These were the dark days for Matthew Scudder. An ex-New York cop, he had drowned his career in booze. Now he was drinking away his life in a succession of seedy establishments that opened early and closed late, reduced to doing paid "favors" for the cronies who gathered with him to worship the bottle. Now, in a sad and lonely place like so many before it, opportunity comes knocking — a chance to help the ginmil's owner recover his stolen doctored financial records; a chance to help out a drinking buddy accused of murdering his wife. But when cases flow together in dangerous and disturbing ways — like the nightmare images in a drunkard's delirium — it's time for Scudder to change his priorities: to staying sober. . . and staying alive. Views: 381
An original ebook short story from New York Times bestselling author Chevy Stevens featuring Psychiatrist Nadine Lavoie and Staff Sergeant Sandy McBride, from Never Knowing. Sandy is working the biggest case of her life—the Campsite Killer, who has been hunting women for almost forty years. She’s finally close to nailing him, if she can just keep her head in the game. But when an old friend calls with a lead about Sandy’s mother’s murder, Sandy is pulled into the past—a past she thought she’d closed the door on. Her life is about to get real complicated, real fast. Views: 381
Be careful what you wish for – wishes can come true, as Hugh Gallagher discovers when the girl of his dreams, the incomparable Selina Beri, comes seeking his expertise on a piece of technology she needs to understand for her last final exam. Can Hugh, the classic shy, geeky, university student, avoid making a fool of himself with the girl he's loved from afar? A romance set in the near future.(Ver 2 - 3 April 2016 updated version)Some Day Days is a novel of first love and friendship set in Oxford and Cambridge England. It reflects my taste for simplicity, understatement, humor, and clever writing (though that's a goal rather than a claim.) Raymond Chandler once wrote that there are two types of writers, writers who write stories and writers who write writing. I aspire to write writing. I started writing Some Day Days six years ago, and finished revising it this year, so this work spans my current writing phase.It is something of an experimental work, along the lines of Frankenstein. The original subtitle was a romance in an undetermined number of pieces of which this is the first twelve pieces. It began life as a novelette, to which I added a novella length sequel, and then, as my imagination raced ahead, I outlined a whole series of pieces until I had a memoir spanning four years. I use the word "pieces" to describe its parts because no one term describes them all. I have the original novelette, its longer sequel, several chapters of varying lengths, an essay, a gaming story and a ghost story, tied together as the memoir of Hugh Gallagher, a third year student reading Physics and Philosophy at Oxford University – let's say twenty years from now. It does, however, have a beginning, middle and an end, and thus, the essentials of a novel. The first piece, Kiss of the White Witch is a result of two challenges. The first arose in reading somewhere about a challenge to write a short story centered on the effects of a new technology in the future. I chose a device that records one's life in video as a "dynamic diary" or a "dyary". I wrote this before Google Glass, but after the first such limited devices were being talked about. The second challenge came from my dislike of stories that are told to the reader, rather than having the story play out on its own. Talk being cheap, it's easy to be a critic – so I decided to see if I could write a story that unfolds mostly in dialog. The result was Kiss of the White Witch.Several drafts later, I found myself wondering how I could bring the two characters together again, and eventually wrote a sequel, a novella called A Shattered Heart – the second piece in this work. I now had two pieces, both too short and too long for anything, leaving me no choice but to plow ahead and write more. Over the past six years I've written the ten other pieces that make up the rest of this work, which cover the first six months of the long romance I had dreamed up. One should never say never, so I won't. I am, however, unlikely, to write more pieces, so this is most likely a stand alone book. I considered adding an addenda outlining some of the subsequent events, but Hugh wouldn't stand for that, "It's my story to tell. Or not. I'll tell it my way, or not at all," (Artists! It seems that even a small literary effort sparks an artistic temperament!) Still, it is, after all, his story to tell. Or not. I've honored his wishes.Some Day Days – a little romance of first love set in the near future by the author of A Summer in Amber, is available at most fine ebook sellers. And coming late summer/early fall 2015 Planets of Call, a long space opera with a golden age of science fiction touch. Views: 381
After hearing the ghostly tale of a mad hunter, two boys take an unexpected part in the old legend.When two boys visit an elderly woman in the village, they are treated to a goose bump inducing ghost story. However, when they return home, they are unexpectedly encountered with the events of the story they'd just been told. Views: 381
On the eve of a new decade, after two hundred years of Scion rule, a revolution is beginning. Its unlikely cradle is the clairvoyant underworld in London, and even an old ally’s betrayal cannot stop it.
But an enemy from Paige Mahoney’s past is about to return – an enemy that could quench the flame of hope for good... Views: 381
But I had known since forever that it's colours that keep the world turning, that keep a person going. One glimpse of the tiny painted house that folk art legend Maud Lewis shared with her husband, Everett, in Marshalltown, Nova Scotia, during the mid-twentieth century and the startling contrast between her joyful artwork and her life's deprivations is evident. One glimpse at her photo and you realize, for all her smile's shyness, she must've been one tough cookie. But, beneath her iconic resilience, who was Maud, really? How did she manage, holed up in that one-room house with no running water, married to a miserly man known for his drinking? Was she happy, or was she miserable? Did painting save or make her Everett's meal ticket? And then there are the darker secrets that haunt her story: the loss of her parents, her child, her first love. Against all odds, Maud Lewis rose above these constraints—and this is where you'll find the Maud of... Views: 380
A cathartic and at times politically incorrect yarn, this piece of experimental fiction is not easily pigeonholed. The reader is exposed to the mind of a tormented soul, one that is wracked with doubt and uncertainty regarding its central purpose and function. Nevertheless, Yevsky again manages to somehow guide us through the morass with his unique sense of humor, self-deprecating style and wit.The characters in WetWeb are struggling to understand the status of humanity in a strange world where biology and technology are intricately and unavoidably interconnected.Quote from Al McKnight:“If I lost a finger, a hand, an arm; am I less human? The answer must be no! Consider the converse case. When we animate organic tissue, a finger, a hand, an arm, have we created a part of a human? The answer must also be emphatically no.” Quote from Hans Hoobler:"What is walking among us? What cooks our meals and cleans our houses? What cares for our children? What strange creatures are these? What new race is born?” Views: 380
Dr Stephen Maturin leads Captain Jack Aubrey to the spy's Spanish castle. Best pals compete over manipulative widow Diana Villiers. Stephen encourages shy Sophia to Jack; Jack flees bailiffs after prize agent steals money. Jealous cuckold assigns Jack poorly-built experimental ship on poorly-conceived mission with too few and raw crew. Jack fights on. Views: 380
Marry the love of my life.Become a mother.Write a book.Number one was complete. I was well on my way to checking off goals two and three, before a cancer diagnosis derailed my plans.A story meant to chronicle the journey of impending motherhood with wit, became a brutally honest memoir of living life to the fullest.Make every breath count.When finally confronted with the knowledge the cancer is terminal, I search for a way to accomplish all the things I wanted to do within my lifetime... when I don't have a lifetime left.Every Last Drop is the heartfelt, unflinching, and original story of how when faced with the hardest truth, we finally learn how far we will go to discover who we are before it's too late. Views: 380
This trilogy spanning World War II, based in part on Evelyn Waugh's own experiences as an army officer, is the author's surpassing achievement as a novelist. Its central character is Guy Crouchback, head of an ancient but decayed Catholic family, who at first discovers new purpose in the challenge to defend Christian values against Nazi barbarism, but then gradually finds the complexities and cruelties of war overwhelming. Though often somber, Sword of Honor is also a brilliant comedy, peopled by the fantastic figures so familiar from Waugh's early satires. The deepest pleasures these novels afford come from observing a great satiric writer employ his gifts with extraordinary subtlety, delicacy, and human feeling, for purposes that are ultimately anything but satiric. Views: 380
Tom Swift Among the Fire Fighters; Or, Battling with Flames from the Air By , Victor Appleton Views: 380
When a beautiful young heiress goes missing, it could be a runaway . . . or it could be murder Roy Markham figures the case of Barbara Taft will be easy. A beautiful and wealthy college girl with a wild streak, she's probably left her sleepy New England campus to be with a boy. But when her body turns up in the Hudson River, Roy suspects this is no suicide. While he's working on Barb's case, another beautiful young girl hops into his cab with killers on her tail. Suddenly the private detective finds himself wrapped up in a whole lot of females' troubles and he's got to crack the case to help them—and him—get out alive.This ebook features an illustrated biography of Lawrence Block, including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from his personal collection, and a new afterword written by the author. Views: 380
From the Scotiabank Giller Prize–winning novelist of 419 comes a spellbinding literary adventure novel about precious objects lost and found.The world is filled with wonders, lost objects—all real—all still out there, waiting to be found: the missing Fabergé eggs of the Romanov dynasty, worth millions the last reel of Alfred Hitchcock's first film Buddy Holly's iconic glasses Muhammad Ali's Olympic gold medal How can such cherished objects simply vanish? Where are they hiding? And who on earth might be compelled to uncover them? Will Ferguson takes readers on a heroic, imaginative journey across continents, from the seas of southern Japan, to the arid Australian Outback, to the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, after the earthquake. Prepare to meet Gaddy Rhodes, a brittle Interpol agent obsessed with tracking "The Finder"—a shadowy figure she believes is collecting lost... Views: 380
