A brother is as easily forgotten as an umbrella. James Joyce, UlyssesRecently having abandoned his RD Laing-influenced experiment in running a therapeutic community - the so-called Concept House in Willesden - maverick psychiatrist Zack Busner arrives at Friern Hospital, a vast Victorian mental asylum in North London, under a professional and a marital cloud. He has every intention of avoiding controversy, but then he encounters Audrey Dearth, a working-class girl from Fulham born in 1890 who has been immured in Friern for decades.A socialist, a feminist and a munitions worker at the Woolwich Arsenal, Audrey fell victim to the encephalitis lethargica epidemic at the end of the First World War and, like one of the subjects in Oliver Sacks' Awakenings, has been in a coma ever since. Realising that Audrey is just one of a number of post-encephalitics scattered throughout the asylum, Busner becomes involved in an attempt to bring them back to life - with wholly unforeseen consequences.Is Audrey's diseased brain in its nightmarish compulsion a microcosm of the technological revolutions of the twentieth century? And if Audrey is ill at all - perhaps her illness is only modernity itself? And what of Audrey's two brothers, Stanley and Albert: at the time she fell ill, Stanley was missing presumed dead on the Western Front, while Albert was in charge of the Arsenal itself, a coming man in the Imperial Civil Service. Now, fifty years later, when Audrey awakes from her pathological swoon, which brother is it who remains alive?Radical in its conception, uncompromising in its style, Umbrella is Will Self's most extravagant and imaginative exercise in speculative fiction to date. Views: 33
Hope Barton, a lieutenant in the Reede County Sheriff's Office, discovers a chamber of horrors in the basement of an old house. What's worse, her ex-lover, Mark Wilder, is locked in one of the cells. He is naked and covered in bites and blood, and he has been changed into a vampire. Unless Hope can reawaken Mark’s human desires, he will remain the slave of a vicious predator. No one in the Sheriff’s Office wants to believe the murderer of is a vampire. That hardly surprises Hope, but the authorities’ abnormal denial has a more terrifying cause, a predator with irresistable psychic abilities. Hope finds herself alone against her colleages, a sadistic vampire, and her dangerous ex-lover’s conflicting vampiric and human needs. She must overcome Mark’s darkest desires, and her own. If they don’t destroy the predator, he will go on killing, and he will drag Mark in his murderous wake. Views: 33
One year ago, vampires killed Jessica Harriss entire family, compelling her to become a vampire hunter in order to protect the small farming community that hates her.
Six months ago, a meth dealer put a price on Jessicas head.
Two days ago, a hit-gone-wrong released a vampire more powerful than Jessica has ever known. A vampire she created.
Today, in pursuing her monster across the Kansas prairie, Jessica uncovered a conspiracy that threatens to wipe an entire town out of existence.
Tonight, she fights.
In his gritty Vampires of the Plains series, Alan Ryker takes vampires out of the cities and places them on the sun-bleached western prairie. Blood Tells True continues the Harris family saga begun in Burden Kansas, but is a complete tale that can be enjoyed on its own. Views: 33
As human beings, we’ve always told stories: stories about who we are, where we come from, and where we’re going. Now imagine that one of those stories is taking over the others, narrowing our diversity and creating a monoculture. Because of the rise of the economic story, six areas of your world — your work, your relationships with others and the environment, your community, your physical and spiritual health, your education, and your creativity — are changing, or have already changed, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. And because how you think shapes how you act, the monoculture isn’t just changing your mind — it’s changing your life.
In Monoculture, FS Michaels draws on extensive research and makes surprising connections among disciplines to take a big-picture look at how one story is changing everything. Her research and writing have been supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Killam Trusts, and regional and municipal arts councils. Michaels has an MBA, and lives and writes in British Columbia. Views: 33
It's New Year's Eve 2008, and best friends Magnolia Butler, Rebe Richardson, and Darla Howard, all born in 1969, are about to turn the dreaded 4-0 in January 2009. Magnolia, a New Year's Day baby, is childless, and always a bridesmaid, never a bride. Rebe, the mother of a college-aged daughter named Trinity, has just gone through a divorce from a man whose sexual appetite far exceeded her desires and abilities. Darla is also a New Year's Day baby, still mourning her husband's death after five years. After way too many glasses of champagne, Rebe, challenges them to open their minds in a way they'd never done before, daring them to try something new...sexually. SIXTY-NINE is a liberating story about sisterhood and friendship, and about how past experiences and beliefs can influence one's views about life and sex. Views: 33
Review'This is fast-paced and gripping "read-through-the-night" fiction, with marvellous characters and occasional moments of dark humour. Some authors are better historians than they are storytellers. Anthony Riches is brilliant at both.' -- Conn Iggulden 'Riches has captured how soldiers speak and act to a tee and he is very descriptive when it comes to the fighting. It is a novel full of power, lust, envy, violence and vanity. The very things that made Rome great and the very things that would lead to its downfall. If you like historical novels, read this book.' -- NavyNet on ARROWS OF FURY 20110115 'Ancient adventure at its pulsating best! ... A military expert, Riches brings top-notch drama, vivid storytelling and historical realism to his tales set in a turbulent time.' -- Lancashire Evening Post on Arrows of Fury 20101216 'Cornwell, Iggulden, Smith - Beware. There is a new power on the rise.' -- www.bookgeeks.co.uk on Wounds of Honour 20101216 'With Wounds of Honour Anthony Riches has produced a terrific first novel that focuses on the soldiers of the Roman Empire in great detail. He vibrantly portrays the life in an auxiliary unit.' -- Canberra Times on Wound of Honour 20091001 'An unputdownable read.' -- Good Reading Magazine on Wounds of Honour 20091001 Product DescriptionIn the enthralling third volume of Empire, Anthony Riches takes the legions deep into north Britannia, where the survivors of the rebellion still hope for revenge. The Romans have vanquished the rebel alliance, leaving Calgus, Lord of the Northern Tribes, the prisoner of the chieftains he once led. But the new Roman leader will not let them rest. He forms an audacious plan to capture Dinpaladyr, the Selgovaes' fortress of spears, and return it to the hands of a trusted ally. Marcus Aquila - burning for revenge on an enemy army that has killed one of his best friends - is part of the select group of infantry chosen to go north with the Petriana cavalry and take the fort before the rebel army can reach it. He believes his disguise as Centurion Corvus of the 2nd Tungrians is still holding. But he is just a few days ahead of two of the emperor's agents, sent from Rome to kill him. Pitiless assassins who know his real name, and too much about his friends. Views: 33
A New York City cop deals with stress on the job, family problems, alcoholism, and a new partner. Will he find happiness and peace before it's too late? Views: 33
What could possibly drive a pastor's wife to run away from home? After years of frustration from life in a church fishbowl, Annie McGregor walks away from it all and boards a plane for Colorado. She has no way of knowing her college sweetheart is headed to the same cabin in the Rockies, terrified and gravely wounded. Their unexpected reunion couldn't have come at a worse time. Or could it? Bewildered that God would allow Michael Dean to walk back into her life, Annie pleads with Him to keep her heart true to her husband and her family. God answers her prayer, but in a way she would never expect. Written by a former pastor's wife, Annie's story provides a rare look inside the family life of those in the ministry, particularly the unique pressures on those who marry men of God.About the AuthorBorn in Texas and raised in Oklahoma, Diane Hale Moody is a graduate of OklahomaStateUniversity. She lives with her husband Ken in the rolling hills just outside of Nashville. They are the proud parents of two grown and extraordinary children, Hannah and Ben.Just after moving to Tennessee in 1999, Diane felt the tug of a long-neglected passion to write again. Since then, she's written a column for her local newspaper, feature articles for various magazines and curriculum, and several novels with a dozen more stories eagerly vying for her attention. When she's not reading or writing, Diane enjoys an eclectic taste in music and movies, great coffee, the company of good friends, and the adoration of a peculiar little pooch named Darby.Visit Diane's website at dianemoody.net and her blog, "just sayin'" at dianemoody.blogspot.com Views: 33
