An apprentice magician on a Mediterranean pirate galley, Saul is learning the art of controlling demons. Pursued by the armies of Rome, his shipmates fight to retain their freedom, while Saul struggles with oppression at the hands of his master. When even demons are bound in chains, can a young man make himself truly free?The Serial Flash Fiction Novel: Newcomer is about Cali, a woman who finds herself in a capsule in the middle of the forest with no memory of how she got there, and only spotted memories of her life beforehand. She is radically different now, physically, and the world seems to have changed around her too. Just where is she? Is any of it real? Or are her memories of her previous life false, instead? Can they both be real? How is that possible?Newcomer describes a world that spans time and involves a war between two distinct ideologies.People who witness the events call it a "war in heaven," though the accuracy of this description remains to be seen. There are many other stories occupy the same world, but many of them take place in different places and time. They will all connect in the end.

As a world-class equestrian and Olympic contender, Annemarie Zimmer lived for the thrill of flight atop a strong, graceful animal. Then, at eighteen, a tragic accident destroyed her riding career and Harry, the beautiful horse she cherished. Now, twenty years later, Annemarie is coming home to her dying father's New Hampshire horse farm. Jobless and abandoned, she is bringing her troubled teenage daughter to this place of pain and memory, where ghosts of an unresolved youth still haunt the fields and stables—and where hope lives in the eyes of the handsome, gentle veterinarian Annemarie loved as a girl . . . and in the seductive allure of a trainer with a magic touch. But everything will change yet again with one glimpse of a white striped gelding startlingly similar to the one Annemarie lost in another lifetime. And an obsession is born that could shatter her fragile world.

In this heartbreakingly beautiful book of disillusioned intimacy and persistent yearning, beloved and celebrated author Andre Dubus III explores the bottomless needs and stubborn weaknesses of people seeking gratification in food and sex, work and love. In these linked novellas in which characters walk out the back door of one story and into the next, love is "dirty"—tangled up with need, power, boredom, ego, fear, and fantasy. On the Massachusetts coast north of Boston, a controlling manager, Mark, discovers his wife's infidelity after twenty-five years of marriage. An overweight young woman, Marla, gains a romantic partner but loses her innocence. A philandering bartender/aspiring poet, Robert, betrays his pregnant wife. And in the stunning title novella, a teenage girl named Devon, fleeing a dirty image of her posted online, seeks respect in the eyes of her widowed great-uncle Francis and of an Iraq vet she’s met surfing the Web. Slivered by happiness and discontent, aging and death, but also persistent hope and forgiveness, these beautifully wrought narratives express extraordinary tenderness toward human beings, our vulnerable hearts and bodies, our fulfilling and unfulfilling lives alone and with others.

44 SCOTLAND STREET - Book 2 The residents and neighbors of 44 Scotland Street and the city of Edinburgh come to vivid life in these gently satirical, wonderfully perceptive serial novels, featuring six-year-old Bertie, a remarkably precocious boy—just ask his mother.   Back are all our favorite denizens of a Georgian townhouse in Edinburgh. Bertie the immensely talented six year old is now enrolled in kindergarten, and much to his dismay, has been clad in pink overalls for his first day of class. Bruce has lost his job as a surveyor, and between admiring glances in the mirror, is contemplating becoming a wine merchant. Pat is embarking on a new life at Edinburgh University and perhaps on a new relationship, courtesy of Domenica, her witty and worldly-wise neighbor. McCall Smith has much in store for them as the brief spell of glorious summer sunshine gives way to fall a season cursed with more traditionally Scottish weather. Full of McCall Smith’s gentle humor and sympathy for his characters, Espresso Tales is also an affectionate portrait of a city and its people who, in the author’s own words, “make it one of the most vibrant and interesting places in the world.” From the Trade Paperback edition.

In a South Africa torn by civil war, Michael K sets out to take his mother back to her rural home. On the way there she dies, leaving him alone in an anarchic world of brutal roving armies. Imprisoned, Michael is unable to bear confinement and escapes, determined to live with dignity. Life and Times of Michael K goes to the centre of human experience - the need for an interior, spiritual life, for some connections to the world in which we live, and for purity of vision.

Katie Hallman is done with douchebags. Done with guys who treat her like crap and leave her broken. But then Stryker Grant is there anyway. With his numerous piercings and bleached hair, he’s the polar opposite of all of her past relationships, which makes him the perfect candidate. At first, Katie just sees him as a physical escape from her previous rocky relationship, and Stryker doesn’t seem to mind just being a distraction from Katie’s problems. But soon he’s getting under her skin, peeling back layers she’d rather keep covered. She tries to make it clear that she doesn’t want a relationship, but keeps breaking her own rules. Then a tragedy sends Katie into the only arms who are there to catch her, and she’ll realize that she needs him more than she ever thought possible. But is she ready to let herself trust another guy with her already-battered heart? Or will she push him away to protect herself from getting hurt again?

Over a year at Whipsnade Zoo we encounter a typically absurd cast - including Albert the lion, who's a dab hand at ventriloquism, and Teddy the brown bear, with whom the young Durrell sings duets. This is a charming account of Gerald Durrell's first job as a student keeper in WhipsnadePark in 1945. With notebook and pen in hand, the eager young Durrell observes his co-workers and animal charges alike. Whether getting dirty mucking out the buffalo enclosure or attempting to cajole a jitter-bugging gnus into a transportation crate, life at the zoo is certainly never boring.

No collection of Japanese literature is complete without Natsume Soseki's Kokoro, his most famous novel and the last he completed before his death. Published here in the first new translation in more than fifty years, Kokoro—meaning "heart"—is the story of a subtle and poignant friendship between two unnamed characters, a young man and an enigmatic elder whom he calls "Sensei". Haunted by tragic secrets that have cast a long shadow over his life, Sensei slowly opens up to his young disciple, confessing indiscretions from his own student days that have left him reeling with guilt, and revealing, in the seemingly unbridgeable chasm between his moral anguish and his student's struggle to understand it, the profound cultural shift from one generation to the next that characterized Japan in the early twentieth century.

From Susan Vreeland, bestselling author of such acclaimed novels as Girl in Hyacinth Blue, Luncheon of the Boating Party, and Clara and Mr. Tiffany, comes a richly imagined story of a woman’s awakening in the south of Vichy France—to the power of art, to the beauty of provincial life, and to love in the midst of war.   In 1937, young Lisette Roux and her husband, André, move from Paris to a village in Provence to care for André’s grandfather Pascal. Lisette regrets having to give up her dream of becoming a gallery apprentice and longs for the comforts and sophistication of Paris. But as she soon discovers, the hilltop town is rich with unexpected pleasures. Pascal once worked in the nearby ochre mines and later became a pigment salesman and frame maker; while selling his pigments in Paris, he befriended Pissarro and Cézanne, some of whose paintings he received in trade for his frames. Pascal begins to tutor Lisette in both art and life, allowing her to see his small collection of paintings and the Provençal landscape itself in a new light. Inspired by Pascal’s advice to “Do the important things first,” Lisette begins a list of vows to herself (#4. Learn what makes a painting great). When war breaks out, André goes off to the front, but not before hiding Pascal’s paintings to keep them from the Nazis’ reach. With German forces spreading across Europe, the sudden fall of Paris, and the rise of Vichy France, Lisette sets out to locate the paintings (#11. Find the paintings in my lifetime). Her search takes her through the stunning French countryside, where she befriends Marc and Bella Chagall, who are in hiding before their flight to America, and acquaints her with the land, her neighbors, and even herself in ways she never dreamed possible. Through joy and tragedy, occupation and liberation, small acts of kindness and great acts of courage, Lisette learns to forgive the past, to live robustly, and to love again. Look for special features inside. Join the Random House Reader’s Circle for author chats and more.   “Vreeland’s love of painters and painting, her meticulous research and pitch-perfect descriptive talents . . . are abundantly evident in her new novel.”—The Washington Post “This historical novel’s . . . great strength is its lovingly detailed setting. . . . Readers will enjoy lingering in the sun-dappled, fruit-scented Provençal landscape that Vreeland brings to life.”—The Boston Globe “A pleasurable opportunity to learn something about art, history . . . and to enjoy a plucky heroine who grows in ways she never thought possible.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch “Mesmerizing . . . Vreeland’s passionate writing is as good as a private showing at the Louvre.”—Kirkus Reviews* (starred review) “An entrancing novel of joy and heartache . . . Vreeland provides the reader with a broad spectrum of emotions.”—*The Free Lance-Star From the Trade Paperback edition.

Addy Hanlon has always been Beth Cassidy's best friend and trusted lieutenant. Beth calls the shots and Addy carries them out, a long-established order of things that has brought them to the pinnacle of their high-school careers. Now they're seniors who rule the intensely competitive cheer squad, feared and followed by the other girls -- until the young new coach arrives.Cool and commanding, an emissary from the adult world just beyond their reach, Coach Colette French draws Addy and the other cheerleaders into her life. Only Beth, unsettled by the new regime, remains outside Coach's golden circle, waging a subtle but vicious campaign to regain her position as "top girl" -- both with the team and with Addy herself. Then a suicide focuses a police investigation on Coach and her squad. After the first wave of shock and grief, Addy tries to uncover the truth behind the death -- and learns that the boundary between loyalty and love can be dangerous terrain. The raw passions of girlhood are brought to life in this taut, unflinching exploration of friendship, ambition, and power. Award-winning novelist Megan Abbott, writing with what Tom Perrotta has hailed as "total authority and an almost desperate intensity," provides a harrowing glimpse into the dark heart of the all-American girl.Amazon.com ReviewAmazon Best Books of the Month, August 2012: Oh my, these beautiful, terrible girls, with their "Aruba-tanned" legs and their ferocity and fears, for whom the smallest slights become life-and-death matters. This brilliantly dark and uncomfortably real story, sharp and suspenseful and chilling, made me desperately glad I have sons. The author is so attuned to the "witchiness of girls" and the drama of high school, and then she takes us to the darkest corners of that world. These aren't Mean Girls or Breakfast Club teens--more like Glee on steroids. Megan Abbott is a scary genius. Her voice is fierce and fearless. --Neal ThompsonReviewEARLY PRAISE FOR DARE ME:"A fascinating, almost voyeuristic, glimpse into the power struggle that goes on between teenaged girls. Not just any teenaged girls-cheerleaders-with their own unique hierarchy and fierce code of loyalty, which they'll protect at any cost. There's a dark and twisted love story here, told with a rich sensual undertone that lingers long after you close the last page, still breathing in your ear: Dare me." (Chevy Stevens, New York Times bestselling author of Still Missing and *Never Knowing* )"Arresting, original and unputdownable." (Rosamund Lupton, New York Times bestselling author of *Sister* )"I dare you not to love this book. You lucky reader." (Tom Franklin, New York Times bestselling author of *Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter* )"DARE ME sneaks up on you from behind, pulling on long-forgotten memories of teenaged desperation, obsession, and desire. This is truly masterful storytelling." (Alafair Burke, author of *Never Tell* )"Megan Abbott's brilliant new book presents a number of possibilities-the mysterious and the erotic, as well as the inevitable and paradoxical lessons of girlhood-with such illumination that the joyful terrors of adolescence were once again present in me. Abbott's characters, confronted with unaccustomed questions and strange, new difficulties, remind us that the loss of innocence can, if we are fortunate, emerge into a lustrous wisdom." (Susanna Moore, author of *In the Cut* )"In Dare Me Megan Abbott guides us into the subculture of athletic and fierce young cheerleaders, who train together, compete, andbond until they form a rugged unit much as Marines form a rugged unit. She finds the nearly sinister underside of everyday events and somehow builds great suspense from ingredients that seem so familiar. Abbott has become expert at revealing truths we thought we knew but didn't, delivered in prose that is by turns elegant and incantatory." (Daniel Woodrell, author of *Winter's Bone* )

The long-awaited and stunning new novel from the unrivalled Iain Banks

Four short stories from my blog:1. The Winter Man2. Stabbing Spree3. Silent Crimes of Love4. Identity TheftWhile handling my laptop and computer every day, I have grown accustomed to sitting in front of it with a cup of strong coffee, as I wait for it to start up, then to load up applications and finally load the internet. The situation did not get any better, as I have to regularly download stuff from internet and already wasted a lot of money paying so called computer professionals who have been giving me false promises. Sometime or the other, even you must have come across something similar.I have made a list of the most easily performing tasks to remove the problem of slowness from my computer. And with this ebook, you can also say goodbye to the slow computer problem once and for all… Not just blunt instructions: I have combined it with proper guidance so that the most computer illiterate person can handle the daily issues with their computer. With a dedicated section for Windows 7 users and a list of the most efficient freeware available in the market, you can also become like me… self-dependant: "Computeristically"!

A new e-book compilation of Alfred Bester's brilliant short fiction,

"Children of a Sunless Land" is the first installment in the "Deaf Swordsman Series"."Children of a Sunless Land" is the first installment in the "Deaf Swordsman Series".Told in serial form, the Deaf Swordsman Series is a collection of stories featuring the fantastical deaf swordsman, Vohro Vahllenu. These set of stories is a sprawling epic of good and evil, bringing together the supernatural and weird, featuring dark fantasy adventures sure to resonate with both the hardcore and casual reader of dark fantasy literature.The stories begin and end in chaos, promising the reader a wild ride through the darkest bowels of the imagination while offering moments of deep reflection. Here are the terror-inducing tales of children clad in beastly armor, of people consumed by their own shadows, and of dark nights spent under the auspices of an angry moon.Embark on perilous journeys into unknown places like an abandoned asylum floating in the open, midnight sky, or an eerie forest characterized by the continuous sounds of echoing whispers. These are some of the places you'll venture into, following a fierce avenger armed with nine of the deadliest blades known to mankind, as he rides from the seen into the unseen, where hope and doom are bound only by the thinnest threads of humanity.Series No. 1: Children of a Sunless Land: 8,000 words (the equivalent to 30 paperback pages).*Includes illustrations.

narratorAUSTRALIA Volume One: A showcase of Australian poets and authors who were published on the narratorAUSTRALIA blog from May to October 2012narratorAUSTRALIA Volume One is a collection of more than 200 poems and short stories from more than 100 emerging and established Australian writers which were published on the narratorAUSTRALIA blog during the period 1 May to 31 October 2012. Contributors include: Susan Adams, Alannah, David Anderson, Eulyce Arkleysmith, Hettie Ashwin, Irene Assumpter, Rosemary Baldry, Don Beer, Eddie Blatt, Bridge, Ann-marie Brittain, Nicholas Brooks, Jean Bundesen, Marina Byrne, Linda Callaghan, Aaron Carl, Robyn Chaffey, Ronnie Compton, Theo Craci, James Craib, Nene Davies, Demelza, Noel Downs, Brendan Doyle, Bob Edgar, Stephen Falconer, Merlene Fawdry, Michele Fermanis-Winward, C.G. Freedman, Gordon G, Mel G, Alex aka The Auld YinGardiner, Russell Gibbs, Hazel Girolamo, Peter Goodwin, Mark Govier, Virginia Gow, Emma Hall, Ridley Heard, Andris Heks, Vague Hit, Annabel Hollins-Cliff, Emmett Howard, Connie Howell, Paul Humphreys, Frank Ince, JAC, Nicole James, Amber Johnson, Mary Krone, Judith La Porte, Robyn Lance, Anthony J. Langford, Crystal Lee, Melanie Lee, Chloe Loughran, Alan Lucas, Felicity Lynch, Kai Maddever, JH Mancy, Denise Martin, Joe Massingham, Barry McGloin, Colleen McMillan, Merryjack, Samantha Miller, Samuel Miller, Jonathan Morgan, Lynn Nickols, Mark O'Flynn, Alexandra P, Subroto Pant, Toni Paton, Andrea Payne, Paris Portingale, Tamara Pratt, Sallie Ramsay, A.J. Reed, Sandra Renew, Pat Ridley, Rimeriter, Robertas, John Ross, Jordan Russo, Susan Sargent, Sonia Satori, Scorpio, Emma Scott, Ariette Singer, Tracey Smith, Winsome Smith, Alexandra Smithers, Jessica Soul, Graham Sparks, Stephen Studach, Cathie Tanaka, Yeshe Thubten, Shannon Todd, Claire Turner, Kate-Michelle Von Riegen, Vickie Walker, Ted Witham, Ruth Withers, Kathryn Yuen, Tom Zaunmayr