The Pilot: A Tale of the Sea is a historical novel by James Fenimore Cooper. Its subject is the life of a naval pilot during the American Revolution. The hero of the book is John Paul Jones, who appears as always brooding upon a dark past and a darker fate. Yet he is not so morbid but that he can occasionally rouse himself to terrific activities in his raids along the English coast. Another character is Long Tom Coffin, of Nantucket, comparable to Harvey Birch and Natty Bumppo from Cooper\'s other novels. Views: 633
Darkness at Noon (from the German: Sonnenfinsternis) is a novel by the Hungarian-born British novelist Arthur Koestler, first published in 1940. His best-known work tells the tale of Rubashov, a Bolshevik 1917 revolutionary who is cast out, imprisoned and tried for treason by the Soviet government he'd helped create.
Darkness at Noon stands as an unequaled fictional portrayal of the nightmare politics of our time. Its hero is an aging revolutionary, imprisoned and psychologically tortured by the Party to which he has dedicated his life. As the pressure to confess preposterous crimes increases, he relives a career that embodies the terrible ironies and human betrayals of a totalitarian movement masking itself as an instrument of deliverance. Almost unbearably vivid in its depiction of one man's solitary agony, it asks questions about ends and means that have relevance not only for the past but for the perilous present. It is —- as the Times Literary Supplement has declared —- "A remarkable book, a grimly fascinating interpretation of the logic of the Russian Revolution, indeed of all revolutionary dictatorships, and at the same time a tense and subtly intellectualized drama." Views: 633
Max Aries, a skinny twenty-seven year-old could leap up and snare a football thrown fifteen feet over his head. He could punt a football ninety yards in the air. Kick a seventy-yard field goal. Bend a steel bar, then straighten it out. Max joined a mediocre professional football team, and made them Super Bowl Champions. In short, Max Aries was out of this world. LiterallyMax Aries is a skinny, twenty-seven year-old who appears from nowhere to convince the coach of the Cincinnati Rams, a mediocre professional football team, that he can perform feats that will make them Super Bowl champions. Although he falls victim to a series of obstacles, he manages to live up to his promise. Little does anyone know that Max, or Xam, his real name, was sent from heaven. Not the heaven we all know, but the distant planet Oh Ess Yew. Views: 625
In the wake of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and 7/7, Britain's relationship with America seems to have intensified. Through an analysis of its various manifestations - from James Bond to Winston Churchill - this book asks what this relationship consists of. Views: 622
This stunningly personal document and extraordinary history of the turbulent sixties and early seventies displays James Baldwin's fury and despair more deeply than any of his other works. In vivid detail he remembers the Harlem childhood that shaped his early conciousness, the later events that scored his heart with pain--the murders of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, his sojourns in Europe and in Hollywood, and his retum to the American South to confront a violent America face-to-face. Views: 622
Dave Johnson is a has-been superhero. Losing his powers forced him to retire from being Powerhouse, but Seattle still fondly remembers him and continues to lift him up as a symbol of hope.When Mitch Farrow, a cynical man hired as CEO of a powerful corporation to spread cynicism, attacks the legacy of Powerhouse, Dave regains his powers determined to make a lasting difference.Dave Johnson is a has-been superhero. Losing his powers forced him to retire from being Powerhouse, but Seattle still fondly remembers him and continues to lift him up as a symbol of hope.Trans-dimensional aliens hire Mitch Farrow as the new CEO of Dorado Incorporated and instruct him to create cynicism to reduce resistance to their planned invasion. The aliens promise their reign will end all suffering on Earth and cure his ex-wife and daughter of AIDS. Seeing Powerhouse’s squeaky clean image as a threat, Farrow attacks Powerhouse’s character and effectiveness in the media.The alien, international superhero Zolgron finally realizes Dave wants to return to crime-fighting and restores Dave’s powers. Dave is determined to make a lasting difference for the people of Seattle, but to do so he’ll need the community’s help.Powerhouse Flies Again offers laughs, adventure, and a new villain in this first installment of the Adventures of Powerhouse. Views: 618
The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1808) by Daniel Defoe Views: 618
Snap, Crackle, Pop Culture! Have a Euro sandwich with a side of Americana!A collection of humorous articles and cheaply personal musings that cover the full spectrum from an app that translates Keith Richards into English to proof that Ringo broke up the Beatles. Disney buys the Holy Land! Chicago changes its name to Boston! Twitter success in 10 easy tweets and other essential insights.Snap, Crackle, Pop Culture! Have a Euro sandwich with a side of Americana!An app that translates Keith Richards into English. Disney buys the Holy Land just after Chicago changes its name to Boston. Proof that Ringo broke up the Beatles and Twitter success in 10 easy tweets.A collection of humorous articles and cheaply personal musings that cover the full spectrum from high tech to low brow.Offered as a free e-book (wherever possible) in the hope that you’ll be entertained and intrigued enough to read "No Roads Lead to Rome" and "Aqueduct to Nowhere." Views: 611
Journal: day 317It rains every day here. Every now and then it slows to a trickle and the sun peeks through broken clouds for a few moments, but mostly it falls in great torrents of rain; constant, pounding, maddening. I listen to it, day and night, as it falls outside. The sound of it hitting the metal roof is a constant. Ting, ting, ting, it goes day after day and night after night.Journal: day 1My name is Jack Timmerson, and this is my journal. I have been assigned to Sarguss II as Technician 1st class. I am responsible for running the pumping station located on the planet, and if anything goes wrong I fix it. I am numero uno, the man in charge. Sounds impressive until you find out that I am also the only person on the station, on the planet in fact, and the pumping station is completely self-repairing. I am the proverbial third wheel, an appendix assigned more from tradition than need.Earth: Two years earlierThe human race had almost ended its sovereignty as the dominant species on earth. Centuries of pollution and wanton ecological madness had seen to that. They had tried to fix it, they really had tried; the atmosphere was actually in pretty good shape. The trouble was the water. That was beyond fixing. They’d stopped the pollution, but not the water consumption; free water was disappearing faster than it could be replaced. More and more water was being diverted from lakes and rivers to agriculture, industry, and humanity’s insatiable need and desire for it. On a world that was 75% covered with water they were dying for the lack of it. Some genius had come up with a way to desalinate the oceans. That was all well and good but the oceans, just like everything else, were a limited resource and part of a closed ecosystem. The planet was dying, terminal, irreversible. The first water riots had started over a century ago. They were growing worse as the water grew scarcer. Not a day passed without one and the world council had adapted harsher and harsher means of dealing with them. It was now a capital offense to participate in one, and thousands had died in the street from the effects of gas and bullets. It didn’t help, the people were too scared, too hopeless, and the rioting continued. Then a miracle happened.Dr. Henry Fredricson, NAS Spokesman – speaking at the opening of the Space Elevator“Certainly, nanoscience and technology isn't a secret. It's about the ability to see and to control individual atoms and molecules. Everything on Earth is made up of atoms—the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the buildings and houses we live in – our own bodies, but something as small as an atom is impossible to see with the naked eye. In fact, it’s impossible to see with most microscopes. It is only within the last century that the microscopes needed to see things at the nanoscale were invented. Making materials at the nanoscale level takes advantage of their enhanced properties; such as higher strength, lighter weight, increased control of light spectrum, and greater chemical reactivity than their larger-scale siblings. The Space Elevator was made possible by using nano-engineered carbon tubules for its creation. One end is anchored to a large station in the ocean, and the other end to an asteroid already in orbit. The cable running between these two points needed to be made of the strongest, yet lightest, material possible and nanocarbon fits the bill perfectly. With this elevator mankind will be able to receive water from Sarguss II.”Journal: day 105It’s raining again. That isn’t unusual, of course, it rains here all the time. Every day. Incessantly. Constantly. Maddeningly. It rains. Views: 611
A foundling baby is washed ashore in a lonely Cornish cove, and as he grows up his fate is strangely linked to the sea. When he meets a young woman who is escaping her past, he longs to pledge his heart to her... without realising that his heart was lost beneath the jealous waves, long ago.Arabella tries to escape the entanglements of love, and flees to the countryside to find her sense of self. But she soon meets a handsome young Cornishman whose mysterious history draws her in against her will. He was a foundling baby, washed ashore in a lonely cove, and she comes to realise that his fate is strangely linked to the sea. But as she prepares to risk her heart one more time, she little realises that his heart was longsince lost beneath the jealous waves. Views: 608
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
"[A]n extraordinary book, a work of staggering virtuosity. With its publication, a giant world of literature has just grown twice as tall."--Newsday
From Ralph Ellison--author of the classic novel of African-American experience, Invisible Man--the long-awaited second novel. Here is the master of American vernacular--the rhythms of jazz and gospel and ordinary speech--at the height of his powers, telling a powerful, evocative tale of a prodigal of the twentieth century.
"Tell me what happened while there's still time," demands the dying Senator Adam Sunraider to the itinerate Negro preacher whom he calls Daddy Hickman. As a young man, Sunraider was Bliss, an orphan taken in by Hickman and raised to be a preacher like himself. Bliss's history encompasses the joys of young southern boyhood; bucolic days as a filmmaker, lovemaking in a field in the Oklahoma sun. And behind it all lies a mystery: how did this chosen child become the man who would deny everything to achieve his goals? Brilliantly crafted, moving, wise, Juneteenth is the work of an American master.
From the Trade Paperback edition. Views: 602
Part 2 of the Last Enemy, where the team that has vowed to keep secret Telomerax, the ultimate anti-aging drug, is eventually detected by the secret services of Israel and the US. Louis Picard and his friends engage with very dangerous allies to bring the drug to the public in the safest possible way, but will they succeed?“The last enemy to be destroyed shall be death”, wrote St. Paul in his letters. But what if someone has already managed to defeat it? Thirty-four years have gone by since an ingenious biochemist, named Louis Picard, invented the ultimate anti-aging drug in 1981, that is known as Telomerax. Louis was obliged to form a selected group of technology entrepreneurs, finance mavens, and secret service professionals to help strategically spread knowledge of the drug. The discovery of Telomerax carried obvious dangers with it, eventually leading to the collapse of society and the near-extinction of mankind, in the ruthless war that broke out. Survivors set out to design a new society, specially designed for the half-gods that individuals were becoming. An action-packed and thrilling apocalyptic novel, “The Last Enemy”, brings to light many issues that we face today, from the clash between the power of the state and the right of citizens, to respecting our limits and controlling the human drive to push ourselves beyond those very limits. Views: 595
Growing up with his mother in Germany, Peter Debauer knows little about his father, an apparent victim of the Second World War. But when he stumbles upon a few pages from a long-lost novel, Peter embarks on aquest that leads him across Europe to the United States, chasing fragments of a story within a story and a master of disguises who may or may not exist. Homecoming" "is a tale of fathersand sons, men and women, war and peace. It reveals the humanity that survives the trauma of war and the ongoing possibility for redemption. "From the Trade Paperback edition." Views: 590
