A short cautionary tale of one woman's Pavlovian response to the almighty telephone.The Ipswich Poetry Feast is a citywide initiative aimed at commemorating this significant event through the introduction of an annual international poetry writing competition and events that aims to encourage young and aspiring poets, to provide an opportunity for poets to showcase their work, to raise community awareness of the creativity and skills in poetry writing and top romote Ipswich as a vibrant, culturally rich region. Views: 972
The moving, uplifting true story of an unlikely friendship between a man on the streets and the ginger cat who adopts him and helps him heal his life. Views: 971
“A sprawling fantasy saga . . . Caleb Carr boldly goes where he’s never gone before.”—USA Today
Legend meets history in this mesmerizing novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Caleb Carr. Demonstrating the rich storytelling, skillful plotting, and depth of research he showcased in The Alienist, Carr has written a wildly imaginative, genre-bending saga that redefines the boundaries of literature.
Some years ago, a remarkable manuscript long rumored to exist was discovered: The Legend of Broken. It tells of a prosperous fortress city where order reigns at the point of a sword—even as scheming factions secretly vie for control of the surrounding kingdom. Meanwhile, outside the city’s granite walls, an industrious tribe of exiles known as the Bane forages for sustenance in the wilds of Davon Wood.
At every turn, the lives of Broken’s defenders and its would-be destroyers intertwine: Sixt Arnem, the widely respected and honorable head of the kingdom’s powerful army, grapples with his conscience and newfound responsibilities amid rumors of impending war. Lord Baster-kin, master of the Merchants’ Council, struggles to maintain the magnificence of his kingdom even as he pursues vainglorious dreams of power. And Keera, a gifted female tracker of the Bane tribe, embarks on a perilous journey to save her people, enlisting the aid of the notorious and brilliant philosopher Caliphestros. Together, they hope to exact a ruinous revenge on Broken, ushering in a day of reckoning when the mighty walls will be breached forever in a triumph of science over superstition.
Breathtakingly profound and compulsively readable, Caleb Carr’s long-awaited new book is an action-packed, multicharacter epic of a medieval clash of cultures—in which new gods collide with old, science defies all expectation, and virtue comes in many guises. Brimming with adventure and narrative invention, The Legend of Broken is an exhilarating and enthralling masterwork.
Praise for *The Legend of Broken
“An excellent and old-fashioned entertainment . . . The Legend of Broken seamlessly blends epic adventure with serious research and asks questions that men and women grappled with in the Dark Ages and still do today.”—The Washington Post
“[A] colossal effort . . . a fantasy epic . . . meant as an allegory, a cautionary tale for our precarious times. To make his points, Carr has summoned a dream team of soldiers, wizards, and tiny forest folk.”—The New York Times Book Review*
“Carr keeps the action hurtling along with a steady diet of gruesome murders and political betrayals. And he clearly wants modern readers to see something of their own world in the political corruption and greed that ultimately doom Broken.”—The Boston Globe
From the Hardcover edition. Views: 971
Sunny and Rayne McDonald have had their lives turned upside down thanks to the Blood Coven. But when the past itself is changed, the sisters will do anything to get back what they've lost...
After making a deal with the devil, Rayne and her twin sister, Sunny, have been given the chance to go back in time--to prevent that fateful night when Sunny was bitten by Magnus from ever happening. But while Sunny has been offered a vampire-free existence, she finds she doesn't want to live without Magnus by her side. And although Rayne puts up a stoic front, she secretly wishes that the vampire Jareth was back in her arms.
To reclaim their lives, Sunny and Rayne team up to figure out a way to change history for the better. Problem is, Jareth and Magnus aren't all that eager to help two unfamiliar girls who somehow know everything about their vampiric organization. Now, if the twins can't get the boys on their side, history may spiral out of control--destroying not only the Blood Coven, but quite possibly the entire human race... Views: 971
This is a short story featuring the main character, Gladius Oldmont, from the Gladius Adventure Series.Gladius competes in the annual Bartlett Trial Preliminaries, but before the race begins, Gladius learns the truth behind the mystery of a community death. Could this new discovery unexpectedly change the outcome of the race? The only way to find out is to run The Race. Approx. 6300 words.This is a short story for middle grade readers featuring the main character, Gladius Oldmont, from the fantasy adventure novel Gladius and the Bartlett Trial, by J. A. Paul. In this exciting story, Gladius competes in the Bartlett Trial Preliminaries, an annual race for future Bartlett Trial newbies, but before the race begins, Gladius learns the truth behind the mystery of a community death. Could this new discovery unexpectedly change the outcome of the race? The only way to find out is to run The Race.This is a short story of approximately 6300 words. Views: 970
James Ellroy is an American original of the most profane order. The bestselling author of the noir classics L.A. Confidential, The Black Dahlia, and The Cold Six Thousand, he has been hailed by the Los Angeles Times as "one of the best writers of our era." A self-proclaimed Luddite, Ellroy is turning to technology for the first time with the publication of Shakedown, a novella released by the digital publisher Byliner. In it, Ellroy is as frenetically depraved as ever, minting an antihero who is a cad for the ages.
Meet Freddy Otash: a corrupt cop turned sleaze hustler, extortionist, pimp, and an actual historical figure who made the 1950s magazine Confidential the go-to source for the sins of the rich and famous. In his prime, Freddy raised hell, and in the pages of Shakedown he finds himself stuck in purgatory—-literally—-waiting for a transfer to heaven. Will he make it there, or will fate keep him down below? Promised redemption if he confesses his past sins and transgressions, Freddy writes a tell-all peopled by Hollywood greats like Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne, and James Dean (to name a few) who are up to all sorts of wrong. Threesomes, foursomes, you name it—-anything goes in this licentious world.
Shakedown explodes the postwar America of June and Ward Cleaver, breathing randy new life into the man who whetted our national appetite for sex and scandal. Freddy's lack of scruples—-and lack of morality—-make today's gossip culture seem almost innocent. What's true and what's fiction? Ellroy's certainly not telling. Views: 970
Roland Marks is a Nobel Prize winning novelist with a penchant for younger women and four marriages behind him. Lou-Lou Marks, his grown daughter, is a successful academic in her own right. But her real career lies in attending to her father. An egomaniacal and emotionally manipulative man, he demands of her absolute filial loyalty and an uncompromising acquiescence to his every need—her only reward is his approval, which she feels she never fully receives, but desperately desires. When Roland falls in love with a woman fifty years his junior, Lou-Lou senses the precarious decline of her power. Intent on preventing Roland from marrying for a fifth time and signing away his estate—and her inheritance—the relationship takes a darkly comical turn. Astute, insightful, and mordantly hilarious, Patricide is Joyce Carol Oates at her best. Views: 969
A band of wild west "good" outlaws known as the Wildcat Gang are led by unlikely leaders; a young girl and her grandpa. They are known as Wildcat Kitty and The Cyclone Kid. They ride thrilling trails of adventure throughout the west seeking justice and become legendary dime novel heroes.Given a tip for a galactic hot spot, complete with dance floor and attached takeaway, Brick and Spiritwind head towards Fluffy McCoy's with a smile and a chat up-line beneath each sleeve; unfortunately, They's drunken memory tells their ship to go to Huffy LeRoy's by mistake: a bus depot with a dilapidated pub, hanging on for sanity and rare custom.Determined to have fun wherever they are, Brick and Spiritwind pull up a chair at Bozo and Schmuk's booth, two beasts of defiant size who are off to start a henchman training course at Evil University; as politeness spills forth and drink flows, the heroes offer the monstrous duo a lift. When they awake the next morning, they find themselves enrolled on the megalomaniac course, under threat of a thousand pinches and eternal headlocks should they try to leave. Adopting the pseudonyms of Dag Nammit and Corsetry Overload, they opt for study over pain.Nicole Extravaganza and Suzy Fantastic had recently been promoted to grade three heroes, and as such had to cash in their outdated nemesis at Velos 19, the hub of hero admin and ego driven rhetoric. Discovering their nemesis had given up day to day Evil, they hear he now works as the Chancellor at Evil University, and head to the planet that houses the academia of the naughty. Whilst there, they stumble across Brick and Spiritwind's room and overhear the pair mentioning their true identities as grade five heroes. Convinced they could gain further promotion, they offer to help.Hugo Cortizone, the popstar of the hero world, has a monumental crush on the two female heroes, a crush they repeatedly spurn. When his scanners see their ship at Evil University, he considers it his duty to pay them a visit and check they're safe, and maybe to hang around long enough to try and woo a snog out of one of them, or both.Dip Sing Doolally, the chancellor and nemesis in question, decides the institution needs a figurehead for potential students to aspire to, and to increase revenue. He instructs his vice-chancellor, Spon Dooliks, to find one from the current intake and elevate their reputation through manipulated drama.Spon had always envied Good's professional and well thought out approach to the battle of light and darkness, not like Evil with its flawed plans and flippant security measures, so when he spots the heroic nature of Brick and Spiritwind, he believes he's found a duo who can not only be the new hope for bad, but also shift the entire ethos towards greater success. Dip finds the pair little more than annoying and insists they can only be used if they are martyred after achieving whatever Spon intends them to achieve. He wishes to use their memory as an icon rather than the duo themselves.The final assessment for the megalomaniac course is to take over an Earth planet in the early twenty-first century. From their Evil base, a pub by a picturesque canal, Brick and Spiritwind plan to steal the internet and infect it with the news that they now rule the world.With countless pseudonyms and missions overlapping, heroic narrative struggles to make sense of the unfolding adventure, but with a pen and paper, and the odd shot of rum, it slowly falls into place as Good and Evil battle with their own identities as much as each other. Views: 968
With Zavac and his ship, the Raven, well ahead of the Heron, Hal has a huge task ahead of him in finding the pirate – and retrieving the precious artefact Zavac stole from the Skandians. The Heron brotherband must undertake a long and dangerous river journey to hunt their prey. But even if they survive the journey, are they ready to confront Zavac in his lair? Views: 968
An Army National Guard soldier leading a team on the southern border to stop drug trafficking must rescue his fiancee captured by a heartless drug lord.The third in this series with Army Major Peter Shields and Rachael Aston (after Recall to Arms and The Cobra Identity), finds the two ex-lovers trying to establish a new basis for renewing their engagement to be married. It will not be easy and may never happen given their differences, yet both are in love with the other. They come from different backgrounds and don’t always share the same vision for their futures. Both are involved with the increased pressure to secure the southern border and stop drug trafficking. Violence is escalating rapidly along both sides of the border. Both get involved in different capacities. Rachael has a diplomatic role tied to her CIA duties and Peter is activated along the border through the National Guard. Both face danger and may need each other to survive. Views: 968
Lark O'Bannion learned early that life isn't really like a fairy tale.
Parents don't always love their children unconditionally.
Damsels are usually left to deal with their distress alone and Prince Charming rarely, if ever, comes riding to the rescue.
Happily-ever-afters are a lovely concept, but in reality are few and far between.
When Sebastian Ross rolls into her life on his Harley, with his dark beauty and inked skin, Lark is willing to admit that maybe she doesn't know as much as she thinks she does.
Sebastian wants nothing more than to get out from under the control of his parents and their desire to force him into a mold.
Changing schools in his senior year isn't an act of rebellion, but his attempt to take control of his life by following his own path.
One look into Lark's emerald-green eyes and control is taken out of Bastian's hands.
He will discover that the only path he wants to follow is the one that leads to her.
Mature YA for Adult situations and language. Views: 967
I've seen so many freaky things since I started attending Mythos Academy last fall. I know I'm supposed to be a fearless warrior, but most of the time, I feel like I'm just waiting for the next Bad, Bad Thing to happen. Like someone trying to kill me--again. Everyone at Mythos Academy knows me as Gwen Frost, the Gypsy girl who uses her psychometry magic to find lost objects--and who just may be dating Logan Quinn, the hottest guy in school. But I'm also the girl the Reapers of Chaos want dead in the worst way. The Reapers are the baddest of the bad, the people who murdered my mom. So why do they have it in for me? It turns out my mom hid a powerful artifact called the Helheim Dagger before she died. Now, the Reapers will do anything to get it back. They think I know where the dagger is hidden, but this is one thing I can't use my magic to find. All I do know is that the Reapers are coming for me--and I'm in for the fight of my life. Views: 967
When eighteen-year-old Winter McCall is offered a chance to leave her life of poverty behind on the streets of London, she reluctantly accepts, and moves to a remote part of the south west of England. Here she takes up the job as housekeeper to the young and handsome, yet mysterious, Thaddeus Blake. Warned that he has some curious habits, Winter soon realises that not all is as it firsts appears at the remote mansion where she now lives and works. Blind to the real danger that she is in, Winter finds herself becoming attracted to Thaddeus. With nowhere to run and no one to turn to, she slowly succumbs to his strange requests. But none of them are as strange as his requests for her to stand each night in the moonlight. Views: 966
A parody on the sport of televised professional wrestling. Tex Rich, an oil rich Texan, creates his own wrestling federation where his sons can be champions but just like the real show, nothing goes as expected. Full of plot twists, off the wall commercial breaks and colorful characters, S.A.W. is a non-stop laughter filled roller coaster ride.(UPDATE) If you want to HEAR two of the commercials from the book, they are on Youtube now. Working on an audio book version of this book. Coming soon. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzy0D-Vq_evYvQZEns_BtNwA parody on the sport of televised professional wrestling. Tex Rich, an oil rich Texan, creates his own wrestling federation where his sons can be champions but just like the real show, nothing goes as expected. Full of plot twists, off the wall commercial breaks and colorful characters, S.A.W. is a non-stop laughter filled roller coaster ride.Has over the top commercials such as an escort service called Pimps R Us, fast food restaurant Immigration Burger. Colorful characters like James 'Boogie Down' Brown, an albino with a soulful slang tongue; Kaboom, a wrestler who has never won a match cause he always gets dq'ed, Cashless Clayton, who might actually be homeless, etc. Not Howard Stern over the top style but some that the FCC would not allow the WWE to put on T.V. without a fight.THIS IS NOT PART OF THE MCLAUGHLIN CITY SERIES but will have its own series AND does appear throughout the MCLAUGHLIN CITY SERIES in the form of being an 'entertainment commodity' through clothing, tv show in the background, minor character appearances and vice versa. E.G. One of your favorite bad guys makes a minor appearance at the pay per view. Views: 966
INCLUDING AN EXCLUSIVE CONVERSATION BETWEEN MERYL STREEP AND ANNA QUINDLEN
“[Quindlen] serves up generous portions of her wise, commonsensical, irresistibly quotable take on life. . . . What Nora Ephron does for body image and Anne Lamott for spiritual neuroses, Quindlen achieves on the home front.”—NPR
In this irresistible memoir, Anna Quindlen writes about a woman’s life, from childhood memories to manic motherhood to middle age, using the events of her life to illuminate ours. Considering—and celebrating—everything from marriage, girlfriends, our mothers, parenting, faith, loss, to all the stuff in our closets, and more, Quindlen says for us here what we may wish we could have said ourselves. As she did in her beloved New York Times columns, and in A Short Guide to a Happy Life, Quindlen uses her past, present, and future to explore what matters most to women at different ages. Quindlen talks about
Marriage: “A safety net of small white lies can be the bedrock of a successful marriage. You wouldn’t believe how cheaply I can do a kitchen renovation.”
Girlfriends: “Ask any woman how she makes it through the day, and she may mention her calendar, her to-do lists, her babysitter. But if you push her on how she really makes it through her day, she will mention her girlfriends. ”
Our bodies: “I’ve finally recognized my body for what it is: a personality-delivery system, designed expressly to carry my character from place to place, now and in the years to come.”
Parenting: “Being a parent is not transactional. We do not get what we give. It is the ultimate pay-it-forward endeavor: We are good parents not so they will be loving enough to stay with us but so they will be strong enough to leave us.”
Candid, funny, and moving, Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake is filled with the sharp insights and revealing observations that have long confirmed Quindlen’s status as America’s laureate of real life.
“Classic Quindlen, at times witty, at times wise, and always of her time.”*—The Miami Herald
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“[A] pithy, get-real memoir.”—Booklist **
Look for special features inside. Join the Random House Reader’s Circle for author chats and more. Views: 964
