"It is the height of Spain's celebrated golden century - but beyond the walls of the Royal Palace there is little on the streets of Madrid that glitters. The Invincible Armada has been defeated. The shadow of the Inquisition looms large. And the Thirty Years' War rages on in Flanders. When a courageous soldier of this war, Captain Diego Alatriste, is forced to retire after being wounded in battle, he returns home to live the comparatively tame - though hardly quiet - life of a swordsman-for-hire. In this dangerous city where a thrust of steel settles all matters, there is no stronger blade than Alatriste's." The captain is approached with an offer of work that involves giving a scare to some strangers soon to arrive in Madrid. But on the night of the attack, it becomes clear that these aren't ordinary travelers - and that someone is out for their blood. What happens next is the first in a series of riveting twists, with implications that will reverberate throughout the courts of Europe
"No era el hombre más honesto ni el más piadoso, pero era un hombre valiente"... Con estas palabras empieza El capitán Alatriste, la historia de un soldado veterano de los tercios de Flandes que malvive como espadachín a sueldo en el Madrid del siglo XVII. Sus aventuras peligrosas y apasionantes nos sumergen sin aliento en las intrigas de la Corte de una España corrupta y en decadencia, las emboscadas en callejones oscuros entre el brillo de dos aceros, las tabernas donde Francisco de Quevedo compone sonetos entre pendencias y botellas de vino, o los corrales de comedias donde las representaciones de Lope de Vega terminan a cuchilladas. Todo ello de la mano de personajes entrañables o fascinantes: el joven Íñigo Balboa, el implacable inquisidor fray Emilio Bocanegra, el peligroso asesino Gualterio Malatesta, o el diabólico secretario del rey, Luis de Alquézar. Acción, historia y aventura se dan cita en estas páginas inolvidables. Views: 414
In 1218 an extraordinary princess is born, whose mystical powers and unquenchable spirit will alter the course of history...
Raised by her fiercely Welsh nurse to support the Celtic cause against the predatory English king, Princess Eleyne is taught to worship the old gods, to look into the future and sometimes the past. However, unable to identify time and place in her terrifying visions, she is powerless to avert forthcoming tragedy...
Remarkable events follow Eleyne all her life as, despite impassioned resistance, her world s shaped by powerful men. But her tempestuous life and loves tie her to the destinies of England, Scotland and Wales... Views: 414
Area X has been cut off from the rest of the world for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; the second expedition ended in mass suicide, the third in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another. The members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within weeks, all had died of cancer. In Annihilation, the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach Trilogy, we join the twelfth expedition.
The group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one another, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.
They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—but it’s the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another that change everything. Views: 414
A sexy, small town, fake relationship rom com!Josh Landry is one of the hottest bartenders in New Orleans. He's shown many a female tourist that things are definitely big and easy down here.And he's now been celibate for a year. Because he finally met her.Yes, her. The One.But, after nothing more than a hot goodnight kiss and a promise to meet up again next year if they're both still interested, she went home to Iowa.It's been a long year.But now it's Mardi Gras again and he's ready for his happily ever after.If she shows up.***Oh, she shows up. For her best friend's wedding.But Tori is a terrible bridesmaid because all she can think about is her knight-in-shining-Mardi-Gras-beads from last year.Well, and because she accidentally lays a hot kiss on her BFF.Aka, the groom.Unfortunately, no one believes that it was a case of... Views: 414
The death of President Kennedy casts a pall over those concerned about Eric. Meanwhile in Texas, Luke Richardson wonders about the identity of John Doe. Uncertain about his future with Stanford, Laurie assures Lynne that Eric will return, while Marek and Klaudia make plans for a 1964 reunion.Monster's need Love Too! Solin is a lone monster that falls for a green eyed girl, He doesn't know that when he dives in the sea to start anew his plans change. Winter is ready to leave the world but between that Solin she changes her mind. In this short story they will grow to understand one another as they learn about themselves. Part One in The Short Story Trilogy Monster's need Love Too! Views: 414
A short story about a chance meeting with an old schoolfriend on a train. It's also about being alone with your thoughts. Or just about being alone.A Jewish family possesses an instrument that has been passed down for generations; it endures time and travels over the sea from the Middle East where it was first created. Once on American soil the family becomes successful and loses interest in the family loom and leaves it when they move to California. The person that finds the instrument sells it at an auction on EBay. The man Todd that wins the auction fell in love with the mosaic designs that were placed on the outside. After it sits in his garage for years he brings it out to show a friend, while examining the pieces to the mosaic he discovers a code, his friend a professor at UNC helps him with his connections at the University, to discover how to decipher a few of the many codes. Before they get started good, the black suits from the dept. of Homeland Security confiscate the instrument and Todd ends up in jail. Once out of jail Todd discovers that by stroking the strings on the instrument, he has heard Sacred notes that has triggered activation of dormant DNA. Which will prove to be a life changing event that will lead to him attending the school of Melchezidec during meditation? Upon which he will learn the Secrets of the Universe, which have been hid from mankind since ancient times. In the meantime he is instructed by Enoch an ancient one to stop eating meat, Todd begins hearing people’s thoughts and seeing in other dimensions, having visions and déjà vu. Which in most cases immediately following these, the visions happen in real life exactly as Todd had seen them. Once Todd hears a person’s thoughts he figures out that he has made a connection through a galactic energy source of sound and vibrations that have always been here. He then can hear that person speak or think at anytime he wishes, which will prove to be quite hard to adjust to. Join Todd as he starts the school of Melchezidec and learns the sacred knowledge, which will prove to be a true Pandora’s box in his life, as well as the United States Government that will end up putting Todd on a list “Public Enemy Number 1”. Because Todd refuses to work with them after they learn he has found what they presume is supernatural powers Views: 414
The second novel in the History of John Daker, The Eternal Champion. Phoenix in Obsidian aka The Silver Warriors.
Erekose made his choice, and fought against humanity. With them destroyed, he has no choice but to find solace with the Eldren.
There is no rest for the Eternal Champion though, and again he changes, Urlik Skarsol is now Erekose and Erekose is Urlik, prince of the Southern Ice. He just wants to get back to his lover, but fate has other plans.
He also now has the Black Sword, the stealer of souls, and it has much work to do before Erekose can rest. Views: 414
A ghost story with a twist—a suspenseful and poignantly funny update of the Hamlet story.
Eleven-year-old Philip Noble has a big problem: His dad, who was killed in a car accident, appears as a bloodstained ghost at his own funeral and introduces Philip to the Dead Fathers Club. The club, whose members were all murdered, gathers outside the Castle and Falcon, the local pub that Philip’s family owns and lives above. Philip’s father tells him that Uncle Alan killed him and he must avenge his death. When Philip realizes that Uncle Alan has designs on his mom and the family pub, Philip decides that something must be done. But it’s a much bigger job than he anticipated, especially when he is caught up by the usual distractions of childhood—a pretty girl, wayward friends, school bullies, and his own self-doubt. The Dead Fathers Club is a riveting, imaginative, and quirky update of Shakespeare’s great tragedy that will establish Matt Haig as a young writer of great talent and imagination. Views: 414
The acclaimed author of Breath, Eyes, Memory presents an anthology of personal essays by Hilton Als, Christopher Hitchens, Zadie Smith and others.In her selection process for this sterling volume, Edwidge Danticat considers the inherent vulnerability of the essay form—a vulnerability that seems all the more present in today's spotlighted public square. As she says in her introduction, "when we insert our 'I' (our eye) to search deeper into someone, something, or ourselves, we are always risking a yawn or a slap, indifference or disdain."Here are intimate personal essays that examine a range of vital topics, from cancer diagnosis to police brutality, and from devastating natural disasters to the dilemmas of modern medicine. All in all, "the brave voices behind these experiences keep the pages turning" (Kirkus Reviews).The Best American Essays 2011 includes entries by Hilton Als, Katy Butler, Toi Derricotte, Christopher... Views: 413
Anastasia's tenth year has some good things, like falling in love and really getting to know her grandmother, and some bad things, like finding out about an impending baby brother. Views: 413
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Collateral comes a gripping novel about a woman caught in a love affair that could be her salvation ... or her undoing.
Tara is gorgeous, affluent, and forty. She lives in an impeccably restored Russian Hill mansion in San Francisco. Once a widow, twice divorced, she's a woman with a past she prefers keeping to herself.
Enter Cavin Lattimore. He's handsome, kind, charming, and the surgeon assigned to Tara following a ski accident in Lake Tahoe. In the weeks it takes her to recover, Cavin sweeps her off her feet and their relationship blossoms into something Tara had never imagined possible. But then she begins to notice some strange things: a van parked outside her home at odd times, a break-in, threatening text messages and emails. She also starts to notice cracks in Cavin's seemingly perfect personality, like the suppressed rage his conniving teenage son brings out in him, and the discovery that Cavin hired a detective to investigate her immediately after they met.
Now on crutches and housebound, Tara finds herself dependent on the new man in her life—perhaps too much so. She's handling rocky relationships with her sister and best friend, who are envious of her glamour and freedom; her prickly brother-in-law, who is intimidated by her wealth and power; and her estranged mother. However perfect Tara's life appears, things are beginning to get messy.
Writing in beautiful prose, Ellen Hopkins unveils a new style while evoking her signature poetic form that readers fell in love with in Collateral and Triangles. Views: 413
A MISSION OF NO MERCY
It takes nothing short of a miracle to catapult Lt. Torolf Magnusson and his team of Navy SEALs back in time to the eleventh-century Norselands. First on the agenda: destroy the evil villain who terrorized his family and a nation.
A SURRENDER SO SWEET
But when the sexy SEALs find they've landed in the middle of a sanctuary--filled with women--well, hoo-yah! Their plans are put on hold, much to the distress of Hilda, the head of the sanctuary. At first resistant to Torolf's pursuits, she soon succumbs to his passionate advances. Suddenly the term "Special Forces" takes on a whole new meaning. But with victory in sight for Torolf, Hilda must face the fact that their love may not survive the test of time... Views: 413
Tom Wolfe's debut collection of essays - a brilliant, form-bending dive into the future of America as it careened through the 1960s In 1965, Tom Wolfe dropped like a bomb onto the American literary scene with his first book, The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby, an incandescent panorama of American counter-culture, its dances, bouffant hairdos, customised cars and rock concerts. Capturing the energy of the age in its portraits of Phil Spector, Cassius Clay, Las Vegas and the Nanny Mafia – as well as asking, why do doormen hate Volkswagens? – Wolfe's flamboyant essay collection remains one of the great, revolutionary landmarks of modern non-fiction.'Journalism, it is said, is the first draft of history. Nobody exemplifies the dictum better than Wolfe, the cultural observer and social critic par excellence' Daily Telegraph Views: 413
"Oh, what a book this is! Hoffman's exploration of the world of good and evil, and the constant contest between them, is unflinching; and the humanity she brings to us—it is a glorious experience. The book builds and builds, as she weaves together, seamlessly, the stories of people in the most desperate of circumstances—and then it delivers with a tremendous punch. It opens up the world, the universe, in a way that it absolutely unique. By the end you may be weeping." —Elizabeth Strout, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Olive Kitteridge "Alice Hoffman's new novel will break your heart, and then stitch it back together piece by piece. It's about love and loss, about history and the world today, about what happens when man goes against the laws of nature for good and for evil. It's my new favorite Hoffman book—and if you know how much I adore her writing, that's truly saying something." —Jodi Picoult, New York... Views: 413
