Set in San Francisco and environs during the Civil War, it introduces Fergus O'Hara, the most roguish new detective in years, and his equally-engaging wife Hattie. Their first case is a complicated and wacky one. Among other people, places and things, it involves a corpulent financial speculator named Horace T. Goatleg, an insane parrot, a one-eyed man addicted to hoarhound drops, a suave gambler addicted to women, a boisterous Irish militia company known as the Mulrooney Guards, the San Francisco Volunteer Fire Department, a keg of beer, a careless footpad, the crew of the riverboat Freebooty, the Freebooty herself, two murders, a gold robbery, several assorted chases, what may literally be termed a bang-up finale on St. Patrick's Day morning, and, for good measure, a couple of bonus surprises. Views: 578
A starlet comes to Reno to start a new life—and end her old one forever
Sylvia Shoreham’s Hollywood dreams came true long ago. Critically beloved for her beauty, talent, and style, she was on her way to international stardom when a bad contract committed her to seven years of trashy comedies and half-baked melodramas. Her marriage to her producer husband has become a rotten, loveless sham, so Sylvia’s silver screen life verges on a nightmare. To escape her celluloid hell, she’s got only one option: Forget Hollywood. It’s time for a Reno vacation. She comes to Nevada hoping for a divorce from her husband, Vicki, and an end to her contract, but the ugly side of the business follows her. To protect herself from Vicki, she enlists Nevada’s biggest Sylvia Shoreham fan. He’s six feet tall, strong as a mule, and just happens to be Reno’s sheriff. When her divorce turns into a war, this Hollywood icon will be glad to have him on her side. Views: 578
Each in turn may call this a fairy story, a dog story, an allegory or a satire, but all will be moved by the beauty and the meaning--a beauty and a meaning that seems to live within the realm of those books that go on and on making friends and spreading enchantment. Gissing, its hero, is a dog who searches the world for an ideal, and then finds in the smoke of his own furnace fire a hint of the heavenly blue that he had been seeking. Views: 578
At the end of the eighteenth century, all of Europe is at war.
In Palermo, sixteen-year-old singer-in-training Anna Maria Ludovisi is married by her dying father to Captain Henry Duncannon, the Perennial Bachelor. Mere minutes after the wedding he sets sail.
The threat of French invasion causes Anna to flee to Paris. At the end of the Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte is transforming France; Anna must transform herself into a professional singer in order to survive.
in 1805, Anna's opera company is traveling through Spain when events bring the long-missing Captain Duncannon and his forgotten wife back together again, as the English, Spanish, and French fleets converge for battle off the Cape of Trafalgar.
For Henry Duncannon as well as Anna, everything changes: the demands of war, the obligation of family, the meaning of love, and the concept of home. Can they find a new life together? Views: 578
In Christopher Moore\'s ingenious debut novel, we meet one of the most memorably mismatched pairs in the annals of literature. The good-looking one is one-hundred-year-old ex-seminarian and "roads" scholar Travis O\'Hearn. The green one is Catch, a demon with a nasty habit of eating most of the people he meets. Behind the fake Tudor facade of Pine Cove, California, Catch sees a four-star buffet. Travis, on the other hand, thinks he sees a way of ridding himself of his toothy traveling companion. The winos, neo-pagans, and deadbeat Lotharios of Pine Cove, meanwhile, have other ideas. And none of them is quite prepared when all hell breaks loose. Views: 578
Jaguin is one of the finest trackers on Valdier. To date, there is only one thing he has never been successful at finding – his true mate. That failure is eating away at him and his dragon. Even his symbiot is feeling the drain as the centuries crawl by with no end to the emptiness gnawing away at them. Hope flares with the discovery of a species that is compatible with their own. The Lords of Valdier have found their true mates on a distant planet bringing hope to the warriors of Valdier where females are few and true mates almost non-existent.
Jaguin is rewarded for his help in tracking one of the Lord’s stubborn females with the promise of a chance to find his own true mate on the planet called Earth. His search appears fruitless until the last mission before they are to leave.
Sara Wilson is a botanist working with the Columbiana University. Her love for plants and their potential for medicinal uses consume her life. She feels confident she is on the verge of a break-through when she is kidnapped by a cartel boss with only one thing on his mind – to extract revenge. A revenge that not only comes close to taking her life but will change it forever.
After a fruitless search for his mate, Jaguin’s accepts one last assignment to guard Lord Creon’s mate, Carmen, during a mission to seek justice against the man who brutally murdered her husband back on Earth. Instead, he finds his true mate in the man’s cruel clutches, barely clinging to life. His only thought is to spirit her away where he and his symbiot can heal her and his dragon can claim her.
The scars left during her captivity run deep inside Sara as she struggles to come to terms with her new life. She is no longer on Earth but the fear and terror still haunt her. She needs time to discover who she is again and whether this is a life she can accept.
Can Jaguin’s love heal the scars on the inside or will his true mate believe she has traded one monster for another? Views: 578
In a world where everyone has power, Nikodemus Kowalczyk was always destined to be a loser.Niko has long since given up on his dreams of being a world class Battle Artist. Thanks to his damaged core and crazy family, he never stood a chance anyway. With money, fame, and untold power on the line, the corporations decide who wins. End of story.But when a mysterious group, calling themselves the Sages of the Underpass, threaten to upend the entire system with their unorthodox training and cultivation methods, Nikko soon learns that what was once a handicap might be his greatest asset. The only thing standing in his way is a bitter, hard-hearted veteran, who would like nothing more than to see Niko stay in his place. Right at the bottom.Rocky meets Dragon Ball Z in this underdog redemption story from Dragon Award Finalist Aaron Michael Ritchey. Sages of the Underpass is an epic blend of Urban Fantasy, Cultivation, and Magical MMA that captures the passion, the power, and the perseverance it takes to follow your dreams—no matter what kind of artist you are. Views: 578
“Every time I think I’m out, they pull me back in.”- Michael Corleone, The Godfather
Freed from jail, Anya hopes that things will get back to normal. But life on the outside is even more dangerous than life behind bars. Some of her gangland family want revenge for the crime for which she has done time: the shooting of her uncle. Forced to flee the country, Anya hides out in a cacao plantation in Mexico. There she learns the secrets of the chocolate trade, a trade that is illegal and deadly in her native New York. There too she discovers that seemingly random acts of violence carried out across the world have a single target: her family. As innocent bystanders get caught in the crossfire Anya must act fast and decisively to stop it, no matter what the danger to herself. Views: 578
The woman in the picture was so young she looked like a child. Her hair was loose, eyes wide, blue T-shirt stark against the pale lines of arching collarbones. I felt the air leave me in a quiet rush. Not because of the way the photo captured her fleeting youth, but because of the way it highlighted the bruise.
It was a photo of me.
Rachel Price has just one happy memory from her childhood: the moment her father took her hands while playing outside on a cold, snowy day and called her his angel. It was a rare and sacred moment in her young life, one in which she finally felt safe, loved, and protected.
But it didn’t last long.
Years later, Rachel’s daughter is the only light in what has become a dark life. Rachel repeats the patterns she learned as a child and exposes her own daughter to those same destructive behaviors. Consumed by an abusive marriage, but secure in the safety of the familiar, she is too afraid to escape.
Rachel accepts what her life has become, even as she makes excuses for those who keep her in a constant state of despair and regret. But then, an unexpected phone call from an old friend changes everything. Her ordered world is turned upside down as she’s set on a journey that might be her last chance to salvage the life she’d given up on long ago.
While new friendships tentatively blossom, Rachel realizes that everything she once believed may be nothing but lies and misunderstandings. But knowing the truth is not as easy as it seems. Sometimes ignorance truly is bliss. As the snow falls and the promise of Christmas redemption nears, Rachel begins to see her entire childhood in a brand-new light and must now decide what her future holds—and what her past really means. Will knowing the truth set her free, or will it condemn her to a life full of regret and “what ifs”?
The Snow Angel is a poignant tale about family, forgiveness, and the freedom to live a future free of the past. Views: 577
From the bestselling author of The God of Small Things comes a scathing and passionate indictment of big government's
disregard for the individual.
In her Booker Prize-winning novel, The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy turned a compassionate but unrelenting eye on one family in India. Now she lavishes the same acrobatic language and fierce humanity on the future of her beloved country. In this spirited polemic, Roy dares to take on two of the great illusions of India's progress: the massive dam projects that were supposed to haul this sprawling subcontinent into the modern age--but which instead have displaced untold millions--and the detonation of India's first nuclear bomb, with all its attendant Faustian bargains.
Merging her inimitable voice with a great moral outrage and imaginative sweep, Roy peels away the mask of democracy and prosperity to show the true costs hidden beneath. For those who have been mesmerized by her vision of India, here is a sketch, traced in fire, of its topsy-turvy society, where the lives of the many are sacrificed for the comforts of the few. Views: 577
Hailed as “a combination of Eloise and Sherlock Holmes” by The Boston Globe, Flavia de Luce returns in a much anticipated new Christmas mystery from award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Alan Bradley.
In spite of being ejected from Miss Bodycote’s Female Academy in Canada, twelve-year-old Flavia de Luce is excited to be sailing home to England. But instead of a joyous homecoming, she is greeted on the docks with unfortunate news: Her father has fallen ill, and a hospital visit will have to wait while he rests. But with Flavia’s blasted sisters and insufferable cousin underfoot, Buckshaw now seems both too empty—and not empty enough. Only too eager to run an errand for the vicar’s wife, Flavia hops on her trusty bicycle, Gladys, to deliver a message to a reclusive wood-carver. Finding the front door ajar, Flavia enters and stumbles upon the poor man’s body hanging upside down on the back of his bedroom door. The only living creature in the house is a feline that shows little interest in the disturbing scene. Curiosity may not kill this cat, but Flavia is energized at the prospect of a new investigation. It’s amazing what the discovery of a corpse can do for one’s spirits. But what awaits Flavia will shake her to the very core.
Acclaim for Alan Bradley’s beloved Flavia de Luce novels, winners of the Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger Award, Barry Award, Agatha Award, Macavity Award, Dilys Award, and Arthur Ellis Award Views: 577
Baghdad falls . . . and armed men are seen looting the city zoo. Amid a hail of bullets, a concealed underground lab is ransacked--and something horrific is set loose upon the world.
Seven years later, Louisiana state veterinarian Lorna Polk investigates an abandoned shipwrecked fishing trawler carrying exotic caged animals, part of a black market smuggling ring. But there is something disturbingly wrong with these beasts--each an unsettling mutation of the natural order, all sharing one uncanny trait: incredibly heightened intelligence.
Joining forces with U.S. Border Patrol Agent Jack Menard--a man who shares with her a dark and bloody past--Lorna sets out to uncover the truth about this strange cargo and the terrorist threat it poses. Because a beast escaped the shipwreck and is running amok--and what is about to be born upon the altar of Eden could threaten not only the future of the world but the very foundation of what it means to be human. Views: 577
Sam Fisher must save one man’s life to save his own country.
Eccentric billionaire Igor Kasperov owns one of the most influential and successful anti-virus software companies in the world. But when the Kremlin orders him to unleash a catastrophic computer virus against the United States, he is forced to flee for his life.
Sam Fisher and Fourth Echelon are charged with finding Kasperov and presenting the American president’s offer for political asylum. Because there are others looking for Kasperov. And the only thing they will offer him is a swift death…
AN ALL-NEW ADVENTURE FEATURING SAM FISHER
Based on Ubisoft’s bestselling game,
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell® Views: 577
Definitive collection of the short fiction of an Australian master-storyteller who is in a league of his own.
**Stories from a mind-bending Australian master, "a genius on the level of Beckett" (Teju Cole)**
Never before available to readers in this hemisphere, these stories--originally published from 1985 to 2012--offer an irresistible compendium of the work of one of contemporary fiction's greatest magicians.
While the Australian master Gerald Murnane's reputation rests largely on his longer works of fiction, his short stories stand among the most brilliant and idiosyncratic uses of the form since Borges, Beckett, and Nabokov. Brutal, comic, obscene, and crystalline, *Stream System* runs from the haunting "Land Deal," which imagines the colonization of Australia and the ultimate vengeance of its indigenous people as a series of nested dreams; to "Finger Web," which tells a quietly terrifying, fractal tale of the scars of war and the roots of misogyny; to "The Interior of Gaaldine," which finds its anxious protagonist stranded beyond the limits of fiction itself.
No one else writes like Murnane, and there are few other authors alive still capable of changing how--and why--we read. Views: 577
