The Count of Monte-Cristo was inspired by an anecdote from the Parisian police archives, a pearl of a story, Dumas called it, 'A rough, shapeless pearl, of no value, waiting for its jeweller'. Edmond Dantè's betrayal, his incarceration in the fortress-prison of If, his search for Abbé Faria's hidden treasure, and his reappearance, now fabulously rich, as the brooding, Byronic and vengeful Count of Monte-Cristo - these are the bare outlines of a book which Thackeray, for one, found impossible to put down. Dumas set his magnificent novel of L'action et l'amour in nineteenth-century metropolitan Paris with interludes in Marseilles and Rome. In it he gave free rein to the sensational - hashish-smoking, vampirism and sex - and to his interest in travel, classical myth, the orient, human psychology and disguises. The Count of Monte-Cristo (1844-46) is one of the great popular novels of all time, and a landmark in the development of modern popular fiction. Views: 747
"These are the stories that came to me to be told after the close of a magical marriage to an extraordinary man that ended in a less-than-magical divorce. I found myself unmoored, unmated, ungrounded in a way that challenged everything I'd ever thought about human relationships. Situated squarely in that terrifying paradise called freedom, precipitously out on so many emotional limbs, it was as if I had been born; and in fact I was being reborn as the woman I was to become."
So says Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker about her beautiful new book, in which "one of the best American writers today" (The Washington Post) gives us superb stories based on rich truths from her own experience. Imbued with Walker's wise philosophy and understanding of people, the spirit, sex and love, The Way Forward Is with a Broken Heart begins with a lyrical, autobiographical story of a marriage set in the violent and volatile Deep South during the early years of the civil rights movement. Walker goes on to imagine stories that grew out of the life following that marriage—a life, she writes, that was "marked by deep sea-changes and transitions." These provocative stories showcase Walker's hard-won knowledge of love of many kinds and of the relationships that shape our lives, as well as her infectious sense of humor and joy. Filled with wonder at the power of the life force and of the capacity of human beings to move through love and loss and healing to love again, The Way Forward Is with a Broken Heart is an enriching, passionate book by "a lavishly gifted writer" (The New York Times Book Review). Views: 747
The Scarburg family continues their adventures that began in the original exploits of The P.H.O.T.O - The Search and the follow-on The P.H.O.T.O. - The Saga Continues. Now they must use information gleaned to unravel the mystery of the date - 21 December 2012 and its effect on mankind.The adventures of the Scarburgs continue in this tale of adventure, suspense and twist of plots. In the first two books, The P.H.O.T.O - The Search and The P.H.O.T.O. - The Saga Continues the Scarburgs discover the secret meaning of The P.H.O.T.O.In this thrilling follow-on adventure they must avoid the pitfalls and manipulations of the Aliens society to keep mankind from discovering the meaning of the 21 December 2012 date. Exploration to ascertain its hidden meaning carries the Scarburgs to exotic places in Mexico and Egypt. Views: 747
Paperback. Pub Date: 2000 Pages: 381 Publisher: HarperCollins The sequel to the cult classic The Dice Man this book can also change your life! Larry Rhinehart is the Son of an Infamous father. - the renegade psychiatrist Luke Rhinehart. Otherwise known as the Dice Man.Luke became a cult figure in the seventies. inspiring thousands to follow him into the anarchic world of Dice Living. where every decision is made not by the self. but by the roll of the dice.Larry. however. is emphatically not a follower. He has grown up to have a great respect for order and control. A wealthy Wall Street analyst. all set to marry the boss's daughter. Larry has got life where he wants it. Until rumours begin to circulate about the reappearance of his long-vanished father - and Larry's carefully organized world begins to look a lot less certain.By turns funny. moving and wildly erotic. The Sear... Views: 747
From New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Laurelin Paige comes a new story in her Fixed Trilogy series....
I like sex. Kinky sex. The kinkier the better.
Every day, it's all I think about as I serve coffee and hand out business agendas to men who have no idea I'm not the prim, proper girl they think I am.
With a day job as the secretary to one of New York's most powerful men, Hudson Pierce, I have to keep my double life quiet. As long as I do, it's not a problem.
Enter: Nathan Sinclair. Tall, dark, and handsome doesn't come close to describing how hot he is. And that's with his clothes on. But after a dirty, filthy rendezvous, I accept that if we ever see each other again, he'll walk right by my desk on his way to see my boss without recognizing me.
Only, that's not what happens. Not the first time I see him after the party. Or the next time. Or the time after that. And as much as I try to stop it, my two worlds are crashing into each other, putting my job and my reputation at risk. And all I can think about is Nathan Sinclair. All I can think about is getting just one more dirty, filthy fix.
Every 1001 Dark Nights novella is a standalone story. For new listeners, it's an introduction to an author's world. And for fans, it's a bonus book in the author's series. We hope you'll enjoy each one as much as we do. Views: 746
Are you a social drinker? Find out once and for all.This free book will answer all of your questions. If you have concerns read Nick J's other book, "In The Rooms and On The Couch."Have you ever wondered if you may be more than a social drinker? Finally, there is a book, a Free book, that will answer that nagging question once and for all. If you see yourself in even one of the examples, please by all means read, 'In The Rooms and On The Couch,' another book by Nick J. Most of all do not be too hard on yourself. Have fun. The book has pictures! Views: 746
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
From Donald Ray Pollock, author of the highly acclaimed The Devil All the Time and Knockemstiff, comes a dark, gritty, electrifying (and, disturbingly, weirdly funny) new novel that will solidify his place among the best contemporary American authors.
It is 1917, in that sliver of border land that divides Georgia from Alabama. Dispossessed farmer Pearl Jewett ekes out a hardscrabble existence with his three young sons: Cane (the eldest; handsome; intelligent); Cob (short; heavy set; a bit slow); and Chimney (the youngest; thin; ill-tempered). Several hundred miles away in southern Ohio, a farmer by the name of Ellsworth Fiddler lives with his son, Eddie, and his wife, Eula. After Ellsworth is swindled out of his family’s entire fortune, his life is put on a surprising, unforgettable, and violent trajectory that will directly lead him to cross paths with the Jewetts. No good can come of it. Or can it?
In the gothic tradition of Flannery O’Connor and Cormac McCarthy with a healthy dose of cinematic violence reminiscent of Sam Peckinpah, Quentin Tarantino and the Coen Brothers, the Jewetts and the Fiddlers will find their lives colliding in increasingly dark and horrific ways, placing Donald Ray Pollock firmly in the company of the genre’s literary masters. Views: 746
1 iBooks Bestseller Here's what I know about Shiloh Jenson: She is up to no good. Every word out of her mouth is a lie. And I'm madly in love with her. The call of the sea had always been deafening for Mitchell Tate, which is why Kaimte, a small coastal town in West Africa, was the perfect place for him. Brilliant surf conditions conjured up by the South Atlantic Ocean was the drawcard, and the laid-back lifestyle suited him to a tee. But even paradise has a dark side. When fellow Australian Shiloh Jenson arrives in town, his eyes are opened to a much seedier side of village life. Shiloh has a hidden agenda, and whether he likes it or not, Mitchell is along for the ride. Can be read as a standalone. Views: 746
Barth's richest, most joyous novel yet describes a couple's journey on the Chesapeake Bay, a cruise that overflows with stories--of past lives and love, entanglements with the CIA and toxic waste, and inventive brushes with Don Quixote, Odysseus and Scheherazade. Views: 746
What you’re about to read will horrify you. I want it to horrify you. It horrifies me. I wrote it because I feel it’s important to point out where we’re headed—the terminus we’ll reach should certain trends continue. The Afterword is not fiction. It’s as least as horrifying as the story. I mean it sincerely. Please read it.This is the third poem in the series of "Dreams As I..." The "Dream" series provides the reader the opportunity to dream those secret dreams with the writer, and discover what can lie just up ahead in life. 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
This collection of terrifying tales reveals the timeless horrors that lurk behind all of existence, bringing these eternal fears to chilling life. From ghost ships to faceless men, from mad winds to silver doors, from carnivorous rain to interdimensional fishers, and from succubi to visions of hell, this twisted collection of horrifying tales will leave no reader unchanged.This collection of terrifying tales reveals the timeless horrors that lurk behind all of existence, bringing these eternal fears to chilling life. From ghost ships to faceless men, from mad winds to silver doors, from carnivorous rain to interdimensional fishers, and from succubi to visions of hell, this twisted collection of horrifying tales will leave no reader unchanged. In "Parallax," a young man and an aging professor team up to defeat an interdimensional horror. In "Winds of Madness," a young boy suffers from a crippling, irrational fear of winds. In "Sally," a Pilgrim town bands together to cast out a witch. In "Station Fourteen," a dying Lieutenant tries to warn mankind of a terrible horror close to home, and in "The Vessel" a Roman equestrian is stalked by a terrible black ship. In "Afflatus Divine," three individuals find their creativity hijacked and used for evil purposes, and in "The Silver Door," a young boy finds far more than he bargained for in the depths of his town's ancient library. "Hell Factory" presents a terrifying vision of hell, and "The Derelict" chronicles a space scavenging team's wrong choice of prey. In "The Horror in Woods," a small town descends into the realm of terror, and in "The Parasite," a young girl descends into madness, sickness, and death. Explore these and other chilling situations in Dark Aeons. Views: 746
The Conclusion of Gwen and JC's Story
Gwen Anders came to The Sky Launch to begin fresh, away from the horrors of her past. She fit in quickly, becoming good friends with her co-manager, Alayna Withers and the owner of the club, Hudson Pierce. Though the circumstances that brought her here were not the best, she's never felt more at home.
But starting a new life means letting go. And there are some things she doesn't want to leave behind - like JC, the man who taught her how to let loose. The man she wasn't supposed to fall in love with. The man she doesn't want to lose.
Now, with the reason she ran still a threat, Gwen fears she'll never be able to move on completely. And if she does, can she still hold out hope that JC loves her enough to come and find her? Views: 745
Tabitha teaches English in Japan. Or she did, but after losing her job on Christmas Eve, insecurity overcomes her. Just as nothing is going well in her life, Tabitha meets a dubious girl at a Shinto shrine. Her advice can change Tabitha’s life but only if she has the courage to take it.At thirty, Tabitha is a self-defined failure. Japan was supposed to be the chance for her to reinvent herself, but her insecurities continue to plague her. Recently fired from her teaching job and facing an uncertain future, Tabitha makes a wish at an Inari shrine.The encounter with an eccentric shrine maiden keeps Tabitha on her toes. Then a mysterious man transports her to a hidden village in Nagano. As she grows aware of the supernatural forces surrounding her life, she realizes that the opposite of accepting fate is choosing it. Views: 745
