'Both a work of lyrical imagination and a warning about the dangers we will face unless we take immediate action' New Yorker 'An artist's ardent plea for change' Kirkus This earth that we love is in grave danger because of us. Forests are becoming legends, rare as unicorns...If we continue to live as we do now, there will be no world left for us to fix, Booker Prize-winner Ben Okri argues in this evocative collection. He imagines messages – sent to us from beyond the end, from those who saw it coming – exhorting us to change now.Combining fiction, essay and poetry, Tiger Work displays Okri's classic blend of storytelling, fantasy and magic. Views: 212
Dann is grown up now, hunting for knowledge and despondent over the inadequacies of his civilization. With his trusted companions—Mara's daughter, his hope for the future; the abandoned child-soldier Griot, who discovers the meaning of love and the ability to sing stories; and the snow dog, a faithful friend who brings him back from the depths of despair—Dann embarks on a strange and captivating adventure in a suddenly colder, more watery climate in the north. Views: 211
Brigadier Gerard is the hero of a series of historical short stories by the British writer Arthur Conan Doyle. The hero, Etienne Gerard, is a Hussar officer in the French Army during the Napoleonic Wars. Gerard\'s most notable attribute is his vanity – he is utterly convinced that he is the bravest soldier, greatest swordsman, most accomplished horseman and most gallant lover in all France. Gerard is not entirely wrong, since he displays notable bravery on many occasions, but his self-satisfaction undercuts this quite often. Obsessed with honour and glory, he is always ready with a stirring speech or a gallant remark to a lady. Conan Doyle, in making his hero a vain, and often rather uncomprehending, Frenchman, was able to satirise both the stereotypical English view of the French and – by presenting them from Gerard\'s baffled point of view – English manners and attitudes. Views: 211
"A MASTERPIECE OF THRILLER AND MYSTERY. Blake Pierce did a magnificent job developing characters with a psychological side so well described that we feel inside their minds, follow their fears and cheer for their success. Full of twists, this book will keep you awake until the turn of the last page." —Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re Once Gone) FACE OF DARKNESS is book #6 in a new FBI thriller series by USA Today bestselling author Blake Pierce, whose #1 bestseller Once Gone (Book #1) (a free download) has received over 1,000 five star reviews. The series begins with FACE OF DEATH (Book #1), a free download.FBI Special Agent Zoe Prime suffers from a rare condition which also gives her a unique talent—she views the world through a lens of numbers. The numbers torment her, make her unable to relate to people, and give her a failed romantic life—yet they also allow her to see patterns that no other FBI agent can see. Zoe keeps her condition a secret,... Views: 211
The scene is England 50 years after its conquest by the Soviets. The plot is to turn the occupying government upside down.
A handsome and highly sexed young Russian cavalry officer, Alexander Petrovsky, joins the plot and learns to his regret that politics and playmates don't mix.
"Funny, cynical, captivating--Amis makes an implausible situation almost believable, then lets his characters worry their way out." (B-O-T Editorial Review Board) Views: 211
When Henry Warren, director of an English bank, lands by chance in a hospital in a bleak Northern town that has been ruined by the closure of its shipyard, he discovers nothing less than a new purpose for his life. Moved by the fate of the town’s inhabitants, Warren risks his fortune and reputation to save the shipyard and restore the town to its former prosperity. In seeking to change the fate of the town, he radically changes his own. Views: 211
The life of Bret Harte divides itself, without adventitious forcing, into four quite distinct parts. First, we have the precocious boyhood, with its eager response to the intellectual stimulation of cultured parents; young Bret Harte assimilated Greek with amazing facility; devoured voraciously the works of Shakespeare, Dickens, Irving, Froissart, Cervantes, Fielding; and, with creditable success, attempted various forms of composition. Then, compelled by economic necessity, he left school at thirteen, and for three years worked first in a lawyer\'s office, and then in a merchant\'s counting house. The second period, that of his migration to California, includes all that is permanently valuable of Harte\'s literary output. Arriving in California in 1854, he was, successively, a school-teacher, drug-store clerk, express messenger, typesetter, and itinerant journalist. He worked for a while on the NORTHERN CALIFORNIA (from which he was dismissed for objecting editorially to the contemporary California sport of murdering Indians), then on the GOLDEN ERA, 1857, where he achieved his first moderate acclaim. In this latter year he married Anne Griswold of New York. In 1864 he was given the secretaryship of the California mint, a virtual sinecure, and he was enabled do a great deal of writing. The first volume of his poems, THE LOST GALLEON AND OTHER TALES, CONDENSED NOVELS (much underrated parodies), and THE BOHEMIAN PAPERS were published in 1867. One year later, THE OVERLAND MONTHLY, which had aspirations of becoming "the ATLANTIC MONTHLY of the West," was established, and Harte was appointed its first editor. For it, he wrote most of what still remains valid as literature—THE LUCK OF ROARING CAMP, THE OUTCASTS OF POKER FLAT, PLAIN LANGUAGE FROM TRUTHFUL JAMES, among others. The combination of Irvingesque romantic glamor and Dickensian bitter-sweet humor, applied to picturesquely novel material, with the addition of a trick ending, was fantastically popular. Editors began to clamor for his stories; the University of California appointed him Professor of recent literature; and the ATLANTIC MONTHLY offered him the practically unprecedented sum of $10,000 for exclusive rights to one year\'s literary output. Harte\'s star was, briefly, in the ascendant. Views: 211
Dane Coolidge was a 20th century American author best known for producing Western books, including this one. Many of his titles are still popular and widely read today. Views: 211
Teagan Tremayne had once hoped to go to college and pursue a career as an artist. Things hadn't gone as planned, and she now co-owned the Tremayne Tavern with her brother. She was content in her small town and had no desire to meet a man until two newcomers caught her eye. It irritated her that a few of her friends had advised her against looking at the two firefighters. Maybe that's why her gaze kept straying in their direction. Emile and Blake De La Fuente, cousins who were only two years apart in age. They did everything together: became firefighters, EMTs, ski patrollers, and even lived together. One thing they loved doing together was something that made others uncomfortable, women. Teagan Tremayne had caught their eye on arrival into town; now all they had to do was persuade her that they wanted more than one night. Views: 211
Maureen Paschal thought she might rest and work on her book after discovering the gospel written by Mary Magdalene that revealed Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married. The truth of their story rocked the world and made Maureen a target of those who did not like her discovery and a heroine to those who did. Then Maureen receives a strange package containing what looks like an ancient letter written in Latin and signed with a symbol. She discovers that its author is an extraordinary woman whom history has overlooked -- or covered up -- Countess Matilda of Tuscany, and in the letter Matilda demands the return of her "most precious books and documents." Maureen soon finds herself in a race across Italy and France, where hidden dangers await her and her lover, Berenger, as they begin to realize that they are on the trail of another explosive discovery: the Book of Love, the Gospel written in Jesus' own hand. As Maureen learns more about Matilda, an eleventhcentury warrior countess who was secretly married to a pope, she begins to see the eerie connections between herself and Matilda, connections she must trace to their source if she is to stop the wrong people from finding the Book of Love and hiding it forever. Weaving together Matilda's little-known true story and Maureen's thrilling search, "The Book of Love" follows two amazing heroines as their stories intertwine through time. Maureen is immersed in the mysteries of the labyrinth, the beautiful poetry of the Song of Songs, the world's greatest art and architecture, and Matilda's amazing legacy...until a potentially fatal encounter reveals the Book of Love to Maureen -- and to the reader. Views: 211
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. Views: 211
The Talisman takes place at the end of the Third Crusade, mostly in the camp of the Crusaders in Palestine. Scheming and partisan politics, as well as the illness of King Richard the Lionheart, are placing the Crusade in danger. The main characters are the Scottish knight Kenneth, who is the fictional character of David Earl of Huntingdon, who did in fact return from the third Crusade in 1190, Richard the Lionheart, Saladin, and Edith Plantagenet, a relative of Richard. Views: 211
From USA Today Bestselling Author M. Robinson
ROAD TO NOWHERE (BOOK ONE)
I once read that every warrior hoped an honorable death would find him. I always went looking for mine, but not even the Reaper wanted me.
I was trained to kill. I was trained to not ask why. To take orders and just march in line. Hooah motherfucker.
Life or death.
Ride or die.
And I’m not only talking about the military. I’m talking about the life that led me on the road to nowhere.
My life.
I fought for my brothers.
I fought for my family.
I fought for my country.
And I fought for her…
Never realizing I might die for them too.
ENDS HERE (BOOK TWO)
Ashes to ashes.
Dust to dust.
And all that fucking shit.
I had killed.
I had sacrificed.
The innocent and the corrupt. I knew blood and I knew violence.
Never imagining I could know love too.
Mia Ryder was a woman to love. To cherish. To fucking claim. Now, forever, and
every day in between.
If there was anyone I’d go to Hell and back for, it was her.
Even if it meant, going to war with…
My fucking brother. Views: 211
Born into chaos. Baptized in the gutter. I was raised by the violent laws of the streets, spilling blood without the hindrance of useless emotions or connections.Unfeeling. Unloved. Alone.My life was perfect.Until her.While on a manhunt for a mysterious enemy, one hellbent on taking both my business and my life, I find Mickey. She's covered in mud, rambling nonsense, and clearly out of her mind. She's also a distraction I don't need.That is until I discover a connection between the girl and my enemy.Mickey isn't a distraction anymore.She's the perfect weapon.One I'll use to exact my revenge.The plan is an easy one, but there's something about Mickey that's making it more and more difficult. A familiarity I can't place. A need I can't explain.A want I have to deny.After all, she's not mine. She's my sacrifice. Views: 211