Over the past twenty-five years, New Stories from the South has published the work of now well-known writers, including James Lee Burke, Andre Dubus, Barbara Kingsolver, John Sayles, Joshua Ferris, and Abraham Verghese and nurtured the talents of many others, including Larry Brown, Jill McCorkle, Brock Clarke, Lee Smith, and Daniel Wallace.This twenty-fifth volume reachs out beyond the South to one of the most acclaimed short story writers of our day. Guest editor Amy Hempel admits, "I've always had an affinity for writers from the South," and in her choices, she's identified the most inventive, heartbreaking, and chilling stories being written by Southerners all across the country.From the famous (Rick Bass, Wendell Berry, Elizabeth Spencer, Wells Tower, Padgett Powell, Dorothy Allison, Brad Watson) to the finest new talents, Amy Hempel has selected twenty-five of the best, most arresting stories of the past year. The 2010 collection is proof of the enduring... Views: 54
Review'William Hootkins can barely hide the disdain in his deep, throaty, American voice as he tells of the massacre. If you listen hard enough you can detect a hint of poetic justice as he relays the horrors of the survivors, found sucking the marrow from their dead shipmates' bone. Brilliant.' Observer 'Nathaniel Philbrick has taken one of the most horrifying stories in maritime history and turned it into a classic. Rich with detail on topics ranging from celestial navigation and whale biology to the history of cannibalism, this is historical writing at its best -- and at the same time, one of the most chilling books I have ever read.' Sebastian Junger, author of THE PERFECT STORM. About the AuthorNathaniel Philbrick is a historian and broadcaster who has written extensively about sailing. He is director of the Egan Institute of Maritime Studies on Nantucket Island, and a research fellow at the Nantucket Historical Association. He was a consultant on the movie Moby Dick. Aged 41, he has lived on Nantucket with his wife and two children since 1986. Views: 54
Following the international success of the Noir Series, this volumes marks the launch of a new drug-based sister series.Speed: the most demonized—and misunderstood—drug in the land. Deprived of the ingrained romantic mysticism of the opiate or the cosmopolitan chic of cocaine or the mundane tolerance of marijuana, there is no sympathy for this devil. Yet speed—crystal meth, amphetamines, Dexedrine, Benzedrine, Adderall; crank, spizz, chickenscratch, oblivious marching powder, the go-fast—is the most American of drugs: twice the productivity at half the cost, and equal opportunity for all. It feels so good and hurts so bad. From its dueling roots of pharmaceutical miracle cure and Californian biker-gang scourge to contemporary Ivy League campuses and high school chem labs, punk rock clubs to the military-industrial complex, suburban households to tin-can ghettos, it crosses all ethnicities, genders, and geographies—from immigrants and... Views: 54
The Devil is alive and well and living in America, Andrei Codrescu tells us, and with good reason. Nowhere else in the world--not even in Codrescu's native Transylvania--is he taken quite as seriously. When Codrescu gently derided the fundamentalist Christian belief in Rapture ("a pre-apocalyptic event during which all true believers would be suctioned off to heaven in a single woosh") in one of his commentaries on National Public, NPR received forty thousand letters in a protest spearheaded by Ralph Reed of the Christian Coalition. Codrescu was warned to "stay away from eschatology."Thankfully for us, he hasn't. In The Devil Never Sleeps, one of America's shrewdest social critics sets out to uncover the Devil's most modern and insidiously banal incarnations. Once easily recognizable by his horns, tail, and propensity for plague, today's Devil has become embedded in every fiber of our culture. Discussing everything from rock 'n' roll to William Burroughs to New... Views: 54
Light and Dark Fae are both dying, caught in the grip of a plague that threatens to sweep through both courts. The deadly disease is spreading, and no one can pinpoint the origins, nor can an antidote be formulated until the details of the contagion are understood. As Cernunnos sets Ferosyn—his best healer—on the task, he also instructs the Wild Hunt to take on the investigation.Now, Ember and Herne must race against time, seeking an answer before both Fae courts are decimated. Their search leads them deep into the mountains, to a hidden burial site where they discover a terrifying secret that could mean the extinction of the entire Fae race.Reading Order:1. The Silver Stag2. Oak & Thorns3. Iron Bones Views: 54
You only think you want this life . . . Alex Maxwell is planning her wedding to up-and coming music artist Birdie, ghostwriting video vixen Cleopatra Wright’s memoir, and she’s just been assigned the story of the year by her editor in chief at a major music industry magazine—an article about the glamorous lives of women married to platinum-selling hip-hop artists. Alex has been interviewing celebrities and hangers-on long enough to know all that glitters isn’t gold, so she’s determined to get the real scoop. Still, it’s not going to be easy to get past the wives’ gilded cages. . . Beth Saddlebrook, wife of aging rapper Z. They have three beautiful boys and a seemingly endless supply of cash. But Beth spends her days trying to keep Z off drugs and fielding calls from women hollering she’s just a “small-town white bitch” and claiming to be carrying Z’s baby. Only one person... Views: 54
This book tells the story of the Balliol family as they exist through the suffrage movement and the end of the Edwardian era to the Great War.The Balliol children are subject to the effects of the war – the harsh discipline and the subsequent laxness, the breakup of family loyalties, the post-war cynicism and, in the youngest child, the ultimate trend back to a sounder pattern of life.The action of this book, which is swift, continuous and dramatic, develops side by side with the plot of its theme that "to build a sanctuary, you must destroy a sanctuary"; that the destruction to which these thirty years have been witness was an inevitable and necessary part of progress.Vigorously pursuing the fortunes of an English family during the most turbulently shifting period in history, The Balliols combines the feeling of Cavalcade with the powerful narrative flow of the Forsythe Saga. Views: 54
Carl Sagan, writer and scientist, returns from the frontier to tell us about how the world works. In his delightfully down-to-earth style, he explores and explains a mind-boggling future of intelligent robots, extraterrestrial life and its consquences, and other provocative, fascinating quandries of the future that we want to see today. Views: 54
From Publishers WeeklyCoelho's brilliant tale of young Brida, an Irish girl who wishes to become a witch, is a compelling and vivid fantasy epic. Sadly, narrator Linda Emond's uninspired and monotonous reading is a disservice to this fantastic tale. Though the story is set in Ireland during the mid-'80s, Emond makes no attempt at a regional dialect or even the slightest shift in tone for any of the characters. Her narrative voice is dull and uninspired, read with a soft whisper that will surely put most listeners to sleep before it ignites their imaginations. The story would be much better served with a narrator more willing to put their performance skills to the test and dive into the story. A Harper hardcover (Reviews, Apr. 28). (July) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistCoelho’s loyal fan base will welcome the U.S. publication of Brida, another mystical pilgrimage from the master of the genre. Readers familiar with The Alchemist (1993), The Zahir (2005), and The Witch of Portobello (2007) will recognize the common themes—mysticism, discipleship, and a quest for fulfillment—that are incandescently woven into the fabric of most of his fiction. Brida O’Fern, a young Irishwoman, embarks on a voyage of self-discovery, ultimately resulting in a spiritual awakening and an acceptance of her own supernatural powers. While seeking initiation into the Tradition of the Moon, an ancient Wiccan ritual, she also discovers her soul mate and learns that love is the most divinely liberating emotion to be recognized and valued on the path to true wisdom and knowledge. Slighter than some of Coelho’s philosophically meatier novels, Brida is still a journey well worth taking; librarians should expect high demand. --Margaret Flanagan Views: 54
In this rapid-fire conclusion to the best-selling Soon series, follow Paul Stepola, his wife, Jae, and their young children as they try to elude capture by the National Peace Organization and sentencing for treason. The law banning the practice of religion around the globe is on the brink of collapse. The tide is turning but personal, family hostilities threaten to end in disaster before the world comes to its senses. Views: 54
