The vampire Count Saint-Germain, disguised as a missing Hungarian nobleman, is on a spy mission in the heart of Czarist Russia. Almost by the power of his will alone, it seems, Peter the Great is wrestling the city that will one day be St. Petersburg out of swampland. Representatives of the heads of all European states are living in tiny, frigid, wooden homes as they jockey for power and influence over the Czar. When a man shows up claiming to be the Count Saint-Germain, the vampire must figure out how to protect his title and wealth without revealing either his true identity or his True Nature.

The gaffers stood round and shook their heads. When the Corporal had finished reading the Royal Proclamation, one or two of them sighed in a desultory fashion, others murmured casually, "Lordy! Lordy! to think on it! Dearie me!" The young ones neither sighed nor murmured. They looked at one another furtively, then glanced away again, as if afraid to read each other's thoughts, and in a shamefaced manner wiped their moist hands against their rough cord breeches.

This book was digitized and reprinted from the collections of the University of California Libraries. It was produced from digital images created through the libraries’ mass digitization efforts. The digital images were cleaned and prepared for printing through automated processes. Despite the cleaning process, occasional flaws may still be present that were part of the original work itself, or introduced during digitization. This book and hundreds of thousands of others can be found online in the HathiTrust Digital Library at www.hathitrust.org. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Alex Lupo is a gay foster teen in New York City. Isolated by circumstances, not knowing his parents but aware that they were Italian, he scrutinizes the faces of Italian-looking strangers and fantasizes about possible family connections. Having been raped at his previous foster home, he worries about HIV and about ever being able to enjoy sex."My life is worth more than a few minutes of anyone's pleasure."Alessandro Lupo (Alex) is a sixteen-year-old gay foster child who has been moved from "home" to "home" in New York City. Isolated by circumstances and by the protective shield he's surrounded himself with, he wanders the streets of the West Village and gravitates toward Stonewall Inn, where the 1969 riots planted the seeds of the gay civil rights movement. Having been raped at his previous foster home, he worries about HIV and about ever being able to enjoy sex. Alex, whose parents had both been Italian, feels his lack of family keenly. As he wanders the city streets, he scrutinizes people who might also be Italian. Alex is short for Alessandro, which means defender of men; Lupo means wolf. But Alex feels fearful most of the time—fear not just of Derek, the other foster teen in his current home, but also of life in general—and wishes for the courage of his 19th century countryman, Giuseppe Garibaldi, with whose statue in Washington Square Park Alex has imaginary conversations.Then Alex meets two people who represent polar opposites: one who validates the low opinion Alex already has of himself; and another who helps him see himself in an entirely new light and teaches him that his life is worth more than a few minutes of anyone's pleasure.

They have different homes. They live separate lives. They do not even know the other exists. However, they are connected. Follow two teenagers as they live a single day of their lives, which, despite the differences, share similar aspects.HADAGERY!The book of Elysium has been opened, and darkness will unfold, bleeding upon the land like a plague.WORLD CAST IN DARKNESS. Elysium is the remnants of a dying world, dimmed by evil, and the ignorance of mankind.SURVIVORS ARE BEING ISOLATED AND DEVOURED.Those that have survived the turmoil have devolved into scavengers, even as their bodies have adjusted to the cold dark climate, and dangers around every corner.WHERE HOPE FALLS.Is in the hands of an ordinary hairy little man named the Hadge. He is the only one who can seal the evil book of Elysium, and save the world. Throughout his journey he learns that he is a divine being, born upon every world with life, as a safeguard to guide each world from evil. He is the only hope.HADGE’S DARK JOURNEY.Startling events are set into motion during a trip to Ennead Mountains, as his friend Uwee quickly vanishes, and giant glowing spiders appear. Hadge and Uwee barely escape the mountain alive, however he comes to the conclusion that a book had beset Elysium into this age of darkness. A mysterious whispering book he discovers he cannot read, and is determined to find someone to reveal its secrets. Hadge journeys through the mountain where the deadly scyphus live, beyond the giant mountain troll that saves his life, and into the lost woods where his life is turned upside down. He at last identifies the voices from the book, as they read from the pages, telling Hadge he's a divine being, and that sealing the book would be Elysium's only hope for a future. Disturbingly to seal the book he has to journey straight into hordes of demons, and into the bowels of Hell, where he will be related a terrible fact, "Oh shit kid. You're not even real."

Braving a cold night in Myra to give his gifts in secret, Our Bishop encounters a child who seems intent on stopping him. But is that the child's true intent, or is he offering a chance to give more than mere fruit?All About Me: A Precious Gift From God is an interactive book for 2 to 4 year olds. The text describes how we were fearfully and wonderfully made by God. Blank spaces allow the book to be personalized as it is read. Children will enjoy interacting with parents, grandparents or guardians as they discuss choices to fill in the blanks. Scripture references reinforce God's word about how and why He made us a certain way.

Old women don't always think of their lost loves, sometimes they think about politics. texting or the latest fad. Here are a number of things that I did not know when I was young. Topics range from bad people,business and friendship to human rights, narcissism and sex.The Unfinished Musical is just that, an unfinished musical. It started off as a light comedy about a worker at an amusement park and somehow evolved into a blues-gospel hybrid. Basically its about one man's discovery of faith and that life isn't as bad as he thinks it is.Or not. I don't know, I leave it up to the reader to form your own opinion about what it all means.

On a hill overlooking a small town, a sculptor works to create perfect hearts. People from all around bring him their hearts made of wood, marble, and clay. Some hearts trust him completely, but others aren't so sure. This fable displays the love and care offered to all of us from God, the very creator of our hearts. Great story for young readers.On a hill overlooking a small town, a sculptor works to create perfect hearts. People from all around bring him their hearts made of wood, marble, and clay. One day a little girl brings her heart to the Sculptor because she has heard that He can make hearts perfect. She has to decide whether she will trust her heart to Him or not. In the workshop, the Sculptor knows what works best with each heart, but some hearts trust him completely while others aren't so sure. The sculptor only wants the best for all his creations, but sometimes the creations don't go along with what's best for them. This fable displays the love and care offered to all of us from God, the very creator of our hearts. Great story for young readers.

When Dogs Bark, The Short Story made its debut in 1995 in Story Magazine. Soulfires published it in 1996, the same year it appeared in the iconic and awe-inspiring anthology SHADE. When a man is troubled, he growls, whimpers, or barks his a$$ off.When Dogs Bark, The Short Story made its debut in 1995 in Story Magazine. Soulfires published it in 1996, followed by publication in the iconic and awe-inspiring anthology SHADE, edited by Bruce Morrow and Charles H. Rowell. The writer reissued it in 2000 as part of his personal collection.You may think with a name like Jethro, our story is the tale of a country bumpkin on a visit to New York City. It’s deeper. There’s a rumbling deep in Jethro’s soul. He has the quirky habit of barking when he’s nervous. It starts with a low growl when he’s mildly agitated, to a ferocious bark when he feels endangered.One day after he gets fed up with his wife and her cousin Jethro decides to step out and explore New York on his own. As he rides the subway he’s doing his low growl thing the keep the creeps away (just imagine). He catches the attention of Toni a cross dresser recently released from the army. It becomes a wild weekend of sex and self-discovery until a dangerous encounter with a gang of boys sends Jethro back to the arms of his wife, Eartha Pearl. Is Jethro a changed man? Only time will tell. Harvey captures te flavor of New York with the best of them.Excerpt:I say, “Now wait a minute, Jethro, you ain’t gonna have no cultural experiences stuck scared here on this stoop. Suppose Columbus had just sat on a stoop all his life. Just suppose. Shit. A man must take action!” While I sit debating, this big white dude in chains and leather walks toward me. Now, these chains ain’t dainty little things you get from Spiegel’s catalog. These chains come from the Navy yard. I mean these chains can lift submarines. He wears three around his neck, five on each wrist, and two on each ankle. Now the chains do not bother me. The fact that he has on funky raw uncured leather does not bother me. Even the glass eye--I hope it’s glass--dangling from his left earlobe on a chain does not bother me. What bothers me is when he turns in my direction, and grabs his grapefruit sized crotch and smiles—that’s what bothers ol’ Jethro here. I say, “Uh oh Jethro, somebody wants you to swing a certain way. And I don’t swing that way.” I wonder why he pick on me? So what if I do have on these black high top sneakers, shorts with Texas bluebonnets all over them, and a pink tee-shirt that says, “I BRAKE FOR MOONERS--that don’t mean I’m gay. Shit. I’m just a colorful dude. Well okay if you want to count that time when I was in the eighth grade and me and Johnny Scardino grabbed each other’s rods behind the gym bleachers. I wouldn’t have gone back there with him, but he told me he had two and he would show me if I showed him mine. Okay, it tickled and I got a hard-on when he grabbed me and I grabbed him out of reflexes, but I haven’t seen Johnny since the eighth grade. I dreamed about him once, since I been married to Eartha Pearl. But I woke up and made love to Eartha real quick.So anyway I hang my head and growl softly at the man in leather. He must think I’m calling him to dinner ‘cause he moves a little closer. When I see him step, I bark louder. And not yap yap like a poodle either. I’m Doberman and Great Dane combined. I rattle nearby windows. New York people stare at me as they walk by. And they tell me you’re doing something when you can get a New Yorker to stare at you eye-level on the street. The dude slinks away like he’s carrying a tail between his legs.

FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF NEED AND CAPTIVATE People keep changing who they are & defining themselves by their own choices, and that's cool most of the time, but not all the time. No, it's not cool all the time at all. Belle is closing in on her last few months of high school and things are much better than they were before. Well, almost. Belle's not too sure about all the sureness that other people seem to have about things like labels (popular, slut, jock), change (college, real adulthood, new friends, lost friends), and love (oh yeah, that). Not to mention, there's THE BIG PROBLEM with Tom and other-well, unexpected-surprises. If you want to read more about Belle, check out Tips on Having a Gay (ex) Boyfriend from Flux. Praise for Tips on Having a Gay (ex) Boyfriend "From the first sentence of Carrie Jones' novel, I could tell that here was a bright new writer who was going to set the world of young adult letters aflame." -Kathi Appelt, award-winning poet and author "Provocative...The author's poetic prose ably captures her heroine's emotional upheavals." -Publishers Weekly "Jones offers an atypical perspective of the coming-out story by legitimizing the love that is not lost, but changed, when young people grow up and apart." -School Library Journal

A governess in a French chateau encounters an apparent plot against her young charge's life in this unforgettably haunting and beautifully written suspense novel. When lovely Linda Martin first arrives at Château Valmy as an English governess to the nine-year-old Count Philippe de Valmy, the opulence and history surrounding her seems like a wondrous, ecstatic dream. But a palpable terror is crouching in the shadows. Philippe's uncle, Leon de Valmy, is the epitome of charm, yet dynamic and arrogant, his paralysis little hindrance as he moves noiselessly in his wheelchair from room to room. Only his son Raoul, a handsome, sardonic man who drives himself and his car with equally reckless abandon, seems able to stand up to him. To Linda, Raoul is an enigma, though irresistibly attracted to him, she senses some dark twist in his nature. When an accident deep in the woods nearly kills Linda's innocent charge, she begins to wonder if someone has deadly plans for the young count.

“if you read this after I am dead It means I made it” -“The Creation Coffin” The People Look like Flowers at Last is the last of five collections of never-before published poetry from the late great Dirty Old Man, Charles Bukowski. In it, he speaks on topics ranging from horse racing to military elephants, lost love to the fear of death.  He writes extensively about writing, and about talking to people about writers such as Camus, Hemingway, and Stein.  He writes about war and fatherhood and cats and women. Free from the pressure to present a consistent persona, these poems present less of an aggressively disruptive character, and more a world-weary and empathetic person.

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Steven Pressfield's The Profession. I have always been a soldier. I have known no other life. So begins Alexander’s extraordinary confession on the eve of his greatest crisis of leadership. By turns heroic and calculating, compassionate and utterly merciless, Alexander recounts with a warrior’s unflinching eye for detail the blood, the terror, and the tactics of his greatest battlefield victories. Whether surviving his father’s brutal assassination, presiding over a massacre, or weeping at the death of a beloved comrade-in-arms, Alexander never denies the hard realities of the code by which he lives: the virtues of war. But as much as he was feared by his enemies, he was loved and revered by his friends, his generals, and the men who followed him into battle. Often outnumbered, never outfought, Alexander conquered every enemy the world stood against him–but the one he never saw coming. . . .

Hailed as a classic, Tim Winton's masterful family saga is both a paean to working-class Australians and an unflinching examination of the human heart's capacity for sorrow, joy, and endless gradations in between. An award-winning work, Cloudstreet exemplifies the brilliant ability of fiction to captivate and inspire. Struggling to rebuild their lives after being touched by disaster, the Pickle family, who've inherited a big house called Cloudstreet in a suburb of Perth, take in the God-fearing Lambs as tenants. The Lambs have suffered their own catastrophes, and determined to survive, they open up a grocery on the ground floor. From 1944 to 1964, the shared experiences of the two overpopulated clans -- running the gamut from drunkenness, adultery, and death to resurrection, marriage, and birth -- bond them to each other and to the bustling, haunted house in ways no one could have anticipated.