Engaged to a decent but unexceptional man, Isbel Loment, leads an empty life, moving with her aunt from hotel to hotel. She is perverse and prickly with untapped resources of character and sensibility. They explore by chance a strange house and there Isbel meets Judge, its owner; a profoundly disturbing relationship develops and it is from this that the drama unfolds. Views: 47
These sixteen stories by the much-celebrated Alix Ohlin illuminate the connections between all of us—connections we choose to break, those broken for us, and those we find and make in spite of ourselves.Review“Smart, satisfying, surprising stories. Ohlin has a big, calm, seductive talent.” —Joy Williams“Ohlin has a marvelous will to explore and it’s clear that she’s in complete command of her art. These stories are smart, tough, deeply felt and beautifully delivered, without one wasted word. Signs and wonders, all right. I’ve seldom come upon a book so aptly titled for what’s inside, page to page.” —Richard Bausch“Nothing short of marvelous. Olin writes like an Old Master, with confidence and clarity, a steady hand. She is immensely gifted, and every story here is a lucid chunk of reality—the flesh made word.” – Jay Parini“With an emotional intelligence that is nearly telepathic and a great storyteller’s knack for riveting your attention from the opening line, Ohlin makes us understand that beneath everything that drives and distracts us there is, first and foremost, the struggle to love. She is a ferocious talent, a writer not only to watch but also to admire.” —Adam Ross“I love the way Alix Ohlin’s stories teach us, with wit and tenderness, about those grown-up selves we don’t recognize; about the way our failures make us adults; and about how powerfully relieved we are to understand that, despite everything, our hearts can still move.” —Jim Shepard“Ohlin’s stories are gripping from the get-go, and they don’t turn you loose. On virtually every page she surprised me and, more times than I could count, put a lump in my throat. She is one spectacular writer, and this is a beautiful book.” —Steve Yarbrough"Unputdownable: crisp, focused, lovely, and lasting. . . . Sixteen stories about connectedness—between friends, families, and lovers—and the predicaments that come from navigating those relationships. Ohlin's characters are so genuine you'll be reminded of people you know, love, and hate. For better or worse, you may even see yourself in these pages." —*Marie Claire “Alix Ohlin working at the top of her powers… showing us in a remarkably mature and flat-out realistic style a new series of twists and turns in the lives of quite ordinary people – school teachers, women on the rebound, married folks and divorced folks, travelers, home bodies… There closely worked stories about life on earth – they soar.” —Alan Cheuse, NPR“Calling all fans of Lorrie Moore, Deborah Eisenberg, and Robin Black: You have a new favorite writer [with a] deliciously addictive collection.” – Sheila Anne Fenney, Newark Star-Ledger“Alix Ohlin’s wondrously engrossing Inside and Signs and Wonders display her characteristic strengths—dynamic plots, keenly observed settings, and characters so idiosyncratic, ambivalent, and contradictory they could be your family, your neighbors, people you work with…..She has a rare gift for examining the confusions of the 21st century, exploring the ways in which addictions, afflictions, attractions, and random impulses shape our lives. Her intense and beautifully shaped new novel and stories offer tentative yet illuminating answers.” – Jane Ciabattari, The Boston Globe“Ohlin’s a master at drawing a character, a skill even more evident in the short story form, [and] she’s got a surgeon’s hand with the fine points of relationship dissection… Signs and Wonders makes me want to say to you, dear reader, one simple thing: Read this!” —Ian McGillis, Montreal Gazette“Impressive… With enjoyably mordant humour and a surgical hand with relationship dissection… Ohlin crafts stories with consistent excellence.” —Brett Josef Grubisic, National Post*“One of the best story collections I’ve read in a decade… tough, original, funny and tragic, all at once.” —William McKeen, Creative Loafing Tampa About the AuthorAlix Ohlin is the author of The Missing Person, a novel, and Babylon and Other Stories. Her work has appeared in Best American Short Stories, Best New American Voices, and on NPR’s “Selected Shorts.” Born and raised in Montreal, she teaches at Lafayette College and in the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers. Views: 47
A celebrated winner of fiction's Orange Prize, Helen Dunmore is as spellbinding a storyteller in her poetry as in her novels. As in her fiction, these haunting narratives draw us into darkness, engaging our fears and hopes in poetry of rare luminosity. Her poems also cast a bright, revealing light on the living world, by land and sea, on love, longing and loss. "Out of the Blue" presents a comprehensive selection from her seven previous books of poetry. It also includes a collection of completely new poemsremarkable for their sensuous magic, sharp delicacy and sureness of touch. Views: 47
We are all strangers in a strange land, longing for home, but not quite knowing what or where home is. We glimpse it sometimes in our dreams, or as we turn a corner, and suddenly there is a strange, sweet familiarity that vanishes almost as soon as it comes... –Madeleine L'Engle, from The Rock That Is HigherStory captures our hearts and feeds our imaginations. It reminds us who we are and where we came from. Story gives meaning and direction to our lives as we learn to see it as an affirmation of God's love and truth–an acknowledgment of our longing for a rock in the midst of life's wilderness.Drawing upon her own experiences, well-known tales in literature, and selected narratives from Scripture, Madeleine L'Engle gently leads the way into the glorious world of story in The Rock That Is Higher. Here she acknowledges universal human longings and considers how literature, Scripture, personal stories, and life experiences all point us toward our... Views: 47
Their spies were among us for years. They mapped our electrical infrastructure, learned our weaknesses, until finally they flipped the switch and threw us back into the Dark Ages.Only OMBRA and its battalions around the world seem capable of defending Earth from the next wave of attackterraforming. But at what price can we gain our freedom from these yet to be identified aliens? They're pushing the human race to the edge of extinction if we can't find a way to change things. But what will we have to change? What will we humans become to survive this threat. This is a time for heroes. For killers. For Grunts. Benjamin Carter Mason will be asked this question over and over as he dives deep into the nasty heart of an alien transformed Los Angeles. And in the end, he might be the last person on Earth defending not just our lives, but our humanity. Views: 47
"I love the way Alice Hoffman creates the most ordinary people and then turns their lives magical. . . . [Nightbird] is like reentering a wonderful dream that you vaguely remember." --Lois Lowry, two-time Newbery Medal--winning author of The GiverIn her first novel for middle-grade readers , bestselling author Alice Hoffman tells a bewitching story of love and friendship that is truly magical.Twig lives in Sidwell, where people whisper that fairy tales are real. After all, her town is rumored to hide a monster. And two hundred years ago, a witch placed a curse on Twig's family that was meant to last forever. But this summer, everything will change when the red moon rises. It's time to break the spell.What Other Authors Are Saying"I loved Nightbird. Such a clever mix of fantasy and reality; the fantasy is so persuasively meshed with the story that the reader accepts everything. Alice Hoffman enters brilliantly into the... Views: 47
The last thing Jason West, ambitious FBI special agent with the Art Crimes Team wants — or needs — is his uncertain and unacknowledged romantic relationship with legendary Behavioral Analysis Unit Chief Sam Kennedy.And it seems like Sam is unsold on the idea as well.But personal feelings must be put aside when Sam requests Jason's help in order to catch a deranged killer targeting wealthy, upscale art collectors. Views: 47
In book two of the House of Robots series, it's 'bot brains versus 'bot brawn in an all-out war!Sammy Hayes-Rodriguez and his "bro-bot" E are making new friends every day as E works as his bedridden sister Maddie's school proxy. But disaster strikes when E malfunctions just in time to be upstaged by the super-cool new robot on the block—and loses his ability to help Maddie. Now it's up to Sammy to figure out what's wrong with E and save his family! Views: 47
A hard-hitting and inspirational novel about the redemption of a bully from international icon 50 Cent Thirteen-year-old Butterball takes readers on a journey through the moments that made him into the playground bully he is today. Loosely inspired by 50 Cent's own adolescence and written with his teenage son in mind, Playground received wide critical praise—and is now poised to become a perennial classic. Views: 47
Praise for Allison Adelle Hedge Coke:"These are the songs of righteous anger and utter beauty."—Joy HarjoFrom "Carcass":Split skin stretched over marrowless cage,encased dry tomb, like those strewnthrough this loess reach, cradling pastever present here, and now you comewalking riverside, bringing sensory thrillinto daylight much like this cervidaeculled morning each waking beforedemise. We move this way, catching lifeuntil death captures us, where we rotinto the same dust holding multitudesbefore us, and welcoming those beyond.Allison Adelle Hedge Coke is a poet, writer, performer, editor, and activist. Views: 47
