new adult romance, urban romance, contemporary

“We were all heading for each other on a collision course, no matter what. Maybe some people are just meant to be in the same story.” * At first, Jude and her twin brother Noah, are inseparable. Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude wears red-red lipstick, cliff-dives, and does all the talking for both of them. Years later, they are barely speaking. Something has happened to change the twins in different yet equally devastating ways . . . but then Jude meets an intriguing, irresistible boy and a mysterious new mentor. The early years are Noah’s to tell; the later years are Jude’s. But they each have only half the story, and if they can only find their way back to one another, they’ll have a chance to remake their world. This radiant, award-winning novel from the acclaimed author of The Sky Is Everywhere will leave you breathless and teary and laughing—often all at once. Printz Award Winner Stonewall Honor Book

'Why do I know a few more things? Why am I so clever altogether?' Self-celebrating and self-mocking autobiographical writings from Ecce Homo, the last work iconoclastic German philosopher Nietzsche wrote before his descent into madness. One of 46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Each book gives readers a taste of the Classics' huge range and diversity, with works from around the world and across the centuries - including fables, decadence, heartbreak, tall tales, satire, ghosts, battles and elephants.

John Gardner's most poignant novel of improbable love. At the heart of John Gardner's Nickel Mountain is an uncommon love story: when at 42, the obese, anxious and gentle Henry Soames marries seventeen-year-old Callie Wells—who is pregnant with the child of a local boy—it is much more than years which define the gulf between them. But the beauty of this novel is the gradual revelation of the bond that develops as this unlikely couple experiences courtship and marriage, the birth of a son, isolation, forgiveness, work, and death in a small Catskill community in the 1950s. The plot turns on tragic events—they might be accidents or they might be acts of will—involving a cast of rural eccentrics that includes a lonely amputee veteran, a religious hysteric (thought by some to be the devil himself) and an itinerant "Goat Lady." Questions of guilt, innocence, and even murder are eclipsed by deeds of compassion, humility, and redemption, and ultimately by Henry Soames' quiet discovery of grace. Novelist William H. Gass, a friend and colleague of the author, has written an introduction that shines new light on the work and career of the much praised but often misunderstood John Gardner.

National Bestseller In her stunning first novel, Amy and Isabelle, Elizabeth Strout evokes a teenager's alienation from her distant mother—and a parent's rage at the discovery of her daughter's sexual secrets. In most ways, Isabelle and Amy are like any mother and her 16-year-old daughter, a fierce mix of love and loathing exchanged in their every glance. And eating, sleeping, and working side by side in the gossip-ridden mill town of Shirley Falls doesn't help matters. But when Amy is discovered behind the steamed-up windows of a car with her math teacher, the vast and icy distance between mother and daughter becomes unbridgeable. As news of the scandal reaches every ear, it is Isabelle who suffers from the harsh judgment of Shirley Falls, intensifying her shame about her own secret past. And as Amy seeks comfort elsewhere, she discovers the fragility of human happiness through other dramas, from the horror of a missing child to the trials of Fat Bev, the community peacemaker. Witty and often profound, Amy and Isabelle confirms Elizabeth Strout as a powerful new talent. From the Trade Paperback edition.

'Perhaps that moment had been exceptional, but still, I felt alive. That pressure on my chest means being alive.' Forty-nine, with a kind face, no serious ailments (apart from varicose veins on his ankles), a good salary and three moody children, widowed accountant Martín Santomé is about to retire. He assumes he'll take up gardening, or the guitar, or whatever retired people generally do. What he least expects is to fall passionately in love with his shy young employee Laura Avellaneda. As they embark upon an affair, happy and irresponsible, Martín begins to feel the weight of his quiet existence lift - until, out of nowhere, their joy is cut short. The intimate, heartbreaking diary of an ordinary man who is reborn when he falls in love one final time, this beloved Latin American novel has been translated into twenty languages and sold millions of copies worldwide, and is now published in Penguin Classics for the first time.

We live in a culture of casual certitude. This has always been the case, no matter how often that certainty has failed. Though no generation believes there’s nothing left to learn, every generation unconsciously assumes that what has already been defined and accepted is (probably) pretty close to how reality will be viewed in perpetuity. And then, of course, time passes. Ideas shift. Opinions invert. What once seemed reasonable eventually becomes absurd, replaced by modern perspectives that feel even more irrefutable and secure—until, of course, they don’t. But What If We’re Wrong? visualizes the contemporary world as it will appear to those who'll perceive it as the distant past. Chuck Klosterman asks questions that are profound in their simplicity: How certain are we about our understanding of gravity? How certain are we about our understanding of time? What will be the defining memory of rock music, five hundred years from today? How seriously should we view the content of our dreams? How seriously should we view the content of television? Are all sports destined for extinction? Is it possible that the greatest artist of our era is currently unknown (or—weirder still—widely known, but entirely disrespected)? Is it possible that we “overrate” democracy? And perhaps most disturbing, is it possible that we’ve reached the end of knowledge? Kinetically slingshotting through a broad spectrum of objective and subjective problems, But What If We’re Wrong? is built on interviews with a variety of creative thinkers—George Saunders, David Byrne, Jonathan Lethem, Kathryn Schulz, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Brian Greene, Junot Díaz, Amanda Petrusich, Ryan Adams, Nick Bostrom, Dan Carlin, and Richard Linklater, among others—interwoven with the type of high-wire humor and nontraditional analysis only Klosterman would dare to attempt. It’s a seemingly impossible achievement: a book about the things we cannot know, explained as if we did. It’s about how we live now, once “now” has become “then.”

High-speed car chases, hiding out in overgrown bushes, nabbing the bad guy—all in a days work for Julianne aka Jules St. James. Sure growing up with a bounty hunter for a father was a little unorthodox, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. After all, how many sixteen-year-old girls can take a man down with her bare hands, fire an assault rifle, or become a chameleon by using fake identities to nab bail jumpers? On her father’s Texas ranch, she’s just one of the guys with her older, twin brothers, Remington and Colt. So when Jules’s father insists she spend the summer with her absentee mother—a former Savannah debutant and current member of high society, she is more than a little pissed off. Jules has had little use for her mother since she blew out of town six years ago to trade garden parties and black tie affairs for being a bounty hunter’s wife. A summer in Savannah with Mommie Dearest means having refinement and culture shoved down her throat while styling the latest haute couture fashion. But Jules’s father has another reason behind sending her to Savannah. The society family of Emmett Marshall, a white-collar bail jumper resides there. The mission is for Jules to get close to Marshall’s teenage son, Jackson, thus trying to unravel any clues about his father’s whereabouts. Locating Marshall could mean a hefty payoff —enough for Jules’s freshman year of college. Since she's better at taking down a guy than hooking up with one, Jules feels like she's in over her head. Enter Wyatt Deluca. Working for Jules’s bounty hunting cousin, Wyatt's suave services are enlisted to help her reel Jackson in. The tattooed, motorcycle riding bad boy is a 180 from sweet, cultured Jackson, but the more that Jules hangs around with Wyatt, the more confused she is about her true feelings and her ability to do her job.

4 Hours and 31 Minutes Food is in 16-year-old Hope’s blood. With her Aunt Addie, diner cook extraordinaire, she travels the States and hones her waitressing skills, impressing hungry people everywhere. But following the tides of comfort food dining means Hope never gets to stay in one place very long, and that's tough. The latest move threatens to be the hardest yet, leaving the excitement of New York City to run a diner in rural Wisconsin. Hope doesn't expect to feel at home there, just as she doesn’t expect to get caught up in town politics. But her occupation has taught her to read people, and instinct tells her to trust G.T. Stoop, the straight-shooting owner of the Welcome Stairways Diner, whose leukemia makes his entry into a heated mayoral race a surprise to everyone. What follows—as Hope meets politics, corruption, and her past head-on—is at the heart of this memorable, laugh-out-loud story about honor, trust, and serving up your very best.

Contents: · Sons of Janus · in · I See a Man Sitting on a Chair, and the Chair Is Biting His Leg · Harlan Ellison & Robert Sheckley · nv F&SF Jan ’68 · Brillo · Harlan Ellison & Ben Bova · nv Analog Aug ’70 · A Toy for Juliette · Robert Bloch · ss Dangerous Visions, ed. Harlan Ellison, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1967 · The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World · nv Dangerous Visions, ed. Harlan Ellison, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1967 · Scherzo for Schizoids: Notes on a Collaboration · ms Knight Nov ’65 · Up Christopher to Madness · Harlan Ellison & Avram Davidson · ss Knight Nov ’65 · Runesmith · Harlan Ellison & Theodore Sturgeon · ss F&SF May ’70 · Rodney Parish for Hire · Harlan Ellison & Joe L. Hensley · ss Swank May ’62 · The Kong Papers · Harlan Ellison & William Rotsler · ct The Kong Papers, William Rotsler & Harlan Ellison, 1969 · The Human Operators · Harlan Ellison & A. E. van Vogt · ss F&SF Jan ’71 · Survivor No. 1 [“The Man with the Green Nose”] · Harlan Ellison & Henry Slesar · ss Knave Sep ’59 · The Power of the Nail · Harlan Ellison & Samuel R. Delany · ss Amazing Nov ’68 · Wonderbird · Harlan Ellison & Algis Budrys · ss Infinity Science Fiction Sep ’57 · The Song the Zombie Sang · Harlan Ellison & Robert Silverberg · ss Cosmopolitan Dec ’70 · Street Scene [“Dunderbird”] · Harlan Ellison & Keith Laumer · ss Galaxy Jan ’69; this story has two different endings. The version with the Ellison ending was in Galaxy, the version with the Laumer ending was in Adam Mar ’69 as “Street Scene”. · Come to Me Not in Winter’s White · Harlan Ellison & Roger Zelazny · ss F&SF Oct ’69

Since 1978, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro has produced about two dozen novels and numerous short stories detailing the life of a character first introduced to the reading world as Le Comte de Saint‑Germain. We first meet him in Paris during the reign of Louis XV when he is, apparently, a wealthy, worldly, charismatic aristocrat, envied and desired by many but fully known to none. In fact, he is a vampire, born in the Carpathian Mountains in 2119 BCE, turned in his late thirties in 2080 BCE, and destined to roam the world forever, watching and participating in history and, through the author, giving us an amazing perspective on the time tapestry of human civilization. In Blood Games, beginning during the reign of Nero, Saint‑Germain finds his way through the political turmoil of the time and becomes the lover of the incomparable Atta Olivia Clemens. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Sir Henry Commendone sat upon an oak box clamped with bands of iron and watched his son completing his morning toilette. "And how like you this life of the Court, John?" he said. The young man smoothed out the feather of his tall cone-shaped hat. "Truly, father," he answered, "in respect of itself it seems a very good life, but in respect that it is far from the fields and home it is naught. But I like it very well. And I think I am likely to rise high. I am now attached to the King Consort, by the Queen's pleasure. His Highness has spoken frequently with me, and I have my commission duly written out as caballerizo."

In this first novelette of the Magnetron Chronicles series, eccentric Nineteenth Century inventor Phineas J. Magnetron reveals his association with the secretive Hogalum Society. When his mentor and Society founder Dr. Hogalum dies, Phineas embarks on a daring and improbable caper to bring the good doctor's greatest dream to fruition posthumously, thus unearthing a haunting and compelling mystery.Phineas Magnetron is an eccentric Nineteenth Century inventor and former Union soldier whose war injury has unaccountably bestowed upon him a strange gift he doesn't completely understand. No stranger to peril and derring-do, Phineas is asked to join a secret organization of crime fighting adventurers by none other than Society founder, Dr. Yngve Hogalum.Traveling the globe in their Luftigel electric airship, Phineas Magnetron and his Hogalum brothers encounter mistrustful policemen, mentally ill criminals, wood-craving aliens, a witch doctor, a mad oracle, and a cross-dressing female matador, among many others. However, this "steam dream team" always manages to triumph over impossible odds and improbable obstacles as they preserve order in a disorderly world—with all the Steam Age weird science they can muster.The Magnetron Chronicles is a serialized steampunk tale re-envisioning the future of generations past with all the breathless melodrama and tumult of that Victorian-era pulp fiction staple, the "penny dreadful." The narrative harks back to the grandiose style of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, but gently satirized with a sprinkling of purposeful anachronisms, double entendres, tongue-in-cheek inventions, and droll Twainian humor. Adapted from "The Secret Journals of Phineas J. Magnetron," a web serial characterized by short chapters with cliffhanger endings, the story builds chapter by chapter, volume by volume, as quirky new characters join the fray and perplexing new mysteries and situations arise.The Magnetron Chronicles is a planned 12-volume series of novelette-length volumes. In this first novelette of the series The Magnetron Chronicles, we are introduced to Phineas J. Magnetron, an eccentric Nineteenth Century inventor blessed with a strange gift he doesn't completely understand. As a former soldier and current member of the Hogalum Society, an inscrutable secret organization of crime fighting adventurers, Phineas is no stranger to peril and derring-do. But when the Society founder dies, Phineas embarks on a daring and improbable caper to bring the good doctor's greatest dream to fruition posthumously. In the process, he not only horrifies his Society brothers, but unearths a haunting and compelling mystery.

A collection of three brand new short stories about characters young, old and in between. They are sons, brothers and fathers; good people, but they are human, and therefore flawed and ultimately misunderstood.A collection of three brand new short stories about characters young, old and in between. They are sons, brothers and fathers; good people, but they are human, and therefore flawed and ultimately misunderstood.Jeff Roulston, also known as Jeff The Writer, is a social service worker, coach and proud Torontonian. He is a graduate of Oakwood University, an Historically-Black College, where he studied communications, played varsity basketball and edited the Spreading Oak newspaper. His poetry, short stories, essays and articles have appeared in The Huntsville (Ala.) Times, Urbanology, HipHopCanada.com, Sway, OmitLimitation.com, BKNation.org and F-You: The Forgiveness Project. His 2013 poetry chapbook Toronto The Good and his first short story collection Second Chances And Other Short Stories are also available on Smashwords.

We are reminded of the philosophers'questioning if life is actually a dream or as Edgar Allen Poe has sobeautifully written "a dream within a dream".My suggestion is that you walk and laugh with author down his bizarrepath and see the world in all its strangeness.Reviewed by Joan McNerneySurrealist Chapbook “Reproachable Optimists” from Nathaniel S. RoundsFrom the French, surrealism means beyond realism. Surrealism stemsfrom the 20th-century literary and artistic movement attempting toexpress the workings of the subconscious. It is characterized byfantastic imagery and strange juxtaposition of subject matter. Freefrom the conscious control of reason and convention, surrealism isdedicated to expressing the imagination as revealed in dreams. Ourperception of reality is colored by the subconscious and surrealistsseek to exploit this.In his collection entitled Reproachable Optimists, the authorNathaniel S. Rounds presents the absurd by plunging deeply into aworld of mismatched thinking and incongruous ideas. This weird worldis familiar. We have only to listen to a single evening newscast toknow the unreality of reality.In the poem Peace Work, he shows the futility of many occupations. Inour time, tasks have been cut up into units for efficiency hence theterm "piece work" has evolved. Then we have the silly notion thatgreen bananas will improve digestion in old people. Even the smellwill enhance bowel movements. How many times have we heard expertsproclaim special foods are good or bad for us? Or, perhaps we shouldembrace certain miracle treatments? Several months later, we find allthis advice contradicted. Black skinned bananas are for those inmourning. This shows the employer cares. Our banks want to "serve" us,hospitals have the "compassion to cure", insurance companies are "onour side". Sound familiar?The last poem Somnambulist presents us with a sleep walk. Indeed muchof the collection has a unreal dream-like quality to it. It is a roadonly seen by the dreamer. Without prelude or warning, flowers beds aretransformed into light bulbs. We are reminded of the philosophers'questioning if life is actually a dream or as Edgar Allen Poe has sobeautifully written "a dream within a dream".My suggestion is that you walk and laugh with author down his bizarrepath and see the world in all its strangeness.Reviewed by Joan McNerneyJoan McNerney’s poetry has been included in numerous literarymagazines such as Seven Circle Press, Dinner with the Muse, Blueline,63 channels, Spectrum, and three Bright Spring Press Anthologies. Herlatest title is Having Lunch with the Sky, A.P.D., Albany, New York.--