Short story from the Unicorn Witch tales of Refuge.‘IN THE BEGINNING’ Is The First In A Collection Of Short Stories, ‘UNICORN WITCH’S CAULDRON’ Due For Release In The Summer Of 2013 And Featuring The Worlds And Characters You Will Know From The ‘UNICORN WITCH TRILOGY’.The short stories, including this one, whilst complete in themselves, would be better read after reading ‘Unicorn Witch’ Views: 576
Nowhere is Patricia Highsmith's affinity for animals more apparent than in The Animal-Lover's Book of Beastly Murder, for here she transfers the murderous thoughts and rages most associated with humans onto the animals themselves. You will meet, for example, in "In the Dead of Truffle Season," a truffle-hunting pig who tries to whet his own appetite for a while; or Jumbo in "Chorus Girl's Absolutely Final Performance," a lonely, old circus elephant who decides she's had enough of show business and cruel trainers for one lifetime. In this satirical reprise of Kafka, cats, dogs, and breeding rodents are no longer ordinary beings in the happy home, but actually have the power to destroy the world in which we live. Views: 575
A haunting love story set in the Channel Islands and New Zealand in the 19th century.
William, whose hypnotic, masculine presence made two women adore him... of Marianne, moody, passionate, brilliant, by whom William was both fascinated and repelled... of Marguerite, Marianne's beautiful sister whom William wanted with all his heart.
They had both loved him for years. Now they were waiting for him to return from his journeys and claim his bride. Views: 575
Foster parent Meg Suther’s new foster child Tony has an odd quirk. He talks to an imaginary friend. However it turns out the friend exists. Bruce is a friend to Tony and is the father figure Tony wishes he had. Meg innocently reads the spell from Tony’s book and sees Bruce, too. After being convinced he was good and meant no harm, she lets him stay. While Tony plots to set them up together.LITTLE TONY IS THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN SEE BRUCE... UNTIL MEG FINDS THE SPELLIMAGINATION BEGETS CREATIONYoung and beautiful foster parent Meg Suther’s new foster child Tony has an odd quirk. He talks to an imaginary friend and its name is Bruce. But Bruce actually exists. He's a fairy prince in a mission after his expulsion from his own world.And when Meg finds the spell from Tony's favorite book that will allow her to see him, she will herself be exposed to a surreal world that she never imagine is real. She accepts that she cannot take Bruce away from Tony -- the child needs him as he heals from the abuse he suffered from his father who is, thankfully, in prison. Both determined to protect and love Tony, they begin to trust each other. And Tony's world becomes more secure.What they didn't know is that somewhere, there's another imaginary friend, a creature evil that he can only appear as a shadow. He's a whispering things, and he is after Tony...If you wish to read more, download now!READER ADVISORY: This story contains contents that some reader may find objectionable, including sex and erotic themes.BONUS SURPRISE EBOOK FOR YOU AT THE END OF THE BOOK!EXCERPT"Good morning."Meg shrieked and nearly dropped the milk in the process. Thankfully, she had the presence of mind to keep a tight enough grip on the handle. She was also thankful she realized it was Bruce who had greeted her. The man was apparently a silent walker."Don't do that!" Meg shouted.Bruce put his hands up in a mock surrender pose. "Sorry. That wasn't on purpose. Please don't throw anything at me again.""I'm not living that down for a while, am I?" Meg asked."Not for at least a week," Bruce said.Pulling out one of the kitchen table chairs, Bruce sat and leaned back. He considered putting his feet up on the table but he thought better of it. Tony had never cared about where he put his feet up, but something told him Meg wouldn't be the same way."Did you sleep well?" Meg asked."Yeah. Slept pretty good. Very comfortable couch, by the way," Bruce commented. "By the by, how long have you been foster parenting?" he asked.The question seemed a little out of the blue but it was an easy one to answer."A little more than ten years," Meg answered."Any complaints?" Bruce continued to question.Meg placed the cereal box down on the table before looking up at Bruce. "Is this an interrogation?" Meg asked.Bruce gave a small shrug. "Yes. I guess so. All I want to do is ease my mind a bit more.""I don't think I'd be in the foster care system if I wasn't proven a good caretaker.""Well, systems make mistakes. Things slip their notice. Small things like bruises under shirt sleeves, dark circles under a kids eyes because the kid can't sleep well on some nights in fear of what can happen..."The humor was gone from Bruce's face and was replaced with a quiet rage. It was a look that unsettled Meg.She hoped that she would not have to see that look again. Or at the very least, be the one to cause him to have that expression.Download and discover why readers are raving about Lily Taffel.Scroll up and get the book now! Views: 574
Sketches New and Old is a compilation of fictional stories written by Mark Twain. Among them is "A Ghost Story". In each story, one can catch a great sense of Twain\'s humor and creativity. These classic sketches from Twain are no longer than 10 minutes each, but all show his quick-witted humor in response to the events of the day. A real storyteller can make a great story out of anything, even the most trivial occurrence. Composed between 1863 and 1875, the 63 often outrageous sketches in Sketches, New and Old contain, for instance, a piece about the difficulty of getting a pocket watch repaired properly; complaints about barbers and office bores; and satirical comments on bureaucrats, courts of law, the profession of journalism, the claims of science, and the workings of government. In Mark Twain\'s hands, all these potentially dry and dull topics bristle with vitality and interest. "What fascinates Twain," Lee Smith writes in her introduction, is how people "react to the things that happen to them." Twain "lets them speak in their own voices by and large, in a chorus ranging from high-flown oratory to the plain speech of working people.... It seems generally true that the more elevated the speech, the likelier that person is to be an idiot; words of wisdom and common sense are invariably voiced by the common man" - or woman. "The most profound and moving sketch in this whole collection" Smith writes, is one "told by a freed slave." The candid, ironic, playful, and petulant sketches in this volume are indispensable to our understanding of a harried genius during 13 quite amazing years. Views: 574
Looking out upon the backstreets, the suburbs and the high society haunts of Edwardian London, the delightfully witty and independent spinster Miss Ley surveys a tangled web of lives; she sympathetically observes the struggle under the pressures of convention, and the complex interplay between love and reason. Through Miss Ley's eyes we witness the brief but happy marriage of a dying poet; a woman's adulterous passion for a young rascal, and finally, an honourable man's decision to take virtue to extremes. Views: 574
Joyeux Noeuml;l: "[An]endearing collection of Christmas stories from ten of France's most esteemed writers―past and present―skillfully translated." ―Foreword Reviews This collection brings together the best French Christmas stories of all time, featuring classics by Guy de Maupassant and Alphonse Daudet, plus stories by the esteemed twentieth century authors Irène Némirovsky and Nobel Prize winner Anatole France and contemporary writers Dominique Fabre and Jean-Philippe Blondel. With a holiday spirit conveyed through sparkling Paris streets, opulent feasts, wandering orphans, kindly monks, homesick soldiers, oysters, crayfish, ham, bonbons, flickering desire, and more than a little wine, this collection encapsulates Christmas à la française—delicious, intense and unexpected. Views: 573
The great revival of interest in Patricia Highsmith continues with the publication of this novel that will give dog owners nightmares for years to come. With an eerie simplicity of style, Highsmith turns our next-door neighbors into sadistic psychopaths, lying in wait among white picket fences and manicured lawns. In A Dog's Ransom, Highsmith blends a savage humor with brilliant social satire in this dark tale of a highminded criminal who hits a wealthy Manhattan couple where it hurts the most when he kidnaps their beloved poodle. This work attesets to Highsmith's reputation as "the poet of apprehension" (Graham Greene). Views: 573
A brilliant new collection of stories from Etgar Keret, a master of the genre.There's no one like Etgar Keret. His stories take place at the crossroads of the fantastical, searing, and hilarious. His characters grapple with parenthood and family, war and games, marijuana and cake, memory and love. These stories never go to the expected place, but always surprise, entertain, and move...In "Arctic Lizard," a young boy narrates a post-apocalyptic version of the world where a youth army wages an unending war, rewarded by collecting prizes. A father tries to shield his son from the inevitable in "Fly Already." In "One Gram Short," a guy just wants to get a joint to impress a girl and ends up down a rabbit hole of chaos and heartache. And in the masterpiece "Pineapple Crush," two unlikely people connect through an evening smoke down by the beach, only to have one of them imagine a much deeper relationship.The thread that weaves these pieces... Views: 573
The Pulitzer Prize-nominated novel from the author of the New York Times bestselling novel *We Were the Mulvaneys*
Joyce Carol Oates has taken a shocking story that has become an American myth and, from it, has created a novel of electrifying power and illumination. Kelly Kelleher is an idealistic, twenty-six-year-old “good girl” when she meets the Senator at a Fourth of July party. In a brilliantly woven narrative, we enter her past and her present, her mind and her body as she is fatally attracted to this older man, this hero, this soon-to-be-lover. Kelly becomes the very embodiment of the vulnerable, romantic dreams of bright and brave women, drawn to the power that certain men command—at a party that takes on the quality of a surreal nightmare; in a tragic car ride that we hope against hope will not end as we know it must end. One of the acknowledged masters of American fiction, Joyce Carol Oates has written a bold tour de force that parts the black water to reveal the profoundest depths of human truth. Views: 572
Elizabeth is a demure twenty-three-year-old wiling her life away at a dull museum job, living with her neurotic aunt, and subsisting off her dead mother’s inheritance. When Elizabeth begins to suffer terrible migraines and backaches, her aunt takes her to the doctor, then to a psychiatrist. But slowly, and with Jackson’s characteristic chill, we learn that Elizabeth is not just one girl—but four separate, self-destructive personalities. The Bird’s Nest, Jackson’s third novel, develops hallmarks of the horror master’s most unsettling work: tormented heroines, riveting familial mysteries, and a disquieting vision inside the human mind. Views: 572
A dragon shapeshifter and a healer with power over the earth fight a corrupt empire in this thrilling and deeply emotional romantic fantasy from the USA Today bestselling author of Radiance.Magic is outlawed in the Krael Empire and punishable by death. Born with the gift of earth magic, the free trader Halani keeps her dangerous secret closely guarded. When her uncle buys a mysterious artifact, a piece of bone belonging to a long-dead draga, Halani knows it's far more than what it seems. Dragas haven't been seen for more than a century, and most believe them extinct. They're wrong. Dragas still walk among the denizens of the Empire, disguised as humans. Malachus is a draga living on borrowed time. The magic that has protected him will soon turn on him—unless he finds a key part of his heritage. He has tracked it to a group of free traders, among them a grave-robbing earth witch who fascinates him as much as she frustrates him with her many... Views: 571
