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Thongs

On a cold morning in February 1922, some Gypsies moving across country between Madrid and Escorial came upon the naked body of a woman. The naked woman had been crucified. The body was covered with thin red lacerations as though before death the woman had been whipped mercilessly with fine rods. Across the belly on a fine silver chain was slung a small metal plate which bore the inscription: Carmencita de las Lunas, por amor. For love... Thongs is the troubling account of Gertrude Gault, also known as Carmencita de las Lunas, a nymphomaniac who desired, indeed demanded, pain in preference to love, who lived for pain and ultimately freely gave her life for Pain as the Virgin Death. Some readers will find the work sacrilegious as it imitates, perhaps mocks, the Roman Catholic Church, and indeed reveals a cult that worships pain and a virgin martyr.
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Night Moves

More information to be announced soon on this forthcoming title from Penguin USA
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Black Hat Jack

Joe R. Lansdale’s stories about Nat Love are based loosely on the real Nat Love, who may have told a few windies about his time in the West, but at the same time revealed that African-Americans of that era were not all cooks and custodians.
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Brad Thor Collectors' Edition #3

An elegant hardcover boxed set including The Last Patriot, The Apostle, and Foreign Influence, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Brad Thor.“[Brad Thor] and Harvath are the real deal, and you should accept no substitutes.” —BookReporter.comBoth a must-have for any fan of Brad Thor and the perfect introduction to his masterful thrillers, this handsomely bound edition is one of four special Collector’s Editions, available now. Follow counterterrorism operative and ex-SEAL Scot Harvath’s action-packed exploits, and discover why Brad Thor has been called “America’s favorite author” (KKTX).THE LAST PATRIOTJune 632 A.D.: The prophet Mohammed shares a final and startling revelation. Within days, he is assassinated. September 1789: Thomas Jefferson uncovers a conspiracy that could change the face of Islam. Present day: Men still kill to keep the secret hidden. When a car bomb explodes...
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Songs of a Dead Dreamer

Songs of a Dreamer was Thomas Ligotti's first collection of supernatural horror stories. When originally published in 1985 by Harry Morris's Silver Scarab Press, the book was hardly noticed. In 1989, an expanded version appeared that garnered accolades from several quarters. Writing in the Washington Post, the celebrated science fiction and fantasy author Michael Swanwick extolled: 'Put this volume on the shelf right between H. P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe. Where it belongs.'
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Wicked Women

In Wicked Women, a 1997 New York Times Notable Book of Year and her most celebrated collection of stories ever, critically acclaimed Fay Weldon brings her bracing wit to bear on men, love, therapy, marriage, parenting, and the myriad self-deceptions and half-truths that oil the wheels of "civilized behavior".In these twenty madcap tales we enter Fay Weldon's world, peopled with therapists who blithely destroy marriages and Family ties, husbands and lovers whose greatest cruelty is their indifference, and clever women navigating the perils and pitfalls of domesticity. In lucid and finely honed prose, Fay Weldon serves up our greatest denials and most imprudent compromises. Her wicked humor and seasoned wisdom are as evident here as always -- and tempered by great compassion for the foibles of the human heart.Amazon.com ReviewFay Weldon is a writer who understands the value of holding a grudge. Who can forget the years-long vengeance the heroine of her best-known book, The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, exacted on her faithless husband and the romance writer who stole him from her? Even the physical extremes to which Weldon's scorned wife goes in order to remake herself in the image of her rival--including broken bones and plastic surgery--are worth it when she finally succeeds in destroying their lives. Horrifying as the conceit might seem in real life, Weldon's fictional revenge, whether served hot or cold, is a most tasty dish. In Wicked Women, a collection of short stories, Fay Weldon continues her one-writer crusade to ensure that bad people get exactly what's coming to them. But if Fay Weldon's stories are dark, they are also savagely satirical. In "Santa Claus's New Clothes," the children of a recently divorced father have some telling questions for their not-so-nice new stepmother, who also happens to be their father's former therapist. In "Not Even a Blood Relation," a mother turns the tables on her three heartless daughters in a manner sure to delight the reader. Weldon has a clear-eyed view of right and wrong--not for her are the concepts of no-fault divorce or infidelity without consequence--and in her fiction, if not in life, victims receive Fay Weldon's fierce brand of justice. From Library JournalIn these 20 stories, some previously published, Weldon continues to pursue the themes of love, relationships, and family with the humor and poignancy that have made her other writings (e.g., Worst Fears, LJ 5/15/96) so engaging. Delivering these themes with varying degress of satire, sincerity, and subtlety, she offers intricate moments in the lives of defeated lovers, insecure cuckolds, perplexed offspring, daring widow/ers, keen children, and underdogs who overcome the oppression of love. Weldon brings together all facets of the relationship race with a unique mastery, using sharp and cultivated prose. Recommended for all libraries.-?Judith A. Akalaitis, Chicago, Ill.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Perfect Recall

Ann Beattie published her first short story in The New Yorker in 1972. Twenty-eight years later, she received the 2000 PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction. She is, as the Washington Post Book World said, "one of our era's most vital masters of the short form."The eleven stories in her new work are peopled by characters coming to terms with the legacies of long-held family myths or confronting altered circumstances -- new frailty or sudden, unlikely success. Beattie's ear for language, her complex and subtle wit, and her profound compassion are unparalleled.From the elegiac story "The Famous Poet, Amid Bougainvillea," in which two men trade ruminations on illness, art, and servitude, to "The Big-Breasted Pilgrim," wherein a famous chef gets a series of bewildering phone calls from George Stephanopoulos, Perfect Recall comprises Beattie's strongest work in years. It is a riveting commentary on the way we live now by a spectacular prose...
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The Curse of Snake Island

The pirate ship's first mate, Rotten Tooth, sees Pete and his friends more as an annoyance than pirates in training. As the ship heads toward Snake Island, Pete has an idea to earn some respect—if the kids can find the hidden treasure before the grown-ups, then they'll have to be taken seriously! Only one problem: The treasure is guarded by a giant snake that curses anyone who looks in its eyes. Can the pirate kids find the treasure, earn the pirates' respect, and escape certain death?
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The Ultimate Good Luck

In this novel of menace and eroticism, Richard Ford updates the tradition of Conrad for the age of cocaine smuggling. The setting is Oaxaca, Mexico, where Harry Quinn has come to free his girlfriend's brother, Sonny, from Jail and, ideally, to get him away form the suavely sadistic drug dealer who suspects Sonny of having cheated him. "His prose has a taut, cinematic quality that bathes his story with the same hot, mercilessly white light that scorches Mexico."--New York Times Book ReviewFrom the Trade Paperback edition.
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Nicolae High

These latest volumes of the hot-selling Left Behind juvenile series continue the story of four kids left behind after the Rapture. With themes and events that parallel the adult series, these books carry Left Behind's important message to the younger generation. In #5 Nicolae High, Judd, Vicki, Lionel, and Ryan are back in school, and their teachers are encouraging everyone to talk about the disappearances. But they're forbidden to talk about the real reason—the Rapture!
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Smethurstses

fiction; prose, Women Writers
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(Tiger Saga #2) Tiger's Quest

Product DescriptionBack in Oregon, Kelsey tries to pick up the pieces of her life and push aside her feelings for Ren. But danger lurks around the corner, forcing her to return to India where she embarks on a second quest--this time with Ren's dark, bad-boy brother Kishan, who has also fallen prey to the Tiger's Curse. Fraught with danger, spellbinding dreams, and choices of the heart, TIGER'S QUEST brings the trio one step closer to breaking the spell that binds them.About the AuthorCOLLEEN HOUCK has already received literary praise and digital success for TIGER'S CURSE. This is her first book. Colleen lives in SALEM, OREGON, with her husband and a life-sized white stuffed tiger. For more information visit: www.colleenhouck.com
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