On a cruiseship bound for Buenos Aires, a wealthy passenger challenges the world chess champion to a match. He accepts with a sneer. He will beat anyone, he says. But only if the stakes are high. Soon, the chess board is surrounded. At first, the challenger crumbles before the mind of the master. But then, a soft-spoken voice from the crowd begins to whisper nervous suggestions. Perfect moves, brilliant predictions. The speaker has not played a game for more than twenty years, he says. He is wholly unknown. But somehow, he is also entirely formidable… Views: 689
Collects stories featuring such characters as art critic Victor Wulpy, cheeerful and tragic Hattie Waggoner, and death-bed witness Dr. Braun. Views: 689
A man convicted of murdering his wife finds an unlikely champion in this short story by the bestselling author of *The Dante Club.*
Our narrator is a man convicted of first-degree murder with only one person on his side: Ginnifer. After seeing him on TV and becoming obsessed with the case, Ginnifer devotes herself to overturning his sentence. Eventually, Ginnifer's friendship turns into something more--but the closer they become, the more the relationship turns into a prison of its own.
"Ginnifer" by Matthew Pearl is one of 20 short stories within Mulholland Books's Strand Originals series, featuring thrilling stories by the biggest names in mystery from the Strand Magazine archives. View the full series list at mulhollandbooks.com and listen to them all! Views: 689
The Quadroon - Adventures in the Far West is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Mayne Reid is in the English language, and may not include graphics or images from the original edition. If you enjoy the works of Mayne Reid then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. Views: 689
For more than sixty years, the imagination of Ray Bradbury has opened doors into remarkable places, ushering us across unexplored territories of the heart and mind while leading us inexorably toward a profound understanding of ourselves and the universe we inhabit. In this landmark volume, America's preeminent storyteller offers us one hundred treasures from alifetime of words and ideas -- tales that amaze, enthrall, and horrify; breathtaking journeys backward and forward in time; classic stories with the undiminished power to tantalize, mystify, elate, and move the reader to tears. Each small gem in the master's collection remains as dazzling as when it first appeared in print.
There is magic in these pages: the wonders of interstellar flight, a conspiracy of insects, the early bloom of love in the warmth of August. Both the world of Ray Bradbury and its people are vivid and alive, as colorfully unique as a poker chip hand-painted by a brilliant artist or as warmly familiar as the well-used settings on a family's dining room table. In a poor man's desire for the stars, in the twisted night games of a hateful embalmer, in a magnificent fraud perpetrated to banish despair and repair a future, in a writer's wonderful death is the glowing proof of the timeless artistry of one of America's greatest living bards.
The one hundred stories in this volume were chosen by Bradbury himself, and span a career that blossomed in the pulp magazines of the early 1940s and continues to flourish in the new millennium. Here are representatives of the legendary author's finest works of short fiction, including many that have not been republished for decades, all forever fresh and vital, evocative and immensely entertaining. This is Bradbury at his very best -- golden visions of tomorrow, poetic memories of yesterday, dark nightmares and glorious dreams -- a grand celebration of humankind, God's intricate yet poignantly fallible machineries of joy. Views: 689
'This novel is a jewel ... one of those books that enters the soul, which it is impossible not to be conquered by. It is a masterpiece like few others' Huffington PostMiguel and Alicia fall quietly in love as teenagers, walking back from school together. When Lucas - enigmatic, charismatic - arrives, everything changes, and Miguel is certain he has lost Alicia. Yet, against the odds, she marries him. Now, eleven years later, their marriage has begun to fray, and Alicia sets out to see Lucas again. As each member of this strange love triangle tells their side of what happened, an unforgettable story of desire, deception and tragic misunderstanding unfolds. Views: 689
How could a modern day girl like Charlotte ever envisage that magic really exists? Even with her own vivid imagination, the place for other realms belonged in a child’s fairy tale. Or so she thought, until she stumbled across a hidden curio shop. The strange shopkeeper gives her a gift, but this is no ordinary snow globe. The world Charlotte always knew disappears into a mystical land.How could a modern day girl like Charlotte ever envisage that magic really exists? Even with her own vivid imagination, the place for other realms belonged in a child’s fairy tale. Or so she thought, until she stumbled across a hidden curio shop and an even stranger shopkeeper. He gives her a gift that resembles an antique snow dome, but this is not an ordinary globe. The world Charlotte has always known disappears as she’s spirited away into a mystical land.This is the beginning of a lifelong friendship that changes Charlotte’s life forever. Discovered by a young elf alone in the forest, she embarks on a journey in search of a group of travelling Entertainers. She encounters heart-stopping dangers and real life monsters, but a far greater threat shadows her every move. Even the strength and skill of her new found companions cannot protect her against a ruthless druid assassin. But in this realm, Charlotte is not the vulnerable little girl she thought she was. Views: 689
For nearly thirty years, Bill Pronzini has been writing Western stories and novels, yet this is the first time fourteen of his finest short stories are being brought together in book form. Pronzini offers rich variety in every element of his writing. Joining the familiar figures of lawmen, cowhands, and the like, are some seldom featured characters such as bartenders, saddle makers, traveling dentists and tramp printers. His settings run the gamut from a small, mythical town in Montana to the very real Death Valley, and his stories show a similar range: from grim character studies to action, mystery, and farcical humors. Views: 689
Riley loves Henry. Henry loves Riley, but he's dating Callie.Riley Davis is mixed up in an emotional love triangle that she wants out of.Riley loves Henry. Henry loves Riley, but he's dating Callie.Riley Davis is mixed up in an emotional love triangle that she wants out of.But she can't help the way she feels about Henry Garner. She's obsessed. And she's convinced that her on the sly relationship with Henry is going to end badly.And Henry has a secret. A secret that could make or break one relationship. But which one will it be? His relationship with Callie? Or his romantic entanglement with Riley? Views: 689
In Penrod and Sam, the imaginative adventures of Tarkington\'s 10-year-old Penrod Schofield continue. Penrod\'s sidekick is Samuel Williams, and together they improvise, causing general mischief and disorder wherever they go. In picaresque fashion, a fencing battle takes them all through the neighborhood; they narrowly escape serious injury while making boastful demonstrations with a loaded gun; they indulge in dubious "\'nishiation" practices for their secret society; they steal food for the starving horse concealed in the Schofields\' empty stable; they attempt to fish a cat out of a cistern using a pair of trousers; and they cause general chaos at Miss Amy Rennsdale\'s dance. Familiar characters from the earlier Penrod volume -- Maurice Levy, Georgie Basset, Roddy Bitts, Herman and Verman, and Marjorie Jones -- make their appearance in Penrod and Sam. This is a delightfully nostalgic look at Tarkington\'s turn-of-the-century Indiana. Views: 689
Once, Julianna was plain Julie Ann, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who dared to love the son of the town's most powerful family. Gray loved her, too, and married her to give their unborn child a name, but sometimes love isn't enough. Ten years later they meet again. Despite their painful past, both are helpless to deny a love that never died.Former lovers are reunited as a hurricane approaches the island of Oahu.Once, Julianna was plain Julie Ann, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who dared to love the son of the town's most powerful family. Gray loved her, too, and married her to give their unborn child a name, but sometimes love isn't enough. Ten years later they meet again. She is successful, beautiful, and certain that a decade ago he betrayed her, but despite their painful past, both are helpless to deny a love that never died. As secrets are slowly revealed and new and surprising friendships develop with otherrefugees from the storm, the past and present come together in one tumultuous explosion.From Glowing Embers is the first book of a four book series set among four islands in the Pacific. Smoke Screen, Rainbow Fire and Out of the Ashes follow, featuring characters introduced here. Views: 689
A new phenomenon begins.
Created by #1 New York Times bestselling author Tom Clancy
Based on the bestselling video game, this new series will take readers onto the battlefields of World War III with the technical savvy and explosive action that Clancy fans have come to expect. Views: 689
William Henry Devereaux, Jr., spiritually suited to playing left field but forced by a bad hamstring to try first base, is the unlikely chairman of the English department at West Central Pennsylvania University. Over the course of a single convoluted week, he threatens to execute a duck, has his nose slashed by a feminist poet, discovers that his secretary writes better fiction than he does, suspects his wife of having an affair with his dean, and finally confronts his philandering elderly father, the one-time king of American Literary Theory, at an abandoned amusement park.
Such is the canvas of Richard Russo's Straight Man, a novel of surpassing wit, poignancy, and insight. As he established in his previous books -- Mohawk, The Risk Pool, and Nobody's Fool -- Russo is unique among contemporary authors for his ability to flawlessly capture the soul of the wise guy and the heart of a difficult parent. In Hank Devereaux, Russo has created a hero whose humor and identification with the absurd are mitigated only by his love for his family, friends, and, ultimately, knowledge itself.
Unforgettable, compassionate, and laugh-out-loud funny, Straight Man cements Richard Russo's reputation as one of the master storytellers of our time.
From the Hardcover edition. Views: 689
From the New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling author of the Angelology series comes a bewitching gothic novel of suspense that plunges readers into a world of dark family secrets, the mysteries of human genetics, and the burden of family inheritance. It feels like a fairy tale when Alberta "Bert" Monte receives a letter addressed to "Countess Alberta Montebianco" at her Hudson Valley, New York, home that claims she's inherited a noble title, money, and a castle in Italy. While Bert is more than a little skeptical, the mystery of her aristocratic family's past, and the chance to escape her stressful life for a luxury holiday in Italy, is too good to pass up.At first, her inheritance seems like a dream come true: a champagne-drenched trip on a private jet to Turin, Italy; lawyers with lists of artwork and jewels bequeathed to Bert; a helicopter ride to an ancestral castle nestled in the Italian Alps below Mont Blanc; a portrait... Views: 688
