The Great Wall of China

Drawing directly on original manuscripts, this collection comprises the major short stories published after Kafka's death. It includes The Great Wall of China, Blumfeld, An Elderly Bachelor, Investigations of a Dog and his great sequences of aphorisms, with fables and parables on subjects ranging from the legend of Prometheus to the Tower of Babel. Allegorical, disturbing and possessing a dream-like clarity, these writings are quintessential Kafka.
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The Counterfeit Agent

“Berenson’s strength is his deep understanding of geopolitics and of the shoddy compromises it demands. He clearly has excellent contacts in the world of shadows. Wells is a complex and satisfying protagonist, tackling bad guys across the world’s conflict zones.”--The New York Times Book Review John Wells goes undercover as the threat of nuclear war skyrockets between the United States and Iran, in the cutting-edge new novel from the #1 New York Times–bestselling author.In an Istanbul hotel, a deep source warns a CIA agent that Iran intends to kill a CIA station chief. Quickly, John Wells is called in to investigate, but before he can get far, the tip comes true. Which means that the next warning the source gives will be taken very seriously indeed. And it’s a big one. We’ve put a package on a ship from Dubai to the United States. A radioactive one. A bomb? Not yet. It’s a test run. As the threat level jumps and the government mobilizes, something still doesn’t smell right to Wells’s old CIA boss Ellis Shafer, and so he sends Wells on a private mission to find out what’s going on. But the two of them are swimming against the tide. From Guatemala to Thailand to Hong Kong to Istanbul, Wells uses every skill he has, including his ability to go undercover in the Arab world, to chase down leads. But it might not be enough. Soon there might be nothing anyone can do to pull the United States back from the brink of war.**
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No God in Sight

Fast -- paced and innovative, No God in Sight captures the seething multiplicity of Bombay through the first -- person accounts of an abortionist, a convert, a pregnant refugee, a gangster in hiding, a butcher, and an apathetic CEO, among others.As the reader is hurtled from monologue to short story to anecdote, disparate lives collide in tantalizing ways. A family flees religious persecution in their village to take refuge in an urban slum; women walk the tightrope of free will and dormant violence; a father and son grant each other the relief of estrangement; and young men and women struggle to comprehend the consequences of sexual attraction. Insightful, ironic, and scathingly honest, No God in Sight is a brilliant debut by a talented young writer.From the Trade Paperback edition.
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Looking for Trouble

Country singer, Jess Sparks, is finally watching her star rise, after shedding the weight of a thieving manager and boyfriend three years ago. Jess has worked her butt off since to recover from it, and it's finally paying off, because she's on the verge of signing a big recording contract.Someone from Bowie, Texas calls and asks her to sing at a wedding reception, and she agrees to do it as a final hoorah. While she's performing, Jess notices a good looking cowboy in the crowd staring her down and can't take her eyes off of him either. Her best friend, and band mate, thinks Jess needs to loosen up and have some fun, so she issues a dare that Jess can't refuse...make him her 'Angel' for the night.Back in Dallas, Jess discovers that her fun pays off a little too well, when the stick with the pink plus sign tells her she's a member of the elite 'less than two percent club' they warn about on the back of condom boxes. She's pregnant, and doesn't have a clue what the cowboy's name is, because honey, baby or sugar worked just fine for them that night.After the baby is born, she gets another call from the client in Bowie for an encore performance at the couple's one-year anniversary party. Although Jess is hesitant to accept, because she's scared she'll run into the cowboy again, who would do nothing but complicate her life, she accepts, because she needs the money.Once she gets to Bowie, Jess realizes her luck is still running--in the wrong direction. Not only is the cowboy there, he's the manager of the ranch, and she's going to be seeing a lot of him, because she and the band get stuck there. Although she didn't intend on telling him about her little angel, he finds out, and wants to be a daddy. After Jess gets to know him better, she discovers she wants the sexy cowboy to be a lot more than that.Professional rodeo rider, Wade Roberts never expected his career to end with a fall from a wild horse he pulled in his last rodeo, but that's exactly what happened. Luck was on his side though, when he found out the manager of the Double B Ranch in Bowie, Texas was retiring, and they hired him as a replacement.When the beautiful country singer he'd had one night of wild passion with a year ago after a wedding, shows up at the ranch to play a command performance for the anniversary party, Wade is surprised. She was supposed to be in the big leagues now, so he wonders what she's doing back in Bowie. When Jess Sparks gives him the cold shoulder, Wade is confused, because to his knowledge, they'd both been blown away by their time together, and had been on the same page the next morning, when they parted without exchanging phone numbers.The reason for her attitude becomes clear to Wade though, when he sees a car seat and toys in the back of the van she arrived in. He has a daughter, and Jess doesn't want him to be a part of her life. That's not okay with Wade, and he is determined to convince the beautiful songbird, that he will be a part of his daughter's life and take care of them both.Fate appears to give him time to convince her, when Jess gets hurt and the band's van burns up, but then her ex-boyfriend shows up in town, representing a record company that wants to sign her. Now, if she wants a contract, she's going to have to deal with the man who robbed her blind, while he managed her career. Then her ex incites Wade into a fight at the bar, which lands him in jail. Using the charges against Wade as leverage, the guy coerces Jess into signing with him to get Wade out of his legal trouble.Determined to make up for the mess he'd made, and get Jess out of the contract, Wade enters a charity rodeo competition, with a big purse, because he knows he can win it, even though it might change his life forever, if he gets injured again.Wade isn't looking for trouble, but if he wants to keep the two angels in his life permanently, he knows he's going to have to face a hell of a lot of it to make that happen.
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EVIL CULT KILLERS (True Crime)

It is estimated that in the USA alone around five to seven million citizens have been involved in a "cult" at some point in their lives This book describes the history of cults, delving into their more gruesome aspects and documenting the horror perpetrated by brainwashed members manipulated by the messianic charisma of their leaders.
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Portrait of a Sister

Katie Beiler was always the follower to her twin sister Hannah's lead. That is until Hannah left their Amish upbringing for an English life—leaving Katie to find her own footing in a world that no longer looks as it once did . . . Katie has always imagined her life being just like Mamm's. It's why she chose baptism and why she'll soon marry Abram Zook. But ever since Hannah left, the only thing that truly makes Katie smile is the sketchpad in which she indulges her talent for drawing faces—a sin that, if discovered, could get her shunned by her family, her friends, and even Abram. Yet Katie sees her secret pastime as the only way to quiet a growing restlessness she'd just as soon ignore. That is until their Mamm's untimely death brings Hannah back home to Pennsylvania, with a new outlook on life, a man she adores, and, soon, an invitation for Katie to visit her in New York City. Suddenly, Katie is experiencing a freedom she's never had, in a...
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Artemis to Actaeon and Other Verse

fiction; poetry, Women Writers
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Death and the Seaside

The new novel from Alison Moore
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Rebel of Antares

[Book Twenty-Four of The Dray Prescot series] Lone Earthman on the vivid and intricate world of double-sunned Antares in Scorpio, Dray Prescot had been the pawn of the unseen Star Lords who had seeded that planet with the offspring of a hundred alien races. But at last Prescot had come in sight of the goal which he shared with these space masters -- the overthrow of slavers and their evil empires On the island kingdom of Hyrklana his course now seemed clear. Overthrow its decadent queen, lead rebellion against the cruel Arena, and free the princess who was its rightful ruler. It was a hard task, but for Dray Prescot against whom sorcerers and swordsmen had contended, it was the only course he could follow. Though it might this time lead to his death, there could be no turning back. The adventures of Dray Prescot stand equal to the works of John Norman, Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs for sheer fast-paced high adventure.
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