"One thing my mother never knew, and would disapprove of most of all, was that I watched the Garretts. All the time." The Garretts are everything the Reeds are not. Loud, messy, affectionate. And every day from her rooftop perch, Samantha Reed wishes she was one of them . . . until one summer evening, Jase Garrett climbs up next to her and changes everything. As the two fall fiercely for each other, stumbling through the awkwardness and awesomeness of first love, Jase's family embraces Samantha - even as she keeps him a secret from her own. Then something unthinkable happens, and the bottom drops out of Samantha's world. She's suddenly faced with an impossible decision. Which perfect family will save her? Or is it time she saved herself? A transporting debut about family, friendship, first romance, and how to be true to one person you love without betraying another.

*Chasing fame. Chasing love. Chasing a future. Emme* has long lived in her best friend Sophie's shadow. She writes songs, and Sophie sings them. It's always been like this, and feels like it always will be. Sophie will stop at nothing to be a star. Even if it means using her best friend and picking up a trophy boyfriend, Carter. Carter is a victim of a particular Hollywood curse: He's a former child star. Now all he wants is a normal life. But being normal is about as hard for him as being famous. Ethan has his own issues - a darkness in his head that he just can't shake. He's managed to sabotage every relationship he's ever been in. Emme's the only girl he's ever really respected... but he's not sure what to do about that. Emme, Sophie, Carter, and Ethan are all students at a performing arts school, where talent is the norm and fame is the goal. But sometimes, being in the spotlight isn't as important as the people you're sharing it with - as the four of them are going to find out in Elizabeth Eulberg's excellent new novel, which is about the auditions life puts us through every day, both big and small.

In this latest novel from bestselling author John Verdon, ingenious puzzle solver Dave Gurney puts under the magnifying glass a notorious serial murder case – one whose motives have been enshrined as law-enforcement dogma - and discovers that everyone has it wrong.   The most decorated homicide detective in NYPD history, Dave Gurney is still trying to adjust to his life of quasi-retirement in upstate New York when a young woman who is producing a documentary on a notorious murder spree seeks his counsel.  Soon after, Gurney begins feeling threatened: a razor-sharp hunting arrow lands in his yard, and he narrowly escapes serious injury in a booby-trapped basement.  As things grow more bizarre, he finds himself reexamining the case of The Good Shepherd, which ten years before involved a series of roadside shootings and a rage-against-the-rich manifesto.  The killings ceased, and a cult of analysis grew up around the case with a consensus opinion that no one would dream of challenging  -- no one, that is, but Dave Gurney.  Mocked even by some who’d been his supporters in previous investigations, Dave realizes that the killer is too clever to ever be found.  The only gambit that may make sense is also the most dangerous – to make himself a target and get the killer to come to him. To survive, Gurney must rely on three allies: his beloved wife Madeleine, impressively intuitive and a beacon of light in the gathering darkness; his de-facto investigative “partner” Jack Hardwick, always ready to spit in authority’s face but wily when it counts; and his son Kyle, who has come back into Gurney’s life with surprising force, love and loyalty. Displaying all the hallmarks for which the Dave Gurney series is lauded -- well-etched characters, deft black humor, and ingenious deduction that ends in a climactic showdown – Let the Devil Sleep is something more: a reminder of the power of self-belief in a world that contains too little of it. From the Hardcover edition.

A magisterial account of the pains, the struggles, the humiliations, and the glories of the world's largest and least likely democracy, Ramachandra Guha's India After Gandhi is a breathtaking chronicle of the brutal conflicts that have rocked a giant nation and the extraordinary factors that have held it together. An intricately researched and elegantly written epic history peopled with larger-than-life characters, it is the work of a major scholar at the peak of his abilities...

There's one thing even the tabloid hounds haven't managed to dig up about celebrity Ryan Brady: he is married! He may be one of America's most desirable men, but his secret wife has just filed for divorce. Since their separation six years ago, Claire has turned her life upside down: new business, new friends, new life. But when she sees Ryan to hash out a settlement, her body tells her one thing hasn't changed--he's still the only man who really does it for her. With all other guys guaranteed to be totally meh, she's in last-chance saloon: it's either an X-rated fling with her ex, or straight to chastitybelts.com!

*Things Chloe knew: Her sister, Ivy, was lonely. Ethan was a perfect match. Ethan’s brother, David, was an arrogant jerk. Things Chloe should have known: Setups are complicated. Ivy can make her own decisions. David may be the only person who really gets Chloe.* Meet Chloe Mitchell, a popular Los Angeles girl who’s decided that her older sister, Ivy, who’s on the autism spectrum, could use a boyfriend. Chloe already has someone in mind: Ethan Fields, a sweet, movie-obsessed boy from Ivy’s special needs class. Chloe would like to ignore Ethan’s brother, David, but she can’t—Ivy and Ethan aren’t comfortable going out on their own, so Chloe and David have to tag along. Soon Chloe, Ivy, David, and Ethan form a quirky and wholly lovable circle. And as the group bonds over frozen-yogurt dates and movie nights, Chloe is forced to confront her own romantic choices—and the realization that it’s okay to be a different kind of normal.

Tom Rand, a practical engineer, and two other men are the only survivors of a spaceship explosion. Marooned on a hostile planet, they are being held captive by a group of “aliens.” Their one slim chance of survival is to reach a rescue beacon placed on the planet years before by men from Earth. Can the three survivors escape what seems like certain, immediate death? And if they do, can they make their way through a jungle filled with untold dangers and reach the beacon in time?

Lara of Xy and her Warlord, Keir of the Cat, have been through much together. Lara abandoned her lands and people for love of him.  She adopted his ways and learned of his tribe. Together they have faced plague and insurgency -- and despite these struggles, they have known happiness and joy. Now they face their most arduous task: Keir must take Lara into the Heart of the Plains, and introduce her as the Warprize to the warrior-priests.  She must be tested--questioned, examined, watched--and must find favor with the warrior-priests and the tribe's elders before they will confirm her as a true Warprize. But in Lara's heart there are doubts--for what if she is found wanting? Will Keir give up everything he knows to be with his Warprize?At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

A strange girl, was Rachel Dove . . . raised in the jungles of Africa by a mother with mystical leanings and a father possessed by the missionary spirit. "Lady of the Lightning," the Kaffirs called her, in memory of her surviving a violent storm -- a name that foretold her later, mystic reputation among them. Yet she had not survived that storm alone -- for a boy, Richard Darrien, rescued her from drowning in the raging torrent. Rachel sensed their lives would be intertwined -- however strange those lives should become, in the mysterious and unforgiving jungle.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From the beginning of the first essay: RUSSIAN NATIONAL CHARACTER AS SHOWN IN RUSSIAN FICTION The Japanese war pricked one of the biggest bubbles in history, and left Russia in a profoundly humiliating situation. Her navy was practically destroyed, her armies soundly beaten, her offensive power temporarily reduced to zero, her treasury exhausted, her pride laid in the dust. If the greatness of a nation consisted in the number and size of its battleships, in the capacity of its fighting men, or in its financial prosperity, Russia would be an object of pity. But in America it is wholesome to remember that the real greatness of a nation consists in none of these things, but rather in its intellectual splendour, in the number and importance of the ideas it gives to the world, in its contributions to literature and art, and to all things that count in humanity's intellectual advance. When we Americans swell with pride over our industrial prosperity, we might profitably reflect for a moment on the comparative value of America's and Russia's contributions to literature and music. At the start, we notice a rather curious fact, which sharply differentiates Russian literature from the literature of England, France, Spain, Italy, and even from that of Germany. Russia is old; her literature is new. Russian history goes back to the ninth century; Russian literature, so far as it interests the world, begins in the nineteenth. Russian literature and American literature are twins. But there is this strong contrast, caused partly by the difference in the age of the two nations. In the early years of the nineteenth century, American literature sounds like a child learning to talk, and then aping its elders; Russian literature is the voice of a giant, waking from a long sleep, and becoming articulate. It is as though the world had watched this giant's deep slumber for a long time, wondering what he would say when he awakened. And what he has said has been well worth the thousand years of waiting. To an educated native Slav, or to a professor of the Russian language, twenty or thirty Russian authors would no doubt seem important; but the general foreign reading public is quite properly mainly interested in only five standard writers, although contemporary novelists like Gorki, Artsybashev, Andreev, and others are at this moment deservedly attracting wide attention. The great five, whose place in the world's literature seems absolutely secure, are Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy. The man who killed Pushkin in a duel survived till 1895, and Tolstoy died in 1910. These figures show in how short a time Russian literature has had its origin, development, and full fruition.…

The Star is a science fiction short story by English writer Arthur C. Clarke. It appeared in the science fiction magazine Infinity Science Fiction in 1955 and won the Hugo award in 1956. The story was also published as Star of Bethlehem.

A collection of articles to simplify a wide variety of subjects about the present and future of the United States. It’s about clarifying and simplifying complex issues involving our evolution into an almost bankrupt, stagnant welfare state now being challenged by hungrier, aggressive, more productive nations.Many people form opinions from brief television bits crafted by biased “news” media, or merely from previous opinions. These articles cut through the complexities and misconceptions to simplify a variety of important, unclear issues. The public has been suckered into giving up their opportunity to achieve and prosper in exchange for free lunches and subsidies paid by others, creating a less productive, stagnant and almost bankrupt welfare state. In the process, the citizens and states have permitted big, expensive governments to rob us of many of our constitutional rights. We have become dependents of the career politicians, ensuring their re-election. Our savings will be wiped out by inflation, and our children and grandchildren must pay our bills.

The Fourth Protocol

Seven authors, seven visions, seven short stories make up Murder, Mayhem, Monsters, and Mistletletoe. Rae Ford, Rodney Hall, C.R. Garmen, Michelle Rabe, Lindy Spencer, Jamie Sheffield, and Brenda Tetreault share their stories in this winter-themed anthology.Seven authors, seven visions, seven short stories make up Murder, Mayhem, Monsters, and Mistletletoe. Rae Ford, Rodney Hall, C.R. Garmen, Michelle Rabe, Lindy Spencer, Jamie Sheffield, and Brenda Tetreault share their stories in this winter-themed anthology.Cold Burn - From The Luminosi Brotherhood Series - by Rae Ford. A surprise from Chicago Detective Tyson Roberts' distant past distracts him from his preparation for the team's expedition to Antarctica. The question is, is this distraction a blessing or a curse?"Mr. John – by Rodney Hall. DetectiveJohn Peterson stared through the blinding snow. He had to ask himself if what he saw was real, or if he was losing his mind.A Perfect Christmas – by C.R. Garmen. A short and sweet reminder of the virtue of giving during the holidays.Another First for Christmas – by Michelle Rabe. New vampire Eric Kincade faces his first holiday season with fangs.Above the Bridge – by Lindy Spencer. There's a huge difference between life above the bridge and below it...except for Karma. From her, there's no escape.Now is the Winter – by Jamie Sheffield. Richie Gloucester is a spoiled man-child on a trip away from the cold of a Manhattan winter to the tropics, with murder in his heart. His plans, and life, take a bizarre turn when he meets an unlikely heroine who helps him take control of his life ... literally.Merry Christmas, Baby – by Brenda Tetreault. Christmas is a time of love and magic. But sometimes love needs a helping hand.