Stories and Texts for Nothing

      Samuel Beckett
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This volume brings together three of Nobel Prize winner Samuel Beckett’s major short stories and thirteen shorter pieces of fiction that he calls “texts for nothing.” Here, as in all his work, Beckett relentlessly strips away all but the essential to arrive at a core of truth. His prose reveals the same mastery that marks his work from Waiting for Godot and Endgame to Molloy and Malone Dies. In each of the three stories, old men displaced or expelled from the modest corners where they have been living bestir themselves in search of new corners. Told, “You can’t stay here,” they somehow, doggedly, inevitably, go on.

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    Unforgettable Love

      Kelly Elliott
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Aaron "Dodge" Walker has been given the case that will prove his worth and secure his place within the family law firm. A place he's worked hard to avoid. Sierra Jackson wants to put her past behind her and start living life. To do that, she needs a lawyer that can help make her divorce a reality. The moment Sierra meets her new lawyer, sparks fly. Will it be the Dodge she already knows or the Aaron he feels he has to be that proves unforgettable? This is NOT a stand alone book.

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    Caught for Christmas

      Skye Warren
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I’ll be home for Christmas… The plan is simple. Break into the club and steal the money I need to save my father. The ex-military bouncer isn’t going to stop me, even if he is hot as hell. If only in my dreams… Except he has a curious knack for knowing my next step. And there’s something dark underneath his desire, something dangerous. If he catches me, he might not let me go.

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    Pale as Death

      Heather Graham
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From the dark depths of Hollywood’s past The crime scene is horrific: the corpse of a young actress, drained of blood and cut in two. LAPD Detective Sophie Manning’s new case is high-profile and difficult—there’s no evidence to work with. And it’s a disturbing echo of the infamous Black Dahlia killing. Sophie is burning the candle at both ends, desperate to catch the murderer before he strikes again, when she starts to experience inexplicable visits…from ghosts. Bruce McFadden has a particular talent that can help Sophie—he can speak with the dead. As a consultant for the FBI’s paranormal team, the Krewe of Hunters, he’s been tasked with Sophie’s case and they’re forced to partner up. But Sophie doesn’t want his help, and she doesn’t want to share his peculiar skill. And she certainly isn’t ready for love, despite Bruce’s attentions. As the killer taunts the police, Sophie and Bruce will discover that the threat is closer to home than they’d ever realized. Working side by side is the only way they’ll stop this deadly sequel.

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    Protective Instinct

      Katie Reus
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A woman worth fighting for… Wolf shifter Teresa is blown away by her packmate Ryan’s honesty about his past and his rare empathic powers. She wants him in her bed—and her life. The only problem: Ryan insists they wait, because the last thing he wants is to recreate the hellish family he grew up in. Frustrated, Teresa jumps at the chance to assist a packmate off the ranch—far away from Ryan. On the way, their vehicle is run off the road—and it wasn’t an accident. Ryan rushes to Teresa’s side, determined to protect her. But there’s a dangerous enemy lurking in the shadows, and if Ryan doesn’t break out of his old thinking and put his faith in his and Teresa’s love—and their ability to overcome obstacles together—it will be too late. Length: 27,000 words Author note: This novella is part of the Moon Shifter Series, but can be read as a stand-alone. Moon Shifter series: 1. Alpha Instinct 1.5 Lover’s Instinct 2. Primal Possession 3. Mating Instinct 3.5 His Untamed Desire 4. Avenger’s Heat 5. Hunter Reborn 5.5 Protective Instinct

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    Scorched by Darkness

      Alexandra Ivy
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Book 2 in the USA Today Bestselling series, The Dragons of Eternity As a half-breed dragon, Torque never had the luxury of choosing his future. Not only did his father barter him to the highest bidder, but a rare Shinto fey claimed to see him in a vision that involved recovering a lost treasure for the powerful dragon, Synge. A destiny that might have been bearable if the vision hadn’t included a mating with Rya, Synge’s half-breed daughter. Who could blame him for being resigned rather than thrilled with his fate? Rya had enough of being treated like an unwanted burden by her betrothed. So when she learns her mother is missing, she doesn’t hesitate to leave the harem to try to find her. The last thing she expects is Torque to track her down. Or the explosive chemistry that ignites between them. Now they must work together to discover the dark threat that not only traps her mother, but has the potential to spread evil throughout the world.

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    The Muse

      Raine Miller
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What if the truth about a famous painting was not what it’s been told to be? What if it was not even the original work and a different painting had inspired its creation? The story of a painting… The motivation behind the work, Flaming June—Romanticist painter, Lord Frederic Leighton’s magnum opus—a woman sleeping in a chair. Hauntingly beautiful, but with its inspiration locked away in the mystery of times past. 1812... Burdened with family skeletons and agonizing guilt, an unwilling Lord Rothvale, one Graham Everley, returns from a long sojourn in Ireland to attend to the obligations awaiting him in England. The last thing he imagines to find is his destiny, but find her he does. Imogene Byron-Cole, a girl as lovely as her past is tragic. Graham can’t walk away from her, and so he marries her instead, in spite of an increasingly tangled web of troubles that threaten to destroy the very foundation of his entire existence. As Graham and Imogene start out on their journey together, they express their love through a series of portraits. The art ensnares them completely, and in the end, becomes their salvation, bearing them through their deepest pain of loss, and inspiring a masterwork. [Book ONE of the Rothvale Legacy Historical series.] This is a historical romance novel intended for readers 18 years and older due to content and language. Standalone. HEA. 140,000 words.

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    Marabou Stork Nightmares

      Irvine Welsh
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Roy Strang is engaged in a strange quest in a surrealist South Africa. His mission is to eradicate an evil predator-scavenger bird, the marabou stork, before it drives away the peace-loving flamingo from the picturesque Lake Torto. But behind this world lies another: the world of Roy's bizarre family, the Scottish housing scheme in which he grew up, his mundane job, a disastrous emigration to Africa, and his youthful life of brutality with a gang of soccer casuals. As one world crashes into the other, this potentially charming story of ornithological goodwill mutates into a filthy tale of violence, abuse and redemption.

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    Tigana

      Guy Gavriel Kay
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Tigana is the magical story of a beleaguered country struggling to be free. It is the tale of a people so cursed by the dark sorceries of the tyrant king Brandin that even the very name of their once beautiful home cannot be spoken or remembered. But years after their homeland’s devastation, a handful of men and women set in motion a dangerous crusade—to overthrow their conquerors and bring back to the world the lost brightness of an obliterated name: Tigana. Against the magnificently realized background of a world both sensuous and brutal, this masterful epic of a passionate people pursuing their dream is breathtaking in its vision. A spellbinding novel in which myth comes alive and magic reaches out to touch you.

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    What We Talk About When We Talk About Love

      Raymond Carver Lili St. Crow Jessica Shirvington James Ellroy Aleatha Romig Blake Crouch Nicky Charles E. Nesbit Seanan McGuire Elizabeth Hoyt Dave Corrick Gertrude Chandler Warner
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Alternate-cover edition can be found here In his second collection, Carver establishes his reputation as one of the most celebrated and beloved short-story writers in American literature—a haunting meditation on love, loss, and companionship, and finding one’s way through the dark. In his second collection, Carver establishes his reputation as one of the most celebrated and beloved short-story writers in American literature—a haunting meditation on love, loss, and companionship, and finding one’s way through the dark. She’s no angel... Poor Dru Anderson. Her parents are long gone, her best friend is a werewolf, and she’s just learned that the blood flowing through her veins isn’t entirely human. (So what else is new?) Now Dru is stuck at a secret New England Schola for other teens like her, and there’s a big problem—she’s the only girl in the place. A school full of cute boys wouldn’t be so bad, but Dru’s killer instinct says that one of them wants her dead. And with all eyes on her, discovering a traitor within the Order could mean a lot more than social suicide... Can Dru survive long enough to find out who has betrayed her trust—and maybe even her heart? CONSEQUENCE HAUNTS EVERY CHOICE Violet Eden is Grigori - part angel, part human. Her destiny is to protect humans from the vengence of exiled angels. Knowing who to trust is key but, when Grigori reinforcements arrive, it becomes clear everyone is hiding something. Even Lincoln. The only thing Violet does know: Phoenix's hold over her is more dangerous than ever. The race to find the one thing that could tilt the balance of power brings them all to the sacred mountains of Jordan, where Violet's power will be pushed to the extreme. And the ultimate betrayal exposed. Enticed (now retitled ENTICE) is the second compelling book in The Violet Eden Chapters. ENTICE will be available in the US from September, 2012! "Astonishing . . . original, daring, brilliant." --Philadelphia Inquirer In 1958 Jean Ellroy was murdered, her body dumped on a roadway in a seedy L.A. suburb.  Her killer was never found, and the police dismissed her as a casualty of a cheap Saturday night. James Ellroy was ten when his mother died, and he spent the next thirty-six years running from her ghost and attempting to exorcize it through crime fiction. In 1994, Ellroy quit running.  He went back to L.A., to find out the truth about his mother--and himself.   In My Dark Places, our most uncompromising crime writer tells what happened when he teamed up with a brilliant homicide cop to investigate a murder that everyone else had forgotten--and reclaim the mother he had despised, desired, but never dared to love. What ensues is a epic of loss, fixation, and redemption, a memoir that is also a history of the American way of violence. "Ellroy is more powerful than ever." --The Nation   From the Trade Paperback edition. Respect - An Infidelity Series Novel The Godfather meets Love Story... From New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author Aleatha Romig comes a stand-alone novel spin-off from her beloved Infidelity series. With classic Aleatha Romig twists, turns, deceptions, and devotions, this new epic romantic thriller will delve into a world where family takes on new meaning, and even the inhabitants are suspicious of the next chapter. "Standing at what I believe is the precipice of my life, I, Oren Demetri, was too young to understand that it wasn't and too old to imagine that it couldn't be. The already hefty accumulation of my successes and failures, bravery and fears, and rewards and suffering, had brought me to this point. It was hard to contemplate the things I'd done, and yet, in reality I'd only begun to learn the possibilities. I suppose that's how it was for me at twenty-nine years of age on the brink of all I'd ever wanted without fully realizing the price I would pay. Yet in that moment, I knew there would be no cost too great or sacrifice I wouldn't make. I had no idea how far-reaching that moment of self-discovery would be; because as the congregation's murmurs quieted, bleeding into silence and allowing the thump of my heart to be the only sound I heard, I was a man filled with love and adoration, emotions in stark contrast to those I needed in the world I'd built or the one I was about to enter. Angelina Costello was my dream and now my reality. I'd worked diligently to move beyond the actuality of being a dockworker's son to becoming a self-made, successful entrepreneur, all in an effort to earn the right to call her my own. I'd overcome servitude to others, collecting their paychecks and lowly praises, to being the one who signed the paychecks and offered the accolades when they were rightfully earned. The world was my oyster and walking toward me on the arm of her uncle was my pearl. I'd found her amongst the empty shells life had offered. There was no need to pry open another possibility. Angelina was all I wanted. Yet my path was uncharted. There was more for me to earn, lose, and willingly give. The top of that list was respect." This stand-alone novel takes place before the Infidelity series and may be read BEFORE, AFTER, or APART from the Infidelity series. Have you been Aleatha'd? Letty Dobesh, a gorgeous, degenerate thief, is fresh out of the clink and back to her old tricks—in this case, burglarizing suites at a luxury hotel in Asheville, North Carolina. But when she’s surprised by returning guests on her last room of the day, she’s forced to hide in the closet to avoid getting caught, and inadvertently overhears a hitman being contracted to murder the wife of a wealthy lawyer. Letty is hardly a heroine, but this puts even her threadbare morality to the test. Only in hindsight will she see her choice to intervene for what it is…a dramatic fork in the trajectory of her life, propelling her toward a terrifying shocker of an ending that neither she (or you) ever saw coming. From the author of Desert Places, Abandon, and Serial Uncut comes this 10,000-word thriller novella, which also contains an interview with Blake, excerpts from all four of his novels, and two bonus excerpts. After surviving the leadership challenge, being Alpha should be easy, right?  But Kane’s illusions are soon shattered as the demands on him escalate.  His half-brother seems to have gone rogue, an old flame is becoming clingy, the pack’s water supply has been contaminated by an oil spill and now…the Council of Elders are proposing a political mating!  What’s an Alpha to do? A treat for die-hard fans, Kane: I Am Alpha presents Kane’s viewpoint on the original Law of the Lycan’s novel, The Mating. Edith Nesbit's natural gift for storytelling has brought her worldwide renown as a classic children's author. But beyond her beloved children's stories lay a darker side to her imagination, revealed here in her chilling tales of the supernatural. Haunted by lifelong phobias which provoked, in her own words, 'nights and nights of anguish and horror, long years of bitterest fear and dread', Nesbit was inspired to pen terrifying stories of a twilight world where the dead walked the earth. All but forgotten for almost a hundred years until In the Dark was first published 30 years ago, this collection finally restored Nesbit's reputation as a one of the most accomplished and entertaining ghost-story writers of the Victorian age. With seven extra newly-discovered stories now appearing for the first time in paperback, this revised edition includes an introduction by Hugh Lamb exploring the life of the woman behind these tales and the events and experiences that contributed to her... "The trouble with wanting to do the right thing is that frequently the right thing today is the wrong thing for tomorrow, or the wrong thing for the people who are standing between you and your perfect, platonic future. The wild was the wrong place for our elephant, just like the recycler was the wrong place for Billie, and the cities were the wrong place for me." A tale of bioengineering, a carnival, and the cost of finding one’s right place. At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied. A MAN OF SIN Devastatingly handsome. Vain. Unscrupulous. Valentine Napier, the Duke of Montgomery, is the man London whispers about in boudoirs and back alleys. A notorious rake and blackmailer, Montgomery has returned from exile, intent on seeking revenge on those who have wronged him. But what he finds in his own bedroom may lay waste to all his plans. A WOMAN OF HONOR Born a bastard, housekeeper Bridget Crumb is clever, bold, and fiercely loyal. When her aristocratic mother becomes the target of extortion, Bridget joins the Duke of Montgomery's household to search for the incriminating evidence-and uncovers something far more dangerous. A SECRET THAT THREATENS TO DESTROY THEM BOTH Astonished by the deceptively prim-and surprisingly witty-domestic spy in his chambers, Montgomery is intrigued. And try as she might, Bridget can't resist the slyly charming duke. Now as the two begin their treacherous game of cat and mouse, they soon realize that they both have secrets—and neither may be as nefarious—or as innocent—as they appear . . . Escape in a warm anthropomorphic tale that draws strong emotional responses. A story for the mature reader. It's about an insect community living an idyllic streamside life. Blissful complacency turns to a realisation that all is not well when the community's future is threatened by human activity. Some special powers enable the insects to deal with pending threats. Contains intrigue and mischief!For fans of Robert E. Howard, David Gemmell, and Raymond E. Feist, here is a new story of sword and sorcery. Banished for fifteen years, the wandering knight Mazael Cravenlock returns home at last to the Grim Marches, only to find war and chaos. His brother plans a foolish and doomed rebellion. His sister hopes to wed a brutal and cruel knight. The whispers speak of living corpses that stalk the night, of demons that lurk in darkness, and a sinister snake-cult that waits in the shadows. Yet Mazael's darkest enemy waits elsewhere.Within his own tainted soul...First published in 2005 from Gale/Five Star, now updated and revised in a new electronic edition.PRAISE FOR DEMONSOULED:“…action-packed, fast-moving tale…a solid debut novel…”-Fantasy Book Spot“a gripping account of one man’s battle against both inner and external demons, and I would recommend it to anyone who desires an action-packed story riddled with twists . . . ”-Sffworld.com“Jonathan Moeller has written an epic fantasy in its classic form that all lovers of fantasy will embrace.”-Love Romances“Jonathan Moeller will definitely capture the attention of many with DEMONSOULED, a suspenseful fantasy novel that is not to be missed.”-Romance Reviews Today“Here’s a fantasy adventure with plenty of thrills and chills. After a gap of many years, a hardy warrior and his companions return to their homeland. One of them discovers that his sister has been kidnapped and that his brother is plotting an ill advised rebellion against a less than sterling local ruler. Throw in some malevolent magic including a small army of reanimated corpses, a secretive plot, lots of derring do, a sinister mystery, and a magical assault that threatens to turn our hero into an instrument of evil. Exciting, occasionally surprising, with readable prose and a diverse set of characters. What more could you ask?”-Don D’ammassa The Boxcar Children have joined a community basketball league and are thrilled when they find out that Buzz and Tipper Nettleton, Greenfield's most famous basketball stars, are coaching their team. But when Tipper's Most Valuable Player trophy is missing. It's up to the Alden children to find out who's behind the trouble.

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