With a new boyfriend, her own room (finally!), and a modeling agency trying to convince her to sign with them, Charmaine Upshaw's life is just about perfect. But a surprising face appears at the dinner table: ex-con Uncle E. Uncle E skipped town a few months ago after Charmaine's parents put up $1000 bail, leaving them in a bind that forced her mom to go back to work. Mom and Dad seem happy to see Uncle E, and her little live-in cousin Tracy John thinks he's the greatest thing since sliced bread. But Charmaine is not fooled. Meanwhile, Charmaine struggles in her first romance and ponders the idea of taking Hollywood by storm. Does she have what it takes to see her name in lights? Only if she can survive the 10th grade. . . .From the Hardcover edition. Views: 47
"Light crept across the snow in the backyard and the snow became blindingly bright—it seemed more than white, seemed more like empty space, like a crisp sheet of paper just fed through the roller of a typewriter."
Adam Golaski spins dark, weird tales in the original sense of the word: uncanny, unearthly, sometimes fantastic and always slightly off-center. These are stories to be savored late at night in bed, read by the light of a single lamp in an empty, dark house. Views: 47
BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Jon Katz's Going Home."Change loves me, defines and stalks me like a laser-guided smart bomb. It comes at me in all forms, suddenly and with enormous impact, from making shifts in work to having and raising a kid to buying a cabin on a distant mountaintop. Sometimes, change comes on four legs." In his popular and widely praised Running to the Mountain, Jon Katz wrote of the strength and support he found in the massive forms of his two yellow Labrador retrievers, Julius and Stanley. When the Labs were six and seven, a breeder who'd read his book contacted Katz to say she had a dog that was meant for him--a two-year-old border collie named Devon, well bred but high-strung and homeless. Katz already had a full canine complement, but instinct overruled reason, and soon thereafter he brought Devon home. A Dog Year: Twelve Months, Four Dogs, and Me is the story of how Devon and Jon--and Julius and... Views: 47
On a spring morning in 1951, eleven-year-old chemist and aspiring detective Flavia de Luce gathers with her family at the railway station, awaiting the return of her long-lost mother, Harriet. Yet upon the train's arrival in the English village of Bishop's Lacey, Flavia is approached by a tall stranger who whispers a cryptic message into her ear. Moments later, he is dead, mysteriously pushed under the train by someone in the crowd. Who was this man, what did his words mean, and why were they intended for Flavia? Back home at Buckshaw, the de Luces' crumbling estate, Flavia puts her sleuthing skills to the test. Following a trail of clues sparked by the discovery of a reel of film stashed away in the attic, she unravels the deepest secrets of the de Luce clan, involving none other than Winston Churchill himself. Surrounded by family, friends, and a famous pathologist from the Home Office--and making spectacular use of Harriet's beloved Gypsy Moth plane, Blithe... Views: 47
From the former senior editor of Rolling Stone and author of The Holy or the Broken, called “thoughtful and illuminating” by The New York Times, a new book on the unlikely coming-to-be of Prince’s now legendary album.Purple Rain is a song, an album, and a film—each one a commercial success and cultural milestone. How did this semi-autobiographical musical masterpiece that blurred R&B, pop, dance, and rock sounds come to alter the recording landscape and become an enduring touchstone for successive generations of fans? Purple Rain is widely considered to be among the most important albums in music history and often named the best soundtrack of all time. It sold over a million copies in its first week and blasted to #1 on the charts, where it would remain for a full six months and eventually sell over 20 million copies worldwide. It spun off three huge hit singles, won Grammys and an Oscar, and took Prince from... Views: 47
Army Captain Walker Larson is shocked when a captivating young woman walks into his office-claiming to be his wife. Unfortunately for Lacy, the handsome Texan didn't know his father bought him a woman in a "wife lottery," and he's not interested in settling down. Crushed, the broken beauty leaves her dreams behind and returns home to Cedar Point. Three years later, it's Lacy who's stunned when Walker shows up on her doorstep. Trading one tour of duty for another, he's been ordered to protect Lacy from an enemy out for revenge. Wanting nothing to do with her errant husband, Lacy is powerless to resist his protection-and passionate kisses. With a flicker of hope, can she forgive the seductive soldier who once drove her away?but now holds the key to her heart? Views: 47
Here is an epic fantasy from the dawn of Creation, from the first worlds, the Bright Worlds. Among them is Irth. And upon Irth, in a realm of wizards, witch queens, and magic, destiny casts shadows into the Gulf and onto the Dark Shore, a universe of blacker magic and deeper mysteries—the greatest of which is Earth.
Irth is a world where magic rules—magic that radiates from the Abiding Star. The nobility, possessors of most of this mystic energy, dwell in floating cities that drift above their realms, plotting against each other for domination.
The nobility cast into the abyss those who fail in their attempts to hold or usurp power. There, the outcasts fall into the cold world of the Dark Shore—onto Earth—whence no one has ever returned. Until now.
Hu’dre Vra, formerly an abject scavenger who found a magical sword but failed to use it wisely, plummeted into the abyss, only to return from the Dark Shore with an awesome new power: black magic. At the head of an army of cacodemons impervious to Irth’s enchantments, Hu’dre Vra the Dark Lord wreaks a terrible vengeance upon the world that exiled him.
But there is resistance to the Dark Lord’s rule of terror. The mysterious, inventive thief Ripcat and his crafty partner Dogbrick form an uneasy and dangerous alliance with the brave young noblewoman Jyoti and her small band of comrades, among whom is her family’s ancient sorcerer, Caval. Together, they all must pit their courage, their wits and their lives against the brutal minions of the Dark Shore.
**About the Author
I write my fiction inside a volcano. The twenty-two novels and two short story collections I've published were all composed in Koko Crater, a dormant cinder cone near my home on the outskirts of Honolulu, Hawai'i. Views: 47
The sudden death of Russia's president has thrown the Russian Federation into chaos. Devastating crop failures have left millions in the grip of famine, and an uprising seems inevitable. One of Russia's provisional leaders asks the American president for help. But the whole world is watching when a deadly terrorist attack stuns the United Statesand evidence points to the Russian government. Amidst the turmoil in Russia, American businessman Roger Gordian finds his multinational corporation and its employees in jeopardy. Determined to find those responsible for the attack, he calls upon his crisis control team to interven. But Gordian doesn't realize how far the terrorists will goand how much he has to lose… Views: 47
The Gingerbreadman: Psychopath, sadist, genius, convicted murderer and biscuit is loose in the streets of Reading. It isn't Jack Spratt's case. He and Mary Mary have been reassigned due to falling levels of nursery crime, and the NCD is once more in jeopardy. That is, until a chance encounter during the Armitage Shanks literary awards at the oddly familiar Deja-Vu Club lead Jack and Mary on the hunt for missing journalist Henrietta 'Goldilocks' Hatchett, star reporter for the Daily Mole. She had been about to break a story involving unexplained explosions in Herefordshire, Pasadena and the Nullabor Plain; The last witness to see her alive were The Three Bears, comfortably living out a life of rural solitude in Andersen's wood. But all is not what it seems. How could the bear's porridge be at such disparate temperature when they were poured at the same time? Was Goldy's death in the nearby 1st World War Themepark of SommeWorld a freak accident? And is it merely chance that the Gingerbreadman pops up at awkward moments? But there's more. What does a missing scientist with a terrifying discovery in subatomic physics, a secret weapon of devastating power, a reclusive industrialist known only as the Quangle-Wangle and Colonel Danvers of the National Security all have in common? Views: 47
A top secret Pentagon wargame is hacked. Only Net Force has the expertise to track down the culprit, but they are tied up with other priorities. Due to shifting budget priorities, Net Force is moved onto the DoD budget. That means that as a military operation, they can now give top priority to the Pentagon's problem. They soon make a connection between the attack and a Chinese general in Macau. But this investigation is too big for Net Force and they are forced to work with members of Cybernation, the virtual reality nation which has opposed Net Force in the past. Views: 47
