The Failure is a picaresque novel set in Los Angeles about two guys who conceive and badly execute a plan to rob a Korean check-cashing store in order to finance the prototype for an impossibly ridiculous Internet application."James Greer, one of the nimblest and most multilayered American fiction writers, has, with his latest novel The Failure, pulled off a sublime and shivery-smooth literary hat-trick-cum-emotional-gotcha. I defy anyone to come up with an equation to explain how this book's first impression as a ridiculously clever, funny crime story can gradually disclose a metanovel built from far more encyclopedic scratch only to reveal upon its conclusion a central, overriding thought so heartfelt literally it trembles your lower lip. This is one stunning piece of work." --Dennis Cooper, author of Ugly Man"James Greer's The Failure is such an unqualified success, both in conception and execution, that I have grave doubts he actually wrote it."--Steven SoderberghJames Greer is the author of the novel Artificial Light (Akashic Books), which won a California Book Award for Best Debut Novel, and the nonfiction book Guided By Voices: A Brief History (Grove Press), a biography of the band for which he once played bass guitar. He is currently working with director Steven Soderbergh on a rock musical about Cleopatra starring Catherine Zeta-Jones. He lives in Los Angeles.From Publishers WeeklyA robbery goes awry for a young L.A. slacker on a get-rich-quick scheme in Greer's cleverly fashioned, flimsy second novel (after Artificial Light). Protagonist Guy Forget wants his square MIT professor brother, Marcus, to lend him the $50,000 he needs to build the prototype for his invention, a sophisticated information-mining computer system called Pandemonium, which will transform Guy into a man with clout. But Marcus can't stand his brother and is still in competition with him for the approval of their father. Then Dad suddenly dies, and leaves Guy the exact amount he needs, but it's too late to stop Plan Charlie, Guy's harebrained plot to rob a Korean check-cashing service along with his dog-walker friend, Billy. The other characters getting in Guy's way are his manipulative femme fatale new girlfriend, Violet, and her scheming jealous pursuer, Sven Transvoort. Greer creates emotional distance by cutting up the sequence of events so that chapters are not chronological and inserting self-conscious comments by the not entirely omniscient but very reliable narrator. Running gags render this suspense parody cheeky, experimentally cool, and not terrifically memorable. (Mar.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistSupercilious twentysomething Guy Forget is smart and good looking. His only ambition is to become rich without working to become rich. So it is fated that evil, supercilious Sven Transvoort, who is obsessed with Violet, Guy’s gorgeous, supercilious girlfriend, dupes Guy into robbing a Korean check-cashing store to finance the start-up of a company that will market nonexistent, subliminal advertising software on unsuspecting Web sites. We learn in the book’s fourth paragraph that the robbery fails, and Guy is in a coma; the whys and hows follow in a determinedly nonlinear manner. Author Greer, whose first novel, Artificial Light (2006), was critically praised, is a writer of considerable talent whose techniques, tropes, and wordplay recall Thomas Pynchon. His observations about his characters, and about the Los Angeles landscape they inhabit, are shrewd and perceptive. Guy’s glib rants on all manner of subjects are skillfully wrought bits of self-absorption. But they’re also a bit maddening. Are Guy and Violet worth the effort? Readers may differ on that question, but there’s no doubt about Greer being a writer of substance and talent. --Thomas Gaughan Views: 54
The queen of the black-hearted soap opera is back! Welcome to the upwardly mobile Prendergast Road? On Prendergast Road, deep in Nappy Valley, among olive trees in terracotta, lower fuel emissions, Lithuanian prostitutes, teenage drug dealers, stalkers and soaring house prices, five desperate women wait? The progeny of the IVF generation is ready to start school and only one of them is destined to get a place in Nappy Valley's most oversubscribed cradle of learning. How far will these women go to get that place? Follow Kate Hunter into the depths of her impeccably honed life, as she struggles to maintain the façade of perfection. When exactly did life become a life class? Is happiness overrated? Is it just possible that beneath the flawless sheen of her friends' and neighbours' amazingly trouble-free lives, beneath the freshly-ironed shirts and home-grown veg, lie the same half-truths, the same uncertainties and the same desperation to keep up with the Joneses?? Sarah May is an... Views: 54
An ex-cop looking for redemption...an American man and an Irish lass interwined in love and violence...a cop with a conscience that he doesn't always listen to...a retired cop looking to repair a broken relationship with his drug-addicted son...a Yankee cop in the West Texas...these are the characters you'll meet and explore in No Good Deed. Written by the author of the River City crime novels. Views: 54
You only think you want this life . . . Alex Maxwell is planning her wedding to up-and coming music artist Birdie, ghostwriting video vixen Cleopatra Wright’s memoir, and she’s just been assigned the story of the year by her editor in chief at a major music industry magazine—an article about the glamorous lives of women married to platinum-selling hip-hop artists. Alex has been interviewing celebrities and hangers-on long enough to know all that glitters isn’t gold, so she’s determined to get the real scoop. Still, it’s not going to be easy to get past the wives’ gilded cages. . . Beth Saddlebrook, wife of aging rapper Z. They have three beautiful boys and a seemingly endless supply of cash. But Beth spends her days trying to keep Z off drugs and fielding calls from women hollering she’s just a “small-town white bitch” and claiming to be carrying Z’s baby. Only one person... Views: 54
"A Best Book of 2009"—*The Japan Times* "Bringing erudition to the eerie, Ross enlarges our vocabulary of the supernatural. From the unquiet graves of betrayed women and trees that grow hair to accounts of the skulls of drowned sailors biting at the oars of fishermen, Ross's explorations in the spookier corners and crevices of these islands unearth a trove of arcane detail. Along the way she provides insights into Japanese culture you are unlikely to find elsewhere."—Stephen Mansfield Japanese Ghost Stories, formerly published under the title Supernatural and Mysterious Japan, is a collection of the eerie and terrifying from around Japan. This book opens a window into the hidden aspects of the Japanese world of the paranormal, a place where trees grow human hair, rocks weep and there's even a graveyard where Jesus is reputed to have been buried. Covering ancient and modern times, Japanese Ghost Stories offers not only good, old-fashioned scary stories, but some special insights into Japanese culture and psychology. Stories include: In Search of the SupernaturalPsychic StirringsNew Forays into the MysticStrange but TrueModern-Day HauntingsScenes of Ghosts and DemonsEdo-Era TalesReview"From the unquiet graves of betrayed women and trees that grow hair to accounts of the skulls of drowned sailors biting at the oars of fishermen, Ross's explorations in the spookier corners and crevices of these islands unearth a trove of arcane detail."—The Japan TimesAbout the AuthorCatrien Ross has lived and traveled extensively in Japan for over fifteen years. She operates Energy Medicine Japan, located at the foot of Mount Fuji, where she uses her training in ecopsychology and practical metaphysics. Views: 54
FromAfter their adventures on Dathomir, Luke and Ben are determined to return to the Maw and confront Abeloth, the evil power that is making the young Jedi go crazy. The newly discovered Lost Tribe of the Sith are also interested in the Maw and make an uneasy alliance with Ben and Luke. While normally Jedi and Sith would rather kill each other than work together, these Sith are a little different, and as an outcast, Luke can’t get help from other Jedi. Most of the book focuses on the preparations for and the journey into the Maw; the story of Han, Leia, and Alanna, by contrast, takes up only a few small scenes. Even with much of the book devoted to setup, however, the tale doesn’t lack for tension, as the alliance between the Sith and Jedi teeters on a knife edge. Golden introduces a new theme here, ending slavery, and she does a good job balancing the larger series plots against the story arc of a single volume—no easy feat for the fifth installment in a nine volume-series. --Jessica Moyer Product DescriptionWhat began as a quest for truth has become a struggle for survival for Luke Skywalker and his son, Ben. They have used the secrets of the Mindwalkers to transcend their own bodies and speak with the spirits of the fallen, risking their very lives in the process. They have faced a team of Sith assassins and beaten the odds to destroy them. And now the death squad’s sole survivor, Sith apprentice Vestara Khai, has summoned an entire fleet of Sith frigates to engage the embattled father and son. But the dark warriors come bearing a surprising proposition that will bring Jedi and Sith together in an unprecedented alliance against an evil more ancient and alien than they can imagine. While the Skywalkers and their Sith allies set off on their joint mission into the treacherous web of black holes that is the Maw, Han and Leia Solo risk arrest and worse to aid the Jedi imprisoned back on Coruscant. Tyrannical Chief of State Natasi Daala has issued orders that will open a permanent schism between her government and the Jedi Order—a schism that could turn all Jedi into renegades and wanted criminals. But it is in the depths of the Maw that the future of the galaxy will be decided. For there the Skywalkers and their Sith allies will engage a true monster in battle, and Luke will come face-to-face with a staggering truth. Views: 54
Tough-as-nails cop Jason Lawrence hadn't planned on parenthood. But after his brother's death, he'd raised his baby niece, Megan, becoming her father in every way that mattered. And there was no way that he was giving her up -- even to the biological mother Megan had never known. Jason knew he should be trying to keep Lilly Nelson at arm's length. After all, she had the power to break up his happy home. But someone wanted Lilly dead, and everything about her -- her strong spirit and fragile beauty -- aroused Jason's most protective instincts. But what was he willing to risk to keep Lilly safe? Views: 54
Michael Vyner recalls a terrible story, one that happened to him. One that would be unbelievable if it weren't true!Michael's parents are dead and he imagines that he will stay with the kindly lawyer, executor of his parents' will . . . Until he is invited to spend Christmas with his guardian in a large and desolate country house. His arrival on the first night suggests something is not quite right when he sees a woman out in the frozen mists, standing alone in the marshes. But little can prepare him for the solitude of the house itself as he is kept from his guardian and finds himself spending the Christmas holiday wandering the silent corridors of the house seeking distraction. But lonely doesn't mean alone, as Michael soon realises that the house and its grounds harbour many secrets, dead and alive, and Michael is set the task of unravelling some of the darkest secrets of all.A nail-biting story of hauntings and terror by the master of the genre, Chris Priestley. Views: 54
