat realization that the guy hanging out at this scene and the next murder scene could be the guy she turned down long ago. This novel's strength is suspense--the "Oh God, no!" kind--as Paris both realizes the guy is a killer and underestimates his willingness to kill her. Cuticle-destroying. Connie FletcherCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Views: 47
An American comic icon tells the story of his second--act rise from obscurity to multimedia stardom."When I was a kid," writes Rodney Dangerfield, "I worked tough places in show business--places like Fonzo's Knuckle Room. Or Aldo's, formerly Vito's, formerly Nunzio's. That was a tough joint. I looked at the menu. They had broken leg of lamb." For once, one of America's most beloved comic icons isn't kidding. Dangerfield has seen every aspect of the entertainment industry: the rough--and--tumble nightclubs, the backstage gag--writing sessions, the drugs, the hookers, the lousy day jobs -- and the red--carpet star treatment. As he traces his route from a poor childhood on Long Island to his enshrinement as a comedy legend, he takes readers on a roller--coaster ride through a life that has been alternately touching, sordid, funny, raunchy, and uplifting -- equal parts "Little Orphan Annie" and "Caligula." And unlike most celebrity autobiographers, he seems to have no qualms... Views: 47
When Andas Kastor awakens in an alien land, he must figure out if he's the true emperor of his home world or an evil double In a stark, arid wasteland, a man awakens from a frozen state. As he stares out his narrow slit of a window, he has no memory of how he got there—or why. All he knows is his name: Andas Kastor, Imperial Prince of Inyanga. But instead of the luxurious trappings of his royal palace, he's in a hellish, storm-lashed place punctuated by howling winds and shattering streaks of lightning. And he's not alone. In this uninhabited world, he meets five other survivors, also of noble birth. They include the scaled, emerald-haired Elys of Posedonia and clawed, fanged Lord Yolyos of Sargol. They all speak the same Basic language, as befits those from neighboring spheres. Were they abducted, spirited to this alien planet, and held in mind-lock while evil doppelgangers ruled in their places? After a daring escape, Andas returns to... Views: 47
In Being Audrey Hepburn, Clarissa Explains It All-creator, Mitchell Kriegman, tells the story of a 19-year-old girl from Jersey who finds herself thrust into the world of socialites after being seen in Audrey Hepburn's dress from the film Breakfast at Tiffany's.Lisbeth comes from a broken home in the land of tube tops, heavy eyeliner, frosted lip-gloss, juiceheads, hoop earrings and "the shore." She has a circle of friends who have dedicated their teenage lives to relieve the world of all its alcohol one drink at a time.Obsessed with everything Audrey Hepburn, Lisbeth is transformed when she secretly tries on Audrey's iconic Givenchy. She becomes who she wants to be by pretending to be somebody she's not and living among the young and privileged Manhattan elite. Soon she's faced with choices that she would never imagine making – between who she's become and who she once was.In the tradition of The Nanny Diaries and The Devil... Views: 47
Shortly after her sixteenth birthday, Sunshine Griffith and her mother Kat move from sunny Austin, Texas, to the rain-drenched town of Ridgemont, Washington. Though Sunshine is adopted, she and her mother have always been close, sharing a special bond filled with laughter and inside jokes. But from the moment they arrive, Sunshine feels her world darken with an eeriness she cannot place. And even if Kat doesn't recognize it, Sunshine knows that something about their new house is just ... creepy.In the days that follow, things only get stranger. Sunshine is followed around the house by an icy breeze, phantom wind slams her bedroom door shut, and eventually, the laughter Sunshine hears on her first night evolves into sobs. She can hardly believe it, but as the spirits haunting her house become more frightening—and it becomes clear that Kat is in danger—Sunshine must accept what she is, pass the test before her, and save her mother from a fate worse than death. Views: 47
Psychic Lucy Ryan has always kept her so-called gift a secret. Until she "saw" a mysterious incident in a dream and tried to stop it--too late. Now she's having vivid, arousing dreams of making love with a sexy stranger. So when Justin Guidry--the man of her dreams--suddenly shows up in her life she isn't really surprised.... P.I. Justin offers to help Lucy figure out what's going on. But he isn't aware he's starring in all her nighttime fantasies...even as he's entertaining a few sexual fantasies of his own. The nightmare begins with Lucy's next vision. She dreams that Justin has been shot while protecting her. Can she change the fate of the man she's now fallen in love with? Views: 47
When Lily moves into new boyfriend Marcus's apartment and plunges headlong into their relationship, she must contend with an intangible, hostile presence—Marcus's ex-girlfriend, Sinead. As Lily and Marcus become more deeply involved, Lily becomes obsessed with Sinead's fate and thinks she sees her everywhere. She must question not only her sanity, but whether the man she loves is someone she can, or should, be with at all. Views: 47
Set in the northern Italian region of Emilia Romagna this sometimes funny, often poignant, and occasionally irreverent story follows a path between 1996 to 2001 as the author and her husband seek legal ownership of the old family home.The reader treads a path of discovery through the countryside, historical and architectural wonders, villages and cities. Restoration of the house, forming relationships with family and villagers aids the authors growing love of Emilia. Like all intellectual journeys, this story has much of the personal element of self discovery. Views: 47
Kurt Kurtovic wanted nothing more than to be left in peace, to make a life with his wife and child in Westfield, Kansas. Then September 11 happened and Kurt knew they'd never be safe again unless he did what only he could do, take terror to the terrorists. He knew their world, knew how they worked, knew their weak points. He knew, because he'd been one of them. But as Kurt wages his bloody campaign, hunting down his former Al-Qaeda comrades in Britain, Spain, and Africa, he becomes the hunted. And so do his wife and child back home. The most dangerous agents of terror, he discovers, are in the United States: those who don't want the wars to end; those who believe "we have waited thousands of years for Judgment Day, never knowing when it would come. But now we can put it on the calendar. We can fix a date." As a man-made apocalypse approaches, Kurt realizes that some of America's most ruthless enemies walk its corridors of power every day. In the tradition of Graham Greene an... Views: 47
Former government agent Frank Compton foiled a plot to enslave the galaxy in Night Train to Rigel. But the Modhri, an ancient telepathically linked intelligence, has walkers, unwilling hosts that can be anywhere, anything…and anyone. And Compton is the only man who knows how to fight them, as they wage a secret war against the galactic civilizations linked by the Quadrail, the only means of intra-galactic transit. Accompanied by Bayta, a woman with strange ties to the robot-like Spiders who run the Quadrail, and dogged by special agent Morse who suspects him of murder, Compton races the Modhri from station to station to acquire a set of valuable sculptures from a long-dead civilization. What the Modhri wants with them is anybody's guess, but if Compton can't outwit it, the whole galaxy will find out the hard way. Views: 47
