"Suzy hails from Indiana, land of crops, of Fords and farms. Suzy lives in New York City, land of cops and car alarms. Suzy lives six blocks from Harry. Touch him and she'll break your arms." Heart-rending, hilarious, giddy, and compassionate, Maggie Robbins's novel in verse tracks a blundering bombshell as she risks all, ricocheting from man to man, place to place, through a haze of sensuality, spirituality, serendipity, and psychosis. In its own singsong rhythm-the "crazy beat" of Suzy's unforgettable life-Suzy Zeus Gets Organized chronicles a furious odyssey from Astoria to Astroland-by way of such pit stops as Berlin, the Big Easy, Buddhism, Barbie, and the Bible-that leaves Suzy, although in the same town, in a somewhat better state. Excerpted in Andrew Solomon's bestselling The Noonday Demon, this marvelously told story of a rowdy city girl bent on finding inner harmony will delight readers everywhere. Views: 50
Where there's heat, there's a smoking-hot firefighter. No man lights Madison Kelly's fire quite like Sean Adams, the firefighter she's been hired to guard during the Boys of Beachville calendar shoot. Though he stars in her hottest, steamiest fantasies, he's the last person she's going to tell. An accident left its mark on her, body and soul. But when she catches Sean looking at her like she's water for a man dying of thirst, she wonders if it's possible he might see the girl beneath the scars. Ever since he pulled Madison from the fire that injured her, Sean's been hot for her. Too bad she clearly has no interest in him-or so he thinks, until he sees a spark in her eyes that says she burns for him as much as he does for her. No more tiptoeing around the matter-a blatant seduction is in order. Soon they're igniting the sheets, but come morning Madison's old fears and insecurities threaten to snuff the flames to ashes. Except Sean's fuse has been lit, and he... Views: 50
Thirteen-year-old Danny and his family are struggling to make ends meet in New York during the Great Depression. His father leaves to search for work, and Danny and his mother do what they can to survive. With his mother pregnant and unable to help, Danny is forced to beg for food. Through it all, they retain their good humor and family pride, and in the end help arrives in a most unexpected guise. "Rich, rewarding historical fiction."—Kirkus Reviews Views: 50
Mystery/Crime. 45035 words long. Views: 50
A bastard hybrid of War of the Worlds and Night of the Living Dead, the Autumn series chronicles the struggle survivors are forced to contend with in a world torn apart by a deadly disease. 99% of the population of the planet has been killed in less than 24 hours. Animated by “phase two” of some unknown contagion, the dead begin to rise. At first slow, blind, dumb and lumbering, the bodies soon regain their most basic senses and abilities—sight, hearing, locomotion—as well as the instinct toward aggression and violence. Held back only by the restraints of their rapidly decomposing flesh, the dead seem to have only one single goal—to lumber forth and destroy the sole remaining attraction in the silent, lifeless world: those who have survived the plague, who now find themselves outnumbered 1,000,000 to 1... In Autumn: Purification, the heroes from the original Autumn novel and Autumn: The City work together to survive in this horrifying new world. Without ever using the ‘Z’ word, the Autumn series offers a new perspective on the traditional zombie story. There’s no flesh eating, no fast-moving corpses, no gore for gore’s sake. Combining the atmosphere and tone of a George Romero film with the attitude and awareness of 28 Days Later, this horrifying and suspenseful novel is filled with relentless cold, dark fear.About the AuthorDavid Moody is the author of Hater, Dog Blood, Autumn and Autumn: The City. He grew up in Birmingham, England, on a diet of horror movies and post-apocalyptic fiction. He started his career working at a bank, but then decided to write the kind of fiction he loved. His first novel, Straight to You, had what Moody calls “microscopic sales,” and so when he wrote Autumn, he decided to publish it online. The book became a sensation and has been downloaded by half a million readers. He started his own publishing company, Infected Books. He lives in Britain with his wife and a houseful of daughters, which may explain his preoccupation with Armageddon.Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.1Emma Mitchell looked at her watch. Two o’clock. Was that two in the afternoon or morning? She thought morning, but she wasn’t sure. In the permanent darkness of the base it was impossible to tell the difference between day and night anymore. There were always people sleeping, and always people awake. There were always people gathered in groups and huddles talking in secret whispers about nothing of any importance, and there were always people crying, moaning, and arguing. There were always soldiers moving through the decontamination chambers or coming out into the hangar to check, double-check, and triple-check their stockpiled equipment.Two in the morning or two in the afternoon, Emma couldn’t sleep. She lay in bed next to Michael Collins and stared into his face. They’d made love a while back, and she felt ridiculously guilty. It had been the fourth time they’d had sex in the three weeks they’d been underground, and each time he’d fallen asleep as soon as they were finished and she’d been left alone feeling like this. When she’d asked him, he’d said that being with her made him feel complete, that their intimacy made him feel like he used to before the rest of the world had died. Although Emma felt that way too, sex reminded her of everything she’d lost and made her wonder what would happen if she lost Michael. She didn’t know whether she slept with him because she loved him, or if it was because they just happened to be there for each other. One thing of which she was certain was that there was no room in her world for romance and other long-forgotten feelings anymore. He had no trouble, but she couldn’t imagine ever being relaxed or aroused enough to have another orgasm. There was no longer any seduction or foreplay. All she wanted was to feel Michael inside her. He was the only positive thing remaining in her world. Everything was cold apart from his touch.In the final days before finding this bunker, Emma had grown to hate the cramped motor home that she and Michael shared. Now she never wanted to leave it. It was a small, private space where the two of them could shut themselves away from everyone else and she appreciated it. The others had no choice but to spend all day, every day together, and Emma didn’t know how they coped. She needed this space to be able to cut herself off from what was happening elsewhere. Yesterday she’d overheard two soldiers talking about the air getting thinner on the lower levels of the base, that the sheer weight of the bodies aboveground was beginning to cause problems and block vents and exhaust shafts. She’d spoken to Cooper about it and he hadn’t seemed surprised. The thought of what it must be like aboveground now made her want to lock the motor home doors and never open them again.Emma heard a noise outside. She sat up and wiped the nearest window clear of condensation, the heat from her and Michael’s bodies contrasting with the cold air in the vast hangar. Supplies were being delivered. Two suited soldiers emerged from the decontamination chambers to begrudgingly deliver rations to the civilian survivors. Emma was surprised they were given anything at all. She often tried to imagine what life must be like for the soldiers. Were they just going through the motions, waiting to die? How long would the contagion outside last? Was the air clear now, or would it stay contaminated for another month, year, or decade? How would they know? Would any of the soldiers ever be brave or stupid enough to risk going aboveground and breathing in? Donna Yorke had suggested that was why the military had been so acommodating toward them. She said she could see a time when they might want to use the immune survivors to either try and find a cure or, once the bodies had rotted down to nothing, just to scour the surface for food, water, and supplies.Emma put on Michael’s thick winter coat and stood up and moved to another window. It was hard to make out what was happening outside—the hangar lights were almost always turned down to their lowest setting to conserve power, only getting any brighter when the military was heading outside, and that hadn’t happened for more than two weeks. Two days after the civilians had first arrived, the army had opened the doors and made a futile attempt to clear the mess they’d made getting in. They’d been beaten back by the number of bodies outside. The first few hundred had been obliterated with flamethrowers but there were thousands more behind. Distracted thinking about the carnage that day, she watched Cooper checking over one of the vehicles he and the others had arrived here in. It was obvious from his manner, attitude, and priorities that he was military—or was he now ex-military? Regimented and confident, she’d often seen him exercising or demonstrating to small groups of people how to use the military equipment which surrounded them. She knew it was important to keep themselves and their vehicles in good order. She was under no illusions. Today, tomorrow, or in six months’ time, they’d have to leave the bunker eventually.“Something wrong?”Emma turned around and saw that Michael was sitting up in bed. His dark eyes looked tired and confused.“Nothing. Couldn’t sleep, that’s all.”He yawned and beckoned her over. She climbed back into bed and he grabbed hold of her tightly as if they’d been apart for years.“How you doing?” he asked quietly, his face close to hers.“I’m okay.”“Anything happening out there?”“Not really, just a delivery of supplies, that’s all. Does anything ever happen around here?”“Give it time,” he mumbled sadly, kissing the side of her face. “Give it time.”Copyright © 2011 by David Moody Views: 50
Book 1 in the Body & Soul series. Stephanie Burbank is your typical twenty-something divorcee with a very atypical problem. Thanks to her ex-husband, who seems to have forgotten that not only are they divorced but he's also…dead…she doesn't dare go on a date. Thanks to Jeremy, fiery passion takes on a whole new meaning… Rafe Hammond is not your typical bachelor. He has a secret too, which has been like a bucket of icy water on his lusty love life, but when his sexy neighbor puts the moves on him, he's unable to resist and to hell with the consequences! A little ingenuity is all they'll need-both inside the bedroom and out-to outsmart the pesky phantoms so they can cool their blazing lust. It's a battle of the elements as spirits collide and two people who haven't had a ghost of a chance at love until now give it a shot, risking more than just bodily harm. Views: 50
What if, under the PATRIOT Act, federal bureaucrats could take murder cases away from local cops--then bury those cases so they're never investigated again? What if government agents could bug your home, your car, your place of business--your entire life--with nothing more than spoken permission from a secret panel of judges? What if the Department of Homeland Security could pull police officers off the street and hold them in cells indefinitely as material witnesses--because they're working on "sensitive" investigations?They can . . . The PATRIOT Act and the Homeland Security Act give enormous power to our nation's top federal law enforcement officials. They operate under the presumption that these officials are honest, diligent, and fair.But what if they're not?In THE COLD HIT, Detective Shane Scully suspects that the regional boss of the Department of Homeland Security is thwarting a major murder investigation. But why?... Views: 50
One million years from now. It's a span of time so huge that it's hard for the mind to grasp. Even within science fiction, to conjure up a convincing portrait of what humanity might be like in such a remote future calls for writers with rare breadth of vision. Fortunately, Dozois and Dann have found them. Includes longer stories set in "One Million A.D." by: Robert ReedRobert SilverbergNancy KressAlastair Reynolds Greg Egan Views: 50
In Lesley Glaister's spellbinding outback thriller, a young couple's flight from a cold and dreary English winter traps them in a sunbaked nightmare For Cassie, the ad in the newspaper is a dream come true. Spending a year managing a farm in western Australia away from everything and everyone she and her commitment-phobic boyfriend, Graham, know could be exactly what he needs to realize it's time to think about getting married and starting a family. But their fantasy adventure isn't quite what Cassie imagined. Woolagong, an old sheep station, is on the remote fringes of the desert, where the weather is stifling hot all the time. And the outback is crawling with all manner of lethal creatures. There's no telephone, no radio, and no electricity—no contact with the outside world. Cassie and Graham send letters home but never receive any in return. And then there are the employers. Larry and his wife, Mara, live a very private life,... Views: 50
Daniel Raife was devoted to Phoebe, his teenage daughter;he'd brought her up single-handedly and he wanted her to be a lawyer. But Phoebe dreamed of being a model… Lee Meredith knew all about being sixteen and headstrong-she had eloped to Gretna Green. These days she avoided witty, charming men like the plague… Until circumstances decreed that she couldn't avoid keeping Daniel Raife out of her life. But could Lee keep out of Daniel's wrangles with Phoebe? It seemed you couldn't love a father and sympathise with his daughter all at the same time… Views: 50
An eerie beauty settles over Tiger Tail Island, a wild refuge along Florida's Gulf Coast. But treachery and violence are woven throughout the island's history. The latest death is that of treasure hunter Timothy Hart, who discovered, and then took to his grave, Tiger Tail Island's most extraordinary secret. Newspaper reporter and crime buff Brandy O'Bannon has come to the quaint town of Homosassa to make a decision that will alter the course of her life. But she is soon drawn deeply into a web of intrigue as she seeks to unravel the mystery of Hart's murder. Brandy encounters a strange mix of characters more interested in Hart's discovery than in his death. Brandy's amateur sleuthing tries the patience of homicide detective Jeremiah Strong. But they join forces in a race against the clock to solve the crime. The intertwined fate of two Indian children, born centuries apart, rests on their success. Views: 50
