The Bad Fortune Teller - Melvin and the Mud Daubers

      D. D. Riessen
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Melvin didn’t believe in fortune-tellers and those kinds of things but he was desperate. Ever since he fell out of a tree his back had not been the same and it was getting worse no matter what the doctors ordered. Bad back and Destiny? Is there a link? Ask Madame Nuage.In this novelette, an anonymous author failing in his struggle with OCD begins the dark task of composing a suicide note to justify his exit from the world.In a story that reads part stream of conscious, part introspection, and part catharsis, the author's journey in writing the note encapsulates that long look in the mirror so many of us are afraid to take.

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    Fly Fishin' - A Short Story

      Bryson Strupp
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This is a tale for those who have felt the silent whiz of a fly pole as the line thwaps gently against the water. It's a tale for those who have ever wondered how their happiness can coexist with a world obsessed with production. It's a tale of the brilliant resilience of the human heart and the sublimity of nature. It's a tale for you.A hundred days ago I set myself to a task of writing a single poem once a day and this is the result. A hundred short poems of varying length in the amount of lines and width in the number of words. There is no overall theme to this collection as each poem was written separately from the latter. Thus you can feel free to read them in whichever order you wish, and it should not affect the over all experience.But I suppose you are still curious of what you are about to leap into. Thus a brief summary of the poems would be; depression, love, popular culture, politics and regret.My personal favourite is the one called "Fishfingers" that also happens to be the shortest by my estimate. So go ahead and read.

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    Poems of Zion

      LeLa Summers
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Poems of Zion is a short book on various poetry of love, pain and regaining one ability to look pass hurtful relationships.If Today Was Tomorrow is a simple story intended to entertain kids and parents too. But, it also is intended as fuel for the imagination. I encourage kids to take the concept and create ideas of their own based on the simple thought, "If today was tomorrow..." It was intended from the start to be a free book and so it is. You will find the illustrations fit the story well due to my illustrator's, Sue Donze, ability to see what I write better than I do. We hope this little book brings you and your kids pleasure.

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    Water Town Near The Peaks Of Vacation Ideas In Colorado(Short Story)

      Travis Lloyd
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It's about a special town where a suburban boy named Johnny makes a name for himself after almost killing his girlfriend in a "friendly fire."Johnny and Jacob are best friends who view life differently. Jacob is more reserved and intelligent. In contrast, Johnny is a womanizer who only wants to die and he imagines a special place called Colorado in which they are able to travel through water tubes and buses. Crime does not exist and there unlimited amounts of water, food, and shelter.

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    Matthias

      Ariana Kenny
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Matthias life might be a little ordinary, until the unthinkable happens for him. Nothing like meeting the girl of your dreams in the middle of nowhere and getting caught up in an all out family war between Vampires to give you a reality check. Matt descends into darkness but justifying what he does next might cost him his soul after all.Matthias doesn't know what is about to happen. Life might be a little less than ordinary, but until the unthinkable happens for him, Matt thinks things are pretty much on track. Nothing like meeting the girl of your dreams in the middle of nowhere on the highway and getting caught up in an all out family war between Vampires to give you a reality check. Battling himself, then those he held closest to him, Matt descends into darkness partly of his own will, and partly because his hand is forced, but justifying what he does next might cost him his soul after all. Surrounded by the undead, learning to use his skills to protect himself and others, and desperately holding on to what he beleives in, can Matt have it all, or will he lose it all trying to save the woman he loves?

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    Forced Out

      Kennie Kayoz
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vintage writing by Kennie, you can't force out writing. At times it sounds good at other times it don't...Being sixteen is Tupac Eminem. Ella has no one to talk to except her new diary, which she has to hide from Ma and Pa Warden, the foster parents she’s stuck with since her family got flattened in a car accident. Now that she lives with the wardens, she has to switch to a new school, where people act like her tragedy is contagious. Her new suburb is just as boring as the last, and offers no hope of secret passageways or magic. But life is not all bad. There’s an interesting boy at the new school – although his family turns out to be impossibly dangerous. And there’s a feral cat, living in the suburb’s only open space, a pitiful excuse for woods. Sometimes the cat invades Ella’s mind. She tells her diary, ‘I’ve gone a special kind of crazy, a split personality. And my other personality is a cat, not a person.’

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    Hidden Empire

      Orson Scott Card
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The war of words between right and left collapsed into a shooting war, and raged between the high-technology weapons on each side, devastating cities and overrunning the countryside. At the close of Empire, political scientist and government adviser Averell Torrent had maneuvered himself into the presidency of the United States. And now that he has complete power at home, he plans to expand American imperial power around the world. Opportunity comes quickly. There's a deadly new plague in Africa, and it is devastating the countryside and cities. President Torrent declares American solidarity with the victims, but places all of Africa in quarantine until a vaccine is found or the disease burns itself out. And he sends Captain Bartholomew Coleman, Cole to his friends, to run the relief operations and protect the American scientists working on identifying the virus. If Cole and his team can avoid dying of the plague, or being cut down by the weapons of fearful African nations, they might do some good. Or they might be out of the way for good.

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    Middle School: How I Got Lost in London

      James Patterson
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As school trips go, this one is pretty awesome. When I was told we were going to London to study Living History, I thought they were joking. But here I am! Rafe Khatchadorian - global jetsetter! Now all I need to do is find a way of avoiding the school bully, getting Jeanne Galletta to talk to me, and try not to get lost in London. But things are never that simple. So fasten your seatbelts and hold on tight, because this could be a very bumpy flight.

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    Fenchurch Street Mystery

      Emmuska Orczy
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Oddly enough he seemed to be a very absent-minded sort of person, for on this second occasion, no sooner had he left than the waiter found a pocket-book in the coffee-room, underneath the table. It contained sundry letters and bills, all addressed to William Kershaw. This pocket-book was produced, and Karl M]ller, who had returned to the court, easily identified it as having belonged to his dear and lamented friend 'Villiam.'

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    The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp

      Rick Yancey
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Alfred Kropp was just trying to survive high school when his guardian uncle gets him roped into a suspicious get-rich-quick scheme that changes his life forever: stealing Excalibur, the legendary sword of King Arthur. But after Alfred unwittingly delivers the sword into the hands of a man with enormously evil intentions, he sets off on an unlikely quest to try to right his wrong and save the world from imminent destruction. This gripping, fast-paced, hilarious novel is both a thrilling adventure story and an engaging account of one boy's coming of age.

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    Stephen Morris and Pilotage

      Nevil Shute
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These two related novellas, Stephen Morris and Pilotage, were Nevil Shute’s first works of fiction and drew on his own youthful experiences. Both concern young men obsessed with the early world of aviation. Stephen Morris has just called off his engagement to the girl he loves because he is a penniless graduate with no prospects—but for his dream of building airplanes. Pilotage continues the story, focusing on Stephen's ambitious navigator Peter Dennison, as he tests a daring idea for a new cross-Atlantic airmail service.

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    The Ribbajack: And Other Haunting Tales

      Brian Jacques
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New York Times bestselling author Brian Jacques brings you six spine-tingling tales! What if revenge were a monster of your own creation, and all you needed to summon it were enough hatred and enough imagination? Which of you would really be the monster? From vengeance monsters to haunted schools to the threat of a modern-day Medusa, New York Times bestselling author Brian Jacques spins six all-new tales of horror and suspense. Read on, but be careful. . . .

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    Cruel as the Grave

      Sharon Kay Penman
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April 1193. England’s King Richard Lionheart languishes in a German prison, and treason scents the air. Richard’s younger brother, John, seizes Windsor Castle, and Dowager Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine summons her trusted personal “queen’s man,” Justin de Quincy, to do the impossible– mediate a truce with her rebel son. Amid such fateful events, the murder of a Welsh peddler’s daughter seems small. But the cruel demise of the beautiful Melangell so troubles Justin that not even a threatened French invasion can keep him from investigating her death. Yet can he bring Melangell’s craven killer to justice?

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    Port Mortuary

      Patricia Cornwell
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The new Kay Scarpetta novel from the world's #1 bestselling crime writer. "When it comes to the forensic sciences, nobody can touch Cornwell." -The New York Times Book Review Port Mortuary, the title of Patricia Cornwell's eighteenth Scarpetta novel, is literally a port for the dead. In this fast-paced story, a treacherous path from Scarpetta's past merges with the high- tech highway she now finds herself on. We travel back to the beginning of her professional career, when she accepted a scholarship from the Air Force to pay off her medical school debt. Now, more than twenty years and many career successes later, her secret military ties have drawn her to Dover Air Force Base, where she has been immersed in a training fellowship. As the chief of the new Cambridge Forensic Center in Massachusetts, a joint venture of the state and federal governments, MIT and Harvard, Scarpetta is confronted with a case that could shut down her new facility and ruin her personally and professionally.

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    Fire in the Blood

      Irene Nemirovsky
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From the celebrated author of the international bestseller Suite Française, a newly discovered novel, a story of passion and long-kept secrets, set against the background of a rural French village in the years before World War II.Written in 1941, Fire in the Blood – only now assembled in its entirety – teems with the intertwined lives of an insular French village in the years before the war, when "peace" was less important as a political state than as a coveted personal condition: the untroubled pinnacle of happiness. At the center of the novel is Silvio, who has returned to this small town after years away. As his narration unfolds, we are given an intimate picture of the loves and infidelities, the scandals, the youthful ardor and regrets of age that tie Silvio to the long-guarded secrets of the past. From the Trade Paperback edition.

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    Shadow Scale

      Rachel Hartman
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Seraphina took the literary world by storm with 8 starred reviews and numerous “Best of” lists. At last, her eagerly awaited sequel has arrived—and with it comes an epic battle between humans and dragons. The kingdom of Goredd: a world where humans and dragons share life with an uneasy balance, and those few who are both human and dragon must hide the truth. Seraphina is one of these, part girl, part dragon, who is reluctantly drawn into the politics of her world. When war breaks out between the dragons and humans, she must travel the lands to find those like herself—for she has an inexplicable connection to all of them, and together they will be able to fight the dragons in powerful, magical ways. As Seraphina gathers this motley crew, she is pursued by humans who want to stop her. But the most terrifying is another half dragon, who can creep into people’s minds and take them over. Until now, Seraphina has kept her mind safe from intruders, but that also means she’s held back her own gift. It is time to make a choice: Cling to the safety of her old life, or embrace a powerful new destiny? Praise for Seraphina:   A New York Times Bestseller An Indie Bestseller Winner of the William C. Morris Debut Award Winner of the Cybil Award for Teen Fantasy and Science Fiction An Amazon Top 20 Teen Book of the Year A Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year A Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Book of the Year A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year A Library Journal Best Young Adult Literature for Adults Selection A Booklist Editors’ Choice An ABA New Voices Pick A Publishers Weekly Flying Start Author An ALA-ALSC Notable Children’s Book An ALA-YALSA Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults Book Recipient of 8 Starred Reviews   “Beautifully written, well-rounded characters, and some of the most interesting dragons I’ve read in fantasy for a long while. An impressive debut novel; I can’t wait to see what Rachel Hartman writes next.” —Christopher Paolini, New York Times bestselling author of Eragon   “A novel that will appeal to both fans of Christopher Paolini’s Eragon series and Robin McKinley’s The Hero and the Crown.” —Entertainment Weekly

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    The Journey of Little Charlie

      Christopher Paul Curtis
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Newbery Medalist Christopher Paul Curtis brings his trademark humor and heart to the story of a boy struggling to do right in the face of history's cruelest evils. Twelve-year-old Charlie is down on his luck: His dad just died, the share crops are dry, and the most fearsome man in Possum Moan, Cap’n Buck, says Charlie’s dad owed him a lot of money. Fearing for his life, Charlie strikes a deal to repay his father’s debt by accompanying Cap’n Buck to Detroit in pursuit of some folks who have stolen from him. It’s not too bad of a bargain for Charlie . . . until he comes face-to-face with the fugitives and discovers that they escaped slavery years ago and have been living free. Torn between his guilty conscience and his survival instinct, Charlie needs to figure out his next move—and soon. It’s only a matter of time before Cap’n Buck catches on . . .

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    The Sea, the Sea

      Iris Murdoch
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Charles Arrowby, leading light of England's theatrical set, retires from glittering London to an isolated home by the sea. He plans to write a memoir about his great love affair with Clement Makin, his mentor both professionally and personally, and to amuse himself with Lizzie, an actress he has strung along for many years. None of his plans work out, and his memoir evolves into a riveting chronicle of the strange events and unexpected visitors--some real, some spectral--that disrupt his world and shake his oversized ego to its very core. In exposing the jumble of motivations that drive Arrowby and the other characters, Iris Murdoch lays bare "the truth of untruth"--the human vanity, jealousy, and lack of compassion behind the disguises they present to the world. Played out against a vividly rendered landscape and filled with allusions to myth and magic, Charles's confrontation with the tidal rips of love and forgiveness is one of Murdoch's most moving and powerful novels.

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    I'll Be Right There

      Kyung-Sook Shin
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How friendship, European literature, and a charismatic professor defy war, oppression, and the absurd Set in 1980s South Korea amid the tremors of political revolution, I’ll Be Right There follows Jung Yoon, a highly literate, twenty-something woman, as she recounts her tragic personal history as well as those of her three intimate college friends. When Yoon receives a distressing phone call from her ex-boyfriend after eight years of separation, memories of a tumultuous youth begin to resurface, forcing her to re-live the most intense period of her life. With profound intellectual and emotional insight, she revisits the death of her beloved mother, the strong bond with her now-dying former college professor, the excitement of her first love, and the friendships forged out of a shared sense of isolation and grief. Yoon’s formative experiences, which highlight both the fragility and force of personal connection in an era of absolute uncertainty, become immediately palpable. Shin makes the foreign and esoteric utterly familiar: her use of European literature as an interpreter of emotion and experience bridges any gaps between East and West. Love, friendship, and solitude are the same everywhere, as this book makes poignantly clear.

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    Midnight Snack and Other Fairy Tales

      Diane Duane
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This second collection of (mostly) short fiction from Diane Duane features tales based on folklore, ghost stories and fairy tales with a modern twist. The stories in the collection include: First Readthrough: How you do the casting for a fairy tale… and what can go wrong while you do. The Dovrefell Cat: Your pet polar bear may sometimes be a problem… but there’s one night of the year when he shines. …Under My Skin: Some first dates just don’t work out the way you think they will: not at all. A Swiss Story: Lots of people from that part of the world have something from “during the War”. But not many have anything like this… Blank Check: A most unusual client turns up at one of the world’s oldest banks with an impossible request… which nonetheless must be fulfilled. Don’t Put That In Your Mouth, You Don’t Know Where It’s Been: A would-be worshipper of the Triple Goddess has her upcountry ritual disturbed by something very odd. The House: A school project examining gingerbread as a structural element turns into something way more personal. Cold Case: A cop who won’t take no for an answer meets a murder victim who’s even more stubborn than he is. The title work, Midnight Snack: “Dad came down with the flu that week, so I had to go down to the subway and feed the unicorns…” And completing the collection, a full-length feature film screenplay, Dead & Breakfast: a ghost story with computers.

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