A no-hit group from the 1970s called Cinnamon Sweat performs at a virtual ghost town for Deb, the band’s original and now only member of its fan club. While the event is being broadcast live online for a reality-style website, the producers focus on Deb’s personal issues rather than The Big Story: what happened to the band's original guitarist during that fateful tour of 1975?A no-hit group from the 1970s called Cinnamon Sweat performs at a virtual ghost town for Deb, the band’s original and now only member of its fan club. While the event is being broadcast live online for a reality-style website, the producers focus on Deb’s personal issues rather than The Big Story: what happened to the band's original guitarist during that fateful tour of 1975? This quirky comedy-drama is set in a (fictitious) one-dog town called Chittingford Dales in rural South Australia. The book incorporates things I know and love, such as 1970s music and my home state; and topics that interest me, such as webcasting and filming. Besides the band members Trevor, Nigel and Cockles, the myriad of whacky characters include Madge, who runs the pub; Arnold, an octogenarian railway conductor; Gladys, a former groupie, now with a Zimmer frame; and Lifeless Cyril. The book is based on a movie script I wrote and is very short (only 70 pages), which is why it's free.

A writer practices billiards while trying to finish the stories of the characters in his head. Although his characters plague him, following him everywhere he goes, he can't seem to finish writing about them.The Star Trails Tetralogy, i.e. "Beyond the Hidden Sky;" "A Dark of Endless Days;" "A Psilent Place Below;" and "Refractions of Frozen Time," takes place in a fictitious universe which includes unfamiliar vocabulary, aliens races, and numerous planets. This compendium was compiled for readers who requested more detail, such as a glossary of terms as well as descriptions of the political structure, weather patterns, and Cyraria's indigenous race, the bnolar. Topical discussion guides at the chapter level are included as well for those who want to delve even deeper, including educators who could use the stories to stimulate interest in numerous scientific or sociological topics.

Terra ~one last wishA Beautiful Heart Quadrilogy Book OneAn upper YA/New Adult novelOne house. One last wish. One secret. I wish I had never locked eyes with Ben. He made my lavender rose heart explode into a thousand blooms, and infused me with a hypnotic potion of floral and fruity fragrances that resonated in perfect harmony with his being. And I wish, I hadn't met Nic. One shattered heart.Terra~one last wish~A Beautiful Heart Quadrilogy Book OneAn upper YA/New Adult novelterra[ter-uh]noun 1. earth; land.One house. One last wish. One secret... I wish I had never locked eyes with Ben. He made my lavender rose heart explode into a thousand blooms, and infused me with a hypnotic potion of floral and fruity fragrances that resonated in perfect harmony with his being. I wish ... love at first sight ... did not exist.I wish I hadn't entered the wrought iron gate on that fateful day. I should have fled when I was attacked by the black crow of war and death. And I wish … I hadn't met Nic. Beautiful Nic. He pushed me into my fearscape, then left. Just like that. Gran said I wouldn't get hurt. She was right. How do you feel the hurt when it is so painful you become numb? One house. One last wish. One shattered heart.

A body has been washed up on the shore, and as he begins his journey to confirm whether it is that of his estranged father, Thomas reflects upon the misery that man brought into his life, and questions whether everyone would be better off if his father truly were dead. From indie story-teller Les Rolt comes a gripping tale exploring the scars that the past leave upon us.“When the phone rings at four in the morning you know it's not going to be good news.” A body has been washed up on the shore, and as he begins his journey to confirm whether it is that of his estranged father, Thomas reflects upon the misery that man brought into his life, and questions whether everyone would be better off if his father truly were dead. The debut short-story from indie story-teller Les Rolt is a gripping tale exploring the scars that the past leave upon us, and the grave consequences they may bring.

A naked man in New Mexico claims to have traveled through time. He says that he's America's savior. A sexually-transmitted infection in New York takes control of people's bodies and burns them out in a drive to infect others. And a Presidential candidate is talking to angels. His aides think he's crazy. The electorate might disagree.It could all be madness. It might be the apocalypse.A naked man arrives in New Mexico claiming to have traveled through time. He says that he's America's savior. A bizarre sexually-transmitted infection in New York takes control of people's bodies and burns them out in an incessant drive to infect others. And a Presidential candidate is conversing with angels. His aides think he's crazy. The electorate might not agree with them. It could all be madness. It might be the apocalypse. Americosis. An epic genre-bending mash-up of sci-fi, horror, thriller & dark comedy. VOLUME 1 This short novella introduces the series. It'll leave you begging for more...

Marsi didn't know how to sail, but figured her life would be better than pushing a shopping cart around collecting cans and bottles in the never ending hunt for enough money for her next meal. Madame Nuage advised that a BIG adventure was coming, something Marsi wanted no part of. But, destiny is what it is, and none of us have any choice as to whether, or not, we want to participate.Evy is out with her horses, Rusty and Twilight, when she comes across a dead moose. Things only get worse when she discovers a very young, now orphaned calf standing over his mother’s body. She is determined to save the calf, but before she can, Twilight, her mustang filly, disappears. Evy sets out to rescue her, only to stumble upon even worse danger: illegal hunters who will do anything to keep their poaching a secret. Will Evy be one of their victims?

Astronomy proves a dangerous hobby, as while out camping Jenny Airhart and her friends are drawn into an adventure by paranormal investigator Lionel Baker - Gentleman, adventurer and purveyor of mystery... and who is pursued by a very dangerous gang. And there are even dangers awaiting where they're going, to a vault buried beneath the earth where deadly secrets lie in wait...Stargazing and astronomy proves to be a dangerous hobby for Jenny Airhart and her friends, as while out camping they are stumbled upon by a paranormal investigator, Sir Lionel Baker - Gentleman, Adventurer, and purveyor of mystery! (The biggest mystery being why did Kaya's mom once give her a sweater with Donny Osmond's face on it?)But Lionel is not so harmless as he first appears, as soon the women are drawn into an adventure with a very dangerous gang. And even greater dangers await them where they're going, beneath the earth, where deadly secrets lie in wait...This novella takes place after the novel 'The Little Queen', and before the upcoming novel 'Asterion'.

Locked in a fight to the death in the subworld of Kiilda, John’s only option is to defeat Kiilda if he ever wants to see his little sister again. Meanwhile, Faith is quickly forming a friendship with Tarsh Landid. But when Castrum Fortress is surrounded by the Brown Bandits, it looks like the only thing that will satisfy them is the former “Ghost of Hedekira”…whether he’s dead or alive!The Golden Lands, one of the three worlds of Terra, is supposed to be a place of peace, light, and happiness. But the Golden Lands hasn't exactly been such a place for John Hedekira, a jaded, hot-headed teenager.Locked in a fight to the death in the subworld of Kiilda, John’s only option is to defeat Kiilda if he ever wants to see his little sister again. Meanwhile, Faith is quickly forming a friendship with Tarsh Landid. But when Castrum Fortress is surrounded by the Brown Bandits, it looks like the only thing that will satisfy them is the former “Ghost of Hedekira”…whether he’s dead or alive!

When a passenger check-in desk at London's Heathrow Airport disappears in a ball of orange flame, the explosion is deemed an act of God. But which god, wonders holistic detective Dirk Gently? What god would be hanging around Heathrow trying to catch the 3:37 to Oslo? And what has this to do with Dirk's latest--and late--client, found only this morning with his head revolving atop the hit record "Hot Potato"? Amid the hostile attentions of a stray eagle and the trauma of a very dirty refrigerator, super-sleuth Gently will once again solve the mysteries of the universe.

While his literary reputation rests mainly on such celebrated novels as *Crime and Punishment*, *The Brothers Karamazov*, and *The Idiot*, Dostoyevsky also wrote much superb short fiction. *The Double* is one of the finest of his shorter works. It appeared in 1846 (his second published work) and is by far the most significant of his early stories, not least for its successful, straight-faced treatment of a hallucinatory theme. In *The Double*, the protagonist, Golyadkin senior, is persecuted by his double, Golyadkin junior, who resembles him closely in almost every detail. The latter abuses the former with mounting scorn and brutality as the tale proceeds toward its frightening denouement. Characteristic Dostoyevskyan themes of helplessness, victimization, and scandal are beautifully handled here with an artistry that qualifies the story as a small masterpiece. Students of literature, admirers of Dostoyevsky, and general readers will all be delighted to have this classic work available in this inexpensive, high-quality edition.

A moving, final collection of stories by Arthur Miller Throughout his career as one of the foremost playwrights of the twentieth century, Arthur Miller wrote a remarkable series of highly regarded short stories, pieces that reveal the same profound insight, humanism, and empathy that are the hallmarks of his great dramatic works. Presence is a posthumous gathering of Miller’s last published fiction, a group of stories that appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, Esquire, and elsewhere. “Bulldog” describes a young teenager’s surprising first sexual experience while “Presence” relates a man’s encounter with a woman he has just seen making love on a beach. “Beavers” tells a haunting tale of nature, creation, and destruction. In “The Performance,” a Jewish tap dancer enthralls Hitler. “The Bare Manuscript” reveals a writer’s unusual methods to revive his muse, and, finally, “The Turpentine Still” presents a portrait of a man examining his legacy. Displaying the sureness of an artist in his autumnal prime, Presence is a gift that all fans of Miller’s work, as well as readers of contemporary fiction, will welcome.

When New York Times Bestselling writer Tad Williams described Peter S. Beagle as a 'bandit prince out to steal reader's hearts' he touched on a truth that readers have known for fifty years. Beagle, whose work has touched generations of readers around the world, has spun rich, romantic and very funny tales that have beguiled and enchanted readers of all ages. Undeniably, his most famous work is the much loved classic, The Last Unicorn, which tells of unicorn who sets off on quest to discover whether she is the last of her kind, and of the people she meets on her journey. Never prolific, The Last Unicorn is one of only five novels Beagle has published since A Fine and Private Place appeared in 1960, and was followed by The Folk of the Air, The Innkeeper's Song, and Tamsin. During the first forty years of his career Beagle also wrote a small handful, scarcely a dozen, short stories. Classics like 'Come Lady Death,' 'Lila and the Werewolf,' 'Julie's Unicorn,' 'Professor Gottesman and the Indian Rhinoceros,' and the tales that make up Giant Bones. And then, starting just five years ago, he turned his attention to short fiction in earnest, and produced a stunning array of new stories including the Hugo and Nebula Award winning follow up to The Last Unicorn, 'Two Hearts,' WSFA Small Press Award winner 'El Regalo,' and wonderful stories like the surrealist 'The Last and Only,' the haunting 'The Rabbi s Hobby' and others. Mirror Kingdoms: The Best of Peter S. Beagle collects the very best of these stories, over 200,000 words worth, ranging across 45 years of his career from early stories to freshly minted tales that will surprise and amaze readers. It's a book which shows, more than any other, just how successful this bandit prince from the streets of New York has been at stealing our hearts and underscores how much we hope he ll keep on doing so.

WITH HER BELOVED YOUNGER SIBLINGS SETTLED AND HAPPY, ERIN FOLEY HAS EMPTY NEST SYNDROME. AT AGE THIRTY-FIVE. So she's hitting the pause button on her life and holing up in a secluded (but totally upgraded --- she's not into roughing it!) cabin near Virgin River. Erin is planning on getting to know herself ... not the shaggy-haired mountain man she meets. In fact, beneath his faded fatigues and bushy beard, Aiden Riordan is a doctor, recharging for a summer after leaving the navy. He's intrigued by the pretty, slightly snooty refugee from the rat race --- her meditating and journaling are definitely keeping him at arm's length. He'd love to get closer ... if his scruffy exterior and crazy ex-wife don't hold him back. But maybe it's something in the water --- unlikely romances seem to take root in Virgin River ... helped along by some well-intentioned meddling, of course.

ISABEL DALHOUSIE - Book 2 Nothing captures the charm of Edinburgh like the bestselling Isabel Dalhousie series of novels featuring the insatiably curious philosopher and woman detective.  Whether investigating a case or a problem of philosophy, the indefatigable Isabel Dalhousie, one of fiction’s most richly developed amateur detectives, is always ready to pursue the answers to all of life’s questions, large and small. In this delightful second installment in Alexander McCall Smith’s bestselling detective series, the irrepressibly curious Isabel Dalhousie gets caught up in a highly unusual affair of the heart.When Isabel is asked to cover for vacationing Cat at her delicatessen, Isabel meets a man with a most interesting problem. He recently had a heart transplant and is suddenly haunted by memories of events that never happened to him.The situation piques her insatiable curiosity: Could the memories be connected with the donor’s demise? Naturally, Isabel’s friend Jamie thinks it is none of Isabel’s business. Meanwhile, Grace, Isabel’s housekeeper, has become infatuated with a man at her spiritualist meeting, and Cat brings home an Italian lothario. That makes for some particularly tricky problems–both practical and philosophical–for Isabel to unravel in this enormously engaging and highly unusual mystery. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Eleven months ago, bartender and weird-shirt-wearing extraordinaire Roxy and Officer Reece Anders had a one night stand. Well, kind of. She’s been in love with him since she was fifteen, and he wishes that night they shared never happened. She’s sworn him off forever, but the past and future collide, forcing her to rely on the one man who broke her heart not once, but twice. Her best friend since birth has been in a long-term care facility since he became a victim of a hate crime years ago, and the person who put him in there is out of prison and wanting to make amends with him and Roxy. She’s not sure she has room for forgiveness in her and when she begins to receive frightening messages and is on the receiving end of escalating violence, she thinks she knows who is to blame. The man who already destroyed one life already. But Reece isn’t convinced. The threats are too personal, and even if Roxy doesn’t believe him, he’s not willing to let anyone hurt her. Including himself. He’s already messed up more than once when it comes to Roxy and he’s not going to let history repeat itself.

**Does the perfect kiss exist? This smart and funny modern romance explores the pleasures and perils of love. A great book for fans of romantic reads like To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han.** Evangeline Logan wants a kiss. Not just any kiss—a “crimson kiss,” like the one in a romance novel she's become obsessed with. But the path to perfection is paved with many bad kisses—the smash mouth, the ear licker, the “misser,” the tentative tight lipper. The phrase 'I don't kiss and tell' means nothing to the boys in her school.  And worse: someone starts writing her name and number on bathroom walls. And worst of all: the boy she's just kissed turns out to be her best friend's new crush. Kissing turns out to be way more complicated than the romance novels would have you believe . . . From the Hardcover edition.

Last Tales is a collection of twelve of the last tales that Isak Dinesen wrote before her death in 1962. They include seven tales from Albondocani, a projected novel that was never completed; "The Caryatids," an unfinished Gothic tale of a couple bedeviled by an old letter and a gypsy's spell; and three tales of winter, including "Converse at Night in Copenhagen," a drunken, all-night conversation between a boy-king, a prostitute, and a poor young poet. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Before Shelby Foote under took his epic history of the Civil War, he wrote this fictional chronicle -- "a landscape in narrative" -- of Jordan County, Mississippi, a place where the traumas of slavery, war, and Reconstruction are as tangible as rock formations. The seven stories in Jordan County move backward in time, from 1950 to 1797, and through the lives of characters as diverse as a black horn player doomed by tuberculosis and convulsive jealousy, a tormented and ineffectual fin-de-siecle aristocrat, and a half-wild frontiersman who builds a plantation in Choctaw territory only to watch it burn at the close of the Civil War. In prose of almost Biblical gravity; and with a deep knowledge of the ways in which history shapes human lives -- and sometimes warps them beyond repair -- Foote gives us an ambitious, troubling work of fiction that builds on the traditions of William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor but that is resolutely unique.

Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin tales are widely acknowledged to be the greatest series of historical novels ever written. To commemorate the 40th anniversary of their beginning, with Master and Commander, these evocative stories are being re-issued in paperback with smart new livery. This is the eleventh book in the series. The Reverse of the Medal is in all respects an unconventional naval tale. Jack Aubrey returns from his duties protecting whalers off South America and is persuaded by a casual acquaintance to make investments in the City on the strength of supposedly certain information. From there he is led into the half worlds of the London criminal underground and of government espionage – the province of his friend, Stephen Maturin, on whom alone he can rely. Those who are already devoted readers of Patrick O’Brian will find here all the brilliance of characterisation and sparkle of dialogue which they have come to expect. For those who read him for the first time there will be the pleasure of discovering, quite unexpectedly, a novelist of unique character.

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Alison Weir's Mary Boleyn. Handsome, accomplished, and charming, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, staked his claim to the English throne by marrying Mary Stuart, who herself claimed to be the Queen of England. It was not long before Mary discovered that her new husband was interested only in securing sovereign power for himself. Then, on February 10, 1567, an explosion at his lodgings left Darnley dead; the intrigue thickened after it was discovered that he had apparently been suffocated before the blast. After an exhaustive reevaluation of the source material, Alison Weir has come up with a solution to this enduring mystery. Employing her gift for vivid characterization and gripping storytelling, Weir has written one of her most engaging excursions yet into Britain’s bloodstained, power-obsessed past.

12,000 B.C. They were four trained scientists, each of them skilled in several disciplines - because this was an opportunity that would never occur again. There would never be another chance for men form the world of 2070 A.D. to examine in person the world of 12,000 B.C. What they learned and taped would be the only record ever made of this dim, enigmatic period of prehistory. But absolutely no one in the world of 2070 or in the borrowed time of 12,000 B.C. could have imagined what the tapes would reveal... A superb novel of adventure and intrigue in a vanished era Cover illustration: Geoff Cummings