The Japanese Devil Fish Girl and Other Unnatural Attractions

      Robert Rankin
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Rankin's far-fetched steampunk sequel to The War of the Worlds! It's 1895; nearly a decade since Mars invaded Earth, chronicled by H.G. Wells in The War of the Worlds. Wrecked Martian spaceships, back-engineered by Charles Babbage and Nikola Tesla, have carried the Queen's Own Electric Fusiliers to the red planet, and Mars is now part of the ever-expanding British Empire. Professor Coffin has a problem: the pickled Martian's tentacles are fraying at the ends, and his Most Meritorious Unnatural Attraction (the remains of the original alien autopsy, performed by Sir Frederick Treves at the London Hospital) is no longer drawing the crowds. The less-than-scrupulous sideshow proprietor likes Off-worlders' cash, so he needs a sensational new attraction. Word has reached him of the Japanese Devil Fish Girl; nothing quite like her has ever existed before. But Professor Coffin's quest to possess the ultimate showman's exhibit is about to cause considerable friction among the folk of other planets. Sufficient, in fact, to spark off Worlds War Two.

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    Bonnie

      Iris Johansen
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When Eve Duncan gave birth to her daughter, she experienced a love she never knew existed. Nothing would stand in the way of giving Bonnie a wonderful life - until the unthinkable happened and the seven-year-old vanished into thin air. Eve found herself in the throes of a nightmare from which there was no escape. But a new Eve emerged: a woman who would use her remarkable talent as a forensic sculptor to help others find closure in the face of tragedy. Now with the help of her beloved Joe Quinn and CIA agent Catherine Ling, Eve has come closer than ever to the truth. But the deeper she digs, the more she realizes that Bonnie's father is a key player in solving this monstrous puzzle. And that Bonnie's disappearance was not as random as everyone had always believed...?Johansen's trilogy takes the reader on an action-packed journey.? Booklist

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    Realm of Shadows

      Heather Graham
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Every Nightmare Has Its Beginning Tara Mason wants more than tourist sights out of her trip to the city of dreams, something strange and off the beaten path. But is it her own curiosity that draws her to an ancient cemetery on the outskirts of Paris? Or is she lured by a dark, immortal force she is powerless to resist? When she realizes someone is chasing after her, a shadowy figure getting closer and closer, how quickly the dream becomes nightmare. . . In The Dead Of Night He calls himself a guardian. He is sworn to protect the innocent from an evil most never see. Now that he has caught up to her in the abandoned ruins of a country estate, he insists Tara must trust him. She has carelessly exposed herself. The evil has seen her, but he vows it will not claim her. . .

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    Tempting Evil

      Keri Arthur
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In a world of sorcery and seduction, the nights bring out the beautiful, the damned, and the desired. Here, Riley Jenson is on her own–half werewolf, half vampire, working for an organization created to police the supernatural races. Trusting her superiors and lovers barely more than she trusts her worst enemies, Riley plays by her own set of rules. Her latest mission: to enter the heavily guarded pleasure palace of a criminal named Deshon Starr–a madman-scientist who’s been messing around in the gene pool for decades. With two sexy men–a cool, seductive vampire and an irresistibly hot wolf–vying for her attention, Riley must keep focused. Because saving the world from Deshon Starr will mean saving herself–from the trap that’s closing in around her. . . .

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    The End of Texas

      Juan Batista
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A bumbling Texas governor flirts with secession. Far right militias flock to his call and prepare for violence to bring about independence. A backlash from Indigenous Mexicans in Texas calls for the Aztlan Now movement, Mexicans wanting to secede FROM Texas and stay loyal to the US. Militias, Brown Power people, prison gangs, police, and FBI clash. From this comes new Mexican-majority US states.From Juan Batista, the pen name of a professor of American Indian and Latin American history, comes the first of a series of Indigenous Mexican Latino-Indian Tribal Centered alternate histories.A bumbling Texas governor flirts with secession. Far right militias flock to his call and prepare for violence to bring about independence. A backlash from Indigenous Mexicans in Texas calls for the Aztlan Now movement, Mexicans wanting to secede FROM Texas and stay loyal to the US. Militias, Brown Power people, prison gangs, police, and FBI all clash. From this conflict comes new Mexican-majority states loyal to the US and the ruined remains feebly clutching to the myth of Texas independence.The End of Texas is not just alternate history but an incisive eye opening true history of the state, a provocative and detailed look at the culture and government by a historian with an intricate understanding of it. If you think Texas is just a land of rednecks or evangelicals you will be pleasantly surprised. For Texans who are tired of the dead cowboy yokel image of the state, for non-Texans to learn better, and above all for anyone, Mexican, Latino, or anyone else who knows which side actually won at the Alamo.

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    Fremder

      Russell Hoban
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On 4 November 2052 Fremder Gorm is found drifting in space a few megaklicks off Badu, a planet in the Fourth Galaxy. He is the only survivor from Clever Daughter, a battered old tanker. Why did Fremder survive?

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    Branded (Fall of Angels)

      Keary Taylor
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My parent’s insisted the nightmares weren’t real. The scars that covered my neck and back suggested otherwise. They were permanent proof that I could never escape the angels.Now that Alex has come into my life, I’ll do anything to be with him. Even tell him the truth about angels and why I never sleep. But then there’s Cole, and he’ll do anything to be with me, no matter the cost.IGNITE is a prequel short story to the full-length novel RAGING FIRE by Elaine Calloway. Here we meet Phoenix, the hot-tempered Fire Elemental, when he is living the fat cat life on Wall Street. Everything is hunky-dory, but Universe is about to change things so Phoenix will be forced to face his deepest fears. If reading The Elemental Clan Series books in order, below is the sequence:Droplet: Short Story Prequel to WATER'S BLOODWater's Blood: Book 1, The Elemental Clan SeriesIgnite: Short Story Prequel to RAGING FIRERaging Fire: Book 2, The Elemental Clan SeriesEarthbound: Book 3, The Elemental Clan Series

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    Phone Tyranny

      Bridget Darling
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A short cautionary tale of one woman's Pavlovian response to the almighty telephone.The Ipswich Poetry Feast is a citywide initiative aimed at commemorating this significant event through the introduction of an annual international poetry writing competition and events that aims to encourage young and aspiring poets, to provide an opportunity for poets to showcase their work, to raise community awareness of the creativity and skills in poetry writing and top romote Ipswich as a vibrant, culturally rich region.

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    Windfallen

      Jojo Moyes
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From the acclaimed author of Sheltering Rain comes an intensely moving story of two women whose lives entwine through a lovely seaside house. The tiny, well-ordered seaside village of Merham holds little to interest the adventurous -- except for Arcadia, the breathtaking art deco house perched above the shoreline. Attracted to this magical place, young Lottie Swift surrenders freely to its temptations and ultimately must face the hard consequences of her actions. Years later another young woman comes to Merham. A designer hired to make over the now-empty Arcadia, Daisy Parsons seeks a new beginning, as Lottie once did. Fleeing a broken relationship, Daisy finds refuge at Arcadia, and something more -- a love she thought she would never know again.

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    Numero zero

      Umberto Eco
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Una redazione raccogliticcia che prepara un quotidiano destinato, più che all’informazione, al ricatto, alla macchina del fango, a bassi servizi per il suo editore. Un redattore paranoico che, aggirandosi per una Milano allucinata (o allucinato per una Milano normale), ricostruisce la storia di cinquant’anni sullo sfondo di un piano sulfureo costruito intorno al cadavere putrefatto di uno pseudo Mussolini. E nell’ombra Gladio, la P2, l’assassinio di papa Luciani, il colpo di stato di Junio Valerio Borghese, la Cia, i terroristi rossi manovrati dagli uffici affari riservati, vent’anni di stragi e di depistaggi, un insieme di fatti inspiegabili che paiono inventati sino a che una trasmissione della BBC non prova che sono veri, o almeno che sono ormai confessati dai loro autori. E poi un cadavere che entra in scena all’improvviso nella più stretta e malfamata via di Milano. Un’esile storia d’amore tra due protagonisti perdenti per natura, un ghost writer fallito e una ragazza inquietante che per aiutare la famiglia ha abbandonato l’università e si è specializzata nel gossip su affettuose amicizie, ma ancora piange sul secondo movimento della Settima di Beethoven. Un perfetto manuale per il cattivo giornalismo che il lettore via via non sa se inventato o semplicemente ripreso dal vivo. Una storia che si svolge nel 1992 in cui si prefigurano tanti misteri e follie del ventennio successivo, proprio mentre i due protagonisti pensano che l’incubo sia finito. Una vicenda amara e grottesca che si svolge in Europa dalla fine della guerra ai giorni nostri.

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    Dragon Bones

      Lisa See
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When the body of an American archaeologist is found floating in the Yangzi River, Ministry of Public Security agent Liu Hulan and her husband, American attorney David Stark, are dispatched to Site 518 to investigate. As Hulan scrutinizes this death—or is it a murder?—David, on behalf of the National Relics Bureau, tries to discover who has stolen from the site an artifact that may prove to the world China’s claim that it is the oldest uninterrupted civilization on earth. This artifact is not only an object of great monetary value but one that is emblematic of the very soul of China. Everyone—from the Chinese government, to a religious cult, to an unscrupulous American art collector—wants this relic, and some, it seems, may be willing to kill to get it. At stake in this investigation is control of China’s history and national pride, and even stability between China and the United States. The troubled Hulan must overcome her own fears of failure, while David tries desperately to break through the shell that has built up around his wife. As Hulan and David are enmeshed in international schemes for power and the turbulence of their own relationship, these hunters after the truth become the hunted—in a fast-driving narrative set against the backdrop of the building of the Three Gorges Dam, the largest and most expensive project China has undertaken since the Great Wall and the subject of great international debate. It is here, in the heart of the Three Gorges, that David and Hulan will battle their enemies and their own natures to see who will win China’s dragon bones. Dragon Bones combines ancient myth with contemporary anxieties concerning religious fanaticism and terrorism to tell a story of love, betrayal, history, ecology, greed—and gory murder. From the Hardcover edition.

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    The Captain's Dol

      D. H. Lawrence
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These three novellas display D. H. Lawrence's brilliant and insightful evocation of human relationships - both tender and cruel - and the devastating results of war. In The Fox, two young women living on a small farm during the First World War find their solitary life interrupted. As a fox preys on their poultry, a human predator has the women in his sights. The Captain's Doll explores the complex relationship between a German countess and a married Scottish soldier in occupied Germany, while in The Ladybird a wounded prisoner of war has a disturbing influence on the Englishwoman who visits him in hospital.

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    The Breaker

      Bella Forrest
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The highly anticipated second book of the Spellshadow series. *"We walk in dreams," the Head had said. "It was only a matter of time before a nightmare followed us back." "Kingstone Keep. Falleaf House. Stillwater House. Spellshadow Manor. Seek these places, and do not leave them. Cower within their walls..."* Alex doesn't have all the answers yet, but he and his friends are running out of time. With Aamir's new position as a professor, they hoped he might be able to help them make a breakthrough in uncovering the Manor and its Head's secret, but it soon becomes terrifyingly clear that Aamir's situation is anything but advantageous... As rules begin tightening around Alex like a noose to his neck, he is forced to rely on his own strengths more and more -- and when events at Spellshadow take a truly shocking turn, it will take all that he has not to break... Prepare for a hair-raising ride.

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    A Matter of Honor

      Jeffrey Archer
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It seems innocent enough. A disgraced British colonel bequeaths a mysterious letter to his only son. But the moment Adam Scott opens the yellowing envelope, he sets into motion a deadly chain of events that threatens to shake the very foundations of the free world. Within days, Adam's lover is brutally murdered and he's running for his life through the great cities of Europe, pursued not only by the KGB, but by the CIA and his own countrymen as well. Their common intent is to kill him before the truth comes out. While powerful men in smoke-filled rooms plot ever more ingenious means of destroying him, Adam finds himself betrayed and abandoned even by those he holds most dear. When at last he comes to understand what he is in possession of, he's even more determined to protect it, for it's more than a matter of life and death-it's a matter of honor.

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