Brilliant and magnetic as are these two studies by Ambrose Bierce, and especially significant as coming from one who was a boy soldier in the Civil War, they merely reflect one side of his original and many-faceted genius. Poet, critic, satirist, fun-maker, incomparable writer of fables and masterly prose sketches, a seer of startling insight, a reasoner mercilessly logical, with the delicate wit and keenness of an Irving or an Addison, the dramatic quality of a Hugo,—all of these, and still in the prime of his powers; yet so restricted has been his output and so little exploited that only the judicious few have been impressed. Although an American, he formed his bent years ago in London, where he was associated with the younger Hood on Fun. There he laid the foundation for that reputation which he today enjoys: the distinction of being the last of the scholarly satirists. With that training he came to San Francisco, where, in an environment equally as genial, his talent grew and mellowed through the years. Then he was summoned to New York to assist a newspaper fight against a great railroad, since the conclusion of which brilliant campaign eastern journalism and magazine work have claimed his attention. Views: 806
Daisi Malone lives in the Presidio Building in Newtown, Sydney, Australia. The building is mysterious and its residents even more so. There is the couple with lots of children, the Glee Club and the English Backpackers- although not for long. In this, the first story by Daisi Malone, she meets her neighbour, Madden, the Vampire across the hall.Daisi Malone lives in the Presidio Building in Newtown, Sydney, Australia. The building is mysterious and its residents even more so. There is the couple with lots of children, the Glee Club and the English Backpackers- although not for long. In this, the first story by Daisi Malone, she meets her neighbour, Madden, the Vampire across the hall.The Second book in the series, The Vampire Across the Hall 2- The Murmuring Lift, has been published under the name Daisi Malone. Views: 806
In the maternity ward of a Brooklyn, New York City hospital immigrant parents hold on to their newborn child and wonder about the life he'll lead. As new arrivals from Haiti and the Dominican Republic, they try to understand what awaits their infant son based on their past. Through memories we're taken on a fast-paced journey within personal stories and a political history seldom talked about."No Hiding Place” is a literary short story featured in the collection "You, Me and the Rest of Us: #NewYorkStories." In the maternity ward of a Brooklyn, New York City hospital, Francis and his wife Estefani hold on to their newborn child and wonder about the life he'll lead. As new immigrant parents from Haiti and the Dominican Republic they try to understand what life awaits their infant son based on their past. Through their memories readers are taken on a fast-paced journey within their personal stories and a political history we seldom learn about.The narrative weaves through culture and modern politics to help us understand that in this world, for people like Francis, Estefani and their son Eddie, there is no safety. There is no hiding place. Views: 806
Excerpt - There is a lot of entertainment and also a great deal of truth in this story. We recommend it highly. PROFESSOR CARBONIC was diligently at work in his spacious laboratory, analyzing, mixing and experimenting. He had been employed for more than fifteen years in the same pursuit of happiness, in the same house, same laboratory, and attended by the same servant woman, who in her long period of service had attained the plumpness and respectability of two hundred and ninety pounds. Views: 804
An Australian backpacker hitches a ride across British Columbia with Canada's worst serial killer.A teenager who has always found himself involved in mysteries and unusual situations decides to move to the town where his only friend (a girl he met online) lives and starts living by himself. At first he is unsure whether it’s going to be a place where he can finally lead the normal life he always dreamed of or if it’s going to be just another place he’ll eventually run away from. The town turns out to be everything the doctor prescribed and he starts falling in love with his friend, making new (and unique) friends and getting the support he has craved for so long. After a tricky first week, things seem to finally start working out for him.They don't. Views: 804
The typical California girl is living her dream, when her mom takes a new job, which involves leaving Los Angeles. When tragedy strikes in the family, Jessica is forced to step up her game and change her attitude from brat to adult. While completing everyday task things go from bad to worst. Her outlook on things soon change quickly and Jessica chooses between life and death.What could have caused the dragons to decide they are tired of being pushed around by lesser beings? For the first time they've chosen to spread their wings and have taken over the second largest city in the Dwarven kingdom. Join with the Magical Seven as they react to this revolt.More than any other time in their history the Dwarves need heroes, a crazy inventor and his family are the ones who step up to the challenge. Dr. Kilgen is a Dwarf on a mission. Since the dragons attacked his village he has spent every minute that he isn’t saving Dwarves at the hospital inventing steam powered machines of mass dragon destruction.Can the Dwarven Dragon Hunters of THE DIRGE and the Magical Seven put down the dragon uprising and reclaim their fallen city? Or will the dragon's fire ultimately leave their inventions in a cloud of smoke? Views: 804
One of Henry James’ main themes was the interaction between the Old World and the New. Restless Baroness Eugenia Munster and her charming bohemian brother Felix are visiting their American cousins in Boston, New England. The effect these two extravagant characters have on their austere Puritan relations forms the substance of the book and is told in a series of scenes or‘sketches’. The author writes with subtly observed good humour which accelerates and escalates into higher comedy as Felix, the main protagonist, manipulates his cousin’s emotional affiliations. Views: 804
A short play in one act, in which a couple considers their present and past."There was nothing unusual about the night everything changed. No flashing lights in the sky, no searing fire in my belly; no sign whatsoever to suggest the shift which was to come…Nora Brice did strange things to me. Strange and awful things…" Paul Colt has a problem, and it is not one most teenage boys face. Yes, he likes a girl; one he’s pretty certain he’ll do foolish things for, given the chance. But he can’t go after her, or any other girl for that matter. That’s what he gets for being an Averter; forced to toe the line for the propagation of the collective. He knows some rules are okay to trifle with, and there are some which should never be broken. The gravest of them all? Don’t fall in love. Ever. This is the story of how Paul breaks that rule.This prequel novella to the Mentalist Series can be read before or after Aversion, Book One of The Mentalist Series. Views: 803
In 2007, the Center for Automation in Nanobiotech (CAN) outlined the hardware and software platform that would one day allow robots smaller than human cells to make medical diagnoses, conduct repairs, and even self-propagate. In the same year, the CBS network re-aired a program about the effects of propranolol on sufferers of extreme trauma. A simple pill, it had been discovered, could wipe out the memory of any traumatic event. At almost the same moment in humanity’s broad history, mankind had discovered the means for bringing about its utter downfall. And the ability to forget it ever happened. Views: 803
New York Times bestselling author of The Falls, Blonde, and We Were the Mulvaneys, Joyce Carol Oates returns with a dark, wry, satirical tale—inspired by an unsolved American true-crime mystery.
"Dysfunctional families are all alike. Ditto 'survivors.'"
So begins the unexpurgated first-person narrative of nineteen-year-old Skyler Rampike, the only surviving child of an "infamous" American family. A decade ago the Rampikes were destroyed by the murder of Skyler's six-year-old ice-skating champion sister, Bliss, and the media scrutiny that followed. Part investigation into the unsolved murder; part elegy for the lost Bliss and for Skyler's own lost childhood; and part corrosively funny exposé of the pretensions of upper-middle-class American suburbia, this captivating novel explores with unexpected sympathy and subtlety the intimate lives of those who dwell in Tabloid Hell.
Likely to be Joyce Carol Oates's most controversial novel to date, as well as her most boldly satirical, this unconventional work of fiction is sure to be recognized as a classic exploration of the tragic interface between private life and the perilous life of "celebrity." In My Sister, My Love: The Intimate Story of Skyler Rampike, the incomparable Oates once again mines the depths of the sinister yet comic malaise at the heart of our contemporary culture. Views: 802
Laura gets off the bus at the wrong stop and is chased by a stranger.'Back to Dogville' is the sequel to 'Where Are We?' In this book the dog comes back to get the boys because there is trouble in Dogville. The boys return to Dogville and help their friend solve a mystery. Together they carry out an inventive plan to get things back to Dogville normal.Like 'Where Are We?'this comic book is also black and white. It is written at a first grade reading level, and focuses on primary sight word vocabulary. It is filled with supporting illustrations, and the reader is sure to chuckle at the surprise solution. Views: 801
'Tim Winton is the real thing: a writer who can photograph a thought and pluck out the beat of a soul on a washing line' - "Scotland on Sunday". In this, Tim Winton's first collection of short stories, the world he paints is often harsh and disturbing, inhabited by isolated, unforgiving characters. It is a world at once familiar, filled with the trappings of home and family, and yet also strangely twisted; a world where casual brutality and unexpected death are never far from the surface. Evident in a young girl's violent temper once the eggs she has so jealously guarded finally hatch, or in the careless indifference of the woman stepping over a soldier's spreadeagled body, Tim Winton's world is a place where dysfunction and disorder constantly threaten the equilibrium. But there is compassion and beauty there too - whether it's in the brush of a father's hand against his young son's cheek, or the neighbours who wait patiently to celebrate the arrival of a new baby. 'Winton is boisterous and lyrical by turns; his sense of sentiment is unerringly accurate, his characters unforgettable. The emotional control exercised over his anarchic world puts Winton in the top drawer of Australian fiction' - "Daily Telegraph". 'Winton's compassionate and humorous writing is nothing short of magnificent. If you can imagine Neighbours taken over by the writing team of John Steinbeck and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, you're close' - "Time Out". Views: 800
Daisi Malone lives in the Presidio Building in Newtown, Sydney, Australia. She shares the building with a variety of strange people,including the Vampire across the hall, and a murmuring lift.This is the second story in The Vampire Across the Hall series.Night of the Assassin is the prequel to King of Swords, and charts the early days of "El Rey," the super-assassin whose specialty is impossible to execute contract killings on behalf of his savage narco-trafficking cartel clients. Night of the Assassin is an intense, no-flinching, gritty epic that will jar, disturb and thrill even the most jaded suspense/thriller readers. It's a shocking journey into the making of a monster that uses the ongoing drug cartel violence in Mexico as its backdrop. Views: 798
Salvage in Space is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Jack Williamson is in the English language, and may not include graphics or images from the original edition. If you enjoy the works of Jack Williamson then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. Views: 798
Norbert the horse has a problem - his teeth are GREEN!Worried that this will ruin his chances with Delilah, the pretty pony from the next field, Norbert turns to his only friend Colin the cuckoo for help.Will Colin succeed in his daring mission to pinch a toothbrush from Norbert’s owner, Farmer Finbar?Will Norbert clean his teeth and win Delilah's heart?A fun chapter book for kids aged 4+The FIRST book in the Norbert the Horse series!Norbert the horse has a problem - his teeth are GREEN! Worried that this will ruin his chances with Delilah, the pretty pony who lives in the next field, Norbert turns to his only friend Colin the cuckoo for help.Will Colin succeed in his desperate mission to pinch a toothbrush from Norbert’s owner, Farmer Finbar?What will happen if the grumpy old farmer catches him?And will Norbert ever win the heart of his beloved Delilah?A fun chapter book for kids aged 4+ Views: 798
