Eko (NINE Series, #1)

      Loren Walker
$value['title']

Eko follows the story of Sydel, a medical apprentice with psychic abilities, and a trio of estranged siblings, Phaira, Cohen and Renzo, who are tasked with the girl’s protection, and later her rescue, from malevolent forces. B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree - Shelf Unbound Notable Indie Pick - Finalist for the Half the World Global Literari Award.Midnight in Osha: an injured woman is left at the gates of a commune. Eighteen-year-old Sydel, an apprentice hungry to prove her worth, is certain that healing the blue-haired stranger will finally win the respect of her community. But tensions spike when two men appear in search of their sister: Phaira, the woman in the clinic. And when Sydel’s experimental medical treatments prove successful, instead of offering accolades, her elders make the sudden decision to banish her. Guilt-ridden, Phaira and her brothers, Renzo and Cohen, offer shelter to the bewildered girl, and take Sydel with them into the violent, industrial North. Then the reason behind the expulsion comes to light: Sydel is an Eko, a being that can read minds and accelerate healing. And when word of her talents goes public, Sydel becomes a valuable prize to possess, with the siblings as her only means of defense. Set in the world of Osha, where free communication cubes come from vending machines, and hair color is changed with a CHROMA headband, EKO mixes the fantastical with the complexities of family, and will appeal to fans of paranormal, fantasy and science fiction, comic books and anime, world-building, fast-paced action, and psychic phenomena. B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree - Shelf Unbound Notable Indie Pick - Finalist for the Half the World Global Literari Award.

Read online

  • 825

    The Hollow

      Agatha Christie
$value['title']

Lady Angkatell, intrigued by the criminal mind, has invited Hercule Poirot to her estate for a weekend house party. The Belgian detective's arrival at the Hollow is met with an elaborate tableau staged for his amusement: a doctor lies in a puddle of red paint, his timid wife stands over his body with a gun while the other guests look suitably shocked. But this is no charade. The paint is blood and the corpse real! Christie described this novel as the one "I had ruined by the introduction of Poirot." It was first published in 1946 in London. In the USA it was published under the title Murder after Hours. Christie adapted the novel for the stage though with the omission of Hercule Poirot.

Read online

  • 825

    The Swan Thieves

      Elizabeth Kostova
$value['title']

Psychiatrist Andrew Marlow, devoted to his profession and the painting hobby he loves, has a solitary but ordered life. When renowned painter Robert Oliver attacks a canvas in the National Gallery of Art and becomes his patient, Marlow finds that order destroyed. Desperate to understand the secret that torments the genius, he embarks on a journey that leads him into the lives of the women closest to Oliver and a tragedy at the heart of French Impressionism. Kostova's masterful new novel travels from American cities to the coast of Normandy, from the late 19th century to the late 20th, from young love to last love. THE SWAN THIEVES is a story of obsession, history's losses, and the power of art to preserve human hope.

Read online

  • 825

    Pops: Fatherhood in Pieces

      Michael Chabon
$value['title']

“Magical prose stylist” Michael Chabon (Michiko Kakutani, New York Times) delivers a collection of essays—heartfelt, humorous, insightful, wise—on the meaning of fatherhood. For the September 2016 issue of GQ, Michael Chabon wrote a piece about accompanying his son Abraham Chabon, then thirteen, to Paris Men’s Fashion Week. Possessed with a precocious sense of style, Abe was in his element chatting with designers he idolized and turning a critical eye to the freshest runway looks of the season; Chabon Sr., whose interest in clothing stops at “thrift-shopping for vintage western shirts or Hermès neckties,” sat idly by, staving off yawns and fighting the impulse that the whole thing was a massive waste of time. Despite his own indifference, however, what gradually emerged as Chabon ferried his son to and from fashion shows was a deep respect for his son’s passion. The piece quickly became a viral sensation. With the GQ story as its centerpiece, and featuring six additional essays plus an introduction, Pops illuminates the meaning, magic, and mysteries of fatherhood as only Michael Chabon can.

Read online

  • 825

    Six Memos for the Next Millennium

      Italo Calvino
$value['title']

Six Memos for the Millennium is a collection of five lectures Italo Calvino was about to deliver at the time of his death. Here is his legacy to us: the universal values he pinpoints become the watchwords for our appreciation of Calvino himself. What should be cherished in literature? Calvino devotes one lecture, or memo to the reader, to each of five indispensable qualities: lightness, quickness, exactitude, visibility, and multiplicity. A sixth lecture, on consistency, was never committed to paper, and we are left only to ponder the possibilities. With this book, he gives us the most eloquent defense of literature written in the twentieth century—a fitting gift for the next millennium. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Read online

  • 825

    The Empty House

      Rosamunde Pilcher
$value['title']

When you read a novel by Rosamunde Pilcher you enter a special world where emotions sing from the heart. A world that lovingly captures the ties that bind us to one another-the joys and sorrows, heartbreaks and misunderstandings, and glad, perfect moments when we are in true harmony. A world filled with evocative, engrossing, and above all, enjoyable portraits of people's lives and loves, tenderly laid open for us... At twenty-seven, Virginia Keile had been through the most intense experiences life had to offer-a magical first love ending in heartbreak, a suitable marriage, motherhood, and widowhood. All she wanted now was to take her daughter and son to a seaside cottage and help them recover. But Virginia's true love was there, waiting, hoping, praying that this time she would be strong enough to seize happiness.

Read online

  • 825

    Fairy Mom and Me

      Sophie Kinsella
$value['title']

From the bestselling author of the Shopaholic series and our YA Finding Audrey, comes the first of a duology for young readers about a girl learning to become a fairy from her imperfect fairy mom, with a tech twist. Ella Brook can't wait to grow up, because one day she will become a fairy and have her own sparkly wings and a teacher on Fairy Tube, just like her mom! Until then, Ella has to learn by watching her mom in action. But sometimes spells go wrong, and Ella's mom can never seem to remember the right magic codes. A lot of the time, it's up to Ella to come to the rescue. Does she have what it takes to be a fairy one day? Or will there be more glitches than glitter?

Read online

  • 825

    A House of My Own: Stories From My Life

      Sandra Cisneros
$value['title']

From the beloved author of The House on Mango Street: a richly illustrated compilation of true stories and nonfiction pieces that, taken together, form a jigsaw autobiography: an intimate album of a literary legend's life and career. From the Chicago neighborhoods where she grew up and set her groundbreaking The House on Mango Street to her abode in Mexico, in a region where "my ancestors lived for centuries," the places Sandra Cisneros has lived have provided inspiration for her now-classic works of fiction and poetry. But a house of her own, where she could truly take root, has eluded her. With this collection--spanning nearly three decades, and including never-before-published work--Cisneros has come home at last. Ranging from the private (her parents' loving and tempestuous marriage) to the political (a rallying cry for one woman's liberty in Sarajevo) to the literary (a tribute to Marguerite Duras), and written with her trademark sensitivity and honesty, these poignant, unforgettable pieces give us not only her most transformative memories but also a revelation of her artistic and intellectual influences. Here is an exuberant, deeply moving celebration of a life in writing lived to the fullest--an important milestone in a storied career.

Read online

  • 825

    Because I'm Watching

      Christina Dodd
$value['title']

She had survived, but she is still held captive… Of her memories, her loneliness, her delusions. But are they truly delusions? The survivor of a college dorm massacre, a woman accused of her lover’s murder, Madeline Hewitson is haunted by ghosts and tormented by a killer only she can see. At night, she works, writing and drawing the monster that slithers through her imagination, and living in fear of those moments when the doors of her mind unhinge and her nightmare lives in the daylight. A seasoned military veteran, Jacob Denisov lives alone in his small, darkened home, sleepless, starving, and angry. Every day he lives with the guilt that comes from his own failures and the carnage that followed. When neighbor Madeline Hewitson drives her car through the front wall of his house, she breaks his house—and his life—wide open. Forced to view the world outside, Jacob watches Maddie, recognizes a kindred spirit and wonders what she fears more than herself. Has someone caught her in a twisted labyrinth of revenge and compassion, guilt and redemption, murder and madness? When Maddie's imaginary killer takes form, she fights back. But will she be strong enough to triumph, or is the killer she fears no more than a shadow, an illusion…that watches?

Read online

  • 825

    Weald Fae 03 - The Aetherfae

      Christopher Shields
$value['title']

"The Weald is No More!"Much has changed for Maggie O’Shea in the past eight months. The Weald is abandoned—its last Steward dead and the Seelie Clan in tatters. Maggie, her family, and her friends are on the run, frantically traversing the globe as they are hunted by Ozara’s Alliance, Rogue Fae, and a ruthless vampire tracker named Mara, who is capable of seeing through all of Maggie’s cleverest tricks and disguises.As Maggie travels deeper and deeper into Europe’s most ancient Fae territories, danger and destruction follow her at every turn. The only things that can save her? Discovering the identity of the Second Aetherfae—her most dangerous adversary—and learning the secret to creating Aether, the only weapon strong enough to destroy her enemy. And the clock is ticking.THE AETHERFAE is the third book in the four part epic fantasy saga, Weald Fae Journals by Christopher Shields. Look for the first and second books, THE STEWARD (Weald Fae Journals, Book 1), and THE CHANGELING (Weald Fae Journals, Book 2), also available on Amazon. For more information about the Weald Fae Journals, including exclusive story and character content, please visit: www.wealdfaejournals.com

Read online

  • 825

    The Habitation of the Blessed

      Catherynne M. Valente
$value['title']

This is the story of a place that never was: the kingdom of Prester John, the utopia described by an anonymous, twelfth-century document which captured the imagination of the medieval world and drove hundreds of lost souls to seek out its secrets, inspiring explorers, missionaries, and kings for centuries. But what if it were all true? What if there was such a place, and a poor, broken priest once stumbled past its borders, discovering, not a Christian paradise, but a country where everything is possible, immortality is easily had, and the Western world is nothing but a dim and distant dream? Brother Hiob of Luzerne, on missionary work in the Himalayan wilderness on the eve of the eighteenth century, discovers a village guarding a miraculous tree whose branches sprout books instead of fruit. These strange books chronicle the history of the kingdom of Prester John, and Hiob becomes obsessed with the tales they tell. The Habitation of the Blessed recounts the fragmented narratives found within these living volumes, revealing the life of a priest named John, and his rise to power in this country of impossible richness. John's tale weaves together with the confessions of his wife Hagia, a blemmye--a headless creature who carried her face on her chest--as well as the tender, jeweled nursery stories of Imtithal, nanny to the royal family.

Read online

  • 825

    Sacajawea

      Anna Lee Waldo
$value['title']

Clad ln a doeskin, alone and unafraid, she stood straight and proud before the onrushlng Forces of America’s destiny: Sacajawea. child of a Shoshoni chief, lone woman on Lewis and Clark‘s historic trek-beautiful spear of a dying nation. She knew many men, walked many miles. From the whispering prairies, across the Great Divide to the crystal-capped Rockies and on to the emerald promise of the Pacific Northwest, her story overflows with emotion and action ripped from the bursting fabric of a raw new land. Ten years In the Writing, SACAJAWEA unfolds an immense canvas of people and events, and captures the eternal longings of a woman who always yearned for one great passion-and always it lay beyond the next mountain.

Read online

  • 825

    The CEO

      Peter Ralph
$value['title']

Douglas Aspine knew that being CEO of a public company was twenty times more lucrative than winning the lottery. He was forty-five and time was running out when fate dealt him an unexpected opportunity. The company was old, staid and well-respected but it was under performing and Aspine was determined to turn it around *no matter who he had to crush. * Soon he was at war with the company's employees, unions, suppliers, financiers and co-directors * but nothing was going to stop him. * Not his chairman, not his wife, not his mistress, not the anonymous death threats and definitely not the press. Aspine could almost taste the glory, the riches and peer recognition he'd craved for so long. He knew he had countless detractors and enemies who he contemptuously labelled "losers"and paid no heed to. Would this prove to be a miscalculation of monumental proportions or would he prevail?

Read online

  • 825

    Forty Stories

      Anton Chekhov
$value['title']

If any writer can be said to have invented the modern short story, it is Anton Chekhov. It is not just that Chekhov democratized this art form; more than that, he changed the thrust of short fiction from relating to revealing. And what marvelous and unbearable things are revealed in these Forty Stories. The abashed happiness of a woman in the presence of the husband who abandoned her years before. The obsequious terror of the official who accidentally sneezes on a general. The poignant astonishment of an aging Don Juan overtaken by love. Spanning the entirety of Chekhov's career and including such masterpieces as "Surgery," "The Huntsman," "Anyuta," "Sleepyhead," "The Lady With the Pet Dog," and "The Bishop," this collection manages to be amusing, dazzling, and supremely moving—often within a single page.

Read online

  • 825

    Daddy Issues

      Evangeline Anderson
$value['title']

Can Kink heal a Broken Heart? Detective Andi Sugarbaker is going to find out…the hard way. Searching for the source of the deadly new date rape drug, Please, Andi and her partner, Viktor Saltanov, must go undercover at the infamous Age Play resort, called simply The Institute. Here at The Institute, time is rolled back and Andi finds herself forced to relive painful trauma from her past in order to pursue her case. Meanwhile, her partner is showing a whole new side of himself that Andi never dreamed existed. Born and bred in Mother Russia, Viktor Saltanov is 6’5, muscular, and as stoic as they come. But now he has become Andi’s sole support, protector…and disciplinarian. Letting her partner spank her and touch her in ways she never dreamed of is slowly breaking down Andi’s defenses, taking her to a vulnerable place inside she’s been trying to suppress for years. Can the two of them navigate the traitorous maze of lies and deception and find a deeper truth about themselves? Or will their experience at The Institute destroy their relationship forever?

Read online

  • 825

    As You Wish

      Robin Jones Gunn
$value['title']

The Next Chapter in Christy Miller's Unforgettable Life! More than a million readers have picked up books in the The Christy Miller Series making Robin Jones Gunn's newest series, Christy and Todd: The College Years, an eagerly awaited continuation to Christy's life. Featuring longer reads and college-age characters, these books will meet the enjoyment of readers young and old. As You Wish is the second book of the series following the well-received Until Tomorrow. In As You Wish, Christy is finally back in the country after finishing her year abroad. Together with her friends at Rancho Corona University her junior year is everything she's hoped for--sharing a dorm with her best friend and seeing Todd every day. But then the painful break-up of her friends' marriage causes Christy to pull back and seriously evaluate her deepening relationship with Todd. Above all, she wants to be clear on what God wants her to do with her future before she makes a lifelong commitment to anyone. Naturally, everyone has advice for Christy's life, including Sierra, Uncle Bob, and even her younger brother. The most helpful guidance, however, comes from a surprising source. Will Christy and Todd at last become engaged? Does life ever turn out as we wish it would?

Read online

  • 825

    Strange Grace

      Tessa Gratton
$value['title']

Once, a witch made a pact with a devil. The legend says they loved each other, but can the story be trusted at all? Long ago, a village made a bargain with the devil: to ensure their prosperity, when the Slaughter Moon rises, the village must sacrifice a young man into the depths of the Devil’s Forest. Only this year, the Slaughter Moon has risen early. Bound by duty, secrets, and the love they share for one another, Mairwen, a spirited witch; Rhun, the expected saint; and Arthur, a restless outcast, will each have a role to play as the devil demands a body to fill the bargain. But the devil these friends find is not the one they expect, and the lies they uncover will turn their town—and their hearts—inside out.

Read online

  • 825

    David and the Phoenix

      Edward Ormondroyd
$value['title']

The only edition authorized by Edward Ormondroyd, including a foreword he also wrote. Fully illustrated with the original drawings by Joan Raysor. With a tremendous surge of its wings, the Phoenix managed to seize a branch. David's leg slipped from the bird's back, and he dangled over the abyss. Thus ends the near-disaster of their first flight together. But don't underestimate the Phoenix! Failure only makes David's new-found friend determined to get into shape so that David's education for Life can proceed. And get into shape the fabulous bird does, with a lot of effort. But just as they conclude their first successful (and very scary) adventure, the Scientists appears. Don't underestimate the Scientist, either. He is just as stubborn as the Phoenix, and is driven by one obsession: to become famous by capturing the mythic bird. And if his traps don't work, he is fully prepared to shoot the Phoenix...

Read online

  • 824

    The Wailing Asteroid

      Murray Leinster
$value['title']

Three Complete Classics by Hugo Award Winning Author. In book one, Research scientist Joseph Burke and his secretary Sandy Lund discover their love for each other and plan to marry, when strange signal from an unknown asteroid puts their passion on hold. The alien message screams of doom for Earth. But what doom? When the two lovers join a courageous crew of humans using a scientific breakthrough to reach the asteroid, what they find upsets their world even more than the screaming messages! In book two, TV producer Jed Cochrane sets out to cover the discovery of a faster-than-light drive, then faster than you could say "Einstein," Jed finds himself trapped inside a spacecraft with his kooky secretary and a reluctant psychiatrist, being hurled far beyond the confines of the Solar System. In book three, Joe Kenmore has a simple sounding assignment: Deliver supplies and atomic weapons to the new U.S. space station, then help prepare for the first practical moon base. But physics and enemy agents place seemingly impossible obstacles in his way! Murray Leinster is the winner of both the Hugo Award and the Retro-Hugo Award. He was one of the most distinguished writers associated with John W. Campbell's Astounding Science Fiction and the golden age of the sf pulps.

Read online

  • 824

    Shambles

      Peter Tranter
$value['title']

Shambles is a collection of quick reads. Here you will find short stories, silly verse and something for the young at heart.Shambles is a collection of quick reads. Here you will find short stories, silly verse and something for the young at heart. Two satirical accounts are also offered under the title "History, What Really Happened?"

Read online

  • 824

    Scattered Fates - a novel on the second partition of India

      Ram Garikipati
$value['title']

An alternate history novel, which unwraps in the backdrop of violent anti-Hindi agitations that rocked the State of Tamil Nadu (India) 50 years ago, narrated over two time frames – 1965 and 2005. It is the story of a son's search for the truth about his father's disappearance and the political intrigue that led to India's second partition into South & North, intertwined with the history of KoreaSCATTERED FATES is an alternate history novel, which unwraps in the backdrop of violent anti-Hindi agitations that rocked the State of Tamil Nadu and is narrated over two time frames – 1965 and 2005. It is the story, in lucid conversational style, of Subbaiah, a university professor who gets drawn to the ideology of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, a political party that opposed the imposition of Hindi as the sole national language on 60 percent of the country’s population. He is entrusted with the task of rallying students to protest against the government’s decision to remove English as an official Indian language. The violence that follows spreads across South India, and the military is called in to restore order. He shelters Moon, a young injured foreign exchange student from Corea. While recuperating in his house, Moon gets acquainted with the culture and traditions of his host, including the intricacies of the caste system, thanks to his inquisitive nature and friendly banter with Subbaiah’s neighbor and best friend Ganapathy, a Brahmin, who is initially against this movement led by the backward castes, but slowly changes his mind. Moon is put on the first flight home as the civil war spirals out of control. Starting as a minor party functionary, Subbaiah ends up playing a crucial role in the freedom movement that ultimately leads to the second partition of India into Dravida (South India) and Hindustan (North India). He is even tipped to be the first Finance Minister of his newly independent country, but loses out to his political rival.A decade after independence, Subbaiah suddenly disappears without a trace. While everyone assumes that Hindustan spies abducted him, there are also doubts that he may have willingly defected to enemy territory.Thirty years later, Subbaiah’s son Naga, a journalist in Dravida, Asia’s most prosperous capitalist economy, plays host to Maya, a beautiful online friend from Corea who comes visiting for her research. She has strong sympathies for the socialist ideology and is pursuing her PhD on countries divided by civil wars. While helping her get acquainted with his country’s cultural traditions, they encounter a retired university professor, Ganapathy, who denies knowing Subbaiah, reacting in a suspicious and evasive manner. They are convinced that he is hiding something, suspect his role in Subbaiah’s disappearance, and are determined to unravel the truth.The duo finally manages to get the truth out. It was not something they were prepared to hear.

Read online

  • 824