WITH A FOREWORD BY DAVID LODGEWhen inspiration leads Theodore Gumbril to design a type of pneumatic trouser to ease the discomfort of sedentary life, he decides the time has come to give up teaching and seek his fortune in the metropolis. He soon finds himself caught up in the hedonistic world of his friends Mercaptan, Lypiatt and the thoroughly civilised Myra Viveash, and his burning ambitions begin to lose their urgency...Wickedly funny and deliciously barbed, the novel epitomises the glittering neuroticism of the Twenties. Views: 7
One of the most significant novels in Latin American literature, written by Cuba's most important modern novelist - to win a bet with Gabriel Garcia Marquez.In the early 1970s, friends Gabriel García Márquez, Augusto Roa Bastos and Alejo Carpentier reached a joint decision: they would each write a novel about the dictatorships then wreaking misery in Latin America. García Márquez went on to write The Autumn of the Patriarch and Roa Bastos I, the Supreme. The third novel in this remarkable trinity is Reasons of State, hailed asthe most significant novel ever to come out of Cuba. As with Garcia Marquez, Reasons of State is a bold story, boldly told --- daring in its perceptions, rich in lush detail, inventive in prose, and deadly compelling in its suspenseful plot. Inexplicably out of print for years, it tells the tale of the dictator of an unnamed Latin American country who has been living the life of luxury in high-society Paris. When news reaches him of a coup at home, he rushes back and crushes it with brutal military force. But returning to Paris he is given a chilly welcome, and learns that photographs of the atrocities have been circulatingamong his well-to-do friends. Meanwhile World War One has broken out, and another rebellion forces the dictator back across the ocean. As he struggles with the Marxist forces beginning to find footing in his own country, and Europe is devastated, Carpentier constructs a masterful and biting satire of the new world order. Views: 7
A story of love and romance between two lost people in 1950s Britain, from the author of The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner Every morning Pam decides to leave George. Somehow she never quite gets around to it. She's flirted with suicide too, but she doesn't see the point. A woman would have to be mad to kill herself for the sake of George. He's a brute, vain and selfish, with a cruel sense of humor and absolutely no regard for his wife. Someday she will leave him: Why not today? Pam flees to London, where she takes refuge in a lonely, sparsely furnished room. With a twist of her wrist, she turns on the gas and resigns herself to death, only to be rescued by a neighbor. Tom, a former sailor in the Merchant Navy who has just come into a surprise inheritance, is carrying scars of his own. Bound by despair, these two unlikely lovers begin a new life, and together they will find a reason to live This lonely middle-aged... Views: 7
Inspired by the examples of his heroes Herman Melville, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Joshua Slocum, Jack London determined to sail around the world. In April 1907 he sailed from San Francisco in the forty-five-foot ketch Snark, with his wife, Charmian, a skeleton crew, and his writing to keep him company. Beset by seasickness and tropical disease, London wrote incessantly—not only his major autobiographical novel Martin Eden and numerous short stories, but also a series of sketches recording the voyage itself. These entertaining pieces, collected together into the book he called The Cruise of the Snark, reveal London's indefatigable spirit and love of adventure at sea and among the Pacific islands. This edition also includes London's delightful sea pieces "That Dead Men Rise Up Never" and "The Joy of Small-Boat Sailing."For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than... Views: 7
She is a good mother. She will do what she must to ensure that her daughter Diana has a perfect life, just as perfect as the one they've led for the past seven years.No matter who has to die.DOWNFALLThe simplest beginnings can unravel a life. For Sam Capra, it is the moment a beautiful young woman walks into his San Francisco bar.Sam doesn't want trouble. An ex-CIA agent, his only desire now is to build a quiet, peaceful home for himself and his infant son. But Diana Keene is no ordinary customer. She's pursued by two gunmen, and when she finds Sam, she whispers an urgent, desperate plea: "Help me."And without any warning, Sam is thrust into a fight for his life. For Diana is being hunted by a deadly network-a shadowy alliance of select, influential men and women who use their connections, their authority, and their wealth to bend the world to their will. Now, this network aims its relentless fury against the man interfering with their plans to seize a new level of power: Sam Capra.Threatened on all sides, Sam has only one hope to survive the network's all-consuming attack and return to his life with his son....he must destroy the man who owns the people who run the world.Review"Bestseller Abbott packs a lifetime of thrills and suspense into a mere five days...Abbott excels at spinning complex webs of intrigue combining psychological twists and abundant action...Sam is both pawn and knight in an exciting chess game that moves from San Francisco to Portland, Ore.; Denver; Las Vegas; and Chicago." (Publishers Weekly)"Abbott is one of the best thriller writers in the business, and he delivers action and complex characters in an explosive cocktail. The next Capra novel cannot come fast enough." (Associated Press on The Last Minute)"Like Adrenaline, this is a fast-paced thriller with a likable, morally conflicted hero. Sam is in a difficult situation, seemingly forced to commit murder to find his son, and--this is a testament to Abbott's skills as a storyteller--we really don't know whether he will follow through. The book ends on an upbeat note, giving Sam a certain amount of closure. Still, let's hope Abbott isn't through with Sam. He's a very well drawn character, and it would be nice to see him again." (Booklist on The Last Minute)"The Adrenaline rush that won't stop." (San Antonio Express-News)"Twisty, turny, and terrific." (USA TODAY on Adrenaline)"[An] edgy, seat-of-your-pants spy caper." (Entertainment Weekly on Adrenaline)"Outstanding . . . genuinely moving . . . Abbott hits full stride early on and never lets up. Readers who thrive on a relentless narrative pace and a straight line to the finish won't be disappointed." (Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Adrenaline)"Extremely compelling . . . a thriller that will get even the most jaded reader's pulse racing . . . a grand slam home run." (Associated Press on Adrenaline) About the AuthorJeff Abbott is the New York Times-bestselling author of thirteen novels. His books include the Sam Capra thrillers Adrenaline and The Last Minute (winner of an International Thriller Writers Award), as well as the standalone novels Panic, Fear, and Collision. Jeff is a three-time nominee for the Edgar award. He lives in Austin with his family. You can visit his website at www.jeffabbott.com. Views: 7
Longing for a simpler life, wealthy businessman Adam Peece buys a cherry orchard in Michigan. Problem is, he has no idea how to run it! So he asks Eva Marsh to teach him the ropes. Cherries are in Eva's blood. Her family owned the orchard for generations before selling it to Adam. But she doesn't trust people easily, especially tall, dark and handsome city slickers. However, one look into Adam's caring eyes convinces her to give the city boy a chance. Could their working relationship blossom into love before season's end? Views: 7
Twenty years ago, little Brian Arlington was kidnapped from his family’s
Long Island estate and was never seen again. The trail went cold, but investigative
journalist Griff Hadley has always thought there was more to the story—much more. When
the Arlingtons’ patriarch invites him to stay at their estate to research his true crime
book, Griff can’t say no. It’s the story of a lifetime. But not everyone is happy about
Griff’s presence. Relatives and staff alike regard him coldly, including Pierce Mather,
the Arlingtons’ attractive lawyer, who is more than a little wary of Griff’s motives.
When a stranger shows up claiming to be the long-lost Brian, Griff and Pierce are united
in their suspicions. Startled to have found an ally in the buttoned-up lawyer, Griff
soon realizes it’s hard to keep a professional distance. Even in the midst of a
groundbreaking investigation, even in the face of a shocking family
secret... Views: 7
From Kirkus ReviewsG-R-R-I-S-L-Y...by the author of A Splendid Chaos (1988). Horrible as this is, it has redeeming values, one being its warning against addictive pleasures and too much partying. When down-at-heels screenwriter Tom Prentice identifies his ex-wife Amy in the morgue, she's 50 pounds underweight and mutilated. Then when Prentice pitches a banal cop-show to studio head Arthwright, Arthwright is oddly not dismissive of the dumb idea. As we later find out, Arthwright is a kind of astral vampire. Meanwhile, Reverend Garner, a recovering doper/alcoholic who runs a ministry in Oakland, finds that his teenage daughter Constance is missing. She's been kidnapped by Ephram Pixie, a ghoul with astral ties who turns Constance into a pleasure addict by psychic pressure on her pleasure-center brain cells. Ephram likes to have Constance enjoy sex in his presence while she murders folks in nasty ways in motel rooms. Mitch Teitelbaum, the missing young brother of Tom's roommate Jeff, turns up in a hospital after deliberately laying bare his chest muscles and slitting open his leg, among other enjoyable self-injuries, after a strange party. With echoes of The Shining, this all-continuing party takes place at the fenced-in residence of some ageless Malibu film folk and famed party-givers (including Arthwright) who have been living for decades as vampires of pleasure. Their particular pleasure is to extend their snouts like a mosquito's feeding tube and suck out just enough flesh to leave a victim emaciated but still alive. Some of the party guests are themselves in advanced decay but still actively autoerotic. The story's ghastliest effects focus on the wetbones, or victims now a skinless rubble of fresh bones--bones sometimes strapped together with thongs to make wet furniture.... The queasies'll getcha if you don't watch out! -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.Product Description"WETBONES, the acclaimed and viscerally powerful work by John Shirley, is being released for the first time in a new, improved form. *Fully revised and updated edition. First fully-author-approved text ever released. INCLUDES a Brand-New companion story. Never before published. Down -on-his-luck screenwriter Tom Prentice is called to the morgue to identify the body of his ex-wife Amy. She's recognizable--but her body is also 50 pounds underweight, and mutilated. Disturbed, but trying to go on with his life, Prentice pitches a cop-show to studio head Arthwright and is surprised when the exec is interested in the run-of-the-mill idea. Arthwright’s real motives will emerge into hideous view, along with soul-consuming astral creatures camouflaging themselves behind greed, the seduction of Hollywood power—and pleasure. The secret of the Akishra writhes in the background...until it squirms into plain, horrific view. Meanwhile, Reverend Garner, a recovering addict who runs a ministry in Oakland, discovers that his teenage daughter Constance is missing. She has been kidnapped by Ephram Pixie, a ghoulish serial murderer with connections to the cult of the Akishra—Pixie uses psychic pressure to turn Constance into a pleasure addict of the sickest sort. And Mitch Teitelbaum, the missing brother of Tom Prentice's roommate Jeff, ends up in a hospital after deliberately and gruesomely mutilating himself...under the influence of the Akishra. Much of the action spins out from a mysterious, on-going, underground party, which goes on, apparently endlessly, at the fenced-in residence of The More Man and his Malibu film folk, legendary Hollywood Babylon-type partiers, connected with Arthwright, living for decades as psychic vampires feeding on pleasure and the gradual destruction of the human soul. Wetbones is a streetname for victims of their former ally, Ephram Pixie—the residue of his latest sensuous atrocity with Constance, they’re skinless package of freshly bloodied bones... All the storylines come devastatingly together, like wet bones lashed together, in the apocalyptic climax... A contemporary horror tale with Lovecraftian overtones, a subtle message about the horrors of addiction (which may all be inspired and directed by entities from a higher and very nasty plane of existence) and a look at the dark underside of Hollywood written by someone who knows...WETBONES is wrapped in a speed-charged action tale with enough gruesome violence and horrific action to remind readers that John Shirley was recognized from early on as one of the mainsprings of the Splatterpunk movement. The content is very graphic and not for the faint of heart, a glimpse into the abyss only to discover the abyss looking hungrily back." Views: 7
A Westmoreland male always gets what he wants! No one writes sexy like New York Times bestselling author Brenda Jackson! The Denver Westmoreland clan has faced tragedy and survived, and Dillon, the eldest, has always put family first--until one night with Pam has him wanting a family of his own.... Rancher Ramsey knows better than to lust after the hired help, but temptation soon gets the best of him.... Elusive Gemma travels to Australia for a job--and finds herself wooed into her boss's bed! Back in Denver, Derringer searches for the one woman who haunts his dreams--and discovers she's been in his social circle all along. While Jason finds that with one convenient proposal he could have the woman he wants and the land she's inherited. Meet the Denver Westmorelands in five steamy stories of love, loyalty and passion! Westmoreland's Way Hot Westmoreland Nights What a Westmoreland Wants A Wife for a Westmoreland The Proposal... Views: 7
