James MacLiesh shocks his conventional parents when he chooses to work with horses instead of going to college—can he make it happen? Bucking his parents—and tradition—seventeen-year-old James MacLiesh decides he wants to be a horse trainer. When he arrives at his cousins' farm, James enters a world completely different from that of his privileged, boarding-school upbringing. Not quite prepared for the rambling, ramshackle old house, he knows he made the right decision the minute he goes into the barn. The horses are magnificent. Ghazal, an obedient if aloof white stallion, is to be James's first training project. But first, James has to re-train himself. Taking place over four seasons and filled with appealing characters—James's uncle Tom and second cousin Gloria, and a riding student named Jennifer Bascomb—Working Trot is about following your dreams and sticking to them no matter what. Views: 23
Deadly creatures from the realm of Chaos herald the return of an imprisoned nosferatu horde, and the bond between a vampire and his lover is their only protection-and their only passion. Views: 23
Relive the glory of a Pennsylvania canal town through the eyes of those who ministered to the needs of the workers. Betsy Nelson reluctantly returns to her childhood home to care for her failing father, a faithful minister who served the town for years. William Covington, a confirmed bachelor, comes to town to become the new pastor and set aside the luxuries of this birth for service to God. Can Betsy and William find common ground on which to work together for the better of the townspeople' Views: 23
Having been warned to stay away from the high waters of the local creek, the boys' imaginations run as swiftly as the stream. Before they know it, they have scared themselves silly with stories like The Children with Green Teeth, from Britain; The Deadly Beach, from Hawaii; and The Waterman, from Central Europe.From the Trade Paperback edition. Views: 23
Lastday.It is the 23rd century.Your fate is in the palm of your hand.This is the brilliant, frightening novel of a furious race against death—of two lovers fleeing from a society that wants to destroy them.In the 23rd century when the crystal flower imprinted on your palm turns black, your life is over.This is the story of two people who decide to run for their lives. Views: 23
The first novel written by Booker finalist Tom McCarthy—acclaimed author of Remainder and C—Men in Space is set in a Central Europe rapidly fragmenting after the fall of communism. It follows an oddball cast—dissolute bohemians, political refugees, a football referee, a disorientated police agent, and a stranded astronaut—as they chase a stolen painting from Sofia to Prague and onward. Planting the themes that McCarthy’s later works develop, here McCarthy questions the meaning of all kinds of space—physical, political, emotional, and metaphysical—as reflected in the characters’ various disconnections. What emerges is a vision of humanity adrift in history, and a world in a state of disintegration.With an afterword by Simon Critchley, author of The Book of Dead PhilosophersReview“Sophisticated. . . . A rich, encyclopedic text whose knowledge isn’t confined to aesthetics. . . . An intellectually voracious cross section of a historical moment, and a thrilling indication of the vitality of the contemporary British novel.”—The New York Times Book Review“[McCarthy] is an agile and venturesome writer, adeptly shaping these disparate voices into a thrilling and satisfying symphony.”—The New Yorker“Imaginative, brooding, and stoutly thematic—even a bit romantic. The pacing is unique, and McCarthy is without a doubt an Important Literary Voice. . . . It’s impossible to ignore the beautiful style of the prose. . . . It is clever that a treatise on the universal tendency to cut-and-paste, literally and figuratively, is set in the pre-email, pre-digital world. It is almost as if the goings-on were recorded in lush analog: everything that comes after moves too fast for the human eye to observe.”—The Houston Chronicle“There’s an unmistakably desperate edge to the social frenzy among the Prague expats chronicled in Tom McCarthy’s second novel, Men In Space. Their involvement in an art heist gone wrong on the eve of the Czech Republic’s creation ultimately provides these foreigners with a sense of reckoning that suffuses all their good times. . . . McCarthy reports their struggles with irony but also kindness.”—The Onion A.V. Club“McCarthy depicts cosmopolitan street life with astonishing detail and humor. . . . Worth quoting at length.”—Open Letters Monthly“Intriguing. . . . McCarthy deftly knits together a continuous, chapterless narrative of changing viewpoints. The central story is intense and interesting. . . . Best described as Philip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly meets Milan Kundera’s The Book of Laughter and Forgetting; this is a tribute to what the novel can be. Enthusiastically recommended.”—Library Journal“The author, who lived through this tumultuous historical period and wrote this book in Prague, makes tangible the heady rush of freedom; his bone-deep understanding gives this transformative period a visceral charge.”—Publishers Weekly“McCarthy is fast revealing himself as a master craftsman who is steering the contemporary novel towards exciting territories.”—The Observer (London)“A confident and intelligent meditation on failed flights of transcendence.”—Times Literary SupplementAbout the AuthorTom McCarthy was born in 1969 and lives in London. He is known in the art world for the reports, manifestos, and media interventions he has made as General Secretary of the International Necronautical Society (INS), a semi-fictitious avant-garde network. His other books include C, Remainder, and Tintin and the Secret of Literature. Views: 23
Lesbian: Paranomal -- The Illusionist Series - Book II - Yemaya and Dakota have just returned to the Illusionist's homeland for a well-earned vacation when they are informed that several villagers had been savagely attacked and killed by something or someone. At the same time, a young Carpi woman is found lying unconscious near the outskirts of Teraclia. Comatose, she is unable to tell anyone what has happened and science can provide no answers. Two small wounds on her throat raise the old specter of the vampire, a legend the locals of the Transylvanian community are very familiar with and still believe in to this day. The Illusionist and her partner search for the truth behind these attacks. Will they fall prey to this murderous bloodlust that surrounds them, or will they succeed in stopping this heinous reign of terror. Views: 23
The story of the jet age of aviation revolves around remarkable geniuses--including Sir Frank Whittle, the British inventor of the jet engine; Hans von Ohain, a German jet engine designer who comes to work for the U.S.; famed aeronautical engineer Kelly Johnson; the daring test pilot Tex Johnston, and many more--brilliant men who conceived these early extraordinary airplanes and had the courage to fly them to new horizons. ** Roaring Thunder blends real life adventures of the industry giants with the fictional Vance Shannon and his aviation family. Shannon, a prototypical American test pilot, sees and guides the birth of American jet aviation, while his sons, Tom and Harry fly the new jets in combat. Their aviation careers are blessed by their skill and courage, and they help usher in the greatest advance in aviation history with the birth of the jet transport. The Shannons serve as counterparts to the real-life heroes, creating continuity and explaining the intricacies, successes, and setbacks of a brand new industry.The dramatic, totally accurate story of the beginning of the jet age is presented against a background of personalities, real and fictional who bring the story to life, and represent the first stage in the first ever fiction trilogy about the history of the aerospace industry.From Publishers WeeklyBest known for his numerous first-class nonfiction aviation histories, Boyne has also produced aviation sagas (such as Roaring Thunder), and here inaugurates a trilogy with mixed success. Vance Shannon and his twin sons, Tom and Harry, are big shots in the American aircraft world: all three men do stints as flying aces and as brilliant engineers, working with the likes of Boeing and Lockheed to develop new jet technology. From 1955 to 1973, Vance and his sons participate in the development of the U-2 and SR-71 spy planes, supersonic transports and Learjets, as well as missile and satellite technology. Events like the Sputnik launching, the Cuban missile crisis, the invention of the Polaroid Land Camera and the Volkswagen car craze all play in, as do figures like a former Nazi thug, a mistress who spies for French intelligence and POWs in Vietnam. The aviation history and tech talk are sparkling, but the plot is an anemic mix of family saga, corporate politics and various forms of espionage. (Jan.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistThe first volume of a trilogy chronicling the history of the aircraft industry begins in Germany in 1939 with the first jet-engine tests. Like James Michener's Space (a novelized history of the space program), the novel has a very large cast of characters. Many of them are real people, such as Frank Whipple (who invented the British jet engine) and test pilot Tex Johnston. Others, like Vance Shannon and his family, around whom the story is built, are fictional. A former air-force pilot and an experienced aviation writer, Boyne packs the novel with historically accurate detail. As a novelist, he's on shakier ground. The two Shannon boys, Tom and Harry, for example, feel like pastiches of the Hardy Boys, or perhaps Tom Swift Jr and his good pal Bud Barclay. But the wealth of information and the author's epic-minded approach to the material more than make up for the sometimes-clunky prose. Aviation fans will gulp this one down in one long, satisfied swallow; more literary-minded readers may choke a bit but will still appreciate the author's grasp of his subject. David PittCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Views: 23
The book consists of the following stories:
The Black Market - When a shipment of iridium needed for the production of Allied weapons and equipment is hijacked and put on the black market, Templar hatches a scheme to recover the goods, supported by his shady US intelligence contacts and much to the chagrin of NYPD Inspector Fernack. But when one of his prime leads is murdered, Templar finds himself framed for the crime.
The Sizzling Saboteur - The Saint travels to Galveston, Texas in pursuit of a man who has been sabotaging weapons factories, but when his quarry turns up burned to crisp, he has to contend with both the local police, a trio of mysterious men behind the sabotage, and a beautiful Russian. Views: 23
In the sequel to The Gospel of Loki, Loki's adventures continue when he finds a way out of the end of the world and plans to restart the power of the Norse gods.The end of the world—also known as Ragnarok to the Norse gods—has occurred, and Loki has been trapped in a seemingly endless purgatory, in torture, until he finds a way to escape. It seems that he still exists in the minds of humanity and uses that as a way to our time. Back in the ninth world (Earth), Loki finds himself sharing the mind of a teenage girl named Jumps, who is a bit of a mess. She's also not happy about Loki sneaking his way into her mind, since she was originally calling on Thor. Worse, her friends have also been co-opted by the gods: Odin, Jump's one-eyed best friend in a wheelchair, and Freya, the pretty one. Thor escapes the netherworld as well and shares the mind of a dog, and he finds that it suits him. Odin has a plan to bring back the Norse gods ascendancy, but... Views: 23
SUMMARY:The struggle to perform well is universal: each one of us faces fatigue, limited resources, and imperfect abilities in whatever we do. But nowhere is this drive to do better more important than in medicine, where lives are on the line with every decision. In his new book, Atul Gawande explores how doctors strive to close the gap between best intentions and best performance in the face of obstacles that sometimes seem insurmountable. Gawandes gripping stories of diligence, ingenuity, and what it means to do right by people take us to battlefield surgical tents in Iraq, to labor and delivery rooms in Boston, to a polio outbreak in India, and to malpractice courtrooms around the country. He discusses the ethical dilemmas of doctors participation in lethal injections, examines the influence of money on modern medicine, and recounts the astoundingly contentious history of hand washing. And as in all his writing, Gawande gives us an inside look at his own life as a practicing surgeon, offering a searingly honest firsthand account of work in a field where mistakes are both unavoidable and unthinkable. At once unflinching and compassionate, Better is an exhilarating journey narrated by arguably the best nonfiction doctor-writer around (Salon). Gawandes investigation into medical professionals and how they progress from merely good to great provides rare insight into the elements of success, illuminating every area of human endeavor. Views: 23
Let it snow! Kirsty and Rachel are together again! Kirsty's mom won an online contest for a photo she submitted to a travel website. The prize is a trip for four to a beautiful snowy resort where a winter festival is being held. There's just one problem— Jack Frost has stolen Michelle the Winter Wonderland Fairy's magic items! As long as they're missing, people won't be able to enjoy all the wintry activities. Rachel and Kirsty have to help Michelle before Jack Frost ruins winter fun for everyone! Views: 23
