The revered international writer--one of the more significant contemporary English satirists (Publishers Weekly)--delivers another brilliantly clever Discworld novel filled with the trademark insight and humor readers the world over have come to expect. Amazingly, former arch-swindler-turned-Postmaster General Moist von Lipwig has somehow managed to get the woefully inefficient Ankh-Morpork Post Office running like . . . well, not like a government office at all. Now the supreme despot Lord Vetinari is asking Moist if he'd like to make some real money. Vetinari wants Moist to resuscitate the venerable Royal Mint—so that perhaps it will no longer cost considerably more than a penny to make a penny.Moist doesn't want the job. However, a request from Ankh-Morpork's current ruling tyrant isn't a "request" per se, more like a "once-in-a-lifetime-offer-you-can-certainly-refuse-if-you-feel-you've-lived-quite-long-enough." So Moist will just have to learn to deal with elderly Royal Bank chairman Topsy (née Turvy) Lavish and her two loaded crossbows, a face-lapping Mint manager, and a chief clerk who's probably a vampire. But he'll soon be making lethal enemies as well as money, especially if he can't figure out where all the gold has gone. Views: 724
Excerpts from the Velvet Paw of Asquith novels, the infamous international jet-setting adventures of Oscar Teabag-Dooven, involving greed, espionage and the odd foray into professional cheese-shaping.Consider a world inhabited with only cats and dogs: a society recognizable as our own, but with its eccentricities being the norm, rather than the exception. A world where the charm of Kenneth Grahame’s Wind In the Willows meets the exotic world of Ian Fleming’s Bond. A world where fluffy just got dangerous. These are the Velvet Paw of Asquith Novels, also known as the Dooven Books: welcome to the genre of New Fable.The books follow Oscar Teabag-Dooven, a secret agent who believes he's more poet than spy. He finds training brash and clinical, with far too much shouting and not enough singing. But triumphing over villains and thwarting their garish plans isn’t easy when unable to do much more than rhyme one lot of words with another. Nevertheless, he succeeds with the help of the characters he meets and a courage that arises when he believes it cannot. Views: 722
&&LDIV&&R&&LDIV&&R&&LI&&RNorthanger Abbey&&L/I&&R, by &&LSTRONG&&RJane Austen&&L/B&&R, is part of the &&LI&&RBarnes & Noble Classics&&L/I&&R&&LI&&R &&L/I&&Rseries, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of &&LI&&RBarnes & Noble Classics&&L/I&&R: &&LDIV&&R
* New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars
* Biographies of the authors
* Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events
* Footnotes and endnotes
* Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work
* Comments by other famous authors
* Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations
* Bibliographies for further reading
* Indices & Glossaries, when appropriate
All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. &&LI&&RBarnes & Noble Classics &&L/I&&Rpulls together a constellation of influences―biographical, historical, and literary―to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.&&L/DIV&&R&&L/DIV&&R&&LP style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"&&R &&L/P&&R&&LP style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"&&RA wonderfully entertaining coming-of-age story, &&LI&&RNorthanger Abbey&&L/I&&R is often referred to as &&LB&&RJane Austen&&L/B&&R’s “Gothic parody.” Decrepit castles, locked rooms, mysterious chests, cryptic notes, and tyrannical fathers give the story an uncanny air, but one with a decidedly satirical twist.&&LBR&&R&&LBR&&RThe story’s unlikely heroine is Catherine Morland, a remarkably innocent seventeen-year-old woman from a country parsonage. While spending a few weeks in Bath with a family friend, Catherine meets and falls in love with Henry Tilney, who invites her to visit his family estate, Northanger Abbey. Once there, Catherine, a great reader of Gothic thrillers, lets the shadowy atmosphere of the old mansion fill her mind with terrible suspicions. What is the mystery surrounding the death of Henry’s mother? Is the family concealing a terrible secret within the elegant rooms of the Abbey? Can she trust Henry, or is he part of an evil conspiracy? Catherine finds dreadful portents in the most prosaic events, until Henry persuades her to see the peril in confusing life with art.&&LBR&&R&&LBR&&RExecuted with high-spirited gusto, &&LI&&RNorthanger Abbey&&L/I&&R is the most lighthearted of Jane Austen’s novels, yet at its core this delightful novel is a serious, unsentimental commentary on love and marriage.&&LBR&&R&&L/P&&R&&LP style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"&&R&&LSTRONG&&R&&L/B&&R &&L/P&&R&&LP style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"&&R&&LSTRONG&&RAlfred Mac Adam&&L/B&&R teaches literature at Barnard College–Columbia University. He is a translator and art critic.&&L/P&&R&&L/DIV&&R&&L/B&&R&&L/B&&R
** Views: 719
set in Tsarist Russian milieux — reveal noted author's skills in character, nuance and setting development. Includes "The Black Monk" (1894), "The House with the Mezzanine" (1896), "The Peasants" (1897), "Gooseberries" (1898) and "The Lady with the Toy Dog" (1899). Views: 718
In the follow-up to his National Translation Award-winning collection The Undiscovered Chekhov, translator and scholar Peter Constantine brings us more little-known work from the legendary author's early days as a magazine writer, pseudonymously turning out pieces for Russia's small middle class. These stories are fresh, yet mature, snapshots of the style with which Chekhov would come to be associated, both uproariously tragic and darkly comic, and lit from within by a deep fellow feeling for all of humanity. As his readers have come expect, Constantine has translated this work with a masterly command of both languages' subtleties, capturing the shadings and intricacies of Chekhov's writing that flash and recede like sunlight on an orchard, offering Chekhov's tough and amused perspectives on daily phenomena like love, aging, class, and work. With moments that seem to presage the most contemporary writing, Chekhov's Little Apples reveals one of the world's greatest writers as we have rarely seen him, an author both deeply of his times and far ahead of them. Views: 717
The Police are stumped by a baffling dismemberment case. They turn to Akkadia, the Abracadabrical hero of "The Cowering Inferno" for help."I laughed so hard I fell to pieces." -- Patsy Cline, The Seance City NewsIn an alternate steamfunk Haiti, at the height of General Toussaint's revolution, two lovers separated by class and a young woman whose love is forbidden, are thrust into war, sorcery and a quest for liberation on their own terms. . .On the island of Saint-Domingue, in the dead of night, thousands of slaves crept silently along the path through the trees and wiry brush to Bois Caïman. In the clearing the Houngan Dutty Boukman, a huge, self-educated slave with a fierce countenance, and Mambo Cecile Fatiman, a mulatto slave woman, waited to led them in ceremony. They petitioned the Loa for protection, for deliverance from slavery’s lash—calling upon the darkest spirits. . . Views: 716
Michaela Stevens has just died but, she wonders, can a gay lady get to heaven and if so, should it be like this? Should the heavenly host be that way? And is there a place in heaven for so many baked beans? Short story at about 4,500 words - no adult content but some light swearing so I'd rate it at a PG.British humour and spelling.When Tammy Miller is forced to live in Ashville Manor, she quickly learns that nothing is quite as it seems. “A vampire?” Tammy said slowly, not really sure how to make sense of it. He didn't look like anything she had read about. His skin was a little too pale, but so was hers. He didn't have weird looking eyes or fangs. She reached out and pressed her hand on his chest. His heart was beating just like hers. Dante watched her reaction, he knew she was checking him out. Trying to figure out if he was about to jump her and suck her body dry. He wasn't like that, that was just fiction written in books by people who had no idea about real vampires.Her hand moved from his chest and gently touched his hand; his skin wasn't cold. He was definitely living and not dead. Weren't vampires Immortal?? She leaned a little closer. “You're not dead!” Views: 715
Alvilda, an Elvish sorcerous, travels with a Necromancer's soul imprisoned within her own. The Necromancer know it's only escape is through her death. So he hatches a plan to free himself as she makes her way through a dense forest.Ash Magazine is a magazine dedicated to exposing people to unknown writers and artists.Ash Magazine Issue 2 has art and stories byAndrew DimitrovNikole KlinkhammerTony GillTammie PainterEartha ForestWill SchmitzDevon AmatoBrett CihonPatrick LogonElizabeth J. SparenbergJazzMinh MooreErin KassidyKayla HimmelbergerNicholas UtkeAllison WildeAdam RobertsAnna PalmerAsh Magazine is published byLord HaywireAsh Magazine Issue 2 was edited by Jenn Waterman Views: 714
Old habits die hard for assassins.And I plan on murdering someone before the night is through. Killing used to be my regular gig, after all. Gin Blanco, aka the Spider, assassin-for-hire. And I was very, very good at it. Now, I’m ready to make the one hit that truly matters: Mab Monroe, the dangerous Fire elemental who murdered my family when I was thirteen. Oh, I don’t think the mission will be easy, but turns out it’s a bit more problematic than expected. The bitch knows I’m coming for her. So now I’m up against the army of lethal bounty hunters Mab hired to track me down. She also put a price on my baby sister’s head. Keeping Bria safe is my first priority. Taking Mab out is a close second. Good thing I’ve got my powerful Ice and Stone magic—and my irresistible lover, Owen Grayson—to watch my back. This battle has been years in the making, and there’s a good chance I won’t survive. But if I’m going down, then Mab’s coming with me . . . no matter what I have to do to make that happen. Views: 714
Chekhov's worldwide reputation as a dramatist rests on five great plays: Ivanov, The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard. All are presented in this collection, taken from the authoritative Oxford Chekhov, in Ronald Hingley's acclaimed translation. Hingley has also written an introduction specifically for this volume in which he provides a detailed history of Chekhov's involvement in the theater and an assessment of his accomplishment as a dramatist. Views: 712
KVSPARROW is the story of a deniable intelligence operation.The setting is Pristina, Kosovo where a dead DIA case officer is receiving communications from his equally dead source. Fearing a career wrecking trap, DIA elects to send a contractor to assess, recruit and, if they are lucky, survive. The action is real, the story is fiction.Have you ever wondered how the shadow wars are really fought? You know James Bond, Jason Bourne and Jack Bauer are dramatic entertainment but still you wonder…what is it like to recruit a spy, evade hostile surveillance, plan an operation or engage in back alley combat? What goes through the mind of an operator as they maneuver their way through the complex factors that govern clandestine and covert operations? How do they think, feel, plan and react to danger? What tradecraft do they really use? And, above all, what kinds of people engage in these dangerous, often illegal, activities and for what reasons?If these thoughts have crossed your mind while skimming yet another novel meant merely to entertain, this may be the book for you. The story is fiction but the tradecraft and action are real, drawn from the author’s experience as a private contractor.The setting is Pristina, Kosovo where a dead DIA case officer is receiving communications from his equally dead source. Is it a come on, a trap set to ensnare another US intelligence officer? Is there an unknown subject willing to continue the work of the murdered source? The placement and access shown by the accurate intelligence provided tempts DIA to investigate. Losing another case officer is a career killer, however, so the decision is made to use a private intelligence contractor. This deniable operator can seek out the new source, assess the viability of recruitment and, if things go bad, die without taking anyone’s career with them.KVSPARROW lets you follow along inside the mind of an operator in one small engagement of the shadow wars.Welcome to the jungle… Views: 710
The Undiscovered Chekhov gives us, in rich abundance, a new Chekhov. Peter Constantine's historic collection presents 38 new stories and with them a fresh interpretation of the Russian master. In contrast to the brooding representative of a dying century we have seen over and over, here is Chekhov's work from the 1880s, when Chekhov was in his twenties and his writing was sharp, witty and innovative.
Many of the stories in The Undiscovered Chekhov reveal Chekhov as a keen modernist. Emphasizing impressions and the juxtaposition of incongruent elements, instead of the straight narrative his readers were used to, these stories upturned many of the assumptions of storytelling of the period.
Here is "Sarah Bernhardt Comes to Town," written as a series of telegrams, beginning with "Have been drinking to Sarah's health all week! Enchanting! She actually dies standing up!..." In "Confession...," a thirty-nine year old bachelor recounts some of the fifteen times chance foiled his marriage plans. In "How I Came to be Lawfully Wed," a couple reminisces about the day they vowed to resist their parents' plans that they should marry. And in the more familiarly Chekhovian "Autumn," an alcoholic landowner fallen low and a peasant from his village meet far from home in a sad and haunting reunion in which the action of the story is far less important than the powerful impression it leaves with the reader that each man must live his life and has his reasons. Views: 709
THE JESUS TWIN is a comic fiction short story about the nature of faith. Written by Wright Forbucks, the author of THE WALKING MAN, THE JESUS TWIN tells the story of two professors as they struggle to interpret three ancient scrolls that appear to be the Gospel According to Jessup, the younger brother of Jesus Christ.This story takes place after the second Guardians novel "Blood in the Water" and is about the Water Guardian's mother and her unexpected journey into Faerie. Views: 709
Two rival photographers searching for mutual harmony while tempting the raw powers of nature and action will engage in a game of photographic mayhem on the ice fields of Greenland to resolve a bet that one can produce a better calendar than the other. Will Jake the action junkie win? Or will Kate's eye for tranquility claim her victory? Can their mutual respect even survive such harsh conditions?In 1992, photographers Jake and Kate are sent to Greenland to shoot a calendar highlighting the ice country in its fiercest majesty. Both believe their styles are better than the other’s, so much in fact that they split the assignment into two separate calendars, “Icy Wonders” and “Greenland’s Fury,” and make a bet that one can outsell the other by the end of the year in an all-out commercial war. Their rivalry is heated in spite of the frigid cold they walk, eat, and sleep in, but at the end of the day, only one can win. Is it the spirited Jake, who will bait a herd of muskoxen into a fight just to make his calendar month amazing, or the zen-like Kate, who has an eye for the risky tranquility of sleeping wolves, that will win the calendar battle of the year?Their adventure takes them through several harrowing turns as each photo shoot puts them closer to that line between victory or defeat. But nothing prepares them for the moment when their respective styles come back to bite them and they are forced to reconcile their differences. Will their understanding of each other bring them closer together, or will their stubborn ideas enhance their rivalry? And what long-term effects will their exciting yet frightening adventure leave with them once the calendars are released and the bet is settled? Can they handle the fame that follows them into the twenty-first century?In “Lightstorm,” these opposing forces of nature will find out just how wild their ambitions can get and how drastically one week in Greenland can change their lives forever. Views: 709
In the days just before the rise of the Internet a music scene begins in the small Midwestern city of Terre Haute, Indiana and the local club owner has a fierce vision of the town becoming the next Seattle. But there is a long way to go for these scruffy upstarts. Some obstacles: a big-time music journalist with motivational difficulties, antics of the musicians and a politician out to make a nameIn the days just before the rise of the Internet a music scene begins in the small Midwestern city of Terre Haute, Indiana and the local club owner has a fierce vision of the town becoming the next Seattle. But there is a long way to go to get from a haven for scruffy upstarts to international fame. Some of the obstacles: a big-time music journalist with motivational difficulties, the antics of the musicians and their fans, a politician looking to make a name and the club owner’s own personal drive. Throughout it all, the music flows, but will that be enough? Views: 709
