Despite her privileged upbringing, Daisy Lennox has always longed to make something of her life. She is drawn to the suffragette movement, but when her father faces ruin they are forced to move to the country and Daisy's first duty is to her family.Here she becomes engaged to her childhood friend - a union both families have dreamed of. But, on the eve of their wedding, war is declared, and Daisy knows her life will never be the same again. Views: 37
Pearl didn’t expect to run into anyone on the mountain over Paradise when she went home for a visit. She planned to spend a few weeks in the wilds at a line cabin between Sabbats to try and recover from her last encounter with her ex-boyfriend. She didn’t expect to find two males on the lake sunning themselves, naked, while the fish took off with their fishing poles.Duncan and Jarrod loved the mountains. It was why they decided to go to the lake. Between Sabbats there was nothing more to do than swim, fish and get a tan. Planning to live off the land, while they contemplate ways to find their mate, the two men are surprised to discover that the mountain over Paradise can provide everything they need—even a beautiful female to help pass the time.Three souls, one cabin and one isolated lake add up to one hot summer in Paradise. Views: 37
Leon Tsarev is a high school student set on getting into a great college program, until his uncle, a member of the Russian mob, coerces him into developing a new computer virus for the mob’s botnet — the slave army of computers they used to commit digital crimes. The evolutionary virus Leon creates, based on biological principles, is successful ― too successful. All the world’s computers are infected. Everything from cars to payment systems and, of course, computers and smart phones stop functioning, and with them go essential functions including emergency services, transportation, and the food supply. Billions may die. But evolution never stops. The virus continues to evolve, developing intelligence, communication, and finally an entire civilization. Some may be friendly to humans, but others are not. Leon and his companions must race against time and the military to find a way to either befriend or eliminate the virus race and restore the world’s computer infrastructure. Views: 36
Boro Harkless has devoted his life to the service of the Archonite Bureau of Security, the force tasked with keeping the peace among and within the city-states of Old Earth. An idealist driven by the memory of his heroic father, he comes to the city of Sherit, seeking the notorious Luff Imbry.Luff Imbry has devoted his life to the enjoyment of wealth. A gourmet, a charmer, and an ever-so-stylish fop, he has come to the city of Sherit to pursue a new fortune. Not, mind you, his own, for Luff is also a mountebank, swindler, and forger of the first water. Tossed together by circumstance, they form an uneasy truce when they discover a common goal: capturing the grandest con-man of them all, Horselan Gebbling. Gebbling, who made off with Imbry's previous fortune, is posing as Father Olwyn, Sacerdotal Eminence of the Assembly of Tangible Unity, and has chosen as his prey the victims of the first new disease in millennia, the invariably fatal ailment known as the... Views: 36
During a walk to Elvedon House, palatial home of the Tythertons, Sir John Appleby and Chief Constable Colonel Pride are stunned to find a police van and two cars parked outside. Wealthy Maurice Tytherton has been found shot dead, and Appleby is faced with a number of suspects: Alice Tytherton, flirtatious, younger wife of the deceased; Egon Raffaello, disreputable art dealer; and the prodigal son, Mark Tytherton, who has just returned from Argentina. Could the death be linked to the robbery of some paintings several years ago? Views: 36
A few years before the fall of the Berlin Wall, spook-turned-novelist Edwin Lemaster revealed to up-and-coming journalist Bill Cage that he’d once considered spying for the enemy. For Cage, a Foreign Service brat who grew up in the very cities where Lemaster’s books were set, the news story created a brief but embarrassing sensation and heralded the beginning of the end of his career in journalism.More than two decades later, Cage, now a lonely, disillusioned PR man, receives an anonymous note hinting that he should have dug deeper into Lemaster’s pronouncement. Spiked with cryptic references to some of Cage’s favorite spy novels, the note is the first of many literary bread crumbs that lead him back to Vienna, Prague, and Budapest, each instruction drawing him closer to the complex truth, each giving rise to more questions: Why is beautiful Litzi Strauss back in his life after thirty years? How much of his father’s job involved the CIA? As the events of Lemaster’s past eerily—and dangerously—begin intersecting with those of Cage’s own, a “long stalemate of secrecy” may finally be coming to an end. A story about spies and their secrets, fathers and sons, lovers and fate, duplicity and loyalty, The Double Game ingeniously taps the espionage classics of the Cold War to build a spellbinding maze of intrigue. It is Dan Fesperman’s most audacious, suspenseful, and satisfying novel yet.From the Hardcover edition.Amazon.com ReviewAmazon Best Books of the Month, August 2012: The Double Game begins as a playful spy caper within a spy caper, in which clues to a mystery are found in the pages and plots of old spy novels. OK, clever enough. But the story quickly becomes more refreshingly and unexpectedly mysterious with each turn of the page, and I realized that Fesperman has achieved something remarkable here: He's turned the spy novel on its head while paying homage to the genre, at the same time giving us an unlikely protagonist who discovers that he's lived his entire life in a world “where fact and fiction were virtually indistinguishable.” --Neal ThompsonReview"'The Double Game is not just a spy novel - it's a love letter to the genre...cleverly woven into a thrilling story. Brilliantly executed and a joy from start to finish.' -Olen Steinhauer, author of An American Spy * 'A tantalizing, timely thriller' - Washington Post * 'A thought-provoking and exciting read' - Observer * 'One of the best writers of intelligent thrillers based on contemporary events working today...observant, thoughtful, witty' - Baltimore Sun * 'A new book by Dan Fesperman is becoming a major literary event... an utterly compelling thriller and quite simply the best I've read all year.' - Sunday Telegraph * 'Fesperman is the closest thing America has to John le Carre, a writer of great elegance and sophistication whose novels are as topical as they are compelling.' - Bookseller" Views: 36
Every memory holds forbidden places, places of shame or terror not willingly revisited, sometimes merely a cruel word said in haste and never forgotten, a mean or thoughtless action, but sometimes that memory is a monster, foul murder left untried.The year is 1860 and Inspector Faro has been transported back to one of the darkest moments of his career – the chase of the notorious Macheath across the Scottish border to the Kent countryside. Whilst there, Faro meets an old school friend, Erland Flett, who is working alongside the artist William Morris and the Pre-Raphaelites whose unconventional lifestyle is a startling revelation.Erland is about to marry a beautiful but mysterious young lady, Lena Hamilton. Faro recognises her as the famous Madeleine Smith, accused of murdering her lover, but never convicted. Now Faro realises that he must apprehend Macheath and save his friend from certain death at the hands of the ruthless Miss Smith...and time is running out. Views: 36
It was the custom of the German Naval Command in the Second World War to name Allied convoys after the U-Boat commander who made the first sighting report. Kapitanleutnant Johan Kleber sighted convoy JW137, Murmansk bound, as it battered its way through the freezing storms and gloom of an Arctic winter, and so 'Kleber's Convoy' it became. The U-Boat's signals were intercepted by the Admiralty in London and passed back to the commanders of the British escort vessels; notably to the Lieutenant-Commander Redman of the destroyer Vengeful. The name of the U-Boat commander was for him a painful shock: years before a Hans Kleber had saved his life on a Swiss ski-slope, he had fallen in love with the German's sister and still reproached himself for her accidental death. Could this be the same man? Was the relationship between these two friends and enemies to provide a haunting counterpart to the savage naval battle? Kleber, with fifteen U-Boats concentrating for the attack, was... Views: 36
HIS INCREDIBLE STORY, IN HIS OWN WORDSOne of Hollywood’s all-time great leading men, James Garner enjoyed a remarkable career spanning six decades, and whether you know him as Bret Maverick or Jim Rockford, his appeal bridges generations. Few know the real story, now told in this intimate memoir of growing up in Depression-era Oklahoma and triumphing in Hollywood. After physical abuse at the hands of his stepmother, Garner left home at fourteen. He was Oklahoma’s first draftee of the Korean War, receiving two Purple Hearts for combat wounds. Back in Los Angeles in need of a job, Garner reluctantly tried acting and was surprised to find his career taking off. Working with such luminaries as Julie Andrews, Marlon Brando, Steve McQueen, and Clint Eastwood, he became a star in his own right. He threw himself into his work, and despite stage fright and bouts of depression, constant physical pain and epic battles with the Hollywood establishment, he became the acting equivalent of a national monument. Written with Jon Winokur, The Garner Files is a wry, engaging self-portrait chronicling the vagaries of a screen career along with the cast of personal and professional characters that helped shape a great American life.Review“Garner tells his life story with the same wry, self-effacing charm that characterized his classic TV characters: the laidback cowboy Bret Maverick and the down-on-his-heels gumshoe Jim Rockford…Garner comes across as likable on the page as he does on screen.”—Kirkus Reviews“…the narrative is genuine, candid, and more informative than usual for a Hollywood bio…Truly a cut above most actor bios, this is prime stuff for film and television collections.”—Booklist “Laid-back charm and a sense of humor fuel such memories, two qualities shared by the characters Garner often played in a career of 50-plus years…Full of funny stories and observations, The Garner Files offers the kind of clubhouse banter you might expect from a hardworking, successful guy who doesn't take himself too seriously — and doesn't want you to, either.”—Associated Press“James Garner stepped into two of TV's most calcified genres — the western and the detective series — and set a new standard that others have been chasing down since…having made up his mind to write [a memoir]…Garner follows his own heroic dictum: Plenty of self-deprecating, humor, a general air of live-and-let-live, but when it comes down to it, no pulled punches. For Garner fans, The Garner Files is catnip…[Garner] is unfailingly candid about his own desires…it is a fine, frank and fun collection.”—Los Angeles Times“Stand aside for Maverick! Stand aside again for Jim Rockford!...Let this neatly written and well-supplemented little book—all of [Garner’s] friends provide relevant stories and fond judgments—set a new standard of integrity for the genre…You could hand this book as a primer on ethics to any young man just reaching the age of choosing his way in life.”—Clive James, *The Atlantic*“[an] enjoyable memoir…there's plenty to love in this book. Garner…has a knack for telling a story and finding the perfect quote to tie it all together…charming…[It] resembles a conversation with an old friend who loves to tell colorful stories.”—PublishersWeekly.com“James Garner's memoir is as easygoing and plain-spoken as his acting persona…[He] wouldn’t have it any other way.”—USAToday.com “The Garner Files is a classic tale of making it in Hollywood fueled…with Garner’s good looks, fortune, charm, and sense of humor.”—ChristianScienceMonitor.com“If you buy one cranky celebrity memoir this fall, might we suggest James Garner's The Garner Files?”—TheAtlanticWire.com“Garner follows his own heroic dictum: Plenty of self-deprecating, humor, a general air of live-and-let-live, but when it comes down to it, no pulled punches. For Garner fans, ‘The Garner Files’ is catnip…it is a fine, frank and fun collection.”—LOS ANGELES TIMESAbout the AuthorJames Garner has starred in numerous television shows and films, from Maverick and The Rockford Files to The Great Escape with Steve McQueen and Victor Victoria with Julie Andrews.Jon Winokur is the author of various nonfiction books, including The Portable Curmudgeon, Zen to Go, and Advice to Writers. He lives in Los Angeles. Views: 36
"I invited the child I was once to have her say in these pages. I am the one who came out on the other side of childhood; she is the one who searched for the door."In the tradition of The Glass Castle comes a debut memoir about a woman’s hopeful life despite the sad results of her mother’s choices. Moonlight on Linoleum is an affecting story of a girl who rose above her circumstances to become an early and faithful caretaker to her five siblings. It is about the power one finds in sisterhood to thrive in a difficult and ever-changing landscape as the girls bond in unconditional love despite constant upheaval and uncertainty. In these pages, Teresa Helwig crafts a moving portrait of a mother she loved completely even as she struggled to understand her."Putting myself in Mama's shoes, which were most often white moccasins molded in the shape of her size seven-and-a-half foot, I see an eighteen-year-old girl with two children, one of them still a baby. . . . Her former husband is in Korea, drafted after their divorce; she has a sister who disappears from time to time, leaving yet another child in her care; she has no money, no high-school diploma, and a mother unhappy to have her home."Teresa and her sisters, who were added regularly throughout the 1950s and '60s, grew up with with their charismatic, troubled, and very young mother, Carola. Because of their stepfather’s roving job as in the oil fields, they moved frequently from town to town in the American West. The girls were often separated and left behind with relatives and never knew what their unstable mother would do next. Missing her mother became a habit for Teresa; one summer Carola dropped off her two daughters at her ex's family farm."If there were an idyllic summer of childhood, it was that summer on the Iowa farm. Yet, if I had to choose a time when I felt most forsaken by my mother, it was also that summer. Even back then, I was acutely aware of the paradox. On the outside, by day, I was like the morning glory vine twining around the back fence. Every day opened to a life I loved on the land. I reveled in and relished the absolute freedom and abandon of being turned loose in Eden. "But then, each evening, after the sun set and the dinner dishes had been hand-washed and dried, I became like the moonflower vine climbing up the weathered boards on the side of the garage. The moonflower opens its large fragrant blooms at night; they shimmer like moonlight and sweeten the night air. "I evolved a ritual at bedtime before crawling into my bed . . . I held Mama's Polaroid picture to my heart. I love you. Please come get us soon. I want to be with you more than I want to be anywhere else. These were my prayers, my blooms that opened to the night. Then I pursed my lips against the cool glass and kissed her smiling face goodnight."There were good times too: Carola made fudge for the girls during rainstorms, helped Teresa's cat deliver kittens, and taught her to play "You Are My Sunshine" on a toy piano. But when her husband was out working on the oil fields, Carola, who had married at fourteen, began to fill her time with men she met in the various towns her roving family moved to. She referred to her secret dating life as "going to Timbuktu," leaving Teresa in charge of her siblings. As Carola roamed and eventually developed crippling migraines, Teresa became a replacement mommy before her own childhood was fully in swing. Stress, guilt, and recurring nightmares marked her days and nights."In addition to the amphetamines [for weight loss], Mama was now taking barbiturates for her migraines. Her moods began to yo-yo. She became as hard to predict as the weather. When Daddy was out of town and Mama was in one of her fogs, I learned to fend for myself. And, being the oldest, I learned to fend for my sisters, too . . . It was around this time I came to realize a hard truth. Once your sisters begin looking up to you, as if you really could save them from being poisoned, as if you know a way out of a dark cave, there's no going back. You'll draw your last breath, trying to find that door to the Lost City of Enchantment, because you can't bear to let them down."Yet, even in the face of adversity, Teresa found beauty in the small moments: resting in the boughs of her favorite oak tree, savoring the freedom she found on her grandparents’ farm, and gleefully discovering the joys of dating and dancing. While Carola struggled for an exciting and satisfying life, Teresa faced adolescence and young adulthood, increasingly burdened by Carola's dysfunction. Finally, as the family splintered between colleges, homes, stepfathers, and their mother's disintegrating mental health, Teresa drove Carola to a mental hospital--where at last the mother of five found some peace and order.Upon leaving the hospital, sadly Carola continued in a downward spiral: more men, a drug addiction, a toddler son's death, and finally her own accidental overdose death in 1974. Though Carola's unhappy life meant Teresa's was marked by hardship and tragedy, Teresa found redemption in writing her mother's story and discovering empathy for the woman continually harmed by her own bad choices. The bonds of sisterhood helped sustain her, and today the girls are still close, still savoring the good in a childhood pocked with pain. Teresa, now a counselor and mother of a daughter, was able to conclude, after visiting her mom's grave and asking her blessing on the book,I believe joy and sorry rest together, the two sides of love. I have repeatedly uncovered places of joy inside my own heart tucked within the folds of sorrow. With enormous skill and sensitivity, Teresa deftly explores the history she shared with Carola and the relentless love of a child for her mother. Views: 36
Stefan Grabinski was one of the most original Polish language writers of the early 20th century but an unwillingness to fall in with literary trends and the political turmoil that struck Europe soon after his death meant he was all but forgotten outside his native land until fairly recently. Thankfully, with the publication of The Dark Domain in 1994, new blooms of acolytes have sprung up to champion his cause both in Poland and elsewhere.We at Hieroglyphic believe that his work forms an important thematic bridge between European Symbolists such De L'Isle-Adam and English language writers of metaphysical fiction such as Algernon Blackwood and Arthur Machen. As such we are very proud to announce what we hope to be the first in a series of translations.To begin this parade of letters we present On the Hill of Roses . Originally published in 1919 it was Grabinski's first collection under his own name and served as the official start of his arduous search for artistic recognition. Nearly a hundred years later these pieces stand as testament to their author's talent and on-going literary quest for the bizarre: in The Frenzied Farmhouse we witness the effect of a malignant anima mundi, Strabismus explores the conflict of beings over corporal identity while in the title story, On the Hill of Roses , the Decadents fascination with synthesia is used to unveil a tragic history. Views: 36
