Meet Quentin P., the most believably terrifying sexual psychopath and killer ever brought to life in fiction. The author deftly puts you inside the mind of a serial killer--succeeding not in writing about madness, but in writing with the logic of madness. Views: 887
A stunning example of Nobel Prize-winning Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz’s psychological portraiture, The Mirage is the story of an intense young man who has been so dominated by his mother that her death sets him dangerously adrift in a world he cannot manage alone.
Kamil Ru’ba is a tortured soul who hopes that writing the story of his life will help him gain control of it. Raised by a mother who fled her abusive husband and became overbearingly possessive and protective toward her young son, he has long been isolated emotionally and physically. Now in his twenties, Kamil seeks to escape her posthumous grasp. Finding and successfully courting the woman of his dreams seems to promise salvation, until his ignorance of mature love and his fear and jealousy lead to tragedy.
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On planet Eno, there stands a mountain that has never been summited. Many have tried. All have failed.
This climbing season finds three teams making their bid up this murderous peak. And one man among them will discover these ugly truths: There are fates worse than death. There are fates worse than obscurity. To be remembered forever can be its own curse. Views: 881
This is nonfiction commentary. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Palace Walk, the Journey of Ibn Fattouma, the Beggar, Midaq Alley, the Thief and the Dogs, Children of Gebelawi, the Beginning and the End, Cairo Trilogy, Akhenaten, Dweller in Truth, the Search, the Day the Leader Was Killed, Miramar, Arabian Nights and Days, the Harafish, Palace of Desire. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: Palace Walk (Arabic title ) is a novel by Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz, and the first installment of Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy. Originally published in 1956 with the title Bayn al-qasrayn (lit. Between the Two Palaces), the book was translated into English in 1990. The setting of the novel is Cairo during and just after World War I. Palace Walk is the first book of the Cairo Trilogy, set in Cairo, Egypt. It begins in 1917, during World War I, and ends in 1919, the year of the nationalist revolution. The book's Arabic title translates literally into 'between two palaces' - a phrase which highlights the cultural and political transition Egypt experienced at this time, developments brought into focus by the lives of the el-Gawad family., M K Ahmad Abd al-Jawad is the tyrannical head of his household, demanding total, unquestioning obedience from his wife, Amina, his sons, Yasin, Fahmy and Kamal, and his daughters, Khadija and Aisha. A fearsome and occasionally violent presence at home who insists on strict rules of Muslim piety and sobriety in the house -- for example, his wife is hardly ever allowed to leave the house, to maintain the family's good name -- al-Sayyid Ahmad permits himself officially forbidden pleasures, particularly music, drinking wine and conducting numerous extramarital affairs with women he meets at his grocery store, or with courtesans who entertain parties of men at their hou...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=6829111 Views: 880
Mickey Spillane meets the Canterbury Tales.When you need to hire a bastard to get the job done, contact Jay Dafoe, private investigator. He’s in the Yellow Pages. Dafoe is an unscrupulous, greedy, profane man. His only redeeming feature is that he’s brutally honest both about his amoral nature and in his sardonic observations of the dark side of the world he has embraced. Nothing is sacred.Scrambled Hard-Boiled is out-of-kilter take of American Noir best described as Mickey Spillane meets the Canterbury Tales.When you need to hire a bastard to get the job done, contact Jay Dafoe, private investigator. He’s in the Yellow Pages. Dafoe is an unscrupulous, greedy, profane man. His only redeeming feature is that he’s brutally honest both about his amoral nature and in his sardonic observations of the dark side of the world he has embraced. Nothing is sacred. Dafoe is on a case in a seemingly innocuous small town in North Carolina. What seems like an easy paycheck from a desperate father turns into a bloody killing that threatens the most important person in Jay Dafoe’s world…himself. Scrambled Hard-Boiled isn’t a parlor game mystery. There aren’t any saints in Dafoe’s life, only varying degrees of sinners, some of whom compensate him quite well. So when it comes to murder, Dafoe doesn’t really have a problem with someone getting away with it, just as long he isn’t the victim, and he gets paid. Views: 877
A disturbing patient interrupts psychiatrist Dr. Pierce's Thanksgiving dinner at the asylum. He'll need help from unlikely allies if he's to make it back in time for dessert.Don't let us fool you; the following stories are all fictitious in nature. We recently received several lawsuits on behalf of people who claim we have left them bereft of peace and solace, simply because they couldn't handle the idea of killer robots featured in one of our stories. Of course, we take no responsibility for mental or physical discomfort of any kind resulting from the reading of these stories. To those experiencing physical discomfort, we advise you to stop reading in bed; you'll just keep dropping your e-reading device on your face as you doze off. To those experiencing emotional or mental discomfort, we advise you to begin a course of treatment that will help you come to terms with the fantastical nature of these stories. For instance, if stories about killer robots worry you, one need only to read news stories about the drone strikes killing dozens of people around the world every day. After a few doses of this, one inevitably becomes immune to science fiction and fantasy because the real world is already so dangerous and terrifying.At which point we'll gladly welcome you back to the caring embrace of our publication where you can read about things that are gloriously untrue in peace. Views: 875
This first volume of Somerset Maugham's collected short stories includes the famous story 'Rain', the tragedy of the prudish missionary Mr Davidson and Sadie Thompson, the prostitute. The collection contains thirty stories that take us from the islands of the Pacific Ocean to England, France and Spain. They all reveal Maugham's acute and often sardonic observation of human foibles and his particular genius for exposing the bitter reality of human relationships.
Somerset Maugham learnt his craft from Maupassant, and these stories display the remarkable talent that made him an unsurpassed storyteller. Views: 875
Attorney Michael O’Meara’s dogged belief that Lee Roy Sears was innocent of murder has paid off. The lawyer has not only gotten the convicted inmate released from death row at Connecticut State Prison, but also procured an artist’s residency in Mount Orion, New Jersey, for the rehabilitated Vietnam vet upon his parole.
Sears is adapting nicely. He’s selling his sculptures. He’s eating well. He has ingratiated himself into Michael’s home; is eternally grateful for Michael’s benevolent motives, however mysterious their origin; and is thriving on the town’s liberal patronage and attention—especially that of Michael’s adulterous wife, Gina.
But as Michael’s picture-perfect family begins to show signs of cracking, his suspicions about Sears become violent obsessions. Now, the dreams and secrets of two men are about to collide in a nightmare. And before long, the lines between guilt and innocence, lies and truth, trust and betrayal are bound to go up in flames.
Snake Eyes is in an astute and suspenseful story by the National Book Award–winning author of them, We Were the Mulvaneys, The Gravedigger’s Daughter, and many other acclaimed novels.
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Welcome to Kluskey's spacer hangout. Here, spacers swap yarns of ghost ships, space monsters, the weird and wonderful and the downright daft.In this story, spacer Pell tells of a mysterious encounter.Ten years ago, Pell Argood saw something that has haunted him ever since.Can he convince the cadets in Kluskey's bar to stay away from Sector 17? Views: 872
Before she wrote her Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller The Shipping News, E. Annie Proulx was already producing some of the finest short fiction in the country. Here are her collected stories, including two new works never before anthologized.
These stories reverberate with rural tradition, the rites of nature, and the rituals of small-town life. The country is blue-collar New England; the characters are native families and the dispossessed working class, whose heritage is challenged by the neorural bourgeoisie from the city; and the themes are as elemental as the landscape: revenge, malice, greed, passion. Told with skill and profundity and crafted by a master storyteller, these are lean, tough tales of an extraordinary place and its people. Views: 872
Days before his death, Borges gave an intimate interview to his friend, the Argentine journalist Gloria Lopez Lecube. That interview is translated for the first time here, giving English-language readers a new insight into his life, loves, and thoughts about his work and country at the end of his life.
Accompanying that interview are a selection of the fascinating interviews he gave throughout his career. Highlights include his celebrated conversations with Richard Burgin during Borges's time as a lecturer at Harvard University, in which he gives rich new insights into his own works and the literature of others, as well as discussing his now oft-overlooked political views. The pieces combine to give a new and revealing window on one of the most celebrated cultural figures of the past century. Views: 870
A short story about a wife who hates her job and has a dream of being a published author. Her husband does not support this dream at first. Together they must work through the complications.Ken Blowers has developed a firm following of readers from the first three collections in his continuing set of Short Stories. Now he entices old friends and new to the world of mystery and intrigue in perfect bite size pieces for ‘Smoko’. You can join Ken for ‘Smoko at East Seaham’ and be transported across time in a short space of time to tales of merriment, mystique and manslaughter!Yet again Ken entertains readers with a smattering of subjects across a smattering of suburban settings to take us on a short journey out of our humdrum day. This volume of short stories covers everything from the perils of online communication to touching insights of loving relationships and as usual, has something to offer everyone. All you need to do is be ready for the unexpected (like any good Scout!) and you will survive the rollercoaster ride of reading Ken’s latest offering.With ‘Smoko At Seaham’, your ‘appetite’ is assured of being well and truly sated as you keep up with Ken's next compelling volumes of short stories, with the next one coming soon… Views: 869
Young Joshua Hildebrand tries to recover his memory after a serious illness, only to find himself in the middle of a conspiracy of small town witches. A series of deaths brings him closer to the truth about his own dark gifts.The Spark That Ignites The Flame.Seventeen years ago an entire generation of aliens were sent to Earth in order to save their home planet and integrate into the human population. Now, those aliens are being hunted.Amery Jones is finally allowed to go to camp for the summer. With her best friend Lola by her side, she is expecting awesome times ahead.Unfortunately, Lochie, her charming mortal enemy and the only guy who can get under her skin, seems to have made it his mission to annoy her for the entire summer.When one of the campers goes missing, Amery finds herself teamed up with Lochie in the search mission. Now, more than ever, her alien status has to remain a secret.Also in the Project Integrate Series:Ignite (Short Prequel)UniteDivideConquerSoarRiseBroken Views: 869
This collection features a brilliant new translation of the Japanese master's stories, from the source for the movie Rashōmon to his later, more autobiographical writings.
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) is one of Japan’s foremost stylists - a modernist master whose short stories are marked by highly original imagery, cynicism, beauty and wild humour. ‘Rashōmon’ and ‘In a Bamboo Grove’ inspired Kurosawa’s magnificent film and depict a past in which morality is turned upside down, while tales such as ‘The Nose’, ‘O-Gin’ and ‘Loyalty’ paint a rich and imaginative picture of a medieval Japan peopled by Shoguns and priests, vagrants and peasants. And in later works such as ‘Death Register’, ‘The Life of a Stupid Man’ and ‘Spinning Gears’, Akutagawa drew from his own life to devastating effect, revealing his intense melancholy and terror of madness in exquisitely moving impressionistic stories.
A WORLD IN DECAY
- Rashōmon
- In a Bamboo Grove
- The Nose
- Dragon: The Old Potter's Tale
- The Spider Thread
- Hell Screen
UNDER THE SWORD
- Dr. Ogata Ryōsai: Memorandum
- O-Gin
- Loyalty
MODERN TRAGICOMEDY
- The Story of a Head That Fell Off
- Green Onions
- Horse Legs
AKUTAGAWA'S OWN STORY
- Daidōji Shinsuke: The Early Years
- The Writer's Craft
- The Baby's Sickness
- Death Register
- The Life of a Stupid Man
- Spinning Gears Views: 867
