In wee hours of morn, a panicked family tries to escape from home where violent flood waters engulf the entire subdivision. "Neighbors' distant, bloodcurdling screams bounce off the water's surface. What must my friends be going through? Suddenly a heavy weight plunges me further down, out of Andrew's arm hold. I am immediately under water. My hands touch a head ramming against my stomach...."During wee hours of morn, a panicked family tries to escape from home where violent flood waters engulf the entire subdivision. While struggling for their lives, the realization of how much they mean to each other dominates terror. "Our neighbors' distant, bloodcurdling screams bounce off the water's surface. Unable to help them, we act as if unaware. What must my friends be going through? Suddenly a heavy weight plunges me further down, out of Andrew's arm hold. I am immediately under water. My hands touch a head, ramming against my stomach. Trying to push it away, against the current, I feel the shoulder then the arms then the back; next, I become entangled with legs as it twirls! ....I continue to push and kick with all my strength. This drowned body is trying to drown me!" Views: 746
After his unexpected journey into the lands of the fey, Ethan Chase just wants to get back to normal. Well, as "normal" as you can be when you see faeries every day of your life. Suddenly the former loner with the bad reputation has someone to try for-his girlfriend, Kenzie. Never mind that he's forbidden to see her again. But when your name is Ethan Chase and your sister is one of the most powerful faeries in the Nevernever, "normal" simply isn't to be. For Ethan's nephew, Keirran, is missing, and may be on the verge of doing something unthinkable in the name of saving his own love. Something that will fracture the human and faery worlds forever, and give rise to the dangerous fey known as the Forgotten. As Ethan's and Keirran's fates entwine and Keirran slips further into darkness, Ethan's next choice may decide the fate of them all. Views: 746
When werewolves invade their city, the aristocratic couple Bernard and Charlotte (who never loved each other) are bitten and flee the hunters. But can their newfound love stand up to the man who would rather they die than regain their humanity? (Paranorma sweet romance novella)A loveless marriage. A werewolf curse. In the rainy near-Earth land of Grayton, Bernard and Charlotte Preston lead separate lives. An arranged marriage has left them with plenty of money and a cold relationship. She craves social esteem--while she wishes for the love her marriage has never contained. He is an alchemist who is desperately seeking a cure for the werewolf curse. Yet he, too, is plagued by loneliness and a wistful admiration for his distant wife. When the werewolves attack Lyedyn City the night of the Spring Ball, Bernard and Charlotte together fall under the curse. Retaining only their sanity, they flee the wolf hunters and hide deep in the forest. Hungry and afraid, the estranged couple work together to survive ... and the love they've never had begins to blossom. But their newfound love may be cut short by the ruthless man who controls the werewolves, and who would rather a cure never be found. Views: 746
Safe from infection behind the walls of the Oasis, and about to be married to the brilliantly inventive Dorian, Angeic knows nothing of the Outside. But Dorian clones a twin from his DNA, a twin with a conscience who sympathises with the Outsiders – and grows uglier as he suffers whatever Dorian inflicts on himself. Yet Angeic is drawn both to him and into helping free the exiled Outsiders.The Perfect Match – then the chemistry all goes wrong.Safe from infection behind the walls of the Oasis, and about to be married to the brilliantly inventive Dorian, Angeic knows nothing of the Outside.Then Dorian goes and spoils it all by cloning his perfect twin from his own DNA.A twin that has a conscience, that cares and sympathises with the plight of the Outsiders – and daily grows uglier, as he suffers all the damage an increasingly wild Dorian inflicts on himself.Even so, Angeic is drawn to him, just as she’s gradually drawn into helping free the people exiled to the Outside.But Dorian has the perfect solution to his problem – a clone of Angeic, who’ll stop at nothing to get what she wants. Views: 746
After weeks of journeying south, Yori, Wade, and Kaela arrive at Vanguard, the northernmost fortressed city of the plains seeking Mavyn, an enchantress with knowledge of the world stone's true power. But to find her, they must first infiltrate the stronghold without catching the suspicion of those who protect the city.After weeks of journeying south, Yori, Wade, and Kaela arrive at Vanguard, the northernmost fortressed city of the plains seeking Mavyn, an enchantress with knowledge of the world stone's true power. But to find her, they must first infiltrate the stronghold without catching the suspicion of those who protect the city.The Outcast and the Survivor is a chapter-series that follows Kaela, a princess of the mythical kingdom of Kalepo. After her father's sudden death, Kaela is exiled from the kingdom by her older sister Mariam, who claims their father's throne within moments of his passing. By being made an outcast, Kaela is forced not only to say goodbye to her homeland, but also to all of civilization. Kalepo is known only to itself, meaning that Kaela should expect to find a world devoid of humanity beyond the kingdom's borders, but because of something her father whispered to her on his deathbed, she knows that there is more out there, a world of dark secrets for her to discover. The Outcast and the Survivor is released one chapter at a time at the start of each month. There were times in the past when writers would release stories as a series, often for newspapers or magazines. It's not much different from TV series in that each chapter often has its own sort of conclusion, though the larger story is not completed until the end. The series is being written with the intent of ending it at chapter 36, which is scheduled for December of 2017, though this could change as the story develops. Views: 746
A teenage math prodigy defies her parents and secretly trains to be a mercenary.Sixteen-year-old Sulan Hom can’t remember life before the Default—the day the United States government declared bankruptcy. As a math prodigy, she leads a protected life, kept safe from the hunger and crime plaguing the streets of America. She attends the corporate-sponsored Virtual High School, an academy in Vex (Virtual Experience) for gifted children. Beyond the security of Sulan’s high-tech world, the Anti-American League wages a guerrilla war against the United States. Their leader, Imugi, is dedicated to undermining the nation’s reconstruction attempts. He attacks anything considered a national resource, including corporations, food storage facilities—and schools. When Sulan witnesses the public execution of a teenage student and the bombing of a college dorm, she panics. Her mother, a retired mercenary, refuses to teach her self-defense. Sulan takes matters into her own hands. With the help of her hacker best friend, Sulan acquires Touch—an illegal Vex technology that allows her to share the physical experience of her avatar. With Touch, Sulan defies her mother and trains herself to fight. When Imugi unleashes a new attack on the United States, Sulan finds herself caught in his net. Will her Vex training be enough to help her survive and escape?This novel is 54,000 words. Views: 746
This is a collection of three stories. They were not written in sequence or even in the same year. The first is about what could happen if enough enemies of the US infiltrated our southern border and what a response could be. The second is about an individual with an idea and what he has to do to get it recognized. The third is about a different type of invasion.When seventeen-year-old Haley Sullivan is dragged to a corporate party with her parents, she's searching for one thing - the nearest exit. Instead, she finds a mysterious stranger who plays by his own rules and chases his own dreams, and he's definitely cute enough to disappear with for the night. Convinced that he can help her escape the perfectly corporate future that's been planned for her, Haley agrees to meet him the next day. However, Mr. Mysterious is a no show.Determined to track him down, Haley enlists her best friend Linzi to help, but according to the local newspapers, the guy she met has been dead for years. Knowing he's very much alive, Haley and Linzi follow clues on a scavenger-hunt-style road trip that ultimately lands them in the surf town of Crescent Cove, California, where her mystery guy is no mystery at all. He's living as Colby Taylor, the west coast's biggest professional surfer.But talking to the surf star again is nearly impossible when he's guarded by a hierarchy of beach bums who are determined to send Haley back to the east coast. Haley is up for the challenge of submerging herself in their world, from wild summer nights and beach parties to ocean air and secret kisses in the dark, but when the lines blur between the ocean and the shore, she isn't so sure she's here for Colby anymore. Sure, being thrown off a jet ski sucks, but falling in love with one of these California boys might just be worse.(This is book #1 of the Drenaline Surf series but can be read as a stand-alone novel.) Views: 746
Sixteen-year-old Florence West must journey across a disease ravaged Melbourne with her younger sister Liss, and she’ll do anything to survive. Mostly that means staying clear of people, the healthy ones on the run and the infected ones hungry for human flesh. But how far can they go alone? And just what is Arcadium? Florence knows but she's not telling and it could just be the key to survival.What is Arcadium? Florence knows but she’s not telling anyone, and it could just be the key to the survival of the human race.Sixteen-year-old Florence West must journey across a disease ravaged Melbourne with her nine-year-old sister Liss, and she’ll do anything to survive. Mostly that means staying clear of all people, the healthy ones on the run and the infected ones hungry for human flesh. But when she meets a man that speaks no English and a defiant set of brothers, Florence will be forced to question her ways. Because there’s only so far you can go alone, right?Arcadium is a heart-stopping journey of hope across a ravaged urban land where survival always comes at a heavy price. Views: 746
'The Gormenghast Trilogy is one of the most important works of the imagination to come out of the age that also produced The Four Quartets, The Unquiet Grave, Brideshead Revisited, The Loved One, The Animal Farm and 1984.' - Anthony Burgess, Spectator
Gormenghast is the vast crumbling castle to which the seventy-seventh Earl, Titus Groan, is Lord and heir. Gothic labyrinth of roofs and turrets, cloisters and corridors, stairwells and dungeons, it is also the cobwebbed kingdom of Byzantine government and age-old ritual, a world primed to implode beneath the weight of centuries of intrigue, treachery, manipulation and murder - a world suggested in a tour de force that ranks as one of this century's most remarkable feats of imaginative writing.
Now a major TV series - The Millenium Drama Views: 746
An NYRB Classics Original
Tove Jansson was a master of brevity, unfolding worlds at a touch. Her art flourished in small settings, as can be seen in her bestselling novel The Summer Book and in her internationally celebrated cartoon strips and books about the Moomins. It is only natural, then, that throughout her life she turned again and again to the short story. The Woman Who Borrowed Memories is the first extensive selection of Jansson’s stories to appear in English.
Many of the stories collected here are pure Jansson, touching on island solitude and the dangerous pull of the artistic impulse: in “The Squirrel” the equanimity of the only inhabitant of a remote island is thrown by a visitor, in “The Summer Child” an unlovable boy is marooned along with his lively host family, in “The Cartoonist” an artist takes over a comic strip that has run for decades, and in “The Doll’s House” a man’s hobby threatens to overwhelm his life. Others explore unexpected territory: “Shopping” has a post-apocalyptic setting, “The Locomotive” centers on a railway-obsessed loner with murderous fantasies, and “The Woman Who Borrowed Memories” presents a case of disturbing transference. Unsentimental, yet always humane, Jansson’s stories complement and enlarge our understanding of a singular figure in world literature. Views: 746
A fantasy adventure story of betrayal and dark magic. This short book is an introduction to a larger story told in three full length novels that will make up The Archon Sigil Trilogy, beginning with Book 1: The Sigil Blade.Centuries have passed since the last of the great Sigil Knights, practitioners of lost arts, walked the earth wielding spiritual powers that are now only spoken of as part of myths and legends. Captain Aisen, a military officer in the newly re-founded Sigil Order, is returning home where his life will be altered forever.His grandfather, Duke Kyreth Edorin, has died, and his body lies in preparation for a burial in the family crypts. As the heir to House Edorin, Aisen will be forced to leave his life as a solider behind and assume the role of the next leader of his house. With help from his younger brother, Beonen, and his allies within the Sigil Corps, Aisen hopes to build relationships with the other noble houses and gain the respect of the people entrusted to his care.Confronted by betrayal, Aisen is shaped in ways which give rise to his reputation as the feared Blood Prince. The Blood Prince serves as an introduction to a larger story told in a trilogy of full length novels, the first of which, The Sigil Blade, is currently available in print and e-book formats. Views: 746
On a hot summer night in a Midwestern town, a high school teenage prank goes horrifically awry. Alcohol, guns, and a dare. Within minutes, as events collide, innocents becomes victims—with tragic outcomes altering lives forever, a grisly and unfortunate scenario all too familiar from current real-life headlines. But victims can also become survivors, and as we come to know each character through his/her own distinctive voice and their interactions with one another, we see how, despite pain and guilt, they can reach out to one another, find a new equilibrium, and survive.
Told through multiple points of view in naturalistic free verse and stream of consciousness, this is an unforgettable, haunting tale. Views: 745
The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson Views: 745
The New York Times Book Review called Neal Stephenson's most recent novel "electrifying" and "hilarious". but if you want to know Stephenson was doing twenty years before he wrote the epic Cryptonomicon, it's back-to-school time. Back to The Big U, that is, a hilarious send-up of American college life starring after years our of print, The Big U is required reading for anyone interested in the early work of this singular writer. Views: 745
