Force. An Alexis Warren novel. Views: 8
Handbags, stilettos, and spa dates -- not retired SEAL Max Sterling's usual m.o. Until Cameron Tremaine. Duty bound, Max tolerates her sass and smart mouth until she pushes too far.Cameron doesn't need a bald, bossy bodyguard, thank you very much. Especially one oh, so delectable as Max. Except, when someone decides to silence her for good, Cameron realizes bold and brassy go hand in hand. Views: 8
The only thing as infinite and expansive as the universe is humanity's unquestionable ability to make bad decisions.Humankind ventures further into the galaxy than ever before... and immediately causes an intergalactic incident. In their infinite wisdom, the crew of the exploration vessel Magellan, or as she prefers "Maggie," decides to bring the alienstructure they just found back to Earth. The only problem? The aliens are awfully fond of that structure.A planet full of bumbling, highly evolved primates has just put itself on a collision course with a far wider, and more hostile, galaxy that is stranger than anyone can possibly imagine.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied. Views: 8
FromChris Jaynes, professor of African American studies, has been denied tenure for his refusal to sit on the Diversity Committee at his university and for his intense interest in Edgar Allan Poe. Enraged, he nearly implodes before discovering a lost manuscript proving that Poe's only novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, is a factual account. Jaynes devises a mission to find the lost, black-inhabited island near Antarctica described in Poe's narrative, setting off with an all-black crew that includes his seafaring cousin; his obese friend Garth; his ex-fianc'e, Angela, and her husband, Nathaniel; and two flamboyant mechanics. They discover that something else described in Poe's narrative is also real: giant, yeti-like, albino humanoids living in large colonies below the ice in Antarctica. This extension of Poe's adventure is a romp that surprises on every page. Funny, insightful, racially important, Pym is a death-defying adventure and a probing examination of notions of race, even at the farthest ends of the earth. --Julie Hunt Review"BLISTERINGLY FUNNY...a full-fledged and fiendishly inventive inversion of Poe's [_Pym_], a series of bizarre encounters I can't bring myself to spoil, each one more deliciously pointed than the last." – Laura Miller, Salon "SCREAMINGLY FUNNY...there's no shortage of thought and scholarship and experience underpinning _Pym,_ but Johnson doesn't let any of it bog him down. On the contrary, reading Pym is like opening A BIG CAN OF WHOOP-ASS and then marveling -- gleefully -- at all the mayhem that ensues." – Maggie Galehouse, Houston Chronicle "RELENTLESSLY ENTERTAINING...It’s no easy task to balance social satire against life-threatening adventure, the allegory against the gory, but Johnson’s hand is steady and his ability to play against Poe’s text masterly. The book is polyphonous and incisive, an uproarious and hard-driving journey." – New York Times Book Review "RIOTOUS...Jaynes never learns much about the white pathology and mindset, but Mr. Johnson knows plenty about the character types he skewers." – Wall Street Journal “LOONY, disrespectful, and sharp, Johnson's ___Pym_ is a welcome riff on the surrealistic shudder-fest that is Poe's original…I'll stop there, but Johnson's inventiveness never does.“ – NPR’s “Fresh Air” "Mat Johnson's new novel is nothing short of fantastic, in every sense. I fell in love with the voice, the tone and the world of Pym. This is an adventure novel, a work of historical and social commentary, a rumination on identity. The only problem I could find with this novel is that I didn't write it. It's a beautiful piece of work."--Percival Everett, author of I Am Not Sidney Poitier "Mat Johnson has come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and he's all out of bubble. gum. Pym is an adventure, a satire, and a bracing political debate all rolled into one brilliant novel. Edgar Allen Poe has inspired many authors but Mat Johnson has the inspired audacity to both honor and discredit the man, often in the same sentence. I imagine Poe choking on half the things Johnson writes in this novel, and tipping his tiny hat in admiration to the rest."--Victor LaValle, author of Big Machine “PYM reframes far more than Poe – it reframes everything American, from the whiteness of Ahab’s whale to Detroit bus drivers; from DNA testing to tenure review; from the Gatsbyesque dream of romantic love to the dream of Utopia; from our fear of life to our love of death. No one today writes inside the brilliant black mind better.”--Alice Randall, author of The Wind Done Gone and _Rebel Yell_“Social criticism rubs shoulders with cutting satire in this high-concept adventure… [PYM] is caustically hilarious as it offers a memorable take on America's ‘racial pathology’ and ‘the whole ugly story of our world.’” --_Publishers Weekly_, starred review You can trust the veracity of this account: Mat Johnson’s Pym is a spectacularly sly and nimble-footed send-up of this world, the next world, and all points in between. A satire with heart, as courageous as it is cunning.” --Colson Whitehead, author of Sag Harbor “An acutely humorous, very original story that will delight lovers of literature and fantasy alike.” --_Kirkus_, starred review “This extension of Poe’s adventure is a romp that surprises on every page. Funny, insightful...Pym is a death-defying adventure.” – Booklist “Mat Johnson writes with all the probing intelligence of James Baldwin, the scalding satire of Dany Laferriere and the technique of a master craftsman, all of which make him one of the most exciting, important and gifted writers of his generation. Pym is a moving and accomplished novel.” -- Chris Abani, author of GraceLand and the Virgin of Flames. Views: 8
After a long, complex engagement, Alex and Joshua Benning feel like "happily ever after" is finally theirs. But the marriage may sour as soon-to-be minister Joshua starts pressuring Alex to start a family. Years ago, Alex suffered a botched abortion, and she still struggles from it. Joshua has his own issues. A widower who already has a five-year-old daughter, Joshua wants "the perfect family"—to the point of it being an obsession. There's also a scandal brewing over a relationship with a possible surrogate and recent international adoption attempt in the mix. Soon all the drama makes the marriage seem unmanageable and things start falling apart. Can faith lead them back to the love they share and bring them back to joy? Views: 8
Can Xue (pronounced "tsan shway") is considered by many to be the most spirited, fearless, radical fiction writer to come out of contemporary China. Even her name is marked by tenacity (it's a pen name referring to dirty, leftover snow that refuses to melt). Her most important work to date, The Embroidered Shoes is a collection of lyrical, irreverent, sassy, wise, maddening, celebratory tales in which she explores the themes central to our contemporary lives: mortality, memory, imagination, and alienation. At times constructed like a set of graduated Chinese boxes, these New Gothic ghost stories build into philosophical and psychological conundrums that we ponder long after reading the final page. A doctor-detective-warrior who sleeps like a hippo in a cistern! A homicidal maniac housewife whose husband winds up in the hospital with a stomach full of very fine needles! These and many more strange, yet strangely recognizable, characters populate Can Xue's dream-ridden,... Views: 8
The world is a numinous place, for those who have eyes to see it. Welcome to the Numinous World, where gods and angels intervene in the lives of mortals, and a band of eternal companions unite and reunite over the centuries, striving to make the world a better place despite wars and dark ages, hatred and cruelty. Here are stories from the very beginning of our history, when the Lady of Cats entered the life of a young woman and changed her forever, long ago when farmers first scraped a living from the soil. Here too are stories of the ancient world — of Dion, the peerless scientist of Alexandria, of Lucia, a Roman waif, of a Persian princess and her Jewish sister in law, of Lydias of Miletus who is once and always Ptolemy's man, and of a Nubian girl who begins a long journey toward a strange destiny. There are stories of the Dark Ages, of a last Roman outpost on the shores of Britain and of an Arab warrior who at last comes home to a white city on the sea, of a Scottish witch who serves the Storm Queen and fears no other magic, and a Knight Templar enslaved by the beauty of the world. Others follow — a messenger boy dragged into the Great Story and a desperate ride dogged by the Wild Hunt, and a mercenary captain of the Thirty Years War who finds his destiny in a remote corner of the Bohemian mountains. Here too are more modern tales of the Age of Revolution, when Dion, Emrys, Sigismund and Charmian reunite in Napoleonic Paris, and at last we roll into the twentieth century with a young American girl with extraordinary oracular powers. Of course there is also Michael, Mik-el, Mikhael, who watches over his charges as best he may, though the world may change around them.These are tiny windows into a miraculous world, glimpses through a glass and darkly of all that might be — for those with eyes to see. Table of Contents The Ravens of Falkenau 1614 ADDion Ex Machina 4 BCCold Frontier 505 ADSmall Victories 1800 ADHow the Lady of Cats Came to Nagada 8000 BCPrince Over the Water 1040 ADHorus Indwelling 285 BCParadise 641 ADSlave of the World 1203 ADLittle Cat 1012 BCVesuvius 79 ADUnfinished Business 22 BCThe Messenger's Tale 1553 ADMorning Star 469 BCTemplar Treasure 1188 ADWinter's Child 1821 ADBrunnhilde in the Fire 1901 AD Views: 8
Kingdom of Fire is the first book in the epic new high fantasy series which chronicles the final war between the crumbling human empire of Werstria and the savage and unrelenting horde of the orcs at their border.In the first book of the Sword of Fire saga, the epic struggle for survival is told through the eyes of a newly enlisted soldier named Markus, who experiences the crushing defeat of the western empire as the horde of Karsian orcs led by the dreaded Prince Ozturk, smash through the Werstrian defences. Only the bitter onset of winter slows their invasion. Markus, the only survivor of his regiment, battles desperately to stay alive. Driven deep into the infamous Salbein Mountains, he befriends the most unlikely of allies. With only a few months until the counter-offensive of the spring, he must seek the help of a mysterious wizard and lord who has lived in solitude for hundreds of years.With the aid of the most unlikely of friends, Markus must venture into hostile lands to save the empire from destruction, faced with the terrifying knowledge that the orcs of Karsia have unearthed and harnessed the power of the Dragons of bygone ages. Markus fights the class struggle of his people, the bitter hatred of the orcs and the dreadful wrath of Dragons in his personal quest for revenge.Kingdom of Fire is a classic work of high fantasy set in the midst of a brutal war of epic proportions. Views: 8
