The Long Arm

      Franz Nabl
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Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

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    Wavesong

      Isobelle Carmody
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With the end of the wintertime that isolates Obernewtyn from the rest of the world, Farseeker guildmistress Elspeth Gordie again sets out for the lowlands. But she soon finds that not everyone welcomes the changes brought about by the rebellion. There is a traitor among the rebels—a traitor whose hatred of Misfits puts Elspeth in danger as she attempts to thwart an invasion of fanatical Herders.

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    We Interrupt This Program

      Justin Blasdel
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A white collar family and a blue collar one are listening to War of the Worlds in 1939 in neighboring apartments.It's October 31st, 1939, and Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" is being broadcast over the radio world. The Ables, people of the land type, in one apartment are listening to the show and believe its absolutely true. The Odums, white collar do-betters, are in the next apartment and think the whole thing is a gas. The Ables are preparing for escape, and the Odums are getting annoyed at each other's living habits. Then the Ables come over to help the Odums flee, and their paranoia gradually infects the white collar types, especially when the lights blackout. Both blue and white are afraid to their cores and flee into the night.

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    The Collected Poems of Edward M Robertson

      Edward Robertson
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A collection of poems composed by the late Edward Robertson. Spanning a period of some 40 years the imagery and emotions expressed will be familiar to some, create new insights for others and hopefully provide pleasure to all who read them. This posthumous work has been compiled by his family as a lasting tribute and to make his works available to the many lifelong friends who have requested it.The animal kingdom needs to outdoor its princess; she must wear a new smock, but they need Ananse—the banished weaver.... Inspired by Ghanaian folktale...

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    These Dark Electrons

      Michael D. Britton
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Is science a kind of magic? Is magic a science all its own? In a world run by technological giant iGoogAmaHoo, only one woman can stop the violent overthrow of society by an evil sorcerer who's seeded the world's tech connection with a magical virus. THESE DARK ELECTRONS is a short story with a breathtaking pace set in a fantastical sci-fi future.A collection of short stories, poems and 'other scribblings' by Sian Turner.Read 'Hot Under the Collar,' a tale of jealousy and its consequences, 'Poor Law,' the story of young Will Thompson's life in a 1903 Cottage Home (or workhouse for children) and what happens when he is unjustly accused of theft, 'Watching,' the story of Luke Peterson's ghostly encounter in the woods, plus other stories, poems and what the author describes as 'other scribblings.'

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    On the Good, Red Road

      Blake Crouch
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From the author of DESERT PLACES, ABANDON, and “Serial,” comes this short story which is an excellent and affordable introduction to the author’s work. In “On the Good, Red Road,” a group of four hard men trying to reach a remote 19th Century mining town become stranded in an early blizzard and resort to drastic, terrifying measures, to stay alive. *Note: This story is collected with others in the eBook, FOUR LIVE ROUNDS, which also contains a Foreword by J.A. Konrath and introductions to each story by Blake Crouch.

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    Hearing Secret Harmonies

      Anthony Powell
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A Dance to the Music of Time – his brilliant 12-novel sequence, which chronicles the lives of over three hundred characters, is a unique evocation of life in twentieth-century England. The novels follow Nicholas Jenkins, Kenneth Widmerpool and others, as they negotiate the intellectual, cultural and social hurdles that stand between them and the “Acceptance World.”

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    Misty to the Rescue

      Gillian Shields
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Meet Misty and the Mermaid Sisters of the Sea! Misty and her friends are on a very important mission: they must find the six Magic Crystals that give life and strength the Merfolk, and bring them back to Coral Kingdom. But a wicked mermaid named Mantora would like nothing better than to keep the Sisters of the Sea from completing their task. This time she's sent a powerful storm that's blown the mermaids off-course. Can Misty help her friends get back on track? Read all the adventures of the Mermaid Sisters!

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    Carpe Diem

      Autumn Cornwell
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"I've got my entire life planned out for the next ten years — including my PhD and Pulitzer Prize," claims 16-year-old overachiever Vassar Spore, daughter of overachiever parents, who in true overachiever fashion named her after an elite women's college. Vassar expects her sophomore summer to include AP and AAP (Advanced Advanced Placement) classes. Surprise! Enter a world-traveling relative who sends her plans into a tailspin when she blackmails Vassar's parents into forcing their only child to backpack with her through Southeast Asia. On a journey from Malaysia to Cambodia to the remote jungles of Laos, Vassar sweats, falls in love, hones her outdoor survival skills — and uncovers a family secret that turns her whole world upside-down. Vassar Spore can plan on one thing: she'll never be the same again.

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    Unhinge

      Calia Read
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Hold your breath and count to ten. Soon it will be over before it ever began. No matter how many times Victoria Donovan repeats that phrase to herself, she’s still trapped behind the walls of a mental institution. Once upon a time, her life was like a fantasy: Wes, the handsome fiancé, followed by a storybook wedding and a white picket fence. But then a picture-perfect marriage twisted into something sinister. And as Victoria’s world warped from dream to nightmare, her husband’s obsessions pushed her beyond the breaking point. At first Fairfax Mental Health Institute seems like a safe place for Victoria to heal with her baby, Evelyn, and to hide from Wes, presumed dead by everyone except Victoria. Her husband is still alive, she has no doubt: He slips into her room at night to torment and tempt her. One smoldering kiss and she’s powerless. Of course, no one believes her about these visits. When she meets a sexy, mysterious stranger intent on helping her recall her past, Victoria isn’t sure she can trust him. But deep in her heart, she also knows that the only way out of Fairfax is to remember the way she came in.

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    Comfort and Joy

      Jim Grimsley
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Ford McKinney is a devastatingly handsome, successful doctor, raised in an old Savannah family among good breeding and money. His longtime boyfriend, Dan Krell, is a shy hospital administrator with a painful childhood past. When the holidays arrive, they decide it's time to go home together. But the depth of their commitment is tested when Ford's parents cannot reconcile themselves to their son's choices, and Dan's secrets are exposed.Comfort and Joy is a poetic and finely-wrought novel that explores the difficult journey two men make toward love.Amazon.com ReviewQuestion: What could be more terrifying than bringing your significant other home for Christmas? Answer: Bringing home your significant other of the same sex. From the start, it's clear that Jim Grimsley's vision of the holidays holds as much darkness as it does light. Ford McKinney first lays eyes on Dan Crell when he's singing carols at the hospital where they both work, the mournful minor-key tones of "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" seeming to broadcast "the sadness of Christmas" in contrast to the lights and decorations around them. Their attraction is immediate, but the couple must face down several obstacles. For one thing, Dan is a hemophiliac who's HIV-positive. And Ford, a rich doctor from a prominent Savannah family, doesn't even think of himself as gay. That the two manage to meet, date, and fall in love is something of a miracle in itself--perhaps the only one that can sustain them through the season of miracles.Comfort and Joy alternates scenes of Ford and Dan's courtship with their trip to North Carolina to meet Dan's family. Like any couple anywhere, they argue about money and their families; unlike some couples, they also argue about Dan's health and Ford's reluctance to kiss. In chronicling their history, however, Grimsley gets at something fundamental: the strange mixture of love and hate and anxiety at the bottom of every relationship, gay or straight. "You're really not as bright as I am and that's a problem," they both think, being "honest" with themselves, then wonder: "Why do men stay together?" The easy answer, of course, is that they love each other. The more complicated one is that, in living together, they've begun to dream the same dreams, breathe in rhythm, lay down "crevices" inside themselves in the shapes of each other. This, Dan thinks, is enough: "enough, without words, to keep them silent about the fact of their hates and their fears, their deep concerns about each other, and the certainty that one of them would die first and neither of them knew which one it would be."The novel's prose is workmanlike at its best, but Grimsley's understanding of the human heart is deep and rich. His book refuses easy answers and stereotypes; for example, the mysterious trauma in Dan's childhood stays in the background, where it belongs. A lesser writer would have chosen to make its revelation the book's climax--the epiphany that explains Dan's character--but Grimsley knows that childhood pain is only one of many things that make us who we are. Such is the difference between fiction that seeks to tell us who we are and fiction that knows what a mystery we are at our core. Comfort and Joy is not just a book for gay readers: it's a book for everyone who's ever been in love, who's ever had a family, who's ever wanted to find some kind of refuge from the world. --Chloe ByrneFrom Publishers WeeklyContinuing to follow the life of Danny Crell, introduced in his debut, Winter Birds, Grimsley has written his fullest and most humane novel yet, a work whose commendable restraint does not impede its emotional impact. Opening with Danny's plans to visit his family over Christmas holidays with his lover, charismatic pediatrician Ford McKinney, the narrative flashes back to the first meeting between the two men, three Christmases earlier, and evokes the difficulties of their relationship as well as the bonds between them. Both men are survivors who hide their true emotions behind an air of detachment. The novel chronicles their efforts to break through their protective facades, as each slowly realizes that the only way their relationship will endure is through a courageous decision to risk rejection. One source of tension is their vastly different backgrounds. Home for Danny is a trailer in the pungently evoked backwoods of eastern North Carolina. Dan and his mother retain their wounding memories of Dan's father, an abusive alcoholic, and of Dan's dead brother, Grove. Native ground for Ford is patrician Savannah, where his handsome, chilly parents are hardly pleased to find their accomplished son indifferent to the woman they have picked out for him to marry. Further flashbacks show Ford's slow coming-out process and the pair's cautious courtship. But deeper issues intrude. Danny is a hemophiliac and HIV+, and Ford, as a physician, is well aware of the implications of Danny's disease. Scenes where Danny injects a blood-clotting mixture to prevent internal bleeding are bone-chilling and heartbreaking, as Danny rejects Ford's help because he doesn't want his lover to see the messy circumstances of his life. In the strong and moving denouement, Ford finally gains the courage to bring Danny to meet his familyAto disastrous effect, although the novel ends hopefully. Grimsley's survivor's tales are always compelling; this book promises to be his breakthrough to a wider audience. Author tour. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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