The new Gene Wolfe fantasy novel is told entirely in a series of letters. Only Wolfe could have made this so gripping, a surprising page-turner of a book.In a contemporary town in the American midwest where he has no connections, an educated man recently released from prison is staying in a motel. He writes letters to his brother and to others, including a friend still in jail. When he meets a real estate agent who tells him he is the heir to a huge old house, long empty, he moves in, though he is too broke even to buy furniture. He is immediately confronted by supernatural and fantastic creatures and events.
In a contemporary town in the American midwest where he has no connections, Bax, an educated man recently released from prison, is staying in a motel. He writes letters to his brother and to others, including a friend still in jail, to whom he progressively reveals the intriguing pieces of a strange and fantastic narrative. When he meets a real estate agent who tells him he is, to his utter surprise, the heir to a huge old house in town, long empty, he moves in. He is immediately confronted by an array of supernatural creatures and events, by love and danger. His life is utterly transformed and we read on, because we must know more. We revise our opinions of him, and of others, with each letter, piecing together more of the story as we go. We learn things about magic, and another world, and about the sorcerer Mr. Black, who originally inhabited the house. And then knowing what we now know only in the end, perhaps we read it again.
The main attraction of the novel is the zaniness, the flow of non-stop action that twists and turns and the "what weirdness will come next?" that continues almost to the end. Once the major revelations are done and we seem to achieve closure, the novel takes one more unexpected turn and ends with a superb epilogue that makes one reread at least the last half of the book.
"The Sorcerer's House" is a strong A that will entertain and enchant as long as you do not question it too much, but accept its premise and just turn the pages and get immersed into it. Views: 33
The Widow's Surprise Baby When Annie Marshall discovers just weeks after her husband's death that she's carrying his baby, her sadness turns to hope. Scared of facing this all on her own, she reluctantly accepts the help of her husband's best friend, Matthew Zelinsky. The kiss they shared after the funeral was just two friends comforting each other—or so she tells herself. Yet spending time together makes them wonder if what they feel is more than friendship. When people in town start raising eyebrows and her business begins to suffer from the gossip, Annie must decide if loving Matthew is worth the risk. Views: 33
In which we learn of the further adventures of Rackhir the Red Archer and other heroes and places Elric has hitherto encountered only in what he chooses to consider, his dreams... Views: 33
Uncovered along with Crazy Cock in 1988 by Miller biographer Mary V. Dearborn, Moloch emerged from the misery of Miller's years at Western Union and from the squalor of his first marriage. Set in the rapidly changing New York City of the early twenties, its hero is the rough-and-tumble Dion Moloch, a man filled with anger and despair. Trapped in a demeaning job, oppressed by an acrimonious home life, Moloch escapes to the streets only to be assaulted by a world he despises even more a Brooklyn transformed into a shrill medley of ethnic sights, sounds, and smells. The antagonized Moloch strikes out blindly at everything he hates, battling against a world whose hostility threatens to overwhelm and destroy him. Views: 33
Heather Wells is used to having her cake and eating it too, but this time her cake just might be cooked. Her wedding cake, that is.With her upcoming nuptials to PI Cooper Cartwright only weeks away, Heather's already stressed. And when a pretty junior turns up dead, Heather's sure things can't get worse--until every student in the dorm where she works is a possible suspect, and Heather's long-lost mother shows up.Heather has no time for a tearful mother and bride reunion. She has a wedding to pull off and a murder to solve. Instead of wedding bells, she might be hearing wedding bullets, but she's determined to bring the bad guys to justice if it's the last thing she does . . . and this time, it just might be. Views: 33
Eliza and Martha are sisters. But that's where the similarity ends.Martha appears to have the perfect life: two lovely children and plenty of money. Eliza lives in a one-bedroom flat with her musician boyfriend Greg. When Eliza ditches Greg and turns up on her sister's doorstep, she expects to be swallowed into the sanctuary of Martha's warm loving home. But Martha's husband has just announced he's leaving. For good. Proving to both women that a wedding ring isn't a life raft.Then Martha meets Jack, who is everything she's never wanted, whilst Eliza is dating dozens of men in hope of finding the perfect husband. Suddenly the sisters are faced with the same challenge- is there such as thing as the perfect love? or the perfect life? Views: 33
A Moving Fable For Readers Of All Ages -- From National Book Critics Circle Award-Winning Author Reynolds PriceBen Barks loved elephants long before he'd seen one. He sometimes wondered how that love started....It's been a whole year since Ben's mother died, and nothing has soothed his broken heart -- except thinking about elephants, those magnificent creatures his mother loved too. Imagining their awesome grace always calms him in a way that his sad father and closest friends never can. When a one-ring circus comes to Ben's small town, he discovers Sala, an elephant who survived a wicked trainer's abuses. And soon, their powerful bond becomes a miraculous healer -- and gives Ben renewed hope for the future. Views: 33
Darkest Star Saga 1 Enari has never made a choice between fight or flight, it is fight all the way, even when she is given to a race of warriors as their Warlord’s prize. A stranger to her own people, Enari has never felt that she had a place on Fennar. When the lottery destines her to be a bride of the Asku, she makes her displeasure known, even though her battle against a security unit has a predictable ending. Wounded and bleeding, she doesn’t consider herself a prime candidate for a mate, but the wife of the Overlord, and mother of Warlord Drion, has other ideas. Enari has all the characteristics of a prime female and as soon as the Warlord Drion returns from battle, he will claim his prize. Views: 33
The restored, unbowdlerized text of Raspe's slapstick travel epic featuring the classic illustrations from Strang & Clark (1895) No one has journeyed to as many foreign lands as Baron von Munchausen. Nor, when it comes time to fire a cannon, will you find anyone more accurate. The comfort of courtly life is as natural to him as the harshest polar desert. On the subject of politics and science he has no equal. And all discussion of the moon must start and stop with the only man who has ever been there. His feats of prowess are famed the world over. Who else could leap a hedgerow with a carriage and horse on their back? No one. And then of course there are the bears. . . My god the poor bears! Written at a time when science was replacing religion, and explorers were mapping the globe, and in our own time made into an acclaimed movie by Terry Gilliam, The Travels and Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen unleashed the quintessential... Views: 33
