Richard Ford's Independence Day--his sequel to The Sportswriter, and an international bestseller--is the only novel ever to have received both the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award. Now, with Women With Men, he reaffirms his mastery of shorter fiction with his first collection since the widely acclaimed Rock Springs, published a decade ago.The landscape of Women with Men ranges from the northern plains of Montana to the streets of Paris and the suburbs of Chicago, where Mr. Ford's various characters experience the consolations and complications that prevail in matters of passion, romance and love. A seventeen-year-old boy starting adulthood in the shadow of his parents' estrangement, a survivor of three marriages now struggling with cancer, an ostensibly devoted salesman in early middle age, an aspiring writer, a woman scandalously betrayed by her husband--they each of them contend with the vast distances that exist between... Views: 40
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Chris Colfer comes a gorgeous, full-color fairy-tale treasury.Dear Reader, you hold in your hands a very special book that contains more than thirty-five classic fairy tales and nursery rhymes, plus your very own survival guide to the Land of Stories. If you notice the pages glowing, followed by an inviting humming noise, don't be afraid! That is just the book's magic. But whatever you do, don't lean too far into the book. You never know where you might end up.Enter the world of fairy tales in this stunning illustrated gift book that includes more than thirty-five beloved stories and rhymes retold by #1 New York Times bestselling author Chris Colfer.This gorgeous, full-color companion book to the Land of Stories series will appeal to new and old fans alike, who will delight in favorite classics such as "Cinderella," "Sleeping Beauty," "Little Red Riding Hood," "Jack and the... Views: 40
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.Annja Creed stood in a twelve-foot-deep sacrificial pit beneath a gathering storm. The storm, according to the weather reports, was hours away but promised to be severe. From the look of the skeletons on the floor of the pit and embedded in the walls, hundreds of years had passed since the last sacrifice.The passage of time hadn't made the discovery any less chilling. Even with her experience as an archeologist—and the recent exposures to sudden death that she thought were incited by the mystic sword she'd inherited—she still had to make the conscious mental shift from personal empathy to scientific detachment."Are those human bones?"Annja glanced up and saw Jason Kim standing near the edge of the pit above her. Jason was a UCLA graduate student who'd won a place on Professor Rai's dig along the southern coast of India.Jason was barely over five and a half feet tall and slender as a reed. His long black hair blew in the strong wind summoned by the storm gathering somewhere over the Indian Ocean. Thick glasses covered his eyes, which were bloodshot from staying up too late playing PSP games in his tent. He came from a traditional Chinese family that hated the way he'd so easily acquired American ways. He wore a concert T-shirt and jean shorts. A tuft of whiskers barely smudged his pointed chin."They're human bones," Annja answered."You think they're sacrifice victims?" Jason's immediate interest sounded bloodthirsty, but Annja knew it was only curiosity."I do." Annja knelt and scooped one of the skulls from the loose soil at the bottom of the pit. She indicated the uneven cut through the spine at the base of the skull."Followers of Shakti favored decapitation.""Cool. Can I see that?" Jason held his hands out. Annja only thought for a moment that the skull had once housed a human being. The truth was, in her work, the body left behind was as much a temporary shelter as the homes she unearthed and studied.Jason's field of study was forensic anthropology. His work primarily included what was left of a body. If anyone at the dig could identify the tool marks on the skeleton, it was Jason.Annja tossed the skull up to him.Jason caught the skull in both hands. It didn't bother him that it was so fresh from the grave. His smile went from ear to ear. He rotated the skull in his fingers. "This is the bomb, Annja." "Glad you like it.""Think they'll let me keep one?" he asked.Part of Annja couldn't believe he'd asked the question. The other part of her couldn't believe she hadn't expected it."Definitely not," she answered."Too bad. Put a small, battery-operated red light inside and this thing would be totally rad. I could even have a friend of mine majoring in dentistry whip up some caps for the incisors. I'd be the first guy to have a genuine vampire skull.""Except for the genuine part.And you'd have to explain why the skull doesn't turn to dust in sunlight,"Annja said."Not all vampires turn to dust. You should know that," he replied."Vampires aren't a big part of archaeology." Annja turned her attention back to the other bones. She didn't think she was going to learn a lot from the pit, but there were always surprises."I didn't mean from archaeology," Jason persisted."I mean from your show."Annja sighed. No matter where she went, except for highly academic circles, she invariably ended up being known more for her work on Chasing History's Monsters than anything else. The syndicated television show had gone international almost overnight, and was continuing to do well in the ratings.Scenes from stories she'd done for the show had ended up on magazine covers, on YouTube and other television shows. Her producer, Doug Morrell, never missed an opportunity to promote the show. "You ever watch the show?" Annja looked up at Jason and couldn't believe she was having the conversation with him."Sure. The frat guys go nuts for it. So do the sororities. I mean, DVR means never having to miss a television show again."Terrific, Annja thought. "Kind of divided loyalties, though," Jason said. "The sororities watch you." He shrugged. "Well, most of them do. The frat guys like to watch the show for Kristie."Okay, I really didn't need to hear that, Annja thought. Kristie Chatham, the other hostess of Chasing History's Monsters, wasn't a rival. At least, Annja didn't see Kristie as such. Kristie wasn't an archaeologist and didn't care about history. Or even about getting the facts straight.When Kristie put her stories together, they were strictly for shock value. As a result, Kristie's stories tended to center on werewolves, vampires, serial killers and escaped lab experiments."You can't go into a frat house without finding her new poster," Jason went on."That's good to know," Annja said, then realized that maybe she'd responded a little more coldly than she'd intended."Hey." Jason held his hands up in defense and almost dropped his newly acquired skull. He bobbled it and managed to hang on to it. "I didn't mean anything by that.""No problem," Annja said."I don't know why you don't do a poster," Jason said. "You're beautiful." Maybe if the comment hadn't come from a geeky male in his early twenties who was five years her junior and had a skull under his arm, if she hadn't been covered in dirt from the sacrificial pit and perspiring heavily from the gathering storm's humidity, Annja might have taken solace in that compliment.Dressed in khaki cargo shorts, hiking boots and a gray pullover, she stood five feet ten inches tall and had a full figure instead of the anorexic look favored by so many modeling agencies. She wore her chestnut-brown hair pulled back under a New York Yankees baseball cap. Her startling amber-green eyes never failed to capture attention."I don't do a poster because I don't want to end up on the walls of frat houses," Annja said."Or ceilings," Jason said. "A lot of guys put Kristie's posters on the ceiling."Lightning flashed in the leaden sky and highlighted the dark clouds. Shortly afterward, peals of thunder slammed into the beach.Jason looked up. "Man, this is gonna suck. I hate getting wet.""That's part of the job," Annja told him. "The other part is being too hot, too tired, too claustrophobic and a thousand other discomforts I could name.""I know. But that's only if I stay with fieldwork. I'd rather get a job at a museum. Or in a crime lab working forensics."Annja was disappointed to hear that. Jason Kim was a good student. He was going to be a good forensic anthropologist. She couldn't understand why anyone would choose to stay indoors in a job that could take them anywhere in the world.Lightning flashed again. The wind shifted and swept into the pit where Annja stood. The humidity increased and felt like an impossible burden."I'm gonna go clean this up," Jason said. "Maybe after we batten down the hatches, you can tell me more about who Shakti was."Annja nodded and turned her attention back to the burial site. The storm was coming and there was no time to waste.WITH CAREFUL DELIBERATION, Annja checked the scale representation of the burial pit she'd drawn. So far everything was going easily, but she suspected it was the calm before the storm.The drawing looked good. She'd also backed up the sketch with several captured digital images using her camera. In the old days, archaeologists only had a pad and paper to record data and findings. She liked working that way. It felt as if it kept her in touch with the roots of her chosen field.She stared at the body she'd exhumed. From the flared hips, she felt certain that the bones had been a woman. She resolved to have Jason make the final call on that, though.Lightning flickered and thunder pealed almost immediately after. The storm was drawing closer."Annja."Glancing up, Annja spotted the elfin figure of Professor Lochata Rai, the dig's supervisor. Lochata was only five feet tall and weighed about ninety pounds. She was in her early sixties, but still spry and driven. She wore khakis and looked ready for a trek across the Gobi Desert."It is time for you to rise up out of there. The rain is coming," the professor said.Annja looked past the woman at the scudding clouds that filled the sky. Irritation flared through her at the time she was losing."We must cover this excavation pit," Lochata said."Perhaps it will not rain too hard and we won't lose anything.""I know. This really stinks because we just got down far enough to take a good look at what's here,"Annja said.Lochata squatted at the edge of the pit. She held her pith helmet in her tiny hands over her knees. "You're too impatient.You have your whole life ahead of you, and history isn't going anywhere. This site will be here tomorrow.""I keep telling myself that. But I also keep telling myself that once I finish this I can move on to something else." Annja stowed her gear in her backpack.Lochata shook her head. "You expect to find something exciting and different?""I hope to." Annja pulled her backpack over her shoulder and climbed the narrow wooden ladder out of the pit. "I always hope to.""I do not." Lochata offered her hand as Annja neared the top. "Finding something you did not expect means you didn't do your research properly. It also means extra work and possibly having to call someone else in to verify what you have found."Annja understood that, but she also liked the idea of the new, the undiscovered and the unexpected. Lately, her life had been filled with that. She thought she was growing addicted to it.Once on the ground outside the pit, Annja stood with her arms out from her sides as if she were going to take flight. The wind blew almost hard enough to move her. Perspiration had soaked her clothing."Drink." Lochata held out a water bottle and smiled."Hydrate or die."Annja smiled back and accepted the water. The rule was a basic one for anyone who challenged the elements. She opened the bottle and drank deeply.The dig site was in the jungle fringe that bordered the Indian Ocean. Kanyakumari lay as far south on the Indian con... Views: 40
Former private investigator Cèsar Hawke has one rule: He doesn’t deal with dead bodies. That’s why he enlisted with the Magical Violations Department in the Office of Preternatural Affairs. He’s happy tracking down witches that commit petty crimes, but he leaves the homicides to other agents. Except that he’s been assigned to a new team—a team that handles special investigations—and the job has suddenly changed. Now Cèsar has to deal with dead bodies. He also has to deal with necromancers, murderous cults, and demons that can stop a man’s heart with fear. This isn’t the job he signed up for, but it’s the job he needs to do. If he survives the first week.** Views: 40
First published in 1911, a satiric look at undergraduate life at Oxford recounts the humorous impact of a visit by Zuleika, a beautiful young woman, during Eights Week. Reprint. Views: 40
On November 11, 1997, Veronika decided that the moment to kill herself had—at last!—arrived. She does not die; instead, she wakes up in Villette—the “famous and much-feared lunatic asylum”—only to be told that, having damaged her heart irreparably, she has just a few days to live. What she faces now is a waiting game and the strange world of Villette: the rules and regulations which govern the lives of its inmates and the doctors who treat them. Coelho's question may be a familiar one: crudely, who, or what, is mad? But his fiction is a remarkable, sometimes chilling, response to it. “Everyone has an unusual story to tell” is the starting-point of the new treatment initiated at Villette by the enigmatic Dr Igor; it's also the insight from which this book takes off to explore the impact of a “slow, irreparable death” on a young woman and the mad men and women around her. Views: 40
A thousand years ago, two young lovers were betrayed—Alger Waterlow to his death, and Hanalea, Queen of the Fells, to a life without love. Now, once again, the Queendom of the Fells seems likely to shatter apart. For young queen Raisa ana’Marianna, maintaining peace even within her own castle walls is nearly impossible; tension between wizards and Clan has reached a fevered pitch. With surrounding kingdoms seeking to prey on the Fells’ inner turmoil, Raisa’s best hope is to unite her people against a common enemy. But that enemy might be the person with whom she's falling in love.Through a complicated web of lies and unholy alliances, former streetlord Han Alister has become a member of the Wizard Council of the Fells. Navigating the cut-throat world of blue blood politics has never been more dangerous, and Han seems to inspire hostility among Clan and wizards alike. His only ally is the queen, and despite the perils involved, Han finds it impossible to ignore his feelings for Raisa. Before long, Han finds himself in possession of a secret believed to be lost to history, a discovery powerful enough to unite the people of the Fells. But will the secret die with him before he can use it? A simple, devastating truth concealed by a thousand-year-old lie at last comes to light in this stunning conclusion to the Seven Realms series. Views: 40
Antiques dealer Rei Shimura has managed to snag one of the most lucrative and prestigious jobs of her career: a renowned museum in Washington, D.C., has invited her to exhibit her kimonos and give a lecture on them. Accompanied by a gaggle of Japanese office ladies bent on a week of shopping, Rei lands in the capital. But her big break could ultimately break her. Within hours one of the kimonos is stolen, and then Rei's passport is discovered in a shopping mall dumpster—on the dead body of one of the Japanese tourists. Trouble is only beginning, though, for now Rei's parents have arrived and so has her ex-boyfriend. To track down the kimono and unmask a killer, Rei's got to do some clever juggling, fast talking, and quick sleuthing, or this trip home could be her last.Amazon.com ReviewSujata Massey's lively bicultural series featuring Rei Shimura, the Tokyo antique dealer who can't seem to keep out of trouble, brings her heroine back to her American roots in this engaging tale of corruption and chicanery in the museum exhibition game. Rei is unexpectedly invited to accompany a treasure trove of antique kimonos to a Washington, D.C., museum and to deliver a couple of lectures on the cultural history of the gorgeous garments. A last-minute decision to substitute a priceless wedding kimono for one that's too fragile to travel sets in motion a chain of events that lands Rei in serious peril.When Rei's former boyfriend, Scottish attorney Hugh Glendinning, turns up at the Washington museum, she's caught up in a romantic crisis, having just settled into a new relationship with Takeo Kayama, the Japanese playboy she met two books ago (in The Flower Master). But that dilemma is soon eclipsed by the theft of the wedding kimono, which was uninsured, and by the disappearance of Rei's seatmate on the flight from Japan. When the seatmate's dead body and Rei's passport and tickets turn up in a Washington dumpster, Rei is suspected of murder, larceny, and even prostitution. Through all this, Massey does a nice job of imparting a wealth of fascinating information on the kimono tradition.Rei gets more appealing with every outing, and in this one Massey ratchets up the romantic tension and action--maybe because Rei's in a country that's more obsessed with sex than with tradition. Nicely plotted, well characterized, and carefully crafted, this may be Massey's best yet. --Jane AdamsFrom Publishers WeeklyIn this fast, easy-to-follow story filled with fascinating information on Japanese culture from Edgar-nominee and Agatha Award-winner Massey (The Salaryman's Wife), hot-tempered, hot-blooded, Japanese-American Rei Shimura agrees to courier a priceless collection of Edo-period (1615-1857) kimono from a distinguished Tokyo museum to a temporary exhibition in the equally prestigious Museum of Asian Arts in Washington, D.C. To save money, the California-born Shimura, who lives and sells antiques in Tokyo, joins a tour group of women headed for the shopping malls of greater Washington. In the U.S., the plot thickens when someone steals a bridal kimono, uchikake, and a Japanese tourist turns up murdered. The police initially identify the victim as Shimura, but later suspect the sexy Japanese-American antiques dealer is part of a prostitution ring. Further complications arise with the arrival of Shimura's current Japanese boyfriend and her parents, as well as the re-entry into her life of her American ex-lover. Close attention to background both large (recognizable locations in Washington and northern Virginia) and small (the designer clothes the heroine receives from her mother) helps fix the novel solidly in the real world. But it is the romantic suspense and the multicultural details of customs and attitudes of East and West that will keep most readers turning the pages of this absorbing, sophisticated mystery. Agent, Ellen Geiger. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Views: 40
One of Jane Austen's best-loved books is Persuasion, and of the characters in it, among the most popular are Sophy and Admiral Croft, dashing Frederick Wentworth's sister and brother-in-law.In this short novel, Sherwood Smith takes a look at what the Wentworths' lives might have been like before they met the Elliots, and Sophy's view of Anne Elliot's and Frederick Wentworth's stormy relationship—and how she might have had a hand in bringing about that happy ending. Views: 39
In Edmund White's most moving novel yet, an American living in Paris finds his life transformed by an unexpected love affair. Austin Smith is pushing fifty, loveless and drifting, until one day he meets Julien, a much younger, married Frenchman. In the beginning, the lovers' only impediments are the comic clashes of culture, age, and temperament. Before long, however, the past begins to catch up with them. In a desperate quest to save health and happiness, they move from Venice to Key West, from Montreal in the snow to Providence in the rain. But it is amid the bleak, baking sands of the Sahara that their love is pushed to its ultimate crisis. Views: 39
