"The War Raged On" is a short story depicting a Civil War battle told from the alternating view points of Union soldier Jeremiah and Confederate soldier Samuel as destiny leads them to the same place at the wrong time.They say misery loves company but that’s not my motive. My probably-already-cold corpse doesn’t need to steer you (dead) wrong. I’m confident there’s plenty of “company” in the Rings of Purgatory, where I’ll spend eternity - no doubt insufficient prayers will be going up for me. But imminent death wouldn’t have been my fate if I could have just faced reality.If I could’ve remembered the old, “if it seems too good to be true, it probably is,” (maybe had it tattooed somewhere I could see it easily and often) chances are I’d have more just a few months left on earth.But who can resist quick, easy, money, especially when their credit card statements look like mine? Even now, on the computer, beautiful people in banner ads are practically crooning my name, promising a better-paying career, or shadowing me with flickering visions of stuff I’ve window shopped for (but need a better paying job to pay for!). So, back in June with that Vegas bartender? After a few sips of something he concocted, I was all eyes and ears.And all you need to know, to stay safe out there, (or anywhere) is: stick with the bottled drinks. 'Cuz his blasted strawberry slushy recipe turned him from a half-blood hound, into a garnish-skewering, paper-parasol wielding demi-god of pre-mature death.They say, live and learn. I say, learn from me and live longer.

Giulia is fifteen-years old and she has the doubts of all teenagers, a nickname given her by her father, "cheeky fa ce", and a present-day family, with recently split-up parents, dealing with the economic crisis. Her rebellious presonality and innate sense of humor make of her a character waiting to be discovered. Also for her psychoanalyst.A collection of lyrics and poetry inspired by our debut, this booklet is the companion to Hobbes feat. Kuderski's album: "Voices of Reasons". Our debut is a concept album by nature. When I wrote the lyrics, what I had in mind is that each song represents a person, with their personal point of view, stemming from their "Voice of Reason" in their mind. A few poems will be lyrics on our upcoming album.To me, it's all about the interplay among people. Mom always used to say to me "It takes two to tango", and "There are two sides to every story." For me, it's about all of us being our own individual selves, communicating it to others as best we can, while really listening to the other "Voices of Reasons" out there. That works on building a sense of understanding, acceptance of, and mutual respect for one another.A few poems will be lyrics on our upcoming 2-disc album: "At This Point". I hope that you, in your lifetime, are moved to create something beautiful of your own, and that you then share it with the world.

Once, the empire of Vhur was the world's most powerful. But that was before the Lichy plague. Now, twenty years and millions of dead later, only a few cities remain. The survivors walk a fine line between staying alive and crumbling into the grave. Come the Night of Knives, even these last few might perish.Once, the empire of Vhur was the world's most powerful. But that was before the Lichy plague. Now, twenty years and millions of dead later, only a few cities remain. The survivors walk a fine line between staying alive and crumbling into the grave. Come the Night of Knives, even these last few might perish.This Dark Fantasy Serial begins here and will be released over the course of the next 6 weekends.

In this Sorter Universe Story, a med student trapped on board a space craft has to prevent a mutiny and the release of thousands of killers from a deep space mental institution.Ever since we locked the Shudders up, we’ve never let them out. But there are a few who can dupe the psych test and go free. Most think they’d know a Shudder if they saw one. They think he’d sway like an old time snake wrestling Pentecostal, but that’s not how it goes. When the ivory tower first diagnosed the syndrome, it noticed that only the eyeballs vibrated. The second misconception is this: all Shudders are killers, or would be if we didn’t lock them up. But this is also false; only a few have ever progressed far enough into their mania that they emerge with a corpse in their hands. And the ironic thing is, these few who are truly bonkers are also the most likely to score a false negative on the tests and walk free. And they often harbor a homicidal rage about those of their kind who remain imprisoned. You see, it only makes matters worse.

Garyth is a leaf on life's wind, drifting through life, until he encounters an old woman while wandering down Glastonbury High Street. He gazes into her eyes and finds himself unable to move. Her touch sends him tumbling into a remembrance of his past lives. Reliving past incarnations reconnects him with his life's purpose. He is a Guardian, saving those lives that must be saved throughout time.Garyth is a leaf on life's wind, drifting through life, until he encounters an old woman while wandering down Glastonbury High Street. He gazes into her eyes and finds himself unable to move. Her touch sends him tumbling into a remembrance of his past life as a Paleolithic hunter-gatherer. As he relives this and other past incarnations he is reconnected with his life's purpose. He is a Guardian, saving those lives that must be saved throughout time.

An epic space opera, adventure…This thrilling twelve part series combines aspects of mythology with new technology, as the human race evolves into its true Galactic Human form.An epic space opera, adventure…This thrilling twelve part series combines aspects of mythology with new technology, as the human race evolves into its true Galactic Human form.Reggie, a typical schoolboy, has nothing on his mind apart from the television and a packet of chocolate digestives. When the telephone rings, he suddenly becomes involved in his uncle’s bizarre behaviour, which quickly leads him into an adventure far more exciting than the film he has just been watching…No one believes his uncles’ abduction story, until they are propelled into another dimension. Somehow, they have to get home but, before they can do that, they have to escape from the clutches of a terrifying alien…Revised edition.

What would you do if you payed mother a surprise visit at Christmas and discovered all the gifts the family had sent her over the last five years displayed on her dining room table, - all unused and with the wrapping paper close by.Hopefully you'd handle the situation with care the way Leanne did and not turn the situation into a screaming match that would get your mother's back up.Sandra has a secret that her daughter Leanne finds out about when she pays her a surprise visit just before Christmas. To Leanne's surprise, she finds out that her mother has never used any of her gifts over the last five years, but rather re-wrapped them and kept them in her memory box. A box that she opens again each year at Christmas and the re-wraps the gifts again until the following Christmas.Later, Sandra tells her daughter that she has been doing this ever since the rest of the family moved to Australia and left her to fend for herself. Leanne gets cross because it was Sandra's choice to remain behind and they had often begged her to come. But she also knows that as she needs to take her mother back home with her now, she will have to handle the situation with care, -and not mention the gift episode or any of Sandra;s neighbours complaints to them about her mothers behaviour. This is why Leanne makes up her mind to tell Sandra that she won't mention the gift episode to the others, -as long as she returns to Oz with her. But in the end she doesn't even need to do this, as Sandra makes up her own mind to go back to Australia with her.A happy Christmas story that is based on a true story.

Neil Black is a run-down assassin desperately looking for his magic hit - the one hit on a drug lord or a dictator that might save thousands from addiction and oppression. So when he glimpses that magic hit in the form of a big time mob boss, he takes the chance and gets his dream hit, not realizing his family will get caught in the crossfire.Neil Black is a run-down assassin desperately looking for his magic hit - the one hit on a drug lord or a dictator that might save thousands from addiction and oppression. So when he glimpses that magic hit in the form of a big time mob boss, he takes the chance and gets his dream hit. He doesn’t, however, predict the horrific cost that his parents and younger brother may have to pay after he succeeds. Now it’s up to Neil and his fellow assassin Trecheon Omnir to use all their skills and knowledge to fight the coming storm – before Neil’s family become the mob’s next victims.

Cady Garrett is shaken when neighbor, Ethan, saves her from a crazed killer. Even more disturbed when the killer slits his own throat after a vicious struggle. Cady is drawn into a world where shadows hide more than the seedy underbelly of San Francisco’s Tenderloin district. She’s become the obsession of a darker power, and no one, not even Ethan, can keep her safe from his twisted desires.Cady Garrett can't help but be shaken when next door neighbor, Ethan, shows up in the nick of time to save her from a ruthless killer, spouting mumbo jumbo. Even more disturbed when the killer slits his own throat to escape Ethan after a vicious struggle. Curiously, Ethan insists on leaving before the dead killer returns, even though he can barely stand on his feet. Nursing him back to health, Cady is drawn into a world of half truths and mysteries, where shadows hide more than the seedy underbelly of San Francisco's Tenderloin district. She has become the obsession of a darker power, and no one, not even Ethan, can keep her safe from his twisted desires.

A meeting between a mysterious man and a devout woman leads to an intimate conversation about faith and doubt, life and death, on a cold Halloween night.A meeting between a mysterious man and a devout woman leads to an intimate conversation about faith and doubt, life and death, on a cold Halloween night. Will the two strangers, within the walls of a cathedral, find pain or forgiveness?

The Gift is the last of the novels Nabokov wrote in his native Russian and the crowning achievement of that period in his literary career.  It is also his ode to Russian literature, evoking the works of Pushkin, Gogol, and others in the course of its narrative:  the story of Fyodor Godunov-Cherdyntsev, an impoverished émigré poet living in Berlin, who dreams of the book he will someday write--a book very much like The Gift itself. From the Trade Paperback edition.

When the game begins in New Orleans this Super Bowl Sunday . . . 80,000 people had better get ready to die. — The Super Bowl--where thousands have gathered for an all-American tradition. Suddenly it's the most terrifying place on earth . . . — Michael Lander is the most dangerous man in America. He pilots a television blimp over packed football stadiums every weekend. He is fascinated with explosives. And he happens to be very, very crazy. That's why a beautiful PLO operative has seduced him. That's why--on Super Bowl Sunday--the world will witness the bloody assassination of the U. S. president and the worst mass murder in history. Unless someone discovers what Michael Lander plans . . . and can kill him first.

One night when Liza went to bed, Patrick was her chubby, stubby, candy-grubbing and pancake-loving younger brother, who irritated and amused her both, and the next morning, when she woke up, he was not. In fact, he was quite, quite different. When Liza’s brother, Patrick, changes overnight, Liza knows exactly what has happened: The spindlers have gotten to him and stolen his soul. She knows, too, that she is the only one who can save him. To rescue Patrick, Liza must go Below, armed with little more than her wits and a broom. There, she uncovers a vast world populated with talking rats, music-loving moles, greedy troglods, and overexcitable nids . . . as well as terrible dangers. But she will face her greatest challenge at the spindlers’ nests, where she encounters the evil queen and must pass a series of deadly tests—or else her soul, too, will remain Below forever. From New York Times best-selling author Lauren Oliver comes a bewitching story about the reaches of loyalty, the meaning of love, and the enduring power of hope.

Before the sweet delight of Chocolat, before the heady concoction that is Blackberry Wine, and before the tart pleasures of Five Quarters of the Orange, bestselling author Joanne Harris wrote Sleep, Pale Sister -- a gothic tourde-force that recalls the powerfully dark sensibility of her novel Holy Fools. Originally published in 1994 -- and never before available in the United States -- Sleep, Pale Sister is a hypnotically atmospheric story set in nineteenth century London. When puritanical artist Henry Chester sees delicate child beauty Effie, he makes her his favorite model and, before long, his bride. But Henry, volatile and repressed, is in love with an ideal. Passive, docile, and asexual, the woman he projects onto Effie is far from the woman she really is. And when Effie begins to discover the murderous depths of Henry's hypocrisy, her latent passion will rise to the surface. Sleep, Pale Sister combines the ethereal beauty of a Pre-Raphaelite painting with a chilling high gothic tale and is a testament to Harris's brimming cornucopia of talents. This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.

Who is the real McLean? Since her parents' bitter divorce, McLean and her dad, a restaurant consultant, have been on the move-four towns in two years. Estranged from her mother and her mother's new family, McLean has followed her dad in leaving the unhappy past behind. And each new place gives her a chance to try out a new persona: from cheerleader to drama diva. But now, for the first time, McLean discovers a desire to stay in one place and just be herself, whoever that is. Perhaps Dave, the guy next door, can help her find out. Combining Sarah Dessen's trademark graceful writing, great characters, and compelling storytelling, What Happened to Goodbye is irresistible reading.

Now a major film starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Willem Dafoe, and Robin Wright—the acclaimed bestselling novel about spies in “The War on Terror.” A half-starved young Russian man in a long black overcoat is smuggled into Hamburg at dead of night. He has an improbable amount of cash secreted in a purse around his neck. He is a devout Muslim. Or is he? He says his name is Issa. Annabel, an idealistic young German civil rights lawyer, determines to save Issa from deportation. Soon her client’s survival becomes more important to her than her own career—or safety. In pursuit of Issa’s mysterious past, she confronts the incongruous Tommy Brue, the sixty-year-old scion of Brue Frères, a failing British bank based in Hamburg. Annabel, Issa, and Brue form an unlikely alliance—and a triangle of impossible loves is born. Meanwhile, sensing a sure kill in the “War on Terror,” the rival spies of Germany, England, and America converge upon the innocents. Thrilling, compassionate, with characters you’ll never forget, A Most Wanted Man is a work of deep humanity and uncommon relevance to our times.

With his groundbreaking New York Times bestseller The Sword of Shannara and its acclaimed sequels, Terry Brooks brought a new audience to epic fantasy. Then he gave the genre a darkly compelling contemporary twist in his trilogy of the Word and the Void. Last year, in Armageddon’s Children, Brooks undertook the stunning chronicle that united two unique worlds. Now that story of clashing forces of darkness and light, of Shannara’s beginnings and the human race’s possible end, marches forward into an unforgettable second volume full of mystery, magic, and momentous events. Across the ruined landscape that is America–hopelessly poisoned, plague-ridden, burned, and besieged by demon armies bent on exterminating all mortal life–two pilgrims have been summoned to serve the embattled cause of good. Logan Tom has journeyed to desolate Seattle to protect a ragged band of street urchins and the being known as “the gypsy morph,” who is both mortal and magical, and destined to save mankind unless he is destroyed. Likewise, Angel Perez has her own quest, one that will take her from the wreckage of Los Angeles to a distant, secret place untouched by the horrors of the nationwide blight–a place where the race of Elves has dwelled since before man existed. But close behind these lone Knights of the Word swarm the ravening forces of the Void. As the menacing thunder of war drums heralds the arrival of the demons and their brutal minions in Seattle, the young survivors who call themselves the Ghosts are forced to brave the dangerous world of gangs, mutants, and worse to escape the invasion. And Logan Tom must infiltrate a refugee compound to rescue Hawk, the leader of the street urchins, who has yet to learn the truth about who and what he is. Meanwhile, Angel Perez has joined an equally urgent mission: to find the Ellcrys, a fabled talisman crucial to protecting the Elven realm against an influx of unspeakable evil from the dread dimension known as the Forbidding. But Angel and her Elf allies must beware–for a demon spy, with a monstrous creature at its command, walks among them. As the legions of darkness draw the noose tighter, and the time of confrontation draws near, those chosen to defend the soul of the world must draw their battle lines and prepare to fight with, and for, their lives. If they fail, humanity falls. From the Hardcover edition.

The final book in Mira Grant's terrifying Parasitology trilogy. The outbreak has spread, tearing apart the foundations of society, as implanted tapeworms have turned their human hosts into a seemingly mindless mob. Sal and her family are trapped between bad and worse, and must find a way to compromise between the two sides of their nature before the battle becomes large enough to destroy humanity, and everything that humanity has built...including the chimera. The broken doors are closing. Can Sal make it home?

The Woman in the Dunes, by celebrated writer and thinker Kobo Abe, combines the essence of myth, suspense and the existential novel. After missing the last bus home following a day trip to the seashore, an amateur entomologist is offered lodging for the night at the bottom of a vast sand pit. But when he attempts to leave the next morning, he quickly discovers that the locals have other plans. Held captive with seemingly no chance of escape, he is tasked with shoveling back the ever-advancing sand dunes that threaten to destroy the village. His only companion is an odd young woman. Together their fates become intertwined as they work side by side at this Sisyphean task.

Love Virtually ends as Leo leaves Austria for America. He and Emmi have still not met, but the intensity of their correspondence has been threatening Emmi’s marriage. But shouldn’t these unconventional lovers be given another chance? When Leo returns from Boston, he gradually resumes his email contact with Emmi. But he has plans to settle down with Pamela, the woman he met in America. Emmi and Leo meet at last in person, in an attempt to draw a line under their relationship, but they cannot stop writing to each other. When Pamela learns of Leo’s secret and unusual liaison, she returns to the USA, and Emmi’s marriage to Bernhard is tested to its limits. Readers of Love Virtually begged to know more: could Emmi and Leo ever get together? Once again Daniel Glattauer takes us up and down through stormy waters, and delivers a thrilling sequel.

An exceptional father-son story about the reality that tests us, the myths that sustain us, and the love that saves us. Paul Coates was an enigmatic god to his sons: a Vietnam vet who rolled with the Black Panthers, an old-school disciplinarian and new-age believer in free love, an autodidact who launched a publishing company in his basement dedicated to telling the true history of African civilization. Most of all, he was a wily tactician whose mission was to carry his sons across the shoals of inner-city adolescence--and through the collapsing civilization of Baltimore in the Age of Crack--and into the safe arms of Howard University, where he worked so his children could attend for free. Among his brood of seven, his main challenges were Ta-Nehisi, spacey and sensitive and almost comically miscalibrated for his environment, and Big Bill, charismatic and all-too-ready for the challenges of the streets. The Beautiful Struggle follows their divergent paths through this turbulent period, and their father's steadfast efforts--assisted by mothers, teachers, and a body of myths, histories, and rituals conjured from the past to meet the needs of a troubled present--to keep them whole in a world that seemed bent on their destruction. With a remarkable ability to reimagine both the lost world of his father's generation and the terrors and wonders of his own youth, Coates offers readers a small and beautiful epic about boys trying to become men in black America and beyond.