Darren McCann is a small, young guy but in order to survive the violent streets of Belfast in the 1970s he learns to fight, and he fights well. The I.R.A are interested in him but, though he is of Catholic stock, he has no political affiliation and refuses to take sides until a family tragedy allies him with the cause . After specialist training he becomes an efficient sniper and freedom fighter but it is one night, and one interrogation, which earn him a reputation as The Butcher of Belfast and pair him with his infamous knife, The Killer. After a particularly high profile sniper kill he has to take refuge in Spain where he becomes involved with E.T.A terrorists at a training camp in the Basque country. He takes part in a daring raid and forms strong alliances with his new brethren. When the Provos, and an old friend, call on him again to work for them in Spain he performs his duty, but a moment of doubt makes him realise his home is now in the hills of Spain. He knows he will always fight against the establishment, but one British Government agent has other ideas.About the AuthorJack Elgos was born in the industrial north of England. He left school with no education to speak of and his handwriting is illegible to this day. He first joined the family firm but quickly became self-employed due to his independent spirit and a dislike of playing it safe. After the failure of his marriage he grew disillusioned with life in the UK and started to think about emigrating. A chance meeting with a woman of a similar mindset solidified the decision. Twenty years later they remain stubbornly unmarried and childless and have travelled the world, taking a chance at whatever came their way. From the strictly legal, through the definitely dodgy to the downright life threatening, they have enjoyed success and failure in equal measure. Thinking he might be pushing his luck, Jack turned to the computer keyboard as a way to make his writing legible and to earn a little safe money. He has built many websites and writes blogs under a variety of pseudonyms. Now in his fifties his experiences have inspired him to turn his hand to novels. Though his work is fiction, there will always be a little bit of truth in there. How much, he will not say. Views: 9
One man lost her. One man died for her. And one would kill for her ... Nicole Alexander's new bestseller is a sweeping rural saga spanning two generations.In 1923 nineteen-year-old Jack Manning watches the construction of the mighty Harbour Bridge and dreams of being more than just a grocer's son. So when he's offered the chance to manage Absolution Creek, a sheep property 800 miles from Sydney, he seizes the opportunity. But outback life is tough, particularly if you're young, inexperienced and have only a few textbooks to guide you. Then a thirteen-year-old girl, Squib Hamilton, quite literally washes up on his doorstep - setting in motion a devastating chain of events...Forty years later and Cora Hamilton is waging a constant battle to keep Absolution Creek in business. She's ostracized by the local community and hindered by her inability to move on from the terrible events of her past, which haunt her both physically and emotionally.Only one man knows what really... Views: 9
In his introduction, guest editor Andrew McCarthy says that the best travel writing is "the anonymous and solitary traveler capturing a moment in time and place, giving meaning to his or her travels." The stories in The Best American Travel Writing 2015 demonstrate just that spirit, whether it is the story of a marine returning to Iraq a decade after his deployment, a writer retracing the footsteps of humanity as it spread from Africa throughout the world, or looking for love on a physics-themed cruise down the Rhone River. No matter what the subject, the writers featured in this volume boldly call out, "Yes, this matters. Follow me!" The Best American Travel Writing 2015 includes Iris Smyles, Paul Theroux, Christopher Solomon Patricia Marx, Kevin Baker, Benjamin Busch, Maud Newton Gary Shteyngart, Paul Salopek, and others Views: 9
In 1997 The Library of America's Crime Novels: American Noir gathered, in two volumes, eleven classic works of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s--among them David Goodis's moody and intensely lyrical masterpiece Down There, adapted by François Truffaut for his 1960 film Shoot the Piano Player. Now, The Library of America and editor Robert Polito team up again to celebrate the full scope of Goodis's signature style with this landmark volume collecting five great novels from the height of his career. Goodis (1917-1967) was a Philadelphia- born pulp expressionist who brought a jazzy style to his spare, passionate novels of mean streets and doomed protagonists: an innocent man railroaded for his wife's murder (Dark Passage); an artist whose life turns nightmarish because of a cache of stolen money (Nightfall); a dockworker seeking to comprehend his sister's brutal death (The Moon in the Gutter); a petty criminal derailed by irresistible passion (The Burglar); and a famous crooner scarred by violence and descending into dereliction (Street of No Return). Long a cult favorite, Goodis now takes his place alongside Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett in the pantheon of classic American crime writers.** Views: 9
Donovan Graham, part-time bartender, full-time occult scholar, has just graduated college with a Master's Degree in Philosophical Hermeneutics, having completed his thesis on the Faustus legend. Now, on the recommendation of his friend and mentor, Father Maurice Carroll, Donovan has begun helping the NYPD investigate a particularly gruesome series of murders, in which the victims have been artfully arranged to resemble the signs of the Zodiac. Is it a serial killer Donovan and the NYPD seek, or is something deeper and more sinister taking place? From newcomer Thomas Morrissey comes Faustus Resurrectus, an action-packed, urban occult thriller in the tradition of Richard Kadrey, Laird Barron, and William Peter Blatty. Views: 9
Hailed by his famous contemporaries including Edith Wharton, H.G. Wells, Katherine Mansfield, Graham Greene, and Evelyn Waugh, who called him a "genius," William Gerhardi is one of the twentieth century's forgotten masters, and his lovely comedy Futility one of the century's neglected masterpieces. It tells the story of someone very similar to Gerhardi himself: a young Englishman raised in Russia who returns to St. Petersburg and falls in love with the daughter of a hilariously dysfunctional family--all played out with the armies of the Russian Revolution marching back and forth outside the parlor window.Part British romantic comedy, part Russian social realism, and with a large cast of memorable characters, this astoundingly funny and poignant novel is the tale of people persisting in love and hope despite the odds.From the Trade Paperback edition. Views: 9
The ultra-elegant fund-raiser in a fabled Main Line mansion benefits Philly Prep's Library, and gives Amanda a chance to play Cinderella for a night. The first clue that all might not go well is the host's figure hanging in effigy outside the estate, put there by the Moral Ecologists who have a long list of classic books that "pollute the mind." When murder follows, Amanda becomes enmeshed in old secrets and young lives. Views: 9
